like. That’s The Mating Card .”
“How does this relate to me?”
“Oh. That’s how this particular debacle began. Invaris asked for some time off last evening. Seems it’s the one year anniversary of his mating with the lovely, Rori. He bought her something extra-special. He wanted time off to give it to her, as if he isn’t in the same grave with her every day. Oddly enough, when I reminded him that he has an eternity of anniversaries to buy for, he tossed The Mating Card , and told me I don’t know how it is. I actually thanked him without too much sarcasm. I did.”
“He knows where Darryl is?” Reika asked.
“Probably not. Impossible to check. I gave him three days off.”
“Then what does he have to do with anything?”
“I’m getting to that. Whenever Invaris gets time off, his replacement is Nigel.”
“So?”
“Well. Nigel is supposed to monitor every aspect of every communication network. Worldwide. We’ve got access to every network, because the moment anyone starts toying with designing one, we’re hacking in the back door. By the time they go live, we’re already connected. Immortality does have its uses, you know.”
“Can’t you just tell me where Darryl is?”
“I’m getting to that. Patience…is a virtue. Remember?”
“What am I going to do?”
Her back sagged. Her eyes watered up again. Her heart felt like it was getting squeezed, making every beat an effort.
“Listen and learn, Beautiful. I have a very good reason for taking my time, so you might as well listen to my brilliance while I wait for the ducks to all line up.”
Reika made a face at the screen.
“And pretend to be in awe at my insight and ability. Is that too much to ask?”
She almost smiled.
“Very well then. I’ll continue. It all started this morning, a little past midnight. That’s when someone using a cell phone assigned to Trent Conglomerate used a search engine to look for Vampire Hunters. They found several websites, but honed in on the one for The Hunters. There was some back and forth communication. Want to hear it?”
Reika shook her head.
“No? Very well. It’s rather straight-forward messaging, anyway. And to be fair, nobody named names. And Nigel didn’t have an alert on Trent Conglomerates. His alert was for a Miss Felicia Trent. He also had an alert on a certain Darryl Bailes, mercenary/bodyguard. And, as always, he had an alert on Chester Beethan. All of which he should have been monitoring rather than playing that damn video game. Which he is now grounded from for at least a fortnight. Listen to me. Grounding my associates. Somebody should’ve raised that kid right in the first place, but it’s too late for regrets. His father is now deceased, courtesy of Grimm Bradley down in Texas. All of that aside, I’m afraid Nigel will never grow up. But to be fair, it does match his appearance.
“And I’ll cut him some slack, but don’t tell him. He didn’t know Darryl Bailes was connected to Miss Trent. He didn’t know about any connection to you. And there are millions of searches done on vampires and hunters every day; practically every hour. Add to that, Chester Beethan flies all over the planet for virtually no reason that we can decide more days than he stays at his home in Manchester. Just because Beethan picked Switzerland for a destination didn’t mean much. Not to Nigel. He didn’t know you were there. We had no live assignments there. No reason to be interested at all. And that explains how the Hunters managed to get to your mate before we could.”
“The Hunters have him?”
“Yep. And after a bit of conversation with Miss Felicia Trent, they probably know he’s your mate. They got him, and now they’re going to use him. Against you. It’s one of their oldest tricks. They’re going to bait you. Now…if I was Chester, I’d be doing my best to recruit the guy. I assume he’s half turned?”
“Yes.”
“Then, he’d be a perfect fit in their
“How does this relate to me?”
“Oh. That’s how this particular debacle began. Invaris asked for some time off last evening. Seems it’s the one year anniversary of his mating with the lovely, Rori. He bought her something extra-special. He wanted time off to give it to her, as if he isn’t in the same grave with her every day. Oddly enough, when I reminded him that he has an eternity of anniversaries to buy for, he tossed The Mating Card , and told me I don’t know how it is. I actually thanked him without too much sarcasm. I did.”
“He knows where Darryl is?” Reika asked.
“Probably not. Impossible to check. I gave him three days off.”
“Then what does he have to do with anything?”
“I’m getting to that. Whenever Invaris gets time off, his replacement is Nigel.”
“So?”
“Well. Nigel is supposed to monitor every aspect of every communication network. Worldwide. We’ve got access to every network, because the moment anyone starts toying with designing one, we’re hacking in the back door. By the time they go live, we’re already connected. Immortality does have its uses, you know.”
“Can’t you just tell me where Darryl is?”
“I’m getting to that. Patience…is a virtue. Remember?”
“What am I going to do?”
Her back sagged. Her eyes watered up again. Her heart felt like it was getting squeezed, making every beat an effort.
“Listen and learn, Beautiful. I have a very good reason for taking my time, so you might as well listen to my brilliance while I wait for the ducks to all line up.”
Reika made a face at the screen.
“And pretend to be in awe at my insight and ability. Is that too much to ask?”
She almost smiled.
“Very well then. I’ll continue. It all started this morning, a little past midnight. That’s when someone using a cell phone assigned to Trent Conglomerate used a search engine to look for Vampire Hunters. They found several websites, but honed in on the one for The Hunters. There was some back and forth communication. Want to hear it?”
Reika shook her head.
“No? Very well. It’s rather straight-forward messaging, anyway. And to be fair, nobody named names. And Nigel didn’t have an alert on Trent Conglomerates. His alert was for a Miss Felicia Trent. He also had an alert on a certain Darryl Bailes, mercenary/bodyguard. And, as always, he had an alert on Chester Beethan. All of which he should have been monitoring rather than playing that damn video game. Which he is now grounded from for at least a fortnight. Listen to me. Grounding my associates. Somebody should’ve raised that kid right in the first place, but it’s too late for regrets. His father is now deceased, courtesy of Grimm Bradley down in Texas. All of that aside, I’m afraid Nigel will never grow up. But to be fair, it does match his appearance.
“And I’ll cut him some slack, but don’t tell him. He didn’t know Darryl Bailes was connected to Miss Trent. He didn’t know about any connection to you. And there are millions of searches done on vampires and hunters every day; practically every hour. Add to that, Chester Beethan flies all over the planet for virtually no reason that we can decide more days than he stays at his home in Manchester. Just because Beethan picked Switzerland for a destination didn’t mean much. Not to Nigel. He didn’t know you were there. We had no live assignments there. No reason to be interested at all. And that explains how the Hunters managed to get to your mate before we could.”
“The Hunters have him?”
“Yep. And after a bit of conversation with Miss Felicia Trent, they probably know he’s your mate. They got him, and now they’re going to use him. Against you. It’s one of their oldest tricks. They’re going to bait you. Now…if I was Chester, I’d be doing my best to recruit the guy. I assume he’s half turned?”
“Yes.”
“Then, he’d be a perfect fit in their
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