Sophia (17 page)

Raphael stood, gesturing to the human woman who, Sophia had discovered, was far more than the vampire lord’s arm candy; she was his mate. Vampires frequently took mates, but it was unusual for a vampire lord to do so. Or maybe that was just her experience with Lucien.

Everyone had risen when Raphael did, and now there was a general movement in the direction of the doors. Sophia looked around quickly and saw that Colin was already gone. She held back until Raphael had cleared the doors, then shoved her way past Loren and Jeremy, emerging into the great room in time to see Colin slam open the big glass door and head down the outside stairs. Rushing after him, she waited until she too was outside before calling his name.

“Colin!” His shoulders tensed, but he kept going. “Colin!” she repeated and put on a burst of vampire speed to catch up with him. She considered grabbing his arm, but circled him instead, planting herself in his path.

“Colin,” she said again, meeting his furious gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” he growled. “Sorry, Sophie? Is that the best you can do?”

“What do you want—”

“I thought you were dead,” he ground out.

“I know. It was necessary.”

“Necessary? What was fucking necessary about it? It’s not like I put any demands on you. We weren’t married. Hell, for all I know I wasn’t even the only guy you were doing—”

“Colin,” she protested, letting her pain show, even though she knew she had no right.

“Then why, Sophie? I went through hell, thinking I’d left you there to die. I’d like to know why.”

“Because I’m a vampire! Don’t you understand? What was I supposed to say?”

“How about the truth?”

“You make it sound so simple. What would you have said, Colin? What would you have done if I’d told you all those years ago that I was Vampire?”

“I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

“It was impossible, what we had. Human and vampire. It would never have worked.”

“It doesn’t seem to stop your friend Raphael in there.”

Sophia laughed bitterly. “He’s not my friend. He’s . . . Ai Jesus, he’s the most powerful vampire I’ve ever met. If he wanted you dead, your heart would be nothing but pulp in his fist before you ever saw him move. Don’t take him lightly, Colin. Or his mate either.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

He sidestepped her and started to leave, but Sophia put herself in front of him once more. “Colin.”

He stared at her impatiently.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

He didn’t let her finish. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll see you around,
Sophia
.”

Sophia watched him walk away and knew it was the right thing to do. Again. She’d survived this long by not caring about anyone, a lesson learned from Lucien. They were two of a kind, she and her Sire. Dancing their way through life, never caring too much about anyone or anything, no strings to bind them, no untidy emotions to tug at their hearts and hold them in any one place for too long.

Colin was the only one who’d ever tempted her, with his deep voice and warm hands, his big body wrapped around her against the night’s chill. He was a warrior born. It was in his bones and blood, every instinct he had drove him to protect those he cared about. And he’d cared about her. He’d loved her. And she’d loved him back. She’d gone to that café to save him. And she’d lost him instead.

She rubbed her hands up and down arms gone suddenly cold and sighed, turning back toward the main building. That long ago night was history, where it belonged. She had problems enough with Lucien and his infernal games. And apparently she was going back to Vancouver tonight. Raphael had decided it would be, and so it would. He didn’t need her to cross the border, but her presence would give him the appearance of propriety. Lucien might still be alive, but he’d pretty much ceded control of his territory to her for the duration. If she invited Raphael across the border, it would serve well enough. And who was there to protest it, in any event? Not Lucien, curse his black soul.

She shivered again and hurried up the stairs, telling herself it was the damp night air making her feel so cold. It had nothing to do with the ice around her heart. Ice that had begun to crack the moment she’d seen Colin Murphy again.

Chapter Eighteen

Raphael and his people followed Loren through a nondescript metal door and down an unadorned stairway, with its flat painted walls and ordinary metal pipe handrail. The compound had an extensive basement which included the vampires’ sleeping quarters, but this particular stairway had only one destination, and that was a state-of-the-art computer room, which was also the heart and soul of the security network. Raphael kept Cyn just ahead of him, with Juro between her and Loren. Duncan was behind him, just over his left shoulder, as always. The rest of his security team remained upstairs.

Maxime, his computer specialist and the vampire who had designed this particular system, had arrived from L.A. earlier and begun her assessment immediately, searching for possible breaches. Raphael wanted a minimal audience for this particular briefing, just in case.

Loren reached the bottom of the stairs and turned right down a truncated hallway. “This way, my lord,” he directed.

Not that Raphael needed direction. There was nowhere else to go down here. He touched Cyn’s shoulder, more for the sake of touching her than for guidance. She would be very unhappy with him again later. He’d put plans into motion to ensure her safety and he doubted she’d go along with it easily. But he wasn’t going to change his mind, and he would not apologize for wanting her safe.

Ahead of him, Loren entered a nine digit code and pressed his thumb against a biometric scanner. The locking device buzzed loudly and opened with the thunk of retracting bolts. Maxime was already there, her spiky blond head bent, as always, over a keyboard, her gaze riveted to the lines of computer code rolling down the screen in front of her.

“Maxime,” Raphael said.

She finished whatever she was typing and spun around with a somewhat dazed look, blinking rapidly before managing an awkward smile. “Pardon, my lord. I was—”

Raphael shook his head. “What have you discovered?” He pulled out a chair from the long table running the length of the room and offered it to Cyn, before seating himself on the one next to it.

Maxime grabbed a pad of paper covered with notes and rolled her chair up to the table backwards, spinning it around at the last moment to face them. “My lord. A primer on the nature of this system first, if I may?”

Raphael nodded his permission.

“This—” she indicated the banks of computers, monitors and security video displays around her, “—is the heart of the compound. Its main function is security, but to that end, it controls every aspect of the environmental system, from lights to air quality. Every lock on every door or window can be monitored from here, as well as the various stations on the perimeter. With a single key stroke, the entire compound can be locked down if desired. It is, and this is vital, my lord, a closed system. There is no, and I mean absolutely no, contact with the outside world. No Internet access, no outgoing line of any kind. There is a separate server, maintained in a separate office, which provides Internet access for the residents here, but there is nothing else on that server. All information of a sensitive nature, and that is defined in the broadest terms, is stored here in this room.”

“Which means what?” Raphael asked, urging her along. Maxime loved her work. It was what made her so good at it, that and a truly brilliant mind. But she would go on a bit if not nudged in the right direction.

“It means no one can access the information stored here from outside the compound, or even from outside this room. It also means,” she hurried on, “the database on our vampires, including names and addresses, could not be accessed by anyone who did not have authorization to enter here.”

“Or someone who got into this room, whether authorized or not,” Cyn qualified.

Maxime stared at Cyn blankly for a few seconds, as if trying to compute what she’d just heard. “Correct,” she said finally. “But the security here—”

“Is not infallible, Max. No one’s is,” Cyn interrupted.

Maxime frowned. “Theoretically, that’s true.”

“You’ve checked for unauthorized access, of course,” Raphael said, bringing them back to the purpose of their briefing.

“Yes, my lord. There has been none. No one not authorized entered this room. I have digital video if you would like to see it, archived for the last year, which covers virtually the entire period this compound has been functional.”

“Do you have a record of who accessed the database, even if they were authorized?” Cyn asked.

“Of course. And I’ve checked it, as well. But I’m running a deeper scan now. It is possible, again theoretically, for a highly skilled operator, to cover his or her tracks. But not completely. If someone has illegally invaded this system, I will know within twenty-four hours. However, at this time, I would say there has been no breach of security. Your leak is somewhere else. I have the data, my lord—”

Raphael shook his head as Maxime spun back to her computer station, retrieved a thick stack of papers covered with data and spun around again, offering them to him. “No, thank you, Maxime. I trust your skills completely.”

Maxime gave Cyn a triumphant look that had Cyn turning to meet his eyes with an expression of supreme annoyance. Raphael winked at her and stood. “We’ll leave you to it, Maxime. Advise Duncan the moment you have anything new.”

The stairs up from the basement security center left them on the first floor in a back hallway of the main building. As they headed toward the great room once again, Raphael turned to Duncan.

“Make sure Sophia is ready. And find out what you can about her history with Colin Murphy. I suspect the answer will lie in his background, not hers.”

“He’s a former SEAL,” Cyn said, turning around and walking slowly backwards. “His records will be hard to come by.”

“We’ll see,” Duncan said with a grin.

Cyn shook her head, smiling at Raphael’s lieutenant. “Are there no secrets—”

“My lord.”

Cyn spun around at the familiar voice, staring at Elke who was waiting for them at the end of the hallway. She was dressed in the typical uniform of his security forces, her pale hair and even paler skin a sharp contrast to the dark charcoal suit.

“Elke?” Cyn said in obvious surprise. “When did you get in?”

“Who knows?” the female vampire said, obviously disgruntled. “I only know the sun was shining, which means I wasn’t.”

Cyn shot Raphael a suspicious glance over her shoulder, clearly anticipating the reason for Elke’s sudden appearance. “Well,” Cyn said to Elke. “Welcome to Seattle. Have fun.” She strode away quickly without looking back.

Elke watched her go, before turning to Raphael with a puzzled expression. “Was I not supposed to be here, my lord? Duncan said—”

“You are where you belong, Elke. Duncan, find Sophia and get someone started on tracing her history with Colin Murphy. I’ll return shortly.”

Raphael strode across the great room and down the corridor, stopping the elevator doors from closing when he was still several steps away. It took only a small exertion of his will, holding them back until he entered. He released the doors and they closed immediately. Cyn was leaning against the far wall, both hands behind her. She waited until the elevator was moving before saying quietly, “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“No, you don’t,” he agreed.

She frowned in confusion. “But Elke—”

The doors opened on their darkened suite, the vault door standing open for the night. Raphael gestured for Cyn to go ahead of him. She did so, but not without a distrustful, sideways glance as she passed in front of him.