Free Morvicti Blood (A Morvicti Novel Book 1) by Lee Swift Page B

Never deviating from the master plot was how the Bathrys had navigated the murky waters for centuries. Loyalty to the bloodline and always being prepared was his family’s motto.
    His father believed that loyalty was not a natural condition, and that it was never earned by showing compassion or respect. Those were signs of weakness. Pay someone a kindness and they might never repay it. But instilling loyalty was another matter.
    Perhaps he had been too lenient with the halfblood. Plying the bastard with lavish quarters and giving him the freedom to roam about the city may have been small errors in judgment. He even tried to educate the man, playing Henry Higgins to his twisted version of Eliza Doolittle. Maybe he should have kept the wretch caged in a dungeon somewhere, giving him daily beatings like his father would have done. Then the creature might not have taken liberties with the plan and gone off who-the-hell-knew where.
    Bathry rubbed his eyes. Nothing that had happened was his fault. He’d followed the plan to the letter. If any mistakes were made, they weren’t his. They belonged to those who had created the plan in the first place, including his own father.
    At least the fire would not come back to haunt him. Long ago, he’d made sure that none of the police cameras were pointed at the building. No one had ever lived in the home. And any Bathry, including him, who visited the place made sure never to be seen. The investigators would most surely declare the blaze arson, and since every government record showed the house to be vacant, that would be the end of it. A fire started by vandals.
    He had sent Albert to first check on the Bathry Bloodline Sanctuary. Even if his enemies captured the halfblood, David doubted this location would be compromised. The abomination didn’t know anything. But as the head of his bloodline, Bathry needed to be certain. Once Albert reported back that the place was safe, he would send him to The Sanctuary of the Forgotten. If the abomination was dead, Bathry wanted Albert in place to receive the bastard’s body.
    In truth, he believed the plan was still working, though he didn’t know for certain what had happened to the halfblood. Finding that pig or his corpse was his primary concern now. That was why he must get to his office straight away. But first he needed to get home to change out of the smoky clothes and have a quick shower.
    Being Directorate of Information for the Metropolitan Police gave him easy access to any and all data, including the feeds from cameras covering six hundred twenty square miles, and over seven million citizens. He knew what cameras he would need to check first. The ones on Murphy Street, where his enemies’ sanctuary was located and where he’d sent the beast for his final mission.
    His mobile phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen on the dash. But it was blank.
    Another buzz.
    He realized that it wasn’t coming from his personal phone but from the burner phone to which only one man knew the number.
    He pulled it out of his pocket, taking a deep breath before answering.
    “Jack?”

2003
     
San Angelo, Texas

CHAPTER 15
     
    Angelique sat on a folding chair in the middle of Lawn Haven Cemetery. There was no other family. She was alone.
    The Navy chaplain read some passages from the Bible, but she found it hard to listen.
    The headstone that marked her parents’ final resting place was next to the open grave her brother’s coffin would be lowered into at the conclusion of this service.
    Just ten years ago she was here for their funeral, and he was sitting beside her. That had been a rare, rainy summer morning, and he had held his umbrella over her because she had forgotten hers.
    As they stood together next to the graves, she had decided to make one final plea.
    “Austin, you could put in for more time. I need your help. I can’t go through the insurance papers alone. Our home is destroyed. This isn’t fair. They were your parents,