Page 31

Solace was waiting, and I had questions that needed answers.

???

Solace’s place was on the other side of the city, in a mostly disused industrial neighbourhood riddled with condemned buildings and overgrown, empty lots. Some of the better-kept warehouses at one end had been converted into offices and storage facilities, but the far end of the district was almost abandoned.

It was so cold out, and I was still so soaked, that I sat idling in the car for a long minute, warming my hands against the tiny car heater. Seven – Warehouse Seven – was about as unobtrusiveas it got. Bordered on either side by other, larger warehouses, the only thing that marked it as unusual was the lack of windows. To the casual observer, it was just another neglected oblong of brick and the heavy, corrugated steel that Sheffield was known for. In reality, it was the ideal den: one roll-down security shutter that never opened, bricked-up windows and a single, small,heavilyreinforced side door. Luckily, I wasn’t trying to break in.

I parked my car some distance away and stood for a moment, watching my breath cloud up in front of me. Seven had a strict no-weapons policy that I wasn’t a fan of, but I’d long since accepted. Still, it made me uneasy as I made my way across the lot.

At the door, I knocked three times and waited unsheltered as heavy drops of rain fell from the overhanging roof above, narrowly missing rolling right down the inside of Cole’s jacket. A male voice answered almost immediately.

“Yes?”

“I come seeking Solace,” I replied. The call and response was an unspoken declaration that I didn’t mean any harm. I hated it.

“And Solace you shall find.”

I cringed at the screeching sound of several bolts being drawn back, and the door opened inward. Stepping into the warehouse, I scanned the room as the male locked the door behind me – one more reason I could never relax in here, no matter how often I was driven to visit. Our truce was an uneasy one, and my mouth filled with the taste of copper.

Inside, the once-white brickwork was now peeling andflaking off through neglect, but large floodlights stood in each corner, bringing some semblance of life to the open space and ensuring the central area was brightly lit. At the far end of the room was a raised platform built from old wooden pallets, criss-crossed by shadows from the truss system high above. A collection of mismatched chairs stood around it in a mockery of a royal court, and I clocked that several of the seats were already occupied. I counted the vamp who’d answered the door, six sitting in two groups and talking amongst themselves, and an eighth. She was lying on the floor to one side of the platform, unmoving, her mousy hair splayed across the pale concrete. On the dais was a moth-eaten, wing-backed velvet armchair, the once red fabric almost entirely faded to brown – guess she’d been redecorating. The vampire seated there was lounging with one foot resting on her knee, the mobile phone in her hand and the smell of dampness in the air somewhat tempering her attempt at grandeur.

“Solace,” I called across the length of the room. Her eyes glistened darkly as she shot me a cool smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Erin Alexandra Elizabeth Conrad. To what do I owe the pleasure?” She put down her phone and leaned back into the depths of her seat, as obnoxious as ever. “Did we get caught in the rain?”

I made my way down the makeshift aisle created by the chairs and raised my eyes to her – the arrangement of the room was no accident, and she smirked a little at my obvious irritation.

Solace could have been no more than sixteen when she’d been sired, but she was at least four times that by now. Her glossy black hair hung loose down to the middle of her back, swinging as she stood at my approach. She wore close-fitting jeans and a sheer black shirt that accentuated every feminine curve of her body, as striking as the many other vampires I’d met – yet Solace had a little more edge than most. As always, her dark eyes were unreadable through their heavy ringing of kohl.

“I need information,” I kept my tone flat and ignored her comment. Her setup was designed to humiliate me and anyone else who needed her help, and I refused to give her any more satisfaction than I already had.

“If it were anyone other than you, I’d expect better manners, Erin.” She tilted her head, examining me. “What information could I have for you that you couldn’t get for yourself, hmm? I thoughtyouwere the local power?” Her innocent tone infuriated me, as I’m sure she knew it would.

“Well, since you seem to have acquired a frickin’ throne since I last saw you, seems like you might be the one with delusions of grandeur…” I shrugged. “But I’ll get to the point. Isabel Wyatt, Nicholas Murray and Adam Locke. What do you know?”

She stared long and hard at me before finally speaking. “The last one, I’ve got no clue,” she waved a hand dismissively in a gesture reminiscent of Adam’s that same morning. “I might have something on the others.”

“So they’re in the city?” I didn’t need her confirmation on Wyatt, but I wanted what she knew about Murray.

“Do you have something to bargain with?” She lifted a dark eyebrow.

“You owe me,” I reminded her.

She made a tutting noise behind her teeth. “No, Erin. I don’t think I do. That last little trick of yours cost me two guys. Useless they may have been, but they weremine.”

I tried not to smile at the memory, but I didn’t have time to argue over the details of who was responsible for what.

I glanced to either side of the aisle, mentally scrambling for something to bargain with. The nearness of so many vamps put me on edge, but I did my best to ignore it. Most of them were watching Solace, waiting to see what would happen – which made the conspicuously ducked blonde head by the unconscious girl all that more noticeable. I should have spotted her straight off – it was the one I’d let go in town, after Jonathan’s death. I jerked my head towards her, looking back toward Solace.

“Her,” I said. “She’s here, alive. I let her go.”

Solace laughed coldly. “It doesn’t work like that, Erin,” she paused, watching me. “That was weeks ago. I want future favours, something I canuse. If I share what I know, then you, hunter, owe me one. In fact, you’ll owe me two, since I can tell you two things.” She held up two fingers, her nails filed to a point.

“Right. Because one piece of information would be far too straightforward for your little court here.”

“Mm-hmm. And where would be the fun in that?” Her dark eyes glittered.

My fingers twitched, itching for a weapon that wasn’t there. “Fair enough. I’ll play. Tell me what you know.”