Nicole sat between Sean and Tessa. Sean’s knee bobbed up and down, betraying his agitation. And when she risked looking at him, his expression was grim as hell.
Nick, Kayla, and Becca sat across from them again.
“Is everyone settled?” Seth asked.
Nods all around.
“All right. Let’s begin.” Though the Immortal Guardian grapevine had spread word of the second vampire’s capture and Nicole’s injuries to most ears, Seth gave everyone a brief rundown.
When all eyes shifted to Nicole, she smiled. “I’m fine. Seth healed me.”
More nods.
“After reading the vampire’s thoughts,” Seth continued, “and investigating the suspicions they spawned, I have come to believe that we are dealing with a larger problem than we initially thought.”
Nicole studied him. “What did you see in his mind?”
Seth looked at Stanislav and Susan. “His thoughts were disturbingly similar to those of the men who hunted you.”
Stanislav’s brow furrowed. “In what way?”
“The vampires who attacked Becca and her friends with Reed were grunts. So was Gary. Reed led the group and only told them what they needed to know and—according to Gary—answered to an unnamed person with deep pockets.”
Susan glanced at Stanislav, then Seth. “What did they need to know?”
“That Nick Belanger is an Immortal Guardian their… buyer, I suppose we’ll call him… wants to get his hands on so his scientists can create a fountain of youth elixir he can sell to his billionaire cronies for a vast fortune. One that won’t result in them succumbing to the same insanity that grips vampires. Word that had passed down through a shadowy chain of command suggested that Reed and the others could use Becca to lure Nick out of hiding.”
“What the hell, Seth?” Nick blurted furiously. “How can anyone even know that? We tied up every loose end when that shit went down with Roubal.”
Seth held up a hand in a calming gesture. “Such was my thought, so David and I—with the help of Chris Reordon and Scott Henderson in Houston—have spent the past twenty-four hours retracing our steps to see if we missed anything.”
David nodded. “We’ve scoured every mind we altered during the cleanup.”
“And?” Nick prodded.
Seth shook his head. “We found nothing.”
Quiet descended.
Nicole studied the grim faces around her. “Could it be unrelated? I mean, Oliver told me what happened.” Nick and Kayla’s Second had been spending time here in North Carolina so he could watch over the newlyweds while Kayla completed her training as an immortal. “Could one of Nick’s neighbors have seen something? Someone with the connections—”
Nick shook his head. “No one in my neighborhood would have those connections.”
Kayla nodded. “It’s all middle-class families. Anyone with the kind of funds Seth referenced would live in one of the more upscale neighborhoods.”
Roland crossed his arms over his chest. “Perhaps one of the network employees in Texas has been whispering in someone’s ear.”
Chris slammed a hand down on the table. “Damn it, Roland. I’m tired of you trying to pin all the bad shit that happens in the Immortal Guardians world on network employees. Every man and woman we hire has been thoroughly vetted—”
“How recently?” Roland interrupted. “Situations change. I could name at least a dozen reasons someone might find himself in desperate need of an influx of cash. And if said individual wished to leak the identity of an Immortal Guardian for financial gain, now would be the perfect time to do it because everyone’s mind would instantly veer in the direction it has: wondering what—if anything—Seth and the network might have missed while cleaning up the Roubal incident.”
Silence fell.
Bastien spoke. “I hate to admit it, but he’s right.”
Chris glared at them both, then looked at Seth.
The Immortal Guardian leader sighed. “I believe it more likely that we did indeed miss something.”
Leah nodded. “Someone Roubal’s age would probably write himself reminders like Chris here does—with a pencil and paper—instead of typing it into his computer or phone. He might also have mailed a letter to someone instead of texting them so he wouldn’t leave an electronic trail his snooping sons could follow. Seth said Roubal had little love for them.”
Curses flowed freely.
Nicole didn’t know how they could find out whom the old man might’ve told if he’d done it via snail mail.
Kayla’s brow furrowed. “So, where does that leave us?”
No one spoke.
Nicole shrugged. “The same place we were before. I’ll continue to pose as Becca and see what happens.”
“Damn it, Nicole,” Sean snapped.
She threw her hands up. “Well, what other choice do we have?”
“Let Nick pose as Becca,” he flung back.
Chris shook his head. “Right now, Nick is the only immortal they appear to know by name. I don’t want him involved.”
Sean frowned. “You’re just saying that because he screwed up.”
“Actually, yes,” Chris acknowledged without hesitation. “If he hadn’t, we might know more than we do now.”
“Not necessarily,” Kayla tossed in, eager to defend Nick. “What makes you think Reed would’ve revealed more than Gary?”
Chris turned to Tessa. “Was Gary one of Gershom’s vampires?”
She thought about it a moment. “I can’t say with certainty, but I don’t recall ever having seen him before he snatched Nicole.”
Chris motioned to Tessa as he met Nick’s gaze. “Then if nothing else, Reed could’ve at least told us if this is Gershom’s Plan B.”
An uneasy hush descended.
Seth studied Chris. “You think Gershom could’ve instigated this before we neutralized him?”
Chris shook his head. “Isn’t that what we’ve all been waiting for—the other shoe to drop?”
Zach looked at Seth. “Gershom might have been off his nut, but he was a fucking brilliant strategist.”
David nodded. “And every time we thwarted him and prevented him from kick-starting Armageddon, he enacted a new plan. One that he clearly had already set into motion. Otherwise, it would’ve taken him years to regroup after the defeats we delivered.”
Nicole’s stomach sank. She had hoped this would turn out to be a relatively small endeavor. The brainchild of some egomaniac whose greed knew no boundaries. Someone who wouldn’t want to cut anyone else in on the action and, thus, keep their numbers low.
But if Gershom were involved in any way…
He didn’t go small. He went big, upping the ante every time.
Tessa shifted restlessly. “I think it odd that Reed wasn’t at our home base the night you came after me and the other missing immortals. Gershom gave us a strict curfew and a precise window of time in which we were to transfuse ourselves and hunt the Immortal Guardians we thought were our enemy. So we all returned by the same hour. And Gershom didn’t tolerate disobedience.”
Roland’s expression darkened. “Something Veronica learned firsthand.”