Texas Hold 'Em (16 page)

“The vampires own a bank?” Lacey asked, then to Megan, “Why don’t you own a bank? We could get a bigger house.”

Jacob frowned at her. “What? No, they don’t own a bank. At least not this one. This is a nationwide institution with global investments. No, this is bigger than vampires. This goes all the way up to
them
.”

Oh, sweet Jesus.
“I’m sure it does, Jacob. And later, when we’re finished with Christian, we can examine the possible implications of what the Illuminati might be planning to do with a rundown theater on the east side of San Antonio. Until then, can we please focus on the task at hand?”

Jacob huffed, but got back on track. “Fine. Not much else to go on so far. I called the cops and reported my car stolen. So maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Good idea. There can’t be that many ’71 gold Caddies driving around town,” I said.

“No, there aren’t.” Jacob’s tone stressed that there better not be one less when we were done with it. “But chances are if a vamp is driving and they do get pulled over, they’d just mind-control the cop into letting them go. But, if that happens, at least they’ll dump the car soon after. For your sake, they better have topped off the tank and waxed it first. Heaven help you if they torch it in an abandoned lot somewhere.”

I must have looked deflated, because after a moment Jacob walked up, placed his hand on my arm, and said, “First off, I’m not kidding about the car. If it comes back with so much as a scratch on it, you’re going to be in a bad way.”

He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “But don’t worry about your mom, Chance. I’ll find her. It may take some time; Christian’s been at this game for a while now, and he’s not liable to make many mistakes. Heck, we all thought he was dead these past twenty years. But don’t you worry, now that I know he’s out there, I’ll get him.”

“And if not?” It was a rhetorical question. I knew the answer. If not, I would never see my mom again.

“Don’t even think ‘if not.’ No one hides from Jacob Pierce. And in this case you got nothing to worry about, because he’ll find us. Granted, I’m a little harder to locate than most. For example, my name isn’t anywhere on the deed to this place. I took care of that back in the early ‘80s. Even so, he’ll get here eventually.”

“Maybe, but I can’t afford to sit around here and wait until he does. And I would prefer that I be the one who finds him. Like you pointed out earlier, it would help even the odds if I was the one with the element of surprise.”

“Oh, I have no intention of waiting here. Between you lot and Christian, I’m moving! I’ve been looking for an excuse to retire for a couple of years now anyway. Change my name. Find somewhere with a beach. Drink girly drinks with little umbrellas in them.

“But you can bet I’ll still be keeping an eye on the place. We’ll know whenever Christian visits, and then we’ll have him. Be patient. Learn the long game.”

“Screw that. Lacey, can’t we use a spell to find them?”

“Sorry, Chance. I told you we’d need something of either Christian’s or your mom’s for that to work.”

“Why not use Chance himself? He was always a momma’s boy,” offered Bryan.

“Funny,” I said, not amused.

Lacey looked thoughtful. “Well, normally it has to be a possession. Something with a connection to the person you’re looking for. Though Bryan’s right—you
are
related to your mom by blood. Maybe I
could
use a different type of magic…”

Jacob interjected. “No way. Nuh-uh. Not in my place. It’s bad enough I let you practice that necromancy stuff once. And I
only
did it to save Chance’s leg. But you’re not performing any more of that black magic in my house! It turns my stomach to think of what he’s got in there.”

“What who’s got? What’s in my leg?” I asked.

“Nothing to worry about,” said Lacey.

Which meant I should be worried, but I didn’t have the time right now. I filed it away as something to pursue later and got back to finding my mom. “They have my phone. Could we track it?” I asked.

Lacey perked up. “How long did you manage to keep this one?” she asked.

“Only a day. It’s a burner. I threw my last phone out the window on the way to Texas. I picked this one up at a convenience store.”

“Of course you did. Then, no, we can’t. It needs to be something you’ve had long enough or at least care enough about to form a bond with.”

“Like a fern?” Bryan asked.

Lacey shrugged. “Hey, it worked, so he must really be attached to whoever gave it to him.” She winked at me.

“Forget magic, then—how about technology?” Trying my best to ignore Megan’s smile, I turned to Kevin and asked, “Can you track the phone?”

“Assuming it’s on, and has a GPS,” said Kevin, tapping into his keyboard. “What’s the number?”

“It was a cheap disposable, no GPS.”

“Then sorry, man, can’t help you.”

“Time to call the locals,” said Lacey.

“I’d rather not,” said Megan.

“Shouldn’t you have done that already anyway? I mean, we’ve crashed their town. I thought you were supposed to let them know the competition’s grazing in their pasture.” Lacey glanced sideways at Megan.

“Seeing as we’re here to kill vampires, I thought it might be best to fly under the radar,” Megan responded.

“Ha!” said Lacey. “I knew you haven’t told anyone we’re here yet.”

“Locals?” I asked.

“The local vampires. They might know something useful,” supplied Lacey.

“I thought Christian was the local vampire,” I said. I had always assumed he was in charge of Texas, or at least Central Texas, much like Donovan was in charge of Northern California.

“No.” Jacob and Megan spoke at the same time. Jacob shot her a look, then continued. “At least, not any more. After we took him down, someone else took over.”

“Someone else? I thought you guys had cleaned up Central Texas.”

“We did, for all of about ten minutes,” Jacob stated. “Vampires are territorial. They stake out places to call their own, and this here is a prime hunting ground.”

Megan frowned. “It’s not a hunting ground, it’s a territory. But Jacob’s right: most of the large urban populations never go unclaimed for long.”

“And this one has a new load of prey arriving on every plane. With all of the out-of-town consultants, especially up in Austin, there’s an opportunity to pick off a few who won’t be missed. You know, for those vamps who
do
kill their prey.” Jacob shot a “prove me wrong” look at Megan.

Megan sighed. “Most of the vampires who kill are nomadic, but they’re the minority these days. It’s too difficult to not get caught. To live as a vampire in today’s world, you need a steady supply of blood without leaving a trail of bodies.” She returned Jacob’s gaze and continued. “And that requires infrastructure, which is why most of us live in cities. Even those who live in smaller towns or rural areas are still under the control of one of the master vampires.”

Jacob nodded. “And apparently this area has plenty of those, because the second we removed Christian, another vampire was already lined up waiting to take his place. It was like Christian never left. Like all our efforts were for nothing.”

“And you let this happen?” I asked.

“We retired, Chance. And that was part of the reason why. After everything that happened, and losing Jeffrey and Craig… seeing someone else take Christian’s place so soon was discouraging, to say the least.” He looked morose.

“Besides, this new one’s crafty. Christian was powerful, but this one’s far more cunning. I’ve been keeping tabs on them, of course—to make sure nothing truly egregious went unpunished. But for all intents and purposes I’ve been out of the business until you guys started back up six months ago.

“Now, once Robert got back in the game, I started getting a little more serious. Ran out the feelers a little farther. Started getting a profile together of this new master, but I wasn’t about to let you yahoos take on the local power. Y’all wouldn’t have stood a chance against this one without more training. I needed more intel before we made our move. We weren’t ready yet.”

“Yet?” asked Bryan. “Damn, so you were planning on sticking it to the new dude in charge, huh?”

Jacob’s answer wasn’t verbal, but it was apparent he had been planning exactly that.

“Do you think whoever is in charge now will know where Christian is?” I asked Jacob.

Jacob had clammed up, realizing he might have run his mouth off a bit too much about his plans for the current Texas vampire power structure, given the present undead company.

Megan answered for him. “They might. Christian should have checked in with them, let them know he would be staying in their territory. There are rules about these things.”

“Oh, come on, Megan. You keep Donovan in the dark about almost everything, and you’re Miss Goody-Two-Shoes compared to Christian. Do you think he’s told the head of this area where he is?”

“If he didn’t, repercussions would follow. Payments must be made. If he hid his presence, he would be crossing whoever is in charge.”

“Like what you’re doing now,” Lacey stated.

“Payments?” I asked.

“Hey, I heard about that. Uncle Jake told me. It’s like a hunting lease!” said Kevin. “Any vampire who plans on staying awhile in another’s territory has to pay the person in charge rent or tax or whatever to stay. Otherwise they’d be a poacher, right?”

“Something like that,” Megan admitted. “Though Christian appears to have gone maverick since Jacob and his friends killed his family, so it’s anyone’s guess. But that doesn’t mean someone here hasn’t heard anything. When a group of hunters gets taken down, people tend to find out. I’d be surprised if at least one of Christian’s posse hasn’t been bragging to someone about it.”

“So where do we find the head vamp around here?” asked Lacey.

Megan didn’t answer.

Jacob shrugged. “Don’t make no difference to me. Like I said, I’m out. Packing up and moving to the beach. Live and let live is my new motto, and I’m expanding it to include the undead,” said Jacob, with a grudging nod to Megan.

When Megan didn’t offer any more insight into the location of the head vampire, I spoke up. “Checking with whoever is in charge makes sense to me. Even if it turns out to be a dead end, it beats waiting around here hoping Jacob gets lucky.”

Jacob sat up straighter. “Luck’s got nothing to do with it. What I do is research. Investigation. Patience and attention to detail is what I’m all about. I never ‘get lucky.’”

“Damn, that sucks. If you want some pointers, let me know.” Bryan laughed at his own joke.

When Kevin started chuckling, Jacob said, “Kid, I’ve been wooing the ladies since before you were born.”

That was my cue. I stood up.

“This is fun, but I want to do something besides listen to you two compare conquest stories. Let’s go meet this master vampire of Texas.”

“Sorry, Chance, but you can’t come on this one,” said Megan.

“What? Why not? Yes I can.”

“Oh, gee, I don’t know—something about bringing a vampire hunter into a nest of vampires might not make the best impression on the host. If they didn’t outright kill us, Donovan would do it when we got back. Bringing you would be a reflection on him. He’s the one who has to get us the audience.”

“I’m not a hunter anymore. I’m retired, like Jacob. Besides, why would Donovan be upset? It’s not like you didn’t bring me to see
him
last week.”

“That was all Lacey. I was in the trunk of the car, remember? And I still think that was an incredibly bad idea. Donovan is a lot more tolerant than most—”

Lacey interrupted with a snort. “No kidding. He’s had you to break him in.”

“But,” Megan continued, “I’m still surprised he didn’t kill you, and I expect fallout.”

“You were surprised he didn’t kill me?” I asked, churning that bit of information. “Lacey, how did you know he wouldn’t kill me?”

She shrugged. “I actually figured it was fifty-fifty. What can I say? Megan pays half the rent. I had to save her ass. Besides, you had totally trashed my house and I was angry.”

“Hey, I was there too! Damn, woman, that’s cold,” said Bryan.

Lacey smiled. “Relax. I’m messing with you. I figured the worst he would do is wipe both of your memories and leave you two together naked on the side of the road somewhere. Donovan’s not a bad guy. Besides, it worked out.

“He even helped us get rid of Jacob’s urn, even if it was self- serving.” Lacey turned to Jacob. “Hey, old man, you do know that thing almost leveled a church? And I ended up possessed?”

Jacob was momentarily startled by the attack, but quickly recovered. “It’s not my fault! Chance didn’t follow directions. It should have been easy.”

Lacey laughed. “With Chance, it’s never easy. Anyway, Megan, it all worked out. Donovan’s cool with it.”

“Maybe, but I still think it’s going to come back to bite us. Not every vampire is as tolerant as Donovan. I can’t think of any vampires that would be comfortable having a vampire hunter know where they lived, recently retired or not. And I suspect that will hold true with the ones back home. Jessica and Gregory certainly haven’t forgiven us, and I doubt the Master of Texas would either,” Megan said.

Gregory was Megan’s ex. Jessica was his new girlfriend. One or both of them had already betrayed us once, almost getting us killed. Though I wasn’t sure how much of it had to do with me being a hunter, and how much had to do simply with Jessica’s jealous dislike of Megan.

In general, Megan was right, of course. The vampires had been cordial enough while I was a guest and under Donovan’s implicit protection, but they would be apprehensive about me, to say the least, and eager to put their minds at rest by putting
me
at rest, if given the opportunity.

Still, I had to find my mom, and this was a good lead.

“Come on, Megan—this master won’t know I’m a hunter. Can’t you pretend I’m part of your crew or whatever it is you vampires call it?”

“Blood bags,” said Jacob, disgusted.

“When it’s a group of blood bags together, I think they refer to it as an entourage—it’s more pretentious,” Lacey said. “It’s true, Megan, you guys bring humans around with you all the time. You can tell them you brought your own food. Maybe even offer to share.”