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He doesn’t say a word, but the swirling of dark black energy around him chills me to the bone. “Please, the reason you’re here. Were you able to think about the people we want to find, specific places, numbers or anything that means something symbolically?” I ask him.
The gaze of his red-rimmed eyes still heats my skin, and he doesn’t say a word for the longest of moments while my blood pounds in my throat at the thought of what he could do to my brother and the trouble he could cause if he really knew it was not a one-time occurrence.
He puts down his coffee and spins it slowly with the tips of his fingers as the watches me. “Vampires, rogues who want to destroy the balance the purebloods have created with the humans and others in the underworld over the centuries. Bloodthirsty bastards who like to stalk and attack their victims for the sole purpose of the hunt and the blood they take.”
I shift in my seat. “Any idea the direction their heading, where you would be heading if you were them?”
His eyebrows raise. “You ask a lot of questions. Isn’t that why I came to you?”
I flip the cards on the table over because for this, we won’t be using them, at least today. “Sometimes all you need to do is ask the right questions, put your focus on what's on your mind; your subconscious already knows, but give it permission to lead the way.”
I’ve seen the shift of indifference before, and that’s exactly what I get, but if he wants results, he’s going to need to follow the process just like anyone else. No matter his title or position in this town or how silly he thinks the exercise is.
The vampire master doesn’t take as long as most. “I think they’re heading deep into the Carpathian Mountain range. I can hunt out the smell of the vampires and the rogue shifters they’re working with, but others have suggested I work with you to find out what we may expect to find, to run into? Things we may not be otherwise prepared for. That’s why I’m here, so tell me that.”
My mind races with lore I read years ago. “The rogues, they’re pureblooded vampires too?”
He nods. “They are. Some would say that the rogues are the purest and that we, modern-day vampires who freely roam the land hand in hand with the humans, are the ones who have deviated from the bloody rampage that was our birthright so very long ago.”
“Would they be right?” I ask, cradling the second cup of coffee of the night, soaking in its warmth as the coolness of the night seeps into the window next to us.
His jaw tightens. “They wouldn’t be wrong. Look, I don’t have time for fifty questions. I need answers so I can get a group on the trail.” He glances at this watch and grimaces. “Tell me what else you need from me.”
I pull the shawl around me tighter to ward off the sudden cold, because I don’t need him to say another word. The rogue vampires swirl in my mind, their dark shadows slipping among the dense fog covered forest on the way up the eastern side of the range with the packs of wolves in front of them, beside them, and behind them. “Your instincts were right. The rogues are heading up the east side of the mountain, and they’re heavily guarded by the wolves.” I move the cup in circles, debating whether to tell him what he probably doesn’t even understand.
He takes a long pull from his coffee, his dark eyes drawing mine to his with a magnetic intensity that takes my breath away. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I take a sip of my coffee, but it does nothing to warm the cold that’s come over me as the images of bloodthirsty vampires rip into flesh, tearing it apart with their fangs while drinking their fill of fresh blood. My head spins with the image or the effects of far too long without food of any substance. They have to be stopped, that much is clear, but I’m still not sure if Master Botosoni will be able to do it alone. I close my eyes as a moment of clarity from it all settles over me. “You have to wait for the stone. You won’t be able to find them until it lights the way. If you try to go up the mountain without it, you’ll fail, time and time again.”
Botosoni growls low and deep in his throat, and his eyes flash red. “What stone? There’s no time to wait. These rogues are going to continue killing more humans unless we find them now.”
My mind wanders, and I wrap my arms tighter around myself. “The stone is coming to you. A woman named Madria has it. If you combine it with the witches’ stones, they will light a path that will take you directly to the rogues.” I get up and hold onto the back of my chair for a second, swallowing past the nausea at the back of my throat, willing the bloodthirsty images from my mind, of the fangs and snarling teeth ripping at my skin until nothing is left but a swath of the deepest of blacks. It takes effort to move my lips as the vicious vision shakes me to the very core. “I have to use the restroom,” I whisper, hanging onto the chair as tight as I can, already knowing there’s no way that I’m going to be able to make it.
Chapter 5
Botosoni
The minute her hand grips the chair and her breathing changes I’m up, catching the beauty in my arms before she falls to the floor. I balance her on a knee as I toss bills onto the table, and then shift her into my arms and carry her right out the door.
The way her eyes widened, the change in the beating of her heart and racing of her blood, tells me all that I need to know. Catina saw something that scared the hell out of her. It has to have something to do with the rogues, and all her rambling about the stones and the ferocious bloodthirsty creatures we hunt. Somehow witch baubles will tell us where they are, but we need more information than that, and I have no doubt Catina knows and saw more than she’s said.
I don’t know how yet, but I intend to make the dark-haired beauty tell me what she knows, what she saw in that vision and every detail she can about these stones and witches she rambles about.
The transport to my personal suite at the estate is quick. I make a mental note to send someone back for my car later tonight or tomorrow. I barely have her in my bedroom before her eyes open. The look on her face quickens my move. I get her to the adjoining bathroom with haste and just in time. I’ve barely settled her in front of the toilet before she wraps her arms around the sides, and her stomach heaves.
I lift her lush hair and pull it back as her slight body is racked with unrelentless heaving, until finally it stops. I tuck the thick mass of hair under the neckline of her tank top and leave her for a moment so I can wet a washcloth.
She reaches out to take it from me with shaky hands, but it’s clear that even that takes effort. I press it against her forehead, keeping the coolness compressed to her heated skin for a few moments, before moving it to her eyes and the rest of her face. Catina leans into the seat in an attempt to push back from the toilet, but even that takes effort. She hasn’t even tried to stand yet but is completely off balance even from her knees.
My jaw tightens. “When was the last time you ate?”
She tries to stand again, but I don’t allow it. Instead, I pick her up and set her on the toilet after closing the lid. “I’ll have someone come up and help you get washed up, dressed, and into bed.”
Her pretty brown eyes go wide. “I need to go home. It’s not…” Her face blushes the prettiest of pinks. “It’s not proper for me to be here, with you, like this.”
“What’s not proper is for you to be half starved and left to fend for yourself as fall begins to turn to winter. There wasn’t one trace of food in what you heaved.”
She starts to say something but shakes her head ever so slightly as though the effort to talk, argue, or defend the scum she calls family is just too much to bear. I cut off any further attempt on her part to lie. “I’ll send Clara up shortly. She’ll get you comfortable. Don’t try to stand until she arrives.”
