"He didn't resist," reports Bella. "He didn't even try to flee."
"Can't blame him, in his age," muses Edward.
"Did he say anything?" asks Jasper.
"Oh yes. It will be all in Hermione's report. The short version is, the last time he saw another Death Eater was over a dozen years ago. He was asked if he had any interest in becoming a vampire, which he declined. He was then told that all of them are to keep low and not to stir any trouble."
They don't need to say anything more, all is clear. They have known already that Feller's counterpart went underground. He is probably hoping that they'll drown in their own problems. And that expectation has turned out to be correct - not in scale, but at least in principle.
Vampires created by Feller have the same level of potency as the Volturi did and a portion of them going rogue is a problem. On the other hand, this is quite an embarrassment for Feller. Perhaps he'll be more cooperative in the future.
As Taylor nears the island, he stops the speedboat from time to time to watch for any unnatural lightning phenomenon. He wouldn't want to interrupt them in a middle of something important. No wonder they have chosen such a place - no neighbors to worry about.
He docks and goes to search for his employer, announcing his presence loudly. They aren't in the bungalow, no surprise there - they wouldn't want to damage anything in there by an EMP. He faces the jungle, puts his hands to his mouth, and roars, "Mr. Grey! Mrs. Grey! I need to talk to you! It's important."
Ana walks out of the jungle - in her human form. Taylor half-expected Christian to arrive riding on the back of her wolf form, like in Lord of the Rings. Unbeknownst to him, Ana has stopped using her wolf form for the time being.
"What's going on?"
"There has been a sabotage. Or rather an attack. I need to talk to Mr. Grey."
"We'll meet you in the house."
She runs away again.
They gather around Taylor's laptop and he tells them what happened. Breaking into the Grey Enterprises HQ's server room. Theft of data. An incendiary bomb to cover the tracks. Luckily, the fire suppression system did its work. Being argon based, the servers were damaged only by the fire.
"So, you'll be able to determine which data were accessed?" asks Ana.
"It's being worked on already."
They have not reported the incident to the authorities yet, they have been waiting for Christian's say so. He decides to wait till they learn more. They are still going through everybody who entered the room.
Taylor has not told Ana's family either. On that score, Ana and Christian disagree. Christian sees no reason to bother them with it. Ana insists that while they truly don't need to "bother them", they should be at least informed.
They both agree that it is time to go back.
Christian is feeling strange in economy plus. Alas, the three of them wanted to be able to sit together. Ana is watching camera footage from the hallway before the server room from the day of the attack. She plays the video at a maximum speed allowed by technical limitations of the laptop.
"Here," she proclaims and shifts the device to Christian, who's sitting in the center.
"What are we looking at?" asks Taylor as Christian plays the part.
"We should trace this guy on other cameras for two reasons," explains Ana. "One, it's possible for this guy to be Hyde. Two, he's making sure the camera doesn't catch his face."
The two men have their doubts but they don't dismiss the idea.
"OK, I'll let Barney know as soon as we land," agrees Taylor.
Ana takes the laptop back to watch the rest. They don't discus the issue in the plane, too many ears.
Ana was right. The saboteur was Jack Hyde. Barney has tracked his every move in GEH's properties and has compiled a list of files he accessed. Luckily, everything stored on the servers is of mundane nature.
"Well, that's it," proclaims Ana, clasping her hands together. "Time to get rid of him."
"We've been through this already," reacts Christian sternly. "Besides, we can't find him anyway."
Taylor clears his throat. "Not to mention that the police knows about his partial fingerprint on the helicopter. In addition to this, there would be a clear link."
"Are we telling them?" asks Ana.
Christian deliberates for a moment. "What do you think?" he asks Taylor.
"Well, you know the answer already. I would have them alerted immediately if you had not said otherwise. However, it's your decision."
Christian nods and turns to Ana. "Aren't you going to propose to ask your grandfather for advice?"
Ana shakes her head. "As far as my family is concerned, this is a test. Of how we perform without them holding our paw."
Christian thinks briefly that he doesn't have a paw but he doesn't say anything. Taylor speaks first anyway.
"They told you that?"
"They didn't need to. Our MO is not to stick our noses in affairs of individual families. Especially when there is a grownup already who makes sure we don't do anything too stupid." Her eyes flick to Taylor who does his best not to react.
Christian ignores her last remark. Instead, he runs his fingers through his hair and makes the decision. "Very well, let's be transparent. Inform the authorities."
"Very good. I'll get to it right away if that's all."
"I thought about one more think," reveals Ana. "Don't you think Mrs. Jones should be aware of what's going on? I'm not talking about dragons and wizards, at least for now - that would require an NDA. However, she should know about Jack Hyde so she's not surprised like when Leila tried to kill herself here."
Christian looks at Taylor. "Sounds reasonable. Do you agree?"
"It would be probably prudent," he admits. "I'll talk to her."
"And when you are talking to her, maybe you ought to give her some forewarning that strange things might happen," adds Ana. "Nothing concrete, for now, just that she's not completely surprised."
"What exactly should I tell her?"
"I'm sure you'll think of something."
Taylor sighs and nods.
"He has disappeared," informs Taylor. "The police can't find him."
"John Black told you that?" asks Christian.
"No, the investigator who's looking into this mentioned it. Unofficially. I guess he wanted to see my reaction too."
"Huh. Makes sense," comments Ana. "To be honest, my brother and Mr. Smith and the others have enough worries with the vampire situation as it is."
Christian and Taylor know about vampires but they weren't briefed on any situation.
"I beg your pardon?" Taylor asks.
Ana explains briefly about Rufus Feller and a faction of his renegade fledglings.
"Wait a moment," exclaims Christian in a hushed voice. "Are you telling us that Rufus Feller was turned into some kind of an elder vampire?"
Unlike Taylor, Christian didn't pay much attention to Feller's disappearance back then but he has read about the case later.
"A true vampire. One of the two last ones."
"What makes you think you can trust him?" asks Taylor. "A guy like that couldn't be trusted even as a human."
"We don't trust him. But my grandparents say that undeath made him wiser. He's a lesser evil for us and that's why we don't seek to destroy him."
Christian rubs his eyes. He wasn't thinking about their agreement to turn him into a lite-vampire much since the wedding but this talk of vampires reminded him about it.
"Don't dwell on it," sends him Ana. "This is old generation stuff. It doesn't apply to my grandparents and it will concern you even less."
"Never mind," states Christian. "Back to Jack Hyde. Taylor, is there any chance we can succeed where the police has failed?"
Taylor shakes his head.
"He must have gone underground. If it was possible for us to find him, we would have found him after the incident with the helicopter."
"Is it possible that someone is helping him?"
"You mean your competition, for example? Can you think of any corporation which would go to such lengths?"
Now it is Christian turn to shake his head. But even as he does, a little sliver of a thought passes through his mind. Eric Lincoln, Elena's ex-husband. It is gone as soon as it comes. He hasn't thought about Linc for some time. Once, when he was still upset about Linc beating Elena up, he decided to start buying shares of his company covertly. He abandoned the plan some time ago when he found out that Linc's interest in the company had sunk to his share in it.
"Well, we'll keep looking," says Taylor. "But we don't have the resources to conduct a wide search."
"Is the police going to keep looking for him?"
"I'm afraid they have other criminals to worry about. Until there's more solid evidence, he's a missing person for them. They won't even tell us if they find him."
There is a moment of silence.
"Well, I'd better talk to his former assistants again," muses Ana. "They've been meeting regularly since we made the arrangements for them. Rather strange, considering they had nothing to say to us."
Christian nods.
"Remember," cautions her Taylor. "Any money offer is out of the window. At this point, it would look like bribery."
Time passes. Ana and Christian finish most of the planned renovations on their new house and spend their weekends there.
Not being able to drive in is a mild nuisance because leaving a car on the road every time could attract attention. Instead, Christian rents a stall in a garage along the way. They leave their car there and continue on bicycles.
To stay connected with the rest of the world, they leave one of their mirrors with Taylor during weekends so he can alert them when something requires their attention.
Things at SIP settle down nicely. They rename it to Grey Publishing, as advertised in advance, but all employees and authors get used to the new name soon enough when they see no other change.
Welch reports that he is sure that there is no connection between Hyde and Christian or Carrick in recent past. He is instructed to keep digging deeper in time but at this point, it is a goose chase.
One day, Elizabeth Morgan disappears. She doesn't show up at work and doesn't call. Ana notices her absence.
At the end of the day, she overhears other HR people talking about the matter. It isn't like Morgan not to call in being sick, her being the head of HR.
Normally, Ana wouldn't pay attention but the situation with Hyde and the fact that Morgan covered for him changes things. Mr. Roach is still in his office. Ana asks him whether he knows what's up with Morgan and then offers to go check up on her.
"Is it really necessary?" he asks.
Ana shares her concerns. Mr. Roach tells her that she is being paranoid but to go ahead if it makes her feel better.
She discovers more than she bargained for. She doesn't notice anything yet when she enters the apartment building where Morgan lives but when she reaches Morgan's floor, she detects a faint scent of a vampire diluted by time and covered by passage of people. Her suspicion is confirmed when she reaches Morgan's door - a vampire was definitely there. There is no sign of a forced entry though.
Ana calls her brother John immediately but his phone is in an airplane mode. He is at a meeting probably. She calls Sue instead and briefs her on the situation. Then she rings Morgan's neighbors until she finds someone who's at home. No, they haven't seen Morgan nor have they heard any disturbance from her apartment. They tell her where to find the manager.
The position is occupied by a middle aged lady who, at first, isn't very interested in the reason for Ana's visit. Only when she tells her that she has notified authorities already she agrees to go check on Morgan. The manager gets in the elevator and makes it clear by positioning her body that she wishes to ride up alone. That makes little difference to Ana. When the elevator door opens on Morgan's floor, Ana is standing there already.
"I don't like to use elevators with strangers either," she admits to the startled lady, smiling awkwardly.
The lady shakes her head and walks to Morgan's door. She turns back to Ana when she notices being followed. "Look, I don't know you. You need to wait in the hall, I can't let you in."
"OK," replies Ana, raising her hands in surrender. "Just don't touch anything, cops wouldn't like that."
The manager doesn't comment and unlocks the door. It hasn't actually been locked, just slammed shut. The chain has been unlatched.
The manager walks in and Ana peeks in as best as she can from the outside. There are two glasses of whiskey on the living room table but only one of them has been drank from. The smell of the vampire isn't any stronger inside, there is an open window. There is a bloodstain on the carpet.
"Please, step out of the room and lock the door," Ana requests.
The manager half turns towards her absentmindedly, not noticing anything strange herself. She moves towards the window to close it.
"Don't temper with evidence," growls Ana, standing suddenly right behind the manager.
"What have I told you?" she says as soon as she gets over the shock. "Get out!"
"Let's both of us get out. This is a crime scene."
Being inside, Ana estimates that the scent trace is about a day old.
The manager makes objections towards Ana's conduct and dismisses her claim as ludicrous but in the end, she does as Ana asks.
A police officer arrives to take photos and to seal the room. He doesn't ask Ana any questions but he goes around the neighbors and asks them whether they have noticed anything suspicious.
Finally, Mr. Smith arrives. He has the governor's dog with him, it is a convenient ruse. He tells the officer to guard the perimeter. When the cop throws a questioning look at Ana, Smith remarks that the dog isn't trained for English commands.
"Well, what do you've got for me?" he asks Ana.
"She knew the killer and let him in. Two glasses were poured but only she drank. The attack was sudden, no struggle and very little blood spilled."
The dog barks and whines at the smell of a vampire. Ana sniffs at the bloodstain and examines the window. There are some minuscule abrasions there.
"He used the window for egress. I can't say whether the victim was dead or changing."
Smith doesn't ask how she knows the killer's gender, he is aware that the smells differ. Nor does he ask whether Ana can link the smell to someone she knew as a human, the scent changes too much. However, he asks something else.
"Any estimate of his age?"
"Oh yes. He's quite new."
Smith finds that curious but he doesn't comment. Ana doesn't share her theory either, there is no need to bother him with it until it is confirmed. For now, it is worth checking whether Morgan was the only victim that day. If the vampire is new and he intended to make it all the way to her apartment, then it is probable that he needed to stop for a snack on the way. Otherwise, the scene would look differently.
Smith finishes jotting his notes and asks Ana to search the apartment for anything else of interest. All she finds is an old scent trace of Jack Hyde. Truth to be told, she doesn't find it surprising that he paid Morgan a visit before.
Ana runs her theory with Christian first. She believes that the attacker could be Jack Hyde. They know that he had some kind of secret business with Morgan. She knew the vampire, presumably from his human life, and let him in. She didn't know what he had become (judging by the poured drinks).
In Ana's mind, it all happened like this: Jack Hyde came to Morgan's apartment to solicit her help with his next shenanigan. Whether Morgan was helping him voluntarily or whether he had some kind of a hold over her remains to be seen. Either way, she let him in and poured the drinks. Jack, being a new vampire, couldn't help himself and drained her. When he came to his senses, he carried the body away through the window.
As for who could have possibly changed him, Hyde brought more than enough attention to himself by his article and then later by sabotaging Christian's helicopter. Feller's rogue fledglings could have contacted him afterwards and aided him in the bomb attack. On the bright side, they probably won't be letting him out any time soon after his screw-up with Morgan. For all they knew, the visit wasn't even sanctioned by them.
"That's a lot of suppositions," comments Christian.
"Yes, I know. It's just a theory. We'll see how it pans out. In the meantime, I'll share it with my family."
The meeting, as usual, takes place telepathically and is quite short. When it is over, Ana talks with Christian about his solo jogging and proposes that perhaps he shouldn't go out alone for a while. Christian doesn't like to hear that but he is willing to listen to reason.
Next day, Ana contacts Hyde's former assistants and asks to meet them again. At work, she prepares Mr. Roach for a possibility that Morgan might not be returning.
She isn't so gentle with the three former assistants when she meets them that evening. She tells them straight away that Morgan is missing and most probably dead.
"As you might know, she covered Hyde each time one of you left," she continues. "The question is, what exactly was she covering and why?"
The three women are still in shock over the news about Morgan, they don't answer.
"OK, I'll keep talking, you stop me if I'm wrong."
This time, Ana starts looking in their thoughts for hints. They may notice the probe but given the circumstances, they will dismiss it as just a feeling.
"All three of you were intimate with him." She looks at each of them in turn. "It wasn't non-consensual but it was enough to get him fired. He blackmailed you to keep you silent."
The women say nothing.
"Well?" prods them Ana. "How was he blackmailing you?"
"He taped us," divulges one of the assistants. "Threatened to put it on the Internet if we 'falsely accuse him'." She makes air quotes at the end of sentence.
Ana nods contemplatively. She doesn't offer any commentaries, it doesn't seem like the women are interested in any.
Ana believes she has got the whole picture now. Since the three women gave her the last piece, she allows herself to think out loud in front of them.
"Well, we can safely assume that something similar was between him and Morgan. They were in contact after he left SIP. I guess she was keeping him updated on what was happening there. But something changed afterwards. He moved to a higher level."
"Wait, what does Morgan's disappearance has to do with him?" asks one of the women.
"I thought you understood," replies Ana, raising her eyebrows. "He's the killer."
The women look up in surprise.
"He stopped by as usual but this time, he couldn't resist killing her. They were alone, no one knew he was there. It wasn't just about sex for him. No, he liked wielding the power. Until it failed just once and then it wasn't enough for him anyway. What is one of the highest and at the same time simplest and most reliable ways of projecting your power over someone? You kill that person. Hyde started to identify as an apex predator and he's getting addicted to that feeling."
"You must be joking," argues one of the women. "That's a little beyond what he's capable of. I don't mean in a moral way, I mean in actually carrying it out."
Ana can't reveal that he is a vampire now. Instead, she gives them a short version of his earlier actions. It seems to lessen their disbelief.
"Do you think that he might come after us?" asks another one of the women.
"Not likely, you are small fish now and in about as much danger as anybody else. He could decide to kill you just as likely as he could decide to kill a random person on a hiking trail. But he's most likely going to go after my husband and his family. And myself, of course."
The blase tone with which she delivers the last sentence gives the others a pause and makes them wonder whether the danger is as real as Ana claims. Then again, it is something they would expect her brother to say.
Back home, Ana discusses the situation with Christian and Taylor again. They admit that precautions should be taken, in case Ana's theory is correct. If Hyde has become a vampire, then he will be able to attack anytime and anywhere if his creators let him. Unfortunately, they can't possibly hide all the Greys in a bunker and keep them there until he is caught. The best they can do is assign unwitting bodyguards to each of them and hope that Hyde's superiors won't allow him to make a scene. With a bit of luck, they might even dispose of him themselves.
Ana has a proposition for Taylor.
"Look, we can't possibly provide a hundred percent protection for every human connected to us," she reiterates. "But if there's one person who should keep his head clear of such worries, it's you, Taylor."
"Are you talking about my daughter?" asks Taylor once he understands.
"It may sound paranoid but it would be foolish to think that Hyde and his new friends don't know about you. It wouldn't be that hard to track your daughter down, perhaps to gain leverage or just to hurt you. Besides, it would be nice to find out whether she has inherited any hidden qualities from you."
Taylor thinks for a moment. He has to admit, it would be nice to be free of this kind of worry.
"What do you've got in mind?" he asks.
"A short stay in La Push. One of the safest places on this planet, if there's a vampire after you. She can stay with my parents."
"You want me to yank her out of school?"
"My mother will make sure she won't fall behind."
"My ex-wife will never agree to this. Even if I give up my allotment of time with my daughter, it's still out of schedule."
"Hm, we can say that she's going to some kind of a special course."
"Well, we would have to explain the situation to Sophie in that case. Or in any case, for that matter."
"You are right. And if she has inherited your nearly magical traits, that would be prudent anyway."
Taylor appears as if he has more to say. He thinks about his ex-wife. What will happen if a vampire who intends to kidnap his daughter gets there and finds the girl to be gone? Would he kill his ex-wife? On the other hand, leaving her there is possibly one of the best ways of protecting her - and the least intrusive one. It will send a message that his ex-wife isn't essential and harming her won't achieve anything. Hopefully, Sophie will see it that way too but she is still surely going to be upset.
"Yes?" prods him Ana.
"Nothing. Just thinking about how to approach this. Perhaps I could intercept her after school and explain."
"Your ex would notice on her that's something's up. Better to get her away from her first. You know what? I'll call Sue. Perhaps she and my brother can arrange it. A cover story about a first aid course, let's say. Did your ex vote for my brother?"
"Yeah, sure. It doesn't mean she still likes him. But very well, go ahead."
"I'll make the call right away."
Ana leaves and Taylor and Christian linger. Something has been gnawing at Christian's mind.
"You didn't sign up for any of this," he tells Taylor.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You never agreed to have anything to do with... vampires."
Taylor scratches the back of his head. "To be honest, I consider the current state of things an improvement."
Now it is Christian's turn to be confused.
"I mean no disrespect but I don't think the way the things were before were healthy for you," explains Taylor. "From my point of view, things have actually been more normal ever since you've met your wife."
"Huh, I see. Thank you for your candor. I have to say I feel the same way. However, it seems to me that you are downplaying the danger. This is an enemy who can evade bullets for crying out loud."
"Not if Mrs. Grey bites him in his leg and holds him in place!"
Christian opens his mouth in a mild surprise and can't think of anything to say to that.
"We've been practicing," elaborates Taylor. "With her uncle Emmett. Though I believe we'll need more sessions, given the situation."
"Oh." Christian knows that Ana and Taylor practice together sometimes but being opposed to guns, he has never asked for specifics.
"Look," continues Taylor. "If I wanted to avoid danger, I wouldn't have joined the army. I'm the kind of a man who wants to be a part of something bigger than himself. When I was in the army, I was satisfied. Now I feel that way again. Does that make sense?"
"Obviously, it does to you."
Taylor nods and goes after his business. This was a very unusual conversation for him.
Taylor and Sophie step out of the elevator. They want to refresh and have a lunch before continuing on to La Push. Even more importantly, they need to tell her about the ruse.
Taylor thinks about that. What if she decides to go back to her mother? Then he will have to explain the danger to his ex and he will never hear the end of it.
All those worries go out of a window when Taylor introduces his daughter to the others.
"Oh dear," Ana utters in surprise when she realizes what she feels from Sophie.
The girl frowns in confusion.
"You know what?" continues Ana. "I'll show you my trick and you'll show me yours."
Sophie is stunned. Is Mrs. Grey talking about what she thinks she is taking about?
Ana holds her hands in front of her, palms toward each other. She makes a short electrical discharge. Sophie is startled a little but then she smiles. Ana nods at her encouragingly. Sophie looks at her father and Christian.
"It's alright," assures her Ana. "They've signed an oath of silence. Besides, family is allowed to know."
Allowed by whom? Sophie doesn't know the specifics but the implications are clear. She walks to a nearby flower pot and closes her hand over a bud. This is the first time she has ever attempted such a thing in front of an audience. After a short while, she removes her hand and the bud has blossomed a little.
"That's sweet," commends her Ana, making a tiny gesture of clapping her hands.
"It's usually better," explains Sophie sheepishly.
"To be honest, I wasn't being entirely fair when I asked this of you. Children your age can't control their magic yet, it manifests itself randomly. That's why it's called accidental magic. But come next year, they'll offer you to enter a magical school where you can learn all you need to know about your gift. Though you can spare them the trouble and let them know about you yourself."
"I guess we've got a lot to talk about," observes Taylor when he comes out of his surprise.
"Christian?"
He, having finished his dinner, puts his cutlery down and wipes his mouth with a napkin.
"You have something serious to talk about," he observes and takes a swig of water. "You've been watching me past few minutes, waiting to broach the subject."
"It's nothing bad. Just thought you ought to know."
"Well?" Christian props his chin on his joined hands.
"Do you remember how I stopped changing before the wedding?"
A rhetorical question. Christian nods, thinking about what is Ana planning to tell him. Has her period arrived already? Has it not arrived because she can't turn her wolf side off due to her dhampir heritage? Or has it failed to arrive because she is pregnant?
"Either your period hasn't come yet or you've taken care to hide it from me which wouldn't make any sense."
"There wasn't one yet."
Christian leans back in his chair and gestures for her to elaborate. Ana doesn't have much to say.
"Well, either I need more time or this is it."
"It?"
"A bun in the oven."
Christian is silent for a moment.
"I thought it would be more difficult than that while I'm still human."
"Maybe we were lucky."
"Lucky," repeats Christian in a neutral tone.
"I see you aren't exactly overflowing with enthusiasm," observes Ana, tightening her chin and nodding. "You know, you'll only ever get one firstborn."
"I'm merely thinking about the situation with Jack Hyde. In case you truly are pregnant, you can't go toe to toe with him. You could miscarry. Or worse."
Ana nods. She doesn't remind him that she has never single-handedly defeated a vampire anyway - he knows that.
"Well, we'll know for sure soon enough," she concludes after a while of silence. "Just thought to give you an advance warning."