I went up to a hospital room, where the police took my statement for an hour. I told them nothing of the cell below the warehouse, sticking to the story we’d put out. I told them about our capture, our time in the building, and our sale to a man. I knew what the other girls had said from our link, and I kept to the same details. “I’m so happy you found us,” I said as I finished with the rescue. “They were going to sell me into slavery.”
“The men responsible are dead now,” the detective told me. “We have your contact information, and I’m sure you’re eager to return home. We will contact you through the FBI if we have any other questions.”
“Thank you,” I said.
After he left, I could finally have visitors two at a time. Mom and Dad were in first. “Oh, baby,” Mom said as she hugged me close. “It’s so good to see you again!”
“I knew you’d get me back,” I said. After ten minutes that we mostly spent crying and hugging, they rotated out, and Nicholas came in with Hammer. Nicholas climbed into bed to hold me, while Hammer was nervous about something. “What happened out last night, Hammer?”
He used the link to answer. “Vespucci had almost a hundred of his men in that building, Vicki. Even with Cyprian’s help, we lost six werewolves and had another seven injured.”
“Oh, Luna, no,” I replied.
“One of Vespucci’s men is a Medical Examiner here. He issued death certificates for all the men who had heart attacks or drug overdoses, and the bodies got cremated right away to avoid autopsies. Their remains went back to the states already.”
“Who?”
He listed the names. Five were warriors, all single; two from Three Sisters, one from Stillwater, one from Keene Valley, one from Miesville, and Chairman Leland Carver. I knew both of the ones from Minnesota well, and their deaths hit me hard. “What was Carver doing there?”
“Heading off a war between the wolves and the vampires,” Hammer replied.
Their time ended, and Leo and Adrienne were next in with me. We talked over the link about the aftermath; I found out my friendship with Vampires and Mermaids was both the cause and the solution to the conflict with Vespucci and his followers. “We have to capitalize on this cooperation now, or the goodwill we’ve garnered here will be lost,” I told them.
“Your wedding was where we planned to show how the Australian Council could make it work, but this rescue was a better example,” Leo said.
“I’m still getting married… but we will have to move it back a few days. Let’s do it on the 31st in Port Lincoln. We can attend the funerals and meet with the North American Council and the Alphas. They need to hear what happened from me,” I said.
“And Leo has a lot of explaining to do,” Adrienne added with a smile.
**********
Consuela (Mardona) Vespucci’s POV
The girls went downstairs while Masters Cyprian Pontalba, Alessandro Molari, and Vincenzo Milan followed me upstairs to the master bedroom. I was nervous; yes, I’d helped the werewolves escape, but I’d killed a Master and his men. That made me dangerous, despite my young age.
It would be so easy for them to kill me and leave me for the police to find.
I relaxed a little when we arrived in the bedroom. “You should contact Doctor Cortino,” I said as I rattled off his phone number. “He’s a vampire and is a Medical Examiner in Mexico City. He can help you cover up causes of death and expedite death certificates and releases.”
“I’m on it,” Master Milan said, and he walked out with his phone in hand. I had an idea that medical examiners were commonly vampires or familiars by his reaction. He was no newbie in training, and like me, he was too valuable to fight, so he was probably safe.
“What do you want,” Master Pontalba said.
“Sir?”
“You actively worked against a Vampire Master despite the power and compulsion he held over you. It takes a lot of mental fortitude to rebel like that, and there had to be a reason. What was it? Self-preservation? Revenge?”
I shook my head, no. “What he did to those girls, what he did to me, it was wrong,” I said. “I couldn’t let him win whatever battle he was planning. If he was willing to do this in our Coven, what would he do elsewhere?”
The Master nodded. “Mass turns and forced turns are both against North American Vampire Council law. I wish we had learned of his actions before so many lives were lost or changed. I promise you that we will fix this Coven.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“You will inherit all of Master Vespucci’s legitimate properties and investments, making you a very wealthy and desirable youngling,” he said. “Do you wish to stay and rule here? I can help you find a vampire ready for Master status who would accept you and let you remain.”
I looked around the opulent bedroom. “This isn’t what I want or need,” I said. “It could burn to the ground, and I wouldn’t care. I can’t stay here, but I’ve never been outside of the city.”
Alessandro’s eyebrow raised. “You want nothing to do with the new Coven?”
“I want nothing to do with vampires, period,” I said. Quickly I realized my error. “My apologies, Masters. I meant no offense.”
The Supreme Master patted my hand. “No offense taken. I will ensure a lawyer is appointed to help you navigate your estate and protect you in the police investigation, and will not involve you in the process of forming a new Coven here in Mexico. I can make sure our secrets are protected, and you can leave here as a rich widow. Your actions have earned that much.”
Master Alessandro looked at me. “Do you have a passport?”
“Yes, Master Vespucci insisted we all have one, even the newborns.”
“I can offer you sanctuary in my territory,” he said. “You can get a tourist visa and go wherever you wish in Australia. I have people in the bigger cities, but you’ll be free to travel, provided you follow our simple rules. You can involve yourself as much or as little in my coven as you wish. Take some time to plan your next move.”
“I’d like that.”
“When the police finish with you, but a ticket to Sydney, and I will meet you there and make sure you are safe wherever you want to go.”
“Thank you, Master Molari.” Australia was as far away from this mess as I could get, and Vicki would be there. If things didn’t work in his Coven, maybe she could protect me.
I waited quietly as several vampires reported to their Masters. “We’ve cleaned the safe room area and removed the surveillance archives and phones,” Master Pontalba finally told me. “Stick to the clueless new bride routine and wait for my lawyer to arrive. You’ll be fine.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The key to your room will end up in Vespucci’s pocket.”
I heard the lock click shut after the door closed. Curious, I walked around the room. A Vampire didn’t need to sleep, so he only used the bedroom to fuck, change, and shower. I even found a drawer filled with female underwear and clothing, probably replacements for anything that got bloodstained. The room was well-decorated but generic; it said nothing about the man himself. It felt like a hotel room.
I found a book and sat in a large stuffed chair by the window, losing myself in the story as I heard the vehicles driving away. It wasn’t long before flashing lights, banging doors, and shouts of “POLICE” filled the air.
I heard boots running to the door and saw the handle jiggled without success. “POLICE! OPEN UP!”
“I can’t,” I yelled back. “My husband locked it.”
“Stand back,” they told me. The SWAT team hit it with something hard, and on the third try, the door flew open. Men in black body armor, their faces covered with masks under their helmets, rushed in. I was thrown roughly to the ground by one of them, held down by a knee on my back. My hands were pulled behind me and cuffed as I struggled. I started crying, asking why they were doing this to me.
“CLEAR,” someone yelled after coming out of the bathroom. “Vespucci’s not here.”
“The gate guard says he is,” a man in a suit said as he walked into the room. He gestured to the man holding me down; he got off me, then pulled me up and set me back in my chair. “Who are you?”
“Consuela Vespucci,” I said. “I’m his wife.”
“Mr. Vespucci is not married,” the man said dismissively.
I turned and showed him my ring. “We were married this morning by Father Rodrigo. Hernando told me to stay up, that we’d be going out tonight to celebrate after he finished some urgent business.”
“Where is your husband,” he asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe the safe room?”
“Show me.” The officer pulled me up, and I led them to the closet. I told them where to find the latch that moved the mirror, exposing the emergency escape door. The light on the keypad was red and flashing.
“Someone has hit the emergency button down there,” I said. “Hector said that once someone hits the red button, you can’t open the doors for six hours.”
“The code?”
I told him, but it didn’t work. The man threatened me, so I started crying. “I just found out about it this morning,” I sobbed. “I told you all I know.”
“Take her to the station,” he said dismissively.
One of the detectives interrogated me for the rest of the night, although it was more like a fifteen-minute interview repeated twenty times. He kept asking the same questions in different ways while getting the same answers.
Eventually, I was processed and placed in a holding cell. It was around dinnertime before the man from the house sat down with me in the interview room again. “Do you know any of these people?” He laid out photos of six women on the table.