“Is Ilya with you?” I figured the faster I said it, the more I could say before I lost his attention. Assuming I had his attention. But . . . trouble magnet, so I probably had more of his attention now than I wanted. “Tell Ilya he really, really shouldn’t go tearing home, because Natasha has already handled the trouble at Silence Lodge, and if he goes tearing home to rescue her, he’s going to end up bunking with you until she gets over being mad at him, because he’s supposed to find the traitor and protect the Sanguinati’s allies.” Which, come to think of it, could be Grimshaw since he and Ilya were definitely allies.
A beat of silence. A deep breath in, a deep breath out. “Vicki.” Stern Police Voice. “Are you talking about Richard Cardosa?”
“The professor? No, it was Viktor who attacked Lara. Natasha said he was headed for this side of the lake, so I guess he’s on the run and Ilya needs to find him.”
“Where are you? Specifically.”
“The main house.”
“Stay there. Do you understand me? Tell Cougar and Conan that you’re in danger, and they need to stay close.”
“But I’m not—”
“If Viktor is heading for The Jumble, he’s coming to attack you. You got that? Right now you are nothing but prey.”
Well, that made me feel special. “Okay, Chief. We’ll batten down the hatches. Full speed ahead.” Why did I say that? Who knows? It made sense to Anxiety Brain.
“Just be careful. I’ll send what help I can.” Grimshaw sounded sterner. I hadn’t thought that was possible. Silly me.
I hung up and realized he didn’t tell me to lock the doors and windows. I guess we both knew that wasn’t going to do any good against a Sanguinati in smoke form. Then I wondered why Grimshaw thought I was the only one Viktor would attack. There were other humans at The Jumble. Maybe the rest of us could throw the Cornleys at Viktor when he arrived and then ask him if adultery had a taste. Sweet and spicy? Tart with an aftertaste of bitter?
Focus, Vicki.
I was about to go in search of Conan and Cougar when Eddie appeared in the doorway and said, “Have you seen Aggie and Kira?”
CHAPTER 84
Aggie
Moonsday, Novembros 5
Where are we going?” Aggie asked, stumbling despite Kira’s grip on her arm. “We shouldn’t be out here.”
Gonna gitcha.
“We’re helping Vicki,” Kira replied.
How were they helping Miss Vicki by walking toward the Mill Creek Cabins? And why did she feel so woozy and odd? She’d been feeling that way on and off since the night when they had stayed in Miss Vicki’s apartment. Something had happened after she and Jozi and Kira had drunk some of the special juice that Viktor had brought for Kira before Miss Vicki and Julian Farrow came upstairs. Something that she couldn’t remember. She couldn’t shift quickly or properly into her Crow form. She knew that was very, very bad, but somehow she just couldn’t seem to care about the bad.
And she couldn’t understand why she felt odd and woozy but Kira looked glittery-eyed and excited.
“No offense to your kind, but those Crows the professor chose as his new helpers just weren’t up to the job,” Kira said. “The only thing they managed to do was get killed. Well, one of them did kill your friend, but that’s not much of a thing, is it? Viktor and I helped lots of humans around the colleges die. The professor said we were his best students. Then he got annoyed with us. He said we’d done too much, drawn too much attention from the authorities, and they were asking questions about his experiments that he didn’t want to answer.
“He left,” Kira continued. “Left the college, left the town. Left us. That was a couple of years ago. We continued hunting for a while, but the leader of our shadow started asking questions too, became concerned that we’d been sneaking off to hunt on the college grounds. Then we heard the whispers about possible contamination from exposure to the wrong kind of humans.” She scoffed. “The professor isn’t the wrong kind of human. He’s brilliant, and he showed us that hunting could be fun and feel so good when your prey feels too good to care what happens. Just like you and Jozi the other night.”
Something in the flask that Viktor had given Kira? Something that made it hard for her to shift her form even now?
“I wanted to taste Vicki, but Julian Farrow got in the way of that. Julian and . . .” Kira shrugged, but she didn’t seem as excited anymore. She kept looking around.
Waiting to hear the rattle, rattle, rattle?
Kira wasn’t a friend. Not to Crows, not to Miss Vicki.
Had to warn Miss Vicki.
<Eddie? Jozi?>
“No!” Kira said sharply, giving Aggie a hard shake that knocked the thoughts right out of her head.
“Where are we going?” Aggie asked again.
“We’re almost there,” Kira said just before Aggie felt fangs tearing at her throat.
CHAPTER 85
Ilya
Moonsday, Novembros 5
Ilya stared at Grimshaw. “Viktor?”
“That’s what Natasha told Vicki,” Grimshaw replied.
But didn’t tell me? <Natasha!>
<There is a reason you are the leader of Silence Lodge,> she said in response to his call. <Be the leader.>
Be the dominant predator among the terra indigene forms who were not Elders or Elementals. That’s what she meant. That’s why she had accepted him as her mate. The strongest. The most lethal among the Sanguinati living around Lake Silence.
If he failed, she might break with him and choose another as her mate.
Someone like Stavros, who wasn’t mated yet.
Ilya shook off those thoughts. There was work—and death—to be done.
“As soon as Osgood returns, we’ll pick up Richard Cardosa,” Grimshaw said.
“You have no evidence that Cardosa killed Edward Janse,” Ilya pointed out.
“I don’t think he held the knife, but I believe he is involved in some kind of brainwashing or psychological manipulation and was the human Eddie Crowgard saw talking with Civil and Serious Crowgard,” Grimshaw argued.
“Circumstantial.”
“Let’s just bring him in. Then we’ll worry about that.”
Ilya sighed. “Unfortunately, Chief, I’m required . . .”
Julian walked into the station, followed by Osgood and a raving Ellen Wilson.