by Tina Folsom
“Monstre! T’as tué mon fils!” Yes, he’d killed his own son.
His wife’s screams were mixed with tears, her voice hoarse. But the way she looked at him when he came out of his momentary trance, when the beast in him was satisfied by the boy’s blood, those eyes condemned him to hell. Living hell.
“Tu vas sentir toute la douleur du monde, des émotions de chacun, et tu seras infirme pour l’éternité. Jamais tu vas sentir l’amour du nouveau. Jamais.”
What she condemned him to was what he deserved: to sense everybody’s emotions, to feel the pain that would cripple him for eternity with no love ever soothing his heart again.
“Mon dieu, qu-est ce que j’ai fait?” What had he done?
Amaury fell to his knees and wept.
Ten
It was the last staff meeting for the night. Amaury was tired and drained. He could sense Gabriel wasn’t faring much better. Using their powers took a lot out of them.
The chairs in the meeting room were arranged so Yvette could see everybody’s face and register them in her mind. Both Amaury and Gabriel stood next to her, off to the side, while Ricky stood at the podium and answered questions after he’d given his standard speech about the incidents.
“That’s just what we need, the police digging around in our past,” one of the employees droned. A collective murmur went through the room.
Ricky held up his hand to ask for silence. “I understand your concerns. Rest assured, we will not release information to the police if they don’t present us with a proper subpoena. As we all know, many of us have less than stellar backgrounds. But we’re past this. We’ve pulled ourselves out of this and have reformed ourselves.”
Amaury noticed that Ricky used the collective we. He was an extraordinary speaker, always knowing what the crowd wanted, how he could win them over to his side. Many of Scanguards’ bodyguards were reformed criminals, and while Ricky wasn’t an ex-con, to imply that he was one of them was a smart PR move.
“We’re in this together. One bad apple won’t spoil the entire batch. I believe in you guys. Without you, there would be no Scanguards. Without you, the world would be less safe,” he continued his pep talk. “The company needs you to stay strong and vigilant. If you suspect any wrongdoing, I urge you to come to me.”
Amaury scanned the crowd and tried to filter out the various emotions bouncing around the room. His head was near exploding, but as always he didn’t let on. The emotions which bombarded him were what he expected: fear, dread, anger, disbelief.
“We can’t allow these incidents to rip the company apart. Too many people depend on us. Too many jobs would be lost. We all have families that depend on us. Let’s not let them down.”
“Are there any leads?” a question came from the audience.
Ricky shook his head. “We’re not privy to any information the police deems confidential. We will conduct our own internal investigation though, and for that we rely on your input. Many of you knew both Edmund and Kent. So I have a favor to ask of you: if you think there is anything odd that happened to them before these incidents, anything that might be considered strange, or if you know of any problems they had, please talk to me in confidence. Don’t fear any reprisals. If you feel you want to remain anonymous, I’ll respect your request.”
“Will there be a reward?”
Amaury frowned. Typical, there was always one who wanted to gain from a situation like this. He honed in on the man’s emotions.
“At this point nothing has been decided. But you all know how we work. The company won’t forget your contribution. We’re dependent on each other, and we look out for our own.”
He really had to hand it to Ricky; he could put a positive spin on anything. The men in the crowd looked much more relaxed now than at the beginning of the meeting. A lot of their anxiety was gone, and their emotions had settled down to a quiet simmer. Still, there were a few more hotheads to be dealt with.
“I can’t afford to be drawn into this. I’m on parole,” a big guy shouted out and leapt from his seat. Heads turned to him.
“Well, you’re not the only one,” another from across the room chimed in. “So, shut up.”
“You want a piece of me?” the parolee offered with clenched teeth, fists at the ready.
Ricky brought the crowd under control. “Please, gentlemen. There’s no need to get physical. Can you imagine the paperwork I have to deal with just to fill out the worker’s comp forms? Please. Settle down. None of us can afford to be mixed up in this, but we are. We didn’t choose this, but we have to deal with it. I urge you all to keep a cool head. Our first duty is to our clients. They will be nervous, and rightly so. If one of you loses their calm, our clients will notice. If you want to be pulled off your assignment, you’d better let me know now.”
Ricky gazed into the crowd, but nobody spoke up. “I take it this means we’re all still doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Protect our clients, do our jobs. We’ll get behind this, I promise you. Good night, gentlemen. Be safe.”
Ricky cast Amaury and Gabriel a silent look. Amaury nodded. He’d had sufficient time to delve into the employees’ emotions, but nothing of importance had transpired. All emotions seemed reasonable for the situation. However, there were a few staff members he wanted to take a closer look at.
As the room cleared and the chatter subsided, the vampires congregated in a corner.
“Anything?” Ricky asked.
“I tapped into their memories, but there was nothing that connected any of them to Edmund or Kent. Yes, some of them knew one or even both, but I couldn’t see any incidences that would lead me to believe in foul play. Unless somebody is blocking my access,” Gabriel admitted.
“They can do that?” Amaury asked in surprise. He’d always assumed Gabriel’s gift was infallible.
“The humans can’t. But any of the vampires might be able to. Not everybody can block me, but some of the vampires might have sufficient powers to at least block me partially or veil their memories so I can’t access them sufficiently. Don’t you have that issue with your power?”
Amaury shook his head and instantly knew he was lying. He’d only recently met the one person whose emotions he could not read, but he was sure it was a fluke. Plus, she was human. “No, I can sense anybody—human or vampire.”
And after the long sessions with the employees, he was completely and utterly drained and exhausted. He desperately needed sex to keep his head from exploding. He glanced at his watch. The nightclubs would still be humming right now. He needed to feed, and he needed to continue his search for Nina.
“Well, good for you.” If Gabriel only knew. Good wasn’t the attribute Amaury associated with his gift. “Anything from your side?”
“I sensed a few people with guilt issues, possibly somebody with feelings of deception and fear, but I can’t pinpoint what about.” He looked at Gabriel. “Your gift is a lot more precise than mine.”
Amaury’s gift was open to interpretation, and this time he couldn’t rely on guesswork. This was too important for all of them. That was why Gabriel’s gift was necessary to complement his.
“We should interview a few of them one on one. Show me the list, Ricky,” he demanded.
Ricky pulled out the staff list and handed it to him. Amaury quickly made notes next to various names.
“Let’s set something up for tomorrow night.”
Ricky looked at the list. “Okay, together with the few from the previous meetings, that’s eleven of them. Yvette?”
Yvette had been quiet during the entire time. Now she cleared her throat. “I’d like to sit in on the interviews with Amaury.”
Amaury raised his eyebrows, but didn’t protest. If she wanted a closer look at the guys he’d picked out, so be it. “Gabriel, it’s the three of us then.” At least with Gabriel there, he and Yvette wouldn’t instantly get into a fight.
“Where’s Quinn?” Yvette suddenly asked.
“Probably outside. He was
supposed to make sure everybody left the building. Let’s go,” Gabriel ordered. “It’s time to check in with Zane.”
***
This was the third night in a row Nina was in trouble with a vampire. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this after all. And this was one mean looking dude. His head shorn bald, his body carrying not an ounce of fat, he had her pinned against a wall outside of Scanguards’ downtown offices.
His mouth twisted into a snarl only inches from her face as his arm pressed against her neck, making breathing virtually impossible.
Everything had gone well up to a few minutes ago. She had watched the employees leave the building after the staff meeting. Unfortunately, Benny had bolted before he’d helped her identify his contact. It made Nina think her informant had seen the guy amongst the employees at that moment and decided it was safer to skip. Not that he’d come with her voluntarily in the first place. She’d had to use persuasion of the violent kind to drag him with her.
Obviously the weasel had a better instinct of self preservation than Nina did, otherwise she wouldn’t be the one in the clutches of that bald vampire right now. The silver chain she carried in her jacket pocket was of no use to her now—she wouldn’t be fast enough to wrap it around his neck even if she managed to get free of his grip. And even though she was armed with a stake, it was in her inside pocket and inaccessible at present. She had to play a different strategy.
“Who are you?”
Yes, his voice sounded just as mean as he looked. No doubt about it.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. He was crushing her windpipe.
“Talk!”
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t running out of air. She gasped and lifted her arm to gesture to her neck. A second later he loosened his grip on her neck, but only marginally. Instantly Nina coughed.
“Now talk fast.”
“I was just minding my own business.” If he thought she’d spill the beans this quickly, he’d never met anybody as stubborn as her.
He shook his head. “Not in my territory, you’re not. You’ve been spying on us. Who are you?”
“I was just going for a walk, that’s all.”
He shoved his thigh against her in a display of physical dominance. She wasn’t intimidated this easily, well, at least she wasn’t going to admit it.
“Prowling is the word you’re looking for, I believe.”
From the corner of her eye she scanned her surroundings for passersby, but they were alone. This late at night, the Financial District was deserted. The restaurants were already closed, and there were no nightclubs in the vicinity.
“This is a free country.”
“For some people maybe.”
He was different from the two vampires she’d fought the night before. He could have killed her a dozen times since he’d captured her, yet he was intent on questioning her instead. It gave her hope that he wasn’t sent by the same guy who’d dispatched the other two vampires.
“Listen, I have no beef with you. If this is your territory, bro, I’ll just be gettin’ out of your hair, alright?” She tried her best street-gang lingo on him. If she could convince him she was just some low-level con and not scouting out vampires, maybe he’d let her go.
“What do you want?”
Like she was going to tell him. Hell, the guy was insistent.
“Zane!”
His head whipped back to the voice behind him. Several figures came toward them, all still cast in dark shadows. Great, more vampires. Her survival chances had just dwindled exponentially.
“What’s going on?” the same voice inquired. The man came into view. The first thing Nina saw was the large scar which reached from his chin all the way to his ear. Gruesome. She could tell that at some time in the past he’d been handsome, but the ugly scar had put an end to that.
“This man just attacked me!” Maybe she could create some confusion and appeal to someone’s sense of chivalry toward a woman, not that she got her hopes up. They would only get trampled.
“Nina?”
Now there was a voice she definitely recognized.
Amaury pushed into sight, a stunned look on his gorgeous face. Damn, the man was still as handsome as the night before. She hadn’t imagined it.
“You know her?” Scarface with the ponytail asked.
“Zane, let her go. Now!” Amaury ordered the vampire who was still keeping her imprisoned. Zane showed no intention of letting her go. On the contrary, it felt as if he tightened his grip on her.
“Don’t tell me she’s one of your floozies!” The female voice surprised her. Nina glanced in her direction. If there ever was a woman who could be called a femme fatale, it was this one. Black leather pants, a tight colorful top, boobs galore. And an absolutely flawless face framed by short black hair. Some girls had all the luck.
“Shut up, Yvette! Zane, let her go,” Amaury repeated his command.
“Who is she?” Zane was clearly not willing to give in.
“None of your fucking business.”
“It is when she’s spying on Scanguards.”
“Nina, you weren’t spying on Scanguards, were you?” Amaury’s conspiratorial look was subtle.
“Of course not. I was just waiting for you.” She hoped nobody could hear the shaking in her voice.
“You’re dating a human?” The vampire with the ponytail and scar gave Amaury a scolding look. “May I remind you of what we discussed two nights ago?”
“I know what we discussed, Gabriel. No need to remind me. I’ll take care of it.”
“Really?” Yvette interjected.
“Yes, really.” Amaury sounded pretty pissed off.
“You’d better. No exposure.” Gabriel made an indication to Zane to release her. Nina felt his reluctance to do so. The bastard had obviously hoped to do a little harm, and he was still blocking her.
“I think I’d rather do it myself,” Zane insisted. “I don’t think you can be trusted to wipe her memory. You’re too biased.”
Wipe her memory? How were they going to do that? By drilling into her skull?
Zane and Amaury shot daggers at each other. If looks could kill, well, luckily they couldn’t, or at least she didn’t think they could. But what did she know about what else vampires were capable of?
“Nina, step away from him and come over here.”
She suppressed the urge to give Zane the finger and was only too happy to comply with Amaury’s command. Better the vampire she knew....
She noticed the look Yvette gave her when she finally stood next to Amaury. Her next comment came as no surprise.
“Is she that good that you’re willing to betray your friends?” The woman let her gaze travel over Nina’s body, making her feel like she was undergoing an inspection she had no chance of passing.
“Stay out of this, Yvette,” he growled.
“That good in bed, huh?” Yvette tossed a cold smile at Nina. “Watch out—he’ll take what he wants and doesn’t give a damn about the consequences.”
Nina was at a loss of how to respond. She was glad she didn’t have to. Gabriel cut off the conversation.
“That’s enough. Amaury, you know what to do. If you don’t take care of this situation, I will. Or worse, Zane will. Do we understand each other?”
There was a slight hesitation from Amaury. She noticed how his hands balled into fists. “Loud and clear.”
He turned and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go.” The gruffness of his voice didn’t bode well for her immediate future.
Nina had no idea why he hadn’t just fed her to the lions, but rather had taken their wrath upon himself to get her out of the precarious situation. She watched him from the side as she struggled to keep up with him, his hand still clamped around her arm in a none-too-gentle manner.
“Where are we going?” she asked him once they were out of earshot of his vampire friends.
“Somewhere where we can talk.”
“Talk about what?”
Amaury stopped and jerked her toward him. The furious look he gave her made Nina hold her tongue. “We both know you and I didn’t have a date, so cut the crap. You’re lucky I could fool my friends. But now you owe me an explanation.”
Again he pulled her along.
“Slow down! I can’t keep up with you.”
“Unless you want me to sling you over my shoulder, you’ll keep up.”
Nina ignored the shiver rolling down her back.
Caveman!
Eleven
Nina was driving him mad—stark-raving mad. The moment Amaury had witnessed Zane manhandling her, he’d seen red. No—crimson, scarlet, purple! What the hell was she doing there, spying on them outside the offices? And clearly she had been spying. No way was this encounter a coincidence.
Amaury grunted to himself as he let them into the apartment and locked the door. His decision to get her out of there had been a simple gut reaction. He hadn’t thought about the consequences at all. The only thing he could think of was to get her away from Zane.
He knew Zane all too well, and his interrogation methods were anything but gentle. He didn’t want Nina to be subjected to his brutality. Zane followed the directive in a straight line, he was loyal and fiercely protective of his brethren, but his methods were questionable at best.
To imagine Nina suffering at Zane’s hands turned Amaury’s stomach. And not just for the obvious reasons. Even if Zane wasn’t as brutal as he was, he wouldn’t want the other vampire’s hands on her.
“Woman, you’re giving me a headache.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t I leave you alone?” She made an attempt to brush past him toward the door, but he held her back and turned her body toward him.
“Nice try, Nina—if that’s even your real name.”
She tilted her head up in defiance. “Like you’re on first-name terms with the truth.”
Touché!
“And Nina is my name,” she added.
“You might as well make yourself comfortable, since you’re not going anywhere.” He released her shoulders before he could give into the urge to pull her against his body and punish her with a kiss.
