“I’d rather stink ofDolce than of death. Especially since these aren’t even myclothes.”
“Well, congrats. Younailed it. Now come on.” I set off at a swift pace down the highstreet, Nathan on my heels.
Luckily, it was astraight route. My focus flitted between the people I was passingand any turning or entry way. Poised. Listening for arguments orscreams, which wasn’t easy considering how nosey London roads were,but Nathan’s hearing would hopefully be able to filter anythingout.
Once we hit theperimeter of Hyde Park, I stopped to take out my phone and doublecheck the GPS. “We just have t’walk round this corner and thencross the road in a few feet. You heard anything suspicious overthe racket?”
“Other than drunksarguing about stupid things?” He shook his head.
I shoved my phone backinto my pocket as we continued en route. “How are you so good atthis?”
“At what?”
“Figuring all thisout? The map, where t’look?”
“I guess because I’mnot emotionally involved?”
I stopped and turnedto him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, think about it,Elle. You’ve grown up with this. It’s been your entire life. It’spersonal. For me … it’s all new. I want answers, so I’m looking atthe facts and making the links.” He shrugged. “Plus your ancestorskinda pointed out a lot of stuff in their journals andfindings.”
“It’s been a long timesince I read them.”
“Well, I get why youwouldn’t want t’read them again.” He playfully punched my shoulder.“Plus, you’re forgetting I had t’put up with a crime and mysteryfanatic for years. I guess I kinda just picked up on looking at thebigger picture.”
“You seem to havepicked up on a lot.”
It was helpful, but Ifound myself wondering yet again if Nathan knew more than he wasletting on. Did he know where the Nest was? Was he leading me intoa trap?
“My head isn’t asempty as it appears.”
Trap or not, I stilldidn’t have much of a choice but to go along with all of this. Ineeded to find Heather, and whether she was at the Nest or not, itwas the only place I could go for answers. Especially because Ididn’t have a damn clue were Brendan’s Pack would be. Were theylooking for him? Could they be trusted? Come to think about it,could Brendan be trusted? What if Heather was missing because ofhim?
“Earth to Elle.”
I blinked. Nathan wasstanding in front of me waving his hand in front of my face.
“You okay? You blankedout.”
“Thinking,” I replied,brushing past him and continuing down the road.
What if I had all ofthis wrong? What if Werewolves had kidnapped Heather? But then, whywould they? And why would my aunt ask one to help if that was thecase? She would have seen if they couldn’t be trusted, wouldn’tshe?
My aunt wouldn’t putHeather’s life in danger, would she?
God, Auntie S, itwould have been so helpful if you had been a little more detailedin your goodbye video.
Watching the road, Iindicated to Nathan that we needed to cross. Sprinting between thevehicles, ignoring the abrupt honking of horns, we made it to theother side. My phone bleeped in my pocket to indicate we hadreached our destination.
I retrieved it andshowed Nathan the area on the map. “Mainly residential. So, itshould be slightly quieter. So, keep your eyes open, and say if yousmell of see anything that’s … odd.”
A long road lay aheadof us. After the shop and hotel that sat at the top of the street,the remainder was lined with what I could only presume were townhouses as they towered well above the size of a terrace.
We set off at a steadypace, pausing once the line morphed into a semi-circle. Atriangular private park lay in the centre, parking spaces situatedbefore the black iron fence. The houses were the same on both sidesof the curved, quiet road. The smooth white stone just kept going,each house only made visible by the sight of a front door and stepsleading up to them.
My focus travelled thelength, noting the windows. Five floors in total. All windows hadsmall balconies either made of stone or black iron.
“Jesus, it’spristine.” Nathan shook his head. “Even the pavement lookswhite.”
“Let’s split up. Bothtake a side, and whistle if you find anything. Okay?”
“You’re the boss.”
I stayed on the leftside while Nathan headed down the right. I took my time as I passedeach house, listening out for noises, scanning the doorsteps forsigns of blood drops. They would be easy to see considering howclean the street was, but would Vampires be stupid enough to leavemarks on such a clean surface?
A sharp whistle brokemy concentration. I crossed the road, moving past the parked cars.Turning the sharp corner of the private park, I found Nathan frozento the spot outside one of the houses.
I stopped in front ofhim and placed my hands on his shoulders with the pretence ofmaking it look like we were in a deep discussion in case we had anycurtain twitchers or passer-by.
“What is it?”
“Can’t you smellthat?”
I inhaled, getting agood load of his cologne. “Not over your Dolce, I can’t.”
“I can’t explain it.”His focus didn’t leave the house. “There’s blood, but not loads. Ijust—” He finally looked at me. “It smells wrong. Does that makesense?”
“It makes enoughsense.”
“Are there lightson?”
He glanced. “I can seea faint glow in the windows next to the door.”
“Okay. So, the blackiron fence that’s behind me, there’s a gate. We’re going down andin.”
“Isn’t that breakingand entering?”
“Only if it isn’t theUK Colony Nest.” I cupped his chin and brough his focus to me,locking eyes. “Are you willing t’bet my life that there areVampires in there?”
“Elle—”
“Yes or no, Than?”
His eyes flicked tothe building, nostrils flaring. “Yeah, something is definitely inthere.”
“Good enough for me.”Hands falling to his T-shirt, I pulled him until my back hit theiron.
His eyes widened.“What are you—?”
“Reach down and openthe gate.”
I heard the click andthe slight whine of metal as he opened it. Letting go over hisT-shirt, I turned and hastily made my way down the stone steps, mygaze snagging on a patch of black at the bottom. The space waswider than I had expected, and a metal door lay to my left, asecurity pad sitting
