Meaning what? That someone has simply forced them to sleep? Why in the hell would anyone want that?
He didn't answer, but I really wasn't expecting him to. I walked over to the bed and lightly touched the man's shoulder. He didn't react in any way.
I pinched his cheek. Nothing. I pinched harder, but the result was the same. This definitely wasn't a natural sleep. "You seeing this, Rhoan?"
"Yeah. And I'm liking it a whole lot less. Check the third person."
I spun and headed down to the kitchen. It was less tidy than Vonda's, with baby bottles in various states of cleanliness scattered over the sink and a half-made sandwich sitting on the counter.
I kept walking into the living room. The woman was still standing at the side window, but as I entered, she slowly turned to face me.
Shock hit like a hammer, and I stopped.
Burned into the woman's forehead was a raw and bleeding K-shaped mark.
It was the exact same mark that had been burned into Dorothy Hendricks's forehead just before she'd died.
Chapter 9
My fingers twitched with the need to feel Amaya in my hands, but my sword was, for once, quiet. Whatever was happening here, she didn't sense an immediate threat.
I forced a smile, then walked toward the woman and held out a hand. "I'm sorry to intrude like this, but I'm looking for Vonda Belmore. I don't suppose you know where she is, do you?"
The woman didn't shake my hand—she didn't even look at it. Nor did she immediately respond to my question. She just stared at me in an oddly dead way.
I let my hand drop to my side and stopped just beyond her reach. But it was still close enough that I could smell the wound on her forehead, and it was rank. It was almost as if her flesh had rotted away rather than burned.
My gaze swept the rest of her. She was statuesque, with fine, almost regal features and silvery hair that was cut short but well styled. She was also a vampire, which, when combined with the wound on her forehead, meant this was more than likely Vonda. But I wasn't about to admit that knowledge. Better to play the game, whatever the hell the game was.