Blood of Angels (23 page)

Mihaela reclined on the bed, wriggling and soaking up his words. She slid her hand from her breast down between her thighs. “Are you naked now?” she murmured. Oh God, yes, Maximilian naked and ready for her…

The buzz made her jump into a sitting position.

“What was that?” Maximilian demanded, bewildered.

“Buzzer,” she mumbled, rummaging in her bag, which lay on the bed beside her since she’d dragged the phone out of it to call Maximilian in the first place. She found the detector and stared at the display. “István,” she said blankly. “Bugger. Max, I have to go. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

“Do,” he said and broke the connection. He was a man of few words, although those spilling from his lips just a few moments ago had been positively incendiary.

She called István’s number while scrambling out of bed and grabbing her clothes one-handed from the drawers and cupboards. She was put straight through to the answer phone. As if his phone was switched off, which it should never, ever be.

She called headquarters and reported István’s buzzer going off. The operations staff on duty told her they’d had no other reports and that since István was not on active service, it was most likely the buzzer had been set off by accident.

“István doesn’t have accidents,” she snapped. “And if he did, he’d report immediately to say that’s what it was. You find me Lazar and call me back.”

She paused to call out the door, “Robbie, are you up? Get dressed, we’re going out!”

Robbie bounced upstairs with glee, clearly up and dressed for some time. Mihaela shoved her feet into sneakers and found herself calling Konrad’s number from force of habit.

“Shit,” she muttered, breaking off.
Bloody Konrad, how could you do this?
Instead, she called Elizabeth and asked if she’d seen or heard anything of István this morning.

“No, why?”

“His buzzer went off, and I can’t get him on his mobile.”

“Trouble?” Elizabeth asked with foreboding.

“I don’t know. He was investigating some foreign vampires who’re probably up to no good. I’ll keep you informed. Oh, Elizabeth, can I drop Robbie on you if I need to?”

“Of course.”

Thanks.” She rang off, grabbed her bag, and ran downstairs. “Car, Robbie!”

Once in the car, while she drove, she got Robbie to try István again. Both his mobile and house phone. Neither was answered.

She drove more slowly down István’s street so as not to draw attention to herself. She glanced at his building, found his apartment windows. Closed curtains. He
could
still be asleep. After all, he seemed to be spending a lot of time at the Angel these evenings for one reason or another. Although that didn’t really explain how his buzzer went off, unless he slept with it and rolled on top of it.

She hoped that was what it was as she parked the car and got out. By the time she’d locked the door, Robbie was beside her, his hand in hers. “Vampires,” he said succinctly.

Oh Jesus Christ and fuck. In his
house
?

“Don’t speak to them,” she warned Robbie. “Don’t let them know we’re here. We’re just going to walk past István’s apartment. You tell me how many you can feel, and I’ll tell you what my detector says.”

“All right,” Robbie agreed. Vampires still fascinated him, but long-term exposure to Maximilian had at least given him some sense of discrimination. He knew not all vampires were good to be around. Mihaela’s detector vibrated violently. She paused and opened her pocket to glance at it. The needle, while still pointing toward István’s apartment was wavering, as if unsure exactly, within a few yards, exactly where to point.

“Three,” she guessed, keeping her voice as light as she could, while cold terror for István galloped.

“I can hear three,” Robbie agreed. “No, four.” He clutched Mihaela’s hand tighter. “I don’t like him. He’s…big.”

“Don’t worry,” Mihaela said quickly. “We’re not going near him. We’re just going to cross the road and go back to the car. All right?”

Robbie nodded, and she glanced up at the windows once more. No twitching curtains. Was István really in there with four vampires, one of whom Robbie didn’t like? Basilio, she thought blindly. A big, scary personality. But surely it was madness to take on the hunter network, especially allied with Saloman?

Basilio had signed his own death warrant. But that might well be too late for István.

****

István’s neck was on fire. It felt as if all the skin had been rubbed away. If he touched it, it was agony. And yet there was no blood. Basilio knew how to hurt without harm.

Bizarrely, István found it easier to work if he concentrated on the pain. It drowned his guilt at building this thing for the vampires. No matter how watered down or substandard this piece of technology was, he was still handing it to the enemy, and whatever the state of détente, there could be no doubt that these vampires were the enemy. He wouldn’t get any fights from either the network or Saloman on that score.

And yet he was well aware he was building it to save the neck of a vampire. How would that go down in hunter circles when they were blasted with overpowerful vampire enchantments?

He tried not to think about that but about the technology, taking the next steps that would complete the instrument that had been haunting his mind for so long. The tiny screw he was fitting blurred, and he realized he was dog-tired. He’d had no sleep last night. He blinked to keep himself awake and turned the screw again.

The next thing he knew, something thudded into his shoulder, and he jerked his head off the table to stare at the snarling vampire who’d hit him. “Sleep after. If I can stay awake in the fucking sunlight, so can you.”

István had been hoping some of them, at least, would succumb to sleep during the day, giving him a chance of escape. He’d no chance with Basilio—he was too old and powerful to need much sleep—but Jacob was younger, less than a century old, according to the Americans. He’d need some kind of sleep. István had no idea about the others, who appeared to be local vampires.

He mumbled something deliberately unintelligible, while his gaze flickered to the sofa where the other local vampire lay stretched out like the dead. István itched to stake him.

“I can’t see properly anymore,” István said. “I need to sleep, or I’ll make mistakes.”

“You’re meant to sleep at night,” sneered Jacob from the living room doorway.

Fuck, where was Basilio? Had he gone to the Angel after all? The thought brought the blood rushing to his head, and he nearly passed out. The combination of sleep deprivation and losing blood to Angyalka was genuinely catching up with him.

“If you’d given me advanced warning of your requirements, maybe I would have,” István retorted. “As it is, I’m useless.”

“Kill him,” the local vampire said in disgust.

“He’s as much use dead as falling asleep on the table,” Basilio snapped, shoving Jacob out of the way. Relief surged through István because the old vampire was still here. “Dump him on the bed, then retie his arms and legs.”

While Jacob grasped his shoulder in an unnecessarily hard grip, the local vampire unbound him from the chair. István couldn’t help tensing, waiting for the discovery of the almost cut-through ropes that had once tied his legs to the table. He’d somehow got away with that when he’d attacked them before, but the chances of it escaping their attention twice was remote.

And yet, it seemed, possible. In silence, the vampire untied his body and retied his hands behind his back before hauling him up and dragging him from the room. István’s exhausted brain puzzled over this apparent blindness. Had the penknife’s enchantment somehow covered the work it had done too? Possibly, but István also suspected that in daylight the vampire was just as tired as he.

“Two hours,” Basilio said as István landed unceremoniously on the bed and his legs were bent upward and tied to his hands. “And then you work like a dog.” His fangs appeared. “Or a human.”

Chapter Eighteen

“There’s only one team in Budapest right now,” Lazar said.

“That’ll help,” Mihaela said eagerly.

Lazar threw his pen on the desk. “Mihaela. You’re the team in Budapest right now.”

Mihaela stared at him. “I’m not a team. Konrad’s AWOL and István’s captured. I can’t be the only hunter in Budapest!”

“Things are hectic right now,” Lazar said apologetically. “Especially in the outer, more rural regions where Saloman isn’t so understood. Some of the young vampires are scared and creating fledglings like there’s no tomorrow—probably for their own protection. But we all know fledglings are more dangerous to the human population than the old-timers.”

Mihaela tugged at her hair. It was true. Fledglings had no self-control. They knew only hunger that led them to attack humans, and without the guidance of a strong maker, they drained their victims dry.

“I can’t do it alone,” Mihaela said grimly. “I don’t know what state István’s in or how much danger I’ll put him in by blundering in there. We need to go in in strength.”

Elizabeth said, “I’ll come with you.”

“Elizabeth, you’re six months pregnant and carrying the most important child since Jesus Christ. You’re not going anywhere with me.”

Lazar’s mouth fell open at this point, which at least distracted Elizabeth from the argument she was clearly about to make.

“Can we get the other teams back by tonight?” Mihaela asked.

“Not by sundown. One might make it back around midnight.”

“Can we wait that long?” Elizabeth wondered.

“I don’t know,” Mihaela said. “I’ve no idea what’s going on in there.”

Elizabeth leaned forward toward Lazar. “Isn’t there a way to find out? Plant some kind of surveillance equipment in the apartment above István’s?”

“I could probably get us access,” Lazar allowed.

“But they’d know we were there,” Mihaela objected. “They sense hunter strength.”

“Just this once,” Lazar said, “since it’s István, we could send researchers in to do it. If they’ve no kills, they’re ordinary humans. The only—” He broke off suddenly, as if struck by a revelation, and yanked open his desk drawer. After a quick rummage, he threw a small metal box on his desk with an air of triumph.

Mihaela and Elizabeth looked at each other and then at Lazar.

“István’s latest invention,” Lazar explained. “He calls it a disruptor. It can disguise the presence of either vampires or hunters.”

“A mechanical masker,” Elizabeth said in awed tones. “Wow. This is just what we need.”

“It’s still a prototype,” Lazar warned. “It’s never been tested in the field.”

“Then it’s time it was,” Mihaela said, snatching it up. “Get us in there?”

An hour later, the disruptor held in their joined hands, Elizabeth and Mihaela crept up the stairs past István’s apartment to the floor above. In their free hands, each carried a bag. The door of the apartment directly above István’s opened easily with the key Mihaela had been given. Who knew what strings Lazar had pulled to achieve that and get the owners out of there?

They dumped their bags in the middle of the extremely tidy living room, switched the television on to make their own voices less distinguishable to the vampires below, and started unloading the equipment and instructions. The listening devices proved easy—tiny microphones which they pressed against the floorboards of each of the main rooms and which magnified the sounds they picked up into the receivers and earphones they set up on the table.

The video equipment was harder since they could hardly drill through the floor without the vampires noticing. However, Mihaela managed to make use of a long, extremely sharp and narrow spike, which she poked through a gap in the floorboards and pierced the plaster at the corner of István’s living room ceiling. The resulting hole was too small to be noticeable and the sound of making it negligible even to vampire hearing. Or at least, so the instructions said.

The really clever bit was the button which slid the tiny camera through the inside of the spike until it poked through the end. Mihaela held her breath while she pressed it.

“Anything?” she asked doubtfully over her shoulder.

At the computer, Elizabeth shook her head, then paused and began to nod frantically with a thumbs-up. Mihaela leapt up to join her. From the computer, Elizabeth could manipulate the angle of the lens, and gradually they took in István’s trashed living room, the piles of electronics on his dining table. Of István himself there was no sign, although they quickly made out three vampires. One appeared to be asleep on the sofa, the second unmoving in a chair opposite. A third walked toward the door.

No sound whatever came from that room.

Mihaela went through to the bedroom and repeated the procedure to plant a camera there. When she returned to the living room, Elizabeth’s face was grim.

She had the camera pointing at István’s bed. István himself seemed to be tied up most uncomfortably. More worryingly still he didn’t move. Two shadowy figures bent over him.

“Fuck,” Mihaela whispered. “Is he…?”

“He’s alive,” Elizabeth said firmly. “I can sense him.”

“Then I have to get him out of there
now
.”

“You can’t on your own, remem—” She broke off as a cold, harsh voice suddenly spoke through the earphones.

“Hunter. Wake up. It’s time to get back to work.”

Mihaela grabbed her own earphones and sat beside Elizabeth at the other computer. On the screen, István jerked wildly, once. Christ, it must be so bad for him to be lying in that position. But at least the vampires were untying his legs. Anxiously, Mihaela and Elizabeth scanned him for signs of trauma. His neck looked a bit red and raw, but at least there was no blood on him. The vampires dragged him out the door.

Elizabeth switched screens, adjusting the camera angle to catch István being dragged into the room by the same two vampires. At last they had a clear look at them. Mihaela lifted her eyebrows at Elizabeth, who shook her head.

István was shoved into a chair by the dining table and tied to it.

“This must be so bad for his legs,” Elizabeth muttered. Another vampire came in from the right, pushing a cup toward István.

Frowning, Mihaela glanced at Elizabeth. “They’re making him coffee?”

“They’re making him work,” Elizabeth said slowly. “Look.”

With an air of exhaustion or perhaps resignation, István pulled his freed hands up to the table, drew a metallic box toward him, and started rummaging in its insides.

“And that,” Elizabeth said, touching her finger to the screen over the coffee-providing vampire’s face, “is my New York acquaintance Jacob.”

“Basilio,” Mihaela murmured, touching the larger vampire on István’s other side.

“Probably.”

For a while, they watched in silence as István worked. The vampire who may have been Basilio roughly shook the vampire asleep on the sofa and yanked him off, shaking him awake with enough force to have killed a human man. The vampire blinked and stretched, and Jacob fell onto the sofa with an air of relief.

“They’re taking it in turns to rest so that they can watch him,” Elizabeth said. “That isn’t normal, is it?”

Mihaela shook her head. “We should get them while they’re sleepy.” Even as she said the words, she realized they were mechanical. “I think they’re forcing him to make this gadget. I think it’s the supernatural storage thing. Max and I called it his mechanical Robbie.”

“Why?” Elizabeth wondered. “What do they want it for?”

“That’s one question,” Mihaela allowed. “Another is why the hell he’s doing it.”

Elizabeth frowned at her. “They’ve hurt him,” she said flatly. “I can feel that. He’s in pain.”

Mihaela shuddered, but shook her head. “No. He would take that. I know István. They couldn’t make him do something so dangerous, not without some other hold.”

“Like what?”

Mihaela shrugged. “I don’t know. Threatening someone he cared about.”

Elizabeth’s breath caught. “Could they be holding his family? Does he
have
family?”

Mihaela shook her head. “None that he keeps up with. We’re his family.”

“Well, they’re not holding us.” She glanced at the computer, then back to Mihaela. “Konrad?”

“I don’t think Konrad’s in Budapest. He might not even be in the country. But I suppose they could be in contact with other vampires who have him.”

“Or they could be lying to make him think they have someone.”

“Shit.” Mihaela rubbed distractedly at her chin. “Is there no way we can let him know we’re fine and close by?”

“I’m trying to take away his pain,” Elizabeth said.

“Will he feel that? Will he know?”

“Maybe.”

“Lazar would come in with me,” Mihaela said with a shade of desperation. “That would be enough. We’ve faced worse odds before.”

“Probably not with a vampire of Basilio’s strength and temperament,” Elizabeth pointed out. “But the real problem here is, we don’t know what damage we’d cause by barging in there, what train of events we’d set in motion.”

“But we can’t just leave him there!” Mihaela said intensely.

“No, we can’t. Maybe István will talk to them, and we’ll learn more.”

They stared in silence at the screen. Mihaela turned up the volume. But the only sounds were István picking up and laying down tools and slurping coffee. The vampires barely moved, just slept or watched him like hawks.

After a while, István stretched his sore looking neck, touched it gingerly.

“He feels it,” Elizabeth said softly. “He feels the healing.”

Mihaela watched intently. “But he’s still working.”

For the first time since they’d set up the equipment, István spoke. “Do you have to have this tonight?”

“Yes.” That was Basilio, cold and determined.

“If I had another day I could make it so much better.”

“You have this day to make it as strong as it possibly can be, or I’ll start making Angyalka yearn for true death.”

Angyalka?
Mihaela and Elizabeth stared at each other.

“He’s doing it for Angyalka,” Elizabeth said in wonder.

“Angyalka’s off-limits in vampire fights,” Mihaela said impatiently. “She’s like the Switzerland of the vampire world. Because of the Angel.”

“Yes, well, hunters are normally off-limits too. Basilio doesn’t care about any of that. We need to get round to the Angel and—”

They fell silent as István began to talk again. “You do know you’d have more chance just rushing Saloman with a stake?” he said conversationally. “You could store and magnify all the supernatural power in Budapest, and it still wouldn’t beat his.”

Jacob laughed. Even Basilio curled his lip in amusement. “Then it’s fortunate I won’t be using it against Saloman. Not directly.”

Fuck.
Mihaela stared at Elizabeth. “It’s you,” she whispered. “They’re coming after you, to get to Saloman.”

“They know about the baby,” Elizabeth said slowly. “Angyalka told Saloman. After the bombing, the vampires I healed heard the baby’s heartbeat while we were connected.”

“We have to get you out of here,” Mihaela said. “You need to get Dmitriu to meet you at the house. And Saloman and Maximilian have to come home now.”

Elizabeth hesitated, her hand splayed protectively over the bump in her belly. “Yes,” she agreed. “They do. But I can’t leave you on your own. One of us needs to find out what’s happening at the Angel, and one of us needs to be here.”

“Lazar will help. Elizabeth, you’re right above them. One slipup and they hear you, sense you, they won’t need István’s gadget to track you down. You need to go home where Saloman’s enchantments can protect the baby. If they catch you here—”

“Fuck, I hate this,” Elizabeth whispered, dragging her hand through her hair so that half of it dragged loose from its pony tail. “I only just learned to be useful, and now I’m not only use
less
but a millstone.”

Mihaela gripped her shoulder. “Most important child since Jesus Christ,” she reminded her.

Elizabeth tried to laugh. “That just sounds so blasphemous. But she is to me, Mihaela.”

“Then look after her. Come on, I’ll drive you home and then head to the Angel.”

Taking only the disruptor and the vampire detectors, they left the flat, walked downstairs and out into the fresh, cool air.

As they climbed into the car, Elizabeth said abruptly. “Use the vampires.”

“What?”

“Saloman wouldn’t have left me if he couldn’t trust the vampires here. Most of them will help you against Basilio.”

Mihaela stared at her. “I’m a hunter.”

“You’re Maximilian’s companion. If Angyalka’s free, she’ll speak for you.”

“And if she isn’t? If it really is her István’s afraid for?”

“Béla,” Elizabeth said. “The bouncer. He’s been with her for years. And Mihaela? Just in case, you’d better leave Robbie at headquarters.”

“I know,” Mihaela said grimly.

****

Angyalka.

The sound of her name spoken in her mind finally pierced the numbness that had seeped through her since István left. Since she’d sent him away. Not that he’d put up much of a fight. Like her, he’d always known there was no more to their affair than unfinished business, an inappropriate sexual obsession that had to be exorcised and got over. And it was as well he’d gone because she wanted him back too much.

So, refusing to think of him, she thought of nothing except the dull matter of restocking the bar and sorting her accounts. Until Maximilian spoke her name across the miles.

Maximilian,
she returned.
Looking for a flight home?

I’ve got one, but I won’t be back much before dawn. Mihaela’s coming to see you. She needs your help, and you have to give it.

Angyalka’s hackles rose.
Do I?

If you don’t, she’ll take on Basilio and his cohorts alone, their strength magnified by the hunter István’s mechanical device.

At István’s name, pain twisted through her. Ignoring it, she said,
István hasn’t finished the device and even if he had he wouldn’t give it to them. He’ll give it to the hunters. It’s the other hunter who’ll cause trouble.