She dropped to her knees, willing to beg for what she wanted, what she needed—to be a part of the hunt for these killers. Because there had to be more than one of them. Probably a whole murderous pack. No single human could have taken down three vampires and sent Lucien scurrying for cover. She wanted to see these humans brought to justice—Vampire justice. For reasons she couldn’t explain, it mattered more to her than anything had in centuries—with one exception, and that was something, someone, she never permitted herself to think about.
“Lord Raphael,” she said, trying to keep the pleading out of her voice. “Permit me to be a part of this. These were Lucien’s children who were murdered, and yes, it was at least partly his fault,” she hurried to add. “But my Sire is alive, my lord. I know this.”
Her voice died, her throat suddenly dry as a desert as Raphael’s already chilly expression turned absolutely frigid. Sophia knew in that moment that Lucien’s remaining nights would be counted on one finger if Raphael found him alive.
Hot tears pressed against the back of her eyes, a wrenching grief that squeezed her heart painfully. She loved Lucien. In spite of his many faults, he’d given her the greatest gift of life when he’d turned her, and they’d shared so much joy together. It would hurt her if he died, even if he had brought it on himself.
She bowed her head, unwilling to let Raphael or any of the others witness her pain. Clenching her jaw and forcing her sorrow aside, she raised her eyes to meet his once again. “I know you don’t need my help, Lord Raphael, but I beg you to let me offer it. For the sake of Lucien’s people, who do not deserve to suffer for his misdeeds.”
Raphael just stared at her with no expression. “Wei Chen, have someone see Sophia to her room,” he said.
“Yes, my lord,” the Seattle nest leader said from behind her.
Sophia came gracefully to her feet, turning in time to see a slender, young vampire conferring with Wei Chen, who looked up and caught her gaze. “Sophia,” he said. “This is Lukas. He’ll show you to the room you’ll be using during your stay.”
Sophia nodded, then dared to turn back to face Raphael once more. “My lord?” she asked. He still said nothing, regarding her with a flat expression that gave no clue as to what he was thinking. She drew a deep breath and made her way toward the waiting Lukas, aware of everyone watching her as she wound through the cluster of furniture and across the echoing space.
At least he hadn’t sent her back home immediately. That was something. And if he tried . . . she had power of her own. Far more than she let on. It wasn’t enough to take on Raphael, but it was enough to challenge anyone who thought they could set her aside like an unwelcome puppy. She would hunt for the killers. With Raphael’s help or without it.
Chapter Twelve
“She’s telling the truth,” Duncan said once the doors had closed securely behind their visitor.
“What she knows of it,” Wei Chen clarified, taking his seat again. “I had our people do some checking. Like she said, she’s been living down in South and Central America for nearly a century, most recently in Rio. For all purposes, she’s been without a master, flying under the radar. You know how relaxed they are about those things down there.”
Raphael sat back, content to let his people talk it out.
“She flew in yesterday, my lord,” Juro provided. “It was a private flight, but the distance necessitated several stops and took some time. At least part of her travel was in daylight, however, which lends credence to her claim of urgency.”
It was Cyn who asked the question they were all thinking. “So where is this Lucien guy? Is he dead?”
All of Raphael’s people looked to him for the answer. He thought about it, his fingers stroking Cyn’s leg absently. “No, he’s not. Lucien was never the most powerful among us, but his strength was still considerable. His death would certainly have been detectable to you here in Seattle, Wei Chen, and probably even to most of us in Malibu. Particularly if the death was unexpected. Even he was taken out by one of his own in a coup d’état, there would have been at least some losses among his children, and that many deaths would definitely have been felt. Unless Lucien has a child we don’t know about. Someone strong enough to eliminate his Sire and seize power without a ripple.”
Duncan snorted softly, circling around to take the chair next to Cyn. “Highly unlikely, my lord. Lucien has always chosen playmates as his children, not players.”
“Sophia could do it,” Wei Chen observed. “She’s hiding her power, but it’s there.”
“She probably could,” Duncan agreed thoughtfully. “But she’s spent the last hundred years following in her Sire’s hedonist footsteps, so her strength remains mostly potential. And if she’d eliminated him, she’d hardly risk coming here on a pretense of looking for him. There would be no point. Plus, she seems to genuinely care for Lucien, which makes her an unlikely candidate to have killed him.”
“Perhaps,” Wei Chen conceded. “My lord,” he continued, turning to Raphael. “Would it be possible for Lucien to mask his signature well enough that he couldn’t be found?”
Raphael shrugged. “Not from me. He is not within my territory, but he is alive and I will find him.”
Cyn moved restlessly. “But finding him isn’t our first priority, is it? If he’s not here, he doesn’t matter, except that now we know the killers started up there and traveled here.”
“Why?” Wei Chen asked. “That’s what I’d like to know. And how did they decide on who their targets would be? Jeremy,” he said, turning to the vampire sitting quietly next to him. “Did you know Giselle or her nest mates? Did you do any work for them, by chance?”
Jeremy shook his head right away. “All of my clients are U.S. based. And I didn’t do any work for Marco or Preston, so that can’t be the link.”
Wei Chen blew out a frustrated breath. “So, why them? How did they come to the attention of these killers?”
“They didn’t,” Cyn said suddenly. She leaned forward intently. “I’m betting the humans never saw any of their vampire targets before the day they hit them.”
The Seattle vampires were staring at her with matched expressions of doubt. Despite what Raphael had told them earlier, they’d expected his Cyn to be nothing more than arm candy. Duncan and Juro knew better and were regarding her with thoughtful expressions, but Cyn ignored all of them.
“We need to talk to that local guy,” she said, halfway to herself, before shifting her gaze to Loren. “Colin Murphy.”
Loren nodded. “I figured we wouldn’t have time tonight. He’ll be here an hour after sunset tomorrow. But why is that important? Surely those of us in this room are better qualified to find and destroy these people. Frankly, the last thing we need is the interference of human authorities who will only get in the way.”
“Maybe,” Cyn conceded with little conviction. “But consider this. We know Lucien betrayed his peoples’ location to the killers. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn’t do it knowing what would happen to them. But that means whoever he told was someone he knew and trusted. Probably not the killers, but someone working with them.”
“Why do you say that?” Loren asked.
“Lucien’s a vampire lord. Even if he isn’t the strongest one around, he has at least enough juice to read humans. Wouldn’t he know if the person he was talking to hated him enough to commit murder?”
“Assuming he bothered to look for it,” Duncan observed. “If it was someone he trusted, someone he’d known for years . . .” He shook his head. “He might never have noticed a shift in sympathies.”
“But see, that’s why we need the cooperation of this guy Colin. I don’t know the humans around here. I don’t know who might hate vampires enough to want them gone, or who has the stomach and the organization to commit multiple murders. Do you?” she asked Loren.
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and frowned, clearly considering Cyn’s question. He shook his head. “No, I don’t, and you’re right, I should. But if this started in Vancouver, there might not be anyone local involved, either.”
Cyn shrugged. “That brings us back to how they knew where Marco and Preston lived. Jeremy, too, but especially Marco and Preston. Mariane went into town. Anyone could have followed her home and she never would have known.”
“Such a possibility would never have occurred to her, and why should it?” Jeremy said, somewhat defensively.
“It shouldn’t,” Cyn agreed. “And no one’s blaming Mariane. My point is it would have been easy to know where you lived, Jeremy, but not Marco and Preston. They didn’t get out much and when they did it was mostly with other vampires. And it’s not like you live in the suburbs here. Their houses were miles from the highway. If you didn’t know to look for them, you wouldn’t have known they were there.”
“But most of us live within the compound now, even the ones who lived separately before,” Loren objected. “How would someone know the few of us who live outside and where to find them?”
“Exactly,” Cyn said. “Do you have a database somewhere, addresses, phone numbers, that sort of thing?”
“We maintain a database, of course. But it doesn’t include the details of their security arrangements. I’m not certain I would have known if someone had asked me what Marco or Preston’s private quarters looked like.”
“But both of them lived in this area before you built this compound, right?”
“They did, yes. It was Marco who suggested we move here to Cooper’s Rest in the first place.”
Cyn considered that, her mouth twisting as she bit the inside of her lower lip. “How many vampires do you have living outside?” she asked.