House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires #7)(36)
Author: Chloe Neill

Oliver and Eve joined the line with the rest of the vampires. The focus at that distance was pretty awful, the queue looking more like a snake of pixels than a distinguishable line of vampires.

"Keep an eye on the next car up," Jeff said.

"Watching," Luc absently said, eyes glued to the screen. And he wasn’t the only one. Every vampire in the Ops Room stared at the screen as a large, dark SUV drove past the registration center.

No – not drove. It cruised past the registration center, barely moving, as if scoping out the center and the line in front.

"That could be the same vehicle that followed us this evening."

"You were followed?" Jeff asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Ethan and I went for a run. A black SUV followed us, then drove away in a hurry when we moved closer."

The SUV in the video moved out of view before backing up into the alley, its headlights shining out from the darkness just as the doorman had explained.

"And we have a car in the alley," I quietly said.

We squinted at the screen, watching as the headlights flashed a couple of times and figures – pixilated blobs – moved toward the car.

I knew instinctively who the blobs were: Oliver and Eve, heading for the alley and the SUV that had parked there. The video was silent; maybe they’d heard something in the alley we couldn’t pick up.

But before we could see what happened next, a large gray armored car crept into the frame, parking directly in front of the bank and blocking the view of everything else.

I began shooing the screen. "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

The video stopped.

"The armored car sits there for forty-five minutes," Jeff said. "By the time it leaves . . ."

"Everything’s over," I finished.

"Exactly."

The Ops Room was quiet for a moment. "Whoever was in the SUV lured them into the alley," Luc concluded.

"That’s exactly what happened," Jeff said. "Marjorie talked to one of the staff members in the registration office. Gal named Shirley Jackson – she’s worked for the city for two decades – who got transferred to the office when it opened. Turns out, her desk is next to the front window. She remembered hearing some kind of engine noise from the alley, like a car had trouble starting. She saw a couple – a ‘nice-looking couple’ – walk past the window. She didn’t remember seeing them again, but said she didn’t think anything of it."

"Nor would she have," Luc said. "You hear engine trouble, but someone goes to help and the sound disappears? You figure some Samaritans offered their assistance, and the problem was fixed."

"Yeah," I said. "But unfortunately wrong this time. Oliver and Eve were lured into the alley. The SUV faked some kind of car trouble, and Oliver and Eve went to help. And they were killed because of it."

I shuddered, wondering if that’s what had been in store for me and Ethan on our run.

"And that’s why Jeff found nothing in their backgrounds," Luc said. "The killer probably wasn’t targeting Oliver and Eve specifically. He was targeting people outside the registration center. He was cruising for prey."

"For vampires," I clarified. "He was outside a registration center, so he was targeting vampires."

"And the car you saw tonight?" Luc asked.

"Maybe cruising the House, looking for vampires?" I suggested. "Ethan and I happened to be the ones on the street. Maybe he was hoping for a more subtle approach, which is why he drove off when we got closer."

Luc shrugged. "Hard to say."

"Thank you for the update, Jeff," I said.

"Sure thing. We’ll keep looking on our end. I’m going to dig through the video a bit, see if that SUV makes another appearance."

"Good plan," Luc said. "We’ll be in touch."

He clicked off the speakerphone and the video, and I looked back at the whiteboard. While the video had rolled, Lindsey had filled out the whiteboard with key bits of data. OLIVER AND EVE. ROGUES. TAKEN AT REGISTRATION CENTER BY SUV. KILLED IN WAREHOUSE.

A time line of murder, of sociopathic violence. But what did it mean?

I cast a glance at the clock on the wall. The hours were ticking down, and it was time to hit the road for the lighthouse. I steeled myself for my next omission of the evening, which was extra tricky, since there was a vampire with strong psychic abilities, Lindsey, in the room.

I rose and stuffed my hands into my pockets. "I think I’m going to go for a drive. I need some fresh air."

Luc nodded. "It’s good for you. It’ll help you process this, maybe make a connection."

I nodded, casting a slight glance at Lindsey to see if she’d caught a whiff of anything unusual. But if she had, I couldn’t see it in her face.

"You’ll be back for the ceremony, I presume?" Luc asked, tone dripping with sarcasm.

"I wouldn’t miss it for the world." Much like taxes, if not death, it was unavoidable.

CHAPTER TEN

GOLD MEMBER, RED GUARD

I slipped out of the gate and jogged to my car, and before anyone was the wiser, I was zooming away into the night, ready to reaffirm my commitment to the RG.

The drive wasn’t comfortable. My stomach was still raw with nerves, and I was discomfited by the fear that I was betraying Ethan all over again.

But how could acting in the House’s best interest be a betrayal?

Per Jonah’s instructions, I drove toward Lake Michigan, then headed north to the marina at the edge of the harbor.

It was December, and the marina had long since closed for the season. A security booth marked the entrance, and a black-and-yellow-striped bar kept cars from driving in.

Not entirely sure how to proceed, I drove up to the security gate and cranked down the window. The woman who sat inside looked me over, then pressed a button to lift the gate.

A friend of Jonah’s, perhaps? Or the Red Guard’s?

I got out of the car and zipped up my jacket, then glanced around. The small parking lot was virtually empty except for a few cars scattered here and there.

The lake was dark and quiet, filled with ice even in the unseasonably warm temperatures.

A line of concrete and rocks led away from the pier and into the water, forming a harbor for boats and leading to the harbor lighthouse, which flashed its warning across the water.

I took a long, hard look at the boulders and concrete blocks that made up the harbor wall. They were large, icy, and, by the looks of them, treacherous. Then again, they’d been placed in the harbor to provide protection for boats, not to provide a winter path for vampires.

"This had better be worth it," I muttered. Arms extended, I began to pick my way across the rocks.