Page 177 of Obsidian and Frost

“It was the coincidental nature of it. And because he knows me. He tells me about that specific group he’d managed to locate and days later they’re all eradicated? Speaks for itself.”

“I hope you still didn’t admit to it.”

I tossed him a look.

“Right. Of course you didn’t.” He shifted his weight. “So, what is this name?”

“Victor Halrow.”

“Who is he in relation toPuritas’organizational structure?”

“An Ancient Vampire who is in charge of what they termExecution Oversight. Specifically a facility calledGenexiswhich is aPuritas-controlled extermination facility for hybrids.”

He looked as sick as I’d felt when Charlie had conveyed this information to me.

“This facility is still operational? Even with them disappearing into the shadows?”

“According to Charlie it exists in a pocket dimension.”

“Much like those Chimera Circle labs did, making them near-impossible to track until the central link was discovered and severed, revealing the entire network.”

“Yes. But here there is only one. No network. Not many different labs where we’d only have to identify one and then employ that same process to expose them all.”

He gritted his teeth.

“It’s the shadows in which we need to work with to expose all of this, to stop it before it gets off the ground again,” I told him.

“Hence your insistence on the Blood Trace and possibly locating somebody privy to it.”

“And if he is connected to Lazriel in the way I believe, then he’s someone just as motivated as we are to dismantle this nightmare.”

“Yes, indeed.”

“I’ll pose this to Lazriel after dinner.”

“You may have to break through a Death Seal.”

“I will have to. Lazriel had this performed years ago, but by an inexperienced magic-wielder who didn’t understand that they’d come up against a Death Seal at all, and thereby reported to him that his father was dead.”

He grimaced. “Misunderstood spellwork at its most painful.”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Now that we’ve discussed business and put our necessary next steps in place, would you object to actually assisting me with the dinner preparation? I was intending to make a chicken pot pie. It’s something Ketheron and I have managed to perfect together. But it’s come to my attention that Lazriel requires red meat—a steak, I believe. I do not know how to prepare that—at least not without magic, which I’d prefer to avoid, as this dinner is meant to be grounded and… special. He mentioned he enjoys that… jerky… you make yourself. It is red meat also, so I suspect those skills could translate to this steak-making situation?”

My lips quirked. “Yes, I can help you out.”

“Thank you.”

“Thankyou, actually.”

He arched an eyebrow.

“Being able to discuss this with somebody who sees complicated and emotionally tumultuous situations the sameway I do is a weight off. And, yes, I’ll admit, it is something I needed currently. So I appreciate you talking it out with me.”

He smiled. Full-on smiled. “I’m glad I could contribute in a way that pleases you.”

I let out a quiet chuckle. “Come on. Let’s get this dinner underway.”