Chapter 25

The table in front of him was littered with poker chips and cards, coins from various European countries and a smattering of bills in the middle. The man in black ripped all of the money toward him, a grin pulling at one corner of his mouth as he wished his rivals a good day. The others tossed down cards, their cries of anger or disappointment evident even though Jo didn’t speak a lick of Russian and didn’t care to use her translator on matters that didn’t make a difference to her.
Some of the others departed as she approached, either out of the game or leery of a woman dressed in black leather carrying more weapons than a gladiator. A few stuck around, possibly hoping for a show. Jo ignored them and waited for the American to look up from the cards he was shuffling, his winnings shoved safely into a pouch that hung around his waist.
He was ignoring her. That much was certain. It didn’t take anyone that long to straighten cards, especially not someone who clearly earned his way by playing poker. Rather than clear her throat, she put her hands on the back of the empty chair in front of him and bent down. “So… I take it that means you don’t want to talk to me?”
“I don’t know what gave you that idea,” he said, finally looking up for an instant before he returned his attention to the cards. “Was it the fact that I’m pretending you're not standing there or the get-the-fuck-away-from me aura I tend to give off?”
Jo smirked, standing up to her full height. He was handsome, and he knew it, but she wouldn’t let that distract her. “Listen, I just have a couple of questions. If you could help us out, that would be great. We’ll pay you for your trouble.”
That had his attention. He set the cards down in front of him. His friends grumbled. She got the impression it had more to do with him going against the agreement than a delay in their game. “What makes you think I have any answers, just because you’re from the same country as I am?”
“I don’t know. The barkeep said….”
“Vlad will say anything to get trouble to move on.”
Vlad--like the Impaler. She snorted. “I’m looking for someone. Maybe you’ve seen her. Or maybe you know someone who’s seen her.”
“Vampire with long red hair? Beautiful? Powerful? Steel gray eyes? Nope. Haven’t seen her. In fact, I’ve never heard of her.” He picked up the cards again and started shuffling them.
Jo’s patience began to thin. “How did you know that’s who we are looking for?”
He shrugged and set about dealing the cards. “Listen, if you wanna talk, sit down, and I’ll deal you in. Otherwise, you’re disrupting our game. And I don’t like disruptions.”
She wasn’t very good at poker. It had been years since she’d played. It was kind of hard to play anything but solitaire when you basically had no friends and lived all alone. But she had played before and watched Elliott and Brandon play a million hands as a kid. She sat down, pulling out some coins since that’s what everyone seemed to be using for the most part, and the American dealt her in.
Her cards were shit. Reminding herself that she wasn’t there to play a game, and it didn’t matter if she lost, even though she hated to lose, she asked again. “How did you know?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he waited to see who was in and who was out. Jo folded. He smirked at her and said, “I hear things. You’re not the first.”
Jo raised an eyebrow. Perhaps he’d caught rumor of her father’s search party. But they had only done a bit of reconnaissance before pulling it back to regroup. “Do you know where she is?”
“Nope. And if I did… I wouldn’t tell you.” He was one of two players left. The other one folded, and the American showed his cards. He’d won quite a bit of coin with only an ace and a queen, not even of the same suit. So he was a bluffer.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“Because we have an agreement with the Vampires. I think you know that.”
“I think you know that agreements with Vampires only last as long as there’s a more convenient food source.”
He stared her in the eye for a moment. “Are you in or out?”
“I’m out.” Jo pushed her chair back. This guy may be bluffing now, but she wasn’t going to waste any more time on him, not when there had to be someone willing to talk. She stood, tossing a couple more coins onto the pile. “Thanks for your time.”
Jo turned to walk away from the table, cutting between the crowd of regulars who had gathered around the table to watch the Americans go head to head in a hand Jo knew she’d never be able to win. Or maybe they just wanted to make sure this person they’d put their hope in wasn’t about to betray their way of life. Either way, shoving between them to get to the door provided a medley of body odor she could’ve done without, and by the time she reached the fresh air of the Siberian winter, she was glad to have the crisp air filling her lungs.
The rest of her team made their way outside, following her to the Jeep. Jo didn’t stop until she was sitting in the passenger seat. The others clambered inside, their questions all the same as her own. What now?
Zane sat behind the wheel for a moment, staring right ahead. It took him several minutes to voice what was on his mind. “Maybe we should try again. He might be willing to help us if there was more in it for him.”
“I think he would be, too,” she admitted. “But not in there. Not in front of all of those people.”
Leo swore under his breath. “How can anyone trust a treaty with Vampires?”
Jo had no answer for that, so she didn’t provide one. “Let’s find a spot on the outskirts of town, and I’ll check in with the others. Maybe someone else has had some luck.”
“Wouldn’t they let us know if they did?” Ping asked, his tone conveying curiosity more than sarcasm.
“I would hope so, but I don’t know.” In order for Jo to trust that the other leaders would check in with her, she’d have to assume that they trusted her leadership, and she didn’t.
Zane did as she directed and found a spot not too far out of town where they could still see the bar, away from the houses and other businesses.
None of the other leaders had reported because they had nothing to say. Cassidy and her team hadn’t reached their destination yet. The others either had gotten a similar reaction to the one Jo had received or were still in the process of tracking down possible contacts. No one was optimistic.
Jo sighed in frustration. “Nothing to report at the moment,” she said, filling them in as quickly as she could. “It’s not looking good.”
“Do we have any other leads at all?” Zane asked, his expression as crestfallen as Jo felt.
She shook her head. “Not really. There might be a weak link among the citizens here who could lead us to wherever the Vampires are hiding out, but if the American won’t crack, why would any of them? He seems like a bit of a drifter, like he’ll go wherever he can make a quick buck. The rest of those people live here.”
“Maybe if we go back in with more money and ask him to meet us somewhere….” Ping’s thought petered out. Jo had already considered that, but she wouldn’t be able to have a private conversation with the man while he was inside the crowded bar. Any more of a public plea would only result in more of the same.
The sun was going down, so Jo expected to see even more people traipsing toward the bar. Instead, the opposite was happening. The lower the sun sank in the sky, the more people left the bar and headed home, most of them glancing around over their shoulders as they went in pairs across the frozen earth, their shoes kicking up snow as they hurried on their way.
“They are afraid,” she noted, leaning forward in her seat, a spring of hope coming to life in the back of her mind.
“Why are they afraid if they have a treaty in place?” Ping asked.
“They know they can’t trust the Vampires,” Zane said, looking at him in the rearview mirror. “Maybe they’ve already started to turn.”
“So… if they’re afraid, maybe one of them will be willing to talk,” Jo thought aloud.
“Or maybe one of the bloodsuckers will show up, and we can follow the fucker home,” Leo offered.
“There’s no guarantee that she’ll be there,” Jo reminded him. “Or that the clan will know where she’s at or be willing to talk. But that would be a start.”
They sat and watched the villagers scurry home until the light all but faded. Jo hadn’t seen the American come out of the establishment, but then, she might’ve missed him in one of the rushes of people, or maybe he’d used a different door.
Another hour passed, and Jo was just about to tell Zane to take off so they could go find a place to stay for the night when she saw a hunched form moving toward the Jeep from a wooded area behind them. The form was moving quickly for a human, but it was nothing supernatural.
She looked at Zane and he nodded. “Leo, scoot over.”
“What?” He sounded as if he’d dozed off, but before Zane could clarify, the back door of the Jeep flew open and Leo was pushed aside.
“Drive.”