“I’m guessing they were?”
He nods. “By six people,” he says. “And the numbers since then have been consistent. They’re six less, every night.”
I clench my teeth. “Which means?”
Grant sits up. “If we had to guess, those people are still at the club.”
“Or dead,” Ivy says.
Jasmine closes her eyes, like she can’t stomach the idea of anyone else dying. Neither can I.
Forest shakes his head. “That’s where it gets weird. Merebeth assumed the same thing. She called the authorities.”
Jericho scoffs. “Let me guess, they found nothing?”
“They searched the club, but came up empty. At least, that’s what they’re telling Merebeth. They say everything is running as normal. Nothing mysterious.”
“I call bullshit,” I snap.
“Exactly.”
“So the cops are in on it?”
“No, I don’t think so. I have a theory that the coven has a powerful enchanter working for them. Someone who can wipe memories.”
“Any vamp can wipe someone’s memory,” I say. That’s common knowledge.
“Not an entire police force, though,” Forest says. “There were eight police officers last night, and not a single one of them remembered anything out of the ordinary. That can only happen with a spell.”
“Maybe more than one vampire was screwing with their memories?” my mom suggests.
“That’s possible, but not all vampires are good at compulsion. In fact, most can do little more than make someone’s brain fuzzy, so they don’t remember what they were doing for the last five minutes. But to make all of them forget what they saw? No, that’s quite different.”
Grant nods. “Merebeth said her beta even sprayed a truth perfume on one of the officers today to test them, and they truly don’t remember seeing anything out of the ordinary. So I think Forest is right. I think someone is charming them.”
Rowen curses.
“Okay. So they’re… what? Holding these people hostage? Feeding off them?” I say, stepping closer to Jericho. For all we know, he could’ve been one of those hostages if he hadn’t made a deal with Foxx. Hell, he still would’ve been if he hadn’t gotten away after Foxx turned him. The psycho collects people for his own selfish and sadistic reasons.
“That is one option, yes. They’re leaving the club less frequently, which means they need more food. But, our other fear is they’re going to make more vampires,” Forest says.
“Then we have to stop them,” I say.
“Agreed. I’m going to work with the other packs and come up with a plan of attack, since working with the police is out of the question. I want you to practice your gift, Jericho. Push yourself. Learn as much as you can as fast as you can, because time is not on our side. If those hostages are still alive, they might not be for long.”
Rowen sighs. “I guess blowing up the building really is out of the question, if there are innocent people in there.”
At his words, Jericho reaches up to press a palm to his sternum. His face is pale, attention somewhere far away—like he’s feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.
But he’s not alone in this. Not anymore. Jericho has us now. All of us. He doesn’t have to fight his sire alone.
He just gets to be the one to turn him to ash.
I slide an arm around his back. “Come on. There’s nothing we can do about this tonight. So let’s get some rest so we can start fresh tomorrow.”
25
JERICHO
