Midnight Rising(64)
“If I don’t get to the suckhead first,” Brock put in, coming up behind the other warrior and smiling as he artfully placed the edge of a huge dagger under Kade’s chin.
Brock’s rich chuckle boomed out of him good-naturedly enough, but it was plain to see that the warrior the Order had recruited from Detroit would be as grim and thorough as the Reaper himself in combat. He let Kade go, and the two of them continued to argue over dibs on the Rogue as they headed out of the weapons room to their own separate corners of the compound.
Chase was the last to come around from the back of the facility. His black tee-shirt had a long rip down the front, like someone had tried to get a piece of him. Judging by the sated color of the vampire’s glyphs and the chilled-out look in his normally hard-ass eyes, it appeared he’d taken his fill of everything the club girls were offering topside tonight.
He gave Rio a slight incline of his head in greeting, then spoke to Nikolai. “If you hear anything more out of Seattle, let me know. I’m curious why a killing of this nature hasn’t been acknowledged by the Agency yet.”
“Yeah,” Niko said. “I’d like to know that myself.”
Rio frowned. “Who turned up dead in Seattle?”
“One of the longest-standing members of the Darkhaven out there,” Niko said. “The guy was Gen One, in fact.”
The hairs at the back of Rio’s neck did a sudden ten-hut at that bit of news. “How was he killed?”
Nikolai’s look was grave. “Bullet to the brain, pointblank range.”
“Where?”
“Typically the brain is located in the head region,” Chase drawled, his thick arms crossed over his chest.
Rio slid a narrowed glare on the male. “Thanks for the anatomy lesson, Harvard. I mean where was this Gen One at when he was killed?”
Niko met Rio’s sober look. “Shot in the backseat of his chauffeured limousine. My contact said the poor bastard was returning from the opera or the ballet or some damn thing, and while he was waiting at a traffic light, someone popped him in the head and vanished before the driver even realized what had happened. Why?”
Rio shrugged. “Maybe nothing, but when I was in Berlin, Andreas Reichen told me about a Gen One killing that happened recently over there. Only this Darkhaven elder ate it at a blood club.”
“Those private sports clubs have been outlawed for decades,” Chase said.
“Right,” Rio agreed, all sarcasm, since the ex–Darkhaven Agent seemed intent on being a prick. “So now they print the invitations in invisible ink and you need a secret decoder ring to get past the door.”
“Same MO on the Berlin Gen One?” Niko asked.
“No, not a gunshot wound. According to Reichen’s sources, this sports lover ended up losing his head.”
Niko whistled low under his breath. “That’s two of the top three methods for killing a first generation Breed vampire. Option Three being UV exposure, and let’s face it, the least effective way unless you have a leisurely ten to fifteen minutes to devote to your work.”
“The two killings could be unrelated,” Rio said, not sure his instincts could be trusted on this anyway. But damn if warning bells weren’t clamoring in his head like a cathedral belfry on Easter Sunday.
“Something’s off,” Chase said, finally getting with the program. “I don’t like the feel of this either. Two dead Gen Ones in a matter of, what, a week’s time? And both of them smelling like executions?”
“We don’t know that’s what they were,” Niko cautioned. “Come on, think of the odds here. If you live for a thousand years or so, you’re bound to piss someone off. Someone who might want to shoot you in the back of your limo, or guillotine you at a blood club.”
“And the Darkhavens don’t want word of either slaying going public?” Rio added.
Chase’s tawny brows came together tightly. “Berlin’s on hush mode, too?”
“Yeah. Reichen said they were keeping it quiet to avoid a scandal. Doesn’t look good to anyone if a pillar of your community gets toppled in a sports club full of blooded, dead humans.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Chase agreed. “But two dead Gen Ones is a pretty serious hit to the entire vampire nation. There can’t be more than twenty first generation individuals still alive among the entire population—Lucan and Tegan included. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Nikolai nodded. “That’s true. And it’s not like we can make any more.”