Nervously, the woman peeked at Sam. “I’m sorry, your Grandness. I didn’t realise it was you when I made that order.”

Sam groaned in annoyance. “I hate that title.” She sighed, taking a step toward the woman. “It’s really not my authority that you need to worry about. It’s the fact that I’m a homicidal bitch who’s balancing on the knife-edge of ‘insane’.”

“Balancing?” snickered Jared.

“All right, maybe I fell off the edge some time ago.” She shrugged. “It makes life more interesting.”

“You knew who we were.” Jared’s eyes were drilling hard into the keeper, his irises glowing red, as he clenched his fists. “You knew exactly who Sam – my mate – was when you screamed at your bartender to kill her. So I think it’s a little late for respectful words, don’t you?”

I mock whispered to Salem, “Uh-oh, Jared’s gonna lose it. Do you think he’ll do what he did to the last vampire who wanted Sam dead?” My voice was hopeful. The vampire I was referring to had infiltrated The Hollow and tried to destroy everyone in it.

Sensing that I was trying to make the woman panic by confirming a rumour that had spread throughout vampirekind, Salem played along. “You mean hit every single vulnerable spot of her body, one by one, with a high charge of electricity? Maybe. Jared did seem to enjoy the guy’s pleas for mercy before he eventually killed him with a high voltage bolt to the chest.” The rest of the squad nodded.

“Since you know who we are,” began Sam, “I think it’s only fair that we know your name.”

She cleared her throat, looking a little sick. “Marge.”

“Well, Marge, I thought we’d have a little chat.” Sam sounded pleasant and friendly, but the glow to her mercury irises made it perfectly clear that she was totally pissed. “Maybe you could explain to us why the shit that’s gone on under this roof is acceptable.”

“I-it’s not a-acceptable.”

“Very good. Gold star sticker for you. Maybe you could explain something else to me. See, I noticed a few things while you were snoozing. Ava and I went snooping, found some interesting stuff in the closet in your bedroom. We were looking for appointment books, hoping to get the names of some clients. We didn’t find them. We found something else instead. I think you know what I’m talking about.”

Marge didn’t speak, just gulped.

“We found a collection of DVDs. And not just any DVDs. Recordings. It seems that you planted secret cameras in each of the rooms. My guess is that you blackmail the clients afterwards. Am I right?”

Eyes wide with fear, Marge nodded.

“I have to hand it to you, I didn’t see that coming. Mostly because the whole thing is bad enough. I mean really, Marge, why own an establishment such as this?” The word ‘establishment’ was made to sound like a profanity.

“I just run it, I don’t own it.” Ah, trying to shift responsibility and escape punishment.

“Who does?”

With that question, Marge’s expression closed down.

“Don’t, Marge. Don’t do that ‘I can’t tell you’ routine. It’s really not worth it. I want answers. If you don’t give them to me, I will hurt you, and I will do it with utter pleasure. And then Jared will hurt you, and we’ll all clap and urge him on. Give me a name, Marge.”

“I can’t. Even if I could, you’d never find her.”

Jared’s brow rose. “Why exactly is that?”

“She’s untraceable. Literally. She has no scent. Never leaves even a hair fibre or footprint behind. It’s her gift. Part of that gift is that she never leaves a clear memory of herself anywhere – no image, no name, nothing. There is truly no way to track her down.”

Salem stiffened beside me. I cast him a curious glance, noting the thoughtful frown on his face.

“Then how do you know she’s a ‘her’?” Jared was clearly dubious. “There’s obviously a loophole in that gift if you know that.”

“The only memory of her appearance she leaves behind in your head is an impression…like a shadow, a silhouette.”

“Maybe Ryder could help,” Chico suggested.

Ryder was their top interrogator as he had a psychic hand – could rifle through people’s minds, access their thoughts and memories. The reason he wasn’t yet a member of the legion was that, being relatively newborn, he wasn’t yet in total control of his bloodlust or his gift.

“Not a bad idea. We have a few empty cells.” Sam gave Marge a winning smile. “I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to know you’re coming back to The Hollow with us.”

On the contrary, the woman looked like she was about to hyperventilate. “There’s nothing more I can tell you.”

“Sure there is. Like if there’s more than one brothel. Like how you managed to keep the captives sedated. Like where they were kidnapped from.”

“I don’t remember every name, don’t remember every –”

“You don’t need to. I have someone who can rummage through that brain of yours and tell me what I need to know.”

“Are you going to kill her after that?” I asked excitedly, clapping a little. “Ooh, can I watch?”

“Watch? You can join in. If anyone deserves a little pain, it’s this heartless bitch right here.”

I grinned. Damn fucking straight.

CHAPTER THREE

(Salem)

“Okay, here’s our issue,” began Sam, pacing outside the infirmary wherein the survivors and the injured squad members were settled. “The minute all those involved in the brothel learn it’s been destroyed, they’ll panic and worry that the staff or survivors gave up their identities. They’ll hide.”

“Maybe not,” argued Butch. “They don’t know we have someone like Ryder. They might be positive that Marge won’t talk.”

“None are more convinced that they are being pursued than those who are guilty,” said Antonio, who had come to speak to Sam and Jared on hearing about the brothel. The elegant ancient Keja was one of the calmest and most intelligent people I knew.

With a nod of agreement, Sam continued. “That means every single one of them will go to ground. Remember, they don’t just have us to fear. They know that if there are any survivors to tell the tale, they’ll also have the other species of preternatural on their arses. They won’t want to risk it. Which means the moment Ryder finds out their names, we act – hopefully it will be in time to locate the fuckers before they do a runner.”