“And,” Sarah whispered while pulling a slinky dress off a hanger bar where several identical dresses hung, “What is this?” She waved the dress at me.
“Our uniforms,” I said with a grimace. “I think it’s the wrong size. You probably want a smaller one or you’ll fall out of it.”
They stayed very quiet for a moment. My bodyguards officially hated me. I was pretty sure that was what their death-glares signified. Sophie reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She pressed the button to turn the phone on, then again. She looked at the phone, then at me. “Sarah, check your phone.”
She did, then said, “It’s not turning on either.”
Sophie opened the back of her phone and looked to where she no longer had a phone battery.
“Want me to ask the captain to turn the boat around?” Sarah asked.
“I really doubt he’d do that,” I said.
“He will,” Sophie said, snapping at me, “Because we have the authority of the Rex behind us.”
I whispered, “Yeah, so, throwing around the Rex’s name is not really going to help us on this boat. It’s actually a pretty bad idea.” I glanced around the dressing room, but aside from clothes lying haphazardly over every chair, and makeup pots scattered over the many vanities surfaces, the room was empty. We’d walked into the room as dozens of girls had exited in their black slinky dresses. I took a deep breath. The air was overwhelming with the scent of perfumes, powders and lotions. I exhaled heavily and then said, “We’re on a vampire dinner cruise.”
If possible, their hate-stares intensified. “Impossible. They don’t exist anymore. Annara Sanchez versus the Helfred Corporation made it illegal nationwide eighty years ago,” Sophie said.
I grabbed one of the dresses off the hanger from the other end. “You guys don’t need to come with me,” I said, knowing there really was no point in saying it. They were coming with me.
“I told you she was just biding her time. I knew she wasn’t really that compliant,” Sophie whispered to Sarah.
Sarah seemed disappointed in me. She shook her head. “You can only lose our trust this once, Dakota, I hope you know that.”
“We have been allowing you a lot of freedom in terms of—”
“I know,” I said, interrupting Sophie. “Look, I’m sorry for doing this to you, I know you are assigned to me, and you don’t have much of a choice but to follow me into this. But I need to be here. There is something I need to do here.” That was as much of an apology as I was going to be able to give them. Bottom line, my grandfather ordered me to be here doing this, and so I was. “We’re going to be kicked out of this dressing room in about ten minutes. And if these vampires find out who we are, we’ll be in serious danger.”
The dress I held was black silk with slits everywhere. I quickly pulled the much less revealing dress I was wearing off, and pulled the server uniform on. It didn’t fit. The bust was ridiculously large and the length too long—even though I was in three inch heels.
The door to the dressing room swung open.
We all tensed.
“What in all the Hells are you girls doing in there?” A man’s voice called in, probably the skinny bespectacled vampire who found us and ushered us in here. “These vampires aren’t going to feed themselves! Only time out on the floor counts toward your paycheck!” The door slammed as he left.
“We’ll just see this one through,” Sophie whispered to Sarah. She shrugged off her jacket.
“Doesn’t look like we have much of a choice,” Sarah said, still looking upset.
As they changed and I tried to pin myself into decency, Sophie said to me, “First, no blood sucker is biting any of us. If they’re old enough, they’ll instantly know what you and I are, and I have a feeling—at least in your case—it will draw the kind of attention we don’t want to have.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. That one I was completely on board with.
“If one of us has to be bitten, Sarah will volunteer,” Sophie said.
“Understood,” Sarah said.
“Second, we are going in to do whatever you are here to do, then we are finding a place to hide until the ship is safely in harbor and we can disembark. No side trips, no conversations, in, out, hide. Understand?”
“The ship never docks. The captain of that wait-staff boat has been paid off. He’s going to get us out of here, and if he refuses, I have a copy of his keys.”
“This is an assignment from your grandfather? Glacier is in on it?” Sophie asked, her face showing a trace of hurt before she returned to her usual stone-faced expression.
“I think you’ll find there’s no verifiable proof of that,” I said. “Uncle Glacier may have—”
“That’s something we’ll just have to verify later. What is important is: what are we doing and where are we doing it?” Sophie snapped.
“We’re delivering a message to a passenger,” I said. “I know where she is.”
Because the proverbial cat was out of the bag, I pulled out a small drawstring bag from the pocket of my jacket and opened it. “These are for you,” I said, handing them each a pair of earplugs.
“Why?” Sarah asked.
“If you need them, you’ll know,” I said in a low voice. I took the little eastern-style portal purse from my bag. Opening the purse, I stuck my hand through the portal and placed my earplugs in there along with the boat’s key. I ran my finger over my gun Contingency, then quickly pulled my hand out. The portal only allowed someone to be partially submerged for thirty seconds before pulling them through. When the purse was closed, no trace of dracon magic leaked through. This portal led directly to a stone box in The Dragon Kingdoms. It was where I kept Contingency waiting for me if I needed it. Unfortunately, it was very likely that I would tonight.
Last, I took out my dampener and tried to clasp it onto my wrist.
“Wyvern ordered that you’re not allowed to wear that,” Sophie muttered in a low, resigned voice. She took the bracelet from me and quickly clasped it to my wrist. “I suppose it will be worth the risk in case they make you go through a magic detector.”
The colorful mist that swirled around each of the girls vanished as my ability to see souls extinguished. I didn’t much like wearing the bracelet either. I mean, the bracelet itself was not dangerous. All it did was dampen my magic so I could pass as a human to a magic detector or any infected or dracon that had the ability to sense my magic.
Three months ago, five girls died while wearing dampener bracelets. Thought to be humans, they were forced through water-portals, something only humans could pass through and survive, and that scared me.
However, to my knowledge only one person could create water portals—Keanu Hale—and I sincerely doubted he was here. Also, if he was here and wanted to kill me by sucking me through a water portal, it wouldn’t make a difference whether I was wearing the bracelet or not. I guess Wyvern and I had just made the association between the bracelet and dying during our investigation, and neither of us could disassociate the two.
In the back of the dressing room, I found a small trash can under the second vanity. Pulling up the liner, I saw three black necklaces sitting on the metal at the bottom of the trash can. “Nice work Lorelei,” I whispered.
“What are you doing?” Sophie asked.
Showing her the necklace in my hand, I said, “We need to hide these until—”
The door slammed open. “Do I actually need to tell you girls to get out on the floor again?” The small vampire roared at us.
I quickly closed my hands around the necklaces and dropped them to my sides.
“I’m so sorry!” Sarah said in a high-pitched voice that didn’t sound anything like her normal voice. “We’re coming now!”
When I rushed to join her, Sarah took position ahead of me, and Sophie was slightly behind. Being magically blind on this mission was the worst part of my orders. I’d trained to be able to detect not only if someone was a vampire, but also estimate thei
r undead age. But I had never come across a half-dragon child of the Vrykolakas dragon before. There was a very strong possibility that they would look just like any other strong, old vampire to me.
Basically, I was completely unprepared to encounter my target.
We exited out of the crew floor and crossed to the elevators. The small vampire stood beside us. The red carpet was so thick and soft, my shoes kept trying to sink into the carpet. The walls were a burnished bronze and curved to reflect the light.
The vampire pressed the elevator button and then stood there, waiting with us. I glanced at him. He was giving no indication that he was going to turn around.
“Are you going to show us where to go?” I asked him, smiling.
“No,” he said, not bothering to look at me and pressing the button again. “I have been requested in the VIP room. You’ll be getting off at the main floor.”
Oh, crap.
When he turned back to the elevators, I stepped behind him. I reached toward him, but paused.
Glancing around, I realized, I didn’t even know what type of surveillance system this ship had.
My aunt Carol had been trying to hack into the boat’s security system ever since my grandfather learned the ship existed, with absolutely no luck. If I hit him over the head or choked him out, it was a very real possibility security would have us in custody in less than a minute.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. The little vampire stepped away from me and into the elevator. Going to stand beside him, I reviewed Eventuality Twelve in my head. The elevator rose only one floor at a high speed, almost seeming to bounce when it stopped.
When the elevator doors dinged open, the vampire pointed to our left, out the door. “The host station is that way, at the front of the dining room. Go.”
I glanced around as I stepped out of the elevator. We’d stepped into a secluded alcove, but a server was standing there, pressing a cloth to his neck. He looked at us.
“That way,” he said, pointing out of the alcove, and to the left.
Unlike any job before, I had not seen any surveillance footage, photographs, or even heard a description of the boat before entering.
The only words that I could think of to describe the enormous dining room of the dinner cruise would be lavish or lush. Everything was draped or cushioned or clothed with black satin. It was like someone had taken a large pitcher of black silk and poured it over the entire large open space.
Giant chandeliers hung above, twinkling light in all directions. A man sat on a raised and revolving platform, playing a romantic melody on a piano in the center of the space.
The colorfully dressed women made a stark contrast to the black, whereas the men seemed to blend into it. There was at least one human girl or guy standing by every table. Some sat on chairs between the couples, some beside each of the vampires. Many tables only held a vampire couple, but some had large groups. Low sounds of conversation rumbled through the room, but it was much quieter than any event I’d ever been to.
The feeding on the men and women wasn’t as gruesome as I feared. I’d never actually watched a vampire feed before. But seeing the faces pressed to necks and the drops of blood falling from lips made a small ball of tension form in my stomach. The servers didn’t look like they were in pain, more like they were dazed or relaxed, and some looked like they enjoyed it.
Searching the outside of the dining area, I saw what I was looking for—a staff staircase. Just my luck, it was directly behind the host station which was surrounded by servers.
Stepping in close to Sarah, I grabbed her hand and pressed one of the necklaces into it. “Put it on, but don’t let anyone see.” It was a stupid request. There was absolutely no way to put the necklace on without anyone seeing, more than one pair of eyes were fixed on us as we passed.
I held out another necklace behind me, hoping that Sophie heard my request to Sarah with her enhanced eagle senses. I knew her eyesight was crazy strong, and I was pretty sure her hearing was enhanced as well.
Behind me, Sophie took the necklace. Holding the last necklace between my two hands, I fastened the metal clasp. Ducking my head forward, I quickly pulled the necklace over my head, immediately flipping my hair out of it. Hopefully anyone who saw me would just assume I was fiddling with my hair. The black necklace settled low on my chest, settling just above the top of my dress.
As we walked toward the host station, I had to stop myself from checking if Sophie had her necklace on. I just had to have faith that both the girls had managed it, as there was no way for me to covertly check. The host station sat beside the long line of elevators that I knew were for the vampire diners.
Several other servers were crowded around the host, and I heard the woman in front of them giving them table numbers.
Like all the other male servers I’d seen, the man in front of me wore a black silk vest over a muscled chest. On his back, at both his shoulders, black inked designs peeked out. It looked as if his whole back was covered by the tattoo, but it was only visible at the two sides, and a tiny bit on his neck.
My stomach dropped. The design seemed familiar. Though I couldn’t see much of the tattoo, I recognized the swirling shapes. They seemed like an exact match for Mr. Kama’s tattoo. Then again, I could be wrong.
The tattooed server stepped away, and the hostess jumped when we she saw us. “You’re not supposed to be here!” she hissed, her voice tight.
I glanced back to where the tattooed server went, hoping I could see his face, but he had vanished into the dining room. A sudden intense urge to abort the mission overtook my mind.
“You’re supposed to be in the VIP!” the hostess whispered. She was wearing a similar dress, but hers was a lot less revealing.
I cleared my throat and asked, “This isn’t the VIP?”
“Definitely not. Oh my goodness, follow me.” She grabbed Sarah’s arm, and I saw Sophie stiffen beside me, but we followed the woman. The hostess was also a vampire—the small lines across her brow and around her eyes had yet to smooth out, which meant she was a relatively new vamp. She threw open the staff staircase door and ushered us in.
“One story up, go, quick. You don’t want to keep them waiting,” she said, shutting the door behind us.
The moment the door closed, Sophie said, “What do you want us to say if we run into that vampire from the dressing rooms?”
“Say a vampire gave us the necklaces and told us to go up here.” I started up the stairs. “I don’t know if it will work. He wasn’t part of my plan, I’m sorry. I’m really hoping that we just blend in up there.”
About a third of the staff downstairs had been Mabiian, so it was possible the VIP area had a similar wait staff. Also, I was pretty sure the tattooed server had been Mabiian, though I hadn’t seen his face.
Again, the thought that this mission needed to be aborted was so strong I paused on the staircase. But it was too late, everything was already in place, and I had no way to get a message to Lorelei and Bobby. Lack of communication channels had been a necessary evil in the plan because of my security team. This mission was rushed, not planned out compared to our usual, exhaustive planning. Everything felt off and wrong. I knew that once in a while Glacier took on an impromptu mission, but he was Glacier; he was famous for never failing.
The staircase echoed as our heels hit the metal stairs under the glaring fluorescent lights. Concentrating on calming my body and mind, I forced myself to consider that the tattoo on that man could very well have been something completely different. I’d keep an eye out for more tattoos like that, but I needed to focus on the assignment. If I lost focus, I could very well get everyone here killed.
“I’ll take point; you move to the rear.” Sophie moved ahead of us to push open the door, and we stepped into the VIP room.
Chapter Five
Immediately after we filed out into the VIP area, Sophie turned to me, eyes wide and chin clenched.
I couldn’t see anything around he
r. Sophie stepped in so close I was sure she was purposefully blocking my view.
“Back in that stairwell,” she mouthed silently to Sarah over my shoulder. “Now.”
“Oh, good,” I heard a man’s voice say in a quiet clipped tone, from somewhere close to us. “I am so glad the hostess sent up more servers. Come with me.”
Sophie hesitated for one more moment, then stepped aside. The man had to have been in his sixties when he was turned, as evident by his gray hair and facial shape, but he’d been undead long enough for his skin to smooth entirely. He wore a tuxedo—obviously he’d been spared from the revealing server outfits.
We had come out at a similar host station next to the elevators, but this one was isolated from the VIP dining area by a set of large, swinging doors. Beside the doors stood a vampire who might have been seven feet tall. He was watching us. As I glanced at him, I immediately knew that the man was no vampire. He looked like a vampire, had the same smooth glowing skin, but I could tell he was so much more than merely a vampire.
My dampener should have extinguished my ability to see souls, any souls, but I recently discovered that with the strongest, most powerful half-dragons, I could sense their power even when dampened.
Even with one glance, I could see the guard’s body wreathed in his dark powerful soul. He was a half-dragon, a member of the most powerful class of dracon in existence… And he was guarding the door.
I swallowed as he stepped to block our entrance into the doors. As I expected any server would act, I turned my gaze to the floor and didn’t look up at him as we approached.
“Here are some more servers, my lord,” the host said, bowing.
“I’ll need to check them for weapons,” he said with a distinct Oceania accent. His voice was so smooth and quiet, it sent chills through my body.
Sarah stepped forward first. The dracon reached up, then ran his fingers through Sarah’s hair; his hands paused to feel around her neck.
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 4
