Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked

incidental.
    After she won the Hie, and when she was ready, she’d return to finish him.
    In the meantime, he would be searching for her. Vampires who’d found their... their Brides didn’t tolerate losing them. But he wouldn’t be able to find her, knowing nothing but her first name. The villagers would scurry away in fear before each sunset, staying away at night until she could return—or they would face her promised wrath.
    And anyone else from the Lore who could reveal that information would run from the sight of him simply because he was a vampire. He was an outsider everywhere, with everyone, whether human or Lore creature. And while she competed in the Hie, he certainly wouldn’t be able to locate her. In the coming weeks, she’d never sleep in the same place twice and would be racing to the farthest reaches of the earth, obtaining prizes, jewels, and amulets.
    She’d face him when she chose, and on her terms. Yes, everything was under control.

6
    I n the last three days, Sebastian had found it hellish to be around so many humans—a blood drinker, a predator, walking among them as if he were still one of them. Especially since women had begun gazing at him longingly, and even following him, to his consternation.
    But he reminded himself what was at stake and completed task after task in anticipation of finding Kaderin, even as he had no idea how to do so. The villagers, his only lead, had disappeared, at least during the nights. Of course, she’d warned them.
    After all this time away, he’d finally returned to Blachmount, and he’d been awed as ever by the old manor, even if it was as decrepit as his own holding. He’d dug up gold from his chests, then sold the coins in Saint Petersburg. Cash in hand, he’d bought clothing at the only place he knew wealthy men acquired clothing—Savile Row in London. He’d been to the port of London once when he’d been mortal and remembered it only vaguely. Yet one mental picturing of it put him there.
    Money got him tailoring appointments after sunset, and each night before he set out in that city, he forced himself to buy and drink blood from the butcher.
    He’d done these tasks because he wanted to become a man she could want. But he was also desperate for anything to keep his mind occupied. At every turn, he wondered where she was at that moment and if she was safe. She’d cried that morning, had doubled over in pain.
    And he couldn’t find her.
    Her accent had a tinge of a drawl, but that helped little in determining her place of origin. He couldn’t trace to her home country to begin a search, because he didn’t even know what continent she lived on. Besides, his brothers had told him that vampires could only trace to places they’d already been. If she wasn’t in Europe or Russia, then he couldn’t reach her.
    Again and again, he’d thought, If only I could trace directly to her.
    The idea that a vampire didn’t need to know how to get to a destination, only to envision it, didn’t make sense to Sebastian. He’d traced from Russia to London to buy clothing, but he couldn’t imagine the exact route. If merely seeing the location was the requirement, then why couldn’t a person be a destination?
    What if there was more to tracing, and his brothers didn’t understand everything about it? They had been newly turned themselves all those years ago and had admitted their ignorance about so much in the Lore.
    It might be that vampires traced to individuals every day...
    Sebastian was unique among his family—he was the dedicated scholar, the one introspective son among four. In battle, Sebastian had used cunning as much as strength, relying on foresight as much as on past training. He was a thinker who liked to solve problems, and his father had instilled in him the belief that the mind was capable of unimaginable feats if one were strong enough to believe them possible.
    And Sebastian needed to believe that tracing to her was possible. The alternative was to wait out the villagers, which was untenable.
    His family had known he’d been courted by chivalric and church orders, as well as other secret sects of arcane knowledge, seeking to recruit him. What they didn’t know was that he’d accepted an offer with the Eestlane Brothers of the Sword, learning about the world from isolated Blachmount, corresponding with masters of physics, astronomy, all of the sciences. Eventually, he’d even sailed the Baltic and NorthSeas to be knighted in