Chapter Seven

Josef paced back and forth in his lavish Parisian hotel room, trying very hard not to lose his temper. "What do you mean you can't freaking find him?" he hissed into his cell.

"Uh … I lost the signal," Logan replied from 5,000 miles away in his basement. He had refused to leave with Mick and Josef, insisting he would be more helpful with his technology around him. But even at this distance, he was still scared of Josef. Initially, Logan had been excited at the prospect of working with the richest vampire in LA, but Logan just wanted to get back to Guitar Hero now. It was much simpler … and didn't involve him getting staked by a vengeful 400 year old. He was running every program he knew to try and locate Mick, absolutely nothing was working.

Josef growled. He knew Logan was a friend of Mick's, but he was about to have a very special place in the tar pits, the place reserved for those who really, really irritate him, if he didn't find Mick soon.

"Look, I'm sure it's a blip in the program, as soon as it comes back up, I'll call you," Logan said, hanging up and getting back to work before Josef had a chance to argue.

Josef slammed the phone shut. To say he was unhappy was a vast understatement. The plan had been so simple … Mick splashes himself around Paris and flushes Lance out of hiding. Track Mick via GPS as Mick tracked Lance. Lance leads Mick to Coraline, Josef and Mick get Coraline out, Mick goes back to his doomed mortal romance with Beth, Josef goes back to hot sex and blood with anyone willing, Coraline makes some other poor bastard miserable. Simple right?

But, of course, Josef thought, as with all simple plans, something always comes along to completely fuck it up. He was starting to wonder why he had agreed to this in the first place. He understood why Mick had to rescue Beth from the vampire plastic surgeon, and it ended up being kind of exhilarating. But Coraline? This was sliding into dangerous territory, they were messing with vamps that were not going to forgive or forget. Josef suddenly remembered why he was a lover, not a fighter.

Since they have come to Paris it had been one clusterfuck after another. Mick and Josef had split up to cover more area, but Mick had never returned and the GPS node had stopped working just as Mick seemed to be headed to the south-west of Paris. Josef had combed the last nightclub Mick was in and found nothing – no vampires at all, let alone any trace of Mick.

In sheer desperation, Josef had reached out to a friend of Coraline's – Cynthia Davis. Yet another aspect of the plan which had not gone well.

"I know you hate Mick, but she's your friend, Cynthia. Remember Coraline? I believe you two used to be tight?" Josef had suggested.

"You have no idea what you're messing with Josef. Coraline's family has its own rules, and there are always consequences for messing with them. Always," she had replied.

The fruitless conversation had ended with Josef vowing to track down Mick and Cynthia promising to 'see what she could find'. Even if Josef had breath, he wouldn't be holding it for that eventuality.

His restless, angry pacing was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. He sighed. What now? An angry torch-baring mob? Flame throwers?

He stalked over to the door and flung it open so hard it dented the wall behind it. Oh shit. He would have preferred the mob.

"Beth," he said , forcing his voice to sound cheerful, "How lovely to see you, but if you don't mind, I am a little busy right now …"

"Shut up Josef – where is he?" Beth interrupted, barging into the room and proceeding to search around for Mick as if he might be under a bed or in a closet.

"I'm sorry – shut up? Did you just tell me, Josef Kostan, to shut up? I don't think anyone's even done that before... It's kind of liberating!" Josef said with a half smile. He loved this girl!

Beth stopped her search and stood in front of him, not in the least bit concerned that he was a vampire and about one thousand times stronger than her. "Is he … with her? He hasn't called and I have no idea where he is! Has he left me for Coraline? Where is he?! Tell me right now!"

Beth looked like she was about to blow an aneurysm. Josef sighed again, this hero thing was tiresome. "This is … awkward. And not in a good way."

Beth waited, temper rising by the second. She had had the entire flight over here to work herself up into a good lather. She was most definitely good and lathered.

"Mick's … missing."

"What do you mean, missing?"

"Missing … as in the opposite of found," Josef deadpanned. "We were tracking him via GPS but he's fallen off the radar," Josef continued matter-of-factly. He saw no point in sugar coating it. "Logan's trying to get a fix on the signal now, but it's not looking good, it's been hours."

Beth felt her heart fall into her shoes and all her anger drained away to be replaced by burning fear. Suddenly, Mick running off with Coraline was the preferred alternative. Anything was better than … No! She wouldn't even let herself think it.

"Where was he last?" she said, snapping into investigation mode.

Josef led her over to black lacquered table, over which a map of Paris was spread.

"Here," he said, pointing to an area about 10 miles south-west of the centre of Paris. "Logan said he was moving quickly, he was in a car. The signal was strong one second and gone the next."

"Versailles," she muttered to herself. "Well, let's get go …"

Their next move was interrupted by yet another knock at the door. "Jesus! It's fucking Grand Central Station in here tonight!" Joseph said in exasperation as he walked to the door. He opened it to another shock. "Cynthia?"

"Josef," she acknowledged as she breezed in the door. "In here boys," she called behind her. She held open the door as about 10 young male vampires sporting the latest jeans, boots and leather piled into the room. Three of them were carrying large duffle bags over their shoulders.

"You've changed your mind about helping I see?"

"Woman's prerogative," she replied.

"And who are our new friends?" Josef inquired of Cynthia, an edge to his polite façade. Bringing rogue vampires to his hotel room was asking for an ass kicking.

"Revolutionaries," she replied easily, as if she were commenting on the weather.

Josef shook his head. "I'm sorry, I must have an ear wax problem, I thought you just said revolutionaries? Because that would be ridiculous wouldn't it? …"

"I did say revolutionaries. And you do have an earwax problem," Cynthia said snidely, a small smile playing around the corners of the her mouth.

Eyeing Beth, one of the men walked up to Cynthia and whispered in her ear. She nodded. "She's a human," Cynthia directed at Josef. "We don't need any human complications or witnesses. Understandably, my friends are keen to stay under the radar. If you could get rid of your midnight snack or hurry up and finish?"

Josef quickly covered Beth's mouth with his hand as she angrily started to correct Cynthia. "Ah, she's no snack," he interjected before she could say anything that would get her eaten. "This is Mick's … friend. She's down with the whole vampire thing."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "Oh. So this is the other woman Coraline mentioned?" she asked. The question was directed at Josef but she eyed Beth coolly. Eventually she shrugged, directing her next comment to Beth. "I wouldn't get too comfortable with Mick if I were you. He and Coraline never could stay away from each other for long."

Fortunately, Beth's mouth was still covered. Josef turned her to face him. "We're not going to say anything impolite are we? Because we recognize that we need as much help as we can get right now, don't we?" he emphasized through clenched teeth. Reluctantly, Beth nodded and Josef let her go. "If you wouldn't mind explaining the whole vampire revolutionary thing to me?" he asked of Cynthia.

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. The fight between the vampire nobility and the underclass didn't end with the reign of terror. It has been going on in the shadows away from human eyes for centuries. As with any vampire violence, obviously there have been accidental 'turnings' in that time. The fight is now vampire against vampire. Many have long memories and old battles continue. You've been living in LA too long Josef. There's a whole rest of the world out there you know."

"Thanks for the heads up," Josef retorted. "So they are going to help us get Mick back?"

One of the revolutionaries snorted.

"Yes, Josef," Cynthia replied sarcastically. "All these lovely men are going to risk their lives to get back some guy they've never met … They have their own agenda, obviously. It just happens to coincide with yours."

"Enlighten me," Josef said, ignoring the jibe.

One of the men, obviously the unofficially leader of the group, spoke up. "We are aware of the cure some of the nobility used to escape the reign of terror," he started, speaking with an startling English accent. "However, we suspect the cure has now been augmented to be made permanent."

Beth noticed Cynthia look away guiltily. The men obviously didn't know it was the initial research she did for Coraline which allowed Lance to achieve this.

"They plan on using this cure to rid Europe of all vampires not of their bloodline," the man continued. "They have been testing it in Paris, we have already lost comrades. We think it is ingestible and can be mixed with blood so unsuspecting vampires would not know until it was too late. If this is the case, this twisted family will rule, unchallenged, across Europe and will eventually re-emerge as the overlords of the human world, destroying anyone in their way, vampire or human. They do not see the need to keep our existence from the mortal world, they see themselves as rightful rulers and humans as their slaves."

Beth's blood ran cold.

"The time has come for us to move against them. If you manage to find your friend, good luck to you but that is not our priority."

Josef nodded. Any assistance, no matter how creepy, would be fine. "We can only assume Mick is with Lance. Now we just need to find them."

The leader nodded. "Where was he last?"

"Heading to Versailles."

Beth thought for a moment. "The palace!" she blurted. "He's at the palace!"

Cynthia looked at Beth as if she were a small, stupid child. "Silly human girl!" she scolded patronizingly. "The palace is now a museum and has been deserted for centuries. It would be fairly obvious if a family of vampires were living there!" Some of the men sniggered.

"Not IN it. UNDER it," Beth replied with infinite patience considering the circumstances. "Think about it! It is well known that King Louis the fifteenth and sixteenth undertook extensive renovations of the palace …" the revolutionaries hissed at the names. Beth continued, undeterred. "But little seemed to change the exterior of the castle towards the end, in fact much of it went unfinished despite massive amounts of crown money being utilized. What if they were excavating UNDER the palace? Would there be a more perfect place for vampire nobility to reside, out of the sunlight? The fact that there were secret passageways is well documented, after all, Marie Antoinette escaped rev … ah, people, through one in her bed chamber!"

Her vampire audience looked unconvinced.

"When the nobility was disbanded during the reign of terror, the artworks and furnishing of various palaces were sold off to cover France's huge foreign debts or kept in the eventual museum, but hundreds of well-known pieces were never found, along with many of the King's loyal subjects and family members! And if it were deep enough underground, Mick's GPS tracker wouldn't work would it?"

"Let's roll," Josef said, heading to the door.