“After all he’s done to you, to your sister, to all of us?”

Eddie noticed how Samson held Isabelle even closer, and realized what was going through Samson’s mind. Because of Luther, he’d nearly lost Delilah, who’d been pregnant with Isabelle at the time.

“Despite everything, I have to talk to him,” Eddie insisted.

“Why?”

“I’m afraid that’s between me and my sire. It’s private.”

Samson raised an eyebrow and remained silent as if contemplating his answer carefully. “Are you having any problems?”

“There are things I need to clarify.”

“You have a very capable mentor. I’m sure he can help you. Thomas has been around for a long time. He knows everything there is to know. You can—”

“No. This is between me and Luther.” Thomas was the last person he could talk to about this.

“As you wish. I will talk to the council and request a visit for you. I can’t promise that it will be granted. If I knew what it was about, you might have a better chance at swaying the council.”

Eddie avoided his boss’s gaze and studied his shoes instead. “Please, just ask them. It’s important.” When he looked up again, he met Samson’s eyes.

“Fine. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do.” Then he turned on his heels and headed for the door.

“Eddie, if there’s anything I can help you with, you’ll come to me, won’t you?”

Eddie put his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder. “This is not something you can help me with, Samson.” He turned the doorknob and left the study, hearing the echo of his boots as they pounded the wooden floor in the hallway.

17

Thomas looked up from his desk in his office at Scanguards’ headquarters and stretched.

He’d entered profiles of the four vampires he’d seen the night he’d been out patrolling with Eddie into the system for every Scanguards vampire to view, describing them as best he could.

Should anybody else come across them, they would be warned and could take action.

Having done his duty, he’d searched for the deed of Al’s shop online and found only the one that had been issued over twenty years ago, when Al had first purchased the place. If there was a new deed, then it hadn’t been uploaded to the Assessor Recorder’s online system yet. Most likely it was sitting in some clerk’s inbox waiting to be scanned in.

Was it worth breaking into City Hall to rummage through the paper records? Or should he send a human employee during daytime hours to request a copy of the deed? The latter suggestion was probably more prudent. With security at City Hall being tighter than ever, after the Supreme Court had cleared the way for gay marriages in California, and the resulting clashes between proponents and opponents of same-sex marriage, a breakin was a last resort.

Thomas composed an email requesting an employee to procure a copy of the deed and sent the work order to the central dispatch unit at Scanguards. Then he pushed his chair back, rested his feet on his desk, and stared at the ceiling. His relaxing pose was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Cain popped his head in. “Hey! Got a minute?”

Thomas motioned to the chair in front of his desk and lifted his boots off the desk. “What can I do for you?”

“I saw the profiles you uploaded.”

Thomas pulled up straight. “Did you come across those guys?”

“Can’t be a hundred percent sure. But I saw four vampires tonight. I only saw the system update when I got back a few minutes ago. Do you have any better description of those guys?”

Shit! Thomas felt annoyance surge in him. Because of what had happened with Eddie later that night, and then the encounter with one of Kasper’s disciples, he’d not reported the incident earlier. He’d screwed up.

“Unfortunately not. I had to be careful not to be noticed and could only get a glimpse of them. But I overheard them talking. I’d probably recognize their voices. Where did you see them?”

“I saw them enter Sergio’s Book Emporium.”

“How long ago?”

“About a half hour.”

Thomas jumped up from his seat and grabbed his jacket. “Did they see you?”

“No. We didn’t go in; there were no other customers in the store at the time. We would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Besides, they didn’t do anything suspicious. We saw them browsing through the stacks of books.”