Veil of Midnight (Midnight Breed 5)

"He was attacked. An assailant stole into the lodge and tried to sever his head with a length of wire, but in the end he failed. Of all the damned luck," Lex added under his breath. "The Order feels it's the work of a professional."

"The Order," Fabien repeated airlessly. "How are they involved in any of what you've described?"

"They sent a warrior here tonight to meet with my father. Apparently they are trying to warn the Gen Ones about the recent slayings among the population."

Fabien's mouth worked for a second without forming words, as if he wasn't sure what question to tackle first. He cleared his throat. "There is a warrior here in Montreal? And what is this about recent slayings? Whatever are you talking about?" "Five dead Gen Ones, between North America and Europe," Lex said, recalling what Nikolai had told him. "Some one seems hell-bent on picking off the whole remaining first generation, one by one."

"My word." Fabien's face was the picture of astonishment, but something about him was bothering Lex.

"You didn't know anything about the killings?"

Fabien rose slowly, shook his head. "I am stunned, I assure you. I had no idea. What a terrible thing." "Maybe. Maybe not," Lex remarked.

As he stared at the Darkhaven leader, Lex noticed a sudden stillness coming over the vampire - so still he had to wonder if Fabien was actually breathing. There was a subdued but rising panic in his raptorlike eyes. Edgar Fabien held his body in check with rigid precision, but from the look in his shifting gaze, he looked as though he wanted to bolt from the room.

How intriguing.

"You know, I would have expected you to be better informed, Fabien. Your reputation around the city paints you as quite the player. With all your Enforcement Agency friends, are you trying to tell me that none of them clued you in? Maybe they don't trust you, eh? Maybe they have good cause."

Now Fabien met Lex's gaze. Amber sparks flashed in his irises, a telltale sign of a pricked nerve. "Just what kind of game are you trying to play here?"

"Yours," Lex said, sensing an opportunity and pouncing on it. "You know about the Gen One slayings. The question is, why would you lie about it?"

"I don't publicly discuss Agency issues." Fabien all but spat his reply, puffing out his thin chest with self-righteous indignation. "What I know or do not know is my own business."

"You knew about the attack on my father before I mentioned it, didn't you? Were you the one who called for his death? What about the others who've been killed?"

"Good Christ, you are mad."

"I want in," Lex said. "Whatever scheme you're involved with, Fabien, I want in."

The Darkhaven leader expelled his breath sharply, then gave Lex his back as he casually walked over to one of the tall bookcases built into the silk-papered wall. He smoothed his hand along the polished wood, chuckling idly. "As illuminating and entertaining as our conversation has been, Alexei, perhaps it should end here. I think it best if you go away and calm yourself before you say anything more foolish."

Lex charged forward, determined to convince Fabien of his worth. "If you want him dead, I am willing to help get it done." "Unwise" came the hissed reply. "I can snap my fingers and have you held on suspicion of intent to commit murder. I may still, but right now you're going to leave and neither one of us will speak another word of this conversation."

The drawing room door opened and four armed guards filed inside. At Fabien's nod, the group of them surrounded Lex. Given no choice, he started to leave.

"I'll be in touch," he told Edgar Fabien with a light baring of his teeth. "You can count on that."

Fabien said nothing, but his shrewd gaze remained fixed on Lex with grim understanding as he walked to the drawing room doors and gently closed them tight.

Once Lex was out on the street alone, his mind began to churn over his options. Fabien was corrupt. What a surprising, and sure to be useful, bit of information. With any luck, it wouldn't be long before Fabien's connections were Lex's as well. He didn't particularly care how he had to acquire them.

He glanced up at the beautiful Darkhaven mansion and all its pristine luxury. This was what he wanted. This kind of life - lifted high above the filth and degradation he'd known under his father's boot heel. This was what he truly deserved. But first he would need to get his hands dirty, if just one last time.

Lex strolled along the tree-lined, meandering road and headed back down into the city with renewed purpose.

Chapter Ten

Nikolai woke up in total darkness, his head resting against the coffin of an apparently well-to-do Montreal man who'd been dead for sixty-seven years. The private mausoleum's marble floor had made for a hard few hours of rest, but it served Niko well enough. The night had been creeping dangerously close to dawn when he'd left Yakut's place, and he'd sure as hell slept the daylight off in worse places than the cemetery he found at the city's northern edge.

With a groan, he sat up and flipped open his cell phone to check the display for the time. Shit, just after one P.M. He still had about seven or eight hours to wait in here before sundown, when it would be safe for him to be outside. Seven or eight more hours, and he was already feeling itchy from sitting idle for so long.

No doubt Boston was wondering about him by now. Niko hit the speed dial for the Order's headquarters. Halfway through the second ring, Gideon picked up.

"Niko, for fuck's sake. About time you reported in." The warrior's vague English accent sounded a bit rough. Not surprising, considering that Niko was calling in the middle of the day. "Talk to me. You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good. My objective here in Montreal is fucked ten ways to Sunday, but other than that, 'sall good."