by Arthur, Keri
He glanced at the computer screen, said “Moneisha, information portable,” and a second later, a tiny chip sealed in plastic appeared. He picked it up and handed it to me. “All current information we have. Once you and Quinn have read it, destroy the chip.”
I shoved it in my pocket. “Will do.”
“Keep me updated.”
I nodded and left. When I climbed into the car, I saw the file Talon had given me. A quick flick-through revealed nothing more than what I’d already seen. He hadn’t even tried to do a thorough search on Quinn, and that was annoying. I didn’t ask much of either of my mates, but when I did, I expected a little effort expended.
I shook my head, threw the folder down on the seat, and headed down to the Casino parking lot. It was close to eleven-thirty by the time I loped toward the Casino itself. Once I’d reached the main entrance of the big building, I swept my gaze across the people milling there. Humans, wolves, shapeshifters, and vampires, but none of them the man I was looking for. I turned, checking the surrounding area.
And found him not far away, sitting on the steps that led down to the quay. I walked over and sat down beside him, close enough that I could feel the warmth of him, but not quite close enough that we were touching.
“I didn’t think you were coming,” he said, voice conversational.
He’d actually showered and donned some clothes since I’d last seen him. His hair was indeed black, and so thick and silky my fingers itched to run through it. The coat I’d given him had disappeared, and he was wearing a burgundy sweater that hugged his lean form and framed his angelic features, and black jeans that seemed to emphasize the athletic strength of his thighs. He was sexy covered in mud, but the clothed version . . . wow.
“What happened to the coat?” An inane thing to say, but my brain was too busy battering down my hormones to think of anything more intelligent.
He glanced at me, eyes darker than the night itself, and totally unreadable. “I left it at my house to be washed. Blood from your wound had soaked into it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “So you do have a house here?”
He nodded. “In Brighton.”
It figured. Toorak was only for the would-be billionaires, like Talon. “I talked to Jack before I came here.”
“Then you know I mean you no harm.”
“Well, no. I know you’re currently helping the Directorate’s investigations, but I very much suspect you’ll do your own thing if it happens to suit you better.”
He smiled his seductive smile, and my hormones did an excited little shuffle. “You do read people well.”
“Meaning, of course, that I’m right not to trust you fully.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Didn’t deny it, either. “Jack wants me to work with you tonight.”
“Meaning you’ve found Rhoan?”
“He’s at Moneisha.”
“Moneisha? That’s surprising.”
I did up my coat. The chill coming off the river was seeping into my bones, and the warmth flowing from Quinn wasn’t enough to combat it. The goose bumps prickling my skin were threatening to become mountains.
“Why? I thought you were investigating Moneisha yourself?”
His dark gaze met mine. “Jack told you?”
“Yes. And it annoys the hell out of me that you simply didn’t come out and tell me you were working with the Directorate. Rhoan might be rescued by now if you had.”
“I couldn’t remember the truth—only various bits and pieces of it, originally—and by the time I did remember it all, you’d run.”
“Well, naked vampires camping out on my doorstep or following me home do tend to raise suspicions.”
“I had to be sure you were who you said you were. As I said before, Rhoan never mentioned you.” His gaze came to mine, his expression briefly curious. “You cannot be lovers.”
“No, we cannot.” I didn’t bother going any further. The fact that we were twins was something he didn’t need to know. Though if Jack had guessed, surely Quinn, who was apparently far older, would as well. “Tell me what you know about Moneisha.”
I had the information chip Jack had given me, but was interested in seeing just how free with information Quinn was going to be. Jack might trust this vampire implicitly, but I wasn’t so inclined.
“My investigations have led me to believe we have two branches of research happening—one doing cloning, one doing the crossbreeds. On the surface, neither seems to be connected to the other. While I doubt Moneisha is behind either, I think it is part of the chain. There’s certainly a lot more going on behind those walls than what is being reported.”
“I’m going in there tonight to get Rhoan out.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Alone?”
“Jack suggested I take you.”
“Someone covering your back is always a good idea.”
Having this vampire covering my back wasn’t such a good idea. Not when the moon was riding me so hard. I glanced at my watch and saw it was nearly twelve. “Look, do you mind if we continue this conversation inside?”
“You’re cold?”
“Starved more than cold. I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.”
He rose and offered me a hand up. His fingers were warm against mine, gentle yet strong. It was all too easy to imagine those hands on my body, caressing and teasing.
Though his expression remained flat, the surge of his desire washed over me like a summer storm. He might have his shields up on full to protect himself from my aura, but that didn’t stop the awareness zinging between us.
“What would you like to eat?” he said softly.
You. I cleared my throat and stepped away a little. The night was much colder without his touch. “A burger would be good.”
He nodded and, ignoring the slight space I’d put between us, pressed a hand to my back and guided me forward. Heat flared where his fingers rested, rolling through the rest of me in waves.
“There’s a nice restaurant down near the Swanston Street end,” he said, his voice a musical caress that made me want to sigh.
“Do nice restaurants sell burgers and fries?”
“This one does. Tell me what you discovered about Moneisha.”
“Security is tight, and they apparently have infrared cameras.”
“That’s going to be a problem.”
I took the microchip from my pocket. “Information and floor plans.”
He smiled. “Then perhaps we should grab take-away and make our way to my office.”
“You have an office close by?”
He pointed to the white building that dominated the skyline a block away. “My office is on the top floor.”
I looked up . . . and up. “And you don’t get height sickness?”
I certainly did, but it didn’t have anything to do with my dual heritage. It was an end result of being thrown off a mountain when I was a pup. Why the fear manifested in buildings, I have no idea, especially when I could still climb mountains and be fine as long as I didn’t go near any cliffs.
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”
“Sometimes.”
“Then perhaps we shall keep to one of the lower floors.”
“Unless you want me puking over your undoubtedly nice carpets, that could be a good idea.”
He nodded. We reached the restaurant and he bought me a burger, fries, and Coke, refusing to let me pay for it. I sipped the drink as we moved on to his building. Security let him in after an eye scan, and we took the lift to the tenth floor. Another eye scan later, and we were in a section that consisted of endless rows of desks. He led me through them and into an office at the far end.
“Chip?”
I was tempted to hand him one of the French fries, but didn’t think he’d see the humor in it right then. So I handed him the microchip and sat on the edge of the desk, one leg swinging as I munched my food. The screen popped into existence after security confirmed his identity yet again. He slipp
ed the chip into a slot and it disappeared into the depths of the desk. A second later, floor plans appeared.
“Where did you feel Rhoan?”
I pointed a greasy finger at the appropriate wall and the screen shimmered slightly. “There’s about six feet between the walls and the roof, but there’s a camera close by and I would imagine it’s infrared.”
“There’s another entrance here.” He pointed to a spot just past where I’d found Rhoan. “And a small guardhouse.”
“That might be a good point of entry, if we could distract the guards.”
He nodded. “They have laser sensors here and here.” He indicated the two spots. “And it looks as if they also have sensor beams set one foot above the outer wall.”
“Fuck.”
“Crude, but appropriate.” Amusement flirted with his lips again as he leaned back in the chair and studied the plans. “Though one foot leaves enough room to get under if you are aware of its presence. If Rhoan is still in there, it’s going to take some planning to get him out.”
“What do you mean, ‘if’?”
“They’ve got cameras. They would have seen you walking around the perimeter.”
“So? They wouldn’t know me from a bar of soap.”
“If Moneisha is involved in making either the crossbreeds or the clones, that may not be true.” He studied me for a moment, dark eyes flat and somehow chilling. He reached into the pocket of his jeans. “I found this on that werewolf who shot you.”
He dropped the small button into my palm. I looked at it, not sure what to make of it. My confusion must have shown, because he added, “It’s a camera. A very powerful, very experimental, camera.”
“They watched me being shot?” I couldn’t believe anyone would be so . . . I stopped the thought. I worked with guardians, so yes, it was certainly possible to believe someone would be bloodthirsty enough to enjoy something like that.
“He never intended to shoot you in the heart. He wanted to maim, not kill.”
I took a quick swig of my Coke and regretted it the minute it hit my already churning stomach. “They couldn’t have known you were there, and if you hadn’t have been, I would have died.”
“True. But he also had a small medical kit on him, meaning he could have been intending to retrieve the bullet himself.”
“So why shoot me, then patch me up? What was the point?”
“Maybe they wanted to watch your reactions.”
I went cold. “But that would mean—”
“If they’re holding Rhoan for what he is,” he said gently, “then they undoubtedly suspect what you are, too.”
“But no one—” I broke the words off. If Jack had guessed, maybe others had too. “There’s nothing on our birth certificates, and we’ve told no one.” I fixed my gaze on him. “I can’t believe Rhoan told you.”
“He didn’t. I guessed. Werewolves generally do not make good guardians because they cannot sense the dead. Yet he has senses as keen as my own.” He paused. “And you blurred in an effort to avoid that bullet. Something else werewolves cannot do.”
I slipped off the desk and began to pace. “What I don’t get is the why? They’re creating their own freaks. Why would they need me or Rhoan?”
He caught my hand as I passed him, stopping me in my tracks. “You are not a freak.”
There was anger in his voice, in his eyes, as if the mere idea I could think such a thing offended him greatly. I found myself smiling. “Easy for you to say. You’re just a common old vampire.”
“And you are a miracle of existence. Never think otherwise.”
My smile grew. “You know, I could really get to like you.”
His sudden grin was devilish. “Does that mean I get to dance with you sometime soon?”
“It just might.” Once I’d gotten Rhoan out. Once I knew for sure Quinn was playing it straight.
“Good.” His gaze went back to the floor plans. “I can think of two reasons why they might want you and Rhoan. First because you both appear to have integrated your dual heritage very well.”
I went back to pacing. It was better than sitting still. Or sitting close to a treat I wasn’t able to sample just yet. “And the second?”
He looked at me. “Your almost identical looks.”
That stopped me. “What?”
“All the clones so far have been the image of the guardian known as Henri Gautier.”
“Apparently so.”
“Meaning they come from the one source.”
“The friend you thought was dead.”
He nodded. “Well, the dhampire found in my plane looked nothing like Gautier, meaning he came from a totally different source material altogether.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So what if they don’t know, or believe, that dhampires can be born naturally? What if they think you and Rhoan are lab creations? Successful lab creations that they didn’t create?”
I stared at him as the implications sank in.
If that were true, my brother and I were in deep shit.
Chapter 6
That really makes as much sense as them choosing to clone the same butt-ugly image over and over again.” I paused, remembering as soon as I’d opened my big mouth that the butt-ugly image had apparently originally belonged to his friend. Presuming, that is, his dead friend was the source of the clones and not another clone himself. To cover my gaffe, I quickly added, “And surely if the people who attacked me already had Rhoan, I’d feel a greater sense of danger where he was concerned.”
“Not necessarily. Not if Moneisha is merely a collecting point. Maybe the people behind that lab are merely getting samples and don’t know yet what they really have.”
I eyed him for a moment. “So you knew Rhoan was in St. Kilda investigating the disappearances of the pros?”
He nodded. “I was with him most of the night.”
“Why did you leave? It’s not as if dawn would have threatened you.”
He grimaced. “No, but hunger could.”
I raised my eyebrows. “And you couldn’t have taken blood from the pros?”
“I could have, but I prefer not to.” His smile touched his eyes again and damned if it didn’t make my knees go weak. “I only bite someone while making love, and I do have a preference for women who are not in the game.”
The thought of him biting my neck while thrusting slow and deep made me all goose pimply and hot. Man, I was really going to have to take this vampire for a test run before he disappeared out of my life.
“So Rhoan disappeared after you’d left?”
He nodded. “Rhoan was dressed like a hooker so he didn’t stand out on the streets while hunting information. I was in the shadows watching, and reading thoughts.”
Meaning they might have suspected that Rhoan had a guard, because they’d only snatched him once Quinn had left. Either that, or they’d thought Quinn was a watchful pimp. I walked to the windows and stared out. We were only ten floors up, so there wasn’t all that much to see but more buildings. I let my gaze drift to the southeast. The reason for Rhoan’s capture wasn’t really important. Getting him out of there before they realized he wasn’t just a wolf was.
I swung around. “We have to go.”
Quinn didn’t try to stop me, which was good, because right then I probably would have tried to flatten him. I say tried, because I very much suspected he was one vampire I wasn’t equal to. There was something about him, something under that calm, sexy exterior, that suggested greater depths than any of the vampires I worked with. Even Jack.
And if Jack was wary of this vampire, then I sure as hell should be.
All Quinn said was, “We have to prepare first.”
“I can shadow. They won’t see me.”
“They have infrared. You said that yourself.”
I stopped at the door and took a deep breath. He was right. But it did little to ease the anxiety suddenly knotting my insides.
I glanced over my shoulder. �
�What do you suggest?”
He retrieved the chip from the desk, then rose and walked toward me, all grace and beauty in a lean and powerful package. “A little game of dress-up.”
I could think of a lot of games I could play with this vampire, and dressing up was certainly up there on the list. But I very much doubted he meant the type of dressing up I was imagining—more’s the pity. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, if Moneisha is looking for prostitutes, why don’t we give them an easy one to snatch?”
“Wouldn’t they be a little suspicious of a pro suddenly appearing on a quiet suburban street?”
He gave me the chip, then pressed a hand into my back again, guiding me toward the elevators. “Not necessarily. There’s a working brothel one street down from Moneisha. Hopefully they’ll think you’re just walking to work.”
I slanted him a sideways glance. “And how would you know there’s a working brothel one street away?”
“A good investigator discovers what he can about a target area.”
“Yet you said only moments before that you preferred to avoid prostitutes.”
“I do.” He gave me another of those grins. “I’m a billionaire. Women throw themselves at me all the time. I have no need to pay for it.”
Which didn’t exactly answer my question. “And do you not-pay-for-it often?”
“Quite often. I have needs, like any other man.”
I was hoping he’d assuage some of those needs with me. And as soon as I got my brother out.
The doors closed behind us and the lift dropped. My stomach flirted with the idea of puking, then decided to settle again. “So where are we going?”
“To buy camouflage.” His gaze slid down my body. “The skirt is nice, but it doesn’t quite stretch into pro territory.”
Well, no, but all I had to do was take off the coat and sweater, reveal the torn shirt, and you had come-get-me material right there. “It’s nearly midnight. There are not going to be any shops open.”
“When you have the money, the shops are always open.”
The glass front doors slid open as we approached and the cool evening air swirled in. It was thick with the aromas of smog and humans, but underneath it lay something else. Musk and mint and man. The same combination that had been on the wolf who’d shot me.
