Chapter Thirteen
CHARLIE
We’d retrieved the list of names from Lorenzo’s body, but it seemed we were further away from the vampire key than ever. A week passed without any word from the Elvish Associates, and I was getting impatient. They were supposed to be investigating the names on that list, but so far, it didn’t seem like they’d made any progress.
I kept busy by training with my grandfather in the gardens, while Ava spent most of her time with Oberi in mystic training or planning the wedding. We were preoccupied, but I was still on edge. Every moment we didn’t have the vampire key in our hands was another second closer to the Warden finding it before we did, and we couldn’t allow that to happen.
I’d been practicing my Elvish powers all morning when my grandfather finally excused me hours later. I’d skipped lunch, as I was too immersed in practicing to take a break. Eddie had been waiting for me at the garden entrance and quickly fell into step beside me as I left the area.
“Your highness, I have news,” Eddie said.
“It better be good,” I told him. I was too tired for another crisis— though now that I thought about it, it might be Ava’s fatigue coming through our bond. She’d been more tired than usual, and her daily naps were stretching longer. Mystic training was difficult, and it often wore her out. Attempting to contact the Elvish goddesses was highly difficult. She hadn’t done it yet, which meant whatever Eddie had to tell me needed to be a win. We couldn’t take any more setbacks.
“Very good news,” Eddie replied chipperly. “The Elvish Associates have a development for you.”
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all week,” I said. “Lead the way.”
Eddie led me to the Elvish Associates’ headquarters. They were all there, waiting for me.
I sat in a chair reserved especially for me and turned to the team. “I hear you’ve made progress on the list.”
“Yes,” Max said. “We’ve been able to verify that the men on this list are among the oldest and most highly trained vampires working under Salvatore Bianchi. Our intel confirms these are the men Salvatore has hired to guard the vampire key.”
“Great. Let’s find one of them, and get them to tell us where the vampire key is,” I said.
“It’s not that simple,” Max said. “Salvatore was smart. He didn’t tell these guys everything— only certain things that each of them need to know to defend the key. For example, one person might know the city the key is in, but not in what building. Another person might know the combination to the safe where the key is kept, but has no idea of its location. This prevents one of them from betraying Salvatore, as nobody has all the information needed on where the key is or how to get to it— except for Salvatore, and we know we’re not getting anything out of him. Since we believe he’s given information out in pieces, if we want to get the location of the key, we’ll need to obtain all thepieces of information at once from all of the people on this list so we can put them together.”
It seemed impossible. We’d barely scraped by with information from Lorenzo, and it was by sheer luck we got anything from his list. Now we had to try to get information from six separate people?
“How are we going to do that?” I asked.
“We need to get them together and read their minds,” Max said.
I shook my head. “There’s no way it’s going to work. They’ve got wards over their minds, and Marcus couldn’t even sort the information foroneperson, let alone six at the same time.”
“That’s because Marcus hasn’t received proper training,” Max argued. “We found a witch who can mentor him— a friend of his parents. Marcus is being summoned to the demigod training room as we speak to begin his training. It’s going to take time for him to learn how to break past mind wards and read minds properly, but hehasto learn the technique if we’re going to get the information we need. It’s the best chance we’ve got.”
“How do we get these people on the list together?” I wondered. “They have to be in the same place at the same time for Marcus to be able to read their minds. If we go one by one, and isolate them in separate locations, one of these guys might figure out what we’re doing and alert the others— even if we’re doing it in disguise. We’ll only get one shot to read all of their minds collectively, and I’m not sure what we can do to get these guys in the same room.”
“We’re working on that,” Max said.
“If I may,” Eddie offered. “I might have some suggestions.”
I stood. “Excellent. Eddie, you stay here and work with the Elvish Associates. I’m going to find Marcus. I want to see what this training is all about.”
“Very well,” Eddie agreed. “We’ll meet back at your quarters before dinner.”
I left the Elvish Associates’ headquarters. By now, I knew my way around the palace pretty well, and I could find the demigod training room on my own. On my way, I felt a familiar presence approaching me from the opposite direction. Her demigod magic rolled off her in waves.
“Hey, Kallie,” I said.
She slowed her step. “You haven’t seen Marcus anywhere, have you? I’ve checked his suite and the art room, but I can’t find him anywhere.”
I paused in the middle of the hallway. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Actually, it’s the opposite,” she admitted. “Oh, shit.”
She dropped something, and I bent down to pick it up for her. It was a thin, smooth piece of wood with some sort of intricate carvings along the outside. If I had to guess, I think they were cats, intertwined with swirls. On the end was a carving in the shape of a wolf’s head, with two gemstones embedded for the eyes, though I couldn’t tell what kind they were.
