“Okay,” I said. “Next up.”
The center overhead screen lit with two vamps walking behind two women. I expected it to be Grandmother and Ka; instead it was Sabina and a redheaded vamp. The vamps in the room inhaled in shock.
Someone to my side whispered, “She’s alive...”
Sabina looked around and stared into the camera. And she smiled. Except it wasn’t Sabina’s own cold smile, it was hard and heated and a little bit crazy. Her eyes tracked to the side and she smiled again. And again. She was seeing the humans in their windows with their cell phones and she was grinning at them, making sure she was on camera everywhere, and that the vid would make it back to me. To my people.
And this right here was the main show.
Almost as bad was the redheaded vamp, standing beside Sabina/Gramma. She was familiar. Alex had run a facial rec and discovered her name was—or had been, before she was eaten alive by Ka—Gertrude Grun, a vamp who once was in the household of one of the Sons of Darkness, Joses Santana. Gertrude had been a powerful vamp, and she too had been eaten alive in a black magic ceremony by anu’tlun’tawho now had the ability to shift shape and look just like her. And on top of being anu’tlun’ta, Ka had also been bitten by an arcenciel, the venom of which had been known to make the bitten nutso.Twou’tlun’ta, both of whom had eaten powerful vamps, working with the bad guys.
“She isn’t wearing her white robes,” Shiloh said. “Sabina would never wear jeans.”
“That is not Sabina,” I said calmly. “Thatis a glamour. Look at the smile. It isnotSabina.”
The vamps exhaled. They might not be totally convinced, but the ones who knew the priestess personally would be. Word would spread to combat the gossip I could practically hear already. Gossip that said Sabina was still alive instead of eaten and taken over by anu’tlun’ta.
“If you see Sabina, do not approach,” I said. “Do not let her get close to you. Call the sighting in to HQ and stay away. Koun?”
“My Queen,” Koun said.
I had smelled him, but not searched the room for him. “I need two special units assigned with equipment and gear, ready at all times, to take down those two women. Heavy on the null sticks and personal anti-magic protective armor.”
“Yes, My Queen.”
“Alex, when you notified PsyLED, was Ayatas FireWind informed about the identities of the escapees?”
“I requested he be so informed,” Alex said.
“Mmmm.” That meant exactly nothing. Aya might not know Gramma was loose and wreaking havoc. “Lemme see any good shots you have of the vampires who attacked the prison.”
On the main screen appeared still shots of the vamps, ones who were likely in supporting roles. Shots taken before the null prison was breached and we killed some of them.
In the center, a larger still shot appeared. The guy in charge of this attack. Leo hadn’t specified that this was Mainet, but dollars to donuts it was. So far as we knew, there were no pics or portraits of Mainet. This guy wasn’t pretty, like most fangheads, turned because they had caught the sexual interest of some vamp, but just average looking, which meant he’d had another kind of value to whomever turned him. If this was Mainet, then theimportance would have been his bloodline, matching his brothers, the Sons of Darkness.
He was short with beefy shoulders and muscular thighs. Olive skin, black hair, dark eyes. His hair was long and braided out of his way. His face reminded me of a plainer version of Leo, and not just the hauteur and regal arrogance, but his actual face. His chin was Leo’s chin. The width and depth of his brow was Leo’s. The shape of his hairline—Leo’s. The totality was all just a little plainer, the features a little less sharp. But that family resemblance was there—human genetic family resemblance.
“Okay,” I murmured. I ate some cooled boudin balls while I studied the others, committing them to memory. “Names and dossiers to my computer when you get them. I also want to see everything you obtained from security cams from inside the prison.”
“There’s not much. The system went down when the outer ward was taken down. Up on screen,” Alex said.
He was right. There wasn’t much. Watching useless video footage, I caught the scent of papyrus, black pepper, and that unidentified, unrelated, something new I had smelled before. He was in the room with us. I hadn’t seen him enter, hadn’t smelled him until now. I followed the scent to the corner of the room. There was nothing there.
I didn’t see Leo standing there, silent, watching everything, but I knew he was there. My body clenched for battle. Beast shoved adrenaline and skinwalker fight-or-flight chemicals into my bloodstream.
I heard a faint click as an unseen pair of fangsschnicked down.
CHAPTER 8
I Knew Better Than to Get My Skin Anywhere Near His Fangs
There was no pop of air.
No attack.
I thought back to the last two times someone had come through the door. Thema and her theatrics and emotional reaction to being ordered around. After her, Deon had entered, preceded by an air blast full of spicy food. Leo came in then. Must have. The smell of the food and vamp emotions had overpowered Leo’s familiar yet new scent.
“Video off,” I said. The screens stopped, then went black. Every eye in the room turned to me and I knew I needed to do or say something lavish and political—preferably before Leo made himself known or someone else smelled and identified him—but I had no idea what.
