He narrows his eyes at me. “Not at this time. I have your number, and I’ll give you a call if I have any more questions.” A rueful smile crosses his face. “I’m afraid this means our date is canceled, though.”
If I didn’t know better, I would think it was fate, but I stopped believing in that propaganda a long time ago. I sigh, full of disappointment. I haven’t been this intrigued by a man in a long time. “Too bad. I was looking forward to it. I’ll be in London for two more days if you have any additional questions.” I hand him the catalog.
His thumb swipes across my hand as he takes the document. “This isn’t goodbye,” he curtly informs me, then turns on his heel and strides over to the group of security men who just arrived, leaving me standing there with a bemused smile on my face.
4
JAMISON
Official council headquarters are housed in a large manor outside of London in Surrey, but when warranted, the council uses Hawkes House for urgent meetings. Like today. This situation certainly qualifies. Each of the six races has a seat on the council. Although Nolan’s death means the vampire seat is empty right now. Tonight, the remaining members sit around the U-shaped table waiting for me to give my official report on the attack at the museum.
“The footage revealed something interesting. Five humans entered the building. Based on their point of entry and path through the building, that room was their only target. Upon entering, they were surprised by one of our security team, Mathias Blackwell, who was checking the contents for additional items of interest. They incapacitated him, searched the room, and left without taking anything with them,” I inform them. “They were searching for something specific but didn’t find it.”
Verilin, the Fae councilmember, leans forward. “Someone on the inside fed them intel.” She looks at me for confirmation.
I nod curtly. “We don’t have a suspect identified yet, but that is our assumption.” I deliberately let my gaze touch on each one of them, silently conveying my concern. “This group is well-prepared and well-funded. Not only were they wearing state-of-the-art tactical gear, which enabled them to brush off the strength of a vampire, but they also had a new handheld mass spectrometer with them. Based on the video footage and their commentary, it detects magic.” When I reveal the last bit of information, they all straighten in their seats.
Over the years, we’ve seen more and more items capable of detecting magic, but none has proven to be a threat. Most of the time, they spit out blurry images or spikes in temperature or other irrelevant pieces of data. Nothing that gives humans concrete evidence of our existence. If this scientific tool detects magic, it means it’s quite capable of identifying each one of us. In a dark alley or a crowded restaurant, we could be exposed. Or it could be used to search the world for items of power to use against us.
“What are you doing to capture these men?” my father, mage councilmember, asks imperiously.
“We investigated all those who had access to the building and, in particular, that room. Everyone checked out,” I reluctantly admit. “CCTV footage allowed us to track the humans to a garage, but they switched vehicles, and we lost them,” I inform him, much to his impatience and displeasure. “Right now, we’re tracking every vehicle that left the garage that night and questioning the owners.”
Humans are tougher to find than supernaturals. They can hide in plain sight.
He scoffs and turns to his fellow councilmembers. “The auction will be held a week from now. I propose we continuewith our original plan to acquire those items of power. It’s clear those pieces aren’t the target.” When they nod in agreement, he continues, “I’m less concerned with what they wanted to steal. We need to find this group. Well-funded, organized humans are a threat to our continued co-existence. This has the highest priority. Agreed?”
My jaw locks in disagreement. All teams will be pulled off their duties and placed on this task. Sounds great in theory, but in reality, it would be a logistical nightmare. “If we pull everyone off their duties, the group will vanish. I propose we take a quieter approach. My team will continue to investigate and track down the drivers, but everyone else will be pulled off the case. I want this group to think we’ve deemed the situation a low priority, and hopefully, give them the confidence to make their next move. Anyone this prepared must have an agenda.”
My father’s lips compress in fury, a silent refusal of my idea.
The current leader of the council itself, as well as the designated councilmember for all shifters, a dragon named Daegan, thoughtfully nods his head. “The emphasis of putting all the teams on this one case will send a message of concern to the supernatural community. It’s the last thing we need right now. Too many are already aware one of us was attacked by humans. Emotions are high.” He motions to me. “I agree with Jamison’s proposal. We need to handle this quietly. The details of this case will only be discussed here in this room, where we can control the spread of information. We’ll reconvene each week for an update. All those in favor, say aye.”
All but my father give their agreement, and they hurry out, leaving via a secret tunnel only available to them.
I’m sure I’ll get an earful later, but for now, I turn on my heel and leave. Exiting the hidden room, I pass through a secret hallway, then another door, and come out into the mainsalon, where the rest of my team is waiting, including Mathias. Vampires heal quickly when given a pint or two of pure blood.
I sit down, and Mathias slides a glass of scotch in front of me. “Thanks.” With a quick flick of my wrist, I down the small amount and signal for another. “They agreed to our proposal, but they want blood. We need to find the traitor.” My mind ticks over the options at our disposal.
Gatlin shifts restlessly in the small chair, his big body pushing the boundaries of its construction. “A trap. But with what bait?”
Mathias slides a photo over to me. “A key.” The grainy photo is a man holding an instrument over a pile of metal objects. Confused, I raise an eyebrow. With a slight smirk, he whips out another photo from the folder in his hand. “I magnified it and cleaned up the image, but it’s almost impossible to see with your eyes. Even I missed it the first couple of times. The only time they used the spectrometer is to scan keys.”
I stare at the man kneeling close to the floor, but it’s still hard for me to make out the objects in the image. They resemble a small dark pile to me, but vampire eyesight is keener than most, except for Gatlin’s, whose shifter vision rivals his.
Gatlin picks up the photo and narrows his eyes. “These are old keys, too. The ones used to open an ornate lock.” He shifts his body slightly to the left and hands the photo to Hawthorne. “They’re looking for a key. One they didn’t find. It must be pretty damn important to risk stealing it in the middle of an event with the highest level of security I’ve seen in at least a hundred years.”
“Phaedra,” I say, then clear my throat when Hawthorne flashes me a confused glance. “Dr. Galanis mentioned shipments being sent to other universities and museums. Most of them are historical artifacts, not powerful objects, but somebody could have slipped a key into one.” I pull up the catalog on my phone, and tap find, then enter “key” into the search. Seven instancesfound. I tap the right arrow, and the document automatically finds the first mention. “A box of objects, including keys, was sent to be displayed at the Met in New York City in their Asian art galleries. Dr. Kline’s assistant, Sia, signed off on the contents.”
I tap the arrow again. “Yale, via Dr. Kline, will receive a box of items as well that includes keys. Dr. Galanis and Duke University will too. One set of keys went back to the vampire’s vault. The Louvre received several from the early Renaissance period.” My eyebrows go up. “The Vatican received a pair of keys with Knights Templar symbols etched on them.” I wonder what secrets those unlock. “And finally, the National Archaeological Museum in Greece received quite a few keys from various periods, including Ancient Greece.”
Gatlin frowns. “There was a break-in last night at that same museum in Greece. The news is reporting it as a prank because nothing was taken.” His blue eyes meet mine. “My guess is we can take it off the list. Or at least put it on the bottom.”
Damn it.
“Italy’s next door. I wonder if they’ll hit the Vatican next?” Throwing my drink back, I pick up my phone and raise an eyebrow toward Gatlin. “We need to get to the Vatican. Can you make it happen?”
His full brows lower, and he instantly picks up his phone to bark orders at someone on the other end.
