But he had a job to do, and despite his laissez-faire attitude, he didn’t fuck around with the family business.
For months, he’d exercised what he believed to be momentous patience in his slow hunt for her. He could wait just a little bit longer. Hopefully.
Easton hadn’t been seen in any of his normal haunts, and his apartment had been abandoned a week before Luis kicked in the door. His cell phone had been dumped, too. If Luis didn’t have several credible rumors to go on, he would’ve assumed the vampire had skipped town.
That’s what Luis would’ve done if he owed a family like his five hundred thousand dollars and couldn’t pay up. He would’ve dropped everything, chartered a small plane with cash, and promptly air-dropped himself into the wildest part of the planet.
Of course, it wouldn’t have saved him. The Amauris were a dogged sort of people, and they pursued grudges to the very ends of the Earth — along with other, more pleasurable objects of their focus. It would be only a matter of time before he was tracked down, and seeing as Luis wasat leastthree to four times smarter than Easton…
The lock on the back door of the rented mansion was easy enough to pick. No one had bothered to put any real security in place, seeing as it was mostly an event space, and all the guards were stationed in the front, where guests were beginning to stream in through the gate. A flick of his wrist and a twist of a pin saw the door swing open.
Luis stashed his tools in the inner pocket of his tuxedo. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t necessary for him to dress up. It wasn’t like he was going undercover — a hopeless prospect for any Amauri without a wig or expensive, witch-provided glamour — but he enjoyed a good costume every now and again. And who didn’t love a bowtie?
Straightening his broad shoulders, he gently closed the door and peered down the airy hallway. Distant sounds of music and conversation reached him, but the back of the sprawling home seemed otherwise empty.
He’d been to this particular mansion a few times for various parties and syndicate meetings. It was one of several properties on the outskirts of United Washington that the upper crust of the vampire elite tended to rent out, since it was luxurious but nestled in woodland far enough away from the city to provide ample privacy for murder, bingo, orgies, whatever.
Rumor had it that this particular get-together was no average party, but Luis wasn’t interested in the goings on so much as the organizer of the festivities.
By rights, Luis could’ve waltzed through the front door with the rest of the syndicate elite, but there were two very important problems with that: first, that risked Easton seeing him and bolting. Second, it wasn’t nearly as much fun as sneaking in through the back.
Tucking his hands into his pockets, Luis strolled through halls of the mansion, whatever joy he might’ve taken in spoilingEaston’s plans salted by the tension he’d carried since his pretty housekeeper slipped through his claws.
Again.
Figuring that the best bet for finding the idiot was in the bedrooms, which were likely being used as a staging area and dressing rooms for the staff rather than howhe’dused them in the past, Luis took a left by the unused kitchens.
Climbing the service stairs to the second floor in an impatient gallop, he paused at the landing for a moment to smooth the white streak of hair that had fallen over his forehead back into place. That done, he headed in the direction of the primary suite. He figured he was in the right place when a flash of scarlet hair caught his eye.
Ducking into a partially open doorway, he pressed himself into the shadows to watch as Maxine Wright, Easton’s squeaky-clean cousin, marched past him. Statuesque, curvaceous to a nearly criminal degree, and known for being the lawyer all smart vampires with a bit of cash came to when they got into trouble, she was passingly familiar to Luis through reputation more than personal experience.
He narrowed his eyes as he tracked her quick steps down the hall. Dressed in a gown and radiating elegance, she still managed to look like she wished she was anywhere else. No doubt she did. As far as Luis knew, MaxineThe LawWright did everything in her power to avoid direct contact with the less savory side of syndicate life.
And there was nothing savory about what would happen tonight.
When the click of her heels faded, Luis slipped out of the dark guest room he’d hidden in and headed for the double doors at the end of the hall.
No sound came through the wood except for soft footfalls and the rustle of fabric. The hair on the back of his neck liftedas his fingers wrapped around the handle. A strange awareness rose in a wave through him, awakening the sharp hunting instincts all vampires possessed.
His prey lay beyond those doors. He was absolutely certain of it.
Wicked smile curling his lips, he slowly turned the knob. The door opened silently, its hinges well-oiled, and he prowled across the threshold. A lavish sitting room lay before him, its windows partially open to let in the cool night breeze. Only a handful of lights had been turned on. The room was heavily shadowed save for a long stretch of warm light that fell across the floor like a path, beckoning him toward the opened door of the bedroom.
The moment he closed the door behind him, he knew something was wrong.
There was no heavy cologne in the air. There was no prickling, instinctive unease of another vampire’s presence. There was only the luscious, mouthwatering scent of brown sugar and a woman’s freshly washed skin.
He knew he hadn’t made any noise when he entered, but still, somehow, a woman called out, “Oh, thank the gods you came back so fast! I need your help.”
A feeling almost like pain tightened his muscles and made his cock twitch. That soft, exasperated voice came from the bedroom and it was most certainlynotEaston.
No.
His mind stalled, unable to process what his nose and instinct knew for a fact.
She couldn’t be in this place. It was impossible.
Francesca didn’t know anyone. She didn’t party or schmooze with the vampire elite. As he damn well knew, she worked too hard and too often to do anything other than sleep in her off hours. And she wascagey.She hated talking about herself notbecause she was mysterious but because she was introverted and violently independent.