Page 43 of Bishop's Flight
None of them had seen a sign of the boy.
There were a dozen vampires in Bernard’s group along with Carwyn and Brigid. There were half a dozen humans waiting at the cars and more waiting on standby a few miles away.
Most of the vampires were earth vampires like Carwyn, who fought barefoot. All of them kept their distance from Brigid.
Bernard motioned for Carwyn and Brigid to fall back as he and his people ran forward.
They flooded the house in utter silence, save for the sound of breaking glass. Black shadows moved through the dark house, and the lights that had been burning went out.
“Feck this, I’m going in.” Brigid ran into the house and Carwyn followed her, already suspecting that the boy wasn’t there.
It was too easy. Too neat. This was a staging area, not a battleground.
They breached the front door with a single shove and found Bernard and his people in the front room, dragging bodies from around the house.
“Only five.” Bernard shook his head. “No sign of the humans or of Lucas.”
“Damn.” Carwyn had been hoping he was wrong. “The graves are behind the stables. I found Preston and two women buried behind there.”
“No signs of Lucas?” Brigid proceeded to search the house from top to bottom. It was chock-full of electronics, luxury furnishings, and huge closets that were mostly empty. It appeared that Gary Preston had lived in the giant mansion by himself.
“Wait.” Carwyn touched Brigid’s shoulder. “Is there a basement? I feel like there’s a basement.”
“Let’s go look.”
There had to be something. Alina had focused on Preston for a reason. There had to be something about this house in particular that Zasha Sokholov wanted.
“Why this man?” Carwyn asked. “This house is remote. It’s not convenient to the city. If the boy isn’t hidden here, what is the point?”
Brigid walked down the stairs to find a luxuriously finished media room decorated in black and red dominating the space. It came complete with movie-theater seats, sports memorabilia in custom cabinets, and a bar.
Carwyn looked around. “If he had all this, why did he go to a sports bar on the Strip to watch all his college basketball games?”
“Maybe he fancied Savannah,” Brigid said. “Or maybe he’d no friends.”
“Possible.” What a sad life, and to end it at the hand of vampires who disposed of you like a dead animal.
Why Gary Preston?
There had to be a reason.
“Let’s get Lee to look through Preston’s financials,” Brigid said. “He had to have some connection to Zasha.”
Bernard joined them in the basement. “There is a sizable classic car collection in the garage. It looks like several of them are missing.”
Carwyn and Brigid exchanged a look. “Is that why?” Carwyn asked. “Because Zasha Sokholov wanted a car they could drive?”
Brigid muttered, “That makes as much sense as anythin’ that vampire does.”
“It appears they’ve been living at the ranch since they arrived,” Bernard said. “We killed five vampires. It might take a few days to determine their element.”
Vampires returned to their element a few days after death. Earth to earth. Wind to wind. Water to water.
The bodies of fire vampires spontaneously combusted, but Carwyn didn’t like thinking about that.
Bernard asked, “What did the bodies look like? I’m going to call a contact in Las Vegas PD. He’ll know who to alert since we’re not within city limits.”
“Four days he’s been missing?” Carwyn nodded. “I’m not a decomposition expert, but that sounds about right. All three were pretty intact. Also, I don’t think they were tortured.”
