He was probably right. “Don’t try me. You’re still wanted by the Elders, so you aren’t going anywhere except…” Holy crap. Now that I had the vampire, what the hell was I going to do with him? Haul him back to the Monteleone to wait for the breakfast buffet? “Except to Edinburgh.”
Etienne Boulard was the Elders’ problem, and it was the job of the area’s enforcer, Alex Warin, to send prisoners to Elder headquarters in Scotland. He’d need orders first, though.
I pulled out my cell phone and managed to unlock my screen. I’d just hit Zrakovi’s number on my speed dial when someone barreled into me from behind, knocking me, my cell phone, and a street busker with an acoustic guitar into a heap on the sludgy street. The crowd edged away so we’d have a clear path to the ground.
“You broke my neck.” The musician sat in a puddle, looking like the last reject from Duck Dynasty; the icy mud dripping from his face did nothing to improve the squirrel’s tail of hair dangling from chin to waist.
“What?” I looked him up and down. “You’re sitting up and talking. I don’t think you can do that with a broken neck.”
“My guitar.” He held up a fretboard with dangling strings and nothing attached. Now I knew what had broken my fall.
“Sorry, hold on.” I rolled to my knees and scrabbled around on the ground until I found my cell phone inside the remains of the crushed guitar. I looked around to see what had knocked us over, and thought Marcus had an awfully guilty look on his grimy face, especially when he looked away the second we made eye contact.
If Etienne hadn’t remained exactly where he’d been before the tumble, I’d have accused Marcus of creating a diversion so his boss could escape.
At least the staff, still duct-taped together after last month’s chaos, remained intact since it had landed on my head. The phone didn’t have a scratch. Alex, who knew me way too well, had bought me a super-indestructible, waterproof case.
I climbed to my feet, turned my back to the whiny musician, and tried my call again.
You have reached the Elders. We can’t take your call right now. If this is an emergency, call your local sentinel.
Seriously? The Elders had voice mail and were sending calls to me? This would never have happened while Adrian Hoffman had been manning the phones.
I made sure Etienne was still in view and got ready to call Alex. I had a missed call from him that had just ended, so he shouldn’t be too hard to reach if …
“Excuse me. Sentinel?”
Marcus stood hesitantly next to me. Last time we’d met, I’d been bleeding profusely from my bullet wound and he’d made me sign a release form promising not to hold any vampires responsible if they got carried away and bit me. Apparently, I tasted vile so it was just as well no one had tried.
“What is it?” I tried to peer around his shoulders at Etienne, who remained in place, watching the fire. I couldn’t believe the arrogant jerk wasn’t concerned about being arrested.
“Can you put out the fire? With your magic?” Marcus cast a worried glance over his shoulder as another window burst from the heat.
Was he nuts? “I’m sorry, Marcus, but this is too big for me to handle, especially with all the humans around. It’s best left to the firefighters. How did it start?”
He shook his head, still pretty and pale and androgynous even with ash smudges on both cheeks. “I’m not sure, but I think it started in the back, either in Etienne’s office or the men’s room or the mechanical room between the two. Our heating unit is old, and it’s been running nonstop this week.”
A slight flame of hope ignited in me. Maybe Etienne was wrong about this being Jean’s handiwork. Maybe it was nothing more sinister than an overworked, malfunctioning central heating unit.
Marcus stood on tiptoe to try and see over the people in front of us. “But we also had a bunch of the historical undead, friends of Jean Lafitte the pirate, filling up the bar tonight. I saw one of them coming from the hallway right before we smelled smoke.”
Or maybe I was kidding myself.
“What about Terri?” I wasn’t sure Etienne’s personal assistant had returned, but then again I’d been surprised to see Etienne. Terri hadn’t been proven guilty of anything except having the bad luck of falling for Adrian Hoffman.
“Terri hasn’t been back since the troubles, and as far as I know, Adrian’s in Vampyre.”
The troubles. That was a nice way of putting it. If I ratted Adrian out, he’d be tossed in a wizard prison until the protocol for an interspecies trial could be worked out, as would Daddy Elderbucks. They could keep Etienne company.
“Sorry about the club. Hope you guys can rebuild.” I edged around Marcus and headed toward Etienne. I wanted him within discreet reach of Charlie while I called Alex.
Etienne turned when I nudged him in the side with the staff again … only it wasn’t Etienne. This guy had the same ash-coated blue suit, the same blond hair, even the same freaking fangs, which flashed openly as he grinned at me. “Sorry, honey. Etienne had to run.”