“But we don’t know how he felt, because he severed our connections afterward.” Bitterness and hurt infused Crux’s words, adding more fuel to Blade’s anger with Stryke. Stryke had wounded them all when he cut them out of his life by severing the mental connections all Sem brothers shared. Stryke could do what he wanted to Blade and Rade, but hurting Crux was unforgivable.
“Blade? You listening?”
Blade blinked, ripped from the depressing past and dumped into the depressing present. “Sorry. What?”
“I said I’m going to bed.” Rade stood and started toward the stairs, but at the base, he turned back to Blade. “I don’t understand relationships, but I know Scotty and Mace are important to you. I hope you work it out.”
As stunned as Blade was to hear anything halfway caring from Rade, he agreed. But right now, he didn’t see a way this could end well.
Not at all.
Chapter 18
The summons from DART came at five a.m. Brussels time, and Scotty was at HQ five minutes later. Mace and Blade showed up separately, which was odd. And as they waited outside Kynan’s office for permission to enter, they stood silently, their expressions dark.
“What’s going on?” she asked in a low voice.
“Nothing,” they both mumbled, but the freaky, demonic guard bush in the corner rustled.
“Jealousy. Greed. Bitterness.”Its whispered words were barely audible in the room, but they were clear.
Shit. Scotty jammed her hands on her hips. “I thought everything between us was fine.”
“It is.” Blade shot Mace a look. “Right?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Mace kicked at the plant’s stone pot. “Fucking bush.”
“Anger. Frustration.”
The door to Kynan’s office opened, but instead of inviting them inside, he strode out and gestured for them to follow. “Come on. We’re meeting Decker and a consultant.”
They exchanged curious looks as they followed their boss to the smallest of the meeting rooms, where Decker, a human and one of DART’s OG crew, and another dark-haired male sat at the table.
Decker stood, shaking their hands in greeting. He ran the Dublin chapter, but as one of DART’s founders and the company’s military liaison, he was often involved in operations at the main Brussels office.He gestured to the new guy, who didn’t offer any greeting beyond a curt nod and an icy stare.
“This is Dare.” Decker gestured to the newcomer, who Scotty suspected would be even taller than Mace and Blade when he stood. “He’s going to be helping out on this case.”
As Scotty looked to Kynan for an explanation, Tayla walked inside.
“Hey, sorry I’m late.” She gave Decker a hug.
They’d been buds for decades, but although they were the same age, Tay hadn’t aged a day in over thirty years, thanks to her bond with Eidolon. Decker was probably in his sixties and still a good-looking guy. Even the silver in his dark-blond hair only added a distinguished air to his already commanding presence.
“I’ll get right to it.” Tayla tapped the comms unit in the center of the table, and a 3D projection map display popped up. A moment later, a realistic image of a stone building rotated next to the schematic. “This is Leap Castle. Its new owner, Patrick O’Hare, was brutally slaughtered in his bedroom one year ago. His murder was never solved, and since then, his estate has been contested by his three grown children. Also, since then, he’s reportedly been haunting the place.”
Mace sprawled in his chair like a lazy cat. “A.) Leap Castle has reportedly always been haunted. And B.) this sounds like a job for the Psychic Department.”
“It is,” Tayla said. “We’d like to send in one of our Mediums, but it’s too dangerous. The vampire nest needs to be cleared out first.”
A slow, malevolent smile touched the corners of Dare’s lips. “I love smoking vamps,” he said in a voice as dark and merciless as the char pits in Hell.
Whoa. That guy definitely did well with the females, and Scotty had to wonder if he was a lust demon of some sort. They were all stupidly attractive, had killer bodies, and voices that triggered female pleasure centers. That said, they didn’t usually look so…cruel.
Mace bared his teeth at him, his fangs slicing downward. “Say what?”
“Sorry,” Dare said, not sounding very contrite as he flashed his own, much bigger fangs. “I’m cool with bloodsuckers.”
“Lemme guess.” Mace’s voice dripped with derision. “One of your best friends is a vampire?”
