She looked at the window. The best way to see a trap is to spring it. The only problem with that was you had to hope that your escape route was sound and that you could escape when the trap was sprung.
She picked up a flower bed rock, about the size of her head, and threw it into the window, smashing it into a hundred shards that exploded inward with a musical sound of glass colliding with each other.
Ansuya crouched down against the wall of the mansion. There was no alarm. There was no yelling of security guards. There could always be a silent alarm, which was very possible. The sunlight was on her side though, any vampires inside would be sleeping in their death state. If there was a silent alarm, then police would be here in minutes to check on the disturbance. She waited for the sound of sirens to fill the air… they never did.
She stayed down for a good ten minutes waiting for security, someone to answer the silent alarm, but there was nothing. It was like the house was completely empty. Her eyes opened wide in shock. No, no that wasn’t possible. Alexander would not be able to defy her. He hadn’t been lying when he gave her the address. Wolfgang was here, she was certain of it.
She knocked the glass from the bottom of the window frame and stepped through into the luxurious mansion.
Pictures and floor plans could not have prepared her for what she saw. This was opulence and excess incarnate. Persian rugs, crystal chandeliers, marble floors, plush crushed velvet covered couches, leather sofas and ottomans. Everything had a sheen of pure elegance and wealth. She was sure that the mirrors were gilded with real gold and silver. She didn’t want to know how many people had suffered, how many people were bought and sold to be able to pay for this extravagance. The place sickened her and fueled a rage in her that she kept in check with some difficulty. Wolfgang would pay for this excess; she would make all of them pay.
She crouched and moved through the house silently. The floor plans she had studied were not an exact replica, but the she hadn’t expected them to be. She moved through the house, looking in every room as she went. This place was empty. It felt like no one lived there at all.
She made her way up to the second floor and searched carefully there as well. She walked onto a very large loft area that over looked the spacious living room. The sunlight was streaming in brightly from the windows that hung high on the vaulted ceiling that went up past even the loft level giving a real sense of grand space to the already massive house. She crept across into the second part of the house, staying away from the ledge to avoid being seen by passersby downstairs, even though she was sure there was no one here. No point in getting sloppy.
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She took a left into a master bedroom with what looked like a hole in the ground with a huge bed that was one and half times bigger than a king sized bed at least. There were neat wooden stairs leading down into the pit and there was a comfortable space between the bed and the walls that made up the hole. She had to admit it was an interesting design choice. It was definitely something that she had never seen before.
She turned away from the made bed and carefully glanced around a corner. A blond haired man stood with his hands behind his back in the smaller room. Ansuya jerked back with shock at seeing him.
The man casually walked out of the small room keeping his hands behind his back, “Is there something I can help you with, Miss Das?”
Ansuya kept her stance loose, ready to attack or shift, whichever was needed. She leveled her glace at the taller man. She began pushing out subtle scents and pheromones towards the vampire.
He stood much higher than she did at well over six feet. His crystal blue eyes were bright against his pale skin and light blond hair. She had to admit he was handsome by most people’s reckoning.
“Yes, there is Wolfgang,” she replied keeping her voice even. “Tell me what you know about Kenneth Pacifico.”
“That is a very vague request Miss Das,” Wolfgang replied, “How about you tell me why you have decided to break into my house.”
So, there was some kind of silent alarm. She must have lost her mind to think otherwise. Well, he knew she was here and that’s what she had wanted in the first place. “What do you know about House Dukart and wolves?”
“I don’t keep tabs on House Dukart or wolves, Miss Das,” he replied easily. “I am aware that they have decided to the let the beasts migrate here from Idaho though, if that’s what you mean.”
“Odd, I didn’t think House Dukart came from Idaho.”
Wolfgang smiled, “That’s very good,” he chuckled at the joke, “I’ll have to remember that one.” He stepped down into the master bed pit and sat down on the bed looking up at her. “I seem to have heard something about you werewolves dwindling in numbers over the past few years. Does this have something to do with that? Not enough dogs to keep away the vermin?”
“We do just fine with the vermin,” she replied, letting steel into her voice. “Or haven’t you noticed how many of your slave houses and drug dens you’ve had to rebuild in the last year or so?” Her features were as smooth as a calm lake.
Wolfgang’s smile slid a little at the comment, “I see.”
They both stared at each other for long moments. Ansuya had to get this guy talking but he seemed to have much more control over his emotions than Alexander ever did. She had thought maybe that lack of control might be something that was shared through all of House Brandt.
“How have things been going with House Brandt? House Dukart not taking too much of your territory I trust?”
“We do just fine, Miss Das,” he said as he leaned back on the bed a few inches, “We rebuild as needed, deal with our business here and there, trade with the other two Houses, business as usual for us.”
“And yet House Dukart is calling all the shots in the city. Surely that must gall you. I mean just because Alessandro is almost a hundred years older than you, he can’t just get away with pushing you and House Brandt around, can he?”
After some moments of him obviously stalling he finally replied, “House Brandt has done just fine,” he said.
“And yet you play the sycophant to House Dukart, why?”