Page 56 of Bonded By Blood
“That would be the smart choice, from their perspective.” The article hadn’t said how long the woman had been dead. She’d been found at dawn, almost precisely, but when had she been killed? Was it actually possible for news of Brianna’s recovery to have spread so quickly? Someone should check Garvin’s phone. Presuming Garvin had a phone.
“Sure,” Kendall said, drawing Joe back into the conversation, “but it’s a problem for us.”
The girl was practically reading his mind.
She crossed her arms. “We can’t just let them get away. Again. It’s getting ridiculous, and, frankly, embarrassing.”
Joe inclined his head. “I hear you, Kendall, but it seems to be what they’re good at.” Kendall opened her mouth, so he lifted a hand to cut her off. “The Family’s got a wide net search party out there, probably bigger than they’ve ever had to dodge before. Including a group of motivated wolves.”
Kendall narrowed her eyes at him. “Brianna told me as much earlier,” she said. “But the Family and the wolves have teamed up before to catch them and failed, right? I’m pretty sure I heard that.”
It was hard not to wince at her point. “Also true.”
“Then obviously we need to try something new.”
He could have, maybe should have, argued that this search party was larger. More motivated. Instead, he asked, “Did you have something in mind?”
Kendall faltered and looked away. “No,” she admitted, her voice barely a whisper. “We’ve already got vampires teaming up with werewolves in the outlying communities, and every Sacramento vamp on constant patrol, roaming the streets. If it was gonna work, it should have, right? But what more could we do?”
Her description painted an interesting picture in Joe’s mind and he found himself a little sorry he couldn’t see it first-hand. Which was ridiculous, because he was living at the heart of the hunt. No. Jasen and Seth had been investigating, in the background, searching for the in-house traitor. No one in the house had been part of the hunt outside, not for the last several days. They’d been distracted.
The Wilsons, and whoever they were working with or for, were playing them like a fiddle. Kendall was right, they needed to figure out a different tactic. They needed to try something Trista wouldn’t ordinarily, if ever, consider—even more so than partnering up with wolves. The Wilsons had brought the werewolves into the fight, they might have anticipated some form of canine involvement.
Joe mimicked Kendall’s earlier stance and crossed his arms, his mind racing in an effort to think of out-of-the-box solutions. “You know them better than I do,” he said, keeping his voice low. “What’s something she would label outrageous, or unthinkable?”
Kendall rolled her eyes. “Plenty of things. Behind her back I call her ‘Granny Vampire,’ partly because she’s Bri’s mom and so sort of technically she is my adopted grandma, but also partly because she’s really stuck in her ways. If you catch my drift.”
Joe had to clamp a hand over his mouth not to snort at the nickname. “I get it,” he said. He took a breath. Okay, think. What would an ordinary human do in this sort of situation? Someone with money and power. They’d go to the cops, maybe, but the cops were already involved so that option was out. Aside from that … they’d hire a professional. Someone who operated in private, some type of mercenary or P.I. depending on the goal. So who would that be in the supernatural community? The answer hit him almost as soon as the question formed in his mind. “Shit.”
Kendall blinked, widened eyes at him. “Um, what?” She looked down at herself, held her arms out, partially bent, as if examining her body. “Am I bleeding somewhere?”
“No, it’s not that,” Joe said, a little too quickly. He glanced around, looking behind him, to see if anyone was in sight. He had no clue how obscure this particular hallway might be and the thought that had occurred to him might get him lynched if the wrong vampire overheard the next part of their conversation. But he saw no one. “I just … had an idea. A thought. The problem is, it’s—”
“Outrageous and unthinkable?” Kendall guessed with a hopeful shine in her eyes.
“Yeah.”
She raised her brows and wagged her fingers in a gesture meant to rush him onward. “Come on, don’t keep me in suspense. What’s your solution?”
Joe shook his head briefly. “I don’t know if it’s a solution.” That word definitely seemed too optimistic and assumptive. “But if we’re trying to find, and capture or kill, a pair of serial killer vamps, there is another angle they’d never see coming. Not while they’re in Sacramento, anyway.”
Kendall nodded, following along eagerly. Suddenly her eyes went wide as she stared at him. “Wait. You don’t mean—”
Joe held her stare. “I do. It would just be a matter of finding the right one. One who would take the job and not use it as an opportunity for target practice.”
It was Kendall’s turn to look around, likely overcome with her own paranoia, before she leaned forward and whispered, “Trista will filet you just for suggesting it, you know that, right?”
“But isn’t that the point?”
She went a little pale but fell quiet for a second. Her heartbeat was a bit faster than before and she swallowed heavily. “Do you … know one? Hell, is there one we could trust?”
Actually… “I’ve heard rumors,” Joe said quietly. “About a Slayer named Colt, I think. He’s not universally hated and supposedly he’s got a real knack for what he does. But everything I’ve heard, I’ve heard through the proverbial grapevine.”
Kendall took a deep breath. “I might be able to do a little digging without raising too many eyebrows.”
“We don’t really have time to do a lot of digging,” Joe said. He didn’t bother pointing out that that was part of their problem.
“Yeah, I know.” Kendall pointed a finger at him. “Just don’t say anything about this idea to Granny Vampire, got it? You’re not on the very short list of beings she won’t kill-first-think-later.”
Joe strongly suspected that list consisted of two, maybe three names. He also had to acknowledge there were things he didn’t know about the Queen of Vampires—and probably things he never wanted to know. “What are you going to do in the meantime?” Trista wasn’t the only Original he’d have to worry about if Kendall did something reckless.
Kendall smiled, but it did nothing to ease his concerns. “I already told you. I’m gonna dig.”