“What about Marco being immune to silver? Did you have the chance to ask about that?”
“Yeah, and we got stonewalled. Vlad shook his head at us like we were particularly stupid or gullible to believe such a tale. He said it was impossible, but Saber—” She pronounced it Say-buh. “You know how vamps can go utterly still?”
“Yeah.”
“The energy in that room went from tense to dead still when I asked about the silver immunity.”
“Shit,” Saber said, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t suppose Vlad showed you where he’s imprisoned the vamps.”
“Hell, Saber, he wouldn’t have shown me the bathroom if I’d threatened to pee on his carpet. He barked at a female called Jemina to show us out, and—”
“Wait, Candy,” I interrupted, a quick glance at Saber. “Did you say Jemina?”
“Do you know her?”
“No, but she was Jo-Jo’s girlfriend. And his partner back in his vaudeville days.”
“That is one edgy vamp. Her movements were jerky, like she was bein’ controlled by a junkie puppet master needin’ a fix. Soon as she closed the metal door, she locked it, and we were jumped in the parkin’ lot not ten seconds later.”
“By how many?” Saber asked.
“Only two. Jim had his highest-grade silver knife and took ’em down before they did too much damage. We have new scars, and we’re gonna be sore as hell tomorrow, but we’re okay.”
I had a mental flash of slashed arms and oozing blood, and a sweet, coppery smell. My stomach heaved, but I willed myself to hold it together.
“Did Crusher kill them both?”
“Oh, yeah, with silver bullets to the brain. We called the disposal team to take them to our morgue so we can ID ’em and put ’em in the system as exterminated.”
“Candy, I hate to say this,” I began, still puzzling over part of the vision, “but it doesn’t seem like those guys fought hard.”
“Like they meant to kill us, you mean?” she said. “You’re right, but how did you know?”
“I’m a psychic empath. As you described the attack, I saw a few pieces of it happen, as if I were watching a movie trailer.”
“Well, you’re dead on, Cesca. Pardon the pun. Jim and I thought the same thing. It was a sacrifice fly, a diversion. Otherwise, vamps would’ve come pourin’ out of Vlad’s place.”
“Instead, Vlad let them die.”
We were all silent a moment. I wondered if Saber and Candy knew what Vlad had accomplished by sacrificing two of his people. Normand had done something like that once.
“Candy,” Saber said, breaking into my thoughts, “I don’t suppose you’ve had a team go sweep your office for bugs yet.”
“Not yet, but it’s on the list. Cesca’s place is clean?”
“Yeah, and so is my cell phone. I sweep my house every few days, and I’ll do it again tomorrow.”
“I don’t know what the hell is goin’ on, Saber, but I’m keepin’ an eye on the tracker readouts of every vamp in that nest. Anything looks the least bit suspicious, and I’m shuttin’ those suckers down.”
“I understand, Candy, but please call me first if it comes to that. Also let me know if any of the readouts show another vamp moving this way.”
“You still think it was a vamp who took those shots at y’all last night?”
“I know it was,” I answered, then mouthed Pandora at Saber.
“Good enough. Crusher says to call if you need backup.”
Saber disconnected, and we stared at each other for a long moment before he leaned back in his chair.
“Pandora confirmed the sniper was a vamp?”
I nodded. “Sorry I forgot to tell you. She didn’t get a description.”
“Damn. If those vampires had wanted Candy and Crusher dead, they would be. Vlad couldn’t afford to bring the whole VPA down on him, though.”
“So he sent vamps who were loyal enough to him to die. Normand did that, too.”
“How often?”
I shook my head. “Just once that I know of.”
“Tell me about it,” Saber said, taking my hand.
“Marco’s father pitched a fit that his son had been taken and turned. I’m not sure how the comandante of the castillo got involved, but he demanded retribution. Normand gave him the vamp who had supposedly turned Marco, and the comandante had the vampire publicly executed. They displayed the decapitated, sun-fried body for days.”
Saber frowned. “Why did the commander of the fort care about the son of a mere soldier?”
“According to Marco, his dad had been more than a soldier back in Spain. Marco bragged that his father and grandfather had been silversmiths, but that they’d been falsely accused of something. He never said what.”
“Sounds far-fetched for a skilled artisan to turn soldier.”
“Yes, except that Marco had links of silver chain he said his father made in a workshop at his house. And rumor in the Quarter was that his father gave small tokens crafted in silver to the governor.”
“What did you think?”