Takoma stared down at the program displaying the file containing the security videos for Alyona’s home in the time frame he spoke of. He hit Play, watching as her BMW pulled into the driveway. The split feed from the cameras showed all angles of the property’s meticulously manicured front lawn and Alyona getting out of her car alone, in no distress. She took her time walking up the brick pathway to her front door, not rushing as she put the key into the lock. The outside of the property remained as it was, with no one pulling up after her or anyone walking past on the sidewalk. Then the feed went black, clearly dead, and didn’t return.
He drew in a breath, running his tongue against the back of his fangs. “What of the security feeds from the neighboring homes?”
“Tony was off duty today. William sent him to knock on the neighbors’ doors in the afternoon and see if they’d be willing to share their security data without a subpoena.”
Takoma had kept up the habit of having dirty cops in his back pocket, but Tony Clearwater was different in that the man was a cop—and technically, he was dirty—but also a human servant beholden to the Seattle Night Court. “What did he find?”
Haitao swiped to another screen, pulling up a different file. The video that played was from a door camera, the wide-angle view easily capturing the two cars that pulled up in front of Alyona’s house and the group of people who hastily exited the vehicles. The timestamp was barely a minute after Alyona’s feed blacked out. The wards that should have prevented them from crossing onto the property with ill intent never activated. Moments later, they came out carrying an unconscious Alyona, put her in the first car, and then drove off. The angle wasn’t helpful in getting a license plate number, and the distance meant facial recognition would be a long shot.
But there were only two groups who were making his life difficult lately, and Takoma had no problem going after either of them.
“Let’s get across the lake,” Takoma said.
Haitao tucked the tablet away in his messenger bag. “I’ll captain the boat. The car will be waiting for us on the other side.”
While Takoma hadn’t left his bedroom with a weapon, Haitao had that covered. The vampires and human servants that met them on the property’s dock were armed, and William had them covered when it came to magic. Takoma’s yacht was docked at the pier, a quicker way across Lake Washington than the traffic-clogged streets and bridges would be at this time of the night.
They climbed on board, and the human servants worked to release the yacht from its moorings. The engine started with a heavy thrum as Takoma slipped into the bridge, finding Haitao at the controls.
“Run dark,” Takoma ordered.
Haitao nodded and set about steering the yacht away from the pier. They didn’t need to worry about getting past a bridge; Madison Park was across the lake from Medina. The waters were a little choppy from the wind, the lingering effects of the rainstorm last night still in the area. Out on the water, the land ringed them in lights, the cold spray from the water flinging itself past the railing with the help of the wind. Takoma stared through the windows on the bridge at the oncoming shore as he handled phone call after phone call with his Night Court.
Crossing the lake didn’t take that long, and human servants were there to greet them when they docked at a human servant’s home in Madison Park, the property’s pier empty of any other boats. Takoma’s Night Court had bought the property specifically to aid in crossing the lake from Medina. Haitao passed the controls off to another vampire, who would sail the yacht back across the lake. The rest of them left the yacht and cut across the backyard for the street and the convoy of cars waiting for them.
Alyona’s home was located in the Madison Park neighborhood, although it wasn’t a lakefront one. She’d never minded the lack of view, too busy with aiding the Night Court to ever enjoy it. Takoma remembered buying it for her when she graduated college, prepared to follow her mother into the business world on behalf of Takoma. He’d made sure the wards they’d bought for the property were top-notch, but it seemed they’d been worthless.
When Takoma walked into the home, the threshold didn’t bar him or any other vampire. Alyona had long ago allowed the Night Court entry. They were welcome even when she wasn’t there to receive them. The person who met them at the front door wasn’t unexpected, though still a surprise. Spencer offered up a grim little smile from his spot in the hallway, Fatima seated by his feet. The vampires around him seemed slightly rattled, eyes flickering in the direction of the kitchen. Takoma supposed that was where Wade must be.
“You’re not going to like this,” Spencer said.
“I already don’t,” Takoma replied in a low, furious voice.
“Right.” Spencer gestured vaguely at the living room behind him with its modern interior design Alyona had always favored. A mageglobe hovered in the center of the room there, the dark green magic glowing softly. “The good news is she wasn’t dead when they took her out of here.”
“They could have killed her somewhere else.”
Spencer didn’t argue that. “The bad news is the poltergeist was present here and most likely caused the power outage as well as breaking through the wards.”
Takoma leashed his temper with long practice. “Did it possess her?”
“I can’t tell you that unless I see Alyona’s soul. Odds are high she’ll get possessed, but I don’t think they’ll waste the poltergeist on her.”
“Waste.” The word rolled off Takoma’s tongue with enough vitriol that Spencer winced, but he never stepped back. “What do you mean bywaste?”
He watched as Spencer dragged a hand through his blond hair, blue eyes meeting Takoma’s gaze when few humans who weren’t beholden to his Night Court could barely even look at him. Vampires were the stuff of nightmares for humanity, but there were always those treasured few who could see past the horror of his existence and accept the monster he’d become. Despite everything going on, the fact that Spencer didn’t fear him pleased Takoma.
“Look, that poltergeist isn’t acting like a typical poltergeist, and the demons popping up are beholden to a higher-ranking one. The SOA agent who went to visit Caitlin about the case I’m working came back with a demon who said it was following a Duke.”
“Is this going to be like New York City?”
“Man, it better not be,” Wade said as he wandered into the living room, eating out of a bag of chips. “One end-of-the-world fight is all I signed up for this lifetime.”
“You’re going to live to be thousands of years old,” Spencer reminded him.
Wade shot him a dirty look. “Exactly.”
Haitao stared at Wade with a contemplative look on his face before his dark gaze flicked Takoma’s way. “Is this the fledgling?”
