"We can do only what is in our power."
"That is true, my dear." He heaved a deep sigh. "Still, I worry for their safety. It is said another maiden was killed this evening."
Jocelyn felt the blood drain from her face. No. This could not be happening. Not another poor, wretched maiden.
"Oh, no," she whispered.
"Terrible, is it not?" Vicar Fallow murmured, reaching out to pat her arm lightly. "A beast walks the streets of London. It is said he hunts someone or something."
Something?
Unconsciously stepping away from his distasteful touch, Jocelyn lifted a hand to the amulet about her neck.
What was happening?
And why?
"I..."
"Jocelyn." Abruptly appearing at her side, Lucien wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. "There is no need to linger. The children are fed this night."
Shaken by the revelation of yet another murder, Jocelyn readily allowed Lucien to lend her support The familiar scent of his male warmth shrouded her in a sense of well-being.
"Yes."
The gaunt countenance of Vicar Fallow hardened at the arrival of Lucien, but the thin smile remained intact as he regarded the shaken Jocelyn.
"Miss Kingly, do not forget that I stand ready to be of assistance if ever you should need me."
She felt Lucien's arm tighten about her shoulder as she gave a vague nod of her head. Clearly the two gentlemen had taken a swift dislike of each other.
"Thank you, Vicar."
"Come, Jocelyn," Lucien urged, turning her around and leading her from the warehouse.
Jocelyn made no demur. She wanted to be away from the warehouse, and even the dangerous streets of St. Giles.
A beast did, indeed, seem to be walking the streets of London, and she very much feared he was stalking her.
Lucien cursed himself for a fool as he carefully bundled Jocelyn in the waiting hack and then settled himself close to her side.
He should have insisted that she not enter the warehouse. He had sensed before they had even arrived that Amadeus would be waiting. But he had assured himself that while he was near, the traitor could do nothing to harm the maiden. And that it was important he discover precisely what Amadeus was plotting.
Besides, he had been touched by her plea to face her life without the walls of a prison, he ruefully acknowledged.
Although life behind the Veil offered eternal peace and prosperity for vampires, he had discovered a growing resentment at being confined over the past two centuries. He did not want a tidy existence that provided for his every need. He longed for the unpredictable, for confronting a day with no notion of what might occur. Like Jocelyn, he desired to confront the delights, pains, and passions life had to offer in the fullest.
And so he had ignored his good sense and allowed Jocelyn to accompany him into the dark streets. Now he could only wonder if he had made a dreadful mistake.
Wrapping his arms about her, he leaned his head against her satin hair.
"You are very quiet," he murmured.
"Vicar Fallow said that another maiden was murdered."
He grimaced, wondering if he should confess that it was Vicar Fallow himself who had committed the atrocity. It would certainly ensure that she never trusted the renegade. But it would also raise endless questions that Lucien was not yet prepared to answer.
How could he confess that Amadeus was a vampire without exposing himself?