“Pet wolves?”
Brigit shook her head again. “Werewolves. ”
I stared at Calliope, but her face told me nothing. If she understood more about this than she was telling me, she wasn’t showing it. I rose from my chair and went to stand next to Brigit.
“Peyton has werewolves? How do you know that?”
“Three of them grabbed me off the street in the middle of the day and took me to this old building. I guess it was a theater, it had a big screen…” Her eyes began to tear again. “I tried to run, but one of them held me and made me watch as one of the others changed. They told me if I tried to escape, they’d feed me to the wolf. ”
“What theater?” I asked.
“The vampires woke up when the sun went down,” she continued, not hearing my question. “Peyton came. He asked if the wolves had taken good care of me. Until I met you, I didn’t believe in vampires. Or werewolves. I didn’t think any of this was real. ” Brigit turned her face away, a bloody tear rolling down her cheek.
I knelt on the opposite side of the bed so I could see her face, and waited for her to look at me.
“Brigit…”
“After he killed me he told me everything would be better if I found you. He said once you were dead I’d be free. Free from what?” Red tears streamed down her face. “Can I be alive again?”
I shook my head. “No. But if you can tell me where he is, I’ll make sure he pays for what he’s done to you. ”
She sniffled and wiped her face against the pillow. When she saw the bloodstained smear on the case she began to cry again. Incoherent mumblings crossed her lips, but nothing that helped me.
“Where is he?” I asked again.
Calliope placed a hand on my shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.
“Maybe we should give her a break. It’s been a difficult night. She can answer more questions later,” Calliope whispered.
Admittedly, Brigit wasn’t in any condition to give the responses I needed, but it pained me to let up now when I was this close to getting the information I needed. I stood, prepared to leave, when I heard Brigit murmur a word that sounded like Orpheus. That got Calliope’s attention, her body going rigid and eyes widening.
It also told me where I would find Peyton.
If Brigit was correct and Peyton had werewolves working with him, then there was no time to waste. A rogue vampire with plans to overthrow a city was bad enough. But I knew of one werewolf who would be foolish enough to join forces with him, and it made everything that much worse.
This ended tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“It’s Marcus. ”
I was back outside on 52nd, and Desmond was trying to keep up with me as I barreled down the street, wanting very badly to be back in my apartment.
“Marcus?” He was confused and had every right to be. “Is this about the other night?”
“No. Yes? No, I don’t know. But—” I stopped mid-stride and turned to face him. He nearly collided with me due to the abruptness of my stop. “I hunt vampires. ”
“I know. You’re working with the vampire council. You mentioned it. ”
“Okay. Well, they sent me to hunt a really bad one who seems to have it in his mind he can take over New York if he infiltrates our population from the bottom up. ” He looked puzzled but didn’t ask for explanations. “We, Holden and I, couldn’t figure out how it could be possible since this vampire isn’t powerful enough to have a daytime servant. ”
“A what?” He unlocked the passenger door, opening it for me before going around and letting himself in the driver’s side.
“Someone to do his bidding in the daytime. ”
Desmond’s face looked a little ashy. “They can do that?”
I nodded and continued. “This vampire, Peyton, he and I go way back, and it’s because of him that girl attacked me. ”