All the missions had been successful the night before and a further twelve had been rescued utilizing local intel on turncoat vampires.

That still left hundreds in the hands of the enemy, though they’d had no more videos or any other communication, such as threats or ransom demands.

“’Nother bit of news,” Xun went on. “That Gastineau phantom has been in touch.”

“And he said…?” Abel asked.

“Said he’s on it,” Xun answered.

“Nothing more?” Callum pressed.

“Nope, just that he’s on it,” Xun told him.

Abel looked to Callum. “You got any clue what that means?”

“My read, the phantoms don’t like their queen held captive, but they aren’t asking for allies to assist in rescuing her,” Callum replied.

“They got what it takes to be successful on their own?” Abel asked.

“Phantoms and wraiths are like brothers and sisters,” Callum said. “You watch them, you’d think they hated each other. But you are not one of their own and say one word against them, they’ll rip your head off. So I would assume he’s very determined to be successful. Whether his determination will bear fruit…” He shrugged.

Abel broke it down. “So now we got no inside men, a bunch of concubines who are in mortal danger, a rogue phantom determined to rescue his mate and the outcome of that is iffy, a gaggle of witches in the compound who don’t want to be here because they hate vampires, and they got magic. And last, we got fuck all knowledge of what our enemies are planning next, but the last shit they pulled was fucked way the hell up. Did I get it all?”

Callum grinned a grin that was more a grimace and confirmed, “You got it all.”

“So we’re again sitting on our hands,” Abel concluded.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Callum replied.

Abel made a nonverbal snarl.

Callum looked to Calder. “Perhaps you should go back to your network.”

Calder shook his head. “Told you, brother, this True identified, recruited, and closed ranks. There’s no getting in. And the only way out is to give up your head. The single shot we had was the wraiths and they had to give it up to save The Three. Other than that, no one has heard anything and it’d be impossible to infiltrate.”

“I need to get my hands on another one,” Abel declared, and all eyes came to him. “The ones who met Patricio, did our guy follow them?”

“Not his orders,” Xun answered. “Stay safe. Report back. We all know it’s not safe gettin’ near these guys. He did his job, finished it breathing, and is on his way back.”

Dead end.

Abel kept at it.

“During the rescues, were any vampires detained?”

Callum shook his head. “To my knowledge, so far, the need for termination was utilized.”

“Then we need to tell the teams who locate the next concubines to bring a vampire in breathing,” Abel returned.