Midnight's Kiss (Elder Races #8)(74)

“Understood.” She smiled. “Listen, I’d better go. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“All right, darling. Be safe.”

“I will.”

Disconnecting, she blew out a breath. At least her immediate family hadn’t conspired together to take a wrecking ball to her love life, so there was that.

No, she was beginning to think that Bailey might have acted on her own. Hotheaded, impulsive Bailey who lived hard, broke the rules, and who had once called Julian a bloodsucking boneheaded bastard.

Had Ferion been a willing participant, or had he thought he was just playing a little sex game when Bailey whipped out a wig?

Oh, that was downright skeevy. Melly made a face. She was going to have to break her fist on his face too, the next time she saw him.

Slipping on the slender, new house shoes that Gregoire had purchased for her, she took one more bite of cheese and headed out of the suite.

Following the sound of voices, she made her way through the downstairs level to Julian’s study. The room was darker than the rest of house, heavy on traditional décor, with wood paneling, oak floors, an imported Persian rug and a massive mahogany desk. A small sitting area with plain, cream furniture took up one end of the room.

As she entered, she found Julian and Xavier leaning over a street map that had been spread out on the surface of his desk. A young, dark-haired human woman with striking, angular features sat in the sitting area, listening to the men’s conversation with an intent expression.

After giving the unknown woman a curious glance, Melly focused on Xavier and Julian.

Xavier was the perfect example of how looks could be deceiving. While he appeared to be a pleasant, somewhat nondescript young man in his early twenties, in reality he was a Powerful Vampyre at least four hundred years old, a gentleman to his core, and a deadly fighter.

Beside Julian’s larger, more muscular build, Xavier appeared almost delicate to Melly’s eyes. It was another deception. His slim build contained a steely strength.

The occupants in the room looked up as she entered.

She went straight to Xavier, who stepped forward to give her a hug. He told her, “Melly, I am so glad you’re all right.”

She took note of how stiffly he moved. Normally he did everything with a liquid, panther-like grace. She tightened her arms around him with care. “I feel the same way about you. Thank God you’re all right.”

He gave her a small, grave smile. “I’d like you to meet Tess. She is my…” His voice trailed off, and he looked at the woman in some consternation.

Tess raised an eyebrow at him. Her intelligent expression turned humorous. “Your girlfriend?”

He laughed. “Yes, she is my girlfriend.”

Melly’s gaze lingered on his expression. Despite the evident pain of his condition, and the serious reasons why he had come to Julian’s house, he was lit with happiness.

She told Tess, “I’m delighted to meet you. Anyone who is important to Xavier is important to me.”

The other woman gave her a shy smile. “Thank you. I’m delighted to meet you too.”

“Tess saved my life,” Xavier said. “If she hadn’t known what to do and acted so quickly, the poison would have killed me.”

“All the more reason to welcome you,” Melly told her, returning her smile. Having finished with the pleasantries, she turned to Julian. “What do we know? How is the search going?”

His hard face was tight with frustration. “Too slowly,” he growled. “The only thing we’ve achieved so far is keeping pressure on her – at least I hope so. The problem is, whenever I make a countermove against her, she escalates to doing something else. Each time it gets more extreme. The last time she kidnapped you.”

“What about the helicopter you heard?” Melly asked as she looked from one male to the other.

Xavier shook his head. He said in his quiet, pleasant voice, “We’ve confirmed at least a dozen helicopter flights today alone. We’re looking into each one, but that takes time.”

Julian planted one fist on the top of his desk. “The one great advantage that any criminal has is that they can move quickly. Investigations take time. The fact is, we aren’t going to get her with the citywide search. It’s logical, methodical, and it’s not moving fast enough. We have to get in front of this. We have to make an intuitive leap to where she is going next and be waiting for her when she gets there.”

Closing her eyes, Melly pinched the bridge of her nose in an effort to think. Then she looked at Julian. “Justine said it, down in the tunnels. It’s all about you. Everything she has done has been about you.”

“Well,” he replied dryly, “it might have sounded good in theory, but she said that to needle me, and it isn’t exactly true.”

Suddenly Tess spoke up. “What she really wants is power. Every time someone acts to check her behavior, she lashes out. Xavier was surveilling her, so she killed his operative and tried to get rid of him as well. Same thing with Julian. Even killing all of her attendants was a massive, monstrous f*ck you.” The human looked around the room. “I mean, come on. How likely was it that she let something slip that one of them would have overheard?”

“Can’t argue with that,” said Julian.

“Miss Melisande,” said Gregoire from the doorway. “Your sister and the Light Fae troops have arrived.”