Blood Games (Chicagoland Vampires 10)

I grabbed a tray, moved into line, and selected orange juice, blood, bacon and eggs, and a chocolate croissant as big as a softball. Not that I had any problem with that.

My tray full, I scanned the tables, looking for friendly faces, found Lindsey and Margot at a table together.

Lindsey wore her Cadogan black suit, her blond hair pulled into a high knot. Margot wore her chef’s whites, her sleek dark bob perfectly edged, with bangs that dipped to a point in the middle of her forehead, framing her eyes. Apparently taking a break from her cooking duties, she scooped oatmeal and fruit from a pretty flowered dish.

I walked over, only barely managing not to attempt a hands-free bite of the croissant, but I did have some pride.

“Good evening, sleepyhead.” Lindsey patted the seat of the chair beside her. “How was your double date?”

I smiled, slid out the chair, and took a seat. “It wasn’t a date.”

“Ethan plus Jonah equals date,” she said.

“Ethan plus Jonah equals snarky comments. And in this case, murder.”

Margot frowned. “Yikes. That’s unfortunate. Anyone we know?”

“Detective Jacobs’s son, unfortunately.”

Margot put a hand on her chest. “Oh, that’s awful. Jacobs is the one who helps us out, right? Your grandfather’s friend?”

I nodded. “Jonah and I are going to do some follow-up today about the murder weapons. Hopefully we can use that to find some information about the killer.”

“You had a big night,” Margot said. “Barely avoid a drive-by, then drive right into a crime scene.”

I took a bite of eggs. “The life of a Sentinel is often less than glamorous.”

“You got an Ethan Sullivan out of the bargain,” Margot said with a wink. “Suck it up.”

I managed not to mention the downsides of that particular arrangement.

“So the drive-by thing,” Margot said. “That’s got to be GP related, right?”

“It’s GP related,” I agreed, opting not to offer up the specifics. I didn’t think there was anything to be gained by frightening the rest of the House with the details of the threat.

“Ethan’s a challenge to the status quo,” Lindsey said. “Some aren’t comfortable with that.”

Margot nodded. “You are preaching to the choir. Blood notwithstanding, vampires aren’t the most culinarily adventurous group.”

“That reminds me—Ethan will be coming to you about a bet that I lost.”

Her brows lifted with amusement. “I am intrigued.”

“Cool your jets. It was about the 5K. We bet a meal, and he won. If he requests you make something like duck fingers in aspic, try to steer him away, will you?”

“A novel idea,” Margot said. “I don’t think ducks have fingers, but I get the point.”

“Speaking of novel ideas, which I’d swear to God are the sole property of the women in this House, nice job getting Luc and Ethan together yesterday. Luc was feeling much, much better at sunset.” Lindsey smiled wickedly over the rim of her juice.

I bit into bacon, shook my head. “I don’t need to know that. And I’d bet Margot didn’t either.”

“Oh, I’m fine with it,” she said, popping a blueberry. “I’ve been single lo these many months.”

Lindsey gave Margot an appraising glance. “You know, Jonah’s also single.”

Margot waved her spoon. “I wasn’t complaining; I’m on a hiatus. Long-term relationship gone bad,” she added, with a glance at me. “I’m not in a place to date anyone else, and perfectly happy on my own.”

“Brown butter and foie gras can’t keep you happy forever,” Lindsey said.

“Says you. Throw in a decent lemon tart now and again, and I’m perfectly fine.” She glanced at her watch. “And speaking of which, I’ve got meals to prepare and vampires to feed.” Margot rose, pushed in her chair. “I’ll see you ladies later.”

“Later, gator,” Lindsey said.

“Ladies,” Brody said, pulling a chair around and sitting down backward, his long and lanky legs straddling the chair, his blue eyes shining. “What’s the story?”

“Sun’s shining on the other half of the world,” Lindsey said. “That’s all I need to know.” She gave him a flat stare. “Aren’t you on duty right now?”

“Yeah. I mean, in a few minutes.” He smiled guilelessly. “Just came down to grab a bite. I am starving tonight.”

I could practically see the glint of wickedness in Lindsey’s eyes, and I pushed back my chair just slightly to get out of her verbal path.

“So, to be clear, the fate of this House is in your hands, but you decided that instead of getting to the business of security a few minutes early, you’d cowboy into the cafeteria and ‘grab a bite’?”

Brody’s cheeks pinkened. “Um, so, I just thought—”

“You thought?” Lindsey prompted.

He got up so fast the chair toppled over, hitting the floor with a clatter that had the rest of the vampires in the room turning to look.

“Sorry,” he said, waving sheepishly as he righted the chair. “I’ll just grab something to go and get to work.” Without waiting for her approval, he scurried toward the food line, grabbed two bottles of blood, and hustled out of the room.

I glanced back at her, found her eyes narrowed, her lips pressed together.

“You enjoyed that a little too much.”

She shook her head. “Nope. There’s no such thing.”

“This isn’t a military school. You don’t have to haze him.”

“I don’t have to,” Lindsey said with a wink. “But if I can’t haze the newbies, what’s a vampire to live for?”

Bacon seemed the obvious and eternal answer.

* * *

My hour before Jonah’s pickup was nearly up, so I tried one more time to check in with Ethan before leaving the House. I knocked gingerly on the office door and, at Ethan’s terse “Come in,” opened it.

Ethan and Malik were in the sitting area on opposite sides of the coffee table, papers spread between them.

Ethan glanced up, nodded. “Sentinel.”

“Sullivan.” I walked closer, took in spreadsheets and dollar signs. “This looks unfortunately numeric.”

“The welfare of the House is never unfortunate,” Ethan said, and a glance at Malik’s bland expression told me he trotted that one out regularly.