One of their own had tried to kill her. Betrayal like that always cut deep.
She glanced behind her as she ascended to the upper level of Thomas’ house. Zane had a grim expression on his face, his lips drawn into a thin line. When he caught her look, he growled. Kissing him on the cheek to thank him for her rescue had clearly rattled him. It made her chuckle.
Hardass.
“One word about what happened back there and I’ll string you up myself.”
She shook her head and turned the door knob as she reached the top of the stairs, not bothering replying. As she pushed the door open and took a step into the foyer, she recoiled.
“Fuck!”
She slammed the door shut and bumped into Zane behind her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Daylight,” she hissed. “He’s got the shutters open.”
A moment later the door opened, and Thomas’ frame silhouetted against the light from behind him. “It’s alright, come in.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Yvette tried to move further back into the shadows.
Thomas reached out his hand. “It’s not natural light. Come, let me show you.”
Hesitantly, she followed him into the open plan living area. The large room was flooded with light. As her eyes adjusted, she took in the room. Instinctively she hid behind Thomas – the room had floor to ceiling windows on two sides, and through them she saw the world outside.
“What the …?”
Thomas beckoned her closer to the windows. He seemed unconcerned. Outside, it was clearly day time and the light flooding through the windows should have turned him into toast within seconds, but there he stood, right in front of one of the large windows, admiring the view over the city below.
“It’s not real,” he claimed as he turned back to her.
Zane stepped closer, his mouth dropping open at the sight. “It’s not a picture,” Zane said. “There are cars moving. Live feed?”
Thomas nodded. “The house is equipped with cameras all around, filming what’s going on outside right at this moment. It projects the images onto the special shutters I’ve had designed. They block out the sunlight like regular shutters, but I can project film onto them. What you see on them is what you would see if the windows were clear. The projections are accurate depictions of what’s going on right outside.”
“Ingenious.” Zane nodded his approval.
“And the light?”
“A new kind of light bulb that mimics daylight. Pretty realistic by the looks of your reaction.” Thomas smiled at her and she finally exhaled.
“I’d say.” Only now she realized they were not alone. In one corner Eddie stood talking on his cell phone. And to the left where Thomas had several computer screens hooked up, Amaury sat, the phone pressed to his ear.
“Ricky tried to kill me.”
Thomas nodded, his mood solemn. He seemed to notice her damaged wrists now. “We figured as much. Do you want some blood?”
“I’m good. I had some in the car. What I want is Ricky’s head on a stick.”
Amaury turned to them. “Good to see you, Yvette.” The sound in his voice told her he meant it. They hadn’t always been on the best of terms, but at least now she knew who she could trust.
“What’s the latest?” Zane asked.
“Gabriel and Maya have disappeared. We can’t trace their cell signals either.” Amaury looked at Thomas and pointed at the phone.
“That was the human crew you sent to Samson’s house. Nobody’s there.” For a moment he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, pain was evident in the brilliant blue of his irises. “We have reason to believe that Carl is dead.”
“Oh shit,” Thomas mumbled.
“What about Ricky?” Yvette asked.
“We have our human bodyguards out looking for him.” Amaury stood.
“He’s dangerous.”
“We know that now.”
“Damn, we could have known earlier,” Eddie’s voice came from the corner as he flipped his phone shut. “That was Holly, Ricky’s ex-girlfriend.”
“Has she seen him?” came Amaury’s question.
“No. But she just told me that she followed him one night. Guess she was jealous and wanted to know who Ricky was so infatuated with.
She followed him to an apartment in Noe Valley.”
“Maya’s place,” Yvette uttered under her breath. “What else did she say?”
“She gave me a few of his favorite hangouts.”
“Have the daytime guards check them out, see if we can flush him out,” Amaury ordered. “His movements are limited right no so this is our best time to find him. Tonight, once he’s able to move around again, he can slip through our fingers.”
Eddie nodded. “I’m on it.”
Yvette stared out the window again at the city below. Somewhere down there Ricky was hiding, and so were Gabriel and Maya – she could only hope that Gabriel had gotten to Maya before Ricky could lay his dirty paws on her. As much as she had wanted Gabriel for herself, she would never forgive herself for not stopping Ricky if he’d harmed Maya. Gabriel deserved to keep the woman he loved. And she would do anything to make sure it stayed that way.
“Ricky has to be hiding somewhere.” She clenched her jaw and looked into the round of the four big vampires in her company. “And when we find him, he’s mine.”
Nobody contradicted her.
Thirty-two
Gabriel ran his hands alongside the door and found a switch. He flipped it. A second later, a neon light flickered and hummed before it steadied itself and illuminated the entire room. He bolted the door from the inside before he turned to take in his surroundings.
The approximately five hundred square foot room was fairly bare.
There were several cots stacked on one side, a supply cabinet next to them. In the back was a rudimentary toilet and a small sink. A small desk and chair completed the furnishings. While it wasn’t much, the place was surprisingly clean, and most of all, it had no windows through which sunlight could penetrate. For now, they were safe.
Next to him, Maya seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
She nodded to herself.
“How did you know
