Building From Ashes (16 page)

Declan said from across the room. “What makes you think Connor doesn’t like the tanned, surfer types, Jack? She hangs out with the ridiculous Swede all the time.”

“He’s Norwegian!”

Jack frowned. “What’s the difference? And Brigid doesn’t like surfers. Look how pale she is. And she doesn’t even have our excuse.”

“What makes you two think I like vampires at all?”

Jack gaped. “Well, surely you’ve at least tried one out.”

Brigid shrugged and continued staring at the television screen. “Never felt the urge. Don’t have a biting fetish.”

She heard Declan chuckle across the room. “Are you sure about that? It’s not just the neck, you know.”

“What, never?” Jack said. She glanced at him. He almost looked offended. “Really, Brigid, never?”

“I’m not a virgin or anything. I’ve just never had a vampire. Is this so shocking?”

Declan said, “As many as you know and are friends with? A little. Most girls are at least curious.”

“Well, I’m not.” If she was lying about one completely unattainable vampire, well… they didn’t need to know that.

Jack spun her around in her chair. “Please, Brigid. Let me help open your eyes.” He grinned and his fangs descended. “Consider it part of your training.”

Declan snorted. “You’re only asking because you’re sure she’ll say ‘no.’”

“Brigid.”

Tom’s quiet voice called her name and everyone in the room turned. That was the thing about Tom; he never yelled. Everyone just quieted down when he wanted to talk.

She frowned a little at his extra-grim expression. “What’s the story, Tom?” He didn’t smile, but then Tom rarely did. But there was something in his eyes…

“Murphy’ll see you in his office.”

“All right.”

Her heart began to beat faster. Something was wrong. Murphy never called her to his office. If she’d made a mistake with work, Tom would be the one to correct her. What was going on? Visions of her aunt swam in front of her eyes. Could Sinead have had an accident? Brigid thought she was in good health, but maybe something was wrong. Was it her mother? She hadn’t see the woman in fourteen years, and she had no desire to have anything to do with her.

She swallowed back the lump in her throat and tapped on the door.

“Come in.”

Brigid opened the door and slipped inside. It was dark. Only one lamp was lit in the corner. Murphy rose behind his desk. His eyes met hers for only a moment before he sped from the room. Brigid blinked in confusion, even more confused than she had been before.

“Brigid.”

She spun toward the sound. Carwyn was in the corner, leaning against the wall. “Carwyn?”

Far from his normally affable demeanor, his face was dark. Fierce. He looked like he was on the edge of bursting into a rage.

Brigid’s heart raced. “What’s going on? Is it my aunt? Is something wrong with Sinead?”

Carwyn walked toward her slowly. “No.” He raised his hands, and they hovered over her shoulders, as if he was afraid to touch her.

“What’s going on?” she whispered in a shaky voice.

The rage fled from his face, and suddenly, Brigid was enveloped by the crush of his arms. They wrapped around her, enfolding, protecting, as if he was trying to shield her. But she didn’t know from what, and her body was racked with violent tremors.

“Please… please tell me.”

“We have to find him,” Carwyn whispered desperately. “He’s been gone too long now. You have to help us. What was he working on, Brigid? He would have told you.”

The hot burn of tears threatened the corner of her eyes. “What are you saying?”

Carwyn shook his head. “I’m… Ioan is missing, Brigid. He was in the city, working at one of his clinics.”

“I know. We met for a drink Monday night.”

“He’s gone.” His violent whisper tore at her heart. “No one has seen him for days.”

“What?” She didn’t know where she found the strength, but she pushed away from the solid wall of Carwyn’s chest and shoved him back, her fear turning to rage. “What are you talking about? He was just here. He was staying at his place in town and going home on Wednesday after the clinic closed. He can’t be missing.”

“He is. And he wouldn’t just disappear without—”

“He
can’t
be missing! Deirdre can find him. They always know where the other is. That’s the way it works!”

“Brigid, even with their blood tie, she can’t find him if they’ve kept him away from the earth, love. She’s looking. We’ve all been looking, but he was out of his element, and—”

“Ioan can’t be missing,” she shouted. “He can’t! Where is he?” She stalked over to the rotary phone on Murphy’s desk and picked up the handset before Carwyn grasped her arm. She shook him off and dialed.

“He’s not at home. He’s not at his place here or the clinic. He’s missing, Brigid, and he was working on finding something for you. What was he looking for? I need you to tell me.”

She just shook her head as the phone rang and rang. Twice. Three times. Four. Why wasn’t anyone picking up? She blinked back the tears, but Carwyn was still talking.

“I told you he’s not there. What was he working on? He was talking about blood research. Talking about a question you’d asked. Was it related to the drugs business? I know—”

She slammed down the receiver and spun around. “I don’t know what he was looking for! I think there’s something else going on besides the heroin. There are things that don’t… they don’t make sense. I was running into too many dead ends. It’s not a human. Whatever is going on… I asked him one question, and he seemed to get it in his head that there was something there. I asked him if there were any drugs that affected vampires and that’s all! I thought… I thought—I don’t know what I thought!”

“There has to be something, Brigid. Think. Has anyone asked after him lately? Or asked about me? It’s possible this is because of me or someone else in our clan. Has anyone—?”

“No!” She tore at her hair and paced the room, the panic descending around her. It wasn’t safe here. Nowhere was safe. Ioan couldn't be gone. Ioan was her protector. He was the strongest being she had ever known, save for the irate mountain of vampire glaring at her from across the room.

Carwyn was still pacing. “We’ve run out of ideas, and you’re the only one he would have confided in other than Deirdre and me. I need to know whether this is because of me. If this is my fault… Please, Brigid. We need your help.”

Her whole body was numb. She shook her head. “I don’t know anything, Carwyn. He kept asking me questions. Had I ever seen a vampire taking drugs? Did I know many humans who liked to be bitten? Did
they
take drugs? It was always just a few questions, then he would start muttering…” A gaping hole opened up in her chest and she felt as if her heart caved in. Suddenly, it was as if the life left her legs and she crumbled to the floor. “He would do that muttering thing he does when he gets an idea and he just… I mean, he just…” It was a groan, more than a cry, that wrenched itself out of her mouth.

He couldn’t be missing.

He couldn’t be gone.

If Ioan was gone then nothing in the world was safe. Brigid felt Carwyn lift her up and carry her to the leather chaise in the corner of the office. He set her down gently and stroked a hand across her cheek, into her hair, his fingers weaving through the thick brown strands until his palm rested warm on the back of her neck. She held on to him like a lifeline.

“Can you think of anything else he mentioned? Anything?”

She couldn’t think. Her mind was a whirl of memories, sifting through every image, every conversation, every shared joke she’d ever had with Ioan. She felt Carwyn’s lips press down on the top of her head.

“I have to go, love. I have to keep looking. I’ve called friends to help. This may be related to something I was involved in and I’m calling in a favor. You’re not to go anywhere without one of Murphy’s men, do you understand?” She felt his hand shake a little where it held her neck. “If someone is targeting my people, they could come after you, too. You’re the most—” She heard his voice crack. “The most vulnerable here in the city. Maybe it would be better—”

“I’m not going back home,” she muttered. “Not while he’s still missing. I’ll stay in the city. I can help. I’ll do what I can. I have to.”

His arms tightened around her. “Brigid, I… we can’t lose you, too. Please don’t try anything foolish.” He held her for a few more moments, then bent down and whispered in her ear. “I have to go.”

Her hands reached up and clutched his forearm as it crossed her chest. Her fingers dug into the thick muscle there, keeping his arm close for one more moment before she pushed him away. “Go,” she whispered. “Find him, Carwyn.”

The search for Ioan was the consuming mission of every member of the Dublin security team for the next week. Every vampire in the city was shocked. Ioan was the most powerful vampire in Ireland and had studiously avoided political struggles for hundreds of years. He was a scientist, a peacemaker. If he was vulnerable, then no one was safe. The city was reeling in shock and no little amount of fear.

Brigid’s coworkers spoke in hushed whispers around her and handed her busywork. She wasn’t allowed to leave and do anything in the field. She didn’t even try to leave the building. She ate and breathed the search, called every contact she had in the human world. Doctors. Nurses. Clergy he’d helped at one point or another. Every former patient of Ioan’s in Dublin that she could think of. She hardly slept.

It was the middle of the night when she heard the name. She blinked and her head shot up from the desk where she had fallen asleep for a few minutes. Declan and Jack were muttering nearby in Irish.

“What was that?”

Declan frowned. “I thought you spoke Irish.”

“No, that name. What was that name you just said?”

Jack shook his head. “What name? Lorenzo?”

Lorenzo.

Lorenzo, Lorenzo, Lorenzo…

Declan said, “He’s an old enemy of Carwyn’s. Ioan had no enemies that anyone can think of. It’s the only other thing that makes sense. He must have been targeted because of his sire. Lorenzo has had a vendetta against Carwyn and his friend Giovanni Vecchio for years now. He’s dangerous, but has stayed out of sight, so he’s—”

“In Dublin.”

In the blink of an eye, both vampires sped to her and Declan lifted her by the shoulders. His fangs were bared. “Where? When?”

“I didn’t know who he was. You didn’t tell me his name. No one did.” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me before? I went to a party with friends. He had a penthouse.” She shook off Declan’s grip and stalked across the room. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me his name?” She pointed to the location on the large map that spread across the back wall. “It was
right here
. Why didn't you tell me before?”

Declan sped out the door, and Jack ran over to her. “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t know… I’m so sorry, Brigid.” She saw his fangs descended and he clutched at her shoulders. “Can you think of anything else, Brigid? Anyone you saw. Think! Any locations? Associates who—”

Her heart was racing. She brushed off Jack’s hands and the amnis she felt him trying to use to calm her. “He—he had two of his children with him. An American and an Irishman. Both young. And—and there was something…” She scoured her memories.

“…hangs with us at our building over by the river sometimes. It’s kind of our after-hours place.”

“What, like a pub?”

“More like a private club. It’s no big deal…”

She blinked and looked up. “There’s a building by the river. One of his children said they had a building by the river where they went sometimes. Like a club. It was on the river.”

Near water. Away from the earth. Away from the element Ioan used to draw his strength. A place they could hurt him.

Jack clutched her arms again, but he was rubbing them, trying to warm her. Brigid felt like she’d never be warm again. Declan burst back into the room.

“We already have people going to the house. It was rented under the name of Josh Smith, and—”

“Declan,” Jack said. “There’s a building by the river. One his boys use. We have to find it.”

“Connor!” Tom shouted as he strode into the room. “Get your wits and get on the computer. Let’s find that building.”

Days later, after more fruitless searching, there was a tapping on her door. Brigid cracked it open. She could see the truth splashed across Murphy’s face.

Brigid had found the building. They wouldn’t let her search it, but she knew Carwyn and his Italian friend had gone. They had found some vampires there, but none had known anything about Ioan or Lorenzo. In fact, they had found nothing at the warehouse except for too much blood and Ioan’s scent everywhere.

Deep in the silent, scared part of her heart, Brigid had known the truth. She took one look at Murphy’s grim face and shut the door. Her back slid down the wall as her legs gave out from under her. She forced her fist into her mouth and bit until she tasted her own blood.

“Brigid?” Murphy called. “Brigid, darling, open the door.”

She shook her head and dug her small teeth into her hand again as silent tears ran down her cheeks.

“Brigid, please.”

She shook her head and continued to sob quietly, remembering the gentle man in the library who had been the rock-solid center of everything that was safe and secure.

“I’m very brave, you know. I never cry.”

“I know, Brigid…”

Her protector was gone.

“I know you’re very brave.”

Chapter Eleven

Wicklow Mountains

April 2010

Carwyn stared at the pictures on Ioan’s desk. His son and Deirdre, smiling at a Christmas dinner. Ioan with Brigid in a playful headlock as they sat in a pub somewhere. Wearing a tuxedo with his sister Gemma at a glamorous party in London. Ioan and him, a candid shot that someone had captured. They were laughing. He didn’t remember about what.