A shiver ran through me at his cold words. The Coven was the ruling body of the nightwalker nation, and it was an ugly place of pain and nightmares. It was a place I had escaped centuries ago and rarely visited, particularly since Jabari, one of the four Elders, had gone missing.
Bishop’s grip on my throat loosened slightly so I could talk. “What do you want?” I asked in a ragged whisper.
“Besides the opportunity to rip your head off?” he asked with a dark grin that revealed his perfect white fangs. “I’m here to make sure that you clean up the mess that is currently your domain.”
“What mess?” I demanded. I reached up and dug my nails into his large hand, trying to get him to release my throat.
“You’re joking, right?” he said, dropping me. “We’ve heard from people within your domain. There is no order here.”
“That’s a lie.”
“There has been an increase in Daylight Coalition-related deaths within the New World, recently,” he continued to list.
“It’s not my job to police all of the New World,” I quickly countered.
“And now you have a fresh death found by the humans. From what I’ve heard, it looks like another Coalition kill. Can you not even protect your own?”
“I’m looking into the matter,” I growled. I had nothing that I could say about Bryce’s death. I didn’t know the why behind it all just yet, but I would with time.
“I’m here to make sure that you clean up this mess and deal with the nightwalkers within your domain,” Bishop said, taking a step closer to me as I stepped backward. With a thought, the flames were gone and the parking lot was plunged back into darkness.
“Other than the matter with the fresh body, there’s no mess here.”
“The Coven doesn’t believe that to be true.”
“You mean Macaire doesn’t believe it. Who’s been talking to him?”
“Now that would be telling,” he said, a fresh grin lifting his thin lips. “Convince me that you have everything under control here, and I will leave along with everyone else that I brought with me. Fail and you’ll be coming back to Venice with me.”
A fresh stab of fear shot through me, seeming to pierce down to the bone, and it was nearly a minute before I could speak again. “What do you want me to do?” I found myself asking in a shaky voice. I wouldn’t go back to the Coven. I couldn’t. The place was a nightmare of death and endless screams that echoed through your brain even in your sleep.
“Catch the killer. Settle the chaos within your domain,” he said, making it sound so simple. And for him, it was. He was simply waiting around for an excuse to drag me back to Venice. That was his job.
“Fine,” I reluctantly agreed. “Just stay out of my way. This is still my domain and I will handle this mess.”
“As you wish,” he said with a slight bow of his head. With a parting grin, mocking me one last time, Bishop strolled out of the parking lot, heading back for the main street.
I sat down on the ground against one of the cars I had crashed into earlier. Resting my elbows on my bent knees, I dropped my head into my hands. Damn it. A flunky of the Coven was dangling a sword just above my neck, simply waiting for an excuse to chop my head off. My hands were trembling and my stomach was twisting into knots as I sat there, mentally listing every nightwalker I knew of within my territory. Who could it be that was talking to the Coven? Someone was betraying me, betraying my trust and my protection.
Knox…I called out mentally for my companion. Less than a minute later he was kneeling at my side.
He rested his hand on the back of my head while the other was on my knee. “What happened? Are you all right? Who was that?”
“Someone from the Coven. We’re being watched. We need to clean up this mess quickly before it becomes an even bigger problem.”
“How did they find out so fast about Bryce? He was killed this morning.”
“I don’t think Bishop is here because of Bryce. I think the timing just ended up being convenient for whoever has the Coven’s ear,” I said, lifting my head so that I could look at Knox. “We need to get going. We’re officially running short on time.”
3
According to Daniel’s information, Bryce was found in a house out past Bonaventure Cemetery, not far from Wilmington Island. Knox and I jumped into my little silver BMW Z4 and zipped out of the city like a mercury tear sliding down a clown’s cheek. The convertible top was down and we shoved our baseball caps in the center console area between our seats so we could enjoy the feel of the warm summer air rubbing against our faces and tangling our hair. The night was alive, pulsing and squirming, demanding to be noticed.
Yet it wasn’t the fact that Bryce had been murdered that had us both unnerved. It was the fact that someone had contacted the police regarding the corpse, potentially looking to expose us. It was the fact that the body had been found in the middle of the living room. No nightwalker was stupid enough to sleep out in the open, even when in the safety of his own lair. It was the way Bryce had been killed—by the old mythological methods, head and heart removed.
The whole thing stank of the Daylight Coalition and yet I felt confident that no branch members resided within my domain. The Daylight Coalition was an all-human organization that believed in the existence of vampires and other supernatural creatures. They saw it as their duty to hunt us all down. Their aim wasn’t too good, however, considering they had killed as many humans as they had nightwalkers. The rest of the human world thought they were a bunch of crackpots who had watched Van Helsing one too many times. I tended to agree.
I downshifted the car into second as I turned onto Bryce’s street. The houses were spaced relatively far apart, with large yards filled with massive honeysuckle bushes and white jasmine. The air was thick with the rich scent of flowers and damp earth. Across the street from the two-story, redbrick house, I parked the car and turned off the engine. Using my powers, I briefly scanned the region. There were only a few nightwalkers in the area, and one of them was Bishop. I suspected he was going to be my shadow until this little investigation was finally concluded.
Another was standing just at the end of the block. Her name was Heather, and she was also a member of the Ravana family. Word traveled fast among telepaths. Without my needing to say a word, most of the city nightwalkers knew that a vampire had been murdered. In general, they were willing to give me a wide berth so I could investigate the matter, but I had been expecting someone from the Ravana family. Bryce’s death was their business.
I hesitated, my right hand still clutching the key in the ignition. Something felt off. We sat in the car, waiting for the brunette to finally reach us. She stood in the street a few feet away from where I sat in the car. She looked lost and afraid, with her right hand gripping her left elbow.
“Do you know if he had anyone else staying with him in the house?” I asked.
“No one on a permanent basis,” she said shaking her head, sending her long brown hair down around her face. “I think he had nightwalkers that stayed for brief periods of time here and there, but nothing permanent.”
I was willing to guess that Bryce was one of the few within the Ravana family that was permitted to keep a residence outside the main family home. Justin believed in spreading out his clan throughout the city so that his influence could be felt everywhere. Older, trusted members were allowed their own homes as long as they checked in on a regular basis. This wasn’t an original idea within the nightwalker world, just rare.