Page 63 of Blood from the Marrow
Elena took a deep breath. If she was stepping into the race, there couldn’t be any hesitation. She looked at all the women staring at her with so much faith. “Have cars waiting at the airport.” An idea formed. “Call the cartels who’ve reached out and have them meet us in St. Augustine tomorrow evening.”
“St. Augustine?” Lib furrowed brow. “Narine’s?—”
“It’s a fucking fortress,” Elena said, rather than admitting she couldn’t stand the idea of strangers in her home. “And it will make quite the point to claim it as our command post.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“How fuckedup is it that this place is so beautiful?” Zuri said when she stepped out of the SUV after Elena. Her eyes, shimmering like warm honey in the afternoon sun, made the irritation from the UV light filtering through the woven material of Elena’s hood worth it.
“It seriously looks like a castle,” Marisol agreed, attention on the high stone walls that enclosed the compound. She turned to help Hel unload the suitcases they’d packed in a hurry upon arriving at the penthouse that morning. Before they’d made the nearly five-hour drive north from Miami.
The now highest ranking member of Narine’s relatively tiny cartel, someone low enough on the chain that she had not been in attendance in Georgia, met Librada and Sofia at the gate. She didn’t raise her hood-covered head to look at Lib when she spoke. Didn’t do anything but swear that she knew nothing of Narine’s plans until news reached them of her death. Didn’t so much as breathe in Elena’s direction when she handed Lib a ring of keys and a full backpack.
Elena could have smelled the rank fear pouring from her even without heightened senses. She left the others to unloadtheir belongings and strode toward the pathetic creature. As soon as she neared, the young vampire visibly trembled.
“Elena, I didn’t?—”
“How many of you are here?” Elena looked at the retaining wall like she could see through poured concrete.
“There is no one inside,” she said, like it took effort to speak without collapsing. “I ordered everyone out the moment Librada called and said you would reclaim this territory.” When the words started, they flowed like rapids through a breach. “I mean, not that it wasn’t always yours. We know that you gave?—”
“Enough,” Elena said so she could think for a moment. “What is your name?”
“Margot,” she replied like she expected Elena to strike her down the moment she’d gotten an answer.
“Margot, have any of your compatriots fled?” Elena paused. “And look at me when I speak to you.”
With effort, Margot looked up at her with watery blue eyes. She furrowed her brows like Elena’s question was insane. “Fled?”
“When word came of what happened to Narine,” Elena explained.
“None,” she swore. “I told them all to assemble here. We expected that you would have questions.” She swallowed hard. “When Librada called, I moved us to a property less than a mile from here. Of course, we will evacuate if?—”
“Do you wish to remain here, Margot?”
The woman nodded.
“Do your fellow?—”
“Yes,” she said with visible relief. “We all want to stay. To join your cartel.”
“Why?”
Margot looked at her as if debating.
“The truth.” Elena gave her permission to speak freely.
“Where else would we go?” Margot replied with a simple question.
“I’m sure Sayah will happily receive?—”
“Respectfully, I would rather die,” she said before casting her eyes down again. “She killed Narine. And I don’t know how, but I’m sure she set all of this in motion. The Narine I knew was content here. She wouldn’t have—” Margot stopped herself because Narinehaddone the unthinkable.
Elena’s chest burned with complicated grief. The adopted daughter she’d known had been the one to sacrifice herself for Elena. Not the one who tried to kill her.
“Submit to compulsion. Let me test your loyalty?—”
Margot knelt on the hot cement, head bowed, and opened her mind willingly to Elena’s questions. Within minutes, Elena was sure that Margot had not been involved in Narine’s planning. As far as Margot knew, only Narine’s sons had colluded with her. It made sense that Narine would keep such a dangerous idea quiet, but Elena would still check all eighty-four remaining members of Narine’s cartel before allowing them into hers, tiresome as that would be.
