As Dawn Breaks, page 11




Chapter 13
Waking, Genevieve opened her eyes and groaned. As a shifter hybrid, she had some acceleration to healing, but it only truly kicked in if she allowed herself to change.
Yet another reason to hate the abomination she was.
The sound of footsteps had her looking to the doorway. David was there suddenly, mug in hand. “Thought you’d woken. I brought you a coffee.”
He looked like he should have been zoned out on the bed, with a cheeky stubble shading his jaw and bruises under his eyes.
“What… what time is it?”
“It’s 10:00 a.m.”
She heard the words, her guts freezing. Then she moved, but the tug of pain in her ribs and the wave of pain rattling her brain had her subsiding with a groan.
“Back against the pillows, slugger,” he murmured, advancing until he stood at her side of the bed. He sat and the mattress dipped, rolling her a little closer. “How are you feeling?”
“Stupid. I’m meant to be at work.” She pinned him with a glare. “Pass me my phone so—”
“Nuh-uh.” He held it up. “Your boss rang. I explained you were resting and about your injuries. He’s pissed you didn’t disclose them all, and as of now, you’re on medical leave until you’ve been deemed able to return to work.”
“Medical leave? Who the hell gave you the right—” She stopped and raised her hand to her throbbing brow.
“You were out of it when the cell rang. Then the text said if you didn’t answer, they’d break down your door.” He held up the screen so she could see it.
“Argh!”
“Now you have two choices. You stay here, and I end up taking leave so I can look after you, or you come back to the nest with me. There you have access to 24/7 medical care, meals on tap, and I can monitor you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How about neither?” she hissed. Oh yes, she was misbehaving, but steamrolling wasn’t something she took well.
He smiled and shook his head. “One or the other, and those are your two options.”
Genevieve balled her fists. He had assumed an implacable will, and she doubted she’d win. But the option of being cared for was tempting.
“So which choice, Genevieve? I need to let people know too.”
Not that he was trying to guilt her, but she knew he had responsibility for so many others. So why add her to the list? She bit the words down before they could escape. “Fine. We’ll go. Just so you won’t be worrying about everyone else.”
David’s brow furrowed. “Genevieve, you’re important. That’s why I came.”
She sniffed back the sudden weak tears that scorched her eyes. “Yeah. I hear you. I need to get up. Dressed. Pack some clothes.”
“I’ll pack for you. You only need comfortable stuff, and I already found your suitcase. It’s in the lounge, ready.”
She blinked. “You were so sure—”
“Hopeful.” He framed her face with a soft hand. “Please. I know you’re uncomfortable with this, but right now, it’s better if I’m at the nest.”
“Sure.” She let him take her hand and help her from the bed, though the movement still had pain blooming. “Clothes.”
He scooped up the pile she didn’t remember leaving on the chest of drawers. “You do what you need to. I’ll be just outside if you need me.”
Alone in the room once he’d left her, she shuffled for the bathroom, eyed the shower, but ignored it. Her toiletries bag lay on the counter, toothbrush and paste balancing on the top.
Within minutes, she was dressed. She carried the bag from the bathroom and handed it to David, who stashed it among piles of track pants, panties, and soft shirts. Not a bra in sight. But then, she wasn’t wearing one now, either. The band had posed far too much pressure against her bruised ribs.
She shrugged. A problem for another day.
He fastened the suitcase, and had her out the door before she could say a word. The car waiting was dark and boxy. One she’d been in previously, with room to manoeuvre in the seat.
The trip passed in silence. As they drew up to the front steps, a woman waited, took the keys from his hands once he’d seen her safely from her seat and the suitcase was once more in his hands. She carried the small bag he’d already stashed in the car before she’d left the apartment. It was filled with her small laptop, purse, keys, cell, and some books. He planned to keep her busy, by the looks of it.
He ushered her into a small seating area. “Grab a book. I’ll be a little while. When I’m done, I’ll take you up to the bedroom. There’s a private bathroom, and I’ll have lunch brought up.”
He handed the suitcase off to a hovering team and disappeared into another room.
She levered herself down to the chair, dragged a book from the bag, and sighed, settling in for who knew how long.
David worked feverishly over the next several days, aware that within the safety of the nest, Genevieve was healing. Chafing, it was true, because he refused to allow her to do anything other than rest. Each day she was examined to ascertain how close she was to healed, and he was aware time was ticking away. Shifter healing was quick, and if the report he’d received today was anything to go by, he’d have to let her return home tomorrow so she could assume her duties.
A knock echoed, and he raised his head from signing off on the work orders littering his desk. “Come.”
He must have jerked with surprise, because the hulking man who now stood in his office smiled.
Before now, David had the impression of a large, meaty man with blunt features and sharp eyes. Today, he couldn’t miss the breadth of the shoulders or the danger that emanated in waves. “Ah, Lieutenant. Take a seat.”
He shook his head. “No. But I am checking in on Genevieve. We need her back as soon as she’s able, but if I asked her, she’d have returned the same day.” The man cocked his head. “You have a vested interest, and after you contacted me with her whereabouts, I knew she’d be in the best care.”
David settled back in his seat. “She’s healing well, but yes, you’re right. If she’d been able, she’d have returned by the afternoon after. Genevieve doesn’t tend to put her own interests first, so someone had to do it for her.”
“Agreed,” the man growled.
“She will return tomorrow, but I’m concerned that she’s working alone.”
The man’s eyes quirked. “She told you that?”
“And that her current partner is retiring.”
Now the man lowered himself into a large armed chair, which squeaked as he allowed it to cradle his bulk. “Yes, that’s all true. You looking to take the role on?” That gaze pinned him, as if attempting to extract truths David had no idea he held.
David started. Then he shifted in his chair. He’d never considered that as an option. “I might,” he prevaricated, because that thought was worming its way down inside him. Lodging where it would likely take root, David thought with shock.
The man grunted. “You’d be a welcome asset, to be honest. We don’t have much call for interaction with vamps, or at least until now we haven’t, but things are changing, David. Shifters and fairies and the others, we’re not quite a dime a dozen, but vamps are funny. Remote, but in the last couple years, things have changed, and not for the better. There’s unrest between humans and vamps and others of the para world. We could do with insight.”
David nodded. “All true, but that’s how they’ve evolved. Outside the world and apart, but with their own rules and regulations. Without too much interaction with the others until, as you said, now.”
“When your time here”—he indicated to the house—“is done, talk to me.” He rose. “Bring her tomorrow. We could do with your insight. Stuff’s going down, not related to this whole Attar rubbish but other stuff. Shifters are on edge, as is everyone. We’ve got a new problem, and I think you might be able to explain some things.”
David frowned. “I can take a look now—”
But even as he spoke, the man left the room, and David stood watching the door shut behind him, once again surprised and more than a little confused at the lieutenant’s actions.
He slumped into his seat, letting his thoughts flow freely. If he chose that option once he left the nest, he’d be his own master to some extent. He’d always be welcome back, according to Javed, Xavier, Celina, and to some degree Hope. Cressida had also reiterated that during their brief discussions. It wouldn’t be cutting the cord completely.
The door opened again, and Genevieve wandered in. “I heard the boss was here. Was he looking for me?”
David indicated the seat, and she slid into it as if it were a daily occurrence. “Not exactly. He wanted to find out when you’d be back at work. The report I got today says tomorrow is fine, so long as it’s light duties.”
Genevieve rolled her eyes. “I asked them not to tell you. I was coming to discuss it.”
He grunted. “That’s how it works in nests, Gen.”
She blinked at the shortened name. “I like that.”
“That I knew before you?”
Her laugh soothed him as nothing else ever had. “No, dummy, Gen. I could learn to live with that. My friends, when I was younger, would call me Genny or Vieve. Maman just calls me bebe, but I like Gen. It’s grown-up and just between us.”
He glanced at her soft eyes and wondered if she realised just how much of the brash facade had worn away in the last couple days here with him.
“So?” she prompted. “He said…?” She cycled her hands, urging him to expand the conversation.
“He asked me to work for the Liaison Division.”
Now she blinked, mouth falling open. “What?” She rose from the chair, stalked around to his seat. “What do you mean?”
He couldn’t read whether it was apprehension or pleasure, just that she demanded an answer.
“There're problems with vamps. He’s looking for someone in the know. Someone who knows things and people.”
“You’re going to accept it?”
“I don’t know. I need time to think. I mean, I know I said I was going to consider it, and I will. But I also want to continue with my work on the vehicles.” He shook his head, confused.
When Genny returned to the precinct the next day, she wasn’t sure quite how she felt about the concept that she might end up working with David. On a daily basis.
They’d spent a lot of time together over the last few days. She learned he was funny. That he hated aubergine but adored sprouts. Particularly Brussels sprouts. He preferred his meat blue and was a neat freak.
She’d learned he knew everyone’s name. Took pride in being able to solve a problem, but he had a secret love of cars and design.
He preferred the left-hand side of the bed. The truth was, she probably already knew more about him in a short period of time than she’d ever known about Julien in the years they’d been together. David instinctively knew when to hold her close and when to give her space, something Julien hadn’t really cared about, if she was honest with herself.
She wondered what else he’d learned about her. Probably lots, given the way the house members talked about him being shrewd, quick, and sharp.
Could he also tell that she was terrified to the core that she’d fall for him and he’d find something about her, a failure he couldn’t abide, and leave her on her own? The very thing her father had done? And Julien?
Walking into the precinct with him at her side was discomforting. What if they didn’t last, and she had to work with him? Could she manage that?
They were waved into the boss’s tiny office and took the seats he indicated. “You’re improving, I hear. Light duties we can do for the next few days. Then we’ll see how you’re coping before you’re back on the street. But right now, we’ve got a problem, and I need both of you. David, I’ve spoken with Master Javed, as I need you to consult on a new case. It’s”—the boss shrugged—“it’s an odd one.”
Genny blinked. She’d never seen him quite at a loss like right now. “Boss?”
“I want you both in on this. We’ve got a vamp issue. It’s strange. We know some vamps choose not to live in nests. They form enclaves, though it’s not formalised. They owe no affiliation to the houses or the Council. Nothing new there, but in the last year, we’ve seen the enclaves grow. They’re restless, and now they’re spilling over onto the others. We’ve got shifters talking about bloodsuckers targeting their numbers for illegal gambling. The debts are enormous but being forgiven in exchange for grooming youngsters. Trafficking in sex workers and violent attacks.”
Genny thought about her informant. “I wonder if this is somehow connected to the rogues we picked up at the mercantile.”
The boss growled. “Could be. Might not be. But we need intel. David, you’re—”
“He’s a civilian, boss.” It was hard to remain anchored to her seat, but the denial escaped. “I can—”
“Stop!” The single barked word silenced her.
David cocked his head. “I have a few contacts. I can chat with them, but it will take a few days. I’d need to find them, and these aren’t questions that can simply be launched into.”
Boss nodded. “Javed said he’ll be busy preparing for some big event.”
Judging from the way David’s eyes narrowed, he knew exactly what Javed had talked of, not that she knew. “I’ll have to split my time between the nest and here for now. I should have info in the next few days.”
The boss nodded again. “Take a few days. We’ve got time, and I think there are pressing matters concerning Attar. Genevieve, you’ve also been granted the leave you requested for this weekend. Take it. Attend your brother’s wedding, but be back Monday morning.”
The dismissal implicit, they both rose. But before he shut the door, David turned back, and she heard his words. “I’m considering that offer.”
The files the lieutenant was able to supply were scarce, and David flipped through them quickly.
“Our first step will be to meet and interview the informants on the list. We should also check out the enclaves. Get an idea of how many. You could then maybe ask some questions about who knows anything, if possible. See if you can get an idea of who these new vamps are. What they might be here for. Yes?” Gen’s words were soft and measured.
He nodded, looking at the addresses. “Those are on the south side. All cheaper addresses and farthest away from most of the known vampire addresses.” She glanced at him, and he shrugged. “They like to live at least within the same postcode. It’s, I suppose, a hangover from the days when those loyal to nests needed to be within a reasonable location in case they were called upon to serve, and also for safety.”
“Huh. I guess that makes sense, but did they really face—”
David nodded. “Yeah. Whole histories that we teach the younger nestlings deal with the mass attacks. In 1604, there was an attack on a London residence, which ended up with thirty-four dead. Only the master, his second, and the family of the Yeux Secondes survived.”
When she gaped, he scratched his head. “That was the beginning of the House Regent in Gloucestershire. Before that, it was the House Belmont, but with the widespread losses, the initial house was dissolved and reconstituted. In 1905, just before World War I, the House Meyer was disbanded and all the members sent to America. They eventually became the first house in Los Angeles and assumed the name Mayor. It was the second largest house in the United States at that time.”
“Wow. I guess I didn’t expect you to have a history of houses like that. Or to be able to just… you know, roll it right out.”
“Your clans don’t?”
He noted the surprise on her face. “Well, I… Yes. I should have realised.”
“We, nestlings and vampires, have many things we keep to ourselves, Gen. It's how we’ve survived for centuries hidden away from the greater human population.”
“Of course. Your family, have they been nestlings for a long time?”
David smiled. “Our first nestling was a descendant of a distant cousin of Jean Ribault, a naval man. My family were Calvinists, but within three generations, they’d moved away from the belief system that had seen them hunted out of France. The story goes that the head of the household cast one of the granddaughters out, as she’d become pregnant out of wedlock. Laurelle was found by a man who took her in named Samuel. According to what’s been handed down, she was in a pretty bad way when he found her. Anyway, Samuel eventually married her and raised the child as his own, along with another five he fathered. I’m descended from the first child. Jean eventually went on to become a senior member of a vampire household, just as his adoptive father was. And thus began our relationship with vampires that we know of. The thing is, now we know, courtesy of my sister, Hope’s, blood, that we carried a genetic predisposition to the varied incarnations. It’s what makes us susceptible to the change. We haven’t previously, however, had a vampire within the family. This generation, there are three.”
“Wow…” She stared at him. “That’s going a long way back. And to know it all. We have some oral history, I guess, but I don’t really know it.”
“That’s okay, you have plenty of time to learn it.”
She laughed, but it was a harsh grating sound.
“I guess I do. Hundreds of years of it.” Then she rolled her eyes at her own words.
The curl of heat in his belly rose, but any thoughts were swiftly dashed when the man called Julien entered the room. His gaze dropped first to Genevieve, then narrowed when he looked at David.
“What is he doing here?” His tone dripped with derision.
Genevieve raised her head. “The boss wants a consultant on the ground with knowledge of vampires—”
“We don’t need no zozo santi here.”
Her face turned red, eyes flashed with fire, and she rose. David reached for her hand, not quite sure what he’d been called but the curl of Julien’s lip telling him it was derogatory.
“He just insulted you. I won’t stand for that.” She was already out of her chair, fists balled.
Waking, Genevieve opened her eyes and groaned. As a shifter hybrid, she had some acceleration to healing, but it only truly kicked in if she allowed herself to change.
Yet another reason to hate the abomination she was.
The sound of footsteps had her looking to the doorway. David was there suddenly, mug in hand. “Thought you’d woken. I brought you a coffee.”
He looked like he should have been zoned out on the bed, with a cheeky stubble shading his jaw and bruises under his eyes.
“What… what time is it?”
“It’s 10:00 a.m.”
She heard the words, her guts freezing. Then she moved, but the tug of pain in her ribs and the wave of pain rattling her brain had her subsiding with a groan.
“Back against the pillows, slugger,” he murmured, advancing until he stood at her side of the bed. He sat and the mattress dipped, rolling her a little closer. “How are you feeling?”
“Stupid. I’m meant to be at work.” She pinned him with a glare. “Pass me my phone so—”
“Nuh-uh.” He held it up. “Your boss rang. I explained you were resting and about your injuries. He’s pissed you didn’t disclose them all, and as of now, you’re on medical leave until you’ve been deemed able to return to work.”
“Medical leave? Who the hell gave you the right—” She stopped and raised her hand to her throbbing brow.
“You were out of it when the cell rang. Then the text said if you didn’t answer, they’d break down your door.” He held up the screen so she could see it.
“Argh!”
“Now you have two choices. You stay here, and I end up taking leave so I can look after you, or you come back to the nest with me. There you have access to 24/7 medical care, meals on tap, and I can monitor you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How about neither?” she hissed. Oh yes, she was misbehaving, but steamrolling wasn’t something she took well.
He smiled and shook his head. “One or the other, and those are your two options.”
Genevieve balled her fists. He had assumed an implacable will, and she doubted she’d win. But the option of being cared for was tempting.
“So which choice, Genevieve? I need to let people know too.”
Not that he was trying to guilt her, but she knew he had responsibility for so many others. So why add her to the list? She bit the words down before they could escape. “Fine. We’ll go. Just so you won’t be worrying about everyone else.”
David’s brow furrowed. “Genevieve, you’re important. That’s why I came.”
She sniffed back the sudden weak tears that scorched her eyes. “Yeah. I hear you. I need to get up. Dressed. Pack some clothes.”
“I’ll pack for you. You only need comfortable stuff, and I already found your suitcase. It’s in the lounge, ready.”
She blinked. “You were so sure—”
“Hopeful.” He framed her face with a soft hand. “Please. I know you’re uncomfortable with this, but right now, it’s better if I’m at the nest.”
“Sure.” She let him take her hand and help her from the bed, though the movement still had pain blooming. “Clothes.”
He scooped up the pile she didn’t remember leaving on the chest of drawers. “You do what you need to. I’ll be just outside if you need me.”
Alone in the room once he’d left her, she shuffled for the bathroom, eyed the shower, but ignored it. Her toiletries bag lay on the counter, toothbrush and paste balancing on the top.
Within minutes, she was dressed. She carried the bag from the bathroom and handed it to David, who stashed it among piles of track pants, panties, and soft shirts. Not a bra in sight. But then, she wasn’t wearing one now, either. The band had posed far too much pressure against her bruised ribs.
She shrugged. A problem for another day.
He fastened the suitcase, and had her out the door before she could say a word. The car waiting was dark and boxy. One she’d been in previously, with room to manoeuvre in the seat.
The trip passed in silence. As they drew up to the front steps, a woman waited, took the keys from his hands once he’d seen her safely from her seat and the suitcase was once more in his hands. She carried the small bag he’d already stashed in the car before she’d left the apartment. It was filled with her small laptop, purse, keys, cell, and some books. He planned to keep her busy, by the looks of it.
He ushered her into a small seating area. “Grab a book. I’ll be a little while. When I’m done, I’ll take you up to the bedroom. There’s a private bathroom, and I’ll have lunch brought up.”
He handed the suitcase off to a hovering team and disappeared into another room.
She levered herself down to the chair, dragged a book from the bag, and sighed, settling in for who knew how long.
David worked feverishly over the next several days, aware that within the safety of the nest, Genevieve was healing. Chafing, it was true, because he refused to allow her to do anything other than rest. Each day she was examined to ascertain how close she was to healed, and he was aware time was ticking away. Shifter healing was quick, and if the report he’d received today was anything to go by, he’d have to let her return home tomorrow so she could assume her duties.
A knock echoed, and he raised his head from signing off on the work orders littering his desk. “Come.”
He must have jerked with surprise, because the hulking man who now stood in his office smiled.
Before now, David had the impression of a large, meaty man with blunt features and sharp eyes. Today, he couldn’t miss the breadth of the shoulders or the danger that emanated in waves. “Ah, Lieutenant. Take a seat.”
He shook his head. “No. But I am checking in on Genevieve. We need her back as soon as she’s able, but if I asked her, she’d have returned the same day.” The man cocked his head. “You have a vested interest, and after you contacted me with her whereabouts, I knew she’d be in the best care.”
David settled back in his seat. “She’s healing well, but yes, you’re right. If she’d been able, she’d have returned by the afternoon after. Genevieve doesn’t tend to put her own interests first, so someone had to do it for her.”
“Agreed,” the man growled.
“She will return tomorrow, but I’m concerned that she’s working alone.”
The man’s eyes quirked. “She told you that?”
“And that her current partner is retiring.”
Now the man lowered himself into a large armed chair, which squeaked as he allowed it to cradle his bulk. “Yes, that’s all true. You looking to take the role on?” That gaze pinned him, as if attempting to extract truths David had no idea he held.
David started. Then he shifted in his chair. He’d never considered that as an option. “I might,” he prevaricated, because that thought was worming its way down inside him. Lodging where it would likely take root, David thought with shock.
The man grunted. “You’d be a welcome asset, to be honest. We don’t have much call for interaction with vamps, or at least until now we haven’t, but things are changing, David. Shifters and fairies and the others, we’re not quite a dime a dozen, but vamps are funny. Remote, but in the last couple years, things have changed, and not for the better. There’s unrest between humans and vamps and others of the para world. We could do with insight.”
David nodded. “All true, but that’s how they’ve evolved. Outside the world and apart, but with their own rules and regulations. Without too much interaction with the others until, as you said, now.”
“When your time here”—he indicated to the house—“is done, talk to me.” He rose. “Bring her tomorrow. We could do with your insight. Stuff’s going down, not related to this whole Attar rubbish but other stuff. Shifters are on edge, as is everyone. We’ve got a new problem, and I think you might be able to explain some things.”
David frowned. “I can take a look now—”
But even as he spoke, the man left the room, and David stood watching the door shut behind him, once again surprised and more than a little confused at the lieutenant’s actions.
He slumped into his seat, letting his thoughts flow freely. If he chose that option once he left the nest, he’d be his own master to some extent. He’d always be welcome back, according to Javed, Xavier, Celina, and to some degree Hope. Cressida had also reiterated that during their brief discussions. It wouldn’t be cutting the cord completely.
The door opened again, and Genevieve wandered in. “I heard the boss was here. Was he looking for me?”
David indicated the seat, and she slid into it as if it were a daily occurrence. “Not exactly. He wanted to find out when you’d be back at work. The report I got today says tomorrow is fine, so long as it’s light duties.”
Genevieve rolled her eyes. “I asked them not to tell you. I was coming to discuss it.”
He grunted. “That’s how it works in nests, Gen.”
She blinked at the shortened name. “I like that.”
“That I knew before you?”
Her laugh soothed him as nothing else ever had. “No, dummy, Gen. I could learn to live with that. My friends, when I was younger, would call me Genny or Vieve. Maman just calls me bebe, but I like Gen. It’s grown-up and just between us.”
He glanced at her soft eyes and wondered if she realised just how much of the brash facade had worn away in the last couple days here with him.
“So?” she prompted. “He said…?” She cycled her hands, urging him to expand the conversation.
“He asked me to work for the Liaison Division.”
Now she blinked, mouth falling open. “What?” She rose from the chair, stalked around to his seat. “What do you mean?”
He couldn’t read whether it was apprehension or pleasure, just that she demanded an answer.
“There're problems with vamps. He’s looking for someone in the know. Someone who knows things and people.”
“You’re going to accept it?”
“I don’t know. I need time to think. I mean, I know I said I was going to consider it, and I will. But I also want to continue with my work on the vehicles.” He shook his head, confused.
When Genny returned to the precinct the next day, she wasn’t sure quite how she felt about the concept that she might end up working with David. On a daily basis.
They’d spent a lot of time together over the last few days. She learned he was funny. That he hated aubergine but adored sprouts. Particularly Brussels sprouts. He preferred his meat blue and was a neat freak.
She’d learned he knew everyone’s name. Took pride in being able to solve a problem, but he had a secret love of cars and design.
He preferred the left-hand side of the bed. The truth was, she probably already knew more about him in a short period of time than she’d ever known about Julien in the years they’d been together. David instinctively knew when to hold her close and when to give her space, something Julien hadn’t really cared about, if she was honest with herself.
She wondered what else he’d learned about her. Probably lots, given the way the house members talked about him being shrewd, quick, and sharp.
Could he also tell that she was terrified to the core that she’d fall for him and he’d find something about her, a failure he couldn’t abide, and leave her on her own? The very thing her father had done? And Julien?
Walking into the precinct with him at her side was discomforting. What if they didn’t last, and she had to work with him? Could she manage that?
They were waved into the boss’s tiny office and took the seats he indicated. “You’re improving, I hear. Light duties we can do for the next few days. Then we’ll see how you’re coping before you’re back on the street. But right now, we’ve got a problem, and I need both of you. David, I’ve spoken with Master Javed, as I need you to consult on a new case. It’s”—the boss shrugged—“it’s an odd one.”
Genny blinked. She’d never seen him quite at a loss like right now. “Boss?”
“I want you both in on this. We’ve got a vamp issue. It’s strange. We know some vamps choose not to live in nests. They form enclaves, though it’s not formalised. They owe no affiliation to the houses or the Council. Nothing new there, but in the last year, we’ve seen the enclaves grow. They’re restless, and now they’re spilling over onto the others. We’ve got shifters talking about bloodsuckers targeting their numbers for illegal gambling. The debts are enormous but being forgiven in exchange for grooming youngsters. Trafficking in sex workers and violent attacks.”
Genny thought about her informant. “I wonder if this is somehow connected to the rogues we picked up at the mercantile.”
The boss growled. “Could be. Might not be. But we need intel. David, you’re—”
“He’s a civilian, boss.” It was hard to remain anchored to her seat, but the denial escaped. “I can—”
“Stop!” The single barked word silenced her.
David cocked his head. “I have a few contacts. I can chat with them, but it will take a few days. I’d need to find them, and these aren’t questions that can simply be launched into.”
Boss nodded. “Javed said he’ll be busy preparing for some big event.”
Judging from the way David’s eyes narrowed, he knew exactly what Javed had talked of, not that she knew. “I’ll have to split my time between the nest and here for now. I should have info in the next few days.”
The boss nodded again. “Take a few days. We’ve got time, and I think there are pressing matters concerning Attar. Genevieve, you’ve also been granted the leave you requested for this weekend. Take it. Attend your brother’s wedding, but be back Monday morning.”
The dismissal implicit, they both rose. But before he shut the door, David turned back, and she heard his words. “I’m considering that offer.”
The files the lieutenant was able to supply were scarce, and David flipped through them quickly.
“Our first step will be to meet and interview the informants on the list. We should also check out the enclaves. Get an idea of how many. You could then maybe ask some questions about who knows anything, if possible. See if you can get an idea of who these new vamps are. What they might be here for. Yes?” Gen’s words were soft and measured.
He nodded, looking at the addresses. “Those are on the south side. All cheaper addresses and farthest away from most of the known vampire addresses.” She glanced at him, and he shrugged. “They like to live at least within the same postcode. It’s, I suppose, a hangover from the days when those loyal to nests needed to be within a reasonable location in case they were called upon to serve, and also for safety.”
“Huh. I guess that makes sense, but did they really face—”
David nodded. “Yeah. Whole histories that we teach the younger nestlings deal with the mass attacks. In 1604, there was an attack on a London residence, which ended up with thirty-four dead. Only the master, his second, and the family of the Yeux Secondes survived.”
When she gaped, he scratched his head. “That was the beginning of the House Regent in Gloucestershire. Before that, it was the House Belmont, but with the widespread losses, the initial house was dissolved and reconstituted. In 1905, just before World War I, the House Meyer was disbanded and all the members sent to America. They eventually became the first house in Los Angeles and assumed the name Mayor. It was the second largest house in the United States at that time.”
“Wow. I guess I didn’t expect you to have a history of houses like that. Or to be able to just… you know, roll it right out.”
“Your clans don’t?”
He noted the surprise on her face. “Well, I… Yes. I should have realised.”
“We, nestlings and vampires, have many things we keep to ourselves, Gen. It's how we’ve survived for centuries hidden away from the greater human population.”
“Of course. Your family, have they been nestlings for a long time?”
David smiled. “Our first nestling was a descendant of a distant cousin of Jean Ribault, a naval man. My family were Calvinists, but within three generations, they’d moved away from the belief system that had seen them hunted out of France. The story goes that the head of the household cast one of the granddaughters out, as she’d become pregnant out of wedlock. Laurelle was found by a man who took her in named Samuel. According to what’s been handed down, she was in a pretty bad way when he found her. Anyway, Samuel eventually married her and raised the child as his own, along with another five he fathered. I’m descended from the first child. Jean eventually went on to become a senior member of a vampire household, just as his adoptive father was. And thus began our relationship with vampires that we know of. The thing is, now we know, courtesy of my sister, Hope’s, blood, that we carried a genetic predisposition to the varied incarnations. It’s what makes us susceptible to the change. We haven’t previously, however, had a vampire within the family. This generation, there are three.”
“Wow…” She stared at him. “That’s going a long way back. And to know it all. We have some oral history, I guess, but I don’t really know it.”
“That’s okay, you have plenty of time to learn it.”
She laughed, but it was a harsh grating sound.
“I guess I do. Hundreds of years of it.” Then she rolled her eyes at her own words.
The curl of heat in his belly rose, but any thoughts were swiftly dashed when the man called Julien entered the room. His gaze dropped first to Genevieve, then narrowed when he looked at David.
“What is he doing here?” His tone dripped with derision.
Genevieve raised her head. “The boss wants a consultant on the ground with knowledge of vampires—”
“We don’t need no zozo santi here.”
Her face turned red, eyes flashed with fire, and she rose. David reached for her hand, not quite sure what he’d been called but the curl of Julien’s lip telling him it was derogatory.
“He just insulted you. I won’t stand for that.” She was already out of her chair, fists balled.