Blood and magic, p.8
Blood and Magic, page 8
Nothing amiss. Everyone felt fine.
At her side, David had taken note in the change in her body language and shifted his own, hyperaware.
They moved through the first station to the next checkpoint where just beyond lay the holding cells and, to the other side, the interview rooms.
Elmer and Haddon walked in front of Rowan and David. Alice was to Rowan’s other side, just in front, while one of the guards from the elevator led the group, handling each step of the process.
That pleased Rowan very much as it had been her recommendation to add this secondary point.
She moved forward as the prisoners were passed through, and that poking fork became barbed wire right as one of the guards who’d been at that door stepped in Rowan’s path to halt her movement.
“Who are you and why are you here?” he demanded, putting his hand out to push back against her chest and she stepped aside, ducking contact.
It was a different guard than had been there when she’d left earlier that night. Not one she’d formally met, but she’d seen him around. He certainty knew who she was. And he absolutely knew he had no business attempting to touch her.
Vampire bullshit was always annoying, but Rowan was used to it and mostly she let it roll right off her back. But in that moment, the most important thing was that the goddess really didn’t like him. Brigid seemed to burn from the center of Rowan’s gut outward, Her distrust of this guard seemed to vibrate through Rowan’s bones.
Time seemed to slow as it sometimes did when Brigid rose to an individual consciousness within Rowan’s body and mind. The barbed wire sensation went red hot, and Rowan gave in to the hiss and let the sweat from the pain bead on her temple.
The guard’s nostrils flared as he took in the scent of her sweat. A petty bully, the light in his eyes brightened at the thought of her fear. Not that unusual. But the absolute understanding this Vampire was connected to something important to her hunt settled in. Sucked for him, but for her, it was fuel.
Rowan bet he’d watched that video of the ambush and assumed she’d be weak. So, she acted a little cowed, enough that the guard lost his focus, thinking he’d won. He let out a sound of triumph and pushed her back into an office chair.
Which washed away all her reasons for not making him bleed. Rowan used the side of her right hand, chopping out and connecting with his throat. Hard enough that he choked, gagged, and staggered back. Then she followed up with the handle of her cane, the hard, heavy metallic wolf’s head at the base of the handle making solid contact with the guard’s dick.
“You bitch!” he wheezed out. Time seemed to snap back into place, and the terrible pain had eased back to bearable.
In the background, she heard Alice ordering everyone to stand down, felt the slice of power in the words, and other guards, the ones from the elevator, fanned to Rowan’s prisoners, each with a hand on a shoulder to make sure no one made sudden moves.
That’s when the guy on the door got extra stupid and gave Rowan a defiant, cocky look.
“You got something to say?” she asked him.
“I’m doing my job. I don’t just let any riffraff in here.” He gave her an exaggerated up and down. At her back, Rowan registered several gasps of offense and Alice’s growl as she stepped forward, leaning on her cane until that smirk got a little wider.
Then she swung out with the cane again, working in concert with her fist on the other side. Delivering a double shot angled perfectly to strike the bundle of nerves Vampires had just behind and beneath the jaw. His entire body tensed up and snapped like a rubber band, and he crumpled to the ground like he didn’t have bones, leaving him conscious but useless.
“Bet you remember who I am now,” she taunted.
There were directions being shouted and Rowan just stared at the guard, letting him see just how much she wanted him to come at her again. Letting every bit of her otherness slip through her gaze.
Clive was moving in their direction at a high rate of speed, Rowan felt his presence larger and larger through their bond, and within a breath, the door at the guard’s back opened, revealing Clive and Patience.
Rowan snarled at Clive without taking her gaze from the guard. “This isn’t looking good for you, Scion Stewart,” she told him, utterly fucking annoyed at being attacked by multiple Vampires in a matter of hours.
David and Star, along with the other two guards that had come with Alice, took Elmer and Haddon toward the interview rooms where they’d be secured until they could be questioned. Rowan had to admit she was looking forward to that part now that she was feeling extra mean.
“The guard was aggressive with Rowan and attempted to bar her entry though I was with her, and I personally let everyone know we’d be in shortly to question our prisoners. In direct opposition to my orders, he put his hand on a Hunter and shoved her.” Alice placed her palm over the spot on her own chest, underlining to Clive the guard had seemed to deliberately target the place Rowan had been shot three times and was still healing.
Clive’s eyes gleamed with malice.
Alice continued, “It was only then that Ms. Summerwaite responded physically. It’s a shameful breach of protocol. He should be grateful she allowed him to live.”
* * *
Clive looked to the guard. “Yes, he should. Explain yourself,” he ordered, using all his Scion power to shove the question into the other Vampire’s consciousness.
“I don’t give a fuck what his problem is. I have things to do, and if he tries to stop me again, I will skin him and wear him to prom,” Rowan said curtly.
There was more than annoyance in her tone. She was upset, and part of him surged forward, needing to address and fix it.
Clive tried to get her attention as she shoved past them all and into the area beyond. He didn’t like it that she wouldn’t meet his eyes. This wasn’t a Rowan and Clive issue. Clive would disagree with her over many things as they pertained to politics, but that was Scion to Hunter. He attempted to use their blood bond to underline that when she shook her head at him, warning him to stop.
It would weaken them both if he followed or called after her, so he put it away to deal with the most pressing issue. This guard and whatever madness drove him to touch Rowan.
Clive looked to the guard but spoke to Alice. “Accompany Rowan wherever she needs to be and see to it she gets what she requires. Patience, with me after the guard is replaced by a trusted one.”
Alice gave him a conciliatory look as she stepped past, catching up to David. Clive trusted his assistant to handle any potential issues while he questioned this guard.
He followed their prisoner into another interrogation space, glad they’d opted to create a surfeit of cells and rooms. Better to have more than one needed than not enough to meet a problem. It also gave him the perfect excuse to have the prisoners—all of them—at Die Mitte and he wasn’t mad about that in any way.
“Sit,” Clive ordered the guard, pointing. “Answer my questions when I ask. Don’t lie to me.”
He settled across the table, Patience at his back, guarding the door and serving as another pair of eyes and ears during questioning.
“Now then,” Clive said, “you caused a diplomatic incident with a Hunter in my building. On ground I control. I’m waiting for you to explain why it is you acted as if it was ground you control instead.”
Fear rolled off the guard before he could wrestle it back, and the predator within Clive perked up, homed in on a being who was prey.
Clive leaned close and took a deep breath, taking the remnants of that terror into his lungs, and sat back again, watching.
The guard’s swallow was audible. “I stopped her like I would anyone else. I stepped into her path, and she struck first. She attacked me. I’m a Vampire guarding Vampire prisoners that she has arrested and will most likely kill. In service to my Scion, it is my duty to be sure every person has permission to enter. She should have waited for permission to pass. She’s a human.”
Rage rolled through Clive, further inciting the predator within. He knew his eyes would have bled to amber as bloodlust began to take root. This guard had derailed the progress Clive had made with Rowan when she’d turned her prisoners over to him to start with.
It was more than that. This other Vampire stunk of deceit. And after the last year spent rooting out leaks and traitors, Clive had zero tolerance for it. He needed to know what was motivating this guard. Or who.
“You must think I’m as witless as my predecessor was,” Clive told him, his tone full of sharp edges. The guard’s mouth flattened. Insulted. Interesting. “Rowan has other prisoners here. She’s been in and out for days regularly. You not only knew she was expected, you went out of your way to escalate a confrontation with a partner of Hunter Corp. Now, why is that?”
“Scion,” the guard said, lowering his chin, “I’m sorry if you misunderstood.”
At that lack of an answer, Clive sighed, reaching out to grab the guard’s throat and squeeze. Vampires could slow down their respiration far beyond anything humans could survive. The guard could survive without oxygen, but he’d lose consciousness and Clive had some things to set in motion. And, given the damage Rowan had caused earlier, the crushed larynx Clive had just inflicted would hurt a great deal as it healed.
The guard’s eyes rolled up, showing the whites, and Clive dropped him. He had about three minutes until the guard would begin to wake so Clive snapped into action.
He turned to Patience. “I’ve lost faith in this Vampire. I want a report on him. What’s his Genesis? Work history. Bullet points in five minutes, more to follow. Search his domicile, his work area and locker. Pick apart his electronics. He’s in breach.” Which meant all his access to everything within the Vampire Nation was locked down. His bank accounts, his email, his keycard access to every door and elevator were now inaccessible to anyone but Clive’s security team. “I want to know who he’s been talking to and what he’s been stealing from my organization.”
Patience nodded and stepped out of the room to set it all in motion. Clive texted a status request and an update regarding the guard to Alice and by the time he’d finished, his prisoner had begun to surface.
“You lied.” Clive sat straighter, letting his displeasure flow over the guard in a swarm of bites and stings. “And then you insulted my leadership and my intelligence by claiming my understanding was at issue. So I’m sitting here wondering just what exactly you’re doing.”
“It’s a setup. She’s interviewing rogues to work at Hunter Corp.!” the guard urged. “The Vampire you brought in here is a law-abiding Vampire.”
If this guard was connected to that serial sexual predator in the other room, he’d sealed his fate. Clive had no intention of allowing such rot to continue. Vampires like Elmer had to be put down.
“You certainly have a great deal of information as to what the Hunter was doing. Let’s take this statement by statement for the sake of clarity, shall we?” Though there was a question mark at the end, it wasn’t a request and if this guard wanted to stay alive, he’d follow along and obey.
“Yes, Scion.”
“You claim the prisoners we brought in, because I’m the one who had them brought here, are law-abiding.” Clive cocked his head slightly and let the monster inside him show fully. That monster wanted to roll around in the fear coming off the guard in wave after wave. “How is it you know this?”
“Everyone knows! She thumbs her nose at the Nation with the way she seeks to hire the garbage of our society. She’s going to kill one of our own people. Right here. It’s an abomination.”
Patience had returned to the room and at that response, she hissed. She didn’t like Rowan any more than Rowan liked her. But there was a mutual respect between them, and Clive’s top lieutenant was as obviously offended by this guard’s lies as Clive was.
“You dare speak of the Scion’s mate in such a fashion?” Patience demanded as she placed a file folder on the table next to Clive’s right hand.
“I’m speaking of a Hunter, not his wife,” the guard said.
“And when did you receive this information about an unsanctioned kill? If you pretend not to understand my question again, I will tear off pieces of you until you’re feeling clearer on what you need to do,” Clive said. “I haven’t been able to exercise tonight so you’d be doing me a favor.”
“Tonight,” the guard squeaked out. “I got a call from a friend who said Elmer was about to be grabbed by the Hunter. Right out of his own home,” he said quickly.
Clive just stared at the other Vampire. Waiting for the rest.
“My friend said he heard the Hunter tell Elmer she was going to kill him right under your nose in the middle of our building. And here she was! Scion, she was here just like the call said she would be,” the guard said as if Clive hadn’t been there and knew it all for lies.
“Who made the call?”
When the guard looked away, trying to get around a direct answer, Clive had had enough. He flipped open the file and scanned the top sheet. Eduard Garces. Had worked with the office of the Scion of North America for seven years. Started on the secure floor three months before.
He read the Genesis report and narrowed his gaze at Eduard. “Interesting. Jacques was your Maker.”
Jacques had been the Scion of North America before Clive. He’d broken so many laws—their own and the Treaty as well—that Rowan had executed him. Frankly, he was fortunate because once the First had been made aware of all the lawlessness that had taken place under Jacques’s leadership, what would have happened to him in the dungeons of the Keep would have been far worse than the quick mercy of Rowan’s blade.
Jacques had Made dozens of Vampires over the century he’d held North America. Clive had executed a lot of those Vampires when he’d arrived in Las Vegas. Not all. Simply being Made by someone didn’t automatically mean that Vampire was the same or shared similar beliefs. It didn’t make sense to destroy stock that would be useful, so many were spared and had been an integral part of his transition.
When one was nearly immortal, second chances were important. Clive had once been accorded a second chance by their leader, and there he was, Scion of North America.
Clive read the rest of the information Patience had compiled for him before he stood to remove his suit jacket and hand it off. While he considered just where he’d strike first, Clive rolled up his shirtsleeves to his elbows before he stepped in close enough to deliver a series of jabs to the guard’s face and then his gut.
It’d been a while since he’d handled such things on his own when they were in Las Vegas. Clive found it rather refreshing. As he was already annoyed and feeling defensive of his wife, the ability to punch away his feelings seemed just the thing.
“Who provided you with the information about the prisoner?” he asked again.
“I need to protect them. They don’t want any trouble,” the guard said through the blood in his mouth.
“If they didn’t want trouble, why did they spend so much time following someone else to report directly...to a guard working here? This is very confusing.” Clive blinked slowly at him.
“The other Vampire knows me. We’re friends. That’s why. They knew I’d help.”
“You’re a good citizen, then, are you?”
“I try,” the guard said, and the deceit rolled off him.
Instead of ripping his head off and beating his body with his spine, Clive slowly turned up his glamor, taking a bit of power from each of his Vampires to steamroll over the traitor across from him. He’d crush Eduard after he got what he needed.
“How did you know Hunter Corp. was in the process of hiring Vampires?” Clive asked with deceptive calm. He’d deliberately not used Rowan’s name. She’d drawn enough fire from Vampires and Clive sure as hell wasn’t going to aid that.
But within that calm was a push, an order that guard wasn’t strong enough to disobey.
“Everyone knows!” he bust out and Clive broke his arm in three places before the guard had even registered the movement.
“Shall we try again?” Clive asked, this time not so calm. “It seems to me you’ve got a spy in place. And it seems to me that you’ve been sharing what happens within my walls with others, as well as getting intel on whatever Hunter Corp. is doing.”
The only people who knew were the Scions. Who’d been informed by the First’s office. Of course one, or perhaps two, of the Scions had leaked that information to others. Others who currently suffered in the dungeons below their leader’s mountainous Keep.
Was this Eduard connected to one of those self-titled Vampire lords? Was there more than one leak?
Never in his years had the Vampiric tendency toward constant political scheming been so utterly exhausting. Nonetheless, it had roused his bloodlust. This was a threat not only to his leadership and the Vampire Nation, but to his wife.
“S-scion, I am as ever on the side of Vampires. I heard it from more than one source.”
Who had taught this creature to tell the truth without answering a question from his Scion? Clive didn’t like it one bit. There was more to this problem than he could see, which only made him angrier.
Clearly, he needed to turn up the compulsion and add a great deal more painful incentive. “How long have you been spying on us?” Clive asked, leaning in, caressing Eduard with his power before turning it on its edge, using it to slice hard enough the other Vampire cried out in pain.
Eduard’s surprise flowed out along with the thin line of blood beading up his throat. Satisfaction rolled through Clive, along with no small pride. A new ability as he aged, and his power continued to grow. Useful. And news of it would get out to others. Sowing fear, reaping power. Both like blood and magic, foundations of the world he lived in.
