House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires 7)

Ethan nodded. "Of course."

Michael waved at me, then disappeared into the hallway.

Ethan's desk phone rang, so I took my maps over to the conference table, hoping he might have a clue about our secret property owner. As I waited for him to finish his call, I sat down, my gaze falling on a stack of papers marked with the same kind of crimson wax seal Ethan had used during his second Master ceremony.

I'd always liked wax seals. They were so old-fashioned, so evocative, so secretive. I ran my fingers across the wax, expecting to find the Cadogan House seal there. But instead, the seal was smooth except for three small indentations.

Curious, I rotated the paper - which looked like an elevation of Cadogan House - toward me. The seal consisted of three letters inside a circle.

The letters? C.A.M.

My heart began to thud, and I unrolled my father's map of the warehouse property and placed it on the table.

There, at the bottom of the page, was the property's owner. Carlos Anthony Martinez. C.A.M.

That was quite a coincidence.

Ethan finished his call and moved toward me, putting a hand on my shoulder. He must have sensed the magic. "What's wrong?"

"The seal," I said, looking up at Ethan. "Whose seal is this?"

Ethan moved closer and looked down at the papers. "Those are plots Michael prepared with potential camera placements. It's an antique seal he uses. He says he likes the mystery."

"What do the initials mean?"

Frowning, Ethan picked up the seal and stared at it. "I've no idea what they mean. It's a handy thing, though. The seal's in his signet ring. Why do you ask?"

I turned the map so he could see it. "The property in Little Italy where Oliver and Eve were murdered is owned by a guy named Carlos Anthony Martinez. Michael's using a seal with the initials 'C.A.M.'"

Ethan blanched. "Carlos Anthony Martinez? You're sure?"

"Yes, why?"

"Carlos was Celina's Second, the one who served before Morgan."

Of course. I'd heard of Carlos, but not frequently, and I hadn't heard his last name.

"Michael said he knew Celina. Do you know how?"

Ethan shook his head. "No. He wasn't a member of Navarre House."

"Yeah, that's what he told me, too. What do you know about Carlos's tenure as Second?"

Ethan put a hand on the chair beside him, the other on his hip, as he frowned in remembrance. "He was ousted as part of a scandal. Although I'm not sure what it was. Celina didn't say; she was tight-lipped in those days, didn't enjoy her notoriety the way she did in later years."

He dialed a number on the conference phone.

"Library," answered a male voice through the speaker.

"Carlos Anthony Martinez," Ethan said. "What do you know?"

"Navarre House Second before Morgan. Stripped of his title, reportedly staked, but I've never seen anything official on that."

"Why was he kicked out?" I asked.

"There's no official record," the librarian said. "But I was a friend of the Navarre House archivist a few years back, and she hinted he might have been siring vampires on the side."

"Siring vampires?" I said. "As in, he was making vampires without Celina's consent or knowledge?"

"The very same. Anything else?"

"No, thank you," Ethan said. He hung up the phone, then looked at me.

"We need to talk to Morgan," I said. "Although I hate to ask him questions at a time like this."

"Unfortunately, the feeling is mutual. But this concerns his House, so we can't avoid the discussion. But I will try to ease into it. I won't go in 'with guns a-blazing,' as Luc might say."

Ethan walked back to his desk and began perusing his computer for files. After a moment, he opened a portrait of Michael Donovan. It was a professional-looking photograph in front of a white backdrop, probably a marketing shot.

Having found what he wanted, Ethan dialed the phone on his desk. Morgan quickly answered.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to send you a photograph. Can you tell me if you recognize the vampire?"

"Why?" Morgan managed to imbue those three little letters with a lot of exhaustion.

"It's background," Ethan said. "It will assist us in the investigation of the murders." Without waiting for permission, Ethan e-mailed the photograph. There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"I got it," Morgan said. "His name is Stephen Caniglia. I haven't met him personally, but I've seen his face."

"He was a Navarre vampire?" Ethan asked.

"Not exactly. He wasn't Commended into the House. How much do you know about Carlos?"

Ethan met my gaze. "Fill me in," he said.

"Carlos was Celina's first Second. She made him a vampire; he was one of the earliest she'd made. I didn't know him very long - Carlos hadn't been in the House very long - when the scandal broke."

"The siring scandal?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah. Carlos had been recruiting vampires who weren't entirely convinced about becoming vampires. He pushed and changed them anyway without their consent. I replaced Carlos not long after that."

"And what happened to Carlos?"

"I don't know anything officially, but I heard she had him taken out. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me. She didn't take kindly to his exercising her authority behind her back."

Ethan frowned. "And how does that relate to the vampire whose picture we just sent you?"

"He was one of the unfortunate few whom Carlos turned without consent. Celina offered him membership in the House, but he declined."

A burst of magic spilled across the room as Ethan's anger rose and expanded. I'd seen him angry before, but nothing compared to the fury before me.

"Did Carlos, perchance, have a signet ring with his initials carved into it?" Ethan asked.

Morgan's eyes widened. "Yeah, he did, actually. A big gold thing. He wore it on his pinkie like he was a mobster."

"Thank you," Ethan said, and without ceremony hung up the phone. For a moment he stood there, simply breathing, taking in what we now knew.

So Michael Donovan had been sired by Carlos, made a vampire against his will. Michael was now using Carlos's signet ring, and someone - Michael? - had dumped two bodies at a property Carlos, or maybe now, his estate, had owned. But why?

"Why would Michael Donovan care about the warehouse?"

Ethan shook his head. "I don't know. It must have been meaningful to him somehow. Otherwise, there are easier ways to hide a body."