It didn’t take much of an imagination to guess what had happened to them. The Immortal Guardians’ new enemy had gotten his hands on them. And the blame for it—all of what they were currently dealing with—could be laid squarely at Bastien’s feet. He had inadvertently set all of this into motion when he had begun his quest for revenge a lifetime ago.
“Any luck finding new contacts?” Seth queried.
Chris shook his head. “Some. But it’s slow going. I don’t know who exactly we’re dealing with, who we’re fighting, who has the power and influence needed to wipe the slate clean the way they did, so I have to be even more careful when approaching potential aids. There are a handful who escaped scrutiny and survived the sweep only because I hadn’t yet called upon them to act. I couldn’t then and can’t now because they’re still working their way up the ranks and aren’t yet in a position to find out what I need them to.”
“Any word on who this Emrys prick is?” Marcus broached, his voice tight with hostility.
It was a hostility shared by all those familiar with Ami’s past: Bastien, David, Darnell, Chris, and Seth. Melanie, too, he imagined, since she had been allowed into the loop.
Emrys had been one of the bastards responsible for Ami’s capture a few years ago, as well as the months of torture she had endured afterward. Bastien didn’t know how Emrys had escaped Seth’s and David’s wrath when they had rescued Ami, and hoped like hell he wouldn’t again. If anyone needed to pay for past sins, Emrys did. Preferably with blood.
“I’m getting closer, but still can’t say definitively.”
“Did you find out how he was connected to Keegan?” Bastien asked.
Fucking Montrose Keegan. Bastien wished he had never worked with the man. How the hell had Montrose known Emrys?
“They went to college together and were in the same fraternity, but appear to have parted company once they graduated,” Chris said and motioned to the file in front of Bastien. “Keegan pursued a teaching career. Emrys went to work in the military’s bioweapons program. Everything I could dig up tells me they lost contact and didn’t speak again until Montrose looked him up during the vampire king’s reign.”
“Is Emrys still military?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know. All of the intel on him stops approximately four years ago. There’s no mention of him retiring or being discharged from the army. Nor is he on any active duty lists or stationed on any known bases. We know he reappeared briefly in Texas a couple of years ago. But I still haven’t been able to ascertain whether the facility he surfaced in was military or mercenary. And there’s a big void in his history between his army days and his days at the facility. I’m still digging, but . . . as I said, it’s taking time.”
“Just be careful,” Ami pleaded softly. “I don’t want you falling into their hands. I don’t want you disappearing like the others.”
“May I say something?” Melanie asked, looking around the table tentatively.
“Of course, Dr. Lipton,” David said.
“While I was waiting for Bastien to regain consciousness, I had Linda examine the darts Richart found and it appears the dosage of the drug they deliver has increased substantially.” She looked up at Bastien. “That’s why it didn’t take as many darts to fell you as it did Richart, Étienne, and Lisette.”
“Same drug, but more powerful?” Darnell said. “Emrys must have been behind this attack. He’s the one who gave Dennis the drug.”
Bastien wished he would have killed Dennis—the self-proclaimed vampire king who had led the last uprising—when he had first met him over a decade ago. He simply hadn’t perceived how crazy the bastard was. Or would become.
“And who else would know the original drug wasn’t powerful enough?” Darnell continued. “Only someone who had interacted directly with Montrose Keegan and had access to his notes and those damned movies Dennis made of the battles. As far as we know, Keegan didn’t talk to anyone else.”
“As far as we know,” Roland reiterated.
Chris shook his head. “I don’t know who he could have talked to. Anyone else would have had him committed if he had started rambling about vampires and immortals.”
“It’s worth looking into,” Bastien said, seeing where Roland was going and reluctantly agreeing. “When I worked with Montrose, he worked alone. I’m certain of it. Even when I pressured him to speed up his research. But I was sane.”
“That’s debatable,” Roland muttered.
Bastien ignored him. “Dennis wasn’t. If Montrose feared him even more than he did me—”
“He did,” Ami spoke up. “When Dennis took me to Keegan’s lab”—she swallowed as if just saying the word resurrected fears that threatened to choke her—“Montrose was terrified of him. And there was blood. Old blood. On some of the papers I rifled through looking for a weapon. And on the walls. I don’t know what happened down there, but . . .” She shook her head. “Montrose was visibly shaking while Dennis talked to him. He was terrified of him.”
Marcus drew Ami closer and kissed the top of her head.
Bastien nodded. “If Dennis was pressuring Montrose to find a drug that would incapacitate us or at least weaken us enough to defeat, I’m sure he was issuing more frightening ultimatums than I did. Montrose may have taken his plea for aid to others besides Emrys.”
Chris retrieved a small spiral notebook and a number two pencil from his jacket pocket. Flipping the notebook open, he began to scribble notes. “I’ll look into other med school chums. Hell, I’ll look into all of his old school chums, both those he kept in contact with and those he didn’t.”
Sarah pointed to Chris’s notebook. “You might want to check out the professors he studied with while pursuing his doctorate.” Until Roland had turned her, Sarah had been a music theory professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “His students, too. Particularly any grad students with whom he worked closely.”
Nodding, Chris continued to write.
“Did he have any family?” Darnell asked.
Bastien shook his head. “Just his brother Casey. Casey said their parents were killed in a car accident almost a decade ago. It’s why Montrose was so protective of him.”
“What about grandparents?” Sheldon asked.
Tracey snorted. “How the hell would grandparents fit into the equation?”
Sheldon shrugged. “Money? I don’t know.”
Chris kept writing. “I already looked into that. The grandparents are dead. Both sides of the family.”
“What about girlfriends?” Sarah suggested.
Étienne scoffed. “Who the hell would date Montrose Keegan?”
“Hey,” Sarah retorted, “some women choose brains over brawn.”
He tossed her a flirty grin. “You didn’t. But if you’re of a mind to . . . have I by any chance mentioned that at university I—” Étienne’s file folder flew up and hit him in the face a moment before his chair was telekinetically yanked out from under him, landing him on his ass.
Even Bastien had to laugh.
Grabbing the chair with a curse, Étienne regained his feet and once more seated himself beside his siblings. “Are you going to do this every time we have a meeting?”
“Are you going to flirt with her every time we have a meeting?” Roland ground out.
Étienne muttered something in French.
The chuckles quieted.
Seth leaned back in his chair. “All right. Now that we know a little more about the attack on Bastien last night, let us discuss how to address this latest threat while Chris pursues his leads.”
Chapter 3