Page 133 of Taste of Blood

“About the Python wanting the Black Guild to show up. How else would you explain this? I can understand him kidnapping donors, but gunning them down? It makes no sense. His people need blood, too.”

“Unless he just wants to dismantle Dante’s entire operation.”

“Then why hit Lupercalia? It’s a White Guild property.”

That I can’t answer. Every time I think about Thalium standing there taunting us while his men were out shooting up Guild establishments, I want to strangle him. And the worst part is there’s nothing to tie him to any of it. We’ve got circumstantial evidence at best, but nothing we could use to convince the Black Guild he was at fault. He set it all up perfectly.

“How long are you going to be there?” I ask him.

“I don’t know. We’ve got to clean this mess up. We can’t afford to have even one blood den go offline. There’s a lot of hungry vamps in this city.”

“Where are you going to find more donors?”

“Dante’s had people recruiting ever since the first den got hit. Guess he’ll have to step up the effort now.”

“So I suppose I won’t be seeing you tonight.”

“Probably not for a while, actually. It’s all hands on deck for this one. If there was any doubt before that we are at war, it’s been erased.”

I know it’s necessary, but I hate it all the same. This has to happen just when we were making progress.

“Cord, please promise me you’ll take care of yourself. And be careful. He knows who you are.”

“I could say the same for you. How good is that driver of yours?”

“He’s ex-Special Forces. I trust him with my life.”

“I’d feel better if he was Clan.”

I recall a conversation about that very subject a few years ago.

“You could transition.”

“Sorry, Asher. I know you mean well, but I like being human.”

“Don’t go anywhere without him,” Cord warns. “I don’t trust this fucker Thalium.”

Nor do I.

39: Cord

I SHOVE MY phone in my pocket and head back inside Sangue, wishing I was curled up in bed with Asher. If you had told me a month ago I’d be feeling this way, I would’ve laughed in your face. I guess I’ve finally accepted the fact that he and I belong together. Problem is, my timing couldn’t be worse.

Dante’s cleaning crew arrived while I was outside and they’ve started putting the place back together while we wrap up our meeting in the office, agreeing to reconvene with everyone else back at the warehouse.

“I want people on Thalium’s residences at all times,” Dante tells us when he has everyone together. “I want to know where he goes, where he works, when he feeds, who he sees. I don’t care if he knows we’re following him. The bastard has fucked with me for the last time.”

“You want us to grab him?” Zeke asks.

“Right now I want proof that he’s the Python. Don’t screw this up, people. Gio will assign you to teams. I’ve doubled the guards on our other dens, so right now I want the rest of you out in the streets combing every place we’ve encountered his men. Capture them if you can, kill them if you can’t.”

Great. Capturing means more fruitless torture, though I’d like to get my hands on one of those ninja guys just to find out where they came from.

I keep going over everything Thalium said at the benefit. He was very adamant that Asher was his competition. Competition for what? The only specific business of his own he mentioned was the pharmaceutical company he recently bought. As I recall, Elaine said it was from somewhere in Asia. Since Asia is a big place, that doesn’t tell us much.

“Cord?”

It takes me a minute to realize Dante is calling my name. “Yeah?”