“Creepy,” Reyna whispered.
“You can say that again,” Gabe said behind her.
“I thought you were bringing us to a rebel operation,” Tye said. “If you haven’t been here in fifteen years, what are we going to do here?”
“I have not been here, but I have a colleague who has been maintaining the premises since I joined Elle. It will suffice for the time being. Now, follow me,” Washington said.
Gabe and Meghan exchanged a look before pulling out their phones to use as flashlights. With the entrance fully illuminated, they could see the layers of dirt that said no one had stepped foot in here for years. It certainly didn’t look maintained.
Washington pulled open an enormous wooden door that led from the historic foyer into a gorgeous and stately living area. The furniture was carefully preserved beneath sheets, and the windows were covered to keep the light out, presumably to save the antique artwork lining the walls. Reyna felt as if she had stepped back in time.
They toured the mansion, finding thirteen bedrooms on the second floor. The third floor was one big suite. Though the tree falling in clearly disrupted that. When Washington showed them the basement, Reyna expected a dark dungeon or prison or something equally medieval. But no, the basement was a fully finished medical lab with all the equipment he’d had back at the bunker. Plus, a store of firearms, communication devices, and pretty much everything else they would need to pick up where they’d left off.
“I’ve never worried much about upkeep in the main parts of the house, but the basement was completely refitted in recent years.” Washington seemed more comfortable now that he was back in a lab, downstairs, and away from the memory of his dead wife, upstairs. “All of my research has been uploaded to the servers, and the lab was created as a just-in-case option.”
“Wow,” Gabe said, admiring the impressive gun collection, “appearances are deceiving.”
“I’m glad that I pass your muster,” Washington said dryly.
Gabe tipped him a two-finger salute.
“We should all pick rooms and clean up. I have a superior olfactory system and can tell you that everyone needs a shower,” Washington said with a small smile. “I’ll contact Genevieve to come by with food.”
“You trust her?” Meghan asked.
“She has been taking care of this house longer than you have been alive. She’s trustworthy.”
“All right,” Meghan agreed. “A shower sounds nice.”
Gabe, Tye, and Meghan immediately fell into a sense of normalcy, arguing over which bedroom to take for themselves. They all seemed extravagant. Reyna didn’t really care.
Washington stopped her on her way toward the stairs. “Reyna…”
“Yeah?”
“Beckham stayed here in the past. Before I abandoned the place, he had a room.” Reyna’s heart constricted. “I thought you’d want to stay there.”
She nodded, unable to form words.
“Turn left and it’s the room at the end of the hall.”
“Thank you,” she choked out.
“I am terribly sorry for your loss. Beckham was a good vampire. A great man. He deserved better than William Harrington,” Washington said. “As long as I was friends with William, I never knew him to get his hands dirty. He must have felt very threatened by you to do something so out of character.”
“Little consolation.”
“Indeed. But don’t ever forget the power that you have over him. He seeks to control you, but he doesn’t understand you. It’s his greatest weakness. I do not think he has realized that harming you was a tactical error.”
Reyna raised her chin. “He will one day.”
Washington let a small smile grace his cheeks. “I believe you.”
With that, Reyna grabbed fresh clothes out of one of their duffle bags downstairs, climbed two flights of stairs, turned left, and faced down the door to Beckham’s room. She slowly walked toward it and placed her hand on the metal doorknob. Her hand shook on the knob before she worked up the courage to turn it and push the door open. She flipped on the lights, and the room was bathed in a soft glow from the antique lamps.
Beckham’s space felt homey. A four-poster bed took up the center of the room, complete with a canopy and navy duvet. An entire wall was full from top to bottom with books in every shape, color, and size. An old-fashioned writing desk sat unoccupied in a corner, still littered with papers he’d apparently left behind.
The Beckham who had lived and worked at this residence had not been the Beckham she had known. This was the ruthlessvampire who had risen to the top with murder and destruction. The vampire he had been before he’d turned his back on this life and started to help Elle. Before he became hers.
