“Good evening,” Clyde said, his voice smooth as silk and completely at odds with the way he had devoured us with his eyes a moment ago. “I wished to see you before you begin your search. Do you have any questions about what you saw in the file you were given? Were you able to glean anything useful?”
Sara and I exchanged a look. As badly as I had wanted to snark at him about taking the phone, now clearly wasn’t the time.
She stepped forward, and I let her lead. She was better at verbal sparring than I ever was; a necessary skill I would need to hone if I was going to be spending much more time around these strange vampires.
“Yes. We think we know where to start, but first we’d like to know who you think might be behind this. Or any enemies who might have more information? They won’t know us, so they might be willing to let something useful spill if they don’t realize we’re working for you.”
He threw back his head and laughed, the sound booming through the room loudly enough to make me flinch. When the sound tapered off, he rubbed a faux tear from the corner of his eye. “My, you are direct. How refreshing.”
Sara was unmoved. She folded her arms and gave him an “I’m waiting” look. I did my best to follow her example, though I don’t think I looked nearly as convincing or intimidating as she did.
“I have no enemies, my dear. If I knew who it was, I would have taken care of this matter myself.”
He added a charming smile at the end of that statement with just a hint of fang showing. It was a pose Royce often took when he was trying to see if he could use his nature to scare me into dropping information he could use, make me react in some calculated way, or distract me from asking vitally important questions.
Though Sara was taken aback by Clyde’s answer, I wasn’t impressed. “You’re the master vampire of Los-freaking-Angeles. Don’t tell me you don’t know where your enemies are. There’s no way you could be this arrogant, and hold a city of this size for so long, being completely ignorant of the whereabouts of the people who have a bone to pick with you.”
Clyde stared at me, his dark blue eyes briefly flashing with embers of red in the pupils. His expression remained stony and unwavering for a very long moment—and then he smiled, making no effort to hide the fangs that peeked out from behind his lips. “My, my, Ms. Waynest. I do believe I now see what potential Rhathos must have sensed in you.” It had been a long time since I’d heard someone refer to Royce by that name. The last one to call him that was Max Carlyle. It put me on alert since I doubted anything good could come of it. “It’s a pity you won’t be staying here long. I suddenly find I would like to know more about that clever tongue of yours.”
Heat instantly suffused my cheeks, but I refused to be cowed or swayed by the posturing of this overconfident, conceited ass.
“Don’t change the subject. You know as much about me as you need to. What I’m interested in are your enemies. And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“If you want us to work for you and solve this case,” Sara cut in smoothly, tempering my harsh words, “then you need to give us what we need to do our jobs effectively. Like our phones, and the information we’ve asked for, and far more politely than you deserve.”
Clyde leaned against one of the angel’s stone wings and steepled his fingers, his eyes narrowing as he regarded us. It was rather obvious he was weighing his options and deciding what information would be safe to divulge—but at least he was considering telling us what we needed to know. Progress.
“Locally, there are two groups that may have information about this mess, and whoever is behind it. There is a section of the city of Glendale that I do not hold dominion over—another vampire named Jimmy Thrane calls himself its ruler.”
Another vampire running a portion of the city? That didn’t sound like good news, and Royce had made no mention of it before I left. No wonder Clyde looked and sounded like he’d just bitten into a lemon as he spat out that tidbit of information.
That sense of hunger emanating from him was growing again, somehow both magnetic and repulsive at the same time. The fine hairs on the back of my neck were rising, a sense of dread becoming a growing pit in my stomach. Sara didn’t appear to be handling it much better, if the pallor and flutter of her eyelids were anything to go by.
“Aside from Mr. Thrane, if you are willing to run the risks inherent with making contact with them, we have a local branch of White Hats in town. Undoubtedly they will have information I cannot provide, but either the White Hats or Mr. Thrane’s band may see you as a threat. They may even attempt to take you and use you as leverage against Mr. Royce or me. If you don’t heed my warnings, and either of you end up in the enemy’s hands, I will not go out of my way to save you.”
“We can take care of ourselves,” I said, hoping it was true.
“Good,” he replied, jerking his chin toward the door and the woman waiting nearby. She’d been so quiet, I’d forgotten she was there, waiting in the shadows. “Trinity will see to your transportation needs. Report to me when you return.”
“And the phone?” Sara asked. More daring than I was willing to be right now.
“If it appears you are in need of it, then it will be returned to you. Now do your jobs. I’m not paying you to question me.”
I bit my tongue to keep from saying something sarcastic in reply. My refuge in snarky humor might help keep me sane in terrifying situations, but right now didn’t seem to be the best time to bait Clyde.
As much as I wanted to go running back to hide under the covers of my borrowed bed, we needed to get this over with. And while I had every intention of meeting the rival vampire ruler, Jimmy Thrane, my first order of business would be to introduce myself to the local White Hats.
If anyone might have a burning desire to get rid of Clyde, it would be the White Hats. If I was lucky, they might know who in the supernatural community was after him, too.
Chapter 10
Trinity didn’t say a thing when I told her we wanted to go to the nearest known White Hat hideout. She led us to a waiting car, then took her place behind the wheel. Sara and I sat in the back together, making note of the routes she took, comparing them against one of the maps Sara had tucked away in one of her jeans pockets.
We took expressways I had only heard of in movies—the 405 and 101—that were packed with an ungodly amount of traffic. Somehow we kept moving at a decent clip, and it took a little under an hour to reach North Hollywood.
Sad as it was to say, this part of town reminded me more of home. The apartment buildings and businesses were not as polished and pristine as the ones in Santa Monica. Here and there, streetlights were out. There appeared to be an uncommon number of auto repair shops and liquor stores in relation to the few apartments and homes we passed along the way. The only greenery was provided by scrubby-looking bushes or the occasional scraggly palm tree.
The heat made it hard to breathe. I hadn’t noticed it right away, but now that I was outside, the dry air made my skin feel tight and my nose feel like it was on the verge of a bleed.
Trinity pulled into a small parking lot, then twisted in the driver’s seat to regard us. She did not appear amused, her tone flat and bored. “Obviously, I can’t follow you two inside. How long would you like me to wait before I assume they’ve killed you so I can head back?”
I blinked. Sara made a little coughing noise.
“Um,” I said.
The vampire grinned, exposing extended canines that gleamed in the meager streetlight, matching the flicker of red in her eyes. “Just a little joke.” Sure. Judging by the look in her eye, our sudden, stark fear was the source of her amusement. “If you do not return in, say, half an hour, I will come inside looking for you.”