“I recommend you get talking,” said Jared, his voice grave. “I’m not a patient person at the best of times, but the last couple of days have tried me in ways you can’t imagine. I’m not in a good frame of mind.” He leaned forward, putting himself at eye level with Leon. “I want the name of the person who’s running this operation.” I knew that Jared doubted he knew a detail such as that, but it was always worth asking.

“What are you people?”

Jared’s smile wasn’t nice. “You don’t want to know. Trust me on that. Now, I believe you were going to tell me his name.”

“I don’t know his name, I don’t know any names.”

Jared rolled his eyes. “It’s like groundhog day. They always say the same shit.” He gave Max a short nod. Understanding, Max opened his fist and closed it – robbing Leon of the ability to speak. When the human realised that not one of his words were at all audible, his eyes almost bugged out of his drawn face.

Jared’s unpleasant smile returned. “We wouldn’t want anyone hearing you scream, would we?” With that, he raised one hand and placed his fingertips against Leon’s forehead. Leon’s mouth opened in a silent scream as currents of electricity zinged through him, making his entire body shake. Ten seconds later, Jared stopped. He signalled for Max to give Leon back his ability to speak. “His name.”

Leon, panting and shaking his head, said, “I swear I don’t know. I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

Jared sighed. “Max.” Once Leon had again lost his ability to vocalise, Jared again repeated his torturous process. It was fifteen seconds this time before he stopped and allowed Max to undo what he’d done. “I want his name.”

“Please, please, please listen to me. I don’t know his name.” Seeing that Jared was again about to give Max a signal, Leon quickly cried, “But I’ll tell you what I do know, I swear.”

I cocked my head at him. “And what is it, exactly, that you do know? It better be good, Leon.”

“My part in the whole thing is simple. I receive a text message with the name of a shopping mall or something like that. I send Janine there, and I wait for her to contact me with a description of the woman she’s drugged. I relay this info to the Deliverer in a text message. That’s all.”

That’s consistent with what Janine said, I reminded Jared. “You must know the Deliverer’s name, at the very least.”

“I don’t, I’ve never once heard her voice. I only know she’s a woman because Janine saw her from afar a few times. We only communicate using text messages, and I delete them afterwards like I was instructed when I first got the job.”

I arched a brow. “Oh yeah? And what were these instructions?”

“Wait for text messages, don’t act until I receive any, never talk of the operation to anyone, and only ever drug the women with the drug that they leave with the money.”

“So how do you get the drug and your wages if you don’t come face-to-face with anyone?”

“Every month, I’m sent a text message with the address of wherever they’ve hidden the money and the drug. Sometimes it’s in a public bathroom, sometimes it’s in a phone booth, or hidden in a bush near the local park. I never know where the stuff’s going to be, and I never see anyone. These people are very secretive. Paranoid, even.”

Jared sniggered. “You expect us to believe that you’ve never seen even one face, you’ve never heard even one name?”

“I haven’t, I swear—”

Sighing in annoyance, Jared nodded at Max. A stream of words came out of a petrified Leon, but none were audible. “Oh, you’ve remembered something.” Instead of electrocuting him, Jared again nodded at Max, who returned Leon’s ability to speak. “What’s that now?”

Leon was almost sobbing. “When I first met the person who recruited me, she introduced herself as Wendy. Janine’s description of the Deliverer matched the Wendy I spoke to: a middle-aged blonde who wore glasses.”

I knew he was telling the truth about that part at least. It was the same description that Jude and Janine had given us.

“Where’s your cell phone?” Jared asked him.

“The kitchen counter.”

I retrieved the phone. “Is the number saved in your contact list?”

Leon nodded. “Under the name ‘Del’. Short for Deliverer.”

I exhaled heavily and gave him a bright smile. “Well, that’s all. You’ve been quite helpful. More than I thought, considering you lack a conscience.”

He sneered. “You can be moral and law abiding when life’s going good. I’ll bet none of you know what it’s like to have nothing, to be so damn hungry you were rummaging through a garbage can, to just need one hit.”

I knew more about poverty than he thought, but I had no wish to explain myself to him. I shrugged. “Then I guess we’re doing you a favour by letting our friend here end your pitiful existence.” His face became a question mark. “Leon…Meet Jude.”

CHAPTER SIX

(Sam)

Looking at myself in my oval mirror a few hours later, I groaned in exasperation. When Fletcher had knocked on the door and thrust a shopping bag at me, I’d known what would be inside, and I’d known it would be revealing. Of course if Fletcher was here, he would have disagreed; he would have said that the blood-red satin dress was ‘flattering’ and ‘skin tight’. In reality, it was revealing.

Wearing a crooked smile, Jared came up behind me and curled his arms around my waist. “As much as I love this dress on you, it’s making me want to take it off and have my way with you.”

“I fully plan to take it off, it’s too revealing.”

He frowned. “No, leave it on. It’s not revealing, it’s flattering.”

I groaned again. Now Fletcher’s little phrases were rubbing off on Jared. Wasn’t that special.

He just chuckled. “Cheer up, baby. We’re about to go on a dinner cruise as part of the celebrations for our Binding.”

“I know. But I can’t help feeling guilty for enjoying myself when that organisation is still up and running.” Jude hadn’t taken it well when I told her that we wouldn’t be calling the Deliverer. We didn’t want to do anything that would be considered out of the ordinary for Leon, and he’d said that she contacted him. So we needed to wait for the Deliverer to get in touch before we could make our next move, but naturally Jude’s patience for vengeance was running low. I couldn’t blame her for that.

Jared nuzzled my neck. “I know what you mean. I feel bad shoving this matter aside, but how else are we going to enjoy this week unless we keep the assignment and the celebrations totally separate in our minds?”

I sighed. “All right, smart arse.”

Having let Jared talk me into not changing my dress, we then headed for the beach. I should have guessed that Antonio – the flashy sod – wouldn’t have just any yacht, but a luxury almost futuristic-looking one. The interior was more like a five-star hotel; it had a spacious lounge, a classy dining area, and several private cabins. Additionally, there was an outer dining area on the deck where two long tables were set up and a band was waiting. Wow, Antonio had gone all out tonight.

While the squad, the Master Vampires, Fletcher and Norm sat at one table, the High Master Vampires sat at the other with me, Jared, Evan, Antonio, Luther, Sebastian, Wes, and Lena. Just as they had at the informal gathering, Marcia, Rowan, and Ricardo were quite standoffish with me. They even went as far as to ignore my presence at the table, running their gaze along everyone but me as they spoke.

The fact that no one had stepped in to defend me would speak volumes to these prats – Jared, Antonio, and the others all believed me capable of protecting myself. Still, I could feel Jared’s frustration, knew that he wanted to say something anyway, but a few cautioning pinches from me stopped him.

To my surprise, it was Marcia who was the worst. She had some nerve, considering that she wasn’t even a powerful vampire; she was simply Bound to one – quite different. I wanted to seriously dislike her, but it was hard to dislike someone who was a silent partner in many human charities. I was in the same situation with Rowan and Ricardo. Neither of them were what anyone could call ‘bad people’.

Rowan, though largely unpleasant, had his good points. I had learned that the reason he had such an extensive bloodline wasn’t because he was quite the biter. It was that whenever he had encountered a human who knew a little too much about vampires, he hadn’t immediately killed them as necessary. He had given them the choice: death or vampirism. Not many would want to be responsible for so many vampires. But despite that his numbers were large, he continued to make this offer.

In his human years, Ricardo had been a priest. He had done a lot of good back then. Even now, although he wasn’t the nicest soul, he still had a kindness about him. He was the most supportive Sire out there. He was sure to remain in contact with each of his vampires, always helping those who might need it. They all respected him and followed him, which wasn’t always the case with Sires – I was a prime example of that.

Marcia’s words pulled me from my thoughts. “I imagine this kind of extravagance is something you had not encountered until coming here.” It was a jab, and had Jared still been sitting next to me as opposed to talking to one of the Master Vampires on the neighbouring table, he’d have said something. No doubt she had purposely waited until he was absent. “I heard that you lived in a poverty stricken area of London. Is that also where your Sire is from?”

I casually took a sip of my red wine-flavoured NST, hiding my irritation. “I’m actually not sure where Victor was from.”

“Your Sire is deceased?”

“Yeah. A crazy bitch killed him.” I saw that Antonio, Sebastian, Luther, and Evan were fighting the urge to smile.

“I have been told that the physical pain of losing a Sire is almost unbearable.” Connelly’s comment came out sounding like a question.

I shrugged. “It was far from a tickle.”

Marcia sighed. “Well, I suppose if you’re going to base yourself in an area that has a high crime rate, you’re going to meet your end sooner rather than later. I imagine that is why you came here. You sought sanctuary after his death.”

“Sam’s here because I recruited her,” interjected Sebastian, agitated. “She was made Jared’s co-commander because she earned the position. It is a job that she is very good at.”

Rowan clenched his fists. “But she is a Sventé.”

I gently swirled my NST as my eyes flickered from him to Marcia. “I was wondering…You know when you act like this, do you feel much like those kids in the Harry Potter books that are prejudiced against muggles?”

Holding out his hands, Rowan said, “See this from our perspective.”

“But then I’d have to ask Jared to jam my head all the way up my arse.”

Apparently Rowan decided to ignore my comment. “You are of the weakest breed, both in terms of your physical capabilities and your gift. Yes, granted you have a powerful gift, and you are in control of it. But will you always be able to control it? That is the question. If you were a Pagori, I might be inclined to think so.”

I snorted. “If I was a Pagori, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Ricardo leaned forward. “I will be honest with you, Miss Parker. I believe you have some good qualities. You appear to be bright, strong-willed, and bold. They are qualities that I admire. I can see why Jared is taken with you, particularly as you also have…physical attributes.” Everyone ignored Marcia’s snort. “But that is not enough for me.”

I smiled. “Oh I don’t know. Haven’t you heard what they say about us? Once you’ve had a Sventé, you’ll never go back.”

Evan’s laugh didn’t wash down well with the three idiots. “Let me save you all some time. You won’t win an argument with Sam, and you won’t make her feel like she isn’t worthy of Jared or the position that she’ll soon have.”

“We do not wish to argue with anyone,” Ricardo assured him. “We simply wish to express our viewpoint.”

“And point out that Jared could do much better for himself than a common girl who can barely speak proper English,” said Marcia, huffing at me. “I suppose you are a product of drug addicts then, are you? I’ll bet you later became one, too. I’ll bet you went down the road of prostitution to pay for your addiction. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is how you came to be a vampire. You took the wrong type of client.”

I gasped as if in awe of her. “Wow, how did you guess that so accurately? Do something else. What shape am I picturing in my head?”

A loud laugh burst out of Evan while Antonio, Luther, and Sebastian chuckled silently. Even Bran and Kaiser appeared amused.

“Insolent!”

“You couldn’t come up with anything better? Seriously?” When she opened her mouth – most likely to insult me further – I raised a hand to stop her. “It’s all right, Marcia, no need to apologise. I’ve been called worse by better, if I’m honest with you.”

Rowan straightened in his seat. “I would appreciate it if you would not insult my partner.”

“Tit for tat, and all that,” I said, shrugging.

“How about you learn some manners,” suggested Marcia, sneering.