Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124479 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124479 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
The first approach came before he finished his cup.
“Bastien Durand.” A woman’s voice, pitched to carry warmth without conveying it. “What a coincidence.”
He did not look up immediately. The deliberate pause established that he would not be rushed and gave him three additional seconds to assess the speaker through peripheral vision. Dark hair styled in an elaborate updo. Pale skin that spoke of recent feeding. A pin on her lapel identified her house: a crescent moon rendered in silver, the mark of House Béat.
“It stopped being coincidence when you waited twenty minutes for me to sit down.”
She took the chair across from him without asking permission. “You’ve been investigating the deaths.”
“I have.”
“The court would appreciate knowing what you’ve found.”
“The court sent representatives to demand that information four days ago. I told them what I knew then. The situation has not changed.”
“Four bodies suggests otherwise.”
Bastien set his cup down with control. The mark warmed at the edges, responding to proximity to vampire power, but the sensation remained manageable. “Marguerite Deschamps makes four. Your court has her name, her lineage, and the circumstances of her death. If you want additional speculation, you’ll need to offer something in return.”
Her jaw tightened. “The court doesn’t negotiate with hired help.”
“Then the court can continue wondering what connects your dead to the Marchande-Levesque family.” He held her gaze without blinking. “I charge by the hour. Condescension wastes time I could be billing.”
Something hot and old moved behind her eyes—pride offended by a creature who should have known his place. Then she collected herself, smoothing her expression into the practiced neutrality that vampires learned after their first century of politics.
“House Béat would like assurance that the investigation is progressing.” Her tone had shifted, concession buried beneath formality. “Solange Vidal was ours. Her loss reflects on our ability to protect our own.”
“Her loss reflects on the killer’s ability to choose victims no one was protecting.” Bastien kept his voice level. “The pattern targets bloodline significance, not house affiliation. Your minor members are at risk. So are everyone else’s.”
“And you intend to stop this how, precisely?”
“By finding who’s responsible before they finish whatever they’re writing.”
She absorbed this. Her fingers, tipped in nails painted the deep red of dried blood, tapped once against the iron table. “The court observes that your involvement in this matter has attracted considerable attention.”
There it is. The real purpose of the approach, delivered beneath layers of political theater.
“Has it.”
“You are more visible than you used to be. Some wonder why.” She stood, smoothing her skirt with motions too precise to be unconscious. “House Béat hopes your visibility serves the investigation rather than other interests. We would hate to discover that certain parties have compromised your neutrality.”
She walked away before he could respond. His forearm pulsed once beneath his sleeve, as though acknowledging that the first test had been administered and noted.
Seven minutes passed before the next one began.
Bastien left the café and walked east, tracking the watchers who tracked him. Their numbers had grown. The woman in yellow remained at consistent distance. A different human had replaced the newspaper reader—older, heavyset, moving with the deliberate economy of someone carrying a concealed weapon. New figures joined the rotation: a vampire whose face he did not recognize, watching from a balcony on St. Peter; a witch whose wards shimmered at the edges of his perception, observing from across Jackson Square.
The collision came on Chartres Street.
A man stepped from a doorway directly into Bastien’s path—tall, broad through the shoulders, moving with the coiled economy that marked combat training. Their shoulders connected with force that would have staggered a human. Bastien absorbed the impact without breaking stride.
“Watch yourself.” The man’s voice carried an edge of challenge. His eyes held Bastien’s a beat too long, measuring, assessing. Testing.
Bastien said nothing. He continued walking, pace unchanged, expression neutral. The mark flared beneath his sleeve—not in response to magic, but to the attention itself. Someone wanted to see how he handled provocation. He gave them nothing to read.
The werewolf found him on Decatur Street, making no attempt at subtlety. He approached from behind, footsteps heavy on the cobblestones, and fell into stride beside Bastien without breaking their rhythm. Young—mid-twenties by appearance, which meant early thirties given the accelerated aging that preceded first transformation. Lean build, with the coiled readiness that marked recent pack members still learning to contain their other nature.
“Tib sent me.” No greeting, no pretense of casual encounter. “He wants to know what you’ve learned about the vampire deaths.”
“Tell Tib to ask me himself.”
“Tib’s busy. Pack matters.” The young wolf’s jaw worked. “There’s been contamination on our territory. Sigils appearing on boundary stones. Magic that tastes like blood and copper.”
His forearm responded before Bastien could stop it — a flare that spread up through his arm and reached his elbow before subsiding. The wolf noticed. His nostrils flared, tracking something in the air between them.