Blood Born Read online

  “There was no point in killing him, otherwise,” Luca pointed out.

  “True,” Eleanor agreed. She was tiny, as people often had been hundreds of years ago. Being made vampire didn’t make the person suddenly grow taller; rather, they were preserved as they had been when they were turned, which was why the myth that vampires were all beautiful and physically perfect was only that: a myth. If people had been ugly as humans, they were just as ugly as vampires—much stronger, much faster, immune to aging and all diseases, but still ugly.

  Eleanor was neither pretty nor ugly. What she was, was alert, wily, and a ruthless enemy. Hector had seemed fond of her, and often relied on her common sense to sway other Council members to his way of thinking. She drummed her nails on the conference table in a quick tattoo. “If these rebels are so organized that they’ve recruited one of us, I’m amazed that no intelligence regarding this has come our way. We all have kindred children, alliances, our own sources of information—” By that she meant “spies,” but that didn’t have to be spelled out. “We should have received warning. I don’t like this at all.”

  “Hector wasn’t infallible,” Pablo pointed out. He crossed his arms over his burly chest. “Perhaps he was mistaken.”

  “Then why is he dead?” Marie snapped.

  Nadia snorted. “We don’t know that he is. All we know is that he isn’t in his quarters, and Luca has assumed that he’s dead because Hector called him in a panic about some rebels that none of us have heard about until now.”

  The very idea of Hector in a panic was enough to make several of them roll their eyes and snicker. Nadia set back in her chair, sulking.

  Luca hid his annoyance at their behavior, though he’d seen it before. No matter how old or how powerful the vampires, put them in government and their behavior began devolving toward juvenile. He didn’t bother telling them again what he knew to be true. Instead he looked around the table and said, “Well? What do you want me to do? Anything? Nothing?”

  Someone sitting at that table would be very relieved that he was evidently willing to let the Council direct him in this, though that someone would be greatly mistaken, because no way in hell would he let this go. Still, let them think they had control of the situation.

  No one said anything. After a moment, Marie pushed her chair back and stood. “Obviously no one is going to make any decisions right now, but the one thing we can do is look around Hector’s quarters.” She glanced at Luca, silently asking if that was where he thought Hector had been killed, and he gave a slight nod. “If we find his dust, then we’ll know Luca’s assumptions are on target—as usual,” she added, not above a jab at her fellow Council members.

  “Are you in charge now?” Theodore growled, though everyone had risen to their feet, himself included.

  “No, she isn’t,” Alma snapped.

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” Marie muttered. “I said ‘let’s go look,’ not ‘I’m taking over.’”

  “That’s what you said,” Pablo observed. “I’m not too certain that’s what you meant.”

  There had always been a degree of tension between Marie and the other Council members, perhaps because she was a blood born and they feared her enhanced powers—much as they feared Luca—though of course none of them would ever admit to that. Jealousy came into play, too; blood borns matured until they reached the apex, the optimum physical and mental peak; for Luca, perhaps because of his size and the extra growing time he’d needed, his prime had occurred in his early thirties. For Marie, it had been at roughly age sixteen. Her skin was flawless, her teeth perfect, her hair thick and lustrous, her breasts nice and high. Even Alma, as beautiful as she was, looked like someone’s aunt compared to Marie’s youthfulness. Because of that, they were all alert to any sign of ambition in Marie.

  God save him from politics, Luca thought wearily. It reduced ancient, powerful vampires to the emotional maturity of grade-schoolers.

  Enoch nervously led the way to Hector’s quarters. When he reached out to open the door, however, Luca said, “Wait,” and he put enough power in his voice that all of them, even Marie, stopped in their tracks. Enoch visibly shivered, his eyes widening as he stared at Luca. Vocal compulsion wasn’t a rare power, but the level of strength needed for it to work on vampires as powerful as the Council members was something that made all of them take notice.

  He moved ahead of all of them, and Enoch stepped back as he approached. Deliberately he opened Hector’s door and stepped inside. The first room, for the sake of camouflage should any intruder be able to enter the building, was a rather nondescript office. There was a desk and a long leather sofa, both well-used, with a thick rug covering the floor between them. One painting hung behind the desk; Botticelli, Luca noted, and likely not a copy. There were no plants, real or artificial, no knickknacks, just a jumble of papers and some files.

  If any outsider were to stumble upon this particular room, it would give them no pause at all—unless they had an eye for art.

  Hector’s suite of private rooms sprawled beyond this square, austere office, but as he had before, Luca immediately sensed the swirl of recent and deadly energy here, in this room.

  “Is this necessary?” Nadia asked. “If he’s merely elsewhere, we’re invading his privacy—”

  Ignoring her, Luca moved farther into the room. Hector had died here; he felt as if he were drowning in Hector’s life force, in his very essence. He allowed his mind to clear, to open, and then he thought of Hector. He captured and controlled the energy that danced here. There were many memories of the old vampire to call upon, and within those memories there was a particular energy that was Hector, his essence, his power.

  There were energy pictures in this very room, as if Hector had taken a photo of his death and spat it upon the air. The murderer hadn’t been working alone; death lurked in the room—and in the hallway. The danger that Hector had sensed had carefully remained hidden. Luca knew who had taken Hector’s life, but still wasn’t able to discern the power in command.

  Hector hadn’t gone easily; he’d fought for his life. The violence Luca sensed would have overturned furniture, broken lamps … but there was nothing out of place. He looked around, taking the time to notice every detail. The office had been straightened, the broken items removed and replaced. Lines in the thick pile of the rug revealed a recent vacuuming.

  Vacuumed? Of course—remove Hector’s dust, and there was no real proof that he was dead.

  Luca crouched and touched one finger to the rug. The faint remnants of Hector seemed to shout at him, the impression was so strong. He looked over his shoulder, met the eyes of the one Council member he knew had a sense that was related to his, though not as strong. He was well aware that she could be the traitor, but so could any of the other seven. “Darnell,” he said quietly. “Tell me what you feel.”

  She came to him, sank bonelessly to a crouch beside him. As he had done, she reached out one finger, dragged it through the pile of the rug. Lifting her finger, she stared at the gray dust coating it. Her large dark eyes were somber.

  For a long moment she was silent, then she said, “Hector.”

  Behind them Theodore asked heavily, “You have no doubt?”

  “No,” she said. “None. Hector is dead. Here, on this rug.”

  “It’s been vacuumed,” Luca said, pointing to the track marks on the pile.

  “So the rest of him is in a vacuum-cleaner bag somewhere?” Alma asked, not quite eliminating the snicker from her voice.

  Luca slowly turned his head and pinned her with his pale gaze. The humor vanished from her face and she moved as if to step back before she remembered that she was a Council member and stopped herself. Anger and resentment flashed hot in her eyes.

  Silence fell in the room. There was nothing else he could do here at the moment, and plans he needed to put into motion. Rising to his full height, Luca caught Theodore’s eye. “You know how to reach me,” he said. “Let me know what the Council decides.”