Morgan staggered back, eyes wide. When he found his footing again, he put a hand to his jaw, wiggled it. “What the fuck, Sullivan?”
“That was our unfinished business. Now we’re even.” Ethan’s eyes slitted. “Think carefully before you decide to use my people as ballast again.” With that, he put his hand at my back, turned me toward the gate.
Morgan cursed. “Anybody ever tell you you’re an asshole, Sullivan?”
Beside me, Ethan grinned, but kept his gaze on the boardwalk in front of us. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
* * *
My grandfather and Detective Jacobs stayed behind to oversee the boat’s forensic processing, with Jeff and Catcher promising to assist with research.
Morgan, Luc, Ethan, and I drove back to Cadogan House. Ethan sprang for hot beefs on the way home, and I finished mine in the car before we’d left downtown. The fight, the anticipation, my acting as a battery for Mallory’s ward, put my hunger on overdrive.
Morgan excused himself to check on his vampires, ensure that they were still safe. We found Kelley and Malik waiting in Ethan’s office, their expressions grim.
“What’s happened?”
“It’s Balthasar, or at least it seems like Balthasar. Downstairs,” she said, and we followed her down to the Ops Room.
Once again, the screen was on, tuned to a news broadcast, the ticker at the bottom of the screen chilling: HOSPITALIZED WOMAN CLAIMS ASSAULT BY VAMPIRE IN DREAM.
“Jesus,” Ethan said. “Can we have ten minutes without a crisis?”
“What about Juliet?” I asked Luc. “I thought they had him. I thought they found his condo.”
“They sat on the building for two hours, didn’t see him, so they checked with security. Turns out, security heard him contact the account manager in the lobby about something or other, and the account manager spilled that we’d checked in on him.”
I had choice words for humans that I decided not to verbalize. “So he’s gone again?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” He gestured toward the screen. “I’d presume he’s pissed we’re keeping him away from his penthouse. So this attack could be punishment for that. But if the Circle and Balthasar are connected, and the Circle’s pissed at us, it could be punishment from their direction, too. I doubt the Circle would have condoned it—it doesn’t seem like their kind of play—but it wouldn’t the first time Balthasar did something violent.”
“Why not just come for us?” Luc asked, glancing at Ethan. “For you? What is he waiting for?”
Ethan’s eyes darkened. “Consider the man. He’s waiting for me to beg, and I’ll be damned if I’ll do that. We must put a stop to this. We cannot allow him to hurt anyone else, to destroy the goodwill we’ve tried to build.”
“The Investiture,” I said. “Navarre’s vampires are stable, and it’s time to take care of our own. We have to draw him out.”
Ethan perked up an eyebrow.
“We have to draw him out, Sire,” I added politely. “As you think best and such.”
“Nice cover,” Luc muttered.
“Her Grateful Condescension leaves something to be desired,” Ethan said. “But she’s right. I’ll talk to Scott and Morgan. We’ll say two nights hence. I’ll also talk to Nick,” he added, eyeing Malik. “I was thinking, if we’d decided to finalize it, that I’d suggest it’s been in the works for several weeks, and we only just decided to announce it to humans.”
“That adds weight and interest,” Malik agreed with a nod.
“Location?” Luc asked.
“I’d prefer here. If there’s to be an engagement with Balthasar, I’d prefer it happen on our territory and our terms. But perhaps in a tent on the grounds, weather permitting, in order to keep him out of the House proper?”
I nodded, looked at Luc. “In the meantime, we’ll go back through Balthasar’s timeline again, back to the beginning. We didn’t know about the Circle the first time we looked. Maybe, with fresh eyes, something will pop.”
I hoped it would. Because no one else deserved the trauma he seemed hell-bent to put people through.
* * *
When Ethan and Malik had gone, Luc skimmed fingers over the controls in the tabletop, and the timeline appeared on-screen. Most of the events were now green, meaning they’d been verified. A couple were still black, meaning they needed corroborating. None were red.