Christian spun his chair around. “What do you suggest, Viktor? That I go to bed and stare at the ceiling? For feck’s sake, the woman was all but kicked out of Keystone and still searched every cemetery until she found me. The least I can do is return the favor. What worries me more is how easily you gave up.”
Viktor took a seat in the chair next to him and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “When I began this organization, my intention was to keep a distant relationship. I’m your leader, but I’m also responsible for your lives. I’ve had to make tough decisions in the past—decisions you will never understand. What we do is dangerous, and there is always a possibility we could lose someone. That’s one reason I assigned you partners—to encourage you to look out for each other and have an ally.” His lower lip trembled, and he pinched it thoughtfully. “Raven is a strong, intelligent woman. If we can’t find her, she’ll find her own way out.”
“If I have to take apart this city—”
“Nyet.” Viktor lowered his arm. “We will do everything in our power to find her, but Keystone comes first. We’ll make decisions together on how to handle Raven’s case. This man has a vendetta against you, and if he knows about you, then he knows about us. There are other lives at stake. We need you, but not if you’re making decisions without us. Don’t force my hand, Christian.”
Christian launched out of the chair and crossed the room. He stared at the colorful pillows against the black sofa, remembering the rules. Anyone who left Keystone would have their memory scrubbed. That was part of the deal, and that would include erasing his memories of Raven. The only memory he’d have left of her was one from his distant past—a little girl trapped in a fire. Leaving the team meant giving up the search, so he had no choice but to stay and fight.
“Christian, we’ll do everything we can, and you know that.”
“I also know that you’ll eventually stop searching.” He refrained from giving away too much. “She’s my partner, Viktor. You, in your great wisdom, paired us up. And now I feel responsible for making sure that she isn’t lying in a shallow grave.” Christian slowly turned and put his hands in his pockets so he could rub his thumb around his onyx ring without Viktor noticing.
When Viktor looked down, a lock of hair sprang in front of his forehead. “There is a chance she won’t come back. Sooner or later, you’ll have to accept it. We are both old, and we know that even immortals can die. So much evil—so many ancients who would rather go back to their savage ways. Did you know there’s a faction of immortals in Europe who hunt down ancients for sport? They believe the old ones threaten their new way of life. Others are jealous of their knowledge and power. We have the potential to do so much, but with power comes great responsibility. And for many, that power has… What is the word?”
“Corrupted?”
Viktor murmured something in Russian and then groaned when he flipped back to English. “That is close enough. I need to sleep. We’ll talk about this in the morning and come up with a plan.”
Christian had long forgotten what it was like to feel truly sleepy—for his mind and body to be so deprived that he could blissfully close his eyes and forget all his troubles for eight hours.
A ping sounded from the computer, and Christian rolled the chair out of the way to look at the screen. The private window activated with a blinking response.
Seller: I have a message for Christian.
Christian: I’m here.
Seller: I’m truly sorry things worked out the way they did.
“I bet you are, you little shitebag,” he muttered, putting his hands on the keyboard.
When one of the keys beneath his fingers popped off, Viktor captured his arm. “I’ll take over before you shatter the keyboard. Tell me what to type.”
Christian paced the room. “Where is she? I’ll pay my offer in full.”
“I don’t want your money,” Viktor said, reading the reply.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing. It’s what I want to give you.”
Christian snapped his gaze around and stared at the back of Viktor’s head. “What the feck’s he going on about?”
“I don’t know,” Viktor said before reading the response. “I’m a man of principle, and I couldn’t back out of this transaction once it was final. So I would like to give you something.”
“He can give me his head on a spike,” Christian retorted, taking a seat on the edge of the sofa. “Tell him to get to the point.”
After a few keystrokes, Viktor read his reply. “I denied your offer and took less for Raven. She wants to be part of Keystone, and your winning this auction would have ended her career with your illustrious organization.” Viktor looked over his shoulder at Christian. “What does he mean?”
Christian slid his jaw from side to side, avoiding the answer he already knew in his heart. Raven could never be with a man who’d paid for her. “Guilt,” he replied. “How would you feel in her shoes if you had to come back and look everyone in the eye after they spent a fortune on your return?”
Viktor nodded and continued reading. “We’ll see how much she matters to Keystone. The name of her buyer was Fletcher. I can’t give you more than that, but I wish you luck on your hunt. May the winds blow in your favor.”
Christian’s blood ran cold.
“What’s wrong?” Viktor asked, spinning his chair around to face Christian. “Is there something I should know?”
Christian dragged his eyes up. “Fletcher Black is the name of Raven’s Creator.”
It couldn’t have been a coincidence. Fletcher would have known his Learner had different-colored eyes—he would have recognized her description. Wyatt said Vampire auctions never went that high, so who else would have paid that much?
Christian stood up, and his lips peeled back. “Ask him why. Why would a man with principles give Raven back to her sadistic Creator?”
Viktor pecked the keys with his index fingers.
Her Creator would never let her go. Christian faced the wall and pressed his fists against it. Maybe there was something uniquely addicting about her light, or maybe Fletcher had a vendetta against anyone who got the better of him. Right now, Raven was enduring unimaginable horrors. Worst of all, Christian had no clue how much she knew about the transaction. Had she chosen her fate and begged her captor to deny Keystone’s offer? That sounded like something Raven would do, but it didn’t make sense that he’d give her that much control—not when it meant losing money. The alternative made his stomach sour. If Raven in fact knew nothing about the transaction, she would assume that Christian had given up.
This whole thing was a charade. The marketeer charmed her, found out about Keystone, and thought it would be hysterical to toy with them.
And now Raven would forever blame him for sending her into the arms of her abuser.
“He’s responding,” Viktor said.
Christian strode over behind Viktor’s chair and quietly read the message.
Seller: If it’s any consolation, had I known who the buyer was, I wouldn’t have agreed. She’s a remarkable woman, and I hope you find her. Best of luck.
Chapter 19