Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

cultures that believe having the body of a child dipped in gold in
     their home brings luck,” Riordan said.
    “Who in their right mind would think that an infant’s body covered in gold would bring
     them luck?” Jubal demanded. “That’s sick.”
    “Nevertheless,” Riordan said. “It happens. It’s just that Dr. Silva, Jasmine’s doctor,
     thinks all six babies came from women going to her clinic. All jaguar women. She said
     that six of her patients in various stages of pregnancy had suddenly stopped coming
     to her; they’d just disappeared. She tried contacting them, but no one called her
     back. Jaguar women can be very elusive . . .”
    “They have to be,” Juliette defended. “But they wouldn’t stop going to their doctor
     before giving birth.” She stepped away from him and paced in agitation some feet away.
    Riordan reached out to her. Juliette immediately put her hand in his. “I know you’re
     worried about her, but nothing will happen to Jasmine. She’s got all of us to look
     out for her.”
    “She’s been through so much,” Juliette said. “To add this is just wrong. If she really
     knew they were after her again, she’d be devastated.”
    “Her doctor warned her to be careful. She had a bad feeling about the other women
     and had even gone so far as to go to the police, but no one seemed alarmed. Dr. Silva
     said two of the women had acted uneasy and one said she thought someone had been outside
     her house the night before,” Riordan continued. “Most of the jaguar men are scattered,
     but many have gone to the cities. We were afraid they would begin stalking the women
     here.”
    “That’s what Dr. Silva thought,” Juliette said. “That the men had found them. All
     of those targeted were carrying jaguar babies, so we assumed it was the males looking
     to take them back.”
    “Juliette and I went to the women’s homes, believing we could pick up the trail and
     get the women back,” Riordan added. He shook his head and glanced at his lifemate.
    “It wasn’t jaguar men,” Juliette assured. “There was no evidence of any of them anywhere
     near the women’s homes or properties. I would have been able to scent them.”
    “You believe a vampire has something to do with these disappearances?” Riordan asked
     Dax, cutting to the chase.
    “You’re uneasy. Juliette is uneasy. Jasmine is.”
    Riordan frowned as he nodded slowly. “I felt the presence of evil but I couldn’t track
     it. It was very strange. We hunt the forest and cities all up and down South America.
     This felt different to me. I couldn’t quite catch the scent, but I knew it was there.
     Very evil and yet so faint that I couldn’t follow the trail. I hunt vampires and yet
     this was . . . different is the only word I can think of. I couldn’t identify it as the undead.”
    “We tracked Mitro here to this city,” Dax said. “It would not surprise me if he was
     behind this. He is unlike any vampire you have ever faced, and it is not easy to track
     him, not even for me and I’ve followed him for hundreds of years. He is . . . different.”
    Juliette shuddered and moved closer to Riordan. “Jasmine can’t know this, and she
     has to be guarded around the clock.”
    “Gary and I can stay with her during the day,” Jubal volunteered.
    “And thanks to Juliette’s cousin, Solange, we’re able to be up longer during the day,
     so if there’s need we can come to your aid,” Riordan said.
    Dax felt the familiar leap in his brain connecting dots. “Solange?” He needed more
     information. He had no idea what he was onto, but he’d been following Mitro for so
     long that he knew the way the vampire thought and acted. His brain had jumped at the
     casual conversation, his instincts suddenly kicking in.
    “Solange is my cousin,” Juliette said. “Lifemate to Dominic.”
    “Of the Dragonseekers? He still lives?” Dax asked.
    Riordan nodded.
    Dax crossed to the railing. He was unused to being so close to so many people, and
     looking out at the lights of the city made him feel less closed in. “What is different
     about Solange’s blood that allows you to stay in sunlight?”
    “She’s jaguar royalty,” Riordan explained. “She’s exchanged blood with us, and that’s
     allowed us to handle the sun for longer periods of time, but there is a cost. The
     weakness is severe and comes on unexpectedly and very rapidly. We try not to use that
     ability too often because you