Page 21 of Blood & Ice

William observed the exchange with interest, and I could practically see him filing it away for later. Wanda’s brothers were all as intelligent and willful as their sister, but with the added benefit of age. William and his twin, Amos, were over a century older than Wanda, who was already ‘middle-aged’ as a witch in her one hundred and forties. There were times when I was grateful to have smart cohorts. But this wasn’t one of them.

Lorcan, thankfully, seemed oblivious to the tension and answered the original question honestly. “Astrid wants to help. She was quite insistent, in fact. Since she is currently occupied with lessons with Bea, she sent her beau in her place. She believes his family name might hold some sway with the new leader of the Portland clan.”

Which was entirely possible. The Thorne Clan of vampires had been one of the oldest and most violent in Europe’s history. Most vampires in the western world could trace their bloodlines back to the Thornes at some point. They’d also been the ones to incite their bloody conflict with witches when Robertus Thorne tore Alixia Grimsbane’s throat out. Now an eerie echo was playing out beneath the flagstones of Blood Rose. A vampire had attacked Vivian, possibly on the Thorne’s behalf.

“Let me guess,” I drawled. “Astrid used big puppy dog eyes to get her way?”

“And a pout, yes,” Lorcan said with an indulgent smile. For amoment, his face practically glowed with affection. As irritating as Lorcan could be sometimes, I’d never call him anything less than a doting father figure.

“Of course she did,” I sighed, flicking on my turn signal.

The sentiment would have been sweet in any other circumstance. Astrid had been trying to settle into the role of a sister-in-law in a spectacularly awkward fashion that was nonetheless cute. But by helping me, she was putting one of the last people Aurea wanted in on the secret in the middle of the investigation. I wasn’t sure how to forbid Rook from coming without giving more away, so here we were, nearly to the newly refurbished Portland vampire headquarters.

“So, who took Rupert’s place?” William began conversationally, thankfully moving on from the fraught moment. “I’ve been busy settling everyone into the Hollow. I haven’t had much time to do politicking. Not that I wanted much to do with that lot to begin with.”

“Cecelia Pleasant,” I answered. “Better known as Cici. A lot of paperwork had to be signed to get her in charge of the clan’s assets. A man named Joseph was the leader in the interim, according to the sources I still have in Portland.”

“You have sources who can tell you when vampire leadership changes in a different county?” William asked, raising a skeptical brow at the back of my head.

“No, but I have friends in Portland PD and at City Hall. All I had to do was ask an old friend about a tip off involving corporate crime and I got an overview of their public records.”

Lorcan winced. “Getting the human police involved could get messy, Chief Morgan. Are you certain that was wise?”

No, it wasn’t. I hated that I might have put an old friend in danger by involving him in this monster madness. But my only other option was to put my children in jeopardy, and that was an unacceptable risk. Detective James Birch could take care ofhimself. Sean and Charlie couldn’t.

“I don’t see that I have much choice. Walking in blind is too dangerous. If our culprit is in there and this Pleasant woman goes to bat for him, we could be stonewalled for a while. Blackmail isn’t my preferred method for dealing with criminals, but it’ll do in a pinch. Hand over the murderous bastard and I won’t hand over evidence of embezzlement.”

Lorcan looked like he wanted to argue with me, but shut his mouth quickly when we rounded a corner into the lazily curving cul-de-sac. He let out an audible swallow, eyes scanning the McMansion with apprehension. Apparently, Maverick wasn’t the only person afraid to return to this house.

I undid my belt and was out my door before any of them had a chance to pull me back and talk some sense into me. By the time they caught up with me, I was already halfway up the drive, ignoring the crosshairs I could feel on my back. There were a few good places a gunman could set up around the yard, and Miss Pleasant would have been foolish not to have a few stationed in anticipation of our arrival. You didn’t greet a royal Sidhe and the leaders of opposing vampire clans unarmed. If everyone played nice, we would leave here untouched. If not...

“It looks like they went for a more gothic aesthetic,” Lorcan commented as we mounted the stairs to the patio. There was a lot of gorgeous architecture going on, but I couldn’t pay it much mind.

“I think the gargoyles are a bit much,” Rook said dryly. “It looks like a tacky haunted castle attraction.”

“You would know a thing or two about that, wouldn’t you, Mr. Thorne?” a woman’s silken voice said from the open doorway. Her voice preceded her like an eerie echo, and didn’t seem to match the person it belonged to.

I recognized Cecilia Pleasant from the handful of photos James was able to acquire of her on short notice. She was a littlething. I might have mistaken her for a gangly teen if I didn’t know better. She was slim and nearly androgynous. The slacks and man’s dress shirt she wore didn’t help with the confusion. Her eyes were almost abnormally large, fixed like blue marbles in her face. A mop of blonde Shirley Temple curls barely brushed the tops of her ears. Her freckles were so picture perfect someone could have dotted them onto her cheekbones with a paintbrush. Her petal mouth was stretched in an unpleasant and incongruous smile as she stared at Rook.

Rook smiled back, though it visibly cost him. The reminder of his imprisonment at Blood Rose was still a sore spot.

“Yes, I know a thing or two about castles,” he said. “If you’re going to commit to the bit, you might try a little harder. Or at least make it fun. Think of all the families you’d attract if you installed a moat.”

Cici’s smile twisted into a tiny smirk. “Cute. But I don’t recall inviting you here, Mr. Thorne. I was assured by my personal assistant that I would be meeting with representatives of the Winter Court of the Sidhe and the Haven Hollow clan. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait in the hall.”

“But—”

Something hate-filled and slightly mad flashed through Cecelia’s eyes for just a second. I was reminded forcibly of everyChildsplaymovie I’d ever seen and took a half-step in front of Rook, putting my body between his and hers. She craned her neck to keep him in sight, paying no attention to me whatsoever.

“I don’t care who your father is, Chesley Thorne,” she hissed. “You are not welcome here. Wait in the hall or I will have you forcibly removed.”

Rook tensed, as though debating whether to disregard the order or not. I gave a slight shake of my head, and said aloud, “That’s fine. He’s mostly here for my sister-in-law’s peace of mind. He’ll let her know when we leave here safely won’t you?”

Rook frowned, but nodded. “I’ll wait.”

“Lovely,” Cici said, beckoning us forward. She wore leather riding gloves, which looked out of place with the rest of her ensemble. Though I wasn’t sure why I was expecting cohesion, from the leader of a murderous vampire mob. “Follow me.”

We did. Cici led us down endless white tiled hallways and past well-appointed bedrooms and office spaces. The trademark red that the clan favored was everywhere. The draperies and hall runners were like eye-catching smears of scarlet. It felt like a very ritzy crime scene, complete with dead people. Dozens of them poked their heads out of rooms to stare at us as we passed. None of the looks were friendly. A few even muttered threats at Lorcan under their breath, not caring if we heard.

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