“But why would an Aedh want to tear my mom apart like that?”

I didn’t realize I’d said it out loud until Hunter answered. “For information, perhaps. Maybe they thought she had knowledge of the keys.”

I frowned. “Mom didn’t know much about the gray fields and, despite spending a night with an Aedh, she knew even less about them. Killing her for information about either makes no sense.”

“But neither does your mother’s death. It was brutal and deliberate, as if it were some kind of message.”

A message no one could understand. I rubbed my eyes for a moment, then said, “What is the problem you want me to investigate?”

“A number of murders have occurred, and the only link we can find, besides the manner of their death, is Dark Earth, a vampire establishment in Brunswick.”

I frowned. I knew Brunswick fairly well since Tao, Ilianna, and I had lived there for a few years during our university years, and I certainly couldn’t recall a place called Dark Earth. “I gather it’s new?”

“No, old,” she said crisply. “But it’s one that only vampires know about.”

“Ah, an underground club.” There’d been talk about such clubs existing over the years, but no evidence had ever been uncovered and the vamps certainly weren’t forthcoming with any information.

“Figuratively and physically,” Hunter said. “If it sat at street level, humanity would be aware of its existence and that could be dangerous for everyone.”

Which only made me wonder what the hell went on in the place—although I had a bad feeling that I was going to get a firsthand answer to that one.

“In the last week,” she continued, “there have been five deaths. All were low-level vampires, as Dark Earth caters to a particular type of clientele.”

A type she clearly wasn’t going to tell me about right now—and that only made me more nervous about going to the damn club. “That doesn’t explain why you want me to investigate rather than the Directorate.”

“The Directorate is brilliant at what it does, but it is too large an organization to guarantee the utter discretion this investigation requires.”

“In other words, I’m to shut my mouth about what I find and report only to you?”

“That goes without saying.” She paused, and her expression intensified. Trepidation shivered down my spine. “And if you breathe a word of this to that reporter you talked to this morning, he will discover a whole lot more about the dark edges of this world than he might wish to.”

The chill got deeper. “How do you know I talked to a reporter this morning?”

Her sudden smile was anything but pleasant. “I did warn you that we intended to keep track of your every move.”

But how? Cazadors were vampires, and no vampire, no matter how old, could stand the sun between noon and one o’clock. Although some—like Uncle Quinn and Hunter herself—could walk around at any other time, thanks to their age.

And if a Cazador had been following me, why hadn’t I sensed it? At the very least, I should have been able to smell his presence, even in the human-drenched confines of the café.

Unless… Could the dream walker Azriel had mentioned have been a Cazador? There were Cazadors capable of astral travel—Hunter herself had told me that. And an astral-traveling vampire would not be restricted by the noonday sun, because it was only their flesh that burned. Their spirit—soul—did not.

Shit. We were going to have to be very careful about what we said when that traveler was near. Especially if we wanted to ensure that the keys didn’t fall into the council’s hands.

“If you know anything about my history with the reporter I talked to, then you’ll realize I wouldn’t want to tell him anything I didn’t have to.”

Her smile lightened. The same could not be said for the look in her eyes. “Yes, he did gain himself something of a reputation after the rather nice story he did on your mother. I must admit to some surprise that you’d even meet with him again.”

To call it a “nice story” was something of a misnomer, given that it had become a staple for gossip mags for several weeks. “If you know about the meeting, then you’ll undoubtedly know the reasons behind it. Can we get back to the reason for this call?”

She did so. “As I’ve mentioned, we can find no real connection between the victims besides the club and the manner of their deaths, no apparent motive for the murders, and no trace evidence to suggest who or what might be behind them.”

A chill ran through me as images of Mom’s murder ran through my mind again. My mouth dry, I asked, “And just how were they killed?”

“They were eaten.”

Eaten? Good lord, I did not want to go after something that would eat vampire flesh. “I can’t imagine a vampire sitting around letting someone munch on him.”

“They didn’t. Whatever this thing is, it scratched them first. We found traces of venom in the wounds and further analysis revealed that it contained powerful inhibitors.”

I frowned. “But vampires don’t actually need to breathe.” It was more an instinctive reflex left over from the time before they’d been turned. “And I’ve never heard of a poison capable of killing a vamp.”

“The venom wasn’t what killed them,” she replied, neatly skirting the issue of poisons and vampires. Which to me suggested there were poisons capable of doing just that. “The inhibitor prevented reaction, and the killer simply ate them.”

While they were alive? Oh god, this was getting worse and worse. “If it scratched them, surely there was some DNA evidence left in the wounds?”

“None, other than the venom, which we have not been able to trace to any source so far.”

I released a somewhat shaky breath. “This really does sound more like Directorate business than anything I could help with.”

She gave me that face. The one that said I’d better do what she wanted or die. And yet I don’t think her muscles even twitched—it was more an odd sort of darkness that crept into her eyes.

“We believe this creature—whatever it is—might have come through when the first gate was opened. The timing is suspicious.”

I shoved away the useless surge of guilt. There was nothing I could do now except get to the other two keys and prevent them from being used. Because if they were, then it really would be hell on earth.

“So where are the bodies?”

“The first four victims have already undergone their final deaths via sunlight, as was their wish. The fifth, however, still lies in state at his home.”

Meaning vampires made wills, like the rest of us did? That was something I hadn’t realized, but I guess it did make sense. Even vampires didn’t live forever—though I guess they could, if they were lucky enough. Or unlucky enough, as the case might be. “When was he murdered?”

“He was found an hour ago.” She paused, studying me. “Why?”

“Because if the thing that killed him did come from hell, then it might have left behind some sort of resonance that we could use to track it down.” According to Azriel, most demons and whatnot that broke through the hell portal left such a trail. I added, “But it would dissipate with time.”

“Then you’ll need to get there ASAP. But I would advise you to go to Dark Earth immediately and talk to the manager, Brett Marshall.”

Which wasn’t a very vampire-sounding name, but then, the newer vamps tended to have regular monikers. “Why so urgent?”

“Because he is a friend, and I wish you to talk to him first.”

“And?” There had to be another explanation, because I wasn’t buying the first one at all. From what I’d seen, Hunter wasn’t the type to have friends. And even if I was totally wrong, she didn’t seem the type who did favors for them. She was more of a “what’s in it for me” type of vampire.

“And because,” she said, “Dark Earth is no place for a non-vampire to be after dark.”

Fear quickstepped into my veins. “Meaning?”

“Meaning,” she said softly, “that even the presence of your dark angel could not guarantee that you’d walk out of that club alive.”

Chapter 3

The sick sensation of fear settled deep in my stomach. “So how is going to this club in the daylight any safer?”

“The bar will be almost empty, and Brett is powerful enough to control the few who are there. He has guaranteed your safety this afternoon.”

Which didn’t mean I would be safe. Not if the place was as dangerous as Hunter was making it out to be. “What about viewing the body?”

“I’ll send you his name and address. He lived alone, so you can choose your own time to go there. He will lie in state until his maker arrives to officiate his final death in a few days.”

Makers officiated the final deaths? That was something I hadn’t known. “Have autopsies been done on all five victims?”

“On what remained, yes. Results will be slow to come, though, as we need to keep this private.”

Which suggested the autopsy was being done in-house via high council resources rather than through the Directorate. “And what, exactly, do you expect me to find at this bar?”

She shrugged—an oddly elegant movement. “Talk to Brett. Look around the bar. You may see or sense something that the Cazadors—who don’t have your psychic skills or your knowledge when it comes to the gray fields—wouldn’t be capable of.”

Given that they had Cazadors capable of astral travel, I actually doubted they’d have any less knowledge of the gray fields than I did. Although I guess astral travelers were restricted to this plane and weren’t able to travel on the fields themselves. “I’ll give you a call once I’ve gone there.” And gotten out alive.

“Be sure that you do.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to retort that it really didn’t matter if I did or not because she’d get the report from the Cazador who’d been assigned to follow me around anyway. But I resisted the urge. Right now, it was better if Hunter didn’t know I knew about my follower.