“I’m going to bet this place closed the same night we raided the club in Los Angeles,” I said as I walked around the main room. I bent and picked up one of the passes, confirming my suspicions. The date was two days ago.
“You think he took Natalie and Nicole from here?” Beth asked.
“The unlocked door at their house suggests his Incubi followed them home and took them from there. But I believe he discovered them here.”
She pressed her lips together, her expressive eyes showing her revulsion for this place and what it stood for. “He’s probably taken more girls,” she said.
“I know. We had our guys start looking at other missing persons reports here as soon as we heard about the Thomas sisters.”
Her eyes grew troubled. “We have no idea how many girls he has now or how long he’s been taking them, which means he could be ready to breed any day. We have to help them, Chris.”
“We will.”
I resisted the urge to go to her and wrap her in my arms, knowing how well that would be received. Instead, I pulled out my phone and called Nikolas to let him know what we’d found. As expected, he was not happy about the discovery, and he said he’d asked our guys to search for more of the clubs.
“I don’t like this,” I said in a low voice as I watched Beth walk over to talk to Mason. “I’m already afraid to let Beth out of my sight.”
“I know,” Nikolas growled. “I tried to get Sara to go home for a visit, and she’s a little upset with me now.”
I would have laughed at his morose tone if I wasn’t in the same situation with Beth. I raked a hand through my hair. This was going to get a lot worse before it got better; I could feel it in my gut.
“It looks like they cleared out of this place in a hurry. I’m going to go over it, see if I can find anything they might have forgotten.”
“Are you coming back today?” he asked.
I looked at Beth again, weighing whether she’d be safer here or in Los Angeles. The command center was protected by a state-of-the-art security system that included perimeter alerts and cameras. On top of that, Eldeorin had warded the place with his powerful Fae magic as a favor to Sara. The only demons that could pass through the ward were Mori demons, making the place impervious to vampire and demon attacks.
But the Lilin was in Los Angeles. He would not have driven off and killed all other Incubi there otherwise. The need to be near his captives would keep him mostly to his lair, but his sons’ fanatic loyalty to him made them a serious threat. The longer I kept Beth away from that, the better.
“I think we’ll stay here tonight, unless you need me there.”
“No, we’re good here. Let me know if you find anything.”
I hung up and called the others over to me. “The place looks empty, but I’m not taking any chances. We’ll split up into pairs and search for anything that might tell us who was here and where they could have gone. Beth, you’re with me.”
She frowned but didn’t argue, quietly following me down a short hallway to what had been the office. The two of us went over every inch of the room until I admitted there was nothing to find. The club owner had been very careful not to leave a scrap of paper behind, more proof that we were dealing with a meticulous adversary.
“Back to the airport?” Brock asked as we left the club half an hour later.
“No, we’re staying in San Francisco tonight.”
Ignoring their inquisitive looks, I called the two local safe houses to see if one of them could put us up for the night. I’d stayed at both places in the past and knew all the warriors stationed at them.
We worked it out that two of us would stay at each house. Beth was not happy when I told her she was coming with me.
She crossed her arms. “Why can’t I go with Mason?”
I ignored the prick of pain in my chest at her wanting to be with her friend over me. I knew she was afraid of her feelings for me, but as much as I hated causing her discomfort, I would not even entertain the idea of her and me in separate houses.
Mason surprised me by stepping in. “We’re just sleeping at the other house. We’ll all be together until then.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and relief flashed in her eyes before she nodded.
I wasn’t sure what had changed with Mason, but he seemed to have softened toward me in the last few days. Maybe he saw that I truly cared for Beth, or maybe he knew she still loved me. Whatever the reason, I was grateful, and I shot him a look to let him know that.
The closest safe house was in Pacific Heights, so we headed there to check in before we made plans for the evening. The previous owner of the three-story building had been a classic car collector, and he’d converted the entire first floor into a garage. The second floor was the kitchen, living area, and control room, and on the top floor were three bedrooms.
We parked in the garage and climbed the stairs to the second floor where Charles, the ginger-haired leader of the two San Francisco teams, greeted us.
“Chris, good to have you back with us.” Charles thumped me on the back before turning to the others.
I saw his eyes light with interest when they fell on Beth, and I moved closer to her before I made the introductions. I didn’t mention our bond, but Charles’s smile of acknowledgement told me he knew she was off-limits.
“Mike and Keith are out on an overnight stakeout, and you’re welcome to crash in their room,” Charles said. “Top of the stairs, second door on the right.”
“Oh…thank you,” Beth stammered. She turned to the stairs but not before I saw the blush creeping up her cheeks.
It wasn’t unusual for male and female warriors to share rooms when a safe house got crowded. Most bedrooms had two single beds, so it wasn’t as if they slept in the same one. This was one time when I wouldn’t have minded sharing a bed. I imagined sleeping next to Beth, holding her, and warmth spread through me.
“Thanks,” I replied a little too gruffly. Jesus, I was acting like a horny teenage boy who’d never been with a girl. I had to pull myself together before I embarrassed us both.
Charles led us into the control room where another warrior named Juan was manning the monitoring stations. The room seemed small and cramped after getting used to the much larger one at the command center.
“Tell us about the Lilin situation in Los Angeles,” Charles said.
“It’s not just Los Angeles,” I said, bringing them up to date on everything we’d learned so far.
Juan let out a whistle. “I’ve never heard of one of them hunting in such a large area. They usually stick to one city.”
“That’s what has us worried. This one is not behaving like other Lilin.”
We talked about the Lilin and then what we’d both been up to since we last saw each other a few months ago. Beth rejoined us as I was telling Charles about my trip to Germany and my visit with my parents.
“You guys have dinner plans?” Charles asked after we’d been talking a few hours.
“Not yet,” I said.
“We have a bunch of steaks in the fridge. How about we grill them?”
I looked at Beth, Mason, and Brock, who nodded in agreement.
“Great.” Charles stood and went into the kitchen. “Let me see what I have to go with them.”
While Charles prepared dinner, I called Nikolas again to see if they’d learned more. The news was not good. In the last two weeks, five young women between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one had been reported missing in San Francisco, in addition to the Thomas sisters. There were four missing in San Diego, two in Sacramento, two in San Jose, and another one went missing in Los Angeles last night. Those were the ones we knew about. If the Lilin had taken all of them, he had at least seventeen girls in captivity. And if Adele was right about the numbers, he needed a lot more before he started breeding with them.
The mood at dinner was somber. Beth picked at her food and only spoke when someone addressed her. Jobs like this one were especially difficult for inexperienced warriors, and I worried it might be too much for her to deal with on top of everything else she was going through. I tried to get her to open up to me as we washed dishes together after the meal, but she gave only minimal answers to my questions.