144
The next two weeks had us frustrated as hell. I tried to be nicer to Ava and the harder I tried the more pissed off Felix seemed to be, but I put it down to us not really getting anywhere with the case. There weren’t many missing people from lairs, covens and packs.
We had contacted the high Council and they granted us permission to access all files from packs, lairs and covens. We were actively working the case and Felix’s account of his own abduction and torture had sealed the deal for us.
We all ate lunch together every afternoon and I went with Ava to doctor’s appointments and Felix drank more, during training he went after me harder, more ferociously and a few times we hurt each other badly.
“Remember what I told you about Johnathan’s case?” I asked him.
“Yeah, they thought she’d left,” Felix said.
“So … maybe we shouldn’t be looking at missing members, but members that left,” I said.
“Do you have any idea how many people leave and transfer?” he asked me.
“I know, but … we can cross check lists and the ones we can’t find, those are our victims,” I said to him.
“We’ll need Tank to write a program for us, to make this easier, we’re talking potentially thousands of names to cross check,” Felix said.
“And then this list here are the most remote wolf packs, very little to no human contact,” I said and handed him a copy. “But I don’t really think remote packs are involved.”
“Why not?” he asked me.
“Because they are remote.”
“Which leaves them exposed,” Felix countered.
“Exposed to what? Take Gideon’s pack, they’re big, rich and not afraid of being attacked, smaller wealthy packs surrounded by other packs, they’ve got a lot to be afraid of,” I said to him.
“I just don’t get it, we’re all protected by our Councils, the Elders have laws and nobody can be attacked without validation,” Felix said.
“Rogues have no laws,” I said to him.
“But they’re not exempt from them, they still stand trial,” Felix muttered.
“Yet that didn’t stop Clarence from having an arrangement with a Sire to pick a girl every year as his food bag and plaything,” I said.
“I think we’re looking at this all wrong,” Felix said.
“It’s like the answer is right here,” I agreed.
“Let’s take a break,” Felix suggested.
It was past midnight and we were both tired. We said goodnight and headed to our respective rooms. Ava tried to initiate sex but I couldn’t forget the warning that Typhon had given me, fulfill your needs at your own risk.
I fell asleep quickly and found myself in my own bedroom, Megan beside me as I stared into her eyes. I lifted my hand to touch her face and she smiled at me. I could feel her skin under my fingers and I never wanted to wake up again.
*“It’s bigger than I thought it was and I’ve already told Basil that I’ll have his back when he wants to go after these people,” I continued.
*“Of course you will, it’s the right thing to do,” Megan said and I looked at her in surprise.
*“That whole assignment was an ambush, Felix and I rampaged through a few states, killing rogue packs of all kinds, they lured us in and I should’ve died that night too,” I said to her.*
*“I’m glad you didn’t,” she said softly.*
*“Sire Albert from Springfield is involved somehow and Abeloth is urging me to go rip his head off, but I want them all. I want every single person that was involved with that ambush, dead. Basil said that this runs deeper than he thought, vampires, dragons, wolves and humans,” I said.*
*“You got your assignments from someone right,” she said.*
*“From Wentworth,” I confirmed.*
*“How did he know where to send you?” she asked me.*
*“We received intelligence reports of a rogue pack in California, that was our first assignment together. Felix and I would go in, keep a high ranking member alive and question him and move on to the next pack. That kept us busy for nine months,” I said to her.*
*“So the last address that you went to, you got that information from the previous pack you killed?” she asked me.*
*“No, that location was sent to us by Joe,” I said as my words slowed.*
*“So why don’t you start with Joe?” she asked me.*
*“How could I have been so stupid?” I asked mainly to myself.*
*“You’re not stupid Ry, you went through a horrific trauma, you barely survived yourself. Being filled with guilt and remorse and then everything that happened after that, of course you didn’t connect the dots right away. Sometimes it just takes another perspective but in the end you still would’ve found him,” she said.*
I woke up with sweat beading my forehead. It was barely four am and when I closed my eyes I could still feel Megan next to me. She had given me the answer once before and this time it might be exactly the same. There was a new excitement flowing in me as I got out of bed.
“Felix!” I slapped him on the forehead as he sat up right.
“I love you Ryder, but fuck you,” Felix said as I laughed.
“Move your ass,” I said and walked out of his room downstairs to the kitchen.
Felix joined me just as I finished making coffee for both of us and I took my cup through to my downstairs office where we’d been working. I was too wired to sit down and Felix just looked at me, as if I’d lost my mind.
“We should go back to the beginning,” I said as Felix frowned at me.
“The beginning of what?”
“Of where it all started.”
“Are you drunk?” Felix asked me.
“Everything started with that ambush. I was the target, Carlson wanted me dead to punish my father for killing his father and brother. I did die, twice in fact, you were taken and thought dead for a year. It took us months to find Carlson and his partner wanted Basil dead. The middle man of all that was Joe …”
“And you killed Joe,” Felix interrupted me.
“Carlson had a whole network of vampires fighting his battles, doing his dirty work, I gave that information to Wentworth,” I said.
“And you never thought to ask what happened after you handed everything over,” Felix finished my sentence.
“No, I didn’t.”
“You killed everyone involved, remember,” Felix said.
“Did I though?”
“If that’s the case, I think it’s time you assumed that Megan’s death might have been part of the bigger picture too,” he said.
“If that’s the case then the letter was meant for me,” I said.
“So what do we know?” Felix asked me.
“That depends how far back you want to go,” I said to him.
“Where did this feud start?” he asked me.
“With my grandfather and Joseph McIntyre, he wanted my grandmother as his mate, orchestrated their deaths years later. Lucas figured it out, but the McIntyre’s were also kidnapping women and auctioning them off. Lucas killed Joseph and Carson and then Carlson came after me, well us.”
“So you think this is something to do with the McIntyre family? Did Carlson have other siblings or children? What about the Sire that orchestrated your abduction?” Felix asked.
“Albert White, Sire of Springfield. He first came to see me to kill Basil. I said no of course but then we developed a plan to get to Carlson, which failed, but Albert and Carlson were handed over to the Elders, we watched them die.”
“And I’m guessing Albert had no children and you don’t know if Carlson did,” Felix said.
“Carlson’s surname was Hall, we can try to trace the familial lines but honestly I thought it was all over, so I never bothered to check Albert’s history. I can give Johnathan a call, he took over as Sire there,” I said and pulled out my phone.
“Ryder, it’s five am,” Johnathan said sounding fast asleep.
“Exactly, why aren’t you up yet?” I asked him.
“I hate you some days,” Johnathan said.
“As much as I like making small talk with you, I need a favor,” I said.
“Finally you need something from me,” he said and I laughed.
“I want you to go through everything of Albert’s that you put into storage, I need info on his family line, children, siblings, his parents, anything you can find,” I said to him.
“Why? I thought you were done with all that shit,” he replied.
“You know those things I did for that friend that gave me the reputation I have now?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s alive and I found him, he was being kept captive for a year, they were busy with torture and shit, some kind of new drug they were testing, I was the target back then but maybe just maybe this could all be related to my friend as well,” I said.
“Holy shit Ryder, I’ll get on it immediately,” he said sounding alert now.
“Thanks, I owe you one,” I said.
“No you don’t, you introduced me to my wife,” he said and I smiled.
“Call me when you find what I’m looking for,” I said.
“Sure, don’t go do anything crazy,” he said and ended the call.
It took another two weeks before Tank emailed us lists and lists of people that had transferred or simply left of their own accord. Johnathan only took nine days to send me what I needed. I had Albert White’s entire family tree in front of me.
We were busy tracing each member, looking for something, anything at this point. Felix and I sat and made phone calls to lairs, clans and packs. It took us a while to run down all the names and another two weeks later we were left with twenty names unaccounted for.
“So what now?” Felix asked me.
“We look for death certificates,” I said grimly.
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