Chapter 25
Zander stood before the head of security, so angry he had to consciously rein his aura in. He focused on speaking without addedpower, but his voice still came out in a low, dangerous rumble. “Find the culprit, or I will personally whip the skin from your back. This happened on your watch.”
“Acknowledged, Master Zander. The buck stops with me. My team is available for you or your people to scan their minds to see if you notice something they did not. I also have people reviewing the feeds, but you are welcome to do so as well.”
Zander nodded. “I will view video feeds first, and then go through the minds of those nearby the affected. Can the computer in Lucien’s office — the one at the conference table — access them?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Make it happen. I’ll be up in five to ten minutes.”
Zander stopped off in the kitchens to be certain the staff knew to prepare chicken broth for the affected, and told them to make up a few gallons of Emerald’s electrolyte recipe, and then headed to the theater to check in on those setting the beds up again.
When he made it to the conference room, he found someone setting up two large monitors on the conference room table. Moments later, he was sitting in front of them, speeding through footage, with buttons to push to go faster, slow down, or stop.
He made a mental note of which security people were around those marked, but he didn’t see any vampires touching the affected spots.
So far, nine of his flock had been marked this time, and the solution was stronger, the burn deeper and redder.
He’d given those who were sick treble pay for the days they were down, and had to pay others extra to feed more than one vampire per day — but it wasn’t the money that mattered, it was the fact he was responsible for protecting his people, and he’d failed.
Lucien entered while he sat and replayed the first video he’d looked at, hoping perhaps a second viewing would make something pop.
He stopped the video and told him, “We’ll send notices out a few days after the end of this session, notifying everyone with reservations when they’ll be coming. After this, we’ll certainly be dividing up the Concilio and Senatus.”
“We can’t be certain that’s what this is about.”
Zander lifted his brows and didn’t say a word.
“Right,” Lucien said. “It’s a good possibility, but we should wait until we know for certain.”
“The ezret symbol means oath breaker. Traitor. We can probably focus our attentions more on Concilio members, but we’ll need to make a show of investigating everyone.”
Lucien shook his head, frustration showing on his normal poker face. “We have to handle this delicately. If we don’t do a feeding frenzy tomorrow night and only have supervised feedings…” He sat heavily in a chair. “They’ve paid millions to be here, for the experience of the constant party and entertainment, the nightly decadence.”
“I won’t put the flock members at risk of this again. No more free-for-all access to our shifters until we find the perpetrators. One flock member per vampire, so we know damned well who they touched.”
Lucian nodded. “We can do that. Sleeping Beauty keeps them constrained to one person, Il Trovatore, Moulin Rouge. We’ll separate the tables or mats more, but we should use more hidden cameras for extra monitoring. We can’t insult them with more security in the room.”
“One would almost think,” Zander said, his voice so calm he understood it would be frightening, “that you only care about the paying customers, and not the shapeshifters we are bound to protect and defend. Those who willingly give their blood to keep us — and our paying customers — alive.”
Lucien spread his hands in a placating gesture. “Of course I care, but we must consider the bigger picture.”
“We must find the perpetrator. What expedition can we offer to get everyone out of the Silo? Once they’re out, we can search everyone’s quarters for the poison.”
Lucien looked horrified. “Let’s keep that as a last resort, Master Zander. I suggest we go through the minds of everyone the vampires brought with them. Their companions are likely to know if their Masters have plans, and if not, they may at least suspect it’s their Master.”
Zander sat back and considered it. “The idea has merit. Get me a list of everyone who came as a guest of a paying vampire — shapeshifters, humans, and vampires. I want to be certain I don’t miss anyone.”
Spence had sent a telepathic knock earlier, the kind that meant there was information that wasn’t pressing, so Zander waited until he left Lucien’s office before telepathing him back.
He got an update on how badly the nine were doing, and then, “Emmy spoon-fed Felix to get him to eat, and she held Toby while he puked and then washed his face with a clean cloth. She takes care of her friends. I know we aren’t supposed to be talking to Sophia or Aaron while we’re here, but damn, I wish they could see her.”
“Neither needs to know about what happens at Mordnik. No communication. Aaron had a hard enough time knowing she was a feed-and-fuck in a normal coterie, he doesn’t need to know what she’s agreed to in order to come with us.”
His best friend thought his oldest daughter was on an expedition, the same as the professors thought. Zander hadn’t lied to him, but he hadn’t corrected his faulty intel, either. The old dragon would eventually find out, because supernatural gossip was legendary, but there’d be enoughspace between the activity and him hearing about it, the impact wouldn’t be as great.
But Spence was right about Emerald — she’d grown into a brilliant, caring young woman.
