Jericho and Evan are here. Evelyn, too, her graying brown hair twisted up in a lopsided bun. Aster is wide awake and bouncing in his highchair, gobbling down some buttered toast and bits of banana.
I slide into the seat beside Rowen, fingers brushing his thigh under the table. A few heads turn in our direction, knowing looks and mixed hidden smiles against their lips. My cheeks heat. Damn pheromones. I hide my face in my sleeve.
Grant wastes no time. “Last night’s trip into Prodigy didn’t go quite as planned,” he begins, “but Kaine and Willow did find one of Foxx’s vamps as promised.”
“Which one?” Taren asks.
“Trivanka. You remember her—the pixie one?”
A low murmur ripples around the table.
“They told us what they could, but in the end, we decided to scope the place so we could make a plan.” He pauses. “Two vamps attacked us when we surrounded the hotel.”
“Was it a set-up?” Neal asks.
“I don’t think so. We think they were lookouts for Foxx. Watching Trivanka. Protecting her. They were young, though. No vamp gifts yet, so they were easy kills.”
Forest rubs his arm, wincing. Even “easy” left marks.
“Trivanka came out when the fight started,” Grant continues. “Thanks to… Kaine”—he spits the name, like giving the other vampire any credit physically pains him—“we captured her and questioned her.” Grant leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “The woman claimed she was trying to leave Foxx. Said she didn’t like where things were going with the coven. The word she used was… experiments.”
The word lands like a shard of glass.
“Experiments?” Taren echoes.
Rowen clears his throat. “Tobias isn’t the only marked human.”
My pulse stutters, and the room tilts. “What?”
“There’s another one,” Rowen explains, tone gentle but firm. “Didn’t say who they’re bonded to, just that it’s a stronger bond than yours.”
Grant nods grimly. “And for all we know, there could be more than just the one.”
My stomach turns. I want to feel relieved that I’m not alone, but all I feel is sick. Another marked human?
“What’s the point?” I ask, my voice sharper than I mean it to be. “What are they trying to do?”
Grant looks to Taren. “That’s what we still don’t know. Kaine killed her before we could get that far. But Trivanka called it a shadow bond. Does that sound familiar?”
Taren shakes her head. “No. I’ve never heard of it.”
He grits his teeth. “I want you to dig into it. See what you can find. There’s got to be something we’re missing.”
Jericho clears his throat. “I hate to say this, but what if he’s trying to revive blood slaves?”
The room goes still.
Only Evan seems confused. “Blood slaves?”
Red shifts in his seat. “It’s a terrible stain on supernatural history. Vampires once claimed humans as living reservoirs—feeding from them, screwing them, keeping them hollowed out and unable to live on their own. They’d feed them just enough of their blood to sustain their life, and the humans would become dependent on it. Addicted to it. Over time, they’d be willing to do anything for their masters.”
“Even kill,” Sage adds. “It was outlawed long ago.”
Everyone turns to me, and Jericho’s voice is soft as he asks, “Did he ever feed you his blood?”
I cover my mouth, swallowing bile. Slowly, I shake my head. “N-no.”
Grant doesn’t seem convinced. “You sure about that?”
