“Agreed.” She turned her attention to the girls. “Maya, you have to come with us and see the czar. We can’t dance around this anymore, kiddo. You’re going to let him, or one of the senators, taste your blood and read your memories in order to prove you didn’t turn the rogue that killed Ronald Davis and started this mess.”
Maya nodded sheepishly but said nothing as she stroked Van’s head. Her uneasiness flickered through the room, and Olivia watched her nibble her lip nervously. Her large blue eyes were filled with fear and tugged at Olivia’s heart. This girl, this youngling vampire, was terrified, and Olivia had been doing nothing to reassure her. Guilt swamped her, and before she knew it, she swept across the room, leaned down from behind the couch, and wrapped Maya’s petite shoulders in a hug.
“It’s going to be alright,” she whispered against Maya’s hair before kissing the top of her head as the girl sobbed quietly. Van whined and snuggled deeper into her lap. “I’m not going to let the czar kill you.” She stood up and squeezed Maya’s shoulder reassuringly as she fought the tears that threatened to come. “I love you, Maya. You are my family, and there’s no way on earth that I’m going to let the czar or his senators hurt you. Understand?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Maya bobbed her head up and down and wiped the tears from her face.
Olivia released Maya and turned her attention to the other girls as she paced from the couch to face them.
“Trixie and Sadie, I want you to stay here. I closed the club for the week, said we were doing renovations, but I want you two on watch. At sundown keep an eye on the perimeter of the building. If you get wind of the rogue, you telepath to Pete, but you do not take it on yourselves. Is that clear?”
The women nodded. Olivia noticed Doug watching the situation closely and evaluating the other women. Sadie was smart and almost as old as Olivia, but Trixie was still young and had a tendency to be unpredictable, which could cause more trouble. It made her feel better that Sadie would be here to keep an eye on Trixie.
“Okay. I killed the rogue that attacked Doug,” Olivia continued as she tried to regain her bearings, “but I wasn’t able to get the one that killed his partner. It was gone by the time I got there.”
“There are more.” Doug interrupted, and everyone looked at him in surprise as he stalked slowly across the room toward Olivia. “One of these rogues could make another, couldn’t it? I’d bet we’re looking at more than two. The guy that attacked me was definitely one of Moriarty’s boys. He and his crew are missing, and no one has seen them since they left here the other night.”
“Glad to see you thinking like a detective again.” Olivia gave him a nod of approval. “You’re right. Rogue One is still out there, so is the one that killed Brittany. That’s two… at least.”
Silence fell over the room, and Olivia locked eyes with Pete. She didn’t need telepathy to know what he was thinking.
“Shit.” Pete tugged his gloves on. “Whoever is making these rogues is making his own little rogue coven, isn’t he?”
“Most likely,” Olivia said evenly. “If there is a rogue coven being built, then they’re definitely holing up somewhere together. We’ve got to find their nest.”
“So these rogues—” Doug asked slowly. “They are turned by other rogues, and that’s why they’re crazy?”
“Yes.” Olivia nodded. She was relieved that he was asking the right questions and looking to solve the problem. At least it was a step in the right direction, and it gave her some shred of hope. “Well, that, or they’re turned by someone who didn’t do the blood exchange properly by not giving them enough blood. Essentially, they are starved and crazy with hunger… the turn doesn’t go right, and they get stuck in a feeding frenzy state.”
“So they’re like a bunch of hopped-up crack addicts?” Doug asked in a matter-of-fact tone. He pursed his lips. “That’s the first explanation I’ve heard that’s made any fuckin’ sense since I woke up.”
Olivia nodded, and to her surprise, the hint of a smile played at his lips before he looked away. A modicum of progress.
“Good.” Olivia tugged her gloves back on. “We have to get going.”
“You girls better not engage them if they show up here.” Pete’s eyes flickered red, a symptom of his demon lineage.
Olivia didn’t miss the look of surprise on Doug’s face, but to his credit, he said nothing.
“I mean it, Trixie,” Pete said seriously. “You and Sadie stay inside and keep an eye on the monitors in Olivia’s office, but if you see them, do not engage them. You call me, and I’ll bring Shane.”
“I don’t know who this Shane guy is,” Doug chimed in. “But if I were you, I’d bring a lot of guns too.”
“Not a problem, partner.”
“Shit.” Trixie cracked her knuckles and let out a growl of frustration. “I wasn’t turned yesterday. I may not be part demon, dude, but I’m not a dumb ass.”
“Demon?” Doug asked, but then he held his hand up. “Tell me later.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Sadie elbowed Trixie and made a face that told her to shut up. “We’ll hold down the fort, Olivia. I did hang with you for that century you worked as a sentry, and I picked up a thing or two. We’ve got it covered.”
“I’ll leave Van upstairs too.” Olivia squatted and scratched his favorite spot. “He’ll be another set of ears and eyes for you.”
“We should get going,” Pete said.
“But it’s not sundown yet,” Maya said quietly. “I hate taking the tunnels.” She ran her hands over the red bustier minidress. “I should probably change my clothes.”
“Well, since my partner is dead,” Doug snapped, “I think you can live with getting a little dirt on that dress.” He stopped abruptly, and his features hardened. “It sounds like this mess all started with you anyway.”
“Sorry,” she added quickly. “That came out all wrong.”
Doug lifted one shoulder and shifted his weight. Olivia could tell that he felt badly for barking at Maya, and it only endeared him to her further.
“It’s okay,” Doug said apologetically. “I just want to get going and get this shit over with.”
Olivia crossed to the large chair in the living room and shoved it aside, revealing an opening to the tunnels. She sensed Doug watching her every move, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him and risk seeing that look of contempt. She dug deep down inside and grabbed onto the cold mind-set of the sentry she used to be. It was that icy attitude that got her through more hunting excursions and executions than she cared to remember.
Doug brushed past her and dropped soundlessly into the tunnels. Olivia hesitated before joining the others. For the first time in over three hundred years, she doubted her own resolve. She could kill the rogue, kill a hundred, but killing her feelings for Doug… that was one mission she didn’t think she could complete.
Chapter 10
Doug had heard the expression, the underbelly of the city, and he thought he had seen it already as a homicide detective in New York City. He could not have been more wrong. As he and the others raced through the sewer tunnels beneath Manhattan, he realized how little he really knew about the city he lived in for the past ten years. He, like most humans, was oblivious to the world that existed above and beneath his feet.
He didn’t know how fast they were running, but it felt more like flying. His body hummed with power as he pumped his arms and legs with little effort. Doug noted the way he could see and hear everything. Water trickling in the tunnels sounded like rapid gunfire. Rats scurrying away from their approach sounded like a herd of horses. The heartbeats of people on the street above sounded like flapping wings from a swarm of hummingbirds.