"Oh?" His expression brightened, and he sat up straighter. His amber-brown eyes twinkled with warmth. "Tell me about this object and why our new priestess sent you to look for it?"
Olivia released a long sigh of relief and then gave Mahvet a brief rundown of her mission. Love was a great motivator. He voiced no qualms about helping her search for the rogue Portal device in the compound. He agreed with Olivia and didn't see why the Alphans should break the laws of the new ruling council. He prided himself on respecting authority and order.
She had read his words and actions well. Mahvet was a true patriot of his world. He didn't want to jeopardize Earth/BloodDark relations by allowing the illegal art sale trafficking to continue, especially since he wanted to take an Earth woman as his wife and possibly emigrate there someday.
"You say your intelligence states this Portal is located in the city and not someplace else on the planet?" Mahvet asked. He pulled a map of the planet out of the drawer and spread it across the desk, pointing with a pen as he gave his geography lecture. "There's more than enough space for a multitude of Portals in the Penumbra Zone as you can see. You sure it couldn't be hiding in a barn or warehouse facility on one of the clan's farms?"
Olivia shook her head. "No, they say the residual energy trail shows it's been activated in the vicinity of the Clan Alpha House. This is a quite large residence with several related structures, so..." She shrugged. "You tell me the best place to start looking."
"It is hard to imagine a Portal so small it could be hidden inside a pre-existing building. Even a half-sized Portal would take up a room the size of our feasting hall." Mahvet dropped his pen and his jaw at the same time.
"What is it?" Olivia frowned.
"How long has this illicit transportation of BloodDark art works and artifacts to Earth been occurring?"
"It's hard to say for certain, but for several months at the very least."
He jumped to his feet. "Olivia, come with me."
"Yes, sir."
Olivia had to jog to keep up with the academic who possessed the speed and stamina of a human being half his apparent age. They traveled through a maze of back hallways and narrow staircases which Olivia hadn't realized existed before now. Some pretend servant she’d turned out to be!
They reached the ground floor behind the residence hall and headed into a utilities tunnel linking the kitchens of the main building to the feasting hall. Olivia had been in the feasting hall once, the night of her attempted escape from the Pure Blood jail. She, Hernando and Valori had been sentenced to hard labor on the Clan Alpha's farm in the Penumbra Zone for her crime. She hadn't had much time to scope out the full size of the party facilities then, but she sensed it would make for a large space, almost cavernous, if the side rooms and the large stage for the musicians had been gutted.
She furrowed her brow as she tried to recall her memory of the place. The feasting hall had been decorated with BloodDark tapestries, Renaissance-styled furniture and well-lit. It hadn't appeared in too poor of a condition, either.
"You say the feasting hall has been undergoing renovations for several time cycles?" Olivia asked. She gasped for air as they hurried along the narrow, dimly-lit tunnel from the kitchens to the hall. "Have any clan members questioned why it was to be refurbished at all?”
Mahvet shook his head. "A few did question the wisdom of it at first. Moreau's father and uncle silenced those voices with a threat they'd not have access to the new bonding-partners from Earth if they kept asking about the hall. That quieted them down."
"Withholding possible mates?" Olivia grimaced. "How nice. Nothing kills dissent faster than saying you'll be a bachelor or bachelorette for life."
"On a world like ours with few intelligent beings to bond with, it's a very harsh threat indeed." Mahvet stopped in front of a large door and tried the handle. "It appears to be locked. I didn't think they'd bolt this lower entrance. It's for the servants and cooks to use when they bring food over from the residence during feasts. This only adds to my suspicions."
"Mine, too." Olivia gulped. She felt a bit claustrophobic in the access tunnel and couldn't wait to get out of it. "Can we break the door down?"
Mahvet placed an ear to the door's rough wooden surface. "I don't hear any activity on the other side. Perhaps we should—but quietly, just in case."
"Is there any way to pick the lock?"
"Pick the lock?" He pursed his lips and scratched his chin, tugging at his goatee. "I assumed it was an electronic lock, but it could very well be a simple mechanical one. They would not imagine lowly servants would understand how to pick a mechanical lock, so why waste time and resources on an expensive electronic device?"
Olivia approached the handle and jiggled it. "Ha, this feels like our basement door at home. It's mechanical all right, and very loose. If I had a business card or a small slip of cardboard..." She reached into her jeans back pocket and pulled out a sturdy price tag with the company logo and washing directions on it. "I forget to take these off new clothes until I wash and wear them the first time. They stick so many tags on jeans."
She got down on her knees in front of the door handle and slipped the piece of card into the thin gap between the bolt and the doorjamb. Within a few minutes, she had sprung the lock, and the heavy door swung open.
"You first." She stepped aside, nervous at the thought of whom or what might greet them on the other side.
"All right. It's okay, Olivia. I will not allow them to harm you or my Kate. Follow me." Mahvet stood tall and strode into
