With a groan, he yanked his shirt over his head, then tossed it onto his bed.
“Safe and harmless,” he muttered as he selected a pale blue shirt. It would be a lot more fun to wear a tuxedo and vampire cape. And have a Hungarian accent like Zoltan. Instead, Gregori fastened his cuff links and put on a gray tie with thin blue stripes.
He removed his page of strategy plans from the pants pocket of his dirty clothes and studied the list, committing it to memory. He also had Angus’s security plans to follow.
At thirteen minutes till nine, he teleported with his suitcase to the side entrance at Romatech, since arriving inside the building would set off an alarm. He swiped his ID badge and entered. Halfway down the hall, he passed by the security office.
The door opened and half a dozen MacKay employees spilled out into the hallway.
“Ye understand the plan, lad?” Angus asked.
“Yes.”
“Yo, undercover brother.” Phineas gave him a knuckle pound. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Sean’s a little upset,” Emma warned him. “He claims you’re running late.”
Gregori’s mouth twitched. “By two minutes. Just to annoy him.”
“Aye, doona let the bastard get to you.” Robby patted him on the back. “We’ll be waiting for yer call.”
After a round of well wishes, Gregori excused himself and wheeled his suitcase down to his office. His heart swelled when he realized how much trust his fellow Vamps were placing in him. In spite of all the teasing, they really did respect him. He grinned to himself.
“It’s about time!” Sean yelled as he entered the room.
His smile faded. “Chillax, Whelan.” He grabbed his phone charger off the desk and stuffed it into an outside pocket on his suitcase. He noticed Sean was still glowering at him, so he slipped a few stress balls into the suitcase.
“How much longer are you going to take?” Sean growled. “It’s ten minutes till.”
“I’m ready.” Gregori picked up his Droid. “What’s the number for the safe house?”
“I’ll make the call.” Sean whipped out his cell phone. “I’m the one in charge. You’re just going along to show how safe and harmless you are.”
Gregori gritted his teeth as he pocketed his Droid.
Sean punched a number on his phone. “Garrett, we’re ready. Keep talking till we get there.” He sidled up close to Gregori. “Grab on to me.”
“You don’t know how to—”
“Shh.” Sean covered his phone with his hand. “I’ve been a . . . you-know-what for only a few nights, and we’ve been busy with one meeting after another. I haven’t had time to learn any of your damned tricks.”
Gregori nodded. And it looked like Sean had neglected to tell his fellow team members about his transformation. “Give me the phone.” He held out his hand.
Sean hesitated.
“I have to hear the guy’s voice to know where to go.” Gregori accepted the phone, then motioned toward Sean’s suitcase by the door. “Don’t you need to take that?”
“Oh, right.” Sean hurried to the door.
With a grin, Gregori grabbed his suitcase and teleported. He arrived in a living room that was sparsely furnished with what looked like rejects from a thrift store.
The other person in the room stopped talking in mid-sentence. His eyes grew wide. “What? Where’s Sean?”
Gregori parked his suitcase next to the sagging couch of burnt-orange velvet, then set Sean’s cell phone on the scarred coffee table. He extended a hand toward the other guy. Garrett Manning was a member of Sean’s Stake-Out team, and he’d participated undercover in a reality show that Gregori had hosted a few years back at the Digital Vampire Network.
“We’ve met before, remember? I’m Gregori Holstein.”
“Uh, yeah. I’m Garrett.” He backed away, refusing to shake hands, his expression growing more confused. “Weren’t you supposed to bring Sean with you?”
“Damn.” Gregori slapped his leg. “I knew I was forgetting something.”
Garrett winced. “Sean’s going to be really pissed.”
“What else is new?” Gregori pulled out his Droid and called Angus, who immediately put him on the speakerphone. “I’m at the safe house. Looks like Garrett is alone here. Is that true, Garrett? Are you alone?”
“Well . . . yeah, but—” Garrett gasped as four men materialized in the room. “What the—”
“This is Robby and Phil.” Gregori gestured toward the two Vamps and the shifters they’d brought with them. “I believe you’ve met Phineas before. And this is Howard. They’ll be in charge of security from now on.”
Garrett flinched. “But that’s my job! This is a CIA operation. You can’t just take over like that.”
“Dude.” Phineas gave him a pointed look. “Are you going to argue with a werewolf and a were-bear?”
Garrett gulped as he eyed Phil and Howard. Gregori bit his lip to keep from laughing. The shifters had both affected their steely-eyed, vicious looks.
Phineas rested an arm on Garrett’s shoulder. “Let me give you some advice, bro. Keep the kitchen well stocked. You do not want to share your house with a hungry bear.”
“I—I didn’t realize shifters were real,” Garrett whispered.
“Yeah, well, we’re gonna trust you to keep quiet about that, bro.” Phineas patted him on the back. “Or we’ll have to wipe your memory clean for a year or so.”
Garrett turned pale. “I can keep a secret.”
“Good lad.” Robby smiled at him. “I’m going back now to report to Angus. Good luck to ye all.” He disappeared.
“Got any donuts?” Howard lumbered toward the kitchen.
Garrett jumped out of his way. “There’s a box on the counter. Eat all you want.”
Gregori motioned toward the fridge. “Did you stock up on blood?”
“Yeah.” Garrett gave him a wary look. “Are you going to get Sean now?”
“Soon.” Gregori glanced at the large bay window. “Is there a safe place for Phineas and me to sleep?”
“Yeah, the basement. Sean told me to board up the windows and put two beds down there.” Garrett frowned at Phineas. “Did he know there would be two of you?”
“Dude, there’s gonna be three Vamps,” Phineas said. “Gregori, me, and Sean.”
Garrett’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
Gregori attempted to keep a straight face. “Hate to break it to you, dude, but your boss is a Vamp.”
“No.” Garrett shook his head. “You’re just messing with me. Sean hates vampires.”
“Then he’d better get a therapist to deal with his self-loathing.” Gregori glanced at his watch. “Time to go.” He teleported back to the side entrance at Romatech, swiped his card, and strode inside.
“You bastard!” Sean shouted as he charged down the hall, dragging his suitcase behind him. “I’m reporting you to your superiors.” He stopped in front of the MacKay security office and lifted a fist to pound on the door.
It opened and Angus filled the doorway.
Sean froze with his fist an inch from Angus’s chest.
Angus arched a brow. “Is there a problem?”
“Yes!” Sean gestured wildly toward Gregori. “That asshole left without me! He’s impossible to work with. You should fire him!”
“Now why would I do that?” Angus’s eyes twinkled with humor. “I believe he followed my orders perfectly.”
“What the— I’m in charge here!” Sean jabbed a finger in Gregori’s direction. “That idiot was supposed to take me!”
“Chillax, Whelan,” Gregori said. “It wouldn’t have been safe to take you and all our luggage at the same time.”
“And he had other matters to take care of first,” Angus added. “My men are now providing security for the safe house.”
Sean flinched. “But they don’t know where—” He turned to Gregori. “You bastard, what have you done?”
“I provided us the best security
possible.” He glanced at his watch. “Would you look at that? It’s precisely nine o’clock, the exact time you wanted to go.”
“Don’t act like a smart-ass with me!” Sean growled. “I’m the one in charge of this operation.”
“Then teleport yourself. I’ll see you there.” Gregori no longer needed a beacon. The location of the safe house was imbedded in his psychic memory.
“Wait!” Sean stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You have to take me. The president knows me. And all the other men at the meeting. They trust me. You need me there.”
Angus folded his arms over his chest. “Do the president and his cronies know ye’re a Vamp?”
“Of course not! It just barely happened.” Sean shifted his weight. “I don’t want them to know. It would destroy their trust in me.”
Gregori nodded. He’d never seen Sean look so uptight and miserable. “Okay, I’ll play along with that. But it’s too late for Garrett. We already spilled the beans.”
“What? Dammit, Holstein. It should be my decision when to tell people.” Sean scowled as Gregori grabbed his arm. “You’d better remember from now on that I’m in charge. I’m getting fed up with your—”
Gregori teleported to the safe house, taking Sean with him.
“—sorry ass!” Sean completed his sentence.
“Are you talking to me?” Phineas asked.
“What?” Sean looked around. “Dammit! How many MacKay employees are here?”
“Three,” Garrett muttered. “Phineas and those two shifters in the kitchen, eating all our food.” He gave Sean an annoyed look. “You should have told me about shifters.”
Sean shrugged. “Need-to-know basis.”
Garrett scowled. “Is it true what they said? Are you a vampire now?”
Sean sighed and his shoulders drooped. “It’s a long, painful story. It would probably take hours—”
“He nearly died in battle, so Roman transformed him to save his life,” Gregori explained, then smirked at Sean. “End of story.”
Garrett eyed his boss. “But he looks the same.”
“And he acts the same,” Phineas muttered.
Sean snorted. “I am the same.”
Frowning, Garrett ran a hand through his hair. “How can you stay the head of the Stake-Out team? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“You expect me to stake myself?” Sean growled.
“I’ve got a nice, big one you can borrow,” Gregori suggested.
Sean scoffed. “I think my new situation will actually help me in my fight against the bad vampires.”
“But you said all vampires are bad,” Garrett insisted.
Sean waved a hand in dismissal. “I was a bit premature in my observation. I know a lot more about it now.”
Gregori and Phineas snorted.
Sean glared at them, then at Garrett. “No one in the government is to know about my new status. Understood?”
Garrett gave him a dubious look. “Aren’t they going to notice that you’re dead during the day?”
“That may be normal for a government worker,” Gregori muttered.
Phineas snickered.
Sean waved that aside. “We’ve always done our work at night. That won’t change.” He took a seat on the couch. “We need to start the briefing.”
Gregori sat and listened to Sean explain once again how he was supposed to keep his mouth shut during the meeting and prove just how safe, harmless, and boring he truly was.
At nine-thirty, the limo from the White House arrived.
As Gregori strode toward the door, he chanted softly, “I’m too sexy for my cape, too sexy for my fangs—”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Sean scowled at him.
“Just a little positive thinking, dude. To get psyched up. You should try it sometime.”
Sean snorted, then paused at the door. “I’ve heard about you. You’re . . . well, to be blunt, a womanizer.”
Gregori gritted his teeth. His dear mother must have told Sean that. “What of it?”
“I know how you Vamps are around women,” Sean muttered. “And for some weird reason, women tend to find vampires really attractive.”
“Hoping to get lucky, Whelan?”
He shot Gregori an annoyed look as they stepped outside. “I’m warning you. You had better act safe, harmless, and boring.”
“I’ll attempt to smother my naturally charming personality.”
“Just stay away from the president’s daughter.” Sean hurried down the steps to the waiting car.
“You mean if I ravish her it might put a little hitch in our negotiations?”
“Cut the sarcasm and stay away from her.” Sean opened the car door, then climbed into the limo, followed by Gregori.
He gazed out the window as the limo turned onto a busy avenue. No doubt Sean was referring to pretty Madison who regularly graced magazine covers. But what about the older daughter, Abigail? How come he hadn’t been able to locate one good photo of her? Why was she hiding from the world?
He smiled to himself. The evening wouldn’t be entirely safe, harmless, and boring. He had a mystery to solve.
Chapter Five
“Tonight I will make you mine. Every inch of your flesh will beg for my touch. Your very soul will scream for me to possess you.”
Abigail hesitated as the man’s deep, husky voice filtered through the closed door. Wow. Mom had found a hot one for tonight.
She glanced at the Secret Service agent who stood next to the door. The poor guy could probably hear the racy dialogue going on inside, but his face remained expressionless and stoic.
She slipped quietly into the room. Not wanting to interrupt the audio book in progress, she simply waved at her mom and Nurse Debra.
Belinda squinted behind her eyeglasses, then smiled. “Hi, Abby.”
“Hey, Mom.” Was her mother’s vision growing worse?
“Perfect timing!” Belinda motioned to the CD player on the table next to her recliner. “Maxim’s about to get lucky.”
Maxim ripped his shirt off and flung it aside, the narrator’s voice continued.
Debra sighed. “I’m warning you. If your blood pressure goes up, I’m turning that silly thing off.”
“Shh.” Belinda hushed her. “You enjoy it, too, even if you won’t admit it.”
“Humph.” Debra adjusted her reading glasses and went back to writing her report.
Abigail smiled. Debra had been her mom’s private nurse for ten years now, and the two of them enjoyed fussing at each other.
The narrator’s voice grew softer. With graceful ease, he picked her up and tossed her onto his bed.
“Maxim is very sexy,” Belinda whispered.
“Well, that is a requirement for the hero.” Abigail scanned the monitor to check her mother’s vital signs.
She always tried to visit her mom when she was undergoing kidney dialysis, but with her long hours at the lab, it wasn’t always possible. Thank God for audio books. Especially the romances. They kept her mom entertained for hours. No doubt sexy Maxim was also tall, dark, and handsome. And of course fabulously rich.
She sighed. Guys like that existed only in fiction. But she had to admit she’d learned a lot about the fine art of lovemaking thanks to her mom’s books. Some mothers sat their daughters down for a heart-to-heart talk about sex. Belinda May Tucker simply invited them to listen to her audio books. Unfortunately that only left Abigail feeling uneasy since her forays into the world of romance had not produced the soul-searing, multiorgasmic epiphanies that her mother’s beautiful heroines experienced. Regularly. Without fail.
Maxim lay down beside her, marveling over the perfection of her lovely face and long blond tresses.
Abigail wrinkled her nose. “Why are the heroines always blond?”
Debra huffed. “Because only a blonde would be stupid enough to—”
“Excuse me?” Belinda gave her nurse an indignant look.
Abigail exchanged a gri
n with Debra, then patted her mom on the shoulder. “We can’t all be blond like you.”
Her smile faded when she noted strands of silver in her mother’s hair. When had that happened? Even Debra’s short and tidy Afro had acquired hints of gray among the black.
She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her lab coat so her clenched fists wouldn’t show. Time was flying by, and she’d hardly made any progress at all. Her chest tightened with the same fear that had haunted her for a dozen years. Failure is not an option. Failure means your mother dies.
“Take a seat.” Belinda motioned to the chair beside her. “The good part’s coming up.”
Abigail perched on the edge of the chair and gripped her jeans-clad knees. She needed to relax and enjoy the time she had with her mother. And not feel guilty that she wasn’t at the lab.
“Are you ready for me, my love?” he whispered.
“Oh yes, Maxim! Take me. I need to feel your manly rod of steel deep inside me.”
Abigail snorted. “I think he has a penile prosthesis.”
Debra laughed.
Belinda scowled at them both.
Maxim caressed her face, then sliced through her nightgown with his claw.
“What?” Abigail sat back. “His claw?”
Belinda nodded. “I told you he was sexy.”
Debra rolled her eyes. “Only a blonde would be stupid enough—”
“He’s got a claw?” Abigail jumped to her feet and picked up the case for the audio book. “Wild and Wicked Nights with a Werewolf? You mean Maxim has hairy palms and never cuts his nails?”
Belinda sighed. “You might as well turn it off. You’ve really destroyed the mood now.”
“Who could ever be in the mood for a claw?” Abigail punched the off button and dropped the CD case on the table. “What happened to the Greek billionaire tycoon and his secretary?”
Belinda shrugged. “I wanted to branch out. Try something new. I never get out of the house, you know. I can at least let my imagination roam free.”
Abigail swallowed hard. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Even though the house in question was the White House, it was still a prison for her mom.
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