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I let the Slayer assigned to Dalton know I’d had an emergency come up, and we’d have to figure out how best to get to the three that needed killing another time. We’d been planning to wait until dawn in the hopes we could sneak in and take them out while everyone slept. Lugat don’t die at dawn as the Strigorii do, but they often choose to bed down at that time.
I apologized again for having to leave early, and then I was on my way back to Chattanooga, traveling much faster than I should, even for the interstate. I drove to the property with my garage, switched cars, retrieved my phone and grabbed a laptop, and then made my way to the mall — somewhere I rarely go. I parked at Mission Barbecue since it had a parking space open right beside the door, and I went in, placed my order, and sat where someone outside the restaurant couldn’t get a bead on me to take aim.
I looked over what Chrystle had found. They’d gone off the grid in Italy. I looked up direct flights and found some going from Milan to Atlanta, and from Rome to Nashville. I thought the Milan to Atlanta route made more sense, so I looked at the passenger manifests going to Nashville in the past week — and found my mother, but not my father.
I looked on the manifests going into Atlanta and finally found my father. They were traveling separately now? Was someone watching for them to move around as a couple?
Okay, so they were in Chattanooga and had likely been here three days — more than enough time to set trackers and bugs and have an idea of where the main players are and were likely to be. They’d have put them in all the businesses first, which means it’s possible they heard people at the downtown TBC talking about Etta’s meeting with Martin, since that’s how I’d found out about it.
And they’d unsuccessfully tried to take her out there, at which point Josef would’ve taken her elsewhere. I pulled up the text from my bugs at the downtown TBC from earlier, but nothing had been picked up that would’ve told me what happened. My microphones are near the office, and whatever happened must not’ve been close enough for them to pick up.
I pulled up my notes on Martin and didn’t see much I could work with. The tiger was all-around disagreeable, but he fucked with supernaturals and left the humans alone. He’d recently scared Gabby, and had Nathan and Horse pissed at him for it, but I wasn’t sure that was big enough for me to use. I looked at his finances and he seemed okay there as well. Not rich, but he was living within his means and his only debt was his mortgage.
Damn. That meant I’d have to use subterfuge, though in all honesty, my fake story might not be so fake. I looked to see where his phone was, saw it was at his home, and checked the video feeds I’d installed around his property. He has a car and a truck, and both were there. One of the cams shows heat through walls, and I saw a signature that looked human-shaped. No guarantees it was him, but it was worth the drive to see.
I finished my brisket sandwich, refilled my drink, slid back into my vehicle, and was off without screwing around because my mom excels at sniper shots. I didn’t sense her near, but that didn’t mean anything.
I made my way to Martin’s home and wrote a short note with big block letters before I turned my engine off. He came outside to see who’d had the audacity to pull into his driveway, and I held the note up. He was forty yards away, but tigers have good vision.
YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU WITNESSED. WANT TO HELP ME TAKE OUT THE PEOPLE AFTER YOU?
“Be a cold day in Hell before I take up arms beside a slayer.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend. It’s Slayers who’ve gone off the reservation who’re after you.”
He smirked. “We aren’t supposed to use that phrase anymore.”
I was fully aware of that, and I’d used it specifically to keep the dialogue going between us. “Point taken, but you understand my meaning, yes? Also, since when do you concern yourself with being politically correct?”
“Since never. Surprised to hear you use it, though — mighty knight of the humans, protecting them at all costs.”
I shook my head. “Not just humans. I protect deer and other prey shifters from apex predatory shifters, when it’s called for. I protect the underdog, and like it or not, right now that’s you. Slayers are after you not because you killed a human, but because you witnessed them trying to take out a vampire who’s done nothing wrong in recent years.”
“I don’t need protecting.”
“Glad to hear it. Did you get a good look at them?”
He shook his head. “Josef did, and he sent whatever he saw to Etta, and she recognized them as your parents.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why are your parents after Etta? And are you really going to kill your own mother and father?”
“That’s the kind of thing I’ll share with someone I’m partnering with. If you don’t want to pair up, I’m not sure what I can offer you at this time, since they might have knowledge of where my safehouses are. Do you have somewhere you can go?”
“I do, and I will. Thanks for the heads up.”
I nodded, rolled my window up, backed out of his driveway, and made my way towards Lookout Mountain. I parked a few miles from my place, altered my body temperature so I wouldn’t show up on infrared, made my way to my place in a way I was certain no one would be able to track, and I slept. Chrystle would gather information while I slept, but I was now fairly certain Etta was unharmed and somewhere safe, and I needed to sleep while I could.
* * * *
Etta
Marco let me know when Ryan contacted him, but he was adamant that he wanted to talk to Ryan in person before deciding how much to tell him.
I tried to tell Marco Ryan would find out what happened whether we told him or not, but he wanted to do it his way. I knew Ryan could take care of himself, and since he was aware his parents were here, I obeyed Marco.
I also didn’t point out to Marco that I’d have disobeyed him if I thought Ryan’s life was in danger because he didn’t know.
Marco opened up and invited me in enough for his meeting with Ryan, I sensed everything as he did — hearing, scent, visual, even taste, though I doubted that would come into play on this day.
I sat in a room without windows, with the door into my room locked, and it was as if I was at Homewood, watching Ryan walk in a door, led by Cora.
