Page 25 of Crimson Oath
Oleg could never let on that his own daughter had killed such an important human under his aegis. “Truly, Elene was irreplaceable. She was something of a mentor to Tatyana, so you understand my concern.”
“Of course.” Alina took another puff on her cigarette. “My sources tell me Miss Vorona has refused to return to your territory.”
“I don’t know why that would be.”
“Was she your lover?”
Oleg felt his fangs ache. “Does that matter?”
“It seems to me that young vampires often have wild emotional swings,” Alina said. “And it seems that she has recently lost her human mentor. Perhaps she only needs time to settle into her new life.”
“You’re probably right.”
Alina reached into her jacket and withdrew another case, this one about the size of a deck of cards. “I do have security footage from a bar in Kaspi that you may find interesting.” She held the case toward him. “If you like.”
There was a twitch directly under Oleg’s eye, and his amnis jumped beneath his skin. Irritating. He hated to show any sort of weakness around others, even an ally.
He reached out his hand and took the case. “Thank you, Alina. I’ll give it to Mika if you think it might be of interest.”
“Of course.” Alina smiled and stubbed out her cigarette butt in the crystal ashtray. “Now you must tell me where your house manager obtained that red Masdevallia orchid. It’s a stunning specimen, and I do love collecting rare beauties.” She smiled. “I believe we might have that in common.”
“It’s unedited.”Mika looked at the computer screen in the main security office in Odesa. “But after about six hours of the footage at triple speed, I caught it.”
His chief boyar was standing beside one of the humans who operated the technology in the security office while Oleg was standing over the young man’s shoulder, at a safe distance from the machine.
“What?” He leaned forward, and the computer began to waver.
“No.” Mika held up a hand. “He’ll show you, but don’t break the equipment.”
Fire vampires were even more reactive to electrical current than the average immortal with amnis. Oleg had always assumed there was something about the volatility of their energy that simply set anything electronic on edge.
“Fine.” Oleg stood up straight. “So show me.”
The camera was pointed at the bar and the register, so the majority of the footage was simply humans coming and going, servers grabbing trays, and bartender after bartender pulling pints of beer, mixing drinks and?—
“There.” Mika pointed. “Did you see?”
Oleg shook his head. “Back it up.”
Mika tapped the shoulder of the young human who was operating on the computer. “Back up a few minutes and put it at regular speed.”
There was no sound, so the room they were in was utterly silent save for the hum of the electronics when the young man pointed at something on the screen and tapped several controls.
Suddenly there was simply black-and-white footage of a bar, as if they were looking on from a balcony over the action.
There was clearly music in the club because a few people were dancing on the edges of the screen while two women sat at the bar,talking into each other’s ears, and a young man wearing a cap sat at the corner, looking at a computer screen through heavy, black-rimmed glasses.
“I don’t recognize anyone.”
“The picture isn’t great, but wait.” Mika held up a hand. “Not there yet.”
As they watched, a white head passed parallel to the bar, and the two women turned to look.
“The silver-haired one,” Oleg said. “But does he?—”
“Wait.”
Oleg kept watching as the silver-haired vampire glanced over his shoulder at something, then walked to the corner where the young man was sitting.
