“There is no seating close to this lamp. It provides no direct illumination for anything. Its purpose isn’t beneficial as a light source therefore it can only be a beacon of some kind, a message to someone outside that they are being called. Laugh at me if you wish, Nors, but I am sure on this. This lamp is a call for someone to come to the house.”
Her brother didn’t argue with her, it was foolish to do so when she was so certain. Instead, he nodded his head in agreement and headed back out of the living room. “You check inside the house, I’ll do a sweep of the grounds.” He didn’t wait for her acknowledgement. They had hunted together for over two thousand years and each knew the other’s habits.
Nors circled the property and surrounding trees in a tight arc and then three times more in every increasing arcs. He returned to the house when he was certain that the area was completely secure. Freya was just returning up from the basement, her body language alert but relaxed.
“There’s no one outside,” Nors reported. “I take it the house is secure too?”
“I scented the vampires who attacked the pack but no others. I’ve checked the house four times and there are no concealed panels to be found. The only person here is the living corpse in the living room.”
Her brother frowned, his gaze drifting towards the front door. “Perhaps if we had been a little slower at tracking Michael we might have found out who he was meeting.”
Freya shrugged, her movement an elegant tilt of her shoulders. “Or perhaps whoever he was meeting was here already and that is why his mind has been destroyed.” She didn’t truly believe that. If his co-conspirator had been here they would have cleaned up the mess before leaving. No, it was likely as Nors said, they had arrived before Michael’s visitor had.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” Calm green eyes met her brother’s intent gaze.
“The European vampires have a spy among us,” Nors answered, his expression hardening as he uttered the words. Just the thought that one of their own could be responsible for what was happening was enough to send him into a fury like no other. His sister’s deceptively calm expression didn’t hide her own inner fury from him either.
“When I find whoever it is, they will scream for mercy,” Freya promised.
“I think there will be a long queue for that, sister mine,” Nors replied, a cold smile crossing his face. “Come, there is nothing of worth to be learned here now. Let’s clean up the mess and report back to Rafe. I want to get home to my mate as I am sure do you.”
Without another spoken word, the siblings worked together, lifting Michael’s limp body and ignoring his pathetic gurgling as they headed upstairs and into the first available bathroom. Staring down at him for a long moment, Nors nodded his head in his sister’s direction and she elongated her talons and knelt down beside the bath.
Smoothing back his hair from his brow, Freya closed Michael’s sightless eyes and then sliced her talons across his throat. She pressed hard and deep, scything ruthlessly until his head detached and she let it rest beside his torso. The deed was almost done, well the first part was. Now she had to dismember the body and dispose of it. They also needed to sanitise the house.
Nors left Freya to complete her job, finding as many natural accelerants as he could in the house. There would be sufficient to cover all traces of Michael’s origins and most likely burn the entire house down to the ground if the fire department didn’t arrive too quickly. It was most important to ensure Michael’s remains were obliterated so they would ensure that before the left.
Barely an hour since they’d left the pack, Nors and Freya Eriksson stood hidden within the tree-line watching the house burn in a raging inferno. In the distance they could hear the first sounds of emergency vehicles rushing to the scene, but they were unconcerned by the clamour. The area had been fully sanitised and the human world would be oblivious to what had occurred inside the house. Turning as one, they melted into the darkness, returning home to report to their Alpha.
To be continued…