"All right,” she heard herself say. “I'll need everything you have, or think you have. I want to see where she was taken from, and I want to interview everyone who was in the house or on the property at the time."
"Excellent. We will begin tonight. The ‘trail,’ as you humans put it, is already quite cold. I was out of town at the time, and the constraints imposed on us by our nature have conspired to delay this investigation far longer than I would have preferred. Lonnie?"
Lonnie jumped like a frog, straightening from the corner where'd he'd hidden himself. “Sire?"
"Bring Ms. Leighton to my estate.” He glanced at Cynthia. “I suspect she'll be more comfortable in your car than in mine, and you can drive her back when we've finished."
"Of course, Sire."
Raphael stood. “Your questions will all be answered, Ms. Leighton. I look forward to working with you."
Duncan opened the door and stepped through and Cynthia glimpsed a number of vague, shadowy shapes lurking outside her office. They coalesced into a phalanx of bodyguards as soon as Raphael appeared, surrounding him as he went directly to a long, low limousine waiting with the door open.
Cynthia got up and closed the door, taking a moment to catch her breath before shooting a furious look at Lonnie as she walked back to her desk. “Thanks for that, Lonnie."
He shrugged and smoothed his hair back with hands that were shaking worse than hers. “I had no choice, Cyn. When Raphael says jump, I say, “Please don't hurt me, Master."
She huffed a disdainful breath and sat down, leaning back in her chair. This whole situation was bad. Number one, she didn't think meeting the head vamp was promising for her future health. There was a reason no one knew anything about vamp society; it was because they wanted it that way. On the other hand, she was intrigued. Life had been pretty boring lately; tracking down dead ancestors and spying on cheating spouses was lucrative, but not very exciting. Hell, before tonight, she hadn't pulled her gun outside the range in ... shit, six months maybe. B.o.r.i.n.g.
"So who's this Alexandra? His wife or something?"
"Not a wife, no. Vamps don't usually marry each other. Besides...” He moved closer, casting a guilty look over his shoulder, as if Raphael could somehow still be listening. “A vamp was killed when they took her, permanently killed. An old one named Matias. Rumor has it he and Alexandra were longtime lovers, and I know for a fact neither one of them took blood from the vein. If you know what I mean."
She gave him a blank look, then wrinkled her face in disgust. “Oh, yuck!"
"Don't knock it ‘til you've tried it, Cyn."
She made a dismissive noise. “So vamps don't marry, huh? Not up to eternal fidelity?"
Lonnie shook his head. “No nutritional value.” He laughed at the look on her face. “You ready to go?"
"Why does it have to be tonight?"
Lonnie's usual easy personality returned. “Raphael said tonight, so tonight it is, babe. I'm only the chauffeur."
"Not my chauffeur, you're not. I'll take my own car. I learned that much in high school. And don't ever call me babe again."
Lonnie gave her a pained look. “Okay, but follow my lead, Cyn. I'm serious. His security guys are a bunch of paranoid f**ks and scary as hell."
"Gosh, Lonnie, you make it sound so inviting.” Cynthia gave her own grin. “I can hardly wait."
Chapter Seven
Cynthia followed Lonnie down the coast, wondering if vampires ever got cold. She had the heat going against the damp night air, but there was Lonnie, top down on his Porsche 911, his too-long hair blowing back from his face as they drove along at well over the speed limit. They passed through Malibu's downtown area and continued along the cliffs where the really expensive estates were tucked away behind discreet gates. If you didn't know better, you could drive right by several multimillion dollar mansions and not even know they were there. Lonnie hit the brakes and made a sharp left turn off the highway and onto a private drive nearly hidden by a hedge of towering oleander bushes. Cynthia followed, curious. This estate was a sizable chunk of very expensive property. She passed it nearly every day on her way to and from the office and had never once considered it might be owned by vamps. Not that they put out signs or anything, but it made her wonder how many other vampires lived in the neighborhood with no one the wiser.
She slowed down as the narrow drive wound out towards the ocean, keeping an eye on Lonnie's red taillights. The oleanders had given way to a dense grove of trees—torrey pines, live oaks, ironwood, even the sharp tang of eucalyptus scented the night air. Tangled undergrowth crowded the smoothly paved road, while the closely packed trees arched overhead to form an almost seamless canopy and seal out the night sky. There was no lighting along the road at all, only the random bits of moonlight that managed to make it through the thick foliage overhead. Vampires had excellent night vision; they'd have no trouble with the stygian lane. Humans on the other hand...
About a hundred yards in, Lonnie's taillights abruptly disappeared. Cyn's heart did a little jump of surprise, but as she drew closer, she saw he'd actually turned, pulling up to the entrance of a heavy steel gate set into a thick stucco wall about ten feet high. Cynthia couldn't see much, but in the wash of her headlights, the wall looked more beige than white. Sandstone maybe. One of those designer color names for what was really plain old beige. Two guards approached Lonnie's car and she noticed two more standing at each side of the gate. All of the guards wore dark, SWAT style clothing and were armed with heavy automatic weapons. Tight security. Was it always like this, or had whatever happened caused the vamps to bring in the troops? Did she really want to know? Maybe not.
Lonnie said something to one of the guards, who glanced up at Cyn, studying her in the faint light. She swallowed a gasp when his eyes flashed almost yellow in the glow of her headlights, and she felt her heart beat a little bit faster. She'd met with plenty of vamps. Talked to even more of them on the phone. But this was the veritable lion's den. Raphael was old ... really old and really, really powerful. He had probably held this territory for longer than she'd been alive. Hell, longer than her grandparents had been alive. She wondered abruptly if there were any other humans here tonight. Would she be the only one? Not a pleasant thought.
Whatever Lonnie said to the guards, it worked. The big steel gate rolled back and the Porsche's engine revved noisily as it bumped over the threshold. Cynthia followed closely, careful to keep her eyes looking forward, but keenly aware of the vamp guards’ scrutiny as she went by. The big gate rumbled closed behind her, and she began to see some low-profile lighting, first along the drive and then throughout carefully landscaped and beautifully maintained grounds. She breathed a sigh of relief, only to suck it back in a silent “oh” when the big house came into view.
She'd expected something gothic, or maybe faux Southern with moss hanging from a columned front porch. Instead, Raphael's house was a modern architect's dream, with the sweet, clean lines of the southwest. It was modest by Malibu standards, the main house maybe 8000 square feet with two smaller outbuildings and a long, six bay garage. The structure was two-storied, with the second floor set far back, leaving a broad, high terrace open to the stars and sea. Cyn figured there was also a basement level she couldn't see, because, after all, vampires lived here.
In sharp contrast to the darkened approach from the highway, the house was almost saturated with light, carefully designed to display the architectural highlights, as well as the many smaller balconies and alcoves along its length. A full-sized infinity pool took up one entire side yard, with even more light shining up from within its depths. Cyn wondered if vampires took midnight swims. No umbrellas, she noticed. Which made sense if you thought about it.
The drive rolled down a slight hill to a simple entrance, with stairs leading up to a set of elegantly glassed double doors on a wide, covered porch. Vampire guards were visible here, all along the courtyard, and even more could be seen in constant movement in and around the various buildings. Now that she knew what to look for, Cyn spotted dark profiles on balconies and even hulking beneath the overhang along the pool.