“Those are our thoughts exactly.” I take the heavy brass key from my pocket and hold it up for Gia and Lairah to see. “And we don’t think Vincent would be hiding this key in a secret compartment if the house it unlocks isn’t nearby.”
“Wow. That’s a complicated Sigil,” Lairah says. “I’ve never seen anything like it but what makes you think this is the key to the house where he’s hiding Avery and Chansey?”
“Avery has a fylgia like Chansey and Ella. Anteros sent her to me. She’s the one that told me where to find the key.”
“This whole agape-fylgia thing is just freaky. Wouldn’t it have been easier if she would have told you the address instead of giving you clues?” That would have been too simple. Anteros didn’t work that way.
Lairah reaches for the key and takes it from me. “Wouldn’t Vincent need this if it unlocks the place he’s holding Chansey and Avery?”
“He might if he hadn’t changed the locks in the last two hundred years.” Even vampires make updates.
“So you’re looking for an old house in the Savannah area–at least two hundred years old. That doesn’t help a lot since Savannah is a historical town flooded with mansions fitting that description.” I don’t have time for Gia’s pessimistic attitude.
“Not all of them bear the sign of this sigil. All we have to do is find a vampire that can identify it.” Or maybe luck would be with us and we’d happen upon it.
Lairah passes the key to Gia. “Maybe Sebastian will recognize it.”
“I’m up. I couldn’t sleep knowing what the two of you were doing today.” Sebastian is standing in the doorway of the nursery. “I heard everything. Let me have a look at it.”
He takes the key and studies it as he turns it one way and then another. “I don’t recall seeing this symbol before but its design is ornate and baroque so it’s old. My guess is more than two hundred years since the first square in Savannah was constructed in the seventeen thirties. We should begin by looking at vampire archives to see if we can identify any houses built by our kind. The older records won’t be listed in the computer database so I’ll have to travel to the New Orleans compound to retrieve them. I’ll leave tonight and hopefully we’ll find a lead when I return with them.”
“May I ask a favor?” Curry says.
“Yes.”
“Gia and Lairah would be much more help if they were out searching with us so I’m going to ask Chansey’s grandmother to come take care of the babies. Can she ride back with you?”
He’ll be forced to tell her what’s happened. “You won’t be able to keep the truth from Anna if she comes here.”
“I’m pushed into a corner.” Curry shrugs. “I need her help with the babies. And she’s Chansey’s grandmother so I think she has the right to know what’s happened.”
“That’s probably best,” Lairah says. “Gia and I love these little guys to pieces but we weren’t made for staying up during the day to take care of them.”
“I know and I thank you for doing it today. Trust me when I say I know it isn’t easy. I don’t know how Chansey does it. She’s such a natural with them. She’s a wonderful mother and that’s why they need her back as soon as possible.”
Lairah places a supportive hand on Curry’s shoulder. “Go. We know you’re dying to get back out there and look again now that you have a starting place. We can take care of them until Anna arrives.”
“Thank you. You don’t know what it means to me and Sol,” Curry tells them.
“Don’t mention it,” Lairah takes her hand from his shoulder and gives him a hug. “All we want is the safe return of our sisters.”
Curry and I park on a side street off of Johnson Square. Built in seventeen thirty-three, it was the first square constructed in Savannah so it’s our starting point. It certainly fits the bill for being more than two hundred years old.
We take a quick look and Curry says, “The majority of these places don’t look like residences. Most are businesses.”
That’s a good thing and should speed up the process. “Then we should be able to rule them out quickly.”
We inspect every structure–both business and residential–for the sigil. No detail is left unobserved but our initial search at Johnson Square is unavailing so we move onto the next. The scenario is very much the same during our next quest but then we stumble upon something encouraging at a residence off of the main street.
“Look.” Curry points at the symbol above us. “It’s a sigil. Not the one we’re looking for but it supports the theory that we could be looking in the right place. It’s possible they might know Vincent’s whereabouts.”
“There’s at least four inside. Maybe five so we shouldn’t approach them alone.” Walking into a nest of unknown vampires is a huge risk. They reside in the city where the coven of Landra has built our newest compound yet they remain faceless and nameless to us. That means they don’t share our coven’s opinions and still drink directly from humans–probably willing and unwilling. “We’ll return tonight with the others and pay them a visit along with any other vampire residences we find.”
We complete the search through two more squares along with their surrounding streets and bring our total vampire residence discoveries to two. The day has been a total failure unless one of the groups of vampires have information that can lead us to Avery and Chansey.
On the way back to the compound, I pray to anyone that might hear my plea. Please bring my beloved Avery home to me safely. I willingly give my life in place of hers and the miracle inside her right now. Our child.
I’m certain there’s a baby growing in Avery and I marvel at how similar he already is to a vampire without considering my contribution of DNA. He resides in darkness with blood as his only nourishment and although I’d never want him to be like me, I pray he’s developing the strength of a vampire. He’ll need that resilience to survive if Vincent drains Avery near depletion like he did the night of the blood ceremony.
The thought makes me consider everything that could go wrong. Our child might not survive the things Vincent will do to Avery. He needs her rich blood supply to live. His mother’s blood is his only lifeline. It’s the one and only way he receives oxygenation and nourishment to grow so chances are good that this baby won’t make it if I don’t get her back soon.