“Damn it.” Her voice echoed. “I’m going to make Maya pay the dry- cleaning bill.”
Olivia pushed in one of the rectangular stones along the top of the wall, and moments later an oblong section of the wall swung inward to reveal the opulent hallways of the Presidium’s central office network. She stepped through, and as the door shut silently, she allowed herself a moment to appreciate the pristine environment. Olivia looked down the hall in both directions, but thankfully, found herself alone, at least for the time being.
She adjusted her suit jacket and fluffed her hair in an effort to not look like she had been in the tunnels. Olivia shuddered. The pictures on the wall looked like they were watching her. The czar and his senators loved to honor themselves any chance they got, and it started by having their pictures lining the main hall of the central office.
As if they could forget who ruled their society. Memories of executions she had overseen as a sentry came roaring back in living color, and while she remembered all of them, there was one face that would haunt her forever.
The young vampire slaughtered an entire frat house before they caught her, but the damage was done—and so was she. The girl was only twelve. She suffered from a bad turn, and after her maker abandoned her, she went the wrong way fast. The last sound Olivia heard as she dove into the desert tunnels leading back to Las Vegas were the little girl’s screams as she turned to dust.
She paused at Czar Augustus’s portrait, and her mouth set in a tight line as she studied her former boss. He was the czar in Vegas during Olivia’s time as sentry and heartlessly ordered the girl’s execution. Augustus was a bastard and took sheer pleasure in executing anyone who broke the precious rules, unless, of course, it was one of his own progeny.
Augustus’s son, Brutus, turned the girl and left her to run amok with no guidance or training, fearful with a burning thirst for blood. Brutus should have been executed for his crime because the rules had been broken, but he’s Augustus’s flesh and blood son. So instead of death, Brutus was banished to hibernation for fifty years. She heard when he woke up that he split for Europe. Too bad dear old daddy didn’t go with him.
Augustus and Brutus were no different from human men who thrived on power.
They were both sick fucks.
She never understood why Emperor Zhao put Augustus in charge of the northeastern territory after his century of service was up in Vegas. He seemed suited to the Eastern Bloc nations. Augustus and the four senators who served with him reveled in the dark side of the city. There were plenty of drunks, drug addicts, and homeless to indulge in continuous live feeds.
Her heels clicked along the blood-red marble floor and echoed around her with irritating clarity as she hurried toward the records room. The ornate crystal chandeliers hung from the curved ceiling and glittered brightly along the yellow halls, giving the illusion of sunlight.
The buzz of the security camera captured her attention as it followed her every move. Olivia waved to the blinking eye and delivered a tight smile as she stopped in front of the arched wooden door. The click of the lock releasing echoed through the empty hallway, and Olivia readied herself for whoever was waiting on the other side.
It could have been Millicent with a few of the pit bulls that watched the Presidium halls during the day. It would be highly unlikely to find Augustus awake during the day, let alone roaming the halls, because he would think that was beneath him. She slipped her hand in the pocket of her jacket and wrapped her fingers around the cool glass tubes as she pulled the door open.
Pete leaned casually against the gray stone wall with his arms crossed over his chest and winked. “Hey, boss lady.”
Olivia narrowed her eyes as the door closed behind her. “I thought I told you not to worry.”
“Yeah.” He shrugged and pushed himself away from the wall. “You know how much I suck at following orders. Besides, Marianna told me that if I didn’t help you, then I wasn’t getting laid for a while.”
Olivia smothered a laugh and shook her head. “Nice.”
“Come on.” He headed down the stone hallway. “Millicent is waiting.”
Olivia’s senses were on high alert as she glanced around the vacant hall. “Where are the dogs?”
“I’ll put them out when we’re done. Oh, by the way, I filled Shane in on the murder, but not the specifics, like we agreed.”
“Good,” she said tightly. “I haven’t met him, which means I don’t trust him. We need to have proof that Maya is innocent before they get more information. Augustus in particular.”
“Not a problem.” Pete kept his voice down and adjusted one of the weapons beneath his long coat. “They rely on Shane and me to keep them apprised of the happenings out there. We’re lucky that poor old Ronald was murdered in my borough. If it had been Queens, Staten Island, or Brooklyn, then Shane would be all over it. He did tell me that if we need his help, he’d be obliged to assist.” Pete let out a short laugh. “Those were his exact words, by the way, obliged to assist.”
“Sounds like a fun guy,” Olivia said under her breath.
They strode side by side through the maze of stone hallways, their path lit by the flickering light from wrought iron chandeliers. The halls that led from room to room were medieval in their décor and hadn’t changed in centuries. However, when Augustus took over the New York location, he decorated most of the rooms with the same opulence of the main entrance, and all of the floors were laid out with bloodred marble.
After several turns down the passageway, they arrived at the Hall of Records. The heavy wooden door with studded steel bolts and iron hinges swung open before they got within ten feet.
Olivia grinned. Millicent always was dramatic.
Cloaked by a cloud of smoke, she sat behind a massive mahogany desk with a cigarette dangling from her red lips and her feet on the desk. Her white hair was carefully coiffed into her usual bouffant bubble hairdo. Clad in her standard gray skirt suit, she looked like she owned the place.
She may not have owned it, but she sure as hell ran it.
The wall behind her desk was one massive computer with several screens. The large plasma screen along the top currently held the image of a tropical beach at sunrise.
“Well, get your ass in here,” she croaked. The older woman dropped her feet to the floor and crushed her cigarette in an ornate crystal ashtray full of a hundred butts. “I’m fucking tired and would like to get some sleep before sundown.”
At first glance, she was a harmless old lady, and maybe she had been in her human life, but as a vampire she was deadly. In fact, her unassuming physical appearance made her an extremely effective assassin as a sentry. She served during the Civil War and put down more rogue vampires than any other sentry in history. Wartime had a funny way of increasing the number of untrained vampires on the loose.
Olivia handed Millicent the specimen tubes and smiled. “Thank you for helping us with this and for being discreet.”
“Discreet?” Millicent made a snort of derision. “There’s something I haven’t ever been called.” She shot Pete a narrow gaze. “Shut the fuckin’ door already.”
Pete chuckled and closed the door. “Whatever you say, Millicent.”
“Lucky for you, you’re so damn cute,” Millicent muttered as she took the sample to the massive computer.
Olivia and Pete watched as she put the two swabs into a scanner and pushed several buttons on the touch screen. An iridescent blue light scanned the cotton swabs, and everyone’s attention switched to the center console as they waited for results.
“If your girl did it, we should find her DNA.” Millicent speared Olivia with a glance. “You took it directly from the wounds, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good girl. Still smart as a whip, and you’re pissing your time away in a nightclub,” she said on a sigh. “Pity.”
Millicent held her hands behind her back and kept her sharp eyes glued to the information in front of them. The three watched in tense
silence as a series of numbers scrolled over the screen. The computer searched for a match as Olivia prayed it wouldn’t find one.
Pete was the first to break the silence. “So, there’s a record of every vampire in New York City?”
“You’re still thinking like a human.” Millicent snorted, snagged another cigarette from the pack in her pocket, and lit it. “Gotta think bigger, boy. We have the DNA of every vampire on the planet. I have the northeastern files here, but I can access the Presidium’s worldwide network, like I am right now. All new vamps have to be registered with their local records keeper within the first week of their new life, just like you did.”
“How many?” Pete asked casually. “Five hundred, a thousand?”
Millicent burst out laughing, but the laugh quickly turned into a choking cough.
“Why is that funny?” he asked Olivia, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the computer screen.
“Try over a hundred thousand.”
Pete froze. “What?” he whispered. “I didn’t think there were that many of us.”
“It’s really not that many compared to the millions of humans. The DNA of every vamp is in there, even the dead ones.” Olivia flicked her green eyes to him briefly. “Really dead. Y’know, turned to ash. How long is this going to take?” she asked impatiently.
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist.” The computer beeped loudly, and Millicent went directly to the control panel. “It’s done.” She punched a few buttons as the cigarette dangled precariously from her weathered lips. “Well, I’ll be strapped with silver.”
Olivia and Pete stared at the screen and moved closer.
“Your girl didn’t kill this kid.” Millicent pointed at the screen. “But neither did anyone else in our database.”
The screen blinked in bright red letters. Unregistered vampire.
Before anyone could say anything, the computer started beeping again.
“Hang on,” Millicent rasped. She punched a few more buttons. “We’re not quite done.”
Dread gnawed at Olivia as she waited for the infernal machine to provide more information. Moments later, her worst fears were realized when Maya’s identification card came up on the screen.
“The scanner found trace evidence of Maya’s DNA on one of the swabs.” Millicent stared at the screen with an unreadable expression. “It’s barely anything, and most likely left over from feeding on him. Pete said she drank from the guy all day off and on, so it’s not surprising.”
She stuck the cigarette in her lips and began tapping away again. Olivia stood still while keeping her eyes locked on the screen, and her mind raced with different ways to get Maya out of town and keep her out of the Presidium’s reach.
“Don’t go getting any funny ideas,” Millicent said as she gestured to the center screen. “According to this data, Maya’s DNA is only in trace amounts, and the bulk is from the unregistered rogue vampire. Maya didn’t kill him. Not enough of her DNA left behind.”
“Something tells me that Augustus will consider that semantics.” Olivia swore loudly and ran both hands over her face. “We have to find this rogue so we can match its DNA to the sample, get it to confess to killing Ronald, and then put it down before it causes more damage. Tracking a rogue vampire is a pain in my ass. The scent is crazy hard to pick up.”
“I’m gonna get this rogue’s DNA sample over to Xavier.” Millicent retrieved the swab and put it back in the tube, sealing it. “He’s been working on some pretty cool bioweapons, so this may be of use. Who knows, maybe he can come up with something that will help you.”
“Good idea, Millicent.” Olivia knew if anyone could find a way to use the rogue’s DNA, it was Xavier. He ran the Presidium lab and weapons division in New York and was always coming up with new toys for the sentry. He was one of the smartest, most ingenious people Olivia ever knew. Living or undead. “I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
“Let me take care of finding the rogue.” Pete put his hands on her shoulders in a brotherly gesture. “I’ll tell Augustus and the senators about the rogue. Shane and I will take care of it. Hey, you should be happy Maya’s off the hook. They’ll never know that we found any of Maya’s DNA.”
“Whoa!” Millicent extinguished her cigarette amid the pile of butts. “This information is instantly put into the worldwide database, so it’s not like it’s gonna be kept quiet for long. I mean, I’m not taking out an ad in the paper or nothin’, but eventually, Augustus could get wind of this.”
“What?” Olivia’s voice rose to hysterical levels. “Can’t you delete it?”
“Sorry, kid.” Millicent sat in her chair and put her feet back on the desk. “Records can’t be deleted once they’re entered. Amended? Yes. Completely deleted? No. I guess it’s a good thing you know the sentry who covers Manhattan,” she said with a smile and a nod to Pete. “You know full well that he’s the one who has to keep Augustus informed, and if you ask me, the best approach is to handle it head on. Tell him about the rogue vampire, and omit the bit about Maya’s DNA if you want, but don’t lie. All he’d have to do is check the database, and if he finds out that you lied, then we’re all dead.”
“I don’t want anyone putting themselves in jeopardy over this,” Olivia said firmly. “Maya is confined to the building until we take care of the rogue.”
“What’s this we thing you speak of?” Pete asked in a half-joking manner. “You’re not a sentry, remember? Just a private citizen.”
“Not anymore.” Olivia walked to the screen with Maya’s smiling picture staring back, and her voice dropped low. “Looks like I’m out of retirement. Unofficially, of course.”
“What are the human cops saying?” Millicent snorted and lit yet another cigarette. “I bet they’ll go right to serial killer.”
“We already had two detectives come by the club.” Olivia pointed at Maya’s picture on the screen. “Witnesses saw Maya flirting with him not long before he died, so they came to ask her some questions. We provided her with an alibi, but it’s still attention that we don’t need.”
“Just glamour ’em,” Millicent said sharply. “Shit.”
Olivia’s thoughts immediately went to Doug, and memories of that kiss in the alley came roaring back as heat flickered over her skin. She shut her eyes and attempted to will the feeling away, but it was no use. Her hands balled into tight fists at her side, and her slim frame shook with concentration. The image of his blue eyes filled her mind, and that’s when she heard it—or more to the point—heard him.
Eternity.
It was a whisper along the furthest corners of her mind, but there was no mistaking it. It was Doug, and he was calling to her from the dreamscape. That was new. Her eyes flicked open, and she found Pete and Millicent staring as if she’d clucked like a chicken.
“Pete,” Olivia said in the most authoritative tone she could muster. “Why don’t you go on home to Marianna and get some rest. Come to the club tonight after sundown, and we’ll go hunting for the rogue. We should probably get Shane’s help on this too.” He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off before he could say a word. “Now.”
“Okay.” Pete looked at her curiously and then to Millicent.
Olivia couldn’t even look at him. She rarely spoke to him like that, and never in front of other people, and even though she felt like a shit for doing it, she didn’t want him privy to the next conversation.
He bowed with a flourish. “Whatever you say, boss lady.”
In a gust of wind, he was gone.
Millicent eyed Olivia warily from behind her desk. “What’s going on with you, girl? I mean, aside from this crap.”
“You’ve been around about a thousand years, right?” Olivia folded her arms over her chest and paced the room.
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Why?”
Olivia stopped pacing and turned to face her. “What do you know about the bloodmate legend?”
“Stories—rumors mostly.” She flicked her lighter
off and on absently. “Most vamps think it’s a whole lot of bullshit.”
“Do you?”
“Off the record.” Millicent gestured to the chair by her desk, and Olivia, even though she felt too wound up to sit still, complied and forced herself to sit. “According to the legend, or at least the rumors I’ve heard, some vampires have a bloodmate, and if the two bond, then they both become daywalkers.” She stared at Olivia over the flame. “As far as the official records are concerned, there has never been any proof of bloodmates.” Her lips lifted at the corners, and the wrinkles around her eyes deepened.
“What about unofficial?” Olivia leaned both elbows on the massive desk and rested her chin on folded hands. “Would you be privy to any of that information?”
“When I was a sentry, I was ordered to put down two vamps that were supposedly making rogues and letting them run loose. They were accused of being a vampire Bonnie and Clyde. It was during the Civil War, and we had lots of problems with rogue vampires. Made a big damn mess.” She lit another cigarette. “Anyway, wasn’t unusual to get a contract like that.”
“I remember the stories. You used several during my sentry training.”
“Yeah, well, I left this one out.” She leveled a serious gaze at Olivia. “I went to a house where I heard the two were holing up. It was an abandoned plantation in the south. I’d planned on getting there well before sunrise, but I got sidetracked by a gang of five rogues and had to put them down. At any rate, by the time I got to the plantation, it was almost sunrise. I figured I’d get in there quick and dust them as they were going to ground.”
Riveted, Olivia leaned closer and gave Millicent her full attention.
“Didn’t exactly happen that way.” She let out a short laugh. “The sun was coming up as I flew into the house. I gotta be honest. I was a little antsy and wanted to get my old ass in the ground before I got singed. Couldn’t believe it. I found them sitting in the back parlor, right in front of the window, holding hands and watching the sunrise. I was mesmerized.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “They knew I was there, watching them. They knew I was in the hallway, and they simply waved me in.”
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