Vampire Beach: High Stakes (13 page)

‘That’s a good way to think of it,’ Paige told him.

‘The Thirteen Families are not
exactly
like the mafia,’ Zach corrected.

‘In terms of power, they are. In terms of intimidation and control over the rest of us,’ Paige insisted. She raised the water bottle to her lips. Her brow furrowed as if she had no idea how the cracks had appeared all over it.

‘We could at least call around the other big hotels and try to find out where he’s staying,’ Erin suggested. ‘There are only a few places that would be up to Lessard standards.’

‘Except that Marc sometimes finds sleazy attractive,’ Paige put in. ‘He could have decided to stay at a grotty motel for a laugh.’

‘It can’t hurt to try and track him down,’ Brad told her. He looked over at Erin. ‘Let’s grab the phone book and call some of the most likely places.’ They headed over to the desk.

‘So what else?’ Jason asked. He needed to be doing something – anything that had a chance of getting him to Sienna.

Silence filled the room like some kind of noxious fog. ‘On the way back here, I stopped at the Elvis chapel,’ Adam said, rapid fire. ‘There were two dudes dressed as Elvis, getting married by Elvis. Elvis was even playing the organ. It was awesome. Really. I mean it. Awesome – like that scene in
Magnolia
where it starts raining frogs.’ He glanced around. ‘OK, none of you
know
what I’m talking about, because the movie didn’t come out last week. But it was unexpected, and strange, and beautiful. So I just kind of stood there, transfixed for a minute. Then I realized I was intruding on something private, so I turned around and started out, and I passed by this collection plate. And it hit me: a collection plate would be a great place to get rid of all that funny money! I reached for my backpack, but I couldn’t do it … Anyway, that’s not the point. In the chapel—’

‘Is all this leading to an idea you had about finding Sienna?’ Belle demanded sharply.

‘Yeah,’ Adam admitted. ‘Sorry. Staying up all night does not lead to thoughts coming out of my mouth in a logical order. The thing is, even though
I
didn’t want to intrude, there were a lot of tourists watching the wedding like it was just another show on the Strip. And thinking about that got me thinking about how many freakin’ tourists there are in this burg. And that means we have a huge pool of potential witnesses.’ Jason frowned. ‘I don’t follow. Marc and Sienna aren’t getting married in an Elvis chapel. At least, they better not be. Why would tourists especially notice them?’

‘Adam’s onto something. I’ve seen pictures of Marc in
Paris Match
,’ Maggie said. ‘He’s pretty delectable, right?’ she asked Paige.

‘Yeah. Until you get to know him,’ Paige agreed.

‘And Sienna, Sienna’s gorgeous!’ Maggie went on. ‘The two of them together, they’d be hard to miss – even if they were just doing something ordinary. Maybe a valet saw them getting into a car. If so, we could find out what kind of vehicle they’re in.’

‘Good idea,’ Brad called from the desk.

‘Yes, but, I’m sorry, my mind keeps sticking on one thing …’ Belle said.

‘What?’ Jason asked.

She looked over at Adam. ‘You totally made me lose focus. Now I keep wondering,
why
couldn’t you just leave the counterfeit money in the collection plate? That seems like the perfect place to get rid of it.’

Jason let out a groan. He couldn’t believe they were talking about this now.

‘I know. It should have been perfect,’ Adam agreed. ‘But I couldn’t do it to the big guy.’

‘God?’ Belle asked.

‘Elvis,’ Adam replied.

‘Enough!’ Jason burst out. ‘I think that’s a good point about Sienna and Marc. Unless he altered his appearance and made Sienna change hers, there’s a real chance somebody noticed what kind of car they got into. It’s probably the SUV I saw following us on the way down here, but we should—’

He was interrupted by the sound of Paige’s cell. She whipped it out of her purse. ‘It’s Sienna,’ she said as she checked the screen.

For the first time since he’d walked into his room and found it empty, Jason was able to take in a full, deep breath.

‘SiSi? Where are you?’ Paige said into the phone.

As Jason watched, all the animation drained out of her face. She listened in silence for a moment, then said, ‘I’ll be there. Don’t do anything stupid, Marc. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’

‘What did he say?’ Zach asked the moment Paige hung up.

‘He has her. I knew he did. He gave me coordinates in the desert. He said …’ Paige blinked back tears. ‘He said if I want to see my sister alive, I’ll meet him there so he and I can talk.’

‘He’s not trustworthy, you know that,’ Brad pointed out, hurrying back over to the group.

‘It doesn’t matter!’ Paige cried. ‘He has my sister!’ Her hands curled into fists, and Jason could almost see her fear turning to fury. ‘And I am
not
going to let that evil piece of slime hurt her. I’m not!’

Paige leapt to her feet. Belle grabbed her by the arm.

‘You’re not going alone. There’s no possible way,’ Belle said.

‘No, she isn’t,’ Zach said calmly. ‘I’m going with her.’

‘So am I,’ Jason added.

‘What exactly do you think you’ll be able to do?’ Zach asked.

‘I’m pretty good in a fight. I saved your butt once, remember?’ Jason told him. ‘Anyway, it’s not your decision. Sienna’s in danger. I’m there.’

ZACH SMOOTHLY MANEUVERED
the Escalade off the highway onto the Mojave Road. Road was pushing it, in Jason’s opinion. He thought it should be called the Mojave Dirt Track. Or the Mojave Sort Of Cleared Stretch of Sand and Gravel.

‘Marc
would
want to meet out in the middle of the desert,’ Paige said, staring out at the miles and miles of scrubby brush, broken by the ruins of an old corral and part of an adobe farm house. ‘He has a well-developed sense of the dramatic. He thinks of his life like it’s a movie. He’s the star. Everybody else is just a disposable extra.’

‘Everybody but you,’ Jason muttered.

‘Yeah,’ Paige answered, her fingers tightening on the dash. Jason knew it wasn’t Zach’s driving she was worried about. It was her sister.

‘I hope he brought water for Sienna.’ Paige hit the CD-changer. Hit it again. ‘That guy at the gas station told me there’s no place for supplies inside the whole
Mojave
preserve. You could tell he thought we were crazy to be driving in here without caravanning it in case there was an emergency.’

Paige reached for the CD-changer again. Zach reached out and caught her hand. ‘Trust me. I can handle this guy.’

‘It’s just that he doesn’t think like a regular person,’ Paige said. ‘He takes risks no one else would take. He—’

‘Trust me,’ Zach repeated.

Paige sighed. ‘Are we getting close to the coordinates Marc gave me?’

‘I’m assuming that’s him up there,’ Zach answered.

Jason leant forward. ‘Where?’ All he saw was desert and more desert. Wait. He squinted. There was a little spot of black out there.

‘Faster. Go faster,’ Paige pleaded.

Zach took the Escalade up to 105. Jason could feel the sand sucking on the tires. He kept his eyes locked on the spot of darker color among the tans and yellow-greens. Yeah, that was an SUV parked up there. Jason hardly blinked as they sped forward, bouncing and jerking over the ruts in the trail. Not only was it an SUV, he realized. It was
the
SUV. The one that had been tailing them on the way into Vegas.

‘There he is!’ Paige exclaimed. ‘I don’t believe this.
He’s
sitting there drinking a beer, like he’s at a damn tailgate party.’

‘More like a costume party,’ Jason commented. Marc was wearing tight cords, suede boots, an untucked tuxedo shirt, an unbuttoned tan vest, a floppy felt hat and shades. ‘Is there a new store I don’t know about? Cowboy Rockstar Wannabe?’ Jason asked, going for a joke that wasn’t even Adam-worthy.

‘Takahiro Miyashita,’ Paige told him, tossing out the name of a designer Dani
adored
.

‘Let me handle things when we—’ Zach began, but he didn’t get a chance to finish. As he pulled over toward Marc’s SUV, Paige scrambled out of the Escalade before it was even parked.

Zach cursed softly under his breath as he came to a stop. Jason ignored him. He was on the ground in seconds, right behind Paige. Zach followed them both.

‘Where is my sister?’ Paige snapped into Marc’s face.

‘We’ll get to that,’ Marc told her. Jason noticed that he had just the faintest of French accents. ‘Want a beer? I also have a thermos of mojitos. Very refreshing in the desert.’ He acted like Jason and Zach weren’t even there. Jason peered into the darkness inside the SUV. He didn’t see Sienna. Was she tied up in the front seat? Had Marc even brought her?

Marc reached into the cooler behind him and pulled
out
a silver thermos and a cocktail glass. Paige slapped the glass out of his hand. ‘Where’s Sienna?’

Zach took a step forward. ‘I’m—’

‘I know who you are, Lafrenière,’ Marc interrupted. ‘And I’m sure I don’t need to introduce myself. But this is none of your business. Or that human’s, whoever he is. This isn’t a council meeting. This is between me and my girlfriend.’

‘It’s not quite that simple when you’ve kidnapped the daughter of a DeVere Heights—’

‘“Kidnapped” is such an ugly word,’ Marc broke in. ‘Little Sienna is perfectly safe – a long way from here, with plenty of air conditioning.’

So she wasn’t in the SUV. Jason knew he’d been stupid to even hope for that.

‘And she’ll stay that way as long as Paige sits down and has a conversation with me,’ Marc continued. He patted the spot on the tailgate next to him. ‘A conversation
à deux
,’ he added.

‘Fine. I know how you are when you don’t get your way,’ Paige said, sitting down next to Marc and waving Zach and Jason back.

‘You usually enjoy it when I get my way,’ Marc said flirtatiously, as if he was just trying to patch up some little fight the two of them had had.

‘Let’s give them a few minutes to see how this plays
out,’
Zach said under his breath as he and Jason backed up a few steps. Jason nodded. But he was going to listen in to every word. Anything Marc said could lead them to Sienna.

Marc took a long pull on his beer. ‘You sure you don’t want something? It’s hot out here.’

‘You wanted to talk. I’m ready to talk.’ Jason heard Paige snap. He could hear the strain in her voice as she struggled to keep calm.

‘You look beautiful,’ Marc said. He ran one finger down Paige’s cheek. ‘Did you wear that shirt for me? You know it’s my favorite.’ He moved his finger down her throat and traced the V of the shirt’s neckline.

Paige shivered.

Marc grinned. ‘
You
might say you don’t want to be with me, but your body says different.’

‘That was revulsion,’ Paige shot back.

Jason could almost feel an electric charge arcing between them. Paige had an energy – a wildness about her – that Jason had seen when she partied. And it seemed like she’d found her counterpart in Marc. Right now, it felt as if at any moment the power they both generated would go nuclear, destroying them – and whoever else happened to be around.

Marc laughed. ‘You keep on telling yourself that, baby girl.’

Paige jumped to the ground and faced Marc. ‘You’re delusional, you know that? You sent me flowers. You sent me champagne. They didn’t work. That’s when a
sane
guy moves on. But you won’t accept that there is any girl anywhere who doesn’t want to be with you. That just couldn’t happen to Marc Lessard!’

Don’t piss him off
, Jason thought.
Be careful, Paige. Keep him calm, please
. Had Paige forgotten that Marc had already murdered one person she cared about? Anything she said could push Marc over the edge. Sienna could be the next person to end up dead.

‘But think about it,’ Paige went on, her voice sharp as mirror shards. ‘You had to put my sister in danger to get me to speak to you. Doesn’t that prove that I don’t want anything to do with you? It’s over, Marc. It’s been over for a long time. Just tell me where Sienna is so we can both move on.’

Jason studied Marc’s face. Was he going to tell Paige to go to hell? That she could forget about ever seeing Sienna again?

To Jason’s surprise, Marc laughed. ‘It’s never going to be over between us, Paige, when are you going to realize that? Sometimes you might hate me. Sometimes I might even hate you. But that’s because there’s a deep connection between us. You’re the most important person in my life. And I’m the most important person
in
yours. Come back to Paris with me – now, today. We belong together.’

‘And Sienna?’ Jason couldn’t keep himself from bursting out.

‘If you come home with me on the next flight, I’ll let Sienna go,’ Marc promised Paige.

‘You got away with arranging Rob’s “accident”, but he wasn’t one of us. Do you honestly believe that you – even you – can kill another vampire without bringing disgrace down on your entire family? And that would be just the beginning. The councils would demand justice, and—’