Who's To Blame?

Colleen Underwood’s POV

I texted innocent-sounding messages to Luna Adrienne while we drove northeast

towards Cancun, letting her know we’d be back shortly. She promised me “Uncle Lawrence” would join

us soon; last she heard, he was on vacation in Jamaica with his wife.

We had to cross two police checkpoints on the way in, and I saw first-hand

how vampires worked. When the soldier

came to the door, Mateo caught his eyes, and the man went into a trance. “Wave us forward and forget this happened,”

the vampire told him. He waved us ahead

without looking in the car.

As we pulled away, he went back to work as if nothing had

happened. Now THAT was a handy skill to

have. Adrienne had warned me that older

vampires could control or erase human minds.

At least as fellow supernaturals, we weren’t susceptible. “You don’t worry about cops or checkpoints,

do you?”

“One at a time, it isn’t a problem.

When surrounded by a group, things get dicey; I can’t put more than one

in a trance at a time. If I get the

leaders and the others obey without question, I can pull it off,” Mateo

replied.

He did the same at the next checkpoint, and soon we were in front of

the hotel. “We’re back,” I sent

to Luna Adrienne.

“Send the others to their rooms; they can pick up the keys at the

desk. I need you in the conference room.”

After we stopped in front of the main entrance, Mateo got out with us. Esmerelda opened the trunk, and he handed me

a gym bag. It was heavy, and I quickly

used my strength to handle it. “You

might need this,” he whispered as he leaned in to hug me goodbye. “My contact information is inside. My instructions are to provide you any assistance

you might request; as you saw, our presence can make moving around a lot easier

for you.”

“I’ll make sure my boss expresses to yours how helpful you have been,”

I replied as he stepped back. The bellhop

came over to take my bag, but I waved him off.

Mark and Jenny headed to the front desk while I took the elevator to the

second floor. I linked my Luna when I

was outside, and she opened the door to the conference room for me. The room was full of people, not all of whom

I recognized.

“What is in the bag,” Luna asked me.

“I don’t know. Mateo, the

local coven leader, said we might need it.”

I set the bag on the table with a clunk. One of our computer technicians took a wand,

pointing to it when the light showed a transmitter. “Bugged?”

“Apparently.” The technician

pulled out a knife, removing the bug and smashing it with the handle. Attempting to listen in on our conversations

wasn’t neighborly. “Open it up; let’s

see what the Vampires brought for us.”

Unzipping the bag, we found a dozen pistols, all Glock 19’s, with extra

magazines and boxes of 9mm ammunition.

Also in the bag were two Uzi machine pistols. I laid them out one at a time as the tech

scanned them; none had transmitters. Once

the tech cleared me of any bugs, people could start talking.

Adrienne went around the room, introducing me to the ones I didn’t

already know. I’d not met Alpha Steven, and

he looked ready to kill. His mate Carolyn

was just as pissed off; she just handled it better. “Tell us what you found,” Luna Adrienne ordered.

“They were there for a few hours at the most,” I said. One screen showed the compound's satellite

view, and I used a laser pointer as I talked. “The girls were kept collared and chained in

the concrete storage building here. They

were loaded and unloaded from this area where the cars parked.”

“Any other movement?” Alpha

Steven looked about one word from exploding.

“The men took one of the women from the Three Sisters Pack to the

house. I didn’t recognize her scent. She was gang-raped, then returned to the

building afterward. She was bleeding on

the floor.”

That was too much, and Alpha Steven stood up and punched the

wall. “SONOFABITCH!”

Carolyn wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him back to the

table. His fist was bloody, and the

wooden chair rail left a few splinters in his hand. “This isn’t helping anyone when you hurt

yourself,” she told him as she pushed him into the chair. “Get her the scent bags.”

There were six plastic bags on the table, containing clothing items

from each of the six missing girls. I

sniffed each in turn, remembering each of their scents from the holding

area. “All six were there, and this one

was the one who they raped,” I said as I tossed the bag over.

“Fiona,” Carolyn said. “By

Luna, she deserves better.” I looked at

her; surely, NO woman deserves rape! “Fiona

waited for decades to find her mate and almost lost it all when she attacked

his human wife. They were going to mate

after his divorce was final, but now she’d lost her purity to these animals.”

There was nothing I could do about that. “I scented six men, Linda said six men, and

six men are dead.”

Adrienne got my attention back.

“Your impression of the killers?”

“Highly trained, probably ex-military, at least six people. The group got close, then opened up on a

signal. Some of the men never got a shot

off, and this was no spray-and-pray. Assigned

targets, and bursts into the chest or headshots took them out. The whole battle was over in less than five

seconds.”

Alpha Steven looked concerned. “How

do you know that?”

“The number of rounds fired and the location of the bodies. They never had a chance, Alpha. They were amateurs in a professional game. I figure six people because all the targets got

killed at the same time.”

“Humans? Wolves?”

“I don’t know.” I pointed at

the area where the cars parked and where the attackers had set up. “They sprayed bleach on the whole area; I

couldn’t pick up a scent. The only other

person I picked up, and this was in the cells, was Lawrence Fenwick. I’ve met him before, and I’m positive it was

him.”

“I believe you, as much as I don’t want to,” Adrienne said. “After getting your message, I talked to my

mate. He’s having Ivan send people to Lawrence’s

pack in New Hampshire. Leo is going to

Jamaica, where we believe he’s still pretending to be on vacation.” Alpha Steven looked concerned. “The previous tour stop was Jamaica. Beta Lawrence was waiting for them when they

arrived, with four Council enforcers. The

Council was using his friendship as leverage; he gave Vicki the forms she would

need to join the North American Council.

The Chairman’s words made it clear that the Southern Cross Pack membership

was mandatory.”

“I saw the videoconference, and I know enough to understand that Vicki

doesn’t want that,” Carolyn said.

“The Council said the four enforcers were there for her protection,”

Adrienne said while holding up air quotes.

“Those four and two more could easily have done this.” Council Enforcers were experienced warriors,

trained in combat in both forms, with and without weapons. Many of them had prior SWAT or military

training, so they had the latest tactics.

Using telepathy, they could move and act as one. It was the kind of skill that would be needed

to take out six armed men in seconds. “The

Council Chairman called Leo a few hours ago, offering any support we may

require.”

“He called me too, and I told him that he didn’t have resources where

I needed them,” Alpha Steven said. “The

bastard had the gall to say that he regretted Vicki had refused his offer for a

protective detail, that with Enforcers she’d be safe. Vicki turns down his offer, and now she’s

missing? I’ll fucking skin him alive.”

It was Carolyn again who had to calm him down. “Right now, all we have is Colleen’s word

that she scented Lawrence.”

“Not quite,” I said. “There was

one cellphone in the house. The last

phone call came from this number.” I

rattled off the number I memorized.

Adrienne checked her phone. “It’s

Fenwick’s personal cellphone number.” She

was shaking with rage; somehow, she pushed it back. “I’ve been up for too long, and there is

nothing we are going to accomplish tonight.

More help is arriving in the morning, and we need to be ready for them.”

“Get some sleep,” Alpha Steven said.

“I slept on the flight, so I’ll keep things going while you get your

rest. You too, Colleen. You did a good job tonight, and we’ll need

you at your best later.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. “What

should we do with the weapons?”

Adrienne answered that one. “Take

one, make sure it is functional, and keep it where you can get it. We have to be careful, though; if the police

catch you with it, we’re not going to be able to stop a long prison term.”

I had no desire to be stuck in a Mexican prison. “Understood, Alpha.” I picked up one of the pistols and two spare

magazines, tucking the gun behind my belt in the back, where my loose print blouse

would cover it up. As a standard duty

weapon for police for decades, I was well-practiced with its use and maintenance.

I showered and was asleep within ten minutes of getting back to my

room.

Vicki Lawrence’s POV

After being collared with plastic-covered silver to prevent linking

and shifting, the vampires walked us across the compound to where a delivery

van waited with the back doors open. “You’re

going to pay for this,” I said as the leader dragged me along by the collar. “I have friends, and they will take your head

off for touching me.”

He laughed. “Do you think

Master Vespucci is intimidated by that little bitch in Boston? A vampire so weak she had another kill her

Master? Or do you think my Master cares

what Supreme Master Pontalba, that senile old man in New Orleans, thinks?”

Oh, shit. It was worse than I

thought. As I reached the van, I could

see cubes set up inside. The vampires busy

were stuffing Makani into one. She

screamed as she grabbed onto the bar to keep it from closing. The vampires secured the cage with a

silver-coated lock; she had almost no room to move, and touching the hinged top

would cause a silver burn.

Pushed out of the way, they opened up a cube for me. Knowing resistance was futile, I cooperated

as they shoved me down into the cage and locked it up. Once we were all in place, they moved boxes

and blankets around, hiding us from view and blocking out all light. The doors slammed, and we drove off.

“Fucking vampires all along,” Amy said.

I’d trusted them, and now we were all paying the price.