Free Sophia by D. B. Reynolds Page B

if he was, none of them knew about it.
    Raphael continued to study her, his expression devoid of any emotion. Of them all, only he had shown no reaction to her response and the information it conveyed—not the tiniest bit, not surprise, not puzzlement, and certainly not alarm.
    “Lucien has not entered my territory,” he said bluntly, clearly having no doubts and feeling no need to elaborate.
    “Why would you expect to find him here?” Duncan asked from his position to Raphael’s left.
    Abruptly aware she was still bent into the uncomfortable curtsey, Sophia rose to her full, modest height. She shifted her gaze from Duncan to Raphael and back again. How much should she tell them? Lucien’s letter had sent her here, but had he meant for her to confide to anyone the details of the Vancouver deaths?
    In general, the vampire lords did not share information—or anything else—with each other. They were viciously territorial and quite openly hostile, at least in North America . It wasn’t unheard of for a stronger lord to push the territorial boundaries in an attempt to enrich his own power at the expense of another, and frequent disputes erupted, sometimes violently. Lucien’s Canadian territory was vast, but largely unsettled, both in terms of people and vampires, and rarely the object of any other lord’s ambition. This was a good thing for Lucien since, as he’d told her many times, he was a lover not a fighter. Sophia wasn’t aware of any open conflict between her Sire and Raphael, or any of the other North American lords, for that matter. But then, she’d been gone so long, and had paid so little attention.
    An unwelcome thought sent tendrils of nausea twisting into her gut. Had Lucien known Raphael would be here when he’d sent her on this errand? Or if not known, had he at least suspected it? Could there be a connection between the Vancouver deaths and whatever business had drawn the Western vampire lord away from Malibu and up to this concrete and steel compound?
    Sophia sighed and turned her unwilling gaze on Raphael, who blinked lazily, letting his eyelids drop slowly over the silvery sheen of power. She almost laughed. What was she thinking? He didn’t need to ask for the information he wanted; he could rip her mind open like a tin can and simply take it.
    “Lucien summoned me home several days ago,” she said bitterly. “It was our first contact in years.” She shook her head. “Decades,” she amended. “I’ve been living in Brazil . The lords down there are lax in their enforcement, to say the least. As long as a vampire observes a few basic rules, they don’t care who sired you or whom you call master.”
    “How did Lucien contact you?” Duncan asked.
    Sophia glanced at Raphael before answering, but the vampire lord seemed content to let his lieutenant take the lead. “Directly,” she said simply. “He spoke in my mind just as I woke for the evening. He gave me no reason, simply summoned me home to him with an indication of urgency.”
    “Do you know why?”
    Sophia shook her head, letting some of her frustration show. “No,” she admitted. “I only arrived in Vancouver yesterday evening. I went straight to his main estate above the city, expecting to find him waiting, but he wasn’t there. And no one I spoke with knows where he is.”
    “What made you think you’d find him here in Seattle , then?”
    “A letter. He left me a letter with details of certain recent and very troubling events. And then he told me to come here.”
    “What events?” Raphael spoke at last, the question a whiplash of power demanding an answer.
    Sophia drew a deep breath and forged ahead. Lucien had left this matter to her. She had only her instincts to guide her, and those instincts were telling her to come clean with what she knew. Any other path would only lead to more killing.
    “Death, my lord,” she said bluntly. “Three vampires in Vancouver have been destroyed. I do not know how or by whose