“You can speak freely in front of them,” I said. “They want to find Emmett more than anyone, I suspect.”
“At least you think sonow,” Ambrose said, sending me a look.
Maxwell scowled. “You have to admit you acted suspiciously, brother.”
I ignored them as Violetta reached into her bag and produced a small notebook the size of her hand, containing two dozen pages at most.
I accepted it and waved it at Maxwell and Ambrose. “Given what we know, this clue is more vital now than ever.” The brothers took places at my back, each looking over a shoulder as I opened the notebook.
Names. It was a list of names. I knew what it was immediately, of course. Ambrose’s sharp intake of breath only confirmed it. This … this was what I needed. The endgame, in that tiny notebook. I would meet both conditions of Vrykolakas’s quest with these papers.
“Vampire hunters?” Maxwell asked, and his brother’s jaw clenched in response. Violetta’s eyes were wide as she absorbed what she’d been holding on to.
Ambrose snatched the notebook from my hands. “These names are meant to be secret, for their protection. Can you imagine if these names found their way to the hands of a vampire lord? They would all be hunted down and wiped out without a second thought.”
I nodded. Yes. If I had that notebook, that was exactly what would happen. And at my hand.
I hesitated. Of course, Ambrose would be on that list. And Maxwell would soon be on it as well. There were likely many boys such as them among the ranks of this society. Did they all deserve to die for being dragged into this organization, literally kicking and screaming? Many of them probably did. But not all of them.
Not Maxwell.
“But why would Emmett have such a list?” I asked.
Ambrose frowned, crossing his arms. “He had to have copied it from Lord Boulliard’s original. He’s the only one who has such a list.”
I blinked. So that was why Emmett had been spying on the man. To have the opportunity to copy it.
“As for why?” Maxwell sighed. “Perhaps he’s spying for someone.”
“A vampire?” Violetta gasped.
“No, no,” Ambrose waved her assertion away. “Likely someone who would stand to make a good amount of money to keep this list from undead hands, though.”
“Blackmail.” Maxwell nodded slowly. “He would barter for their very lives. They would likely pay any sum to keep this list safe.”
I digested this new information. Emmett didn’t seem like the innocent victim in all of this, after all. Perhaps he’d gotten in over his head. Perhaps the mystery woman Isabel had seen him with had put him up to it, manipulating him or threatening him. He was likely now in trouble from whomever these dangerous blackmailers were.
“Oh!” Violetta rummaged through her bag again and handed me a letter. “I brought this too, in case you wanted to see it.”
I frowned as I unfolded the page, scanning it with increasing anxiety.
“What is it?” Maxwell asked.
I licked my lips and read. “Dearest Violetta, I must beg another favor of you. I apologize for putting you in an awkward position, but I must have that list you safeguarded for me. I’m afraid circumstances prevent me from acquiring it through convenient means, but I trust you can accommodate me in a precarious predicament. Meet me at the cemetery off Old Mill Road at midnight on Wednesday. I promise to make it worth your while. You know I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t extremely important, and I know that I can count on you. Yours.”
It wasn’t signed, but it was clear who had penned this.
“Old Mill Road again?” Maxwell frowned.
I nodded slowly. “He’s likely hiding somewhere nearby. It’s perfect, of course. Out of the way, where no one might stumble across him. He’d been spending enough time there as of late to know the area.”
Violetta stiffened. “Oh.”
I watched her expectantly. “Oh?”
She ducked her head. “If he’s out there, he’s hiding in plain sight.”
Ambrose lifted an eyebrow. “Would you care to enlighten us?”
