He raked his dark eyes over her and smiled slowly. "You know who I am, of course."
Either a stinky fraud or an odious pig, according to Corky. "Yes, I do."
"I wish to know the name of the sexy woman in the hot tub."
Darcy stifled a groan. "I can't divulge her name."
He smirked. "Just tell her Don Orlando de Corazon, the greatest lover in the vampire world, wishes to woo her. She will comply."
"Right." Over my dead body, which was unfortunately, too close to the truth. Darcy stood and headed to the door. "I have a lot of work to do. So, if you could move your little booties somewhere else, I'd appreciate it."
He turned with a flourish of his cape and left. Darcy shut the door and locked it.
Austin rose before dawn and went to the office. Since it was a Saturday, Sean wasn't there, and he was grateful for that. He didn't want to answer questions. He borrowed a white surveillance van from Homeland Security and visited a local cable company where flashing his badge got him a clipboard full of invoices and a work shirt with the company logo. He drove to DVN and arrived by eight o'clock in the morning.
"We got a complaint about four in the morning from Sylvester Bacchus," he explained to the mortal security guard. "The internet connection was going on and off."
"Really?" The guard took the clipboard and regarded the invoice with a suspicious eye. "I wasn't notified about this."
"They probably forgot to tell you." You will believe me, Austin projected his thoughts into the guard's head.
The guard handed the clipboard back. "Come on in."
"Thanks. This won't take long." Austin headed for the offices with his tool box. Sylvester Bacchus's office was easy to find since he had a big brass name-plate on his door. Austin closed the door and went to work. The computers at DVN were basically dinosaurs, so he had to download everything onto disks. When he was done, he made sure everything looked the way it had before.
As he crossed the lobby, he waved at the security guard. "Everything's fixed."
Back in his apartment, Austin made labels for each of the disks and downloaded all the data onto his laptop. He now had all the information anyone would ever want to know about DVN. All he had to do was email it to Sean. But if he sent the information, Darcy would be targeted with all the other vampires.
He shut the laptop and looked at the stuff on his coffee table. Videos of Darcy, disks from DVN, and the damned list that said Vampires Must Die. He couldn't take it anymore. The more he tried to do the right thing, the worse he felt.
Sometimes, being the good guy really sucked.
It was Saturday night and time for the debut. Gregori drove Darcy and Maggie to the penthouse.
There, they found the lady judges in their parlor, waiting excitedly for the show to begin. The
Bubbly Blood was chilling in an ice bucket.
Midnight arrived, and the ladies were glued to the screen. All televisions had been removed from the rooms upstairs. The male Vamps needed to remain ignorant about the mortal competitors, so they weren't allowed to watch the show until it was finished. And of course, the mortals had to be kept completely in the dark. That was easy to do, since the two mortals had left the penthouse entirely.
As the show came to a close, Darcy grew tense with worry. The last scene was the one in the portrait room when the ladies discovered for the first time that some of the contestants were mortal.
Soon, the ladies' outrage would explode on the screen. How on earth would Sly react? He'd wanted a big twist, but this might be a bigger one than he could handle.
When the closing credits began, the ladies poured Bubbly Blood and toasted each other. Darcy accepted a glass with a growing sense of doom. Any minute now…
The phone rang. She set down her glass with a sigh.
Gregori answered the phone. "Sure, she's here." He handed the receiver to Darcy. "It's Shanna
Draganesti."
Darcy blinked. Shanna? Why would she be calling? "Hello?"
"Darcy, I need to talk to you. It's important."
"Okay." Darcy waited for Shanna to talk.
"I mean in person. I'm at our new house in White Plains. Can you teleport here?"
Darcy's grip on the phone tightened. "Actually, no. Maybe Gregori can drive me—?" She gave him a questioning look.
"No, that'll take too long." Shanna's voice faded. It sounded like she had covered the receiver to talk to someone else. "Connor wants you here now."
Darcy's heart lurched in her chest. "I–I'd rather not—"
"It's urgent, Darcy. You need to teleport here now."
"I don't… know how. I've never done it before." Her face flooded with heat as she realized Shanna was sharing her inadequacy with Connor. Her eye twitched. "Look, Gregori can drive me. We'll leave right away."
"Keep talking," Shanna said. "Connor's coming to get you."
"No!" Darcy gasped for air. "I don't want to teleport, and I sure don't want to go anywhere with—"
A figure materialized beside her. A man in a red and green kilt. "Connor." The phone slipped from her hand and clattered on the floor.
"I'm sorry, lass, but ye need to come with me." The Scotsman wrapped a strong arm around her, and everything went black.
Terror whipped through Darcy. She was trapped and helpless, just like she'd been four years ago.
She couldn't feel her body. The only thing keeping her from floating away like vapor into a black void was the steel-like grip of Connor. Once again, he was abducting her against her will. She hated him for it, and she hated herself for being so damned afraid. Good God, if she had any courage in her at all, she'd push herself away and fade into oblivion, never to materialize again.
As soon as her feet touched ground, a room wavered before her eyes and came into view. A living room with two wingback chairs, a television, and a sofa. Shanna was sitting in a chair, watching them. Darcy broke free from Connor and stumbled.
"Careful." He reached out to steady her.
"Don't—" The words touch me stuck in her throat when she saw his face. Regret had etched lines on his brow and dulled the blue of his eyes. The truth scraped at her like overlong fingernails, and she looked away. God have mercy. His decision that night haunted him as much as it did her.
Shanna set her phone down on the coffee table next to her drink. "Thank you for coming, Darcy."
Like she'd been given any choice. Darcy pivoted, surveying the comfortable room decorated in blue toile with yellow accents. "Is this your new house?"
"Yes. Roman wants to keep the location a secret. The Highlanders know, of course, since they do our security." Shanna motioned to the blue velvet couch. "Please have a seat."
Darcy circled the coffee table and sat close to Shanna. "What's wrong? Are the Malcontents causing trouble again?"
"Not so much, now that Petrovsky is dead. I'm afraid our latest security problems are caused more by my father."
Darcy glanced briefly at Connor who was standing still, his arms crossed over his broad chest. "I heard a little about your father the night of your wedding."
Shanna sighed. "At least we were still able to have the wedding. Would you like something to drink?"
"No, thank you."
"I need to go to Roman's townhouse to fetch the file," Connor announced quietly. "I'll return soon."
He faded away.
Darcy breathed easier once he'd teleported away.
Shanna smiled. "I saw your show. You did a fabulous job."
"Thank you."
"I know the ex-harem probably hates me, but I really do wish them well." Shanna's smile widened.
"I just wish them well far away from my husband."
"I understand." Darcy wondered what on earth could be so urgent that she was here. "If it helps, I can assure you that none of the harem ladies ever harbored romantic feelings for Roman. It was simply a matter of convenience."
"Thanks. That's good to know." Shanna sipped from her drink as an awkward silence fell be
tween them.
"Why am I here?" Darcy finally asked.
Shanna shifted uneasily in her chair. "I think we should wait until Connor returns."
Darcy sighed. She really didn't want to discuss anything with Connor around. It was so hard to concentrate when she kept imagining what he had done four years ago. "It doesn't bother you to be surrounded by vampires?" Darcy blurted out. "I mean you're not frightened or… repulsed by us?"
Shanna smiled. "I was a bit freaked at first, but once I got to know Roman and his friends, I knew they'd never hurt me."
"But Roman—I mean—" Darcy was curious how a relationship could work between a Vamp and a mortal. If somehow, Adam could accept her as a vampire, perhaps…
"You're wondering how I could marry a vampire?"
Darcy nodded.
"I was already falling in love with Roman when I found out the truth." Shanna's eyes filled with tears. "And he loves me so much. He's willing to do anything to give me the normal life I want. He's even trying to become mortal for me."
"What?" Darcy sat up. She dug her fingers into the sofa cushion. "Is such a thing possible?" Oh, please, say it is.
"Roman believes it's possible. But even so, the first experiment failed."
Darcy's heart plummeted to her stomach. She slumped back on the couch.
"Oh." Shanna winced. "I should have realized— I'm sorry."
Darcy shook her head. Her throat had contracted too tight to say anything.
"I am sorry." Shanna leaned over to touch Darcy's knee. "Connor told me how unhappy you are."
Darcy swallowed. "He should know."
"I know." Shanna watched her sadly. "But I know Connor very well. He wouldn't knowingly hurt anyone. He's a good man."
Darcy gritted her teeth. "I've heard it before." And yet, here she was, a vampire against her will. He hadn't asked for permission. He'd just assumed she would be grateful to spend eternity as a bloodsucking creature. No matter what the price. She squeezed her eyes shut.
The price had been too high, dammit. She'd lost everything. Her family, friends, career. And she was still losing. She would lose Adam once he knew the truth. But if she could become mortal again… "Tell me about the experiment."
Shanna sighed. "Well, it's basically the reversal of the process that transforms a person into a vampire. During the transformation, a mortal is drained completely of blood. Roman believes a chemical is released from the attacking vampire, and it's this chemical that induces the coma. When the chemical wears off, the person dies a natural death. But if a vampire feeds his own blood to that person, he will become a vampire."
Images flitted through Darcy's mind of Connor feeding his own blood back to her. She swallowed hard. "Go on."
"To reverse the process, a vampire would be completely drained by another vampire, so the bite will release the chemical that induces the vampire coma. Then, if the subject is infused with human blood, he should awaken as a human."
Darcy took a deep breath. "And you say it failed?"
"The first attempt did." Shanna grimaced. "That poor little pig. I objected, but Roman said it was the only way."
Darcy stiffened. "They made a vampire pig?"
Shanna made a sour face. "Yeah. It sounds terrible, I know, but I'm grateful Roman didn't go ahead with his original plan and do the experiment on himself." She shuddered. "Thank God we talked him out of that."
Roman was willing to risk his life in order to be a mortal with his wife. "He loves you very much."
Shanna nodded. "He's at Romatech now, trying to figure out what went wrong. Laszlo has a theory, but if he's right, then the experiment will never work."
"Oh." Darcy's heart sank lower.
"Laszlo believes it's like turning back time, that the vampire in question must be returned completely to his former human self. In other words, the human blood infused into him must contain his own specific human DNA."
"They can't insert Roman's DNA into some synthetic blood?"
"That's what Roman planned to do, but last night they discovered his DNA was mutated. And since Roman is over five hundred years old, there's no way to know what his original human DNA was like."
"Oh." It was impossible. She was still trapped. Forever.
Shanna leaned back in her chair, frowning. "That last discovery has really screwed up everything.
We were so sure we could have children, but now…"
"You wanted to have children with Roman?"
"Yes, very much." Shanna gazed off into space. "It seemed so simple. Roman just erased the DNA from live human sperm and inserted his own. We tried artificial insemination a few times." She splayed her hand across her belly. "I could be pregnant now. I hope so."
Darcy sat up, alarmed. "But you just said his DNA isn't human. It's mutated."
"Roman only figured that out last night. Now, he wants to stop the attempts to get me pregnant."
"But you don't?"
Shanna shrugged. "I love him just the way he is. And I would love our child, no matter what."
Darcy's gaze lowered to Shanna's abdomen. "The baby's DNA would be half vampire."
"I know." Shanna smiled. "Don't worry. We only attempted insemination three times. Chances are nothing happened." Her smile turned sad. "I wanted children so bad."
"I'm sorry." Darcy reached over to touch her hand.
Shanna squeezed her hand back. "I'll keep praying. And I'll pray everything works out for you, too."
Darcy sat back, releasing Shanna's hand. "I'm afraid it's hopeless for me."
"There's always hope." Shanna's eyes twinkled. "I believe I told Roman that once."
Connor's image wavered before them, then became solid. Darcy's nerves tensed. He placed a plastic DVD case and a manila folder on the coffee table. On the folder, written in bold letters, she read the words STAKE-OUT TEAM.
"Sorry it took me so long." Connor took a seat in the blue toile chair opposite Shanna. "While I was at the townhouse, we received another call from Katya."
"Oh, dear." Shanna frowned.
"Who is she?" Darcy asked.
"Katya and Galina are joint coven masters for the Russians," Connor explained.
"Female coven masters?" Darcy asked. "I didn't know such a thing was possible."
"It is revolutionary," Connor admitted. "They took over after Petrovsky died."
Shanna snorted. "You mean after they both killed him."
"Aye, those are two ladies I wouldna want to anger." Connor grimaced. "But they are verra angry now. Another one of their coven was murdered tonight in Central Park."
"How many is that now?" Shanna asked. "Three?"
"Aye. Three Malcontents killed in the last few weeks. Katya accused us of doing it. I denied it, but she's certain we know more than we're saying."
"Do you?" Darcy's journalistic instincts kicked in. "Do you know who's doing it?"
"I can make a bloody good guess." Connor gestured toward the folder. "Our wee friends from the CIA. The Stake-Out team."
Shanna groaned.
Darcy thought back. "Didn't you mention them before? The night of Shanna's wedding?"
Shanna nodded wearily. "My father's in charge of the Stake-Out team. He tried his best to stop my wedding."
Connor frowned. "They're up to other mischief as well."
Darcy glanced at the folder with a sense of foreboding. "How can a mortal manage to kill a vampire? Wouldn't a Vamp use mind control to stop him? Or simply teleport away?"
"Each member of the team has a certain amount of psychic power," Connor explained.
"My father has quite a bit," Shanna added. "I inherited my abilities from him."
"I see. So, these mortals are vampire slayers with psychic power. It sounds frightening."
"It is." Shanna sighed. "I tried to tell my father there were two kinds of vampires—the good, bottleguzzling, modern Vamp and the nasty Malcontents. But he wouldn't listen. He hates all vampires with a passion. Roman's afraid he would even hurt me now that he consi
ders me a traitor."
"I'm so sorry. It must be very difficult for you."
Shanna gave her a sad look. "My father's making it difficult for everyone. Even you, I'm afraid."
"Me? But I've never met any of them."
"My father held me prisoner for a while until Connor was able to rescue me," Shanna continued. "I met most of the team, so I recognize them when I see them."
Connor moved to the couch, next to Darcy. She immediately stiffened. "I am sorry, lass, but ye must know about this." He turned the folder to face them and opened it.
The first sheet of paper was titled Sean Whelan and contained information on him.
Connor pointed to a box with the number 10 inside. "This is how the CIA ranks psychic power. A ten is the highest." He turned the page to reveal Sean Whelan's photo.
Connor turned to the next profile. It was on Alyssa Barnett. Psychic power: 5. Connor turned the page to her photo, then continued to the next profile. Emma Wallace. Psychic power: 7.
"She's British," Connor commented. "Transferred over from MI6, most likely because of her psychic abilities. It is a bit rare amongst the mortals." He turned to her photo.
The women were young and pretty, Darcy noticed. "I've never seen any of these people."
"Just wait." Connor turned to the next profile.
The page was titled Garrett Manning. Psychic power: 3. Connor turned to his photo.
Darcy gasped. She was looking at Garth Manly. "No. This must be some kind of mistake."
"No mistake." Shanna frowned at Garrett's photo. "When I saw him climb out of that limo on your show—I couldn't believe it."
Darcy jumped up and skirted the coffee table. A CIA operative on her show? She paced across the room. "I don't understand. He auditioned for the show. I picked him myself."
"Well, he is rather handsome," Shanna conceded. "I can see why you would choose him."
Darcy paced back toward the sofa. "He was easily one of the best. You should have seen the others.
They were so—" She halted suddenly. The others had been so bad. Unbelievably bad. Her shoulders slumped. "I was set up. From the beginning."
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