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I leaned forward. “If you were there last night, at the museum, and if you saw those six guys go in there after us, is there any reason you didn’t, I don’t know, come in to help?”

Lucas lowered his head. “There is. Mostly fear of dying. The Gladius are notorious for being ruthless killers. Even one of them is best avoided. If they don’t kill, they take prisoners to do heavens know what to them.”

“For the record, I would have helped,” Danielle said. “I wanted to.”

Matheo frowned at her. “Yeah, and for the record, I’ve seen too many people end up with bullets in their heads, and I would have sat on you.” Then, with feeling, he added, “Idiot.”

Lucas leaned forward. “Ignore them. I gave the order to wait it out. I thought they had killed you when the five clerics came out. I only realized my mistake when you left with the agent all bound up like a Christmas present.” He glanced at me before he looked down again. “That doesn’t happen. Most vampires can compel one or two clerics long enough to get away. Five of them? Not so much. And while I don’t understand why, the agents don’t seem susceptible to compulsion at all. We were working with a vampire to find out how they managed that, but he got taken. If the Gladius agent is still alive, we would ask for a chance to interrogate him. We’ll share what information we have that is useful to you regardless, because one way or the other, we’re on the same side in this. One way or the other, we’d like closure about our friend. If they killed him, we just want to know.”

A shiver went down my spine, and before I could, Auris asked, “Your friend. What’s his name?”

“Jonathan,” Lucas said. “Jonathan Wells.”

I gasped. “Fuck.”

Auris let out a slow breath. “The Gladius agent told us that the bones we recovered in Kutná Hora were Jonathan’s, but those bones were old. They had been there for years.”

Danielle sat up straighter. “It’s not been that long.”

I swallowed. “He basically told us he was Jonathan’s boyfriend.”

Matheo snorted. “He wishes.”

Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “Half an hour, Auris. That’s all I ask. We just want to know if Jonathan is still alive, and if so, we want to know where he is.”

I shook my head and looked at Auris. “Do you think he’s still alive?”

Auris cocked his head. “Looking back, I think Christian thought so. His heart rate would speed up when he spoke of Jonathan in the past tense sometimes. I took it as the aftereffects of the entrancement, but it might have been duplicity. Last night, he told me that I would end like all the others, serving my purpose. It didn’t sound like he would’ve wanted to outright kill me.”

I paled. “They wanted to kidnap you yesterday.”

Matheo and Danielle exchanged a look.

Auris’s eyes were unwavering on me. “Maybe. Ethan, when we went to Kutná Hora, despite knowing why we went, you hoped to find something other than bones in that basement, didn’t you?”

I shook my head, then nodded. “Didn’t you? I mean, this isn’t right. You can’t tell me this is right. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t want someone to help you if they could. Imagine someone abducted me—I mean, sorry. You know what I mean. And we know Brother-slash-agent Christian went to London. Would it be so very bad if we went and followed up?” I caught myself just before I could mention the PI Auris had told me about. I had no idea how much he would want Lucas and his people to know.

Matheo regarded me. “You’re odd for a normal.”

Auris looked at him. “Special. The word you’re looking for to describe this man is special.” He turned his attention to Lucas. “I will help you, but understand that Ethan’s safety is my priority above anything else.”

Danielle looked at me. “My pack is in Belgium. They will protect him, if you’d prefer he stayed there.”

“No,” Auris and I said in unison.

“Fair enough,” Lucas said. “Or no. More than fair. You know, the stories I know? They have the very old ones of your kind halfway to gods, including all the capricious twists.”

Auris tilted his head. “Not exactly wrong, but not altogether correct either.” He stood. “Now then. Let me show you to the basement.”

“The fuck?” Matheo said.

Lucas grinned. “You put the Gladius agent in the basement. I like it.”

Auris looked at me and shrugged. “I’m sorry. You said you didn’t want to know.”

I rubbed my hands together. “That’s fine, I guess. So, uhm, what now?”

Auris sighed and looked at our guests. “I haven’t told Ethan this. Christian went to a base in London. That’s where the Kutná Hora operation is based. We’ll go have a chat with him, but if your friend is still alive, he’s likely in London.” He looked at me. “I was going to ask you to go with me. I do need to follow up with my PI.”