Vlad snorted. “You fucker. I look fantastic.”
“You’re sure Jewel knows you’re coming?”
“Of course she does,” he said. “I’ve been telling her for decades that I was going to come visit any day.”
I nodded. I should’ve expected as much when Vlad told me he already had a meeting set up with Jewel. She used to be one of the top agents for The Order, but everything I’d heard lately said that was in the past. At the very least, I hoped I could find some answers from her.
Vlad licked his fingers, then slicked back his eyebrows and wiggled them at me. “Should I show her my bat form?”
“No,” I said firmly. “No.”
We moved through the mattress store, casually wiping the memory of the human salesman who approached us. Vlad lifted a mattress in the back of the store to reveal a staircase leading down to the main building. After a few steps, we could hear the thumping sounds of fast music and screaming vocals.
The room was low-ceilinged and cave-like. The air smelled damp, with faint hints of blood. There were a few human virgins on display for feedings, but most of the clientele were gathered around a small stage where the band was currently playing.
We found Jewel sitting in a corner booth with a young, mostly naked human virgin in her lap. Her lips were red, and her fangs were elongated. The human was pacified and motionless in her lap.
“Vlad,” Jewel said easily. “I was expecting you.” Jewel was a large woman who looked like she very likely could have walked through a brick wall if she put her mind to it. She had the thick neck of a football player, broad shoulders of someone who was no stranger to manual labor, and the ruddy cheeks of a farmer. Vlad also had an aggressive crush on the woman, which supposedly had simmered for centuries, ever since they met on a farm in the French countryside.
He grunted, then sat down and patted the table. He stuck his hand up like he was hoping to arm wrestle. Instead of looking confused, Jewel rolled up her sleeve and planted her elbow across from his, then clasped his hand in hers.
The two vampires held each other’s stares for several long seconds until I finally sighed and moved closer.
As unenthusiastically as I could, I counted down for them. “Three. Two. One.”
They both started grunting and groaning immediately, but Vlad’s hand was the one getting pushed toward the tabletop.
“You giant wench,” he gritted through clenched teeth.
“You hairy ball of grease,” she groaned back, but with a faint smile.
I discreetly looked around the room, hoping nobody was observing me be a part of their nonsense.
Jewel finally slammed Vlad’s hand down to the table, thumping the wood and making her human lift his head. She shushed him and pushed his head back into her lap.
“Damn it,” Vlad said, massaging his wrist. He looked annoyed at first, but then his expression grew lecherous. “You always were strong.”
Jewel leered right back at him.
Disgusting.
“I was hoping we could talk,” I said, interrupting what was quickly becoming a private moment between the two large vampires.
“We’re talkin’,” Jewel said.
Vlad laughed too loud at her sarcasm. He was currently doing an undignified scooting maneuver to get himself around the circular seat and the table so he could sit beside her. I took a spot at the edge of the bench, resting my elbows on the table.
“I need to know how to get in contact with the elders. Marcell. Lilith. Demeter. I just need a location.”
Jewel sniffed dismissively. “Dead. Boots up.”
My stomach clenched. “What do you mean?”
“I mean The Order has been gutted, Lucian. Why do you think so many of us got out of the business?”
“Demeter was over a thousand years old. Who could even kill someone that powerful?”
“Someone older, I reckon,” she said. “You didn’t ever think maybe the oldest ones of our kind have been out there the whole time? That maybe they were among us, figurin’ it was better not to be known than known?”
The idea made my skin feel colder than usual. “It occurred to me.”
Jewel nodded. “Word is out that you’ve been tryin’ to re-establish contacts with The Order, Lucian. That’s not the sort of word you want getting’ out in these times.”
“You want me to hide, then? Like you?”
Jewel slammed her fist on the table, leaning toward me. “I’m waitin’. Coming out right now in support of The Pact is puttin’ a target on your back. I suggest you do the same.”
“I won’t hide. You know as well as I do what will happen if The Pact isn’t honored.”
“Enslavement of the human race?” Jewel asked. “So what? Maybe it’s time we stopped lurkin’ in the shadows, anyway.”
I got up, feeling disgusted. “There’s nobody left?” I asked. “Not a single contact?”