As Shadows Fade (The Gardella Vampire Hunters 5)

She smiled to herself as George settled into the seat across from her. It wasn’t lost on her that she had no desire to avoid superhumanly strong demons and vampires in the dead of night, but went out of her way to escape seeing her mother in a sunlit parlor.

“Do hope this is important, as I was winning, first time in two weeks,” George said by way of reply as he settled in the seat across from her. “Come to collect your favor already?”

Victoria shook her head. “No, I came for information. What does the Tutela know about the increase in demon activity here, and in Paris?”

“Haven’t talked to anyone in the Tutela-”

“Save it, George. You were fumbling with the coins in your pocket on the way to your house last night, and dropped one of the Tutela markers in this very carriage. I sincerely doubt you’d be carrying one if you hadn’t been in recent contact with them. ” The Tutela used coinlike metal disks as tokens of identification for entrance to their secret meetings, as Victoria had cause to know. She’d nearly been mauled at a Tutela meeting in Venice, after having gained entrance by presenting her own token.

She forestalled any further excuses by handing him the coin.

George, well caught out, pursed his lips. The expression made him look more like a spoiled boy than ever, with his cheeks pudging out and his round chin smooth and shiny. “To be truthful, Victoria,” he said, glancing sidewise at her to see if she objected to his use of her name, “the undead have been well aware of something perking beneath the surface in the last months. ”

Along with his reticence, George had also abandoned his affected speech pattern common to many of the ton ’s dandies. These facts had Victoria sitting straighter against the back squabs of the bench and watching him sharply.

“What do you mean?”

“They’re frightened, if you want the bloody truth. Lying low, hiding. ’S why Lilith was so quick to leave London, and took the rest of them with her. ”

Victoria contemplated him thoughtfully. She’d assumed that Lilith had taken her minions with her and retreated somewhere to lick her wounds after having been bested by the Venators. Was it possible that there was more to it than that?

“What else do you know? I want all of it, George. ”

He shifted against the cushions and loosened the neck cloth that had been tied in an intricate knot that even Sebastian might have envied. “I don’t know much, to be sure. Just that there’s something might happen, and the vampires ain’t too pleased with it. ”

Demons and vampires, both creatures of Hell and minions of Lucifer, were lethal enemies. The demons, who were angels who had fallen from divine grace aeons ago, claimed Hell for their own because of their longstanding alliance with Lucifer, the most powerful of the demons.

But Lucifer had wooed Judas of Iscariot to his side after Judas’s betrayal of Jesus Christ, contending that he’d never be forgiven for his actions. He induced Judas to hang himself, and promised that he’d make him the father of a powerful new race. Thus Judas was the first of the vampires-immortal creatures who were half demon and half human, immortal, and destined to take from man in order to subsist.

Thus, the struggle between the demons and vampires for Lucifer’s favor over the millennia had been vicious and violent.

“What else? You’ve given me nothing worthwhile, and I’ve interrupted your card game,” Victoria said. “What’s going to happen? What are the vampires doing about it? And when?”

George shrugged. “Don’t know. ”

Victoria bared her teeth in a false smile and leaned forward, grabbing his wrist with her fingers. “That’s all you have? After I did you the favor of eliminating your houseguest?” She tightened her grip slowly, and felt his bones shift beneath it.

“Stop,” he gasped before she’d hardly squeezed at all. “I don’t know, but I know someone who might. ”

“Take me to them. ”

George flickered a look at her, then sagged back in his seat, a decidedly sulky look on his face. He rapped on the roof and leaned toward the window to shout directions up to the driver.

When he was finished, he sat back in the corner, looking speculatively at Victoria. He opened his mouth to speak, his expression shifting from sulk to interest, and she raised her hand, palm out.

“Don’t bestir yourself, George. I’ll toss you from the carriage if you even think to make an inappropriate remark… or suggestion. ”

The sulk returned, and she had to bite her lips to keep them from quirking. He looked as though he’d just had his favorite toy taken away.

His directions took them to an area fairly familiar to Victoria from her first days as a Venator. The dirty, poor, and dangerous neighborhoods of St. Giles were where, for a time, Sebastian had owned and operated the Silver Chalice-an establishment that had catered to both mortals and undead. She hadn’t been to St. Giles since shortly after Phillip died, when she went to look at the ruins of the Chalice, which had been destroyed when the vampires came after Sebastian and Max.

The streets looked the same during the day as they’d done at night: crowded, dark, close, and strewn with offal and other refuse. Beggars, thieves, and whores populated streets that weren’t known for producing honest tradesmen or crafters.

George glanced at Victoria, as if to measure her reaction to this dangerous place, but she had no reason to be frightened. Her strength and speed worked just as well against mortals as it did against the undead.

When they alighted from the carriage, he lingered close by her, and Victoria had to prod him-roughly-to keep him moving. Reluctantly, he led the way down an alley so narrow that nary a beam of sunlight made its way into its depths. At last, Victoria became impatient with his reticence, and despite the fact that her hem-which only brushed the tops of her shoes-dragged through the muck, she grabbed him by the arm and propelled him forward.

“Here,” he said at last as they reached a wretched-looking door in the back of the dead-end alley. Low, warped, and with dirt and mildew decorating the wood, the entrance looked much less inviting than even that of the Silver Chalice had.