they’re beyond contact. So now we probably know one thing about our ghost. That’s a start.”
“Two things,” Jaime murmured, her eyes still closed. “It’s a vamp and it’s a she.”
Cassandra, Lucas, and I exchanged a look.
“Natasha,” I whispered. “She’s not missing. She’s dead.”
The Curse of Clear Vision
“WHEN EDWARD ATTACKED DANA, HE SAID HE WAS DOING it for someone,” I said. “Someone she heard as ‘Nasha.’” I looked at Benicio. “Something stopped the Nasts from putting an office in Cincinnati. A problem that needed to be cleared up first. Would a local pair of serial-killing vampire immortality questers count?”
He gave a slow nod. “A Cabal always investigates the local supernaturals before building a new office. If they have minor concerns, they usually persuade the offenders to relocate. But in a case such as this, on this scale, particularly one that involves vampires…the solution would be a permanent one.”
“Kill them.”
“Let me make some phone calls,” Benicio said. “Before we jump to any conclusions.”
“So now you think the Nasts will tell you the truth?”
“No, but with this much detail to prompt their memories, I know people who will.”
A half-hour later Benicio confirmed our suspicions. The Nast Cabal had learned of Edward and Natasha’s murderous hobby, and decided they wouldn’t make good neighbors. According to Benicio’s sources, the original plan had been to kill both, but the vampires had outwitted several assassins and fled the country. Unwilling to accept failure so easily, the Cabal sent out one last hit man, who’d managed to behead Natasha. The Nasts then made a mistake. They decided not to spend any more money chasing Edward around the globe. By killing his mate, they’d taught him a lesson he’d not soon forget. And he hadn’t.
“They killed Natasha, and he wants revenge,” I said. “Understandable…when it comes to attacking the Nasts. But what do the other Cabals have to do with it?”
Lucas looked at his father. “A vampire asked for a private meeting with you in July. The Nasts executed Natasha at the end of August. Presumably, if several assassination attempts had been made, the Nasts had been chasing the pair for at least a month. I would say that the timing of that request wasn’t coincidental.”
“Edward wanted to speak to the Cortez CEO?” I said. “But why?”
“Presumably to request sanctuary,” Lucas said. “That’s not uncommon. If you are pursued by one Cabal, the best place to go for help is to another Cabal. If the Boyds and St. Clouds were being honest with us, I suspect they’d admit to similar requests.”
“In other words, he went to each of the Cabals for help, and they each turned him down, wouldn’t even find out what he wanted. And that pissed him off enough to start killing their kids? This doesn’t make sense.”
“No,” Cassandra said, her first words since we’d begun. “It wouldn’t. Not to you.”
She moved to the window and opened the blind. For a moment, she just stared outside. Then she turned back toward us.
“You have to see this from a vampire’s point of view. Do I think such a slight is grounds for killing someone’s children? Of course not. But I can understand why Edward might. What is the life of those children to him? No more than those bodies in his field. A means to an end. Is he killing them because he wants them to die? No. He’s killing them because he wants to cause pain, to hurt those who hurt him. They killed his life partner. I don’t think you really understand what that means.”
“They’d been together a long time,” I said. “Obviously, they—”
“Obviously nothing. What do you consider a long marriage in your world? Twenty-five years is a cause for great celebration, isn’t it? Edward became a vampire when Queen Victoria took the throne. He’d been one for less than a decade when he went to Russia and met Natasha, who had just become one herself. They have never been apart since. One hundred and fifty years together, with no one else: no parents, no siblings, no children, no friends. Nothing but each other.”
“Now she’s gone, and he wants revenge. He’ll keep killing until he’s repaid every Cabal for her death, by killing children from each.”
“No, he’ll keep killing until he’s dead,” Cassandra said. “Nothing else will stop him. I have no idea what his plan is, and he may very well have one, but he won’t stop when he reaches the end, because he won’t feel avenged. How could he? No hurt he inflicts