Vlad observed her coldly and then a vicious smile spread slowly across his lips. It was macabre as his nose was still gushing blood from Juliette’s hit. “Fine, you win.”
“I win what?” Juliet asked watching him warily as she got up and backed away.
“Raquel is here at the Summit. You will kill her and I shall watch. If you won’t let me have her, I’ll at least get the pleasure of watching you destroy her.”
“She’s strong,” Juliet hissed.
“Not at night she’s not,” Vlad shot back with a chuckle. “You’ll kill her in her death sleep.”
“That’s cowardly,” Juliet spat.
“Since when have you grown a conscience, my darling? My plan is sensible and we’re far more likely to get away with it.”
“What about my father and Pam?” Juliet inquired as she mopped away the rest of the blood on her face with a pristine white pillow from a chair.
We were going to get a Hell of a bill from the Angels.
“No worries,” Vlad said silkily. “Several of the Old Guard are prepared to burn them to ash tonight.”
“That’s lovely.” Juliet’s laugh was laced with sarcasm.
“Yes,” Vlad agreed, oblivious to her cynicism. “Fires are such tragedies. Now shall we go and kill your sister? The night is wasting away.”
There were many reasons I wanted to rip Vlad apart with my bare hands, but he just signed his death warrant with this one. He would never lay a finger on Raquel. I’d die first.
“Where is she staying?” Juliet asked as she pulled wildly at her hair.
“I would assume at her palace outside Paris,” he surmised. “If we can’t find her, I know a few Angels that will be happy to help.”
“Silly me, I thought the Angels were angelic,” Juliet quipped dryly.
“Everyone has a price.”
I hesitated to open my mind to the thoughts in the room as it pulled on my energy and focus, but I needed to check in with Jean Paul. As I reached out to Jean Paul, I was halted by the turbulence blasting through Roberto’s head. The chaotic images that assaulted my brain belonged to the Angel. His fury consumed his thoughts. They were mostly a tornado of color and ire. Faces of Angels flashed through his mind at warp speed. I was aware that he was trying to identify the celestial traitor. His outrage at the thought an Angel had placed the curses ate viciously him. I was fairly sure that, although he might be physically present, Roberto wasn’t mentally here in the room with me anymore. I debated if Jean Paul, in his beaten down state, and I could take Vlad down without Roberto’s help. I gave us 50/50 odds.
Ripping my mind from Roberto’s, I mentally floated to Jean Paul but was stopped again, I was halted by someone’s thoughts that should definitely not be in this room. I ground my fangs together and zoned in on my mate. If I’d had my way, she wouldn’t be in this country. She would be safely thousands of miles away and heavily guarded, waiting for me to return to her. Alas, that wasn’t what fate had intended. Raquel was a powerful force of nature and deadly in her own right. I should have known she wouldn’t leave—backing away wasn’t in her nature.
God damn it, what in the Hell was she thinking? And if she was here, where were Ethan, Astrid, the King and Pam?
In my cloaked state, I moved swiftly across the room and found her. Even invisible I could feel her. I took her in my arms and headed for the door. She was leaving. I was unsure how much she’d heard, but I refused to let her near Vlad.
I reached out to Ethan to speak to him telepathically. If he were close enough, he would hear me as our Prince was gifted with communicating with his people.
“Ethan are you here?” I asked.
“Yes, damn it. Where in the Hell are you?” he answered tightly.
“With Vlad and Juliet,” I reported.
“What the fuck?” he shouted. “She escaped?”
“No. Hell no,” I assured him quickly as I rerouted and pulled Raquel away from the door as Vlad and Juliet were headed right toward our cloaked bodies. “It’s Jean Paul. He morphed and took her form.”
“Again, what the fuck?” Ethan shot back. “Never mind, you can enlighten me on that one later. Is Raquel with you?”
“Yes, she is,” I replied tersely wanting to throttle my mate for disobeying.
“We found Leila, Alexander and Nathan. They’ve been cursed and they’re in bad shape. Gareth took them back to the Cressida House in Kentucky. They’ll be safe there,” Ethan confirmed.
“Good. Vlad and Juliet are involved, but the curses were placed by an Angel.”
“This is certainly a WTF kind of day,” Ethan growled.
“Agree. Find your father and Pam. Old Guard are going to try to burn them to ash tonight,” I instructed.
“You have Vlad?” he demanded.
“I will shortly,” I ground out. “That fucker is mine.”
“Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck,” I told him. “It’s far past his time.”
As Vlad and Juliet exited the room, Roberto, Raquel and I took back our corporeal forms. I shot Raquel the evil eye, but she only grinned and winked. She would be the fucking death of me.
“The Vampyre is yours. I heard his confession and I’ll back you up with the Council. Alive would be better than dead, but I don’t care what you do to him. If you have no choice, kill the bastard,” Roberto stated coldly. “I have some Angels to interrogate. And Heathcliff, although I’m loathe to admit this, I owe you a very large favor for the information I’ve gleaned tonight.”