We were twenty minutes away and nearly back to our hotel when the driver got a call. “Understood,” he said. Hanging up, he did a U-turn.
“Where are we going?”
“Change of plans,” the driver said. “Leo wants you all at Master Vespucci’s mansion.”
“WHAT,” Fiona asked. “Why would we go there?”
“You’ll have to ask him,” the driver replied.
I tried to reach Leo on the link, but he was too far away. “What happened up there,” I asked Joseph.
“Most of it went just like we planned,” Joseph said. “We’d use auto shotguns, rifles, or flamethrowers to incapacitate them before the trail wolves took their heads off with the swords. I was in the group holding the entrance to the warehouse, and that was a fucking bloodbath. Do you have any idea how much damage a flamethrower can do against a group of people?”
I could just imagine. “How many survived?”
“Maybe twenty. The vampire masters and their people hit both sides of the warehouse concurrently, and they waded in and parted the crowd like Moses. Heads were rolling everywhere, and the smart ones followed the order to give up. Some tried to escape to the office, but our flamethrowers took care of them quickly. The older vamps ended their suffering, and it was all over in less than a minute.”
Damn. Over eighty vampires dead in less time than it took us to get down to the girls. I was glad those Masters were on our side!
We’d been driving about five minutes when the sky lit up, and I could see a huge explosion in the distance. “Was that ours,” I sent out to everyone over the Pack bond.
“Yes,” Leo replied to us all. “The vampires stashed all the bodies down in the cell, then set off a gas explosion and brought the whole building down onto it. Master Emily is going to stay behind to make sure the investigators write the explosion off as natural gas line leak. The mermaids made sure there were no human witnesses.”
“Damn. The Masters can pull that off?”
“Emily assures us she can steer the investigation that way, and I have no reason to doubt her.”
It was a handy power to have. I narrowed the link down to just Alpha Leo. “Alpha, why are we going to Master Vespucci’s house?”
“You’re not questioning my orders again, are you?”
“No, but we’re all trying to figure out why we’re going from the frying pan to the fire.”
I could sense Leo’s amusement at this. “We’re going to imprison the girls in Vespucci’s basement, of course.” With that, he closed the link.
**************
Consuela (Mardona) Vespucci’s POV
I stopped under a streetlight after walking a few blocks from the warehouse and looked through my purse. I still had the bottle of bloodroot extract in there, and I couldn’t afford to get caught with it. It was too valuable to throw away, so I compromised. I grabbed a syringe from my medical kit and filled it with the deadly poison. I tossed the empty bottle into the trash, then capped the needle and slid it into a pen holder in my purse. If I had time, I’d taint some of the other blood bags.
I got back to the mansion about six-fifty at night. I waved to the guard at the gate, then walked into the mansion. I needed to shower and change, and all my stuff was now in Master Vespucci’s bedroom. I was just about to the stairway leading there when Hector, Master Vespucci’s right-hand man, stopped me. “Paco said he needs to see you immediately,” he said.
Shit. “Did he say why?”
“He doesn’t have to, bitch. Get your ass downstairs and find out.” I could see that my new marital status hadn’t gained me any respect among the older vampires. At least he didn’t smack me around, which was an improvement. Our Master was sure to be a jealous husband and wouldn’t want his property damaged unless he did it himself.
I turned around and headed for the library instead. Opening the hidden door, I walked down the narrow stairway and waited at the bottom until the door opened. Paco was waiting for me at the security desk.
“You asked to see me?”
“I ordered you to see me, Consuela. Don’t forget your place.”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“You’ve been a naughty little girl, haven’t you?”
My stomach dropped. Was I caught? Did he know? I looked around for other guards, expecting I’d be dragged off and tortured until I spilled my secrets. “What are you talking about?”
“Sit down, Mrs. Vespucci.” He gestured to a chair next to him, and I sat down. He pulled up security camera footage on his computer screen. I froze when I realized what it was; I didn’t even know there WERE cameras in the storage room with the refrigerator. He hit play, and I recognized the feed from earlier. “I went back and reviewed the tape after you left tonight. Imagine my shock when I saw you unload your blood from the hospital, then go into the segregated storage for the werewolf blood.” The video played on, showing me pulling out the syringe and injecting into the two bags of Vicki’s blood before re-crimping the bags. Paco didn’t say anything as it kept playing; he watched me replace that blood, then swap out the rest of the werewolf blood with human blood I’d marked as werewolf blood.
I was so fucking dead. I mean, I was a vampire, so I was technically undead, but soon I’d be REALLY, no shit, 100% fucking DEAD. Master Vespucci would make an example of me.
I was afraid to say or do anything that might set Paco off. I nervously grabbed my purse, moving it to my lap. I moved a finger towards the syringe; killing myself would be better than what they would do to a traitor.
“As I said, you’ve been a naughty girl. I went into the fridge and swapped the blood bags back, all except the two bags of Vicki’s blood. I know that you tampered with them. What I want to know is what you put in there?”
I just shook my head, unable to even move my lips. Paco turned on me, grabbing me by my neck and slamming me to the floor. My head spun from the impact, my vampire healing clearing it a moment later. “WHAT. WAS. IT.”
He knew I’d poisoned the blood, so there was no getting out of this. “Bloodroot extract,” I said.
He pulled me back up, dropping me back into the chair. “The same poison Vicki used to kill Master Alexander.”
“Yes. It eats the body away from the inside, and by the time you recognize the poison, it’s too late to save you.”
He didn’t say anything; he just leaned back and looked at me. “Did you ever wonder why Master Vespucci married you this morning?” I nodded my head. “Oh, it’s official. The priest filed the paperwork when the offices opened, and as far as the Mexican Government is concerned, you’re now his wife. It’s going to be a very short marriage, I expect. Has he even consummated it yet?”
I shook my head, no. “He used my mouth before I went to work.”
Paco laughed. “Well, he’s more of an ass man, but I expect you already know that.” I did, as every female vampire did, and most of the males. “Back on topic. Vampire masters often get married to another vampire for purely financial reasons. With our long lives, they accumulate fortunes in the human world that must be protected. We can’t die, and we don’t age; humans will figure out something is wrong eventually. That means the Master has to do what every three to five decades?”
It was so obvious, and I hadn’t thought of it. “Change his identity and maybe his location,” I said.
“Exactly. Master Vespucci is getting ready to make a change. He will challenge and defeat Master Cyprian and take over the New Orleans Coven. With the move, Hernando will fake his death here and reappear in the United States under a new name. Hector’s promised the Mexico City Coven, but he won’t get much of Vespucci’s money. After the Master’s tragic ‘death,’ his estate will turn over to you, his grieving widow. His plans require a legal wife, thus the sudden marriage ceremony.”
It suddenly made sense why he wanted me kept safe. “When is this happening?”
“After the new year,” Paco said. “Now, for the rest of the story. Master Vespucci doesn’t care about you; you are unremarkable, young, and weak, and he is incapable of love. He picked you because he can command you to obey him, and you aren’t as unstable as the newly turned. After your move to New Orleans, Master will force you to marry him under his new name to regain his fortune. After some time passes, you’ll have a fatal accident. He gets the money, and you die after serving your purpose. What do you think about your future now, Consuela?”
“I didn’t know,” I said. “I didn’t ask for this.”
“It doesn’t matter whether you know or not. Like your marriage this morning, you have no choice in the matter. Master will command, and you will obey. I’ll give you a choice, though, IF you help me.”
“How?” How could I help Paco, and more importantly, why would I aid a man who was so cruel to me?
“Hector and Hernando have their deal, but it leaves me out. I want Mexico City. You want Hernando dead while you live. Our desires intersect here, and if we work together, we can both get what we want. You make sure they drink the tainted blood, and I will be the one marrying the widow and taking over the Vespucci fortune. In return, I’ll set you up with a business that provides you a good income and allow you to operate independently in a smaller Mexican city. You’ll be free from me and any Coven responsibilities. Are we in agreement?” He held out his hand to me.
“Yes,” I said as I shook it. What choice did I have? If Vespucci ever saw that video, I’d spend months in agony, begging for death.
“Good. Get out of here, kid.” I stood up, my legs shaking so badly I hand to put a hand on the table to steady myself. I was just starting to move when motion alarms started going off. Paco took one look at the cameras and hit the alarm button. “We’re under attack, dozens coming onto the property,” he said over the internal speaker system to the entire mansion.