Page 54 of Blood Freed

“Can we get back to the important stuff now?” Kara interrupts.

Marcus’s eyebrow arches. “And you must be the charming Kara Blackwood. Your reputation precedes you.”

“Funny, you don’t have a reputation at all.” Kara’s voice oozes false sweetness.

“Children, please,” Gran interrupts, but I notice the slight curl of amusement on her lips.

Poppy chatters from her perch on the windowsill. “Ooh, someone’s fur is getting ruffled. And I don’t mean mine.”

Marcus turns to the squirrel with obvious surprise. “A talking rodent. How…quaint.”

“Better a talking rodent than a walking corpse,” Poppy shoots back, flicking her tail. “Though I must say, for a dead guy, you’re not entirely unfortunate looking. Right, Kara?”

My sister’s cheeks flush pink. “Shut up, Poppy.”

“Just saying what everyone’s thinking.” Poppy preens. “Those sparks aren’t going to ignite themselves, you know.”

“There are no sparks,” Kara snaps, but her eyes keep darting to Marcus, who’s watching her with undisguised interest.

“If you’re quite finished,” Darick cuts in, “perhaps we could focus on the matter at hand?”

The tension crackles between Kara and Marcus as they take seats at opposite ends of the table. I notice how they keep stealing glances when they think the other isn’t looking. Poppy’s right – there’s definitely something electric in the air, and it’s not just my mother’s crystals.

Marcus leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “Lucien’s been systematically placing his allies in key positions within the High Council. The recent ‘retirements’ of three senior members? All replaced by vampires who owe him favors.”

“Convenient theory,” Kara cuts in, crossing her arms. “Any actual proof?”

His eyes narrow; they’re framed by particularly thick lashes. “I’ve tracked their financial records. Each of Lucien’s new allies received substantial property transfers just before their appointments.”

“That could mean anything,” Kara argues. “Maybe they’re just good at business.”

“All three properties were shell companies traced back to Lucien’s holdings.” Marcus pulls out his phone, sliding it across the table. “See for yourself.”

As Kara glances at the screen, Gran looks over at Marcus. “This is interesting. Darick says you’ve spent some time looking into Lucien’s dealings.”

He nods. “I’ve never liked the motherfu— the man,” he says. “Darick and I had our suspicions about him for some time. We recently started working with other clan leaders who have similar concerns.”

“Selene and Elias,” Darick says. Marcus nods, and Darick goes on, “Have they found anything new?”

“Only more information that supports our theories.”

“What are these theories?” Dad asks.

“Firstly, that there are more elders entangled in this than we’d initially realized,” says Marcus. “And there are additional details on the blood consumption of certain clans. It’s how we determined that Lucien was very likely feeding his people illegally sourced witch blood.”

“All witch blood is illegally sourced,” Kara mutters.

“Let him finish, darling,” Mom says. She turns to Marcus. “So, this all connects to the facility where they held Mia?”

“Ultimately, these are all pieces of the puzzle, Mrs. Blackwood,” Marcus says.

“A puzzle we should put together as soon as possible,” says Gran. “Let’s look at what we could do next.”

“First prize would be to get the Blood Assembly to drop the charges against Soren,” I say.

“I can work on that from the vampire side,” says Marcus. “I still have enough influence to get us face time with High Council members who might listen. Particularly those who’ve shown resistance to Lucien’s suggestions in the past.”

“And I’ll work with Selene and Elias,” Darick adds. “They’ve been gathering evidence for months. Financial records, witness statements, patterns of suspicious deaths among those who opposed Lucien. There has to be something concrete we can show to the Grand Elder by now.”

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