“Mr. Drake, this is Abbey from Fated Match.”
He set the pen down and leaned back in his chair. “Hello, Abbey.”
“I need to ask you a few questions about your date with Ms. Redgrave.”
There was a strain to the matchmaker’s voice that seemed at odds with her usual cheery disposition. “What’s wrong?”
“You saw her last night, correct?”
He frowned. “Actually, I didn’t. We had plans to meet, but she never showed up. I tried to call but couldn’t get through. I assumed some emergency had come up. She didn’t strike me as the type to just leave me hanging.”
“No, she’s not. Mr. Drake, Melissa never came home last night. Her driver is also missing. I believe you were one of the last people to see her. Did she mention anything about going somewhere?”
Ice slithered down his spine. “As far as I knew the only place she was planning on going was to the restaurant with me.”
Abbey sighed into the phone. “Then I apologize for what’s coming your way. Melissa’s father will not take her disappearance lightly, and as soon as night falls I guarantee he’ll be paying you a visit.”
“Redgrave,” he said. The most powerful vampire in the city. If anyone would be able to sniff out his necromancer blood, it’d be Lucian.
“I swear we don’t normally have such drama at Fated Match but safety is our primary concern.”
“Of course. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
“Thank you. If Melissa contacts you, please let me know.”
The phone went dead as Abbey hung up.
For a moment he sat frozen in his chair. Melissa missing. Right before she was supposed to have met him. It looked bad from every angle. Add in his heritage and it was a disaster.
Who knew where we’d be? he thought. The agency didn’t divulge that information. Melissa could have mentioned it to a friend. And I—
“Goddamn it.” Grabbing the phone, he dialed a number by heart.
“Hello?” Eilin answered.
“What did you do?”
Silence reigned.
Fury sizzled through him, banishing the cold shock. “Tell me this wasn’t you, Eilin.”
“Grandfather said it was our best chance.”
Tarian bit back the curse on the tip of his tongue. “You will start a war.”
“We just want to ransom her to her father. No fuss, no muss.”
“If you believe that, then you are more of a child than I thought,” he replied, jumping to his feet. Grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair and his briefcase from the floor, he strode out of the office like a storm.
“Where did they take her?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you.”
“Dammit, Eilin. Let me undo this mess before someone ends up dead. Where is Melissa?”
He could imagine his sister chewing on her lip in indecision. “I’m the last family you’ve got,” he hissed into the phone. “And if she dies, I will never forgive you for this.”
“She’s just a leech.” But the conviction in Eilin’s voice was wavering.
“You knew about my date, little sister. Not only have you put a genuinely decent woman in harm’s way, you made me an accomplice to this abduction. No one will believe I wasn’t a part of it. You might be ready to destroy a vampire’s life but are you ready to destroy mine?”
Another heartbeat of silence.
“Eilin.”
“The ranch,” she whispered.
Tarian punched the elevator call button. “You flew her across state lines?”
“Everyone thought it would be best to keep her far away from her father.”
“Listen to me, Eilin. I will fix this, but you don’t leave the apartment until I’m back. You hear me? Necromancers will be the first people they blame for this. And rightly damn so.”
“Promise.” Her voice was small, lacking the certainty it had first held.
He disconnected without saying goodbye.
As he rode down the elevator he told himself he’d be this enraged if any other vampire had been kidnapped, but he knew the truth. The idea of Melissa in danger twisted something inside of him. That her date with him had given her captors their opportunity slayed him.
“I’ll find her,” he vowed.
And somehow stop the vampire community from eradicating his race in the process.
…
Voices tuned in and out. A blur of shapes moved around her, but she couldn’t force her eyes open.
“Dose her again,” someone said. “We’ve got a ways to go.”
“We don’t want to damage her,” someone argued.
“You’d rather fight a vampire on a plane?” the first voice snapped. “We’ll all crash.”