Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires 3)

"I can tell."

When we'd both looked our fill, Adam continued down the hallway, then turned into an industrial-style kitchen clearly meant for preparing meals for a big, hungry congregation. He held open the door of the refrigerator while I slid the pan onto a shelf. That done, he closed the door again, then leaned against one of the stainless-steel islands in the middle of the room.

I spied a bulletin board on the facing wall and walked over for a better look. A sign-up sheet for an after-church luncheon was posted beside a flyer for a canned food drive. Get a little; give a little, I thought.

And speaking of getting a little, I decided to take the opportunity to learn a little more about Adam and his crew. I started with the geography.

"So, I was just curious - why Ukrainian Village? What's your connection to this neighborhood?"

"Shifters?"

I nodded.

"We have roots in Eastern Europe. Our families are tight-knit. You put the two together, you get Ukrainian Village."

"Huh," I said. "That's interesting."

He arched his eyebrows at me. "Is it interesting, or are you just making nice to do your part for a vampire-shifter alliance?"

He spoke the words with sarcasm, but there was a thread of something more in his voice. Irritation?

Anger? Disgust? I wasn't sure if that was animosity toward vampires or toward politics generally. Both were shifter-esque emotions.

Not wanting to fight it out, I mimicked that negligent shrug he'd given earlier. "Just making friendly conversation. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

A twinkle in his eye, he answered back, "No, ma'am, there most definitely is not." We chatted a little longer, just enough for me to feel him more. I'd anticipated getting some of the

"youngest brother of a Pack leader" vibe, and while he was quite the smartass, he seemed earnestly concerned about the Pack.

"I'm nervous about tonight," he admitted as we took the hallway back to the main chapel. "It's not that I think Gabe couldn't handle whatever popped up, but I'd prefer we keep things as violence free as possible."

"Any thoughts on a culprit for the bar shooting?"

He shook his head, his expression tightening. He was holding back.

"I heard Tony . . ." I wasn't sure how to finish the sentence, so I didn't.

"His death changes things," Adam said, "but I don't know if that means he was behind the attack."

"We had the same thought."

Adam frowned. "It's just that a planned assassination isn't a very Pack thing to do. Crime of passion, sure, but not assassination. It's a little, maybe, vampire?" I arched a suspicious eyebrow. Anti-vampire prejudice wasn't really the vibe I wanted right now. I was much too outnumbered. And speaking of prejudice, I asked, "Has Gabriel said anything about the incident at the Brecks'?"

Adam chuckled mirthlessly. "The incident with Ethan?" I nodded.

"Well, he wasn't thrilled about the disruption, but I think he was more amused by the whole thing." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Amused?"

Adam shrugged. "They've known each other for a while. Gabe knows Sullivan to be cold, calm, calculated. And that was definitely not cold, calm, or calculated. Gabe figures Sullivan has it pretty bad for you."

"You'd be surprised," I said dryly. The vibration of my cell phone saved me from further elaboration. I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen. It was a text message, but not from Luc or Malik or the Cadogan guards. It was from Nick - and it wasn't good.

"TIP SAYS CONTRACT ON TOP DOG; HIT IMMINENT," the message read. It was signed "NB." I stopped in the middle of the hallway, my heart suddenly pounding. We'd been right - whoever the culprit, the violence wasn't limited to the attack on the bar.

Someone meant to take out Gabriel, with or without Tony.

I glanced up at the door to the chapel in front of me. I needed to tell Ethan and Gabriel, but first I wanted facts. If Nick had information - a source, a time, anything - I wanted to hear it from his lips before I took it to the men who'd doubt its veracity the most. The vampire and shifter who were already suspicious of Nick.

I glanced up at Adam, who'd stopped a few feet away, his head cocked as he looked at me.

"Everything okay?"

I hitched a thumb back toward one of the nursery rooms. "Okay if I use a room for a couple of minutes?

I need to make a quick phone call."

"Something up?"

I faked nonchalance. No sense sounding the alarms until I had proof in hand. "Not really, but it's time sensitive."

It took a few seconds, but he finally nodded. "Help yourself. You can meet us back in the chapel when you're done."

I smiled brightly. "Thanks, Adam. And thanks for the chat."

"You're very welcome, Kitten. Anytime you want more than chatting, Gabriel knows how to reach me." For now, the key was reaching Nick.

Turns out, reaching Nick wasn't that difficult. Once I was in one of the nursery rooms with the door shut, I simply dialed back the number that sent the text message, and he answered on the first ring.

"Breckenridge."

"Nick? It's Merit."

"That was fast."

"Seemed important, what with the death threat and all. What did you hear?"

"Someone called the paper's tip line and asked for me specifically." I frowned. "So they knew enough not to spill the details about shifters to the switchboard guy?"

"That was my first thought, too. He must have been a shifter, but I couldn't tell who. You know those voice manipulators that kidnappers use in the movies to change the pitch of their voices? This guy had one."

"What did he say?"

"The message was short and simple." I heard the shuffling of paper, as if Nick were flipping through a notebook. "He said the shots at the bar weren't an accident. He said someone issued a contract on Gabriel, and the second attempt is supposed to take place tonight."

"In a church full of shifters? Not exactly a quiet way to take someone out."

"Yeah, a tip for the uninitiated - at some point, it'll be chaos in there. I don't think a gunshot, even a hit at close range, would be that hard to accomplish."

Well, that information would have been useful before today. "Anything else?"

"That was it, except for one more thing," he said, then paused. Building drama, I thought, like any good writer.

"He said to find the culprit, we had to check the top of the Packs."

"You heard they found Tony?"