Surrendering(77)

“Because, as much of a pain in the ass as Thatcher is, he has been somewhat collaborative and he’s house broken. Starting over again to train a local police detective takes a lot of time, effort and trust. And we don’t have that luxury at the moment.”

Hmmm…sounded convincing enough. But he knew Elle like not many did. And there was something she hadn’t said in her well thought out explanation. Did she actually like Detective Thatcher? Wow…he hadn’t seen that one coming. Oh well, that was a conundrum to solve on another day. He had far bigger fish on his plate to fry at the moment.

“Anything else?” Dev asked.

“Yes. Since all of the meetings occurred on campus, the professor does not know Xavier’s location. I’m afraid this is all we’re going to get from him.”

“Thanks, Elle. Good work.”

Dev turned his attention to Ren. “Ren, were you and Damian able to get anything from our house guests? Are they still resting comfortably?”

Ren laughed. “Well, they were until little dick over there used his firestarter ability. Damn, I thought the whole fucking house was gonna burn down around us.”

“Fuck off, Ren. And it’s called an interrogation tactic. And it was only one of them I ashed. Besides, I got the fire back under control…without too much damage.” Damian glanced at Dev. “I’ll pay for the repairs, of course, Dev.”

Christ. Put Ren and Damian together and the two acted like prepubescent children.

“Were you able to learn anything before you burnt him to a crisp?”

“Unfortunately not. He was loyal till the end to Xavier. Now the other one we were able to get a bit of useful information from.” Glaring at Ren, he continued, “Of course, it took my special interrogation technique to pry it out of him, but he did tell us that he reports to Geoffrey and that, upon Geoffrey’s orders, they were there to capture your woman, Kate.”

“Christ, Damian, we already knew they were there to kidnap Kate! Tell me something I don’t already know.” Dev was having a hard time holding it together and everyone else was noticing.

“Chill. Give me a chance to finish.”

Dev nodded. “Continue.”

“They were to take her to Xavier. They had orders to do whatever it took to get her there, short of killing or feeding from her, as they suspected she was a dreamwalker and Xavier wanted her alive. They wanted Kate badly and if they couldn’t capture her directly, they thought your detective may be persuaded to help, so they also sent a team to his house as well.”

Elle gasped and immediately fled the room. Dev could only guess she was going to check on Thatcher. This was one big clusterfuck.

So they were at her house to do her harm, not get an update on him and the other lords. Based on this new information, he knew without a doubt that Kate was not a traitor, and he felt lower than the lowest scum of the earth. How she carried Xavier’s blood, he did not know, but he aimed to find out. He needed to stop Esmeralda immediately, before she started her spell.

“Ren, go find Es and tell her to hold off on the spell until I talk to her. Don’t let her out of your sight. I don’t care what you have to do.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

So Xavier knows she’s a dreamwalker, which put her in twice as much danger. He also knows she was in the police station. Which meant Xavier also had minions deep within the MPD and likely knew about the lords’ involvement in protecting Kate. Did he also know that Kate was his Moira?

Dev needed to wrap up this meeting, but fast. “Rom, were your experts able to find anything?”

Rom nodded once and began handing out papers to the group. “Of course. They were able to uncover seven additional documented sleep studies, similar to the one that Professor Bailey was apparently conducting. Two others in your Regent, two in Damian’s and three in mine. We have a list of the universities and professor’s conducting them, which is what I just handed out. I’ve already instructed my people to interview the professors in our Regent, which they will do first thing tomorrow morning. I’m quite certain there is a connection to Xavier here as well.”

“That’s a great lead, Rom. Damian and I will do the same and we’ll reconvene here again tomorrow evening for another update. For now, I simply want them interrogated and watched. Although I doubt it, any one of them may be the key to finding Xavier. Are you in need of Elle’s skills?”

“No, I have several sifters at my disposal in my Regent,” Rom replied.

“I, as well,” added Damian.

“Good. Anything else to add?”

Silence.