Page 26 of Bishop's Flight
“Agnes is watching her, and she has her other child but….” Carwyn pictured the brown-eyed girl and her bloodthirsty pronouncement.
“You’re going to find my brother, and then Rose is going to cut off the head of the vampire who took him.”
“I think the daughter is keeping her grounded for now, but things will turn bad quickly if Zasha harms this child.” Carwyn decided to probe Gavin’s business mind. “Why would Zasha want Las Vegas?”
“Is that why he took Lucas? Money is the immediate thought. Agnes and Rose are far wealthier than they pretend. I know how profitable my clubs there are, and I know what I pay in tribute. It’s substantial, but it’s worth it because the money that rolls into that city is obscene.”
“Have any Sokholovs visited your clubs in Vegas?”
“Of course.”
Carwyn snorted.
“The organization pays their member fees like everyone else, and they use the city to meet. Would you rather they hide in the shadows so you don’t know what they’re plotting? Not Zasha. Not that I know of. But the rest of them use the clubs.”
“So Zasha isn’t on good terms with the rest of their clan?”
“Clanis a very… loose word to describe the vampire offspring of Old Sokholov, but that’s a long story and I don’t think it will help the current situation. I can put you in touch with my manager. Her name is Justine and I’ll give her a call when I hang up with you.”
“Good. I’m with Agnes’s second and we’re headed to all the vampire clubs in town. Hoping to get an idea of where Zasha has been.”
“I don’t know if Justine has seen them, but if they’ve been around, she’ll tell you. I’m in New Orleans at the moment but heading back to New York in two days. Would my presence be helpful? I wouldn’t consider Agnes and Rose friends, but we’re friendly.”
“Not as yet, and we only have four days. I’ll call you if I think you can help.”
“You know I have no love for Sokholov.”
Zasha Sokholov had been responsible for the death of some of Gavin’s employees, the rift in his mentor’s organization, and the scarring of several others.
“This vampire has fixated on Brigid for some reason.” Carwyn frowned and tugged on his pant seam. “I don’t like it.”
“You’re growling, Father.”
Carwyn’s better angels couldn’t overcome his instincts as a mate. “I’m worried she’s going to take chances I don’t want her to take. She’s gifted, she’s smart, and she’s dangerous, but she’s still young.” At the end of the day, Brigid was barely over a decade in vampire life while Carwyn had over a millennium behind him. “I want to bury Sokholov and put this challenge behind us.”
“And the worst part seems to be that whatever strange rivalry this vampire has created has pulled in two vampires I like quite a lot and their completely innocent son.”
“We’ll find the boy.” They had to. Brigid would never forgive herself if an innocent child was killed because a vampire held a grudge against her. “Send me your manager’s information, and I’m going to send you a picture of a woman. We think she’s human, and I want to know if you recognize her.”
“I’ll get her picture to Raj and see what we have in our system. How’s Lee?”
“He’s excellent, and he likes working for us more than you. He says you were cheap and your personal grooming habits were a more than a little lacking.”
“Fuck all the way back to Dublin, you glorified gopher. And tell your wife I said hello.” Carwyn was smiling when he got off the phone. He tapped on the divider, and the window rolled down. “Wallace is letting his manager know we’re coming and has instructed her to cooperate.”
Bernard turned and looked through the window. “We’ll head to the… less reputable clubs first. It’s more likely that Zasha fed there. We can ask about the girl at the nicer clubs. There are two in particular that human pets tend to frequent when they want to be bitten.”
The girl Lucas knew as Angel was definitely human according to his guards. She’d tried to strike up a conversation with the boy a few times at the casino, which put the guards on alert.
“They’d been talking before he slipped his guards,” Carwyn said. “She planned this.”
“I’m sure they did. Lucas is a very bright young man.” Bernard looked grim. “Guarding him has been a challenge since he was a child.”
“I’m surprised Rose ever let him leave the house.”
Bernard had nothing to say. Carwyn had met the type before and could spot loyalty in the man’s carriage. He’d worked for Agnes and Rose for decades. Nothing could convince him to say a cross word about his mistresses.
“Vampires with power produce enemies no matter who they are,” Carwyn said. “Human family members are always targets.”
