Betrayed in Blood (Of Blood & Dreams #6)

Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

The SUV stopped behind Roxie’s van, and I scanned the neighborhood from the back seat. Dusk was fading into night, and the street was quiet. Sergi stepped out and knocked on the back door of the van. Roxie, the young, dark-haired hacker, stuck her head out, glanced around, then waved Sergi in, closing the door behind him.

We waited. I checked my watch every minute until Devon put a hand on my leg.

“Take a breath. There’s still two minutes to go.”

I glanced at Mateo, who sat in the front passenger seat, sure that he was listening while focusing on the right side of the street. The driver’s head was turned toward the left.

My earbuds crackled.

“Checkpoint test. Team One.” Sergi’s voice was calm.

“Team One check,” I responded.

“Team Two check.” Harlow’s voice was all professional. On a typical heist, Harlow maintained his composure, but it wasn’t unusual for him to utter a random sexual innuendo or share some inane trivia he’d recently read. When he worked with vamps, all that went away, for the most part.

While the rest of the teams checked in, I went through my utility belt and touched my dagger. When we’d first slid into the SUV, I noticed my short sword was on the floor. Devon must have added it. It would be up to me whether to use it. Maybe for phase two. For now, we were on a seek, find, and remove mission.

Once the last team checked in, I moved forward in my seat, ready to go, my leg bouncing.

“Team One and Team Two. The security net is down. You have a go to the first checkpoint.”

Devon and I opened our doors at the same time, quietly shutting them before running down the street toward the main entrance of the estate. We kept low as we approached the double wrought iron gates. I pulled on one, and when it opened, I slid inside. Devon was right behind me, and he pulled it shut.

I kept to the trees as I led Devon to the pool house, which was our first checkpoint. We moved quickly but stayed in the shadows. The estate was lit with landscape lights, but with the thickening clouds, there was more than enough darkness to hide in. We anticipated outside guards, but we didn’t run across any as we approached the pool house. Harlow and Russell would be coming through the back gate. I sighed with relief when I spotted two dark shapes leaning against the wall of the pool house.

Harlow nodded with a wide grin. So far, so good.

“Teams One and Two at checkpoint one.” I readied for the next command.

A minute went by before Sergi responded, “House security is down. Teams One and Two, you have a go.”

The reason I’d selected the pool house for our first checkpoint was two-fold. We would have to run through a portion of the property, allowing us to spot any outside guards. Since Harlow hadn’t reported anyone, it was a fair assumption that if there were any outside guards, they would be at the house and not the gates or the perimeter.

The second reason was that the pool house was only twenty-five yards from the manor and was positioned center to the house. I led Devon to the front of the house while Harlow’s team worked their way to the utility door at the back of the house.

When we got to the front door, I bypassed it and moved to the garage. If anyone in the house noticed the security was down, the front door would be a dangerous place to enter. And it was the prime location for a camera. They should be down with the security, but I preferred not to risk it.

Roxie would be monitoring the security sensors and the handful of cameras around the house. But just because security was down didn’t mean there wasn’t a vamp on the other side of a door. That was why I chose to stay away from the two patios with French doors and as many windows as possible.

The side door to the garage was locked, and I pulled out my lock picks. Within a minute, the door popped open, and we moved inside. I moved directly to the door that entered into a long hall. We passed by the laundry room and a second pantry. The hallway continued to other rooms on the first floor, but I turned down a short hall toward the foyer where the main staircase was located. So far, no one was around. The house was deathly silent.

I stopped at the stairs and pointed to the right. Devon nodded and moved on, searching the bottom floor for any signs of humans or vamps. I remained behind the staircase and waited. Harlow would have entered near the kitchen and should be stationed by the back stairs.

While I waited, I hit my earbud. “Team One in position, clearing the first level.”

I waited but heard nothing from Harlow. There weren’t any sounds, but it was a big house.

“Team Two in position. One vamp down.”

That woke me up. But if there was a vamp in the house, it wasn’t surprising they might be in the kitchen or the small entertainment room down the hall from it.

Then Devon was back, and he shook his head.

“Team One. First floor cleared. Moving to the second floor.”

The earbuds crackled again. “Teams Three and Four, move into position.”

They were our backups in case someone came home early, or we found more vamps than we bargained for.

I led the way up the stairs. My heart rate intensified with each step I took. If my mother was being held against her will, I assumed she would be in her bedroom. They could have locked her in any room, but April, mesmerized or not, would want her mother comfortable. The master bedroom had a small entertainment center, a master bath, and a mini fridge.

Harlow’s task was to head for Christopher’s office on the first floor and search for anything that could link April to Venizi or any other vamp House. I made the assumption that, after Christopher’s death, April would continue to use her father’s office. That would change over time, but not this soon.

Devon and I cleared the front bedrooms. April’s room was next to mine with windows that looked out over the east portion of the estate. When I opened the door to my room, I paused. Nothing had changed since I’d been there. It was like I would come home someday and settle back in. I’d expected Christopher would have demanded the room be redecorated, but he’d always let Mom have her way with the decor, as long as it was tasteful. The only exceptions were his office and his entertainment center. Perhaps he didn’t care because he was too busy with his mistresses.

I closed the door and paused. The master bedroom was down the hall on the right and overlooked the pool. There was a room next to it that Mom used as her personal office. It was more of a mini library with a desk and resting chair she used for reading.

With the number of SUVs that left the estate earlier, we suspected that one or two vamps would be left behind. Russell took care of the one downstairs. If there were any others, they would most likely be in Mom’s office, and it looked like the door was partially open. If there was someone in there, why didn’t they hear us? We’d been quiet, but a vamp should have picked up something—if they were paying attention.

Devon took the lead, but I was right behind him. He stopped short of the door, turned to me, and raised his hand, pointing one finger, two, and then three. He moved quickly as he entered the room, and by the time I followed behind, he was already moving on the vamp, who’d been sitting on the resting chair, wearing a headset, and focused on his laptop. My guess was that he was watching a movie or gaming, but it didn’t matter.

He glanced up, probably thinking it was his buddy, then tried to move when Devon, moving like an avenging angel, took two steps, picked the vamp up, and with a single knife thrust to the lower back, hit the kidneys, and the vamp went limp.

I ignored the blood that seeped over the resting chair and the plush carpet. Mom wouldn’t care. She wouldn’t be returning here any time soon—if at all. I wanted to race to her room, but there could be a third vamp, so I waited for Devon to drop the vamp by the door.

He took a position on one side of the master suite’s double doors while I took the other. I sucked in a breath and slowly opened the door as I peeked in.

A single bedside lamp was lit, casting enough light to show someone in the bed. Devon came in behind me, quickly scanning the room, then the walk-in closet, before moving for the bathroom. He walked out and shook his head. We were alone.

It was barely nine o’clock. Mom wasn’t a night owl, but this was still too early for her to be in bed. But if she’d been locked in this room for hours or days with nothing to do, her sleep patterns could have changed. Television had never been her thing, but there was a stack of books on the circular table between two comfortable lounging chairs.

I tiptoed to the bed, not wanting to scare her. Once I stopped next to the nightstand, I got my first glimpse of her. Her hair was tousled, but she looked peaceful in sleep. I tapped her shoulder.

“Mom.”

Her breathing remained steady. I shook her shoulder and spoke louder, “Mom. Wake up.”

It took a heavier shake and two more requests before she slowly rolled onto her back. My breath caught. Without makeup and her hair in a tangled mess, she looked old. All of her vibrancy appeared to have been sucked out of her. I went rigid. Had they been using her as a blood donor?

When her eyes opened, they were glassy. It took her a moment to focus, squinting as she took me in.

“Mom. It’s me. Cressa.”

When there was no recognition, I panicked. I grabbed her shoulders. “Mom. Wake up. It’s me.”

I thought she’d been mesmerized, and maybe she had been, but I recognized the signs of sedation. Had she been taking sleeping pills, or had they been slipping them into her food?

I rubbed her hands. “Mom. You need to wake up. We need to go.”

Her eyes blinked a few more times. “Cressa?” Her voice was raw as if she hadn’t spoken for days.

“Yes, Mom. We’re going for a ride. Can you stand?”

She glanced around the room then her gaze stopped on Devon. After a long stare, she said, “I know you from somewhere.”

He stepped closer. “Yes. We met a few months ago at La Sedona.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Good wine, but horrible people go there.”

“I remember.” He squatted so he wasn’t towering over her. “Cressa and I want to take you someplace safe. Your escape plan, remember?”

She put a hand to her mouth and tapped a finger against her lips. “Yes. I have money hidden in the craft room.” She laughed, but it didn’t sound right. “I hate crafts, but Christopher never knew that. It was a perfect place to hide stuff.”

“We can come back for that later.” Devon ran a hand through his hair and glanced at me. “Right now, I want to take you to where Cressa and I live. You’ll have your own place where you can recover.”

Her eyes, still unfocused, skittered around the room like she didn’t remember where she was. Then she looked up at me. “Cressa? What are you doing here?”

I turned to Devon. “I think she’s been drugged.”

“Probably easier than mesmerizing.” He moved toward the walk-in closet while I tried to pull Mom up.

It was harder than I thought. She had no motivation, and while she didn’t resist, it was like moving dead weight.

Devon came out with a long raincoat and slip-on shoes. “This will be enough to get her out of the house.”

I took advantage of her refusal to stand and slipped the shoes on. Then Devon helped get her to her feet, and we each took an arm to slide the coat on. Then Devon picked her up.

Mom let out a small cry before leaning her head against his chest. “I’m just so sleepy. Where’s April?”

“She’s at a party right now, but she’ll be coming, too.”

We moved out of the bedroom, striding back the way we’d come. I stopped where the vamp was slowly coming around, pulled out my dagger, and stabbed him in his other kidney.

I tapped my earbud. “Team Two, what’s your status?”

“Almost done.” Harlow’s response was quick and professional.

“We need a pickup in the second-floor hall.”

A minute went by. “He’s on his way.”

Russell showed up in seconds and picked up the vamp. “I’ll leave him with the other one I zip-tied and gagged in a back closet.”

Devon nodded, and we moved. Our exit strategy was to meet at Team Two’s point of entry. We waited for Harlow, who came from a different direction than I’d expected.

“I thought I’d check the other rooms while we had time. There were other files in the entertainment room, so I grabbed them, too. You’ll need to determine if they’re important.”

I studied his face and his wide grin. “Did you take his baseball card collection?” Christopher had a framed collection of six baseball cards on his desk that was worth a lot of money—or so he always said.

“He won’t miss it.”

I shook my head. Harlow was a thief. What did I expect? Since it belonged to Christopher, Harlow was correct. Dead men didn’t take their possessions with them, and Mom wouldn’t care.

When I closed the back door, I hit the earbuds again. “Teams One and Two headed for the back exit. The package has been obtained.”

We’d barely reached the back gate when an SUV pulled up. Jacques jumped out and opened the back door. Devon laid Mom on the back seat, and she curled up.

“She’s probably been drugged, but we’re not sure,” I said. “Keep an eye on her.”

Jacques nodded then jumped back in, and Bella took off. They would park a block away and wait for their second delivery, assuming we could grab April.

Harlow leaned against the back wall and pulled several folders from under his vest. “What do you want me to do with these?”

“Get them to Trudy, then return to base position.” Devon nodded to Russell, and the vamp followed Harlow to where Trudy had parked at the end of the alley. Effectively, Harlow, Trudy, and Jamal were done for the evening. However, they would stay in position with Russell as watchers should anyone try to exit the back gate. There would be two two-man teams positioned close for any cleanup required.

I hit the earbud. “Teams One and Two clear. Phase one complete.”