“No,” Casey corrected. “The field. Like out there in the world, looking for magical stuff.”
Taken aback, she stammered her reply. “Oh, I don’t, that is . . .”
“Speaking of the field,” Dragan said, saving her. “There’s something I think you need to know. Sotiris used to visit me, mostly to brag about his latest victories. But lately he’s had a very specific litany. He kept bragging of how I was going to make him the most powerful sorcerer in the world. That not even you would be able to best him. I hoped that—”
“He said you would do that?” Nico interrupted. “You specifically?”
“Yes. He began going on about it a few weeks ago, I think. Time was . . . difficult to keep a track of.”
“What the fuck could he mean by that?” Nico asked, looking at the others. “It can’t be about kidnapping Hana, not if he was still—” He stared intently at Dragan. “Did he stop recently? Or was he still bragging about it?”
“The last time he visited, which was. . . . How long ago, Mae?”
“Just before your curse broke,” she said thoughtfully. “Because after he left, I came down and sat with you, and that’s when . . . it happened. So . . .” She counted back. “A week, if you count today.”
“Damn it. What the hell’s he up to now?” Nico demanded.
“That’s where I come in,” Gabriel said, surprising everyone. “And why Raphael was so eager to have me fly across the country to meet with all of you.”
Nico scowled, but made a “give” gesture with one hand. “Fine. Give me the message. What’s the bloodsucker have to say?”
Gabriel gave a longsuffering sigh, but said only, “It’s not a message, so much as a troubling report. Raphael knows how little you concern yourself with vampires—”
“Present company excluded,” Nico interrupted.
“But there’s something going on in Mexico that, when added to Dragan’s new information, is ominous for all of us.” He turned to address Dragan and Maeve. “I don’t know how familiar you are with the vampires on this continent—”
“Not at all,” Maeve answered, while Dragan just shook his head.
“Right. So we have eight vampire territories here, each ruled by a single, very powerful vampire lord. I’m talking rattle-the-earth powerful, and Raphael can do more than that.” He ignored Nico’s pfft of dismissal. “What matters here is that the entire country of Mexico is a single territory, ruled by Lord Vincent. And what he reports is that vampires are being murdered down there. Not just any vampires, but master vampires, especially the strong ones.”
“You sure it’s not just Vincent cleaning house?” Nico asked. “There were a lot of unhappy vamps left behind when he killed Enrique.”
“No, he wouldn’t have bothered reporting something like that. He called Raphael, because he thought it might be another attempt by the Europeans to weaken the North American alliance, and wanted to know if anyone else had experienced the same violence. Once Raphael heard details of the killings, and saw the few images people managed to get on their phones before the bodies dusted, he suspected magic was involved somehow. He was about to send me down there to investigate when you called to tell me Dragan had been freed. The coincidence was too much, especially given the unusual deaths and the likelihood that sorcery was in play.” He grinned. “It also meant he didn’t have to call you.”
Nico snorted. “He never calls anyway. He asks Cyn to do it, which I don’t mind at all.”
“Exactly. And he doesn’t ask Cyn, she persuades him to let her call, so the two of you don’t waste time exchanging thirty minutes of insults over a two-minute conversation.”
“Whatever. What’s so mysterious about these deaths?”
“They’re being sucked dry of power, not blood. They’re left alive, but dry as jerky, the blood like red ash in their veins. Their people have tried to revive them, feeding them blood like a baby, because they’re too wasted to tap a vein. But it doesn’t work. They fade to dust within 24 hours, no matter what anyone tries.”
“Why assume sorcery’s involved?”
“Reports from townspeople on the scene. Most of them are superstitious as hell. So when some white guy comes to town and starts doing weird fucking stuff, they get on their phones and make calls.”
“I still don’t see a sorcerous connection, much less Sotiris specifically. I can’t see him wandering around Mexico killing vampires, just for the hell of it.”
“Power, Nico. It’s about power,” Dragan said intently. “I don’t know vampires or how they live, but I had a goddess riding my ass from the minute I was born, and I know power. Sotiris planned to use my goddess gift to enhance his strength. I don’t know how. That’s your specialty, not mine. But once he lost me, he started looking for a replacement and somehow came up with Mexican vampires.”
“I’ve got images of the bodies,” Gabriel said, handing Nico an iPad. “And witness descriptions of the men who did that to them.” He added a single sheet of paper on top of the iPad, then passed copies to the others. “Two men, one white, one Latino. White guy was mid-forties, dark hair. He let the other one do the talking. That one was a vampire, spoke Mexican Spanish like a native.”
“Why not do his hunting during the day,” Nico insisted, “when the vamps would be easier to kill?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe he needed the vampire’s help, or maybe it has something to do with the device he hooked them up to.”
“Device? What the fuck, Gabriel? You might have mentioned that earlier. What’d it look like?”
“Oddly, or maybe not, we don’t have a description of it. Either Sotiris fucked with their memories, or they decided not to remember that part. People in those towns cultivate forgetfulness as a survival tool.”
“Why remember him at all, then?”
“Come on, Nico. You’re not that naïve. Those towns exist because of drugs. They might not like their masters, but they depend on them.”
“All right,” he conceded, then stared at the iPad as it was passed down the line.
When it made its way to Dragan, he leaned in so Maeve could see it, too. Reaching over, she swiped right to the next picture, and the one after that, before giving up. Christ, who wanted to see that anyway? They looked like ancient mummies from a horror movie. The only thing missing was trailing bandages. Yuck.