Helena pressed her lips together and glanced at Cordon. The older vampire shook his head slightly.
Jonathan clenched his hands. They were treating him like a child again.
“I think it would be best if you remained inside the haven for a few nights,” Cordon said. “You were lucky Seraphina was watching you with the hunter and alerted us, or we might not have arrived before you.”
Jonathan gritted his teeth. He was so close to finding their maker. At least Helena hadn’t noticed the crucifix when she’d bandaged him, or he was sure he would have been the recipient of one of Cordon’s lectures.
He was tempted to tell them he suspected Marguerite was alive, but he knew exactly what they’d say. Without proof, they’d claim he was seeing patterns in chaos, creating a scenario that would fulfill his desperate wish to see their maker again.
Helena leaned back. “We’re worried about you, brother. You waited too long to act and now the codex is protected.”
Winifred had told them about Felicity’s warding spell. The youngest vampire in the nest had failed again. He was surprised Marcus had not yet arrived to relieve him of his duty.
“I have a plan to get through the hunter’s ward,” he said. They didn’t need to know Felicity had cast the spell using his blood, which made him immune to its power. “Lest you forget, this ismymission.”
Cordon sighed. “You’re stalling, brother.”
Jonathan wasn’t sure which irritated him more, Cordon’s glowering disapproval or Helena’s gentle admonishment. They were behaving as if he’d been made months ago, instead of decades. He almost preferred Felicity’s commands to his siblings’ attempts to guilt him into compliance. At least the hunter had respected the threat he represented. She hadn’t begged for his help as women often did when they wanted to sway a man into doing their bidding. Quite the opposite:shehad forcedhimto do her bidding. He respected her for taking control.
“I can take care of myself,” Jonathan said. Then he strode out of the room without looking back.
Chapter Seventeen
Felicity stirred herspoon around her cup of tea at the table in the dining room, ignoring her cousin’s chatter about the previous night’s patrol. All she could think about was how terrible Jonathan had looked in the carriage, like his skin had been falling off his bones.
“Felicity.”
Perhaps he’d forgotten to take a victim that morning. Vampires weakened when they didn’t consume enough blood. Her family had used that trick to extract information in the rare circumstances where they caught and managed to hold one of his kind.
“Felicity?”
She should have demanded to stay with Jonathan, but she understood why he’d ordered his driver not to bring anyone to his haven. When she saw him again, she’d ask if he’d recognized the fledgling that had attacked them. It was unfortunate that they hadn’t kept it alive for interrogation. It hadn’t been in any state to talk, but feeding it blood might have eased its rage. Even if an interrogation had failed, she could have used the woman in the pale-yellow dress as bait to draw out the vampire who had marked her with that distinct bruise.
She stared into her tea, which had long since cooled. That dress… she’d seen it before, and recently.
“Felicity!”
She dropped her spoon and looked up. The entire table was silent, and Great-Uncle Ezra’s face was twisted in a scowl that made her feel like a butterfly pinned to a specimen plate.
“Yes?”
He looked around the room. “I wish to speak to Felicity. Alone.”
Everyone else abandoned their meals and left. During those few seconds, the perspiration on her forehead dripped down her face.
When the room was empty, the old man leaned back in his chair. “So, Mr. Jonathan Drake.”
She swallowed thickly. “What about him?”
“Are you aware that he is a vampire?”
He knew. She’d feared this would happen. “Y-Yes.”
He threaded his fingers together. “You have been quite busy. First you steal objects from the archives, and now you associate with the very creatures we hunt.”
His crisp enunciation scared her more than any display of temper. Thankfully, she’d thought ahead and knew how to wriggle out of this particular trap.
“I’m using him,” she said. “He’d already led me to the location of a vampire gathering place. A gambling hall in Aldgate.”
