The front door burst inward. Ansuya jumped up immediately and took a defensive stance, ready to shift to her werewolf form if needed.

It wasn’t.

Alexander came bounding into the apartment, “Ansuya? ANSUYA?!” he called her earnestly.

She came out of the back room warily looking for signs of a trap. There was only Alexander smiling broadly at her from the sitting room. “What is it, Alexander?”

The vampire trotted towards her and took her hands, “I have great news! I just heard about it!”

Ansuya was very confused but before she could assert her will over the excited man, he whirled her around and let her go into the sitting room, letting her inertia force her to fall into a sitting position on the couch.

Alexander was practically jumping for joy, “I found him, Ansuya!”

“Did you?” she replied skeptically.

He suddenly looked very awkward. He combed his hair with his hand nervously and looked down at the floor, “Well, I didn’t actually find him. He found me.”

Ansuya sat up a little straighter, “What do you mean, ‘he found you’?” she asked pointedly.

Alexander didn’t look her in the eye as he spoke, “I was going over to meet with some of my guys when Brian just comes in out of nowhere. It’s like he knew where we were and decided to drop in to say hi.”

This probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Alexander had proved himself to be rather incompetent. But that in and of itself made it difficult for her to move and plan. Kenneth had to know about Alexander, he would have counted on her overwhelming him. But for what purpose? Was this another of Kenneth’s elaborate traps? Now it seemed that the game was proceeding as Kenneth devised.

“What did he have to say, Alexander?” she asked finally.

“Not much,” Alexander replied, “He did say something about a meeting and that House Brandt should be there.”

“Kenneth will be hosting this meeting,” Ansuya mused.

“That’s what I was thinking, if I can get to this meeting first, I could get the drop on him, surprise him, and kill him before anyone else got there!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“No,” Ansuya said, immediately cooling Alexander’s excitement, “No, there will be too many other vampires at this meeting. It will be too public and too dangerous.” And, she thought, Kenneth would know who put the idea into this soldier’s head.

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Maybe that had been the trap he had set. She would have Alexander attack Kenneth and Kenneth would survive, of course just to uncover her in Alexander’s care and apartment. All guilt would be removed from him and no one would ever suspect that he captured her and held her in his basement for over a year. That would be a clean break for Kenneth. Well, she wouldn’t fall into that trap. But she couldn’t be seen at this meeting either.

She looked at the vampire, “You will have to go to this meeting alone. I can’t be there with you. You and I wouldn’t make it out of the place alive. You will have to be my eyes and ears and you must come back to me and tell me what was said. This may give me some idea about what Kenneth is planning.”

Alexander nodded his head.

“Will Wolfgang be there as well?” she asked suddenly.

Alexander shrugged his shoulders, “I have no idea. Brian didn’t mention anything about my Head of House.”

If all of House Brandt was at this meeting than maybe this was a time for her to make a play of her own. “Alexander, when is this meeting? And where?” she asked.

“Tomorrow night at three o’clock in the morning,” Alexander replied, “in a warehouse held by House Dukart.”

Ansuya smiled, “Tell me where Wolfgang will be then, if he won’t be at the meeting.”

Alexander didn’t say anything for long moments. He looked at the floor in front of him.

“Alexander,” Ansuya said sternly, “Look at me.” The vampire raised his eyes to hers. She forced a blast of pheromones toward him. “Tell me where Wolfgang will be at three o’clock in the morning tomorrow.” Her eyes bored into his.

“He will be at his home, a mansion outside L.A., along the coast.” Alexander replied.

“Good,” she said with a smile, “Then you can drop me off there before the meeting starts.”

Alexander looked at her, “Why do you want to go to Wolfgang’s house?” he asked bewildered.

Ansuya didn’t respond. She was looking at the wall behind him, thinking about what had just happened and how she could use this to her advantage. If she could get Wolfgang alone without the bulk of his House to aid him, she might be able to take him. She wasn’t as strong as she used to be but she had made strides this last week, and her strength was returning.

Since Alexander had proven to be a wash, then maybe a Head of House would be able to answer her questions. If he proved to be uncooperative, she could persuade him.

She shook her head absently. That would take too much time. She had never matched up against a vampire Head of House before. Was she strong enough to fight him? Could she escape if things got too rough? She would need to know where Wolfgang lived and plan her strategy based on the layout of the house.

“Alexander,” she said focusing her eyes on the vampire again, “I need you to tell me Wolfgang’s address and point out which house is his on the computer.”

It was now around noon time of the following day. Alexander had given her the address and pointed out several images of the mansion that was his. She had ordered him to go to sleep after that. That had been after she had instructed him to forget everything that had happened after he had told her about the meeting Kenneth was holding of course.

She studied the house from Google Earth and images. She pulled up what she could of the possible floor plans for mansions in that area. The size of the building would not work in her favor. Wolfgang would know it far better than she could just by studying pictures and floor plans. But there was also a lot of places for her to fall back to, to get separation from attacking vampires if need be.

She hoped that this meeting that Kenneth had called would draw a lot of Wolfgang’s protection as well, if Wolfgang wasn’t going to be there himself. There were reasons why he would and wouldn’t show. She just hoped that he would skip the meeting, trusting his subordinates to give him all the details. That made the most logical sense. Wolfgang would be home; he had to be.