She continued. “I’ve gone over Victoria’s file. According to the Warden overseers, Victoria arrived at the party at eleven p.m. After that she was never seen anywhere again. Otherwise the Wardens would have picked up on her glom signature when she left. Therefore, whoever took her was at that party, which means whoever did this was someone close to her as well—someone from her inner circle. Someone from Duchesne. Someone she trusted.”
“Deming will be enrolled as a senior at Duchesne,” the Regent announced. “She will infiltrate Victoria Taylor’s close group of friends, those who had been at Jamie Kip’s party on the night in question. As we do not want to cause unnecessary fear or panic, this must remain a strict undercover operation.”
“I’ve got a question. How did you find Liling if her glom signature was masked?” Ted Lennox asked. Deming had met him the night before; he had picked her up at the airport with his brother.
“We sent a DeathWalker into the glom.”
The room buzzed at this information. “A glom-induced coma? To hide the spirit trail? But the potential damage to the soul is . . .” Ted shook his head. “You’d have to be really crazy or really brave to do something like that. Who’d you find to carry out such a risky operation?”
“I did it myself,” Deming said coolly. It was either her or Dehua, and Deming had always been the stronger of the twins. She hadn’t allowed her sister to take the risk.
The crowd murmured its approval. DeathWalkers stripped their immortal spirit to its very essence, and in doing so mimicked death. With no trace of her spirit in the glom, she had been able to go underneath the masking spell and find the physical location of the hostage.
The Regent tapped her lectern. “Are there any more questions?” She looked around. There were none. “I don’t have to remind you that this information is classified to the Conclave and the Venator team originally assigned to the case. No one else in the Coven must know we are conducting an internal investigation. As far as they are concerned, the Conspiracy has taken care of the security breach posed by the online video. The mainstream world remains blissfully ignorant of our existence. Victoria’s disappearance has been explained as a transfer to a Swiss boarding school. The Taylors have been alerted to the situation and are cooperating.”
The meeting ended, and as Deming collected her things, the Regent walked to her side. Deming was struck by Azrael’s beauty. It was said among the vampires that only Gabrielle was lovelier, although it had been a while since Deming had seen her in the flesh. Deming had not been in cycle when Allegra was still active. The Regent’s translucent skin had the creamy freshness of youth, a radiant vitality in contrast to heavy sadness in her emerald green eyes. “You have everything you need?” Mimi asked. “How are the boys treating you?”
“Venator quarters are a dump. Just like back home.” Deming grinned. “But I’ll manage.”
“Glad to hear. Remember, at school, I don’t know you. So please don’t take anything I do or say personally.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” said Deming. She made for the door, but she got the sense that the Regent still had something she wanted to say, so she stuck around.
Mimi waited until the room was completely empty to speak. “There’s another thing. It’s come to my attention that there are those among us who believe that as community we pose too much of a target. Venators loyal to me have discovered that Josiah Archibald and several other Conclave members are planning a coup to disband the Coven. They’re going to shut down the Repository, move the House of Records underground, and take half of the registered families with them. I’ve let them think I don’t know anything about their plans. But I need to find the killer. If I can figure out who’s behind the videos, I can regain their trust, calm the opposition, and make the Coven whole again.”
Deming nodded. Mimi had not mentioned this when she’d debriefed her on the assignment, and it was a shock to learn the New York Coven was in such jeopardy. But then, no other Coven had lost as many immortal lives. “The blood spell that hit you—do you think the Conclave had something to do with it?” Deming asked.
“The Venators aren’t completely certain yet; they’re still breaking down the mechanics of the spell. But right now it’s our best guess that yes, it was intended to get me out of the way.” Mimi bowed her head. “The Conclave had access to my Repository log. Somehow they found out I was planning to take down the wards.”
“Do you think they were involved in Victoria’s abduction?”
“No. Of course not. But they used it as an opportunity to attack me.”
“Can I ask how you deflected the blood spell?”