“He sounded shaken, that’s for sure. I don’t think we’ll know anything definite until we see Allcot.”
I nodded. Allcot was a bastard. There was no doubt about that. But chances were high I’d know which way the wind was blowing after we spoke. Some people had a hard time seeing through his lies, but I didn’t. His cockiness was always a dead giveaway. “Do we know for sure vampires took them? Not shifters?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “I’d know it if the pack had their eye on Willow and Tal.”
“Okay.” I rubbed at my forehead, trying to figure out who else would’ve even had access to Willow and Tal at the gala. “The more I think about this, the more I’m inclined to believe this was all a big ploy by Allcot to finally lock Willow in his dungeon.” At one point, Allcot had tried to force Willow to work for him, but over time they’d formed an uneasy truce. While she trusted him, I didn’t. A vampire doesn’t end up the head of one of the most powerful vampire organizations in the US without being a complete prick. And Eadric Allcot was definitely a prick. A self-serving, arrogant prick. And Willow had something extremely valuable to not only him but pretty much every other vampire in existence. If Allcot could control it, he’d be unstoppable.
“Fuck, you’re right,” he said, grabbing the back of his neck. “We just can’t be sure of anything when the information comes from Allcot’s goons.”
“No, we can’t. So that means we need to start from here.” I turned to Link, who’d just returned from a scenting excursion around the ballroom. “Did you pick up her trail?”
Link lifted his head and ran toward the balcony. Dax and I followed him. The wolf stopped at the railing, turned around in a circle a few times, then sat down and sniffed at the bottom of one of the railing posts.
“They took her over this railing,” I told Dax. “Come on. Let’s go find out if there’s a trail of her scent out on the street.”
Dax and I started to move back into the ballroom, but Link stayed exactly where he was, staring forlornly at the ground.
“Link, let’s go,” I ordered.
He didn’t move and let out a sad whimper.
“Oh for the love of…” I bit back a curse and walked back over to the wolf. Crouching down, I placed both hands on the sides of his head. “Listen, buddy. I know you’re missing her, but you need to pull it together.”
He pawed at my foot.
I glanced down, scanning the area. Link put his nose to the ground and nudged something out of the shadows. I knelt and ran my hand lightly over the ground. My fingers closed over the cool stone, and I knew instantly what he’d found. “Good boy, Link,” I said patting his head. “Very good boy.”
“What is it?” Dax asked, squinting into the sunrise.
I held my hand out to him, showing him the crystal Willow usually wore around her neck. It was a protection crystal that Talisen had given her when they were teenagers. “She’s going to be very pissed when she realizes this is missing.”
Dax peered at my hand. “The clasp is broken on the chain. I think it’s clear this is where the altercation happened.” He glanced over the railing, down at the ground. “We’re five stories up, which means the vampire who snagged them has to be powerful enough to fly.”
“Willow can fly,” I said.
“Sure. But unless she was attempting to escape, she wouldn’t have gone over the side.”
“No. But it is possible she fled over the railing. That doesn’t explain Tal though.” Male fae didn’t have wings. And Willow’s wouldn’t have been able to support both of them. I shook my head. “Even if they did try, there’s no doubt the vamps eventually got them. Otherwise we’d have heard from them by now.”
“Sounds right.”
“Ready to go, Link?” I asked the wolf.
He moved to stand beside me.
“Good. Let’s see if you can scent them.” I took off for the door. And this time both Dax and Link followed.
Once we were out on the street, Link put his nose to the ground, furiously trying to sniff out his mistress, but it was no use. He circled the block twice, then sat at my feet and stared up at me, waiting for direction. I glanced at Dax. “Should we try the roof?”
He gave me a half shrug. “What good would that do? Even if Link can scent them, there won’t be any kind of trail. Not if the vamp levitated right off the building.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. He was right. It was impossible to track the ancient vampires the old-fashioned way. They just had too much power. It was time to try a tracing spell. I pulled out Willow’s crystal and held it in my hand. Closing my eyes, I pictured first Willow, then Talisen. Magic tingled and burned hot through my veins. When I opened my eyes, my hand glowed with magic.
“Reveal,” I whispered. The ball of light floated up from my hand, swelled, and formed a window allowing me to peek through the veil of the universe. A Willow-shaped shadow appeared and, slowly but surely, morphed into a picture of my friend. She was in a nondescript room void of any furniture, pacing back and forth. My only consolation was that she didn’t appear to be hurt. Just a little rattled and clearly pissed off.
“Willow,” I said, my voice loud and clear.
She stopped abruptly and frantically glanced around. “Phoebe? Are you out there?”
“I’m here, Wil. Where are you?”
“Phoebe?” she asked again.
“Come on, Wil, where are you,” I whispered again, knowing she could feel my presence but couldn’t see me or hear me.
“Dammit,” she muttered and grabbed fistfuls of her hair in frustration. Growling, she straightened her shoulders, narrowed her eyes, and stared straight ahead, her gaze landing somewhere over my right shoulder. “Some rogue vampires got us, knocked us out, and hauled us away. Tal is here in another room. They let me see him a while ago. He’s hurt, but I think once he gets his strength back, he’ll survive. But here’s the important part—I don’t know where we are or who has us. So far they’ve only spoken to us over an intercom. It’s somewhere high-tech. I saw Tal through a two-way mirror, but then it frosted over.”
“Do you think Allcot’s behind this?” I asked, even though I knew she couldn’t hear me.
“I’d start at the Void building. Look in the records for something or someone called Asier. They specifically said they’re looking forward to Asier’s arrival.” Her attention snapped to something across the room, and her eyes widened just before she launched herself at something. And just like that, my magical light vanished.
“Damn,” I muttered.
“At least they’re all right,” Dax said, his angry tone belying his words of comfort.
“And we now know vampires took them,” I said. “Probably not Allcot or else Willow would’ve said so.”
“I agree. Not Allcot. At least not him personally or any of his regular crew. She did give us a lead.” Dax jerked his head toward the Trooper parked a few feet away. “Ready to get to work?”
I glanced at my watch. It was just before eight. Good. The Void research staff would be arriving shortly. “Ready. Let’s see if we can find any intel on Red while we’re searching the records for Asier.”
* * *
Security at the Void building had been beefed up recently, and when Dax and I walked in with Link, the guard I knew only as Arlo shook his head. “Nope. No shifters.” He pointed at Link. “Whoever he is, he can’t come through security.”
“Dax is a shifter,” I said reasonably. “You still let his shaggy ass in the building.”
“Thanks, Phoebs,” Dax said dryly.
“Ms. Kilsen, please don’t try my patience,” the older man said. “Mr. Marrok has security clearance. I’ve never seen this wolf before.”
“Sure you have.” I glanced down at Link. “Shift, boy.”
The wolf stared up at me, his eyes narrowed.
“If they let you in here, it’s just going to happen the minute you go through security anyway.”
Link, who actually had been to this building more times than any of us could count, let out a huff. But a spark of light flashed over him, and a second later, a gold-and-white shih tzu was sitting at my feet, leaning into my leg.