Matthias didn’t know how to respond to such a ridiculous speech, so he didn’t. He only knew he wasn’t going to accept another syringe full of Frank’s magic potion.
Frank walked to the table and picked up the bag of blood. “Did you realize you’d been feeding on vaccinated blood for the past two days?”
A chill stole across Matthias’s shoulder blades, turning his skin ice-cold. “That isn’t possible.”
And yet he couldn’t help but think about his feeding for the past couple of days. The bags themselves had been opaque instead of clear; he’d attributed the change to the supplier. The blood had tasted more metallic, but he’d blamed the difference on his changing appetite.
If what Frank said were true . . .
“What have you done, Frank?”
With growing wonder, he listened.
CHAPTER 25
Robin followed Nik into the community house Fen had called home since recuperating from the fire. He shared the space with Shawn and three other scathe members. Originally they’d thought Hannah might move there, but she’d latched onto Nik, and he didn’t seem to mind, so it was easier for her to stay at Mirren’s.
“Don’t you feel kind of criminal doing this?” She watched as Nik picked the back-door lock with a deft hand, popping the dead bolt as if it were made of tin foil.
“Not in extenuating circumstances, which these are.” Nik eased the door open. “Only vampires are living in this comm-house, so we’ve got a good couple of hours to look around.”
The house was nothing like Chez Kincaid. The furnishings were similar, but the warmth was absent. Robin had always hated that bit about the “woman’s touch,” but maybe it was true. Glory had made that sterile house into a home; even Robin thought of it that way. Though some of the vampires who lived here were women, so maybe it was the human touch.
“You know which room is his?”
“I’m guessing the one with no personal belongings. Whatever he had with him from Atlanta probably burned in the fire.”
Robin had been thinking about that fire. “Fen’s the one who got hurt. I mean, he was healed by the time he went through a daysleep, but if he set the fire, why would he go in to rescue Hannah?”
Nik opened the middle room on the left and walked inside. “This is it. I recognize that hat.” A red-and-blue Atlanta Braves cap sat atop the dresser; Robin had seen Fen wear it as well.
“As for your question, what better way to convince people you didn’t set a fire than to get hurt trying to put it out?” Nik said. “Besides that, we figure Cage was the target, not Hannah. My bet is that if Cage were the one trapped, Fen wouldn’t have gone in to save him.”
“I guess. But there’s something else that doesn’t make sense.”
Nik laughed. “There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense to me, but which thing in particular?”
“You saw the jaguar in your vision, along with Fen. Where does the coyote that set the fire come in? You think Fen’s in league with two different shape-shifters?”
“Don’t know. I’ve been thinking about that, too.” Nik began pulling out dresser drawers, so Robin joined him. All were empty but one, and it had only a few clothes. “Okay, I’m girding my mental loins; get ready to haul me out of here.”
He picked up each garment, careful to fold it back the way he’d found it. “Nothing. Fen hasn’t been turned that long, and he’s traveled a lot. He might have met some shifters during his mercenary days, same way he met Cage.”
What she really wondered was if Fen was still a mercenary. It might be worth a lot of money for a vampire to infiltrate his old buddy’s lair and sabotage it, maybe even kill someone who was getting too close to the truth.
They spent the next hour searching Fen’s room and going back through the burned house as well, trying to find anything they’d missed.
“We still have an hour until dusk.” Robin waited while Nik popped the back-door lock back into place. “Maybe we don’t start with asking questions about Fen. Maybe we start with Britta. Maybe we talk to Mark.” At least Mark was human and therefore, theoretically at least, awake.
It took a fruitless trip to Aidan’s house, a call to the clinic where Mark kept an office, and a drive around town, but they finally spotted Mark’s small sedan parked in front of the Chow House.
“Great, I’m hungry.” Robin had been wanting to come here, but this was her first chance. There always seemed to be crises to handle, psychics to rescue, vampires to seduce. Good times. But she’d had enough of Glory’s leftovers to figure the fresh-made thing had to be even better.