Brandon held his hands up. “All I’m asking is for you to think about all this carefully,” he said. His eyes locked with Connor’s. “It’s very exciting to finally meet you.”

“What the hell are you expecting of me?” Connor asked. “What does your prophecy think I can do for you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Why do vampires need help with salvation? Immortality and preternatural abilities not enough to keep you going as a dominant species?”

Brandon looked at us as though he were addressing children. “All in good time,” Brandon said. “As I mentioned, I think you need to digest what you have heard today before we address the greater needs of my people.”

Connor’s face darkened. He wasn’t getting the answers he wanted and his frustration was mounting. Before he could go to an even darker place, I grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door.

“We’ll see what we can do,” I said to Brandon.

Brandon’s face changed. He looked unhappy. “You’ll forgive me if I seem less than enthusiastic,” he said. “No offense, but despite our prophecy, your department’s previous policy of ‘Dust First, Ask Questions Later’ fills me with skepticism.”

I walked a somewhat dazed Connor to the door at the far end of the room and opened it. Aidan was leaning up against the wall, playing with a PSP.

“Give me a second alone with Brandon,” I said to Connor, still holding the door open. “I’ll be right out. You going to be okay out here?”

Connor nodded, and then looked at Aidan for approval. Aidan nodded, but gave me a look of distrust, eyeing the retracted bat in my hand. I raised it up and waggled it back and forth. “I just need to talk to your boss. Don’t worry about this. There’s no pointy end.”

Aidan laughed, his fangs showing in the gesture, but he waved me back toward Brandon’s quarters and started down the stairs. Connor followed after him close behind. I closed the door and turned back into the room, walking back to where Brandon stood by his fireplace. The rest of his vampiric council had left him alone there, staring up at an oil painting hanging over the fireplace depicting a gorgeous dark-haired woman with Greek features in a blue dress that, given my eye for art, I placed as Renaissance.

“She’s beautiful,” I said. “Who is she?”

Brandon looked away from her over to me. He seemed surprised to see me there. “She is none of your concern,” he said, turning to look back up at her, “but I was much less enlightened when I knew Damaris, far less studious about the prophecies.”

“Damaris,” I repeated, staring up at the painting for a moment as I put a name to her. I turned my attention back to Brandon. “Women will change a man. Speaking of women, I almost forgot. Your building here… not the castle, but the Gibson-Case Center…?”

Being in the room with Brandon and the rest of the vampires as the only human took on a more somber quality. Without Connor at my side, I felt a lot less secure.

“Yes?” Brandon asked. “What about it?”

“It kind of ate my girlfriend,” I said.

Brandon stared at me blankly. “Excuse me?”

“Jane,” I said. “Her name is Jane Clayton-Forrester. We were using one of the information kiosks and, well… it kind of engulfed her. She’s somewhere in the building’s systems. It even lists her among the tenants. She’s been in contact with me, but she’s not really sure what’s happened to her.”

“I see,” Brandon said. “You must understand. I don’t really handle all these technical aspects. I’m afraid long life has left me somewhat slow in adapting to this changing world.”

“But from what Aidan told me, I thought you were their… leader,” I said, not quite sure what type of title was appropriate for the head vampire in charge. Lord, Master… Big Biter on Campus?

“Make no mistake,” Brandon added. “I am, but as far as those types of details, well, that’s what I have minions for.” He gestured toward the other vampires in the room and made a beckoning gesture. “I will leave that up to my colleague here. Nicholas?”

One of the vampires stepped forward. He looked to be around thirty and had shoulder-length brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. His clothes were modern, high fashion that bordered on runway absurd for a man, but finely tailored, certainly better than anything I owned.

“Hello,” he said, very politely. With just a greeting off his lips, I could already hear the thickness of an English accent much more Old World than the Inspectre’s. “My name is Nicholas Vanbrugh. I am the one responsible for the supervision and maintenance of this facility. I hope I can be of some assistance.”

I did, too. Not being eaten alive was a good way to start the day, but none of it mattered if I couldn’t get Jane back.

15

Connor and Aidan were long gone from the top of the stairs by the time Nicholas and I started down them from Brandon’s chambers. The creepy vibe from being in a roomful of vampires was replaced with the creepy vibe from being alone in an ancient castle corridor with just one of them. Darkness filled the staircase, which was lit by only the faint glow of torches set halfway down them. We worked our way down the stairs, my footsteps the only ones echoing as we went. I calmed my nerves by hoping that we were still in the heart of New York City, no matter how unlikely that felt here in Castle Dracula.

By the time we reached the base of the stairs, I had told Nicholas everything I could about what had happened to Jane at the information kiosk. He had listened intently, but when we came across Connor and Aidan at the bottom, something changed in Nicholas. The emotions pouring off of him radiated an anger that caused him to withdraw into himself. Aidan seemed to notice it as well, but seemed to be playing the part of the too-cool-for-school teen leaning up against the wall.

Connor, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it all. He was simply staring at his brother, looking him over, entirely fascinated. Aidan turned to look at me as Nicholas and I approached.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

I laughed out loud, trying to hide my nervousness. “I’d hardly call any of this okay.” I nodded toward Aidan, wondering if Connor had told him he was his brother yet. “Did you two discuss anything interesting…?”

Connor shook his head.

Aidan looked down at the retracted bat in my hand. I moved it to my belt, hung it in its holster, and pulled my coat over it.

I looked at Connor. “Nicholas here is going to help us with our Jane problem.”

“That’s great, kid,” Connor said, still distracted by Aidan’s presence. “You can get on with that without me, right?”

I grabbed him by his sleeve, dragging him a few feet away from his brother, forcing him to look at me.

“Hey,” I said, giving him a series of light slaps to the face. “Snap out of it. What’s going on with you? Does Aidan have you in his thrall or something?”

Connor’s eyes came into focus and he grabbed me hard by my wrist, stopping me. “What? Enough, kid! No, I’m not in his thrall.”

“You sure?” I asked. “You’re acting all… like this.”

Connor laughed and shook his head. “Jesus, Simon, I just found out that dead Aidan Christos of twenty years is actually undead Aidan Christos of twenty years! Of course I’m dazed. Hell, I’ve seen you more dazed about missing Jane for a few hours.”

“Yeah,” I whispered, “but the thing is, if you leave me alone with Jane, you don’t have to worry that she’ll turn me into the walking dead. I’m not leaving you here with him.”

“You know,” Aidan said from the spot he and Nicholas occupied farther down the castle corridor, “one of the cool things about being all vamped out is the heightened senses. Like, you know, hearing, for instance.”

“Sorry,” I said, speaking up and turning to him. “Didn’t mean to offend. I just don’t think it’s in our best interest to leave my partner alone here in a den thick with vampires.”