Chapter 18

After a few wrong turns and a little bit of trouble from the security guard at the gatehouse guarding the entrance to Clyde’s community, we managed to make it back to the vampire’s home in one piece. I parked the car as close to the guest house as possible, intending to hold on to the keys and make use of it later—hopefully without a babysitter the next time we went out.

Though I knew Clyde needed to be informed about what had happened to Trinity, I wasn’t looking forward to being the bearer of bad news. Without her around to let him know we were coming, we were going to be dropping the bomb on him with no advance warning. Who knew how he might react?

When we got up to the house, the security guards let us in, asking about Trinity and exclaiming about the stink clinging to our clothes. Since one of them was the guy who had led us to Clyde the first night we showed up, I didn’t think it would be such a bad idea to tell him what was going on.

“We were attacked. She didn’t make it.”

The guy gaped. “Are you—she’s—wait, but then why are you—”

“Alive?” Sara spread her hands. “We’re not sure. But we really need to talk to Clyde. Is he around?”

The security guard held up a finger for us to wait while he turned away and muttered into the speaker of his earpiece. He waited, then said something else. Nodding to no one in particular, he took off at a trot, gesturing for us to follow him. “Come on. He’s going to meet you in his parlor downstairs in a minute. After you talk to him, I’d like the whole story, and some directions so I can find whatever is left of Trin.”

“You’re going to need a garbage bag,” I muttered, though I followed him without protest. Now wasn’t the time to start annoying the other guards. Not if we wanted to be left to our own devices. I was starting to formulate a plan for how we might lose any tail Clyde was intent on keeping on us while we continued our “investigation” on his behalf.

Soon we were back in the room where we’d first met Clyde. The moon was still mostly full, this time gleaming over the ocean, casting a glimmering reflection over the waves. The lights were low, and Clyde was shirtless, pacing in front of the windows. Fabian was sprawled on one of the couches, also shirtless, watching us with narrowed eyes as he stirred some thick liquid in a bowl on the floor with a finger.

They both made faces when we arrived, though neither commented on the scent of Eau de Zombie that clung to us like cheap perfume.

“Well,” Clyde said, not bothering to look at us, “I hear you have some unpleasant news for me. Care to explain why you returned without your bodyguard?”

I frowned at him, though he wouldn’t see it considering how he was so busy pacing like a jungle cat and staring out the window. “We didn’t have enough plastic baggies to bring all of her back with us. Sorry.”

That jarred him. He stopped, one hand on the glass, and tilted his head to look at us. The moonlight cast an eerie reflection on his eyes, making them appear colorless. Lifeless. Like the zombies. The thought alone made me shudder, but there was no point in being worked up about it. Royce would get us out of here soon—I hoped—so maybe Clyde’s problems wouldn’t seem like such a big deal once we figured out how to keep out of his way until then.

“You ran into Gideon.” At our blank looks, he clarified, the strange lack of color in his eyes being replaced by the glimmer of red. “The necromancer. Did he kill her?”

Sara and I both nodded.

“Damn it, Fabian, can’t you reason with him?”

Well, this was a new development. We both looked at Fabian, and I’m pretty sure Sara was exhibiting as much shock as I felt.

The other vampire lifted his finger and sucked off the liquid he’d been stirring in the bowl, the look he gave Clyde so heated that I’m shocked the guy didn’t burst into flames then and there. I suspected that the stuff Fabian was playing with was blood, but either way, this didn’t feel like the right time to be interrupting these two. The air was charged with some kind of bad juju, and I wasn’t too sure sticking around to find out why was such a good idea.

“I’m afraid not. He’s quite incensed. I did tell you this might become a problem.”

Clyde hissed, leveling a finger at Fabian. “You did not tell me he would start picking off my people, one by one.”

“How was I supposed to guess that he would take it so personally?”

Clyde shook his head, turning those red eyes back on us. “Tell me what you’ve learned, and make it quick. ”

I stepped forward, letting Sara use me as a makeshift shield so she wouldn’t have to meet his burning gaze. Even if the charm wasn’t at full strength, if Clyde lost his temper, I was in a better position to defend myself against it than she was, however marginal that “better position” might be. My mind was racing, wondering just how much Clyde had kept from us, and just what kind of test not telling us what he knew about the necromancer—like his name—had been.

“We have narrowed down the list of possible cities where he might be staying, but that’s about it. He must have known we were in the area somehow. We were interviewing Jimmy Thrane.” Clyde bared his fangs at that, but didn’t interrupt. “Trinity chose to stay behind and wait outside. When we came out, she was already dead.”

In pieces. Many, many pieces. And considering how he had reacted to Thrane’s name, I wasn’t about to tell Clyde that we had gone to visit one of the Goliath werewolves, either.

He resumed pacing, clenching and unclenching his fists as he did so. This was not the image of a master vampire in control of his empire. Even so, he was dangerous. Perhaps more so than before. The veneer had been stripped away, leaving a shadow of a monster, frightened and backed into a corner, ready to lash out at any convenient excuse.

“I received a call from your master this evening,” Clyde said, his voice cutting. “You do not appreciate being hired to help me, I assume. He says you wish to leave.”

Well, yeah. No kidding. However, I didn’t think that would be a wise response. Nothing appropriate was coming to mind—so Sara stepped in, her voice tremulous and wavering.

“It’s not that we don’t appreciate your hospitality, but we miss our own homes and families. Our friends. All the things we left behind.”

That reminded me of my idea, and I was quick to jump in, forcing a measure of enthusiasm into my voice. “As long as we’re here, we’re still on the case for you.”

Sara and Clyde both shot me a look. It was uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of those mixed signals, but I pressed on.

“It would help if you were a little more open with us about what’s going on—” Fabian’s black stare felt like a physical blow. I took a hasty step back, bumping into Sara in the process as I rushed out the rest. “If you can be, that is. We’ve got some friends who might be able to tell us more about where this guy is. Anything else you can tell us would help, of course, but we’ve triangulated the area where he is most likely staying and can probably find him with more time. As long as we’re left on our own to search, of course, since it seems like he’ll kill any of your people who are with us.”

Please, God, don’t let him realize why I don’t want him to send any other vampires out on the road with us.

Clyde studied me for a time. Though I was expecting him to be the one to answer me, it was Fabian who spoke up, his voice rich with condescension. “You ladies may think you’re fooling him, but you do not fool me. If you believe you can hide from Gideon, you are quite mistaken.”

Sara cleared her throat, her voice coming out more steady this time. “Would you mind telling us what else you know about him aside from his name? We might have been able to move this investigation along faster if you’d come clean from the start.”

Fabian’s eyes flickered, but he favored her with a lazy grin. No fangs. No threat. Not yet.

“He was my lover.”

Oh, that was not a happy thought.

“We wish to keep this amongst ourselves, you understand. It is a private affair, not a matter for the authorities. If we can find him, then I may be able to speak with him privately. If not, then he will continue this ridiculous assault—”

“Ridiculous? He’s killed some of my oldest and most skilled progeny!” Clyde sputtered, his voice taking on a slight lisp around the extended fangs. “You can’t possibly think that this matter—”

“May I finish?”

Clyde glowered at Fabian, but quieted. By this point, it was becoming quite clear to me who was wearing the pants in this relationship.

“As I was saying,” Fabian continued, turning his attention back to Sara, “he most likely believes that Clyde worked some form of magic to make me tire of him. Though it is far from the case, Gideon won’t understand unless he hears it directly from me. And as I don’t fancy him using his magics to overpower me in the process, I want to know where he is hiding during the day so that I might seek him out and prevent him from casting anything truly nasty before I can get in my say.

“Are you satisfied with this, or would you prefer”—he ran his tongue over a fang in an all too suggestive motion—“more details?”

“No,” I said faintly, “that’s quite enough for us.”

Now that I had a better understanding of what we were after and why, I wished they had said something about this mess from the start. I might have changed the way I went at this case. Not by much, but maybe Sara and I would have looked at the behavior of the necromancer in a different light.

Then again, maybe not. The vampire murders were still pretty insane, even if it was the act of a jealous lover instead of a power grab.

Love was a potent motivating force, and people did all kinds of crazy things in its name. Look at what had happened with Helen of Troy. An entire city under siege, gone to waste, and a war remembered thousands of years later, all because of the abduction of a single woman.

Max Carlyle had done something similar, planning for who knew how many centuries to displace Royce as the master of New York and utterly destroy his empire. All because Royce had killed the woman Max loved.

One had to hand it to the Greeks. They thought big when it came to the destruction of their enemies.

“I’ll assign you a new bodyguard tomorrow,” Clyde declared, stalking over to the couch to kneel next to it, his hand drifting over Fabian’s arm, which had resumed stirring the bowl once more. “Perhaps a human one. I don’t care for the idea of you two running around town with no protection. Even if Gideon would not hurt you, there are others who would.”

Though I was thankful for his offer, I couldn’t help but wonder what he had to gain by keeping us alive. Maybe Royce had threatened him with some form of dire consequence if he continued to use us to deal with the necromancer on his behalf, or if something terrible happened to us.

Clyde glanced at us over his shoulder, his eyes once again an icy blue. He had gained some control over himself, finally, though he was still clearly upset. “If you are going to continue your search, then we need to rethink how you will be going about it. I am not certain yet if I want to continue to use your services. We’ll discuss this again tomorrow.”

We were obviously dismissed. Sara shook her head and tugged on my arm, pulling me away, but Fabian held up a staying hand.

“Ladies, do not fret. You are still human yet, and Gideon does not trouble himself in the affairs of those who are not of Other blood, aside from doing his best to maintain a measure of secrecy about his presence and his actions. If you do continue your search, then knowing that may be of some use to you.”

I offered him a wan, humorless smile. “Thank you, Mr. d’Argento. We’ll keep that in mind.”

He nodded, his own smile sly and secretive. I had a bad feeling that Fabian had his own agenda and was planning something unpleasant for Clyde, who was currently quite interested in exploring Fabian’s bare chest.

I didn’t envy the vampire. Either one of them.