Page 90 of Betrayed in Blood
That woke me up. But if there was a vamp in the house, it wasn’t surprising they might be in the kitchen or the small entertainment room down the hall from it.
Then Devon was back, and he shook his head.
“Team One. First floor cleared. Moving to the second floor.”
The earbuds crackled again. “Teams Three and Four, move into position.”
They were our backups in case someone came home early, or we found more vamps than we bargained for.
I led the way up the stairs. My heart rate intensified with each step I took. If my mother was being held against her will, I assumed she would be in her bedroom. They could have locked her in any room, but April, mesmerized or not, would want her mother comfortable. The master bedroom had a small entertainment center, a master bath, and a mini fridge.
Harlow’s task was to head for Christopher’s office on the first floor and search for anything that could link April to Venizi or any other vamp House. I made the assumption that, after Christopher’s death, April would continue to use her father’s office. That would change over time, but not this soon.
Devon and I cleared the front bedrooms. April’s room was next to mine with windows that looked out over the east portion of the estate. When I opened the door to my room, I paused. Nothing had changed since I’d been there. It was like I would come home someday and settle back in. I’d expected Christopher would have demanded the room be redecorated, but he’d always let Mom have her way with the decor, as long as it was tasteful. The only exceptions were his office and his entertainment center. Perhaps he didn’t care because he was too busy with his mistresses.
I closed the door and paused. The master bedroom was down the hall on the right and overlooked the pool. There was a room next to it that Mom used as her personal office. It was more of a mini library with a desk and resting chair she used for reading.
With the number of SUVs that left the estate earlier, we suspected that one or two vamps would be left behind. Russell took care of the one downstairs. If there were any others, they would most likely be in Mom’s office, and it looked like the door was partially open. If there was someone in there, why didn’t they hear us? We’d been quiet, but a vamp should have picked up something—if they were paying attention.
Devon took the lead, but I was right behind him. He stopped short of the door, turned to me, and raised his hand, pointing one finger, two, and then three. He moved quickly as he entered the room, and by the time I followed behind, he was already moving on the vamp, who’d been sitting on the resting chair, wearing a headset, and focused on his laptop. My guess was that he was watching a movie or gaming, but it didn’t matter.
He glanced up, probably thinking it was his buddy, then tried to move when Devon, moving like an avenging angel, took two steps, picked the vamp up, and with a single knife thrust to the lower back, hit the kidneys, and the vamp went limp.
I ignored the blood that seeped over the resting chair and the plush carpet. Mom wouldn’t care. She wouldn’t be returning here any time soon—if at all. I wanted to race to her room, but there could be a third vamp, so I waited for Devon to drop the vamp by the door.
He took a position on one side of the master suite’s double doors while I took the other. I sucked in a breath and slowly opened the door as I peeked in.
A single bedside lamp was lit, casting enough light to show someone in the bed. Devon came in behind me, quickly scanning the room, then the walk-in closet, before moving for the bathroom. He walked out and shook his head. We were alone.
It was barely nine o’clock. Mom wasn’t a night owl, but this was still too early for her to be in bed. But if she’d been locked in this room for hours or days with nothing to do, her sleep patterns could have changed. Television had never been her thing, but there was a stack of books on the circular table between two comfortable lounging chairs.
I tiptoed to the bed, not wanting to scare her. Once I stopped next to the nightstand, I got my first glimpse of her. Her hair was tousled, but she looked peaceful in sleep. I tapped her shoulder.
“Mom.”
Her breathing remained steady. I shook her shoulder and spoke louder, “Mom. Wake up.”
It took a heavier shake and two more requests before she slowly rolled onto her back. My breath caught. Without makeup and her hair in a tangled mess, she looked old. All of her vibrancy appeared to have been sucked out of her. I went rigid. Had they been using her as a blood donor?
When her eyes opened, they were glassy. It took her a moment to focus, squinting as she took me in.
“Mom. It’s me. Cressa.”
When there was no recognition, I panicked. I grabbed her shoulders. “Mom. Wake up. It’s me.”
I thought she’d been mesmerized, and maybe she had been, but I recognized the signs of sedation. Had she been taking sleeping pills, or had they been slipping them into her food?
I rubbed her hands. “Mom. You need to wake up. We need to go.”
Her eyes blinked a few more times. “Cressa?” Her voice was raw as if she hadn’t spoken for days.
“Yes, Mom. We’re going for a ride. Can you stand?”
She glanced around the room then her gaze stopped on Devon. After a long stare, she said, “I know you from somewhere.”
He stepped closer. “Yes. We met a few months ago at La Sedona.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Good wine, but horrible people go there.”
