Dark Debt (Chicagoland Vampires #11)(84)
Author: Chloe Neill

There was no message from Luc, so I showered and dressed in jeans and a Cadogan T-shirt—I’d be changing clothes soon enough anyway—and headed downstairs to the Ops Room.

Lindsey and Luc were at the conference table when I walked in. Luc was already in a tux, Lindsey in a sleek, sleeveless column of black silk that fell to her ankles.

“You both look amazing.”

They looked up, glanced at me. “I think you’re underdressed, Sentinel.” Luc tapped his watch. “Party starts in an hour.”

“I’m doing my Sentinel duty and checking in with you first.”

“You’re avoiding Helen.” Lindsey smirked. “Which I get. ’Cause she scares the shit out of me.”

“Helen’s a peach,” Luc said. “But that’s neither here nor there.”

“Let’s get to what is. Any sign of Balthasar?”

“No,” Luc said. “We put human guards on the condo, and he hasn’t returned. The account manager was fired for speaking with us, so that’s a no-go.” He frowned, said almost to himself, “I should talk to Ethan about getting him some money or a stipend or something.” Then he shook his head. “We’ll deal with that later. Point is, no sign of Balthasar yet, but the news reports are building up this breakup thing pretty heavily.”

“I’m devastated by it,” I said.

“You look it,” Lindsey said. “You could always give Morgan another try.”

I gave her a flat look. “Been there, done that, DNF.”

There was a knock at the office door. We glanced back, found Jeff Christopher in the doorway in a very striking tuxedo. It draped his lean frame perfectly, and he’d slicked back his brown hair, which sharpened his features. He looked a little older, and a little more dangerous.

“Young Mr. Christopher,” Luc said, holding out a hand for him. “You look very official, sir.”

“Very handsome,” I agreed. I leaned over, pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“I’m sorry to hear about you and Ethan,” he said.

Since we hadn’t told all the guards about our plan, only the necessary few, Jeff was playing his part.

“Thank you. But I’d rather not talk about it.”

He nodded solemnly. “Of course. If you need to vent, I’m here.”

“I appreciate that. What brings you downstairs?”

“Balthasar, actually.”

Luc went on immediate alert. “You’ve seen him?”

“No, but I think we figured out who he is. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, but we—”

“Whoa,” Luc said, holding up a hand, lips curving into a grin. “You think you found him?”

Jeff nodded. “The Librarian and me, after we started scanning the pages ourselves. He found Balthasar. I found two more names: Carlisle Foster and Julien Burrows. Carlisle’s dead. He became a spy for the British during World War Two, was discovered and executed. Julien, on the other hand, has disappeared.”

I felt the warmth of rising adrenaline. “Disappeared?”

“The ledgers say he escaped after a fight with the human who’d been left to guard him. The guard said Burrows, and I’m quoting, ‘invaded his dreams.’ There’s no trace of him after that, at least under that name.”

The warmth turned into a full-on fire. I squeezed Jeff’s arm. “That is good work, Jeff. Really good work. Can we connect him to Reed?”

“Not yet. But I’ll keep looking. And Catcher’s still looking for a sorcerer.”

Jeff’s phone began to buzz, and he pulled it out, took a look. “It’s Chuck,” he said, waggling the phone. “I’m going to head back upstairs.”

“We’ll see you,” Luc said. “And really well done. I’ll communicate your findings to the team.”

Jeff nodded, then grinned at me. “Save me a dance.”

“I’ll do what I can,” I said, and he winked and headed out.

“That’s a spot of good news,” Luc said. “And it’s not the only one: Reed held up his end of the bargain, signed all the transfer papers during business hours today. Navarre is in the clear, at least with respect to anything it owed the Circle.”

“Morgan must be relieved.”

“Probably would be, except he’s still got Irina to deal with. Word on the street is she’s gunning for his job.”

That made me sit up a bit straighter. “She’s challenged him?”

“Not outright, but it could be coming. Do I think he has a unique chance to get his House in order given the circumstances? Yes. But he’s got to take advantage of that, got to see it that way. Time will tell if he can do it.”

Time would inevitably tell. “Ethan okay?”

“He’s nervous. But security’s in place and your grandfather and the CPD are in the loop. We’ll all have earpieces, even the sorcerers, so we can stay in touch. We’re recommending you and Ethan not contact each other telepathically until he’s in our grasp. Whoever this guy is, he’s a powerful, powerful psych. Could sense it, get spooked. And we don’t want that. It’s taken too much to get this thing planned. And now, thank God, there’s nothing else to do but see it play out.”

He crossed his hands over his stomach, grinned at me. “And, hopefully, watch you bring in an award-winning performance playing the vampire spurned.”

“I was in several musicals,” I said, rising from my chair. “Hopefully, it’ll all come back to me.”

“Newsies doesn’t count,” Lindsey said.

I thought about correcting her—clarifying that I hadn’t been in Newsies, had only been obsessed with it—but decided it wouldn’t help my case. Instead I looked at Luc in sympathy. “Don’t we have a rule about no snark on an op?”

He lifted a shoulder. “She scored a pretty good hit with Newsies. I’m going to give her that one,” he said, exchanged a high five with his girlfriend.

I rose, pointed accusatory fingers at both of them. “You two keep at it. I’m going to see a woman about a dress.”

*   *   *

This wasn’t just a party, so it wasn’t just party preparation. It was an op, and since Helen provided the dress, she intended to oversee the dressing, too.

So for the second time in a week, I was made into something glamorous.

I was shuffled into the dressing room attached to the House’s ballroom, closed off just for these purposes, where a staff of four humans hurried to turn me into a Sentinel Fit for a Ball, rather than the scrubby fighter Helen apparently seemed to think I usually was. I sat in a barber-style chair in a red bustier and matching panties, discomfortingly purchased by Helen while they swirled around me. The primpers—two men and two women—were also eager to talk about me and Ethan and the Breakup That Shook Chicago.