Cast in Blood (Morgan Blackstone Vampires Book 1) (10 page)

“They’re somewhat linked,” Christophe answered, without looking up from what he was reading. Nicholas sighed and took a few steps into the room so that the younger vampires would have to crane their necks to see him when they looked up.

“Morgan’s Grandsire, the head of your bloodline, was mad as hell when he left. So, are you two are going to tell me why, or shall I just order you both back to Los Angeles, and not add another problem to my already overflowing plate?” Nicholas growled, filling the room with the heat of his anger.

“A few nights ago I went in Morgan’s room, and surprised Lucian,” Charles answered. “I wasn’t thinking, distracted by something that happened at the club.” The younger vampire paused, realizing that he was starting to babble. “Anyway, Lucian flipped out. Read me the riot act about manners, which in a way I deserved, and then he stormed out of the house. Once he was gone, I noticed a strange scent in the room.”
 

“That could be anything, easily explained,” Nicholas countered, with a dismissive wave of his hand, as he began pacing the length of the room.
Please don’t tell me that they’ve pissed off the second most powerful vampire walking the earth, over a strange scent. Come on Morgan, you taught these two better than that.

“That’s possible. However, the smell wasn’t anything natural. There’s no way to describe it other than to say it was heat. Parching, soul–crushing, kill–you–in–hours, make–you–want–to–drink–the–sand, heat.” Charles’s voice went from being confident to a low whisper as he spoke.

“Ok yeah.”
 
Nicholas nodded, and spread his hands in a gesture of openness. “I’ll give you odd, but what does this have to do with Lucian and this mess?”

“The scent was on Morgan, and we discovered something on her neck, Christophe explained, knowing that if Charles finished, his oldest friend would push the limits of Nicholas’s patience. “It was a very small, round puncture, that would be easy to miss, right over her carotid artery.”
 

“A what?” Nicholas asked, stopping in his tracks.
 

“Like an injection site or insect bite?” Marcus asked, from where he’d stood, unnoticed in the open door.

“Injection site. It was too clean to be a bite, and there was no bite reaction, which would be expected considering her condition,” Charles answered turning his attention to Marcus. “The placement is too perfect for an insect. I mean, come on, that would be one damned lucky mosquito.”

“And the two of you suspect...” Nicholas let the question hang unfinished, not certain he wanted to know the answer.
Maybe they aren’t tilting at windmills, but I need something more concrete to bring to The Council than just what Charles and Christophe suspect.

“The only remotely logical explanation we were able to come up with is that somehow Lucian is involved,” Charles offered, hoping that Nicholas would believe what they were saying. “We didn’t change our habits the first two nights he was here after our discovery. On those nights, we didn’t notice any change in Morgan or the wound. The past two nights we haven’t allowed Lucian to be alone with her. We’ve made up reasons to remain in the room, despite his annoyance, and she seems to be improving.”
 

“Did you learn anything beyond one thousand and one ways to piss off the head of your bloodline?” Nicholas asked, in a tone that made it clear he wasn’t impressed by anything they had said so far.
Here’s hoping that they don’t see through my bluff. Gods know that Morgan would know I’m full of it.

Christophe sighed, knowing that it was going to be an uphill battle to convince Nicholas, when all they really had was little more than a hunch. “The puncture wound is almost healed.”
 

“It could be a sign she’s getting stronger,” Nicholas said, playing Devil’s advocate.
 

“She’s more comfortable. That strained look on her face is gone,” Charles offered.

“I’m not sure. I just can’t buy that her Grandsire is injecting her with Gods know what.” Nicholas paused, and shook his head, running a hand through his sandy hair. “Lucian?”

“Nicholas, there’s more going on here than we think,” Marcus interjected. “I don’t understand why, but she does seem to be more comfortable, like her recovery has turned a corner.”
 

“How do we get the information we need?” Nicholas asked, as he began pacing the room.
I feel like I’m grasping at straws here. I find it difficult to believe that Lucian is involved, but if they’re right…

“We’ve asked Danny to send a copy of the security footage from the night Morgan disappeared. He needs to find the right files. We should have them in the next day or two. My hope is there’s something on them that will help make sense of what’s going on,” Christophe offered, setting his book aside, after sliding a small piece of paper into it, to mark his page.

“What do we do now?” Marcus asked.
We need a plan and we’re not getting any closer to answers this way. If the boyos are right, we need to find a way to keep Lucian away from Morgan while we figure out our next move. If there is one.

“We don’t let Lucian near her. I don’t care how the two of you do it, but do not let him out of your sight when he’s here,” Nicholas announced, in a voice that came from centuries of expecting to have orders carried out without question.

“Understood,” Charles and Christophe answered in unison.

“We need to figure out why she’s got this bloody fever,” Nicholas muttered, turning to his wife’s Blood Sons, half expecting them to have a solution.

“We want to contact someone Morgan knows, but we thought it would be best to run it by you first,” Charles said, tapping his pen against his palm.

“What am I not going to like about this?” Nicholas countered, trying to keep the frustration from his voice.

“His name is Joshua, and he’s a professor of Folklore.”

“A what?” Nicholas rounded on Charles, feeling his fangs slip their protective sheaths.
Oh great, my temper is getting the better of me. I have got to get hold of myself before Marcus decides to kick my ass.

“He teaches several classes in traditional folklore, as well as evolution of myth, and the preternatural,” Charles explained, as though it was obvious.

“How does he know my wife?” Nicholas growled a chilling low predatory sound.

“Not a damned clue. I met him a couple of times before the opening of the club. I found him in her contacts, and looked him up on the Internet.” Charles answered, fighting to keep from shivering under the weight of Nicholas’s furious gaze.

“You think he might be able to help?” the Lead Enforcer growled.

“There’s something about his lectures. I was able to find some of them online. They’re kind of like catnip, just a plant to any other creature, but give it to a cat and watch them go crazy. But this is focused toward preternatural creatures. I’d say there’s definitely more going on there than meets the eye,” Charles explained.

Nicholas closed his eyes and sighed. “Call him.” His voice was stronger, more determined. “Get him here as soon as possible.”

“Here?” Christophe asked surprise flashing in his amethyst eyes.

“Yes. At the very least I need to find out what the hell he knows about my wife,” Nicholas growled.

“What if Lucian pushes to see her? You may be a force unto yourself within the Council, Nicholai, but none of us share that protection,” Marcus asked, from where he was leaning against the doorjamb.

“We lie, con, cheat, and generally bullshit when he returns,” Christophe said, with laughter dancing in his eyes.

“Explain.” Nicholas demanded.

“We need to continue keeping Lucian away from Morgan. We need to do it without giving away that we suspect he’s involved with whatever is going on here, right?” Christophe asked though it was meant more as a rhetorical question.

“Right,” Nicholas muttered, under his breath.

“We take Morgan to the safe room,” Christophe said. He narrowed his eyes and continued, when Lucian returns, whoever meets him tells him that she woke, and is terrified. We say she refuses to see anyone except Nicholas and me.”

“What if he asks why she’ll see only you and Nicholas?” Marcus asked, taking his turn at playing the Devil’s Advocate.

“We tell him that I managed to get her calmed down. I convinced Morgan that Nicholas’s position as the Lead Enforcer would help keep her safe,” Christophe answered.

“Nicholai, this would be much easier if you two were open about the fact that you’re married,” Marcus countered, with a growl.
 

“No. I won’t make that revelation without consulting my wife,” Nicholas answered, in a tone that brooked no argument. After a moment, a slight smile curled his lips, and he chuckled. “I’d find myself single, as soon as she found out.”

“As far as Lucian knows, Morgan and Nicholas have been friends for centuries,” Christophe answered, with an elegant shrug. “We shouldn’t have too much trouble convincing him that she’d trust him. Other than that, we tell him that we don’t want to push her. If he asks, we’re waiting to ask her about what happened.”

“I like it,” Nicholas muttered. “Charles, I want you to call this Joshua, get him here, and see what you can learn. I doubt it will come to much, but right now it’s all we’ve got. Marcus, can you get the safe room ready?” Nicholas paused to let the other vampire nod before he continued. “I’ll bring Morgan down in a few minutes”

“I’ll get a few things that she’s going to want when she wakes, and bring them down,” Christophe offered, as he stood and walked to the door.

“Thank you,” Nicholas whispered, “it didn’t even cross my mind.”

“Blame the human girlfriends. Morgan seems to think that they’re the reason,” Christophe chuckled, before he disappeared into the hall. Laughing, Marcus and Nicholas followed, leaving Charles alone in the room.
 

Running his hand through his long, dark hair, Charles reached for the phone on Morgan’s desk. A few moments later he’d tracked down the scrap of paper he’d written the number on, and dialed. As he waited for Joshua to pick up, Charles settled into the chair behind Morgan’s desk, and tapped his pen against the blotter.

“Professor Fortinbras, how can I help you?” A crisp New England accent came over the line, just like Charles remembered from their one meeting, before the opening of The Dracul.

“Joshua, this is Charles DeVaale from The Dracul,” Charles said. When the line remained silent, he continued, “I’m not sure if you remember me.”

“I do. Though I must admit I am surprised to be hearing from you. Is it safe for me to assume that this has something to do with Morgan?”
 

“Yes. How did you know?” Charles frowned, and shook his head. That is not the response that I was expecting.
 

“Educated guess,” the professor answered, a wry turn to his words. “What’s going on?”

“She’s been running a fever for several days,” Charles answered.
If he doesn’t know about us, it’s going to require some explaining. On the other hand, if he knows, he’ll understand, he
thought, as the silence stretched into several long moments.

“A fever for several days? That’s almost unheard of,” Joshua whispered, not bothering to hide the shock in his voice.

“Almost?” Charles asked, feeling his hope rise, even as he tried to keep it from getting out of hand.

“There are a few causes in the lore but, they’re not common, for a number of reasons.” The human’s voice had taken on a distant almost dreamlike quality.

“We also have reason to believe that someone’s been injecting her with some sort of drug to keep her sedated,” Charles explained, a small part of him hoping that Joshua would shoot their theory down.
Of course I don’t want to hear that we’re right. If Lucian is involved, the situation is much more complicated.
 

“How can I help?” Joshua asked, a hint of steel at the center of his words.
 

Thank God he’s willing to help. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t been
. Charles shook his head to clear the pointless thoughts, before he spoke. “We were hoping you might have heard of ways to cure her.”

“If it’s what I think, there is no cure. However, it might be manageable.” Joshua sounded distracted as he spoke; Charles’s heightened sense of hearing catching the rustling of papers in the background.

“What can we do to confirm your suspicions?” the young vampire asked, trying not to let the rising hope in his voice be heard.

There were a few moments where Charles heard nothing but the continued rustling of papers. When Joshua came back on the line he answered. “I would need to examine her.”

“Can you come to New Orleans?” Charles asked.

“Yes.” The answer came without the hesitation that Charles expected.
 

The vampire breathed a sigh of relief.
At least that was simple.
“There will be a ticket on an evening flight from London. I’ll text you with all the details, once I have them, alright?”
 

“Fine. I’ll do what I can, from here before I leave,” Joshua replied, though there was a note of distraction in his voice.

“Is there anything you need?”
If there’s any chance that he can help us, I’ll give him the moon and stars if need be,
Charles thought.