Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

from washing her face and brushing her teeth, she kept lurking around the corners of rooms as if she couldn‟t stand for anyone else to see her, either. She was acting humiliated and defeated, and it was starting to piss him off.
     
    Bastien and Kat kept their distance, though. They were having a very intense discussion in low, heated voices, and Alexios figured he was better off not knowing what that was about.
     
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    Women.
     
    Although, to be fair, he blamed this one entirely on Ethan. So of course the alpha chose that moment to walk out into the courtyard, a very subdued Eddie trailing behind him.
    Ethan gestured to Eddie to move to the center of the loose circle the five of them made.
     
    “Tell them,” Ethan commanded. “Tell them what you told me.”
     
    Eddie mumbled something unintelligible.
     
    “Speak up,” Ethan‟s voice sliced across the distance between himself and the prisoner.
    “We know about the enthrallment. Tell the rest.”
     
    Eddie nodded and started again. “It was Prevacek. Vonos‟s head guy here in Florida.
    He runs the mansion. Security, mostly, calls himself a fixer. He‟s a vamp, but people say he has special powers that most vampires don‟t. I‟ve never seen none of that myself. Or maybe I have, if this enthrall thing you‟re telling me is true.” He snuck a glance at Grace. “I sure wouldn‟t have hurt a human on my own part.”
     
    She looked supremely unconvinced, but remained silent.
     
    “What about Vonos?” Eddie had all of Alexios‟s attention. He needed a lead on the Vampire‟s Bane, and maybe the shifter knew something about it. “Have you seen him?
    Have you been in his mansion? Tell us what you know.”
     
    Eddie‟s gaze went to Ethan, who gave him the go-ahead gesture with his hand. “It‟s Prevacek,” he repeated. “He‟s the one who‟s been ordering the raids. He thought this was a theater group, and it pissed him off—”
     
    His eyes went first to Kat and then to Grace. “Begging your pardon, ma‟am.”
     
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    “Really? You‟re going to beg my pardon for bad language after you tried to rip my chest open last night?” Grace didn‟t bother to disguise her hostility.
     
    The man‟s face flushed a dull brick red. “I‟m so sorry for that. We were just supposed to scare you. I don‟t—I don‟t remember anything about a fight. Or hurting you. I‟m so sorry, ma‟am.”
     
    “Right,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You don‟t remember anything about—” Her voice trailed off, and she glanced at Alexios then looked back down at the ground. “Whatever.
    It doesn‟t matter. Just tell us what you have to say.”
     
    Eddie looked at Ethan again, who nodded. “Well, Prevacek found out that your theater group was operating in the fort after they‟d found the proof that vamps had been massacred here by the Spaniards. He was powerful angry. Wanted us to mess you up a little. Well,” he said hastily, backing away from Grace, “not you, personally, but your stuff. Your battle reenactor gear or your props or whatever.”
     
    “Why would he do that?” Bastien asked. “Why would vampires care about a theater troupe? It‟s especially ironic, since vampires once performed to great renown in theaters across Europe.”
     
    Eddie shrugged. “I don‟t know. We think it was sort of a symbolic thing, you know?
    Prevacek planned to offer it up to Vonos like, hey, I‟m loyal and all.”
     
    “I would suggest,” Alexios said, “that we don‟t bother asking this one about motivations.
    Vonos is one of the craftiest and most brilliant generals and politicians of vampire kind.
    He‟s sure to surround himself with top-notch people, both vampires and human minions.
    Asking this one to speculate on their motivations is like asking a mouse to tell you what the hawk was thinking.”
     
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    Tiny, who‟d been keeping a lookout on the roof, headed down the stairs, talking into his phone. “Sam‟s here,” he said, his eyes going from Grace to Alexios. Whatever he saw didn‟t make him happy, if the scowl was anything to judge by.
     
    She nodded. “Thank you, Tiny. Thank you so much. And please thank your men for me.
    Will you take this . . . Eddie . . . with you outside for a little while, so we can talk?”
     
    Tiny smiled at her, obviously besotted