Blade on the Hunt (19 page)

Chapter Twenty

It was late, but it was also Venice, so despite the rain—maybe to spite it—windows were opened up and the sound of conversations, of clinking glasses, televisions and music drifted down to the street they walked along.

The villa loomed ahead and each of the three approached it from a different angle. Rowan had let go of David. He’d been trained. He was smart. She could ask for a lot worse than his first field work to be in the company of so many who’d step in if he needed help.

Brigid pushed to the surface as Rowan reached for their connection, wanting to view this from Her perspective. This close, and all the windows remained dark. Some on the third floor appeared to be uncovered, but the first two floors had dark drapes and shutters. Someone could be inside, behind those covered windows.

There was a lip on the edge of the canal leading to a small dock, mostly rotted. The villa’s back wall faced it there. It would give Rowan a measure of cover while she got a closer look.

She motioned to Recht that she was headed that way. He paused, looked at her path and then nodded. Did the same.

Now as she walked the tiny ledge over to the dock, the ooze of broken, misused magic began to stick to her skin.

Brigid didn’t much like it. The surface of Rowan’s skin burned white hot. So hot she nearly fell into the water when she jerked at the pain. And then it was duller and finally normal again. Except the magic wasn’t clinging to her anymore.

Okay, so a little pain was worth that.

The wrought iron gate appeared to be stuck closed with disuse. But it allowed her to get close enough to see the house. She took in the scene. Second floor shutters all closed but the ones here at the back of the house on the first floor were bare but for drawn curtains.

She didn’t need to see in the house to smell it though. Not just death, but very bad death. Pain. Fear.

Inside Rowan knew Brigid had seen this before. Maybe back when Enyo killed the last Vessel.

Once she’d had that thought she was sure that was it. Enyo was there. Oh, not at that moment. Clive had been right. There was no one in the house. But in the city. Rowan scaled the stone wall quickly and walked along the edge until she got past the trip wire that had been left armed.

The shuttered windows were light tight and would be locked most likely, but the third floor had a balcony that looked like it led up to a rooftop deck.

So many people, even people who should know better, forgot how easy it was to hop from a fence or wall to an upper floor window or deck. The sheer number of times she’d entered a place that way because it wasn’t locked never ceased to amaze her.

Rowan jumped, grabbing the edge of the casement around one of the shuttered windows. There was no way she could have gotten in there, but that perch allowed her to get a handhold and pull up to the deck and up to the roof. Where, as she suspected, several large skylights had been installed.

After making sure the room below was empty, Rowan got the French doors to the deck open and went inside.

Before they’d left the church’s courtyard earlier, Donna had given Rowan a talisman. A coin that made her feel better the moment her friend had placed it in Rowan’s palm.

It heated through the material of her pants, burning against her thigh. Rowan didn’t have to be told to know it was warding off some bad shit in that house. The stain of what had been done there would not be easily removed. If it ever could.

Moments later, Clive strolled in, Alice in his wake.

They did a sweep of the third floor and then she and Recht met each other as she came down to the second floor and he was coming up. David popped up a second later.

Warren came down the other end of the hall. He hit a code and the doors all clicked unlocked.

While Rowan and the others made sure the villa was truly empty, Warren and Recht headed off to be sure there weren’t any alarms or listening devices they hadn’t seen and dealt with.

Burnished hardwood and wrought iron curved up a grand staircase. The furnishings were antique and absolutely stunning. Art hung on the walls that the Vampires probably stole centuries before. It was, quite honestly, one of the loveliest homes she’d ever been to in Venice. In fact, there weren’t many places in Venice left with this kind of majesty.

Which made what had been done within the walls even more repugnant and offensive. Everything awful in the world seemed to seep from the walls. From the beautiful rugs at their feet. Hopelessness cloyed against her skin as they searched the place. They kept going outside to get fresh air so the nausea could subside.

Rowan wasn’t sure that gorgeous art and the antiques could be saved. Or the home itself. There was no telling how that magic was going to affect the people living and working in the vicinity. Would it leak? Should it be neutralized? She was out of her league when it came to this kind of magic. That’s when she made the call to allow Donna into the villa to see what her take was.

* * *

It wasn’t quite an hour and a half later when everyone came back together to discuss the situation.

“They sure up and got out of here fast. Like they were ready to go at a moment’s notice,” Donna said.

“That’s a basic precaution all Vampires are advised to take. Most of us have multiple bolt holes, caches of money and the like. It’s a skill we don’t like to let get rusty. If they had anything to hide, they took it with them.” Warren paced.

Rowan looked to Donna. “What did this magic? They left that behind. A signature.”

Donna wrung her hands a few moments. “You don’t understand. If anyone knew what some of us were capable of, all would bear the punishment. We’d be in danger by those who’d seek to engage our services, voluntary or not. We’ve been drowned and stoned and burned since the first of us. We have laws I won’t break.”

Like Rowan could argue with that? It was nothing but the truth.

“I did get a call. The other practitioners have all consulted with one another and we don’t think any being of a power who could do this,” Donna waved a hand, “has left Venice.”

“Why is she still here then?” Rowan asked. A boat and they could have been gone from town and on a plane before Rowan had even left her own house earlier that night. “Is there something she needs from here that she can’t get anywhere else? As a Vampire or magically?”

“We’re looking into that now. There aren’t any holy days for at least a month for those of us in the known arts. There are certainly places here that are conducive to personal power and working spells. This is an old place. That’s the beauty of old places.”

Clive spoke. “I don’t know of anything she’d need here that would aid her. Not based on any history or lore that I’ve been taught.”

Recht shook his head.

“Maybe it’s not a place she came for but an item or some sort of ceremony. Maybe this is her new thing. Like she declared her candidacy for Empress of Monstertonia and now her gig is traveling around and causing trouble.”

“And we caught her in mid trouble and she had to scramble to get out of the way. She didn’t expect us to find her here.” Clive squeezed the bridge of his nose at the thought.

“At least not yet. We came to Venice early, remember? We were supposed to stop in Rome but changed our mind at the last minute.” Rowan tucked that away to stew on it in the background. But she had things to do. “Do we need to stay here or can we get moving? We still have some darkness left so I’d like to get back to it.”

“Once you leave, I’ll let some of my compatriots in. The more traditions the better. One of us will hopefully see something that can help. In the mean time, we’ll be keeping watch for you to see who is coming and going. So we’ll be safer,” Donna assured her.

“I don’t want to leave you without more protection.”

Clive nodded. “If she came back...”

“We’re no small power.” Donna stood taller.

Warren bowed deeply. “Madam, you are of course, very powerful. You have my admiration as a petty dabbler in spellwork myself.” His attention shifted to Rowan, asking if it was cool for him to stay there.

It was his territory this was all happening in. He’d want to run Enyo to ground nearly as much as Rowan did. But this was also part of his job. A Vampire in his land, one who owed him fealty, had done this. Left whatever stain this gross magic had by doing whatever secret stuff so awful Rowan couldn’t even imagine what it could be.

He was stepping back, giving the hunt over to her for real, and in doing so, he was being a better Scion. Rowan nodded slightly and he turned to Donna again.

“Would you consider letting me stay here with you while you and your friends go through this place? As I said, I’m a petty dabbler so I’m sure you could all teach me a few things.”

Donna sniffed and then smiled, flattered. “If it’s all right with everyone else, we’d love to have you.”

Rowan nodded her thanks and they quickly took off after promising to keep Warren updated.

Chapter Twenty-One

Recht headed off in one direction, with Alice. He had access to a nice little boat—access meaning he stole it—and they planned to search via water.

“David, I need you to go back and deal with Carey. He needs to know what’s going on so he looks where he should. I’m heading to the HC villa. I want to case it a bit. Text me when you connect with him.”

David paused a moment. Rowan knew he was most likely trying to figure out if he’d been exiled. He nodded. “I will. And then I’ll join you once you let me know where you are.” He darted off without giving her a chance to argue.

She pretended to wipe away a tear, sniffing. “They grow up so fast.”

“You think this situation with Hunter Corp. and the business with your one-eyed friend are connected.”

Rowan sighed before turning to face Clive. “There’s a connection, but I don’t think I’m seeing all of it just yet.”

“I’m afraid you’re correct. I’m going to sweep along this way. I will reconnect with you over there in an hour. Don’t ignore my texts.”

“I don’t ignore them. Sometimes I don’t see them because I’m busy.” Or when she didn’t want to deal with him. Which was technically ignoring but not really. Probably. Anyway, she’d go where she wanted, when she wanted. So there.

His expression told her he knew what she’d been thinking. “Whatever you say. So, I’ll be texting you to get your whereabouts.”

“I’m going inside if it looks safe. This is the job. You knew it before you put a ring on it so suck it up. Go on. I’ll see you later.” She kissed him quickly before jogging the other direction.

The night was heavy. It had rained on and off over the ten minutes it took Rowan to make her way over to the side of Venice facing Guidecca. The Hunter Corp. residence was on a side canal not too far away from the last gondola yard remaining in Venice. And the roof gave her a place to settle in to watch the comings and goings without being visible herself.

It didn’t take much time for Rowan to locate the people watching the villa, waiting. Within ten minutes she’d already started to think of them as the stupids.

There were three of them. They smoked and spoke loudly to one another and on their phones. She knew exactly where they were the whole time and not a single time did even one of them look up higher than street level.

She took pictures with a nifty pocket-sized camera with fantastic zoom. Carey had given it to her before she’d come back to Germany.

Technology being what it was, she was able to then send the pictures directly from her camera to her phone and then off to Carey to see if he could get a bead on who these watchers were.

They smelled human. Moved like it too. But until she’d gathered some more information, she’d hold off on saying it was certain. Which meant she needed to get a lot closer. After she got into that villa.

No one seemed to be inside. And when the stupids on surveillance wandered off after talk of some wine and a snack, she sent a quick text to Clive that she was headed in to an empty house and would let him know what she found.

He called her immediately and she answered after considering not doing so for a ring or two. “I’m on my way. I just spoke with David. He’s working with Donna’s people and Carey and will stay where he is to coordinate. Wait for me before you go in.”

“The stupids sent to watch the place have wandered off to get drunk and eat too much. I should be doing that right now. And yet, here I am.
There’s no one inside.
If you’re on your way, I’ll see you in a bit. Don’t worry about me. Also, I’ve been doing this for a little bit of time. I’m cool.”

She disconnected but heard him grumbling about how much he did worry just before the call dropped and she slipped her phone back into her pocket and buttoned it closed.

A quick scramble and she was down off the roof and on the little lane the villa sat.

She crept across the nearly deserted street, across a small courtyard and circled the entire villa, seeing nothing.

There was something here. Not here as in where she stood. But in the air. In the city. Something wanted to do harm. To her. To everyone.

She eased through the slightly open double doors leading to the house’s small front garden. It was kept up well, as Rowan assumed it would be. This property had to be worth quite a bit and whatever their sins, Hunter Corp. took care of things of value. Most of them away.

It wasn’t like Rowan shouldn’t have been there. It was prepared for her arrival, or supposed to have been. No staff she could see. Maybe they’d been told to go home.

She peeked through a window and seeing nothing, skipped using the pass code they provided for the front door keypad and picked a lock to a side door.

She knew all the Hunter security protocols and after a quick few minutes she’d managed to get it on a loop so that it didn’t show any doors or windows being opened.

Nothing of note on the main floor, which was pretty much just organized storage. The second floor was the heart of the house, clearly, just like hers. There were flowers in vases. Which she usually hated. These were roses—she preferred peonies—and they were still relatively fresh as they overflowed from vases all over the place.

She checked each of the six bedrooms on the second and third floor. They’d been readied with fresh linens and more fucking flowers. If she hadn’t fixed the security system, every sound in the house would have been recorded she bet. Jerks.

Whatever the case, nothing looked overly suspicious and she wanted to get out so she could position herself closer to where the stupids would be when they came back.

She wanted to know who—and what—they were.

It was as she was rounding the stairs coming back to the first floor that she heard the security system beep off and the front doors opened up.

She edged back up and around the corner, listening to what was happening.

It was the stupids. The average criminal couldn’t have managed to get in and these jokers weren’t even good enough to be average. They’d been given that code, which meant someone at Hunter Corp. had given it to them.

Someone she worked with, knowing she was coming here, had given people the tools to hurt her. She narrowed her eyes as she added them to her to-do list.

Downstairs they made a call, saying she wasn’t coming. Rowan nearly went down there to say hello before she knocked them both out. They moved around and made a lot of noise but made no move to come up the stairs.

Rolling her eyes, she figured she’d just go around, hop out through a window and meet up with Clive as he made his way to her. Amateurs.

Down the hall and out a window onto a decent sized ledge. There should be plants out there, she thought. It would look better. The neighbors would be happier too.

It was just a matter of a careful climb down but once her feet touched the ground the gravity of her choice hit her, along with a nasty spell that knocked her on her ass.

Luckily, once she’d touched the ground, Brigid had taken over and the magic, though disgusting, seemed to slide off her skin after some more super hot skin action.

Hurt like hell, but at least she wasn’t suffering whatever that spell intended her to.

“You motherfucker.” Rowan was back as she rolled out of the way, avoiding another strike of whatever the fuck it was coming from a sorcerer she was going to stomp the hell out of shortly.

All her supercharged blood helped her to open herself up to Brigid so they could work as a unit. It was as if she needed that extra boost to truly create that sort of magical link.

Whatever the case, even at first there was a slight disorientation as Rowan had to fit Her very precisely in her head.

That momentary bit of dizziness had been the break the Vampire who’d been lurking just at the corner of the house needed. He hit her hard, slamming her against the wall.

The air left her with a painful whoosh and he followed up with a punch to the kidneys.

The Goddess fully linked, Rowan gathered her strength and pushed back, kneeing him in the balls as she did.

He flew backward, arms windmilling and hit the low stone wall at his back, tumbling into the street.

“Piece of shit.” She turned her attention back to the sorcerer who’d been tossing magic her way. “Now. We were having a discussion about who you are and why you’re attacking me.”

He didn’t respond, just kept his chanting. Rowan had to be smart and attack at a time when his attention was fully diverted, but not be close when he managed to complete whatever spell he was building.

The Vampire she’d knocked out came back and a few beats later the stupids came around the corner. They all started threatening and making violent gestures at the top of their lungs.

“Dear Goddess, stop yelling. You guys make so much noise it’s a wonder you didn’t get caught before now. Well.” Rowan jerked her chin at the two humans who’d been casing the house. “They couldn’t. But you.”

The Vampire charged and she ducked to the side, just missing when she aimed a hard kick at the side of his knee. It landed and knocked him back, but it just slowed him.

The humans came at her from the other side, babbling in Italian that sounded very much like they were from Rome.

She drew her sword and the sound made her laugh with delight. Power surged through her as she connected with the blessed blade forged just for her.

This too had gotten stronger after her attack and recovery.

“I don’t like to kill humans, even stupid ones. But I will.” Brigid seemed to purr the words but it was Rowan who smiled when they were done.

They cursed at her and she shrugged. One movement. She kissed the hilt and breathed in and out deeply, centering herself.

A flick of her wrist as she stepped to one side, one last movement of her arm and stupid one was dead.

The other human came at her from one side while the Vampire did from the other. Then the sorcerer broke his chant and Rowan had to choose which of those to ignore while she dealt with the biggest threat.

She took the hit from the Vampire as she dropped to her knees and rolled out of the way just as the spell formed and came at her.

Only momentarily deterred, the Vampire picked her up by the back of her shirt and punched her with the other fist and then brought her down hard as he brought his knee up and racked her like he was a professional wrestler.

Sweet mercy
,
that fucking hurt.

Rowan struggled to breathe through bright bursts of jagged pain as one of her ribs broke. But she didn’t drop her blade. Instead she punched stupid two in the temple with her fist wrapped around the hilt. He dropped like a stone and she stumbled from the way as the Vampire came at her again.

Clive rocketed into the yard with a snarl she’d never heard him use. It was a sound of rage, pitched low. Too low for most humans to hear, which made it even scarier.

His eyes had gone amber, burning with violence as he hit the sorcerer from behind, knocking him into the ground so hard he lost consciousness.

Her breath was coming easier as her body was already beginning to knit her rib back together. That hurt, but in a different way. “Don’t kill him or the Vampire. I need to know stuff.”

* * *

Clive looked her over quickly, but carefully as the other Vampire tried to flank them. Rowan knew Clive was just waiting to strike and it was gloriously ferocious when he did.

His gaze, as it was on her, had been concerned and possessive. Hot. But when the other Vamp got close enough, Clive’s energy changed. His features went hard.

Rowan actually didn’t see him move, that’s how fast he went from facing her to holding the other Vampire by the throat, pressing him against the wall of the house.

“I’ll get what we need.” Clive’s voice had changed as his teeth had elongated.

Rowan knew what he planned and if he was fine with it, she was too. The other Vampire though, he hadn’t gotten it yet. He didn’t know who Clive was, only that Clive was powerful.

“I’m not going to tell you or this whore anything.” He spit blood, but Clive had reached up and slapped the Vamp’s face to the side. Again so fast she didn’t see the movement, only the result.

“I don’t need you to. You put your hands on my wife. You hurt her. I won’t tolerate that.” Clive’s voice had lost its cultured cream and carried razors and briars.

Right as Clive plunged into his brain, the other Vampire finally figured it out. It was too late for more than a brief expression of surprise before he went blank and limp.

“I have what we need,” Clive said to Rowan, the tension humming from his muscles. He shifted all that scary attention back on the other Vamp. “I’m looking you in the face so I can watch you as I separate you from your life. Traitor.”

The Vampire landed on the ground, a gaping hole in his chest where Clive had punched through his ribcage and taken his heart.

Okay then.

He turned to her as the body began to break down. “We should deal with this human and go. What do you want to do with the body of the other one and the...
bloody fucking hell.
”

Rowan turned to him and realized the spot the sorcerer had been in was empty.

“Deal with the human. Get what he knows. Leave the bodies here. I’m going after the sorcerer.”

Clive’s jaw may have actually clicked from clenching it so hard. “Let me handle this. It will take moments then
we
will go hunt the sorcerer. Or whoever else we’re actually looking for.”

Oh yeah, Enyo.

“They were sent by pirate Polly?”

He sighed and didn’t even bring the human back to consciousness before taking a little of his blood to create a link and then got what the guy knew all in about two minutes.

“We’re leaving the bodies here? We can clean this.”

Rowan looked at him. “Who ordered this attack on the house?”

“Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to talk outside.”

“Do I need to send a message to those assholes in HC? Tell me that.”

“Yes.”

Rowan nodded. “All right. Leave them and let’s go.”