Because the vampire embassy was about to get a new ambassador. They just didn’t know it yet.
Chapter Three
Miguel called Louis on his cell to let him know they were coming in. When they made the final turn, Louis was waiting in the middle of the street, his pale eyes gleaming nearly white in the headlights. He grinned when he saw them and stepped to the side so that Miguel could pull up next to him.
“Sire,” Louis said as he climbed into the back seat. “Thank you for letting me be a part of this.”
Duncan turned around enough to hold out his hand. Louis took it carefully at first, then gripped it tightly when Duncan did the same. Duncan could feel the calluses on Louis’s palm and fingers from the weights he’d lifted most of his life, even before Duncan had turned him.
“It’s good to see you, Louis. As I told Miguel, the two of you will take care of the humans at the gate, while I deal with the vampire guards just inside the residence. And once we get into dining room, I want the humans out of there. I can hold off Victor.”
“My lord, all four of Victor’s guards will be inside the house with him.”
“I’m aware of that,” Duncan said. He held back a smile as he remembered all the times he’d been overly protective of Raphael—and how much it had irritated the Western Vampire Lord.
“It’s the house in the cul-de-sac, my lord,” Miguel said, his voice tight with anticipation as they drew closer to the estate.
Duncan turned to get his first in-person view of the residence. It didn’t look like a fortified embassy. With cherry trees peeking over the top of a too-short perimeter wall and two chimneys puffing white smoke into the cold air, it looked more like a place where Mom and Dad were raising their 2.5 children and letting the dogs run in the yard. Assuming Mom and Dad had a whole lot of money and enough paranoia to build a wall around their home, even a short one.
“Time to rock and roll,” Louis whispered, and Duncan smiled grimly.
They rolled up to the wrought-iron gate, and Miguel dropped his side window with a faint buzz of sound. Frosty air rushed in, and Duncan smelled the creek which ran behind the house, along with a faint hint of snow. All of that disappeared beneath the overwhelming scent of human as the guard bent into the window to check them out.
Miguel had been on the premises once before, ostensibly to offer his services when he’d first moved here from California and set up a security business in Virginia. “Miguel Martinez,” he told the guard. “Lord Victor is expecting us.”
The human opened his mouth to say something, probably to protest that he wasn’t aware of Lord Victor expecting anyone, but then his eyes glazed over and he blinked slowly. He smiled and nodded, waving them in.
“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for,” Louis murmured from the back seat.
Miguel nearly choked on a laugh as the guard stepped back into the shed and triggered the gate mechanism.
“Enough, gentlemen,” Duncan said quietly. He understood their excitement. His own blood was thundering with anticipation. But this was a dangerous thing they were about to do, and he didn’t want them to fool themselves into thinking otherwise.
“Forgive me, my lord,” Louis breathed.
Duncan nodded, but his attention was already on the big, white house, his power reaching out to lightly touch the vampires inside. All but Victor. The others wouldn’t notice his touch, but Victor might.
“Very lax security,” he commented mostly to himself. “Two vampires together inside, near the front door.” He frowned. There was a buzz of something, some underlying power that confused him. He wanted to explore it further, but there was no time, and it was too weak and unfocused to represent a danger to his plans for the evening. It would have to wait.
“Miguel,” he said, “you and Louis take out the remaining human guards gently. Check the barracks, as well. I don’t want anyone raising an alarm, but there’s no reason to hurt them either. Then join me inside. We’ll take the dining room together.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Duncan opened the car door while Miguel was still braking. He sped up the brick steps two at a time, sending a tight needle of power ahead of him to burn out the electronic lock on the front door. The security bolts released with a solid thunk and the door swung open. Duncan stepped inside, his eyes doing a fast sweep of the area while the two vampires on guard were still dragging their attention from the big screen TV to stare at him in surprise. He didn’t wait for them to recover their wits. He reached out with his power and seized their hearts, squeezing until they dropped to the floor. They weren’t dead. Victor was corrupt, but he wasn’t weak. As the Sire of these two vampires, and especially at such close proximity, he would certainly feel it if they died, and he’d know something was wrong. So Duncan let them live for now. But when Victor died, these two vampires would die right along with him, most likely drained dry by Victor himself in a bid to survive Duncan’s challenge.
Duncan had met Victor on more than one occasion when he’d accompanied Raphael to Vampire Council meetings, but he’d never matched strength with the vampire lord directly. The annual gatherings were carefully orchestrated affairs, bringing together the most powerful vampires in North America, vampires who were natural rivals at best and enemies at worst. Everyone was on their best behavior at those affairs, which meant there were no outright challenges and no blatant weighings of each other’s power.
But Raphael had known Victor a long time, and there were other ways to measure the depth of a vampire’s power. The upshot was that Duncan knew he could defeat Victor because Raphael wouldn’t have risked him otherwise. And, more importantly, because he knew the depths of his own power. Victor would be ousted from his rule over the territory tonight in the usual vampire way . . . by assassination.
Miguel and Louis rushed through the front door behind him, their power brimming and ready to defend him if necessary. Again, it felt odd to be the recipient of that sort of devotion rather than the other way around. Something he’d have to get used to.
“Any problems?” he asked as his vampires hid the limp bodies of Victor’s two guards behind the same couch they’d been sitting on when Duncan arrived.
Miguel let his burden drop, the comatose vampire’s head cracking loudly against the wooden floor. “None, my lord. The gate is secured, the barracks empty. And all of the human guards on the estate are sound asleep.”
“Excellent. This is it, then. Remember, once we’re in the dining room, I’ll put the humans under immediately. After that, we play it by ear. I don’t care which of us takes down the two remaining vamp guards, but Victor himself is mine alone.”
”Yes, my lord.” Miguel was fairly bouncing on his toes. Louis stood as still as a statue, his muscles coiled for action. He nodded sharply, his eyes fixed on Duncan like a dog on point, awaiting the go-ahead.