9781936653027BorntobeWildArsuaga (18 page)

He ventured further into the dimly lit two-story sprawling
room. Stefan remained alert, scanning the surroundings, to pick up on any
unforeseen lurking predators. The antique furnishings mixed with modern art
lent an artistic touch to the room’s décor—one his art background could appreciate.
Masterpieces hung on the walls, sculptures posed upon pedestals, and art glass
with light streamlined directly down on them were scattered throughout.
Who the hell is this man?

Stefan spotted Ecaterina standing by the
hand-carved wood desk. Someone sat in the chair, with back turned, and he was
only able to see the top of the man’s head—black hair, straight, pulled tight
to the head. Stefan moved toward the shadowed man and Ecaterina, not taking his
eyes off the psycho bitch. She grinned. He wondered if it was from their
earlier encounter or something more of things to come.

“You’re still a man with a heart of stone, but an
eye for beauty I see, Stefan.” The familiar voice from behind the black chair
boomed, clear and distinct from Stefan’s distant past.

Stefan righted his posture, his eyes darkened as
the chair slowly swiveled around revealing the mystery shadow man.

“And you’re still the son-of-a-bitch liar you
always were, Dragos. You’re the head of this family?” Stefan asked keeping a
steely eye on the seated man.

“Dragos?
This is Emil
Dragomir, Stefan. Show him respect.” Ecaterina scowled.

“No my dear, Stefan is correct.” The stealthy six
foot three inch tall man rose from the chair and moved around to greet Stefan.
His dark designer suit cut his athletic physique with lines accentuating his
broad shoulders and trim hips. “My true name is Dragos Munteanu and I’m
Stefan’s sire.” His embrace clenched around Stefan’s shoulders, cold and tight.
“What, no warm welcome for your true Lord Master?” The fortyish appearing
silver-eyed shadow man drew back, with his arms extended and hands resting on
Stefan’s shoulders. “What has it been, four hundred years, maybe less? But,
who’s counting.” Dragos smiled, bright white teeth shining against his tanned
skin.

“Not long enough.”

“Oh, such hostility from my
favorite son.
Look at you, Stefan, dark and brooding, nothing changes
with you, does it? You’re looking so pale too. Tsk, tsk. I’ll have you set up
for our special tanning beds. A few sessions and you’ll look marvelous.”

Stefan made a low growl.

Ecaterina moved toward the two men.
“Emil, why didn’t you tell me your real name?
I don’t
understand the secrecy.”

“Oh my dear, there’s no deception. I changed my
name so it didn’t sound so…shall we say, Old World. No different than you
changed yours.”

She nodded.

“Changing your name won’t change your evil ways,
Dragos. So let’s just cut through the bullshit. Why did you find it necessary
to kidnap me? You could have asked me to come without all the theatrics.”

“True enough. But you wouldn’t have, we both know
that.” He walked toward a credenza sideboard and poured liquor in a glass.
“Would you like something?
Cognac Paradis.
Is it still
your favorite?”

Stefan shook his head. “I’m not interested in your
hospitality.”

“I would have seen you days ago, but…Cat wanted to
play. She talked me into making you suffer for her own personal reasons.” He
grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “I tend to indulge her.”

Stefan let out a low growl and curled his fingers
into his palms. The two bodyguards moved closer, but Dragos waved them off.

“Ah, my son, do not be upset with Cat, I would
have done the same. Your torture was for your own good. You had to find the way
back to your true nature. Your real bloodlust has been lost, too humanized, and
now you’ve been returned to the family where you belong.” Dragos upturned his
palms and stretched them out in front of him.

“Dragos, I’ve no interest in returning to your
sick blood clan. You can continue to torture me all you want, but I will not do
your bidding.”

“Hmm, we’ll see Stefan. Perhaps you’ll change your
mind once you see your friends dying.” He walked back around his desk and sat
down. He motioned for Stefan to sit, “Please.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me how I came to run the
largest pharmaceutical company in the world? Haven’t you figured it out yet, my
son?”

Stefan thought about what Dragos said. “You’re
behind the deadly virus, but for what reason? Killing humans makes no sense.
Why destroy our food supply?”

“C’mon baby, think.”
Ecaterina demanded, stepping behind Stefan, splaying her hands over his chest.
“If the humans are scared into thinking there’s a vampire virus that can kill
all of them, they’ll change the laws right now allowing easy access to us. No
more cheap or free vampire blood exchanges…” She softly spoke into his ear.

“And…those who are addicted to our blood will pay
for the privilege. The price of vamp blood goes up and you control the price.
Is that your plan?”

“Because changing the laws is only part of the
plan. Once we get the laws changed, I will unleash our designer blood I’ve
named Blue. Preliminary tests show it is more addictive than the real thing. It
hits the streets in a couple of weeks. And that is where you come in Stefan.”

“I’m not a drug dealer now, nor do I intend to
become one in the future.”

Dragos laughed. “I’m not asking you to deal. No,
no, no. What I am asking is for your special talents in making people
disappear. I have a FBI agent who has been an annoyance the past six months and
I’ve tolerated him only because I’ve been waiting for the right moment. The
moment is now.”

Stefan glanced over at Ecaterina. “This is the
same agent you told me about in Virginia? Johnson wasn’t it?
And
a couple bounty hunters, too?”

“Very good.
You
remembered. But forget the bounty hunters. I made them up. I thought maybe if I
told you there were hunters you’d agree, since I know you hate them with a
passion.”

“Mmm, yeah, I do.”
Except one.

“Special Agent Scott Johnson has been a thorn in
my side long enough. He thought his cleverness would get him into my secret
lab, but his little Romanian snitch got too close and almost tipped him off
about Blue before I wanted it leaked. The FBI thinks they can control us, but
if I have anything to do with it, I’ll have the Vamp Unit shut down for good,”
Dragos said.

“And you want me to help you shut them down? I’m
an enforcer. I make humans and vamps disappear if they get out of line with the
established laws. You give me too much credit. I’m good, but not that good. How
exactly am I to take care of this problem for you, kill all of them at the Vamp
Enforcement Unit? If I do it, I’d have the entire Bureau after me. I don’t have
a death wish.”

“I’m asking for one man right now. The rest you
can take care of as you like, when you like. And for your trouble, I’m offering
you the position as my Elector Palatine.”

“I’m honored you would bestow on me the title of
your second in charge over your great family, but, why? I have made my hatred
for you quite known throughout the community over the years. Why are you
wanting me back at your side Dragos, what do you really want from me?”

“You are my favorite, always have been, despite
our falling out centuries ago. I always knew you would come back and serve by
my side when the time was right. I made you. You have my blood, a Macedonian
king’s blood, strong and fierce. It is your duty, your right to stand by me
while we, together create the Sange Empire.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You won’t.”

“What makes you so sure? Being your Elector is no
guarantee. How do I know any of this…this virus and Blue designer blood is
real? Or your grand plan of changing the vampire laws, which by the way have
been in existence over a hundred years and will be hard to abolish overnight?
There are a lot of variables. I’d have to see all the details before I make a
decision.”

Dragos curled one corner of his mouth. “You always
were a man of caution. I will show you everything. Come. I’ll take you on a
tour.”

*
* * *

“Aly? Are you all right? You haven’t been yourself
all night. Have you been practicing the mind-block exercises I’ve taught you?”
Johnson asked.

“Yes, Johnson.
Stop
babying me. I get enough of that from my family.” She rubbed fingers across her
forehead. The nagging headache wouldn’t go away, similar to the one a week ago.
This had to be the effects of her body purging the vamp blood from her system.
It must be like a hangover.
Earlier, she
thought Stefan’s voice called out to her in the hallway on the way to dinner.
She laughed silently. If he were here, he would have come for her.

“I’m not babying you. I don’t want your cover
blown. The vamps around here would kill you first, and ask questions later.
You’d disappear and no one would ever find your body. Aly, you have to be
careful. We are close to getting information on this special project brewing.
I’m so glad you were able to get hired into Alina’s position and can get info
on the secret ideas they’re cooking up in there. Have you learned anything more
about the Blue serum?”

“Nothing.
I’ve been
cautious. Everyone in the lab is still skittish after Alina’s death. A few of
them think she picked up the virus from here. Others think it had to do with
excessive participation at the vamp club. She was close to a vamp who still works
there and maybe he turned her in. Maybe the truth is somewhere in-between,
possibly letting something slip during a sexual encounter with a vamp.”

“I’d be dead by now Aly. No, I don’t think so. You
keep working to find out about this new serum and I’ll keep pushing to get info
on the owner. Any luck on your end with this Dragomir guy?”

“Jordy is networking with his contacts. Seems all
he can find out is the man is from Croatia originally, lived in several
countries, made it big in the seventies with fiber optics and rolled that into
cable and oil in the eighties. After that he goes off the radar. He’s still
digging.” With the headache hanging on, she continued rubbing her forehead.

“We have to wind this case up. It’s getting too
dangerous for you here. Look at you, Aly. You’re having trouble blocking. Are
you good until eleven?”

“I have a headache. No vamp is trying to read my
mind. I’m fine. Let me get back to the lab and work on finding out about this
Blue and meet you when our shift is over.” Rising to leave, he grabbed her
hand.

“Aly, be careful.”

Disengaging her hand, she pressed down on the
laminate tabletop, and smiled. “I will.”

Alex left the break room and walked back to the
lab, Room 1527, the secret lab as Johnson liked to term it. She didn’t think
there was anything secret about it. Sure, the tight security required a retinal
scan to gain entry, not surprising because the entire facility had high
security. Frankly the immediate hiring of her at the interview floored her. The
Bureau did a bang up job on her background profile and resume, speaking medical
and scientific jargon didn’t hurt either. The undercover work excited her and
Johnson made the after work practice sessions enjoyable as well.

Every night he would meet her in the employee
parking lot. They’d stop by a small local watering hole and have a beer or
snack and head back to his apartment for a couple of hours of mind-block
practice. After the third night she noticed a difference with Johnson. He asked
her to call him Scott who under any other circumstance probably would be okay
except somehow it seemed personal, too personal.

Granted, she liked him, but not in that way. The
circumstances by which they were thrown together was unusual and sometimes
harmless flirting can happen, but it was just that, harmless. The feelings for
Stefan complicated her life enough and no way in hell she could mix another
relationship into the pot.

Rounding the corner to the lab, two solidly built
and ominous-looking men dressed in total black abruptly stopped her. Their
attire reminded her of Stefan’s wardrobe. Right away she knew they were vamp
bodyguards and immediately threw up a mind block.

“Sorry miss,” one of the guards said. “You’ll have
to wait until Master Dragomir leaves this corridor.”

“But my break is over. I’ll get in trouble if I’m
late returning. Is Master Dragomir going to let my supervisor know why I was
late? I doubt it.”

“Sorry, miss. The security protocol requires no
admittance.”

“Security protocol?
You’ve got to be kidding. This entire building is secured. I wouldn’t be here
if I didn’t pass muster. This is just great.” Crossing her arms over her chest,
she began tapping her foot on the terrazzo floor.

“Do you have any idea how much longer this will
take?” She asked the vamp bodyguards, neither moved, or even blinked the entire
time they faced each other.

Neither one responded.

“Great, now you ignore me. At this rate I might as
well go back to the break room and come back later.”

One of the bodyguards cocked his head. “Your
choice miss
.”

With a loud harrumph, she shook her head in
frustration. Turning on her heels she headed back down the hallway. A few feet
later, the sound of voices and stirring bodyguards got her attention,
especially a familiar male’s voice. Stopping in her stride, she turned and
walked back toward the lab.

“Can I pass? Sounds like whoever was in the lab
has left.”

The one remaining guard peered over his shoulder.
“Almost…okay, you can go.”

Glancing down a long corridor, she glimpsed a
woman in skin-tight leather pants, with long black hair, and extremely high red
stilettos. Alex knew there were others in the group because the raven-haired
woman talked to someone out of view. The woman looked very familiar, even from
the distance and from the back, but then again most female vamps Alex ran across
all looked alike—tall, dark hair and slutty wearing black leather and
stilettos.
No imagination or style.