“Why,Stefan?” I groaned. “Why did she come so quickly? It"s only been a few months since we defeated them. We all figured she"d take time to recruit new followers and build a new army. We all thought it would be at least a year. Why so soon?”
“Actually that"s a good thing,” Stefan said without thinking.
Carlos held me back as I growled at him and tried to spring. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I screamed as surprise filled both their faces. “She just took my husband, my life, and you"re saying that"s a good thing?” I swung at him. He barely ducked out of the way in time.
“Hold on Sarah,” he said. “I didn"t mean it that way. What I meant is that it tells us that there must be a way to block her pain. She struck quickly because she knew we"d figure that out.”
My chest heaved and I clenched and unclenched my fists as I tried to control the rage. My mind told me he was right, but my heart was still furious. “Carlos,” I said through clenched teeth, “you can let go now.” I felt his grip loosen slightly, but his arm stayed firmly around my waist, he wouldn"t let go. I tried to refocus my anger on where it belonged: Malina. “Musetta, Carlos. Maybe Musetta can give us a way to block the pain.”
“Matt already thought of that, Sarah,” he whispered. “She"s due to arrive here in two days.”
I grimaced when I heard his name then nodded to Carlos. “Good” I said. I pulled the DVD with all of the Malina footage on it. “Ramon, I need this copied, please.”
He nodded. “Yes, ma"am, I"ll do that right away. And I"m so sorry about Mr. Matthew ma"am.”
“Thank you, Ramon, I appreciate that.” I said. I turned to Stefan. “Please get Penelope and bring her to my office. We need to try to figure out where she might have taken him.”
He nodded and was out the door in a flash. I turned to Carlos. “You ready?”
He grinned his goofy grin. “Darlin". I was born ready.”
Chapter Two
We headed out into the hall, but as soon as we were alone I put my hand on his chest and stopped him. “What"s up Sarah?” he said.
I took a deep breath before I turned and faced him. “I have to ask you to do something for me that I have no right to ask, but I need to do it anyways.” He opened his mouth but I put my hand over it. “Don"t,” I said, “don"t say anything until I finish, okay?”
He nodded and I continued, “I need you to sta y with me until we find him. I mean, stay with me always, don"t leave me ever, because there are going to be times, a lot of times when I"m going to fall apart and I need you there to quickly put me back together so I can keep searching. This is completely unfair to you, because you have a life and you have needs that will go, mmmm, unfulfilled. But if I fall apart and you"re not there to fix me right away, I may not be able to come back. Can you understand that? I"m asking you to stay with me Carlos. Will you? Can you? Can you do that for me?”
He put his hands on my cheeks as he looked into my eyes. “How the hell can you even ask that Sarah? Of course I"m staying. I never had any intention of going anywhere.” He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Come on,” he said as he took my hand, “we" ve got work to do.”
We walked into my outer office. Missy, my assistant, was already there waiting for me. “Ramon called me and told me what happened. Sarah, I"m so sorry! What can I do to help?”
I smiled at her. “Thanks, Missy. Just please show Stefan and Penelope in as soon as they arrive, okay?”
She nodded. “Are either of you thirsty?” she asked.
I looked at Carlos. No, we weren"t thirsty, but extra probably was better right now. I held up two fingers. “Two each, please. Thanks Missy,” I said. When she brought them in I said, “Missy, you can do something to help.”
“Anything, Sarah,” she said.
“Have Ramon meet me here in two hours with Matt"s appointment book. I need to go over them with him and then I"ll divide them up between he and myself, okay?”
She nodded as she walked out. “I"ll call him right away,” she called over her shoulder. “Oh, and here are Stefan and Miss Penelope.”
“Thanks, Missy” I called as they walked in and closed the door. I held up a finger to them then picked up the phone. “Missy? Ask Ramon to bring the box of items they found when they searched Malina"s room, okay? Thanks,” I said as I hung up. “Okay,” I said,“tell me anything you can remember. Any vacations she took, any place she ever went, anyone she ever talked about. I know it"s a lot to remember, you were with her almost four hundred years, right?” They nodded. “That"s a long time together. There must be something you learned about her during that time,” I said. We spent the next ninety minutes going over anything they could remember.
The first thing Penelope said was, “I hope you two haven"t tried to link to him since he was taken. I wouldn"t recommend doing that. She"ll be waiting for that, she could be in there, waiting to find out what you"re up to and where you are.”
“Okay, we won"t,” we both said.
Stefan continued, “We"ll talk to Musetta about finding a way to try to link to Matthew without Malina knowing, okay? Now, I"m probably not the best to know much about her. Remember, I wasn"t here full time like everyone else. I"ve always maintained a life outside of this place. I do remember her calling me once and asking to stay in my San Francisco apartment. She sounded like she was in some sort of trouble, but all she said when I saw her again was„Thanks." She never explained why she needed it.”
Penelope nodded her head. “She has gone to San Francisco several times, so that may be a place to look. And I know she mentioned Romania. But what"s sticking in my mind, is she used to disappear for a day or two at a time, a lot. There has to be someplace nearby, someplace close that she would go.”
“Okay,” I said as I started to bring up maps on my computer. “San Francisco, Romania and possibly somewhere around here, that"s a start. Now, has she ever had any kind of a boyfriend? Or girlfriend? Anyone that you know of?”
They looked at each other. “There have been rumors,” Penelope said.
“Who?” I asked. “Do you have any names?”
Penelope and Stefan both looked at each other.
“What?” I said.
Stefan spoke first, “Well, one was a guard named Phillip.”
“And?” I prompted.
“And he"s one that was killed during the fighting.”
“Oh,” I said, crushed. “Any others?”
Penelope said, “I heard one about a Sabrina, but I have no idea who she is or where she is. And I walked in the kitchen once and she was one phone having what sounded to me like a lover"s quarrel with someone she called Garrett.”
Stefan suddenly sat up straight. “I remember one,” he said. We all stared at him until he continued, “One of my assistants, a few years back. Lisa was her name. I ran into her one day coming out of Malina"s office. Her hair was messed up and she was straightening her clothes. I asked her why she was there and she told me Malina had asked her to help her hang a picture on her wall, to make sure it was straight, she said. I thought it was odd, but I was busy and didn"t push it any farther. She quit a few months later.”
“Do you have an address on her?” I asked.
“Probably, I"ll look through my files,” he said.
“Okay. Get that to me as soon as you find it. Now, Carlos and I will do the traveling. Stefan, can we use your apartment in San Francisco?”
“Of course,” he said, “and I"ll make sure that one of my planes is available at all times. Better to stay off commercial airlines.”
“Thank you, that"s very generous. Can you give us any contact names in San Fran that might be able to help?” I said.
“I"ll look through my contacts and send any to you that I think might help,” he said.
“Penelope,” I said, “you"ve made a lot of friends locally haven"t you?”
“Yes, I have,” she said. “I dearly love this place and these
people.”
“Can you show them a picture of Malina, ask around if anyone"s seen her?” I said.
“Absolutely,” she said as she stood up. “I"ll do that right away.”
“Thank you both very much,” I said. Missy knocked on the door. “Come in.”
“I"m sorry to interrupt but Ramon is here,” she said.
“Send him in please Missy. Stefan and Penelope were just leaving,” I said, then nodded to them as they walked out. Ramon walked in carrying a box and perched on top of it was the beautiful, leather, engraved appointment book that I had surprised Matt with a month ago. Oh crap, I thought as he sat down, I can"t lose it, not now.
“Appointments or box first?” he said.
“Box” I said – that would give me a little time to prepare for the other– I knew that it would be really hard to keep it together when I touched his appointment book– knowing that his hands had lovingly touched it just yesterday– he had told me as much when we were getting ready for bed the night before: “Did I mention how much I love that appointment book that you gave me, Sarah? It really is perfect and it makes me think of you every time I open it which makes it even better,” he had said. Ramon set the box on my desk and opened the lid. I instantly hissed and my fangs dropped when her scent hit me. I turned my head and took a deep breath of clean air, forcing myself to calm down. Having my eyes and senses in predator mode wouldn"t help right now. I felt my fangs retract and my eyes change back to normal. I held my breath when I turned back and mumbled, “Sorry.”
“Don"t be,” Carlos said. I looked up and saw Ramon staring at me, open mouthed. Carlos put his hand on Ramon"s shoulder and shook it a little. Ramon"s eyes finally broke from mine and stared at Carlos. “Oh, that"s right,” Carlos said. “You weren"t here during the fighting, so you wouldn"t know.”
“How??… How does she do that?” Ramon whispered
Carlos grinned. “That"s her own special talent,” he said as he looked over at me and winked.
“But, doesn"t it scare you?” he said.
I saw the fury in Carlos" eyes and I quickly placed my hand on his arm. “Carlos, don"t,” I whispered.
“She would never hurt anyone other than those who wanted to harm us. And that talent is what saved all of our asses. Because she"s different, because she can drop her fangs at will, she was able to kill most of the guards and the Elders. Our weapons were completely ineffective. She saved us all,” he spat.
Ramon nodded and quietly sat down. I started digging through the box. There was nothing in the papers, everything was work related, notes on subjects. I grabbed the picture frames next, growing more confused with each one. “What is it Sarah?” Carlos said.
“All of these look like they"re the pictures that came with the frames, nothing looks personal,” I said. I turned one frame over and popped the back off. Sure enough, there was a small picture tucked inside. I pulled it out as Ramon and Carlos began checking the other frames. Of the eight frames, five of them had pictures hidden inside. I spread them out on the desk. Two were really old looking black and whites. One was of a young girl with the Golden Gate Bridge behind her. Another was of Malina standing at the top of what could only be a hill in San Francisco. There was one of two children, a boy and a girl who looked native to this area. One was of what looked like a large, European looking city. It was the last one that made me gasp. I stared at it as I felt Carlos" arm move around my shoulder. I looked up at him, my lower lip quivering, then back down at the picture, back at Carlos and back to the picture. Carlos pulled me into his arms and I whispered into his chest. “But why?” I stammered. “How? Why? How?”
Carlos smoothed his hand down my back. “Shhhh, shhhh,” he soothed. “I don"t know Sarah. I don"t know why or how she got a picture of you and Matt. That"s the hotel in Mexico, isn"t it? The one I picked you up at, right? That was before you were changed.”
I nodded and moaned. “But… but… no one knew we were there. No one knew what we were up to. How did she find out?”
My mind drifted back to that night and I tried to remember who else we had run into, who could have possibly known that Matt was a vampire and that we might be up to something– suddenly it hit me. “WAIT!” I said as I jumped back. “The waitress in the restaurant. She knew Matt was a vampire, she didn"t even ask him if he wanted food. This picture looks like it was taken right after we walked out and before we got to our room. She must have been hiding in one ofthe cars in the parking lot.”
Carlos nodded then looked at Ramon. “Who are your two best interrogators?” he said.
“Jake and Ashley,” he said, “they were detectives, partners, who were gunned down in an ambush and then were changed.”
“So they were changed by the Elders?” I said.
“Yes,” Ramon said, “but it was right before you came. They were still recovering from the change. We found them in one of the recovery rooms when we searched the compound after the battle.”
“Okay,” I nodded. I pulled up a map of Mexico on the computer. “The hotel and restaurant were in Mocorito, here.” I pointedat the screen. “It was the only hotel in town.”
“Okay,” Ramon said, “I will brief them this afternoon.”
I handed the pictures to Ramon. “I need you to scan these and blow them up. We need to try to find any identifier"s in the background – street signs, landmarks, anything we can use.” I put the lid back on the box and handed it to him, finally taking a deep breath.
I took a deep breath as Isat down, “Now the appointment book,” I whispered. Ramon set it on the desk in front of me. Carlos held tight to my left hand under the desk. I tried to steady my other hand as it reached out to open the book. My head swam as I smelled his scent everywhere. I opened the cover and had to squeeze my eyes shut. Taped to the inside cover was a picture of us, on our wedding day. I heard Carlos reach over and turn the pages, opening to the current month. I looked down. “Okay,” I said, looking at the clock,“looks like he was meeting with Rashidi at one o"clock today. Was that about website security?”
Ramon shook his head. “No, better motion sensors around the perimeter.”
“You take that one. Malina can"t tap into our security cameras can she?”
“I don"t see how,” he said. “They"re not online at all. They just feed into the security room. I don"t see what she could tap into.”
“Okay,” I said, “but just to be safe, could you run a sweep on the lines? I want to make sure she didn"t plant a piggyback anywhere. Check for bugs too, she could be listening.”
Carlos stared at me. “A piggyback?”
“A piggyback is a device that attaches onto an existing line – a phone line, internet, video feed – and sends the information to a remote location,” I said.
Ramon and Carlos looked at each other. Ramon spoke first. “She"s right,” he said, clearly impressed.
“What? Did you date a cop or something in your previous life?” Carlos said.
I shook my head. “No. Matt"s private detective agency, remember? He still had it when he and I started dating. He had some of this equipment at his place in Washington. We spent some time there before New Orleans. I was curious, so I asked. He told me. So, Ramon, will you run the sweep today?”
“Sure thing,” he said. “I"ll start that this afternoon.”
I glanced at the other appointments in the book. “I don"t see anything that needs my attention, can you handle these byyourself?” I said. Ramon nodded.
“Wait,” I said, “what"s this private appointment tomorrow at two?”
He shook his head. “I"m not sure,” he said.
“Mmm,” I said, “well, you can use his office for the others, but I"ll be there tomorrow at two to see who shows up for this one, okay?”
“Sure thing,” he nodded.
“And one more thing,” I said, “put an announcement on the internal monitors that there"s going to be a full assembly in the main hall. Today"s Tuesday, right? Let"s do it Thursday morning, ten a.m.
, okay?”
“What do you want me to say it"s about?” he said.
“A security breach,” I said. “We"re going to play the video of Malina here in the compound. I want everyone to see the differences between her and me, so they can spot her if she comesback.” Ramon nodded again. “Anything else Miss Sarah?”
“No, I think that"s it. But I want a daily briefing from you from now on. Say four p.m. every day, okay? You can do them by phone if I"m traveling, but I"ll want them every day.”
“Absolutely,” he said as he stood up. He picked up the pictures and the box then hesitated as he looked down at the appointment book. I had closed it, but my hand was resting on the cover, my fingers absent-mindedly tracing his initials on the cover. I looked at my hand, then glanced at Carlos, who nodded and slowly pulled the book out and handed it to Ramon – removing my hand was something that was way beyond my abilities right now, and, thankfully, Carlos could see that.
As Ramon left I called out, “Missy?”
“Yes ma"am,” she said as she stuck her head in my office.
“I need to meet with Billy as soon as possible,” I said.
“He"s on his way Sarah. I already called him,” she said.
“You are the best, you know that?” I tried to smile.
I heard the outer door open, Missy looked over her shoulder then turned back to me. “He"s here now,” she said.
“Thank you Missy,” I said as Billy walked in.
One by one, I met with each of them. I showed each of them the video and explained our new strategy: Carlos and I were going to hunt Malina while they kept things running here.
“You will know my exact schedule Billy,” I said. “If I come back early without telling you, it"s not me, okay? I will always let you know if my plans change and I"m returning early.”
Billy nodded. My meetings stretched into the evening and then late into the night. Finally, Carlos put his hand on my shoulder. “Sarah,” he said, “you really need to try to sleep.”
“I know,” I groaned. “I"m just afraid to.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. We walked slowly down the halls, pausing briefly in the kitchen to feed.
Malina's Revenge Page 2
