The fact that myfather expected us to have any in Ireland was almost laughable. Whowould pick a salad over a steak?
“Maybe they’re all ona diet?”
“Seriously?Jokes?”
He shrugged. “Whatnow?”
“I just need aminute.” I walked to a nearby alley and leant against the wall atthe mouth. Nathan mirrored me.
“A penthouse,” hecommented, looking up at the buildings around us. “That’s where I’dhide out.”
“A penthouse wouldn’tbe big enough.”
“The palace?”
“Get real.”
“What? It wouldbe big enough.”
“Yeah, way too big.Besides, I think we would notice if the monarchy wereVampires.”
“Well, where would youchoose to Nest?” He rolled his eyes at my disgusted expression. “Iknow, dare you imagine yourself as one of the undead, butseriously, you become a Vampire and you can live anywhere, wherewould you live?”
“Well, it isn’t thatsimple, t’start.” I sagged against the wall. “When you’re turned,you have t’stay with your Master or Mistress for a while, and thenonce they allow it, you can wander off and start creating your ownBloodlings.”
“Those are theVampires that are linked t’you, right?”
“You have been doingyour research.”
He grinned. “I’m aquick study.”
“Well, say you startdoing that, then yeah, you would need a Nest. It depends on whichdecade you’re in and from, I suppose. And being the Leader of themain Nest, well, that’s just a ton of politics—”
“Oy, country girl,just answer the question.”
“I don’t know.” Ifolded my arms. “I’ve never imagined being anywhere but home.”
God, wasn’t that sad.I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, even imagine having my ownplace. Well, there had never been a point thinking about suchthings as we were taught to see a constant and ever-changing expirydate depending on what type of day it was.
“Well, your parents’house and land are a perfect safe haven.”
“Tell me aboutit.”
“There’s nothing wrongwith keeping your family safe, Elle.”
“Much good it doesanyone.”
He walked over to meand clasped my shoulders. “We’re going to find her.”
I managed a smiledespite the lack of reassurance I currently felt.
Something wasn’tright. Where were all the Vampires? Or were my expectations toohigh? Did I honestly think I’d walk into London and all the Leecheswould be walking around with blood oozing from their mouth as theystood on a pile of victims?
“Considering whaty’know about the Leader, where would you guess he’d set uphouse?”
I scrubbed my handsacross my face in an attempt to wake myself up. The night was stillyoung. Maybe the Leeches didn’t come out until later.
“Michael was born inthe Elizabethan era but was turned around the Stuart Period.”
“Yeah, that doesn’tmean much t’me.” He let go of my shoulders and moved to theopposite wall. “Was he rich or poor?”
“Born, bred, andturned in London. He came from a good family. I believe he workedhis way up to the upper circles of society.”
“When did he becomeLeader of the UK Nest?”
“Within a fewdecades?”
I’d actually read hewas one of the youngest Vampires to have fought and won the rightfor leadership. He hadn’t even been a Vampire for a hundred years,but having read his history and how he’d worked himself up to besomeone, he didn’t seem like the type of man that would lie backand take orders. I also knew what he did to Dorian … He was onesick bastard.
“So, needless to say,he has been brought up in a day and age where a person’s class wasa big deal, and if you were rich, you had a proper massive housewith servants and nice things?”
“The Nest is notBuckingham Palace.”
He rolled his eyes.“No, but rich folks are usually quite proud, so I imagine he stillhas a big house somewhere, and considering we are near the area inwhich the royals have lived for many years, which happens to be inproximity to our two locations, I’m willing t’bet the Nest will besome old, fancy building. Can I use your phone?”
I slid my mobile frommy pocket and unlocked it, closing the space between us, and handedit to him. A few clicks, and he turned the phone to me. A Wiki pagefilled the screen.
“This is a list ofGrade One and Two listed buildings in London. All listed inalphabetical order of which county they are in.”
“That will takeforever.”
“Not if we stick withthe two-mile radius idea. Hunting ground, remember.”
“Yeah, but theirhunting ground could be bigger.”
“Well, this is thebest we have at the moment.” He looked at the phone and begantyping once more. “Bayswater is just outside of the perimeter, butBelgravia is within. Plus, it’s not too far from here, and it’ssituated on the other side of the palace.”
“Why have you suddenlygot an obsession with Buckingham Palace?”
“I haven’t. You’re theone—” He shook his head. “Never mind. I say we start here. We havenothing else to go off, Elle. At least let’s try and if we find aVampire on the way, then we can ditch this plan and go backt’yours.”
I was so aware of thetime, of each second ticking by. We had come to London with no leadonly to follow one that was three weeks old. We literally hadnothing, no clue, no idea.
At least this wassomething. Checking old building. It kept us moving and made itfeel like we might be on to something.
Who was I kidding? Wewere clueless and had no choice.
“Okay.” I accepted mymobile back off him. “This is better than nothing.”
“I’m not just a prettyface, y’know?”
With a roll of myeyes, I tapped on to the GPS to figure out the easiest and mostpublic route that would take us to this fancy area. It would onlytake six minutes in the car which we had brought into the city withus and parked in a car park near by the nightclub, but I needed usto stay out in the open in the hopes that Nathan would lure alittle bloodsucker in.
“Okay, roughlytwenty-five minutes from here to there.” I shoved the phone in mypocket. “If you sense or smell anything, just say so.”
“Like what?”
“Fresh blood, for one,or that musky scent that Leeches always stink of.”
“Musky scent?” Hepinched and lifted the oversized black T-shirt to his nose,inhaling deeply. “Is that what I smell like?”
“You stink of cologne,which in the long run is probably burning
