Page 1 of Dimitri

Chapter 1

Dimitri

“What we know is Master Conti used his coven as a cover for his illegal activities,” Master Edison said in our morning meeting. “The more we’ve learned, the worse it’s become. We finally found evidence that he was involved in trafficking, and unfortunately, he didn’t limit his to paranormals.”

“So are you saying there are humans involved?” Atticus asked.

“We are, yes,” Master Ambrosius said.

That wasn’t good at all. It was bad enough when it was just paranormals we had to deal with. But when humans were involved, we had to be more careful. There would be humans missing children, siblings, other family members. They knew nothing of our kind, and now, some of them would be thrown into the mess that Master Conti had created.

“What are the plans?” Benjamin asked before I could.

“We have an offer of assistance from someone not in the council but close. He’s agreed to get us in contact with someonein Italy that he believes can help us locate the Gallo cousins and any others that might be helping them,” Master Ambrosius said.

You could tell there were several of us who were wondering who would be able to provide assistance to us when there was a knock on the door. There were murmurs when a man walked through after Master Edison opened it to allow him in.

“Do you know who that is?” I whispered to Benjamin as I leaned closer to him.

“You seriously don’t know?” Benjamin asked. I shook my head, but before he could answer, Master Ambrosius leaned in and gave the other man a hug.

“Nikolai,” he said. “You are full of surprises. We must talk after this meeting though, before you are off with the team.”

I raised an eyebrow at Benjamin. He shrugged, seeming to be as clueless about things as I was. At least about some.

“If you don’t know, this is Master Nikolai. He is mated to one of Alpha Maynard’s sons and is master of the Beloved Gem coven in St. Louis. His coven helped with communication between the council and Justin’s former pack when they were hunting down Orsen and his crew.”

Ah, so that was why he seemed familiar. I had seen him before, but only from a distance. I wasn’t aware of what he had done for the council with regards to Orsen though. That was a bit before I joined the council.

“Nikolai still has connections in Italy and believes that he will be able to help us,” Master Edison said. “I’ll let him share with you all what he has in mind.”

“Thank you, Master Edison. I appreciate not only the welcome but the opportunity to help with this situation,” Master Nikolai said as he moved to the center of the front of the room to stand behind the main table. “As Master Edison said, I’m Nikolai. I first became involved with the council when Master Ambrosius and Lucius suddenly appeared on my boat, theBeloved Gem. That isn’t exactly relevant, but it’s how I became involved with the council. Before coming to this country, my coven was in Italy. Tuscany, to be specific.”

There was a bit of a pause, and it was Atticus who spoke up. “Tuscany isn’t where we are looking though. How will that help us?”

Master Nikolai smiled. “My coven was in Tuscany. But because of my winery, I have friends all over the country. I believe that I can help—well, I can put the council in contact with others who can help locate those you are searching for.”

“Who?” Master Ambrosius asked. “Until this most recent incident, I was under the impression I knew of all of the vampire covens in Italy?”

Master Nikolai nodded slowly. He looked as if he were contemplating what he was about to say before he simply shrugged. “Vincent Vittone.”

A round of what I was certain were expletives came from Master Ambrosius. They were in Italian though, and although I spoke a few words of the language, my Italian was quite limited. Master Ambrosius walked away, then back toward Nikolai and pointed while shaking his head. “We will discuss this in a moment,” he said, then seemed to think better of it and took Nikolai’s arm and pulled him from the room.

I was a dragon shifter, and even if they had closed the door all the way, I still would have been able to hear their raised voices out in the hallway. Unfortunately for me, they were speaking Italian, and I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I looked to Benjamin, wondering if he could.

“Do you speak Italian? I never thought to ask.”

Benjamin chuckled. “Yes. Master Ambrosius is asking Master Nikolai how it is that he knows the head of the Sicilian paranormal mafia family.”

“Ah.” That was…interesting and not expected. “How does Master Ambrosius know?”

Benjamin gave me a look that I still hadn’t quite mastered in understanding. “You did not just ask me how the created vampire knows all of the vampire covens in Sicily, did you? Does your grandfather not know all of the Russian dragon thunders?”

“Ja,” I responded. That was a very valid point. Dedushka knew all of them, including the bratva families, and there were more than a few. “So is it that Nikolai knows them that Master Ambrosius is upset about?”

Benjamin held up a finger while there were more raised voices. Then they went silent, and moments later, Master Ambrosius returned with Nikolai behind him. Master Ambrosius went to the far wall, turned around, leaned against it, and crossed his arms in front of him. Nikolai then went back to where he was before and cleared his throat.

“Yes, because he was under the impression that Master Nikolai was very…by the book.”

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