Chris placed a laptop on the table. “There are mics in my office and speakers in here that let us hear what’s happening out there without anyone out there hearing what’s happening in here.”
What exactly was about to happen that Chris and Seth didn’t want Melanie, Bastien, and the vampires in residence to hear? “So what’s this all about?”
Chris leaned back in his chair. “Do you know Veronica Becker?”
“I don’t know her,” Aidan said. “But I’ve met her.”
“When?” Chris asked, his face stony.
“The night she got a flat tire and called you to say vampires were attacking her.”
“That was the first time you’d talked to her?”
“Yes.”
“What happened when you teleported there?”
Aidan frowned. “You know what happened. You heard most of it yourself over the phone, and I told you the rest when I returned to the network.”
Chris crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me again.”
Aidan glanced at Seth.
Seth dipped his head in a nod.
Perhaps Seth hadn’t heard it yet. “I teleported to the intersection of Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road and Highway 54, then raced up Sax-Beth Road. When I found Veronica, she was standing beside her car, holding off two vampires with a tire iron and a can of pepper spray.”
Seth’s lips twitched. “Smart woman.”
Aidan nodded. “I killed the vampires, then heard more coming. I told Veronica to get in the car. Then I met the other vampires some distance away and slew them all.”
“How many were there?” Seth asked.
“Six, if I’m recalling correctly.” Aidan frowned. “Do you think the vampires are amassing another army?” Usually vampires either hunted alone or traveled in twos or threes.
“It would appear so,” Seth said. “Ethan and Heather killed a dozen last night. Roland and Sarah killed nine the night before. So clearly something is building.”
Great. Was that the something bad Dana had seen coming?
Chris shifted, drawing his attention. “Did you kill all the vampires that night, Aidan?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?” he pressed. “None could’ve lingered downwind and escaped your notice?”
Aidan shook his head. “I don’t see how. If there had been more lingering downwind, I might not have smelled them, but I would’ve heard their heartbeats and the slightest movements they made.”
Chris nodded as though that was what he had expected to hear. “What happened next?”
Aidan shrugged. “I returned to Veronica and her son.”
“Her son was with her?” Seth asked.
“Yes. He was sleeping in his car seat and, fortunately, didn’t see a thing.”
“Then what?” Chris asked.
“Veronica was pretty shaken up, so I escorted her home, waited until she and her boy were safely inside, then left.”
Silence fell.
“What’s this about, Seth?” Aidan asked when no one else jumped in to break it.
“Veronica Becker is missing,” he responded.
Aidan straightened. “What?”
“She’s missing,” Seth repeated.
Alarm struck. “Since when?”
“Since the day after you rescued her.”
She’d been missing for two weeks? “I don’t understand. I was sure no more vampires lingered nearby, and I heard no signs of pursuit on the way to her home.” His stomach sank. “Do you think more vampires went looking for their comrades and found the battle scene? Do you think they tracked us to her home? I didn’t think vampires could do that. I would’ve thought they’d lose the scent as soon as we got in her car.”
“If there was blood on one or more of the tires…,” Seth speculated.
Aidan shook his head. “She lived a fair distance away. Blood on the tires wouldn’t have lasted that long. And the scent of blood on the car would’ve faded too quickly on the breeze for them to track. I’m not even sure I could’ve tracked the car to her home, and you know how old and powerful I am. There’s no way a vampire could’ve tracked her.”
“And yet,” Chris said, “she’s missing.”
“Is her boy missing, too?” Aidan asked, recalling the peacefully slumbering toddler.
If vampires had taken both mother and child, Veronica might still live, but the boy would have already been slain. Aidan had seen enough child victims of vampires to know that with certainty.
“Veronica’s son is safe,” Chris stated.
That was a relief. “Where is he?”
“At an undisclosed location.”
Odd. Chris said it almost in challenge.
Aidan looked to Seth. “He’s okay?”
Seth nodded. “He’s well. He just misses his mother and doesn’t understand why she hasn’t come for him.”
Poor little lad.
Chris cleared his throat. “Tell us what happened the next time you saw Veronica.”
Aidan frowned. “There was no next time. I only saw her and spoke with her the once.”
Chris sent Seth a pointed look.
Seth just stared at Aidan as though trying to read his thoughts.
But Aidan had spent many years strengthening the barriers in his mind. There was no way Seth—or Zach, or any other elder immortal telepath—could topple those barriers and read Aidan’s mind without alerting him to their presence and causing him great pain.
“What?” Aidan asked, then frowned. “Wait. You don’t believe I’ve done something to her, do you?”
Chris arched a brow. “Have you?”
Aidan resisted the urge to punch the human in the face. “Of course not. I’ve no reason to harm her.”
“No, but everyone knows how desperate,” Chris said with sarcasm, “you are to find a gifted one who can love you. Maybe you thought if you hid her away somewhere to give her time to get to know you, you could talk her around.”
“That’s bullshite and you know it,” Aidan growled, tired of the other man’s animosity. Chris could hold a grudge like no other. That crap grew tiresome after a while.
“Do I?” Chris replied. “What happened the next time you saw her?”
“I told you. There was no next time. I only spoke with her the once.”
Chris turned to Seth. “I told you he’d lie.”
Anger rose. “I’m not lying.” Aidan met Seth’s gaze. “You know I’d never hurt a woman. You know me better than that.”
“Yes,” Seth confirmed, “I do. Which is why we appear to have a serious problem.”
Aidan shook his head. “Seth, whatever Chris has told you I’ve done… I didn’t do it. I vow it.”
Seth nodded to Chris’s laptop. “Show him.”
Chris leaned forward and typed something on the keyboard, then swung the laptop around so Aidan and Seth could both see the video that filled the screen.
It looked like footage from a security camera mounted on a pole outside a day care center.
Strange. Aidan had thought day care centers were usually located in town where parents could conveniently drop their children off on their way to and from work. But this place looked like it was out in the country with no other structures around it.
Playground equipment poked around one corner, indicating an outdoor play area behind the large house-like structure. The front lawn consisted mostly of a gravel drive and parking spaces.
“What is this?” Aidan asked as he studied the day care center.
“You don’t recognize it?” Seth asked.
“No.”
A car pulled into one of the spaces.