Love Lost

by Michael Anderle

  She knocked on their door. Ecaterina answered the door for Bethany Anne and then stepped back in the room for just a second, grabbed her wallet, winked at Bethany Anne and stepped out when Bethany Anne stepped in. Nathan was working on a laptop making sure his companies were doing well. So far, so good.

  He clicked off the VPN window he was using to tunnel into the server where he kept the software. Should he ever lose a laptop, there was nothing on it but basic Ubuntu Linux distro, a couple of TOR programs and software to encrypt the hard drive. The encryption was there to give him time to make changes when he realized that the laptop was taken, if it happened.

  He looked up at Bethany Anne who had sat down and finally realized his girlfriend wasn’t there protecting him from the vampire. He had been focused on the work and had lost a sense of his surroundings.

  He still flinched when around Bethany Anne. He worked to overcome the natural defense mechanism to be respectful and cautious around her at all times. That his human girlfriend was more comfortable hit him right in his male ego.

  “I take it this isn’t a social call?” He tried to smile and lighten the seemingly somber mood.

  “No, I just want to know what kind of intentions you have about my assistant.”

  Nathan’s face seemed to get an air of panic around it. Shit, shit shit! Was Bethany Anne acting like Ecaterina’s dad? Had he jumped the gun somehow and now he was being watched by Bethany Anne like maybe Ivan would be doing?

  Suddenly, Bethany Anne’s started laughing and she was rocking back and forth in her chair. “Ecaterina said you were too easy!” Her mirth flowed from her eyes.

  Nathan stopped the mad panic that was in his brain as he realized he was the butt of a joke between the two women. It helped that he knew Ecaterina was aware of whatever was about to happen between the two of them. He took a second to close down the operating system and then the laptop lid as he got his thoughts together.

  He smiled, at least he was probably the first werewolf to make a vampire almost fall off of her chair in laughter. “Ok, you got me. Other than being the target for you two I’m guessing there is a reason you asked her to step out?”

  Bethany Anne got her smile under control. “Yes, I want to see if it is possible for you to come and work for me?”

  Nathan had been aware of Bethany Anne’s ‘human capital acquisition’ binge. However, he never thought that she would approach him. He was kinda part of her group since he was with Ecaterina and he was the American Pack Council’s second in charge of Vampire Relationships. His business side was taking over as he considered why she would want him particularly.

  Why was he different than Frank? Frank was crazy good with computer information acquisition and certainly as strong as he was, except on the dark web? He had a strong computer defense company and the business setup for company cutouts that he used to help hide his efforts left over from his foray into clandestine operations he did before he went legit…

  “You want your own intelligence agency, and you want me to lead it?” What he had over Frank was experience with the craft out on the streets and relationships others lacked.

  She smiled, “I told Ecaterina that you would get it in one!”

  “Did you really tell her that?” He had a small smile of satisfaction.

  “No.” His smile faded, but her smile was back.

  “I wouldn’t tell her anything because it has to be your decision. I don’t want any of her influence or your concern for her influence to be on you. I need someone who knows the score and is willing to come over to the dark side; we have steak, lamb and vegetables!”

  He smiled. They had shared a dinner on a train back in Europe where he had eaten just those dishes and had told her not to give him grief over a wolf eating vegetables.

  He would have done it just to be with Ecaterina more, but she was being very pointed in making him consider that factor and to try to not allow it to interfere with his decision.

  She needn’t have bothered. While she probably thought this relationship could break apart based on her experiences, Wechselbalg usually connected with one soul and stayed with that soul until they passed. Ecaterina was that soul for him. The bigger question was - did he believe in what she was going to do? He would have to break from the Pack permanently. She was being very open that only one allegiance was allowed.

  Gerry would have a small snit, that was for sure. However; the bigger issue was that Bethany Anne didn’t have any Wechselbalg on her staff and yet she was gearing up to bring the most difficult into her group. Wechselbalg understood power and respect. She could bitch slap them into next week and get fear, but respect had to come from a place other than martial prowess for a vampire. He had to admire her machinations. He would be the lead for the Wechselbalg and his respect for Bethany Anne and open relationship based on friendship and shared hard times would start the process for the new recruits to see her as something other than just a vampire.

  He owed this woman everything right now. He would have been dead on that mountain with Ecaterina. She allowed Ecaterina to come here to the states and she could have just killed those idiots back in New York instead of trying hard to give them one more chance. She wasn’t even the one who killed the leader, Paul Gleason. That nut-bag had been disrespectful to Bethany Anne one too many times and her team announced their irritation by blowing his head off.

  She had killed a guy shooting into the tunnel, however; since he was on the other side of the tunnel and those shots had come close to his momma’s favorite boy he was ok with that choice.

  She was a good person. Period. Fucking. Dot. That she was a vampire was now the bonus instead of the problem.

  He looked her in the eyes, “My companies?”

  “We roll them into a corporation with shares we pass out to everyone employed. You are given a large ‘thank you for your time’ separation package where everyone understands you got bought off to stay away. Now, they get a bonus for the purchase and golden handcuffs to stick around and make it work. If they do, great! If they don’t, well my dad will take care of it.”

  He released a little of his concerns. He cared for the guys that helped make everything work. For most of the rest he had finally understood on the Romanian trip that they could operate just fine without him. A small hit to his ego, but he had other things on his plate at the time and since his thoughts were just as focused on a woman who was in Miami, he hadn’t plugged himself back into the company so tightly again.

  It really was a well thought out plan. He would get bought off to ’stay away’ and since everyone in the companies would get a boost if it happened, she would get a large group of his employees to support the coming acquisition and be happy for him as well.

  He trusted her father to run it as well as anything could be run and it wasn’t like Lance couldn’t ask him if he had a question or two. It was a really good plan. But she needed him badly to make her plans work with the intelligence group.

  His value alone was worth a lot and with his companies he should make a large payday himself. She could afford it. Maybe this once he would finally get one up on the vampire.

  He smiled, “What is it worth to you?” She smiled back. There was a knock on his door. Bethany Anne got up before he could register the knock completely and was walking to open the door.

  “I’m glad you asked. I’m going to let my negotiation team deal with that question. Let me open the door and let them in.” Bethany Anne opened the door and Ecaterina walked in wearing the nicest business suit, cut in all of the best ways to flaunt her figure. She had apparently gone and gotten dressed when she left the room. She had makeup on and had done her hair. She put down an expensive purse and pulled out a couple of folders that had his company names listed on them.

  He tried to catch her eyes, but she was completely in business mode and she truly worked for Bethany Anne. His face lost a lot of its color. He looked over at Bethany Anne who was standing with the door still open. She waved at him with
her fingers, a smile on her face, “Toodles!” She closed the door behind her.

  He was so screwed.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Washington D.C. - USA

  It was time to catch the motherfucker. Bethany Anne was back in her ‘working outfit’ for operations. She had traded the bowie knife for the smaller Japanese sword, the Wakizashi. She told the group that she just didn’t think the Bowie went with her smaller frame. They guys all seemed to puff out their chests and slam their silver laced Bowies into their knife holders at this pronouncement. She rolled her eyes, men!

  Her father was at a bar this evening with an old friend, letting him know that he was going to retire and setting up the back door negotiations to let it happen more quickly. Frank was cutting orders from the ‘Frank Lair’ as John had started calling it. It was cold, damp and dark so the name fit. Frank looked pole-axed for a moment when he thought about it. Then smiled and shrugged.

  Frank had his second dose of Bethany Anne’s blood and was writing down the changes in a coded diary he kept with him. He was seriously getting into this memoirs book, she felt.

  Lance was going to leave the get together and choose a very unwise short cut to his hotel at a late time of night. Bad time to make that choice if you’re being hunted by a vampire. Usually leads to short life expectancy.

  Scott was watching from two blocks away in a dark SUV with thermal binoculars. “Hey, P2, those two lackeys are talking on a phone. Looks to me like this op is a go.”

  Eric grimaced on the other side of line. They had a secure network in this whole area. They had seeded multiple boxes to spread the network out to six blocks in each direction from the expected route. If they needed to go beyond that far, things had really gone in the shitter. Eric hated these call signs, but John was adamant that they take their medicine.

  It wasn’t like he and the guys fainted at the sight of blood, they just didn’t like watching Bethany Anne get stuck by Ecaterina. It just bugged them. At least that was the story he was trying to sell. Unfortunately, John wasn’t buying so here they were.

  Ecaterina and Darryl walked arm in arm down the street and into the bar. Ecaterina brushed by Lance’s back. Lance’s friend noticed he had turned to give the person bumping him a piece of his mind, but smiled when Lance noticed it was an attractive woman. He even winked at Lance as he turned back around and told him he was a ‘lucky bastard’. They clicked their beers and Lance finished his and threw down a fifty to cover the tab for the both of them. Lance smiled, “You got my back this time, you prick?”

  His friend tipped his bottle in Lance’s direction. “It’s the last time you geezer, but you better bring the lube or I don’t promise anything.” Lance just smiled and allowed his friend to score the point. Paul was a good guy, and Paul had friends high enough that they would all know Lance just wanted a simple and quiet goodbye. Everyone had heard the rumors about his daughter and considered it a hell of a way to go down. They wouldn’t have thought anything could make the man die on the vine, but it’s said that a parent having a child die is the hardest tragedy a parent can face.

  Bethany Anne was hidden on the fourth floor fire escape in the alley. The guys couldn’t hide in the alley itself. Dan had brought in a sniper by the name of Killian who had been part of the Everglades operation. He was planted a couple of blocks away and eight stories up.

  Bethany Anne thought he was a funny guy. He was joking around with everyone back at the Mandarin when he arrived in town. She was walking into the room when he had asked the team if they got to check out that ‘fine assed vampire’ again after the last op. He stopped laughing when all of them suddenly looked uneasy and behind him. “She’s behind me, isn’t she?”

  Dan, John, Eric, Darryl and Scott all just shook their heads up and down. It’s a good thing Killian didn’t look too hard at Dan’s expression. He was having a hard time not laughing at the man.

  Good to know Dan wouldn’t be able to play poker worth a damn.

  Killian slowly turned around to face the music. He knew that his mouth was going to get him in trouble and he had been slapped by ladies twice this year alone. The problem was his head would leave his shoulders if this lady slapped him. He completed his turn. “Um, Hello.”

  “Did you have something to tell me, Mr. Killian?”

  He looked just above her head, as if she were his commanding officer. “I just want to admit in my defense it is a very guy thing to be boisterous when you’re trying to compensate for a small dick.”

  Bethany Anne was having the hardest time not cracking a smile. “You’re telling me your running the ‘small dick defense’, Mr. Killian?”

  “Ma’am. There would have to be enough length to pull anything. It’s so small and shriveled up right now that I would need a pair of tweezers to masturbate.”

  That cut it. The guys behind him started sniggering while Killian was sweating in the cool room. Finally Bethany Anne started to crack a small smile at the corner of her lips and Killian caught it, thinking he got off he started to relax. She completely vamped out and jumped for Killian. He fainted.

  When he woke up, he was lying on the bed and the team and ops leader Dan Bosse were lounging in the room, talking with everyone about the op later than night.

  “What’s going on, guys?” Killian raised his head up.

  Dan turned to Killian. “I told you your mouth would be the death of you one day, Killian.”

  “So, did she bleed me?”

  John snorted, “She said she didn’t like the taste of men with small dicks. No, that’s not true, she didn’t say that. But I will tell you if you ever make light of her again I will beat the ever loving shit out of you, do you understand me?”

  Killian looked into John’s eyes and saw the truth. When he went to get support from the rest for his antics, their faces all told him the same thing. His ass was grass if he ever popped off the mouth about the beautiful vampire again.

  Dan stood up and dropped a chain with a small pair of tweezers as ornamentation on his chest. “Bethany Anne had Ecaterina drop this off. She did say that if you didn’t wear this around your neck for the next year even your ‘small dick defense’ wouldn’t stop her from exacting painful retribution for your comments. Just for the record, you better not fuck-up one more time around me either.” Dan started for the door, “Be ready in fifteen, John. Killian, get over to your room and be ready within thirty.” He shut the door behind him.

  He noticed that all of the guys picked up a packet with fake fangs and a holder for contact lenses in it. He wondered why he didn’t get a set. He decided that maybe doing his job without being glib was the way to go right now.

  Hours later, Killian had sighted in on the alley. He had reviewed his life as he got accustomed to the new necklace he was wearing. At first he thought it funny and considered himself special. The more he thought about the experience and how it must have looked to the other ladies, he came to the conclusion he really was a douchebag. Now, the necklace felt the same as having the letter ‘L’ on his forehead.

  He spent more time with his sighting. If there was going to be any way to make it up, it was going to be from his skills as a sniper, not shooting off his mouth. Before, he had always supported his teammates because that is what you did. But a sniper was never the same as being on the tip. Everyone needed him, but he never felt he was part of the team in the same way as the other guys.

  He had watched through the scope when Bethany Anne came down the far side of the Alley and he lost her for a second when she just moved. She was so fast he couldn’t find her in the scope again. He looked around and found her on the fourth floor fire escape. She was making her own hide with a large blanket and hood. She stopped what she was doing and turned her head to look right at him. Shit! She could obviously see him and wasn’t just faking it. He could easily see her raise an eyebrow. He pulled the gun off to the side and used his right hand to pull the necklace out. When he reacquired her she nodded in his direction and then hid
herself.

  He didn’t doubt she might have decided to get rid of Killian right then if he didn’t have the necklace on. Killian got his game face on. He had embarrassed himself once already with the team and had been a disrespectful ass. He wouldn’t screw up his part of the plan. This, he decided, had just become the shot that would change his life.

  —

  Adrian was pretty pleased with himself. After two hundred years in South America, he had finally been given permission to attack in the United States. He had successfully taken out that annoying Bill, but had used all of his special Nosferatu to accomplish the act. Better to use them all and assure destruction than miss the opportunity and forewarn Bill. He had hidden for a couple of months to let things blow over.

  He got information that Michael had woken up and that was one individual he didn’t want to meet. He had heard enough stories to know that cocky or not, even he was going to die if Michael got a hold of him. When things seemed clear enough, he was as far away from the East coast as he could get, so he started on the West Coast and started towards the East.

  Adrian hated the cold, so he started going towards the South so he wouldn’t get caught in an early snowstorm. He didn’t know the weather of the United States, but he completely hated the idea of even getting caught in a snap freeze.

  His parent had given him specific commands to head towards Florida. Apparently, he was supposed to help create a diversion for the security forces in Miami while his parent had another group handled a separate task. That was fine with Adrian; he enjoyed creating the fear and lived to kill. He was a personal believer that humans were food. If his meal cried it only made dinner all the more memorable.

  His operation in Florida ended as a complete failure. Another vampire was involved and somehow took out his Nosferatu that had taken him almost two months to prepare. It was an affront. He was nursing his professional pride the next night when he woke up. He had missed two calls just minutes before. The voice mail informed him that the attacks during the day had also been unsuccessful and that they had intelligence it might have been done by the same team. They tracked a name to an agent in Washington D.C. as a potential lead. Apparently, this woman’s name was a sore point with their political contacts in this country. She had been part of two sting operations which had hurt their organization. When they heard the rumors that she was going to die, the operations to assassinate her were shelved.