Bloodline (19 page)

“What if it doesn’t last?” Micah asked at his shoulder. “What if we get halfway to the office and you start to smoke?”

“If you’re worried, you could nick a fire extinguisher from the lobby on the way out.”

Micah groaned. “It’s not funny.”

Inigo rubbed his thumbs under Micah’s eyes and cupped his cheeks. “I should be asleep, and I’m not. I think I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t like ‘think.’”

“Then we’ll buy one of those foil emergency blankets and you can whip it over my head if my hair catches fire.”

“Will that work?”

Inigo bit back his smile. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in this position before. It’s impossible to stay awake in the daytime.
Was
impossible.”

It was strange to have someone worry about him. No one had cared like this since he’d been mortal and had a family.

“I still have that flask in my pocket, remember? Come on. Take me to your leader.”

Inigo could have sworn he felt his heart swell as he stepped out into the London street. The air tasted different, even the sounds of the city had changed. Everything was so bright, so cheerful. He held out his hand, stared at the snowflakes settling on his palm, and watched them dissolve.

“Hurry.” Micah took his elbow and pulled him along the road toward the Tube station.

The faerie was noticeably happier when they were below ground.

“Any sign of pursuit?” Micah asked.

“You’re relying on me?”

“I haven’t spotted anyone, but you’re my own personal faerie detector. I’d be mad not to take advantage of that.”

Inigo smiled. “We’re okay.” Although the wonder of being out in daylight had distracted him from the possibility of them being followed.

There were no seats. They stood by the doors on the train, pressed up against each other. Inigo wriggled his butt into Micah’s groin and heard him give a quiet groan. A moment later, he had to bite back his own groan when he felt the ridge of Micah’s erection nudging the seam of his backside. His dick rose up hard and a little painfully in his pants, hidden by his coat. Out of sight of those around them, he slid his hand back and fondled Micah’s crotch. The faerie growled, nipped his neck, and Inigo laughed.

They changed trains several times, doubling back on themselves, and Inigo guessed Micah was making sure they weren’t followed. When they emerged from the underground at Vauxhall Station, to Inigo’s disappointment, it had stopped snowing. He wanted to see snow-covered ground and laden trees in daylight. They hurried down side streets, cut through stores, and he began to think some of the subterfuge was to confuse him—it hadn’t. He knew exactly where they were.

Finally, Micah led him into the basement of an office block and entered a code into a pad by a nondescript door. It swung open into a bright corridor. Before they reached the end, a large guy stepped into their path and blocked the way. Inigo tensed, but Micah put his hand on his arm.

“It’s okay. Hi, George.”

The man nodded, and as Inigo walked past, George sniffed him.
A shifter
. If there were other people checking him out as he moved through the building with Micah, Inigo didn’t see them. Maybe Roman felt secure enough that he didn’t feel a lone vampire was any threat. Far from being a threat, Inigo was hoping for a job.

When they were shown into Roman’s office on the top floor, the guy in question sat at a large oak desk poring over an ancient book, a laptop open at his side. He didn’t seem surprised to see Inigo, but was that a good or bad thing?
Is he really an archangel?
He didn’t look angelic. He looked angry.

“Did you need to shake off any shadows?” Roman asked.

“No,” Micah said.

“I see you didn’t fry to a crisp, vampire. Did you slurp so much of Micah’s blood that you’ve made yourself temporarily resistant to the sun?”

Inigo opened his mouth, but Micah got there before him.

“He didn’t take too much. He stopped when I asked him to.”

“Fortunate that you were more persuasive this time.”

What the hell did that mean?
Inigo glanced at Micah and took in the hard set of his jaw. There’d been some problem between Micah and a vampire?
Well, duh, moron.

Chapter Twelve

“How is it that you can walk in the sun?” Roman asked.

“I have no idea, but I’m surprised you don’t know,” Inigo snapped.

He felt Micah’s warning tap on his back, but Roman laughed.

“Have you discovered anything?” Micah asked.

“Come and see for yourself.”

They crossed the room to stand at Roman’s shoulder. The book was open on a complex family tree written in archaic spidery writing.

“The current royal family of West Land.” Roman pointed partway down the page. “Oberon the Sixth had a brother called Flint and a sister called April.”

Micah chewed his lip. “If these
are
the three mortals, Flint could be either Silas or Drake. April’s mortal name was Cecily.”

Roman tapped his computer.

“What are you checking?” Inigo asked.

“Searching for those names. We have a register of every supernatural—well, those who completed the census and some of those who didn’t.” He hmmed. “Interesting. April and Flint are shown as deceased on this side of the Divide. No children and no partners registered to either of them.”

Inigo’s gaze slid to the screen, and he saw photographs of a good-looking brown-haired guy and a pretty blonde woman who looked no more than ten years older than Oberon. While vampires didn’t age at all, faeries did it very slowly.

“Could Oberon the Seventh have had them killed because they knew he was half-mortal?” Micah asked.

“But why would Oberon the Sixth have kept the pair around if he knew they could betray him?” Inigo pointed out.

“Maybe they got on well,” Micah suggested. “They’d been thrown together in an impossible situation when they were children.”

Roman sighed. “All this is assuming that those three mortal children replaced three royal faerie children. Whatever the case, this pair left Faerieland just after the death of Oberon the Sixth, and shortly after that, they themselves appear to have died.”

He continued typing. “Oberon the Sixth was lost in a storm at sea off West Land. Only his son and a hunter called Cavan survived. April and Flint died in a fire in London. As yet, identification by dental records has been unsuccessful. Whoever died is assumed by the authorities to have been in the country illegally.”

“That all sounds rather…convenient,” Inigo said.

“Did you look for Kit Rivers?” Micah asked.

Another photograph flashed up on the screen. A snap of a good-looking blond guy in a park. The image disappeared again.

“Kit Rivers entered with April and Flint.” Roman pushed back in his chair and crossed his legs. “Unlike April and Flint, he did not register his arrival and is therefore here illegally and subject to immediate deportation if apprehended.”

Inigo sat on the corner of the desk, caught the man’s glare, and stood up again. No one spoke.

“What are you thinking?” Inigo asked.

Roman spun on his chair to face him. “You want to work for me. What do
you
think?”

Inigo made sure his face stayed blank.
How does Roman know I want to work for him? Can he read minds? Well read this, you wanker. Don’t be such a fucking arsehole.

Roman smiled.
“I thought you were Micah’s fucking arsehole?”

Shit
. Inigo gulped.

“You’ll have to think faster than this if you want to work for me, vampire. Your life and the lives of others might depend on it.”

Inigo barely managed to keep the scowl from his face. “Maybe the current king didn’t know he was half-mortal until his father told him. And once Oberon learned the truth, he and Cavan killed him. His aunt and uncle might have suspected he was responsible for his father’s death and fled before he killed them too. It’s possible they’re still alive. Rather a big coincidence for them both to have died so soon after crossing the Divide.”

Roman nodded.

“And then there’s the mysterious Kit Rivers, who came over at the same time,” Inigo said. “Someone already mentioned Kit to Micah as a faerie who could help with what’s happening in West Land. Could he be April or Flint’s unacknowledged son?”

Roman smiled. “You have a brain.”

Fuck you.

“No thank you,”
Roman said inside Inigo’s head.

My cock too big?

Inigo caught the hint of a smile on Roman’s face.

“That sounds possible.” Micah nodded.

“What?” Inigo blurted.

Micah turned to glare at him. “Concentrate. You just suggested Kit might be the son of April or Flint.”

“Except I don’t think he is,” Inigo said.

“Why not?” Micah asked.

“Just a feeling.”

Roman nodded. “Kit Rivers hasn’t come to the attention of my agents. No employment or residential details have been supplied. He’s likely changed his name.”

“So we’re looking for three faeries—two who were born mortal and one who might be half-mortal
if
he’s related.” Micah chewed his lip.

“And we have no idea what they’re calling themselves or where they might be,” Inigo said. “Maybe they’re not even in England.”

“If they still live, they’ll be in the UK,” Roman said. “Too complicated for faeries to cross the Channel. The SEC, Supernatural European Commission, has strict quotas on immigration for all species of supernaturals. Sneaking over can result in instant termination.”

Inigo gulped.

“Yeah, we know you went to France for a while, but you weren’t deemed a threat.” Roman smirked.

Inigo didn’t know whether to be pleased or insulted.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be looking for them,” Inigo said. “Particularly if they ran away from Oberon because they thought they’d be killed. Maybe they
were
killed. Could be Oberon’s hunters caught up with them on this side.”

“But Oberon closed the portals after they’d run,” Roman said.

“To stop anyone else getting out or them from going back?” Micah asked. “When Oberon talked to me and Ellie, he made it sound as if he worried they were missing and wanted them found, but he could just have been trying to throw us off.”

Roman tapped his fingers on the chair arms. “If Oberon suspects they’re still alive, his hunters will find them and kill them. Better that we take them into our protection.”

“Where do we start looking?” Micah asked.

“I don’t want you to look,” Roman said. “I want you to concentrate on one thing.”

“What?” Micah asked.

“Staying alive.” Roman turned his gaze on Inigo. “That includes you.”

Inigo clapped his hand to where his heart was supposed to be. “I’m touched.”

Roman shrugged. “I just don’t want the extra paperwork.”

“So do I get a job?” Inigo asked.

“Let’s see if you survive.” Roman turned to Micah. “Where’s your family hiding?”

“Somewhere safe.” Micah met his boss’s gaze.

“They’d be safer with agents watching them,” Roman said.

“I’m not sure that’s true.”

Roman waved them away. “On your head.”

* * * *

Micah stomped down the corridor away from his boss’s office, Inigo at his side.
Fucking fucking Roman.

“What now?” Inigo asked.

Micah put a finger to his lips. The less said inside the building, the better. He had every intention of looking for the missing faeries. Their safety was linked to the well-being of his family.

When they stepped outside, Micah breathed a sigh of relief. “I should have warned you to watch your thoughts when you’re around Roman.” He bustled Inigo down the street.

“So I discovered. He knows I think he’s an arsehole.”

Micah winced.

“Do you think he told us everything?” Inigo asked.

“Why do you say that?”

“He seems the sort of guy who’d only tell you what he wanted you to know and very much the sort who’d tell you in a way that manipulated you into doing what he wanted without him actually telling you to do it. If you get what I mean.”

“You’re right. I smell a large rodent,” Micah muttered.

“Sorry. I didn’t have time to shower. If you’d woken me, we could have— What?”

Micah grinned, and Inigo returned it.

“If your colleagues find April, Flint, and even Kit,” Inigo said, “assuming he’s connected to this, what then? The situation in Faerieland won’t change. You said the Elders wouldn’t want anyone ruling who wasn’t pure fae. They’ve already seen what the jerk on the throne is like, so I doubt they’d accept any of those other three.”

“Not just a pretty face then.”

“No, I have a pretty cock as well. Would you like to stroke it?”

Micah sniggered.

“Assuming the stroke isn’t going to happen anytime soon—what now?” Inigo asked.

“We need more cash and another phone.”

“There’s a store over there.”

“Not from around here. We have to make sure we’re not being followed.”

Micah headed for the nearest Tube station with the aim of making for St. Pancras, where he knew there was a Vodaphone outlet.

“Who do you think might follow us?” Inigo asked. “Hunters or your guys?”

“Possibly both. One thing working for Roman has taught me—you can’t trust anyone.”

“I trust you, and you can trust me,” Inigo whispered.

His heart lurched, and he brushed his fingers against Inigo’s. “I know.” It was a feeling he was growing into.

Micah withdrew three hundred pounds from a cash machine before they went into the station at Embankment, and zipped it into an inside pocket of his coat. He had more cash in his apartment, but it was too risky to go there. He had no idea of the hunters’ effectiveness, but there was no point making it easy for them. Inigo remained alert at his side, the vamp’s uncanny ability to locate faeries in their vicinity reassuring.

“Do we need to
buy
a phone?” Inigo said quietly. “I could just
ask
someone for theirs.”

“You could, but once they discovered it was missing, it would be of no use. We need one we can keep until this is over.”