Demon Night

to destroy the communities, it would be nosferatu.
    “I’d wager it was demons,” Lilith said, and Ethan’s brows rose. She must be certain, then; Lilith didn’t speak of bargains or wagers lightly. As a demon, she’d been bound by one—and the consequences for entering into a bargain or wager and then breaking its terms were severe: an eternity of torment, frozen between Hell and the Chaos realm. “Nosferatu would have left a mess, not piled the vampires’ bodies up and let them disintegrate in the sun. The demons are trying to keep their activity hidden from humans—but not from us.”
    “That’s still a heap of ash and personal items to be concealing from the local authorities,” Ethan pointed out.
    “Yes. Michael will take care of that.”
    Meaning that the Doyen would vanish the evidence into his cache. She wouldn’t need Ethan and Jake to go in and help with the physical cover-up, then, but there was still a community missing. So many people disappearing at once would be noticed—jobs and apartments suddenly abandoned, human family members left with questions—and, after Berlin and Rome, Special Investigations had formed a task force to handle the fallout. But neither Ethan nor Jake belonged to it.
    “Is this what you pulled us in for?” Ethan asked.
    “No. I want an update on Seattle.” Lilith stood and shrugged out of her jacket, throwing it across the back of the chair she’d offered him. “Milliken’s transformation failed.”
    Dread digging at his gut, Ethan frowned and watched Lilith round the desk and sink into her high-backed seat. When a human was turned into a vampire against his will—drained, and then forced to drink vampire or nosferatu blood—the transformation rarely took. After a long and painful degeneration, the vampire went out one of two ways: easy, like an old man in his sleep—or violently, driven mad by bloodlust.
    “He’s dead?” Jake yanked the toothpick from his mouth, glanced back at Ethan.
    “Yes,” she said. “Colin called me last evening.”
    “Did he have to finish it?” Ethan asked. If so, it would have been quick and painless; Colin Ames-Beaumont was brutally efficient with his swords.
    The two-hundred-year-old vampire led the San Francisco community with his partner, Savi Murray. Both were connected to SI, and often acted as liaisons between Guardians and vampires in other cities. Ethan couldn’t fathom why Savi, one of the sweetest, brightest ladies he’d had the pleasure of knowing, had developed such a powerful liking for her spoiled pretty-boy fiancé—but Ethan had to admit Colin took care of those under his protection. He’d have done everything possible to help Milliken adjust.
    “Yes. They’d been watching for the snap, and Savi got Milliken’s wife out—but not before she saw part of it. So Dr. Milliken isn’t in an emotional state to continue assisting us—though I doubt there’s much more she could tell us about Legion than she told you the night you brought them here.” Lilith steepled her fingers, pointed at Ethan. “And you came today for a purpose, Drifter, but Hugh and Milliken obviously weren’t it. I can appreciate a man who waits and listens, gathering as much information as possible before he offers the info that I want—but the only man for whom I’d make the effort is in Washington, D.C., sifting through vampire ash. So talk. Now.”
    Charlie’s file was in his cache; with a quick mental pull, Ethan made it appear on Lilith’s desk. It contained all of the data Jake had found in various government databases and several financial institutions. “Charlotte Newcomb. Three vampires came for her last night.”
    Her lips compressed into a thin line before she said, “Is she still alive? Still human?”
    Ethan gave a short nod. “They ran when I arrived, and used the symbols.” He hesitated briefly, then added, “Charlie knows. Not details, but she was certain they were vampires, and that a guardian angel came to her rescue.”
    “She would have been a lot more certain if you’d failed and she was sucking blood now.” A smile curved Lilith’s mouth, but there was little humor in it.
    There was less in Ethan’s reply. “It’s been more than two months since the last transformation. Since Milliken’s.”
    Lilith flipped open the folder, began scanning the pages. “Any reason for them to wait, when they didn’t with the others? Is there anything special about her?”
    Plenty, but Ethan doubted there