Dark Wine at Death (A Hill Vampire Novel Book 4) by Jenna Barwin

Author:Jenna Barwin [Barwin, Jenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hidden Depths Publishing
Published: 2020-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 41

Tigisi Anderson’s home—the next night

Another eight o’clock sunset, and no early moonrise. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Tig powered down a pint of dark wine. Fifteen minutes later, she and Jayden arrived at the King Suites, one of the nicer hotels in Mordida.

Gregory greeted them at the door. She sized him up immediately. He stood over six feet and his t-shirt showed off his well-developed arm muscles, although his chest looked on the thin side. A no-nonsense military cut kept hair from his light blue eyes. No overt displays of hostility, but a thick scar ran along his square jaw line that suggested violence lurked somewhere in his past.

She stepped inside. The guest room was typical for its class: large, fluffy comforter, fancy throw pillows, and a cherry-finished table with four padded chairs.

They took care of introductions and then sat around the polished table. Tig laid down a manila file in front of her as Jayden grabbed the seat to her right.

“The reason we wanted to meet with you was to discuss Oscar’s application for residency,” Tig said. “We’ve had a sudden and unfortunate opening on the Hill.”

Gregory’s eyes shifted around and his knee bobbed—both signs of nervousness. “Why talk with me? Shouldn’t you talk with Oscar?”

Even his voice sounded nervous.

“Part of the problem is with how the open spot came about. Kim Han was murdered.”

Gregory paled, but said nothing.

Tig opened the file. “We were wondering if you’ve seen these mortals around the Rancho Valley or San Diego communities, or anyone’s nest, no matter how small.”

Gregory picked up the photos and shuffled through the shooters. Even the dead prison guard was included. He didn’t recognize any of them.

Tig took the photos back. “What about Blanche Larson?”

“She hung out with our community at times.”

Finally, the first confirmed connection between Blanche and Oscar. “Was she working for Oscar?”

“Not that I heard.” He gave a half shrug. “She’d float in and out, you know? I understand she spent more time with the San Diego Lodge.”

“What about Isaiah Jones, a.k.a. Jim Jones?”

“Oscar warned us to stay away from him.”

Tig raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Oscar isn’t known for sharing. He didn’t want us joining Jones’s movement.”

“And Frédéric Bonhomme—did you ever see him around?”

“He’s dead, right?”

“Yeah.”

“No, he never visited.”

Tig showed him the driver’s license picture of the Carlyle Cutter. They’d matched his thumbprint to the department of motor vehicles database. She didn’t want to share Chuck’s current condition with outsiders, so she skipped using a hospital bed photo.

Gregory looked at the image closely. “Mortal or vampire?”

“Mortal.”

“He’s Oscar’s type—at least five of his children look like this, or close to it—but I haven’t seen a mortal resembling him at Oscar’s recently.”

“Oscar has children who look like this?”

“Uh, well,” Gregory stammered, “I figured Marcus would have told you. Oscar has a habit of picking those who resemble Marcus. He likes having control over them.”

“Oh,” Tig said as the symbolism sank in. Oscar got to work out whatever unresolved issues he had with his maker on his children.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.