The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Traitorous High Lord

And it had started with the handful they had uncovered, Narvaez making sure that if he couldn't kill Isabella and Gabriela, they would be weaponized. He had little doubt that would've been Sofia's fate as well, if Romanescu and his slavers had had just a little more time.

Lash strongly suspected that, given enough time, all the captured liliths would've also been weaponized. And not just against the psionics that would've bought them. Any party that came across the weaponized queens would've been at risk: vampires, humans, other Dark Edge races ... the list was endless.

"Did Demaskieros also want the liliths destroyed?" Fiadh asked, trying to get Giovanni to confirm the mystery vampire's involvement.

"Yes, mistress."

"Is Demaskieros a sitting member of the Council of the Night People?"

Silence greeted that question. Her brow crinkling as she reworded the question several times in her head, Lash could see Fiadh adjusting her approach.

"Does Demaskieros have an alias?"

"Yes, mistress," Giovanni replied.

"What is it?"

"Drago Topinov."

"That's Vorinov's councilor," Vulcrum indicated in a voice pitched so it didn't reach Fiadh and her target. "Vorinov triggered the pogrom!"

Lash's expression became wary. Had they really?

It was well known that the Russian-based clan wanted complete control of Europe's vampires. While Vorinov's ambition was no secret, they usually came at their target directly, meeting them face to face. That way there would be no question that their target would know it was Vorinov who defeated them. They were brash and arrogant that way.

So why would they conspire with two disenchanted Toreador High Lords to bring down the Conclave? As far as he knew, Vorinov supported the Conclave, though not to the level Ventru did. And why would they use machinations to diminish or destroy Ventru? Hundreds of years of behavior would have them come directly at Ventru and her assets instead, as they had many times in the past!

Something wasn't adding up.

Lash pulled out his smartphone. As Vulcrum and Fiadh watched, he accessed the Qos Viran hard database and brought up the dossier on Topinov.

A quick scan of the contents yielded nothing. It was the standard chest thumping drivel Vorinov politicos were known for.

It was only when he brought up an image of the Vorinov councilor that he found himself frowning. That wasn't the vampire he saw in Vorinov's chair three years ago!

"Vulcrum, do you have a current image for Topinov?" he asked, looking over at the spymaster.

Eyes narrowing at the question, Vulcrum looked down at his tablet and ran a quick search. Then he was flipping the tablet up to face the big vampire and it was Lash's turn to narrow his eyes thoughtfully at what he saw.

It was the same vampire he had seen three years ago.

"The Qos Viran hard database says it's this man!" And he turned his phone around to show Vulcrum the picture from the database.

"Well," the spymaster said with a lifted brow as he pulled back from the phone and looked at the image on his tablet. "This adds another layer to the situation!"

A gesture to his team and two stepped forward to put a sensory deprivation shroud on him like Anna wore. That done, he turned to a thoughtful Lash.

"There's an obvious play here, young master. But the nuances aren't so apparent."