Vampires Are Foreve(96)
Thomas had walked two blocks in the direction of the townhouse, and then had turned the corner and backtracked up the next street to join Bastien and Etienne on top of one of the few modern buildings in York. The roof of this building was the reason they’d chosen the coffee shop he and Inez had visited the day before. The three men could—and were—lying on their stomachs on the flat roof, peering down on the shop across the street. Its position and the glass windows that walled the coffee shop gave them a perfect view of every inch of the building and everyone in it. Not that it mattered. Thomas didn’t care about seeing anyone else, he hadn’t torn his eyes from Inez since dropping to lie between Etienne and Bastien several minutes ago.
“We didn’t have to talk her into it,” Bastien reminded him wearily from his right, his own gaze fixed on the coffee shop. “She listened to the plan, thought it was a good one and agreed to do it.”
“Then I never should have let you tell her the plan,” Thomas snapped. “I should have dragged her right upstairs and turned her at once.”
“Why did you let her listen?” Etienne asked from his left. “I was rather surprised that you stopped yelling and bellowing, and settled down to let us explain what we were thinking of doing.”
“Because I didn’t want her to think I was a bloody dictator,” he admitted with regret, and then added, “Besides, I thought she had the sense to say no.” Shaking his head, he scowled at the woman under discussion and asked with bewilderment, “How could a woman who is as competent and accomplished in business as Inez is agree to this nonsense of a plan?”
“Precisely because she is competent and accomplished and saw that this was really a very sensible plan,” Bastien said through gritted teeth.
Thomas was so angry he finally tore his eyes from Inez and turned sharply on Bastien. “Sensible? You’ve thrown a helpless bit of bait in the water without attaching a hook first and are hoping that when the shark shows up, you can dive in and chase after it before it eats the bait. That’s not a plan, it’s a suicide mission and you sent my lifemate on it,” he said heavily and then added bitterly, “And without letting me turn her first which—at least—would have made her harder to kill and given her a fighting chance.”
“I know,” Bastien said, guilt joining the weariness in his eyes as he met his gaze. “I won’t let anything happen to her, Thomas, I promise. But whoever this guy is, he seems to have focused on Inez for some reason. He has to be connected with Mother’s going missing.” He glanced back to the building across the street unhappily. “It’s been seven days now since we’ve heard from Mother, we’re…I,” he corrected quietly. “I am getting desperate. We couldn’t wait another day until she was turned.”
“I’m worried about Aunt Marguerite too,” Thomas said stiffly, his own gaze shifting back to Inez again. “But dammit, Bastien, I’m not willing to sacrifice Inez to find her. Especially if we’d just figured out what she figured out.”
Bastien glanced at him with confusion. “What do you mean what she figured out?”
“Well, that’s why he’s focused on Inez,” Thomas pointed out and then frowned. “At least I think it is. She must have figured out something. That’s the only thing that makes sense.” Thomas watched Inez brush her hair behind her ear as she read the book she held. “We were talking about who the seven people in the group might have been.”
“The seven people in the group?” Etienne asked with confusion, reminding Thomas of his presence. “What are you talking about?”
“With Aunt Marguerite,” Thomas said and then explained the conclusions Inez had come to about the room request. “We were trying to figure out who the seven people were when Inez excused herself to find the ladies’ room. I wondered if she hadn’t kept fretting over the problem while away from me and came up with the answer. I thought maybe he had controlled her, and sent her back to the table with her mind wiped because of that. Hoping, perhaps, that removing the memory would remove the problem, but then when we talked about it in the pub afterward…” He shook his head. “We were trying to sort it out and I went to get us more drinks and came back and she was gone. That’s when he tried to kill her.”
“So you think because she kept coming up with the answer that he’d realized wiping the memory wouldn’t suffice and that he’d have to kill her…” Etienne reasoned slowly.