Try Me (18 page)

It was a relief when Micah called and asked me to be present at a meeting with him and Alejandro. Thankfully, I let Dan attend the SCU briefing alone and arranged to meet him at my place afterward.

The vampires and demons met on neutral ground, in a hotel downtown. A really hoity toity place with a meeting room that looked like a men's club, or what I imagined a men's club to look like anyway—sleek brown leather, dark wood, shiny crystal and gold accents.

Fang paused in the doorway. SHEESH. KINDA MAKES ME FEEL GUILTY FOR SHEDDING ALL OVER IT. He shrugged and trotted in. OR NOT.

Alejandro brought two of his lieutenants with him—Luis and Austin—and Micah brought Ludwig, Fang, and me.

I LIKE THESE ODDS, Fang said. THREE OF THEM, FOUR OF US.

I grinned down at the small terrier. Well, three and half, maybe.

HEY, BABE, DON'T CUT YOURSELF SHORT LIKE THAT.

I shook my head. There was no way to win in a verbal contest with Fang, so I glanced around. The vamps looked at home, but the rest of us . . . not so much. It was a strange group to be facing each other across a polished cherry conference table. I glanced at the man mountain, wondering what kind of demon he was and why Micah had brought him instead of Tessa.

Probably for the same reason I figured he'd asked me to come—to help control anything that got out of hand. Unfortunately, I was having problems controlling myself right now. Or rather, Lola. She remembered enthralling these three vamps before. Remembered it, liked it, and wanted more. Keeping her under control and her hooks out of Dan and Shade had caused me to go without feeding for far too long. The hunger gnawed at me and Lola was constantly present, urging me to slake her appetite with any available male. But I locked her down tight. This was so not the time.

Alejandro steepled his fingers. In his tailored suit, crisp shirt, and silk tie, he looked the very image of a Wall Street banker . . . if it weren't for his long flowing hair. And the fangs.

WELL, HE IS A BANKER OF SORTS, the hellhound reminded me.

Glad for the distraction, I smothered a laugh. Yeah, with a slightly different currency.

"Thank you for meeting with us,” Alejandro said. “I understand you have been testing the blood from our banks. What did you learn?"

Micah nodded. “We have a medical technician among us who tested the blood for water—in case it was holy water—silver nitrate, and other foreign substances. He found nothing.” He spread his hands. “Then again, the bottles of blood you gave us didn't look as though they'd been tampered with, so we can't be sure they were."

Alejandro's two lieutenants shifted as if they wanted to respond, but deferred to their boss. “We sent a representative batch from both locations where my people were poisoned. We did not find any breach of the bottles’ seal either. However, my people are also trained to detect any tampering with the bottles. They would not have used it if there was something wrong with the seal."

Micah leaned forward. “But people get lax, forget procedures. Are you certain they didn't forget to check?"

"All five of them?” Alejandro countered. “I think not. And it is beyond the bounds of reason to think that they drank the only contaminated packages of blood in the bank. That would be too much of a coincidence."

Micah nodded slowly. “I take it you didn't find anything in the blood either."

"Nothing,” Alejandro confirmed. “And none of our other bottles appear to be tampered with. We tested one with . . . a volunteer . . . who ended up in the same condition as the other five."

Fang snorted at my feet. WONDER WHAT THE POOR GUY DID TO GET VOLUNTEERED.

Probably one of the vamps not in the Movement. I piped up. “Well, if the bottle didn't look like anyone messed with it, then maybe the contamination was in the human donating."

I was pretty proud of myself for that reasoning, but Luis sneered. “Did you really assume we would not think of that?"

"We did,” Alejandro said with a quelling glance at Luis. “Each of our bottles is labeled with the donor's name, since some of my people have their favorite flavors."

Ew. That conjured up visions of a vampire tasting room, people lined up unconscious in glass coffins along the wall with tubes coming out of their veins and flowing into wine glasses. I suppressed a shiver. You'd never catch me donating blood.

Alejandro continued. “Since the labels were still intact on the bottles the mad ones drank, we tested a couple of donors to see if they were contaminated. They were not."

"Maybe it wasn't the blood,” I suggested. “Maybe it was something else causing it."

"Such as?” Luis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know. Maybe they all visited someplace where they caught a rare disease or something."

Luis was too stuck-up to roll his eyes, but his nostrils flared in derision. “Have you never heard of Occam's Razor?"

"Huh?” Did anyone else think that was totally random?

Austin grinned at me. “Basically, it means the simplest explanation that is based on the facts is the most likely. Occam was the fourteenth century friar who came up with the idea."

Oh. Why couldn't Luis have just said that?

BECAUSE HE HAS TO FIND SOME WAY TO PRETEND HE'S SUPERIOR, Fang said. I BET HE HAS A TINY WEENIE, TOO.

Good thing I wasn't drinking anything or that would have caused an instant spit-take. As it was, I had to pretend I was coughing to cover the choking laughter. You may be right, but I sure ain't checking his tighty whities.

At least Fang's diversion allowed me to respond to Luis without anger. “Okay, let's assume it is in the blood in the bottles. If the bottles don't show any signs of tampering, how else is the poison getting in there?"

Luis gave me a tight smile. “Demon magick, perhaps? I notice there have been no more attacks on your kind."

Everyone around the table stiffened.

"I see,” Micah said, sounding calm but looking as though he'd like to rip Luis's head off. “This is why you invited me here today."

Alejandro spread his hands. “If you have another explanation, I would be most happy to hear it."

Leaning forward menacingly, Ludwig bit out, “How about your people are faking it and using this so-called madness to revert to their real nature without consequences?"

Luis bolted up out of his seat. “How dare you!” He slapped his hands down on the table and practically hissed at Ludwig. “Demon spawn—"

The man mountain lunged across the table, his meaty paw headed for Luis's throat. Luis snarled back, fangs gleaming, and batted Ludwig's hand out of the way then leapt across the table . . . and the fight was on. Though the other men in the room tried to stop them, it was as if they weren't even there.

Oh, crap. Lola loved it, lapping up all that wonderful testosterone. This was not good.

AN UNDERSTATEMENT, Fang agreed. DO SOMETHING.

It was as if Fang had given Lola permission. My succubus shredded the barrier I had put up and burst forth, instantly sending surges of lustful energy into the men in the room and enslaving them . . . all but Micah, of course. “Stop,” I yelled.

They obeyed me immediately, each man turning to look at me as if waiting for further orders.

Fang nudged me. UH, NOT EXACTLY WHAT I MEANT.

"Val,” Micah said warningly, “what are you doing?"

Dumb question. He knew exactly what I was doing. But I was fighting too hard with Lola to answer him. She wanted to surge along the connection, stroke their chakras, suck up all that yummy energy. But though she had them thoroughly caught in her web, I wouldn't let her feed. It seemed like a violation of hospitality or at least a breach of our unspoken treaty.

"You haven't fed recently, have you?” Micah demanded. “Why didn't you use Shade?"

Since I couldn't answer him, Fang did. SHE'S AFRAID SHADE WILL BECOME TOO LOVEY DOVEY. SHE DIDN'T FEED ON HIM SO SHE REALLY NEEDS IT NOW, BUT SHE'S AFRAID TO LET GO AND TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE POOR LITTLE BLOODSUCKERS.

Traitor.

Micah watched me thoughtfully. “She has a good point—we don't want to offend our potential allies. Since your succubus doesn't work on my incubus, please feed on Ludwig.” He glanced at the large man. “He should be punished for resorting to violence, anyway. At least, I hope he considers it a punishment."

I didn't want to feed on anyone, but Lola wouldn't give up her prey, and I wouldn't let her loose. Stalemate. Micah's solution was my only option—the only good one, anyway. Wonder if that was someone's razor, too.

I wasn't sure if I could separate him out from the pack, but I tried it, gingerly. Given permission to nibble on Ludwig, Lola surged into him and plucked all of his strings, making him vibrate with desire, forcing him to worship and adore the goddess that was Val. It was kind of sickening, actually. When he tried to embrace me, I forced him to stay where he was. As Lola hoovered up the energy he generated, I dialed it down from fire hose strength to more like a garden hose.

And now that Lola was occupied, I was able to disengage from the vamps. “I'm going to let go of the others now,” I told Micah.

I gently released the vamps, and Alejandro immediately said, “Luis, no."

Good thing, ‘cause he had my murder in his eyes.

"She didn't know any other way to stop the two of you without harming you,” Micah told Luis quickly.

Alejandro nodded. “I know. She could have done much worse, but chose not to. We understand the pressures of the young newly coming into their powers. Do we not, Luis?"

Luis grimaced but Austin tried to hide a grin. Interesting. I wondered what the story was behind that. But Luis merely gave a curt nod.

"My apologies,” Alejandro said with a slight bow. “The lack of an abundant supply of nourishment is making us all . . . testy."

Micah smiled back at him. “I should apologize as well. Ludwig is rather short-tempered.” He glanced at the man, who was still in my thrall. “You can release him now, Val."

Oops. It had felt so good to feel satisfied again, the hidden wells of my body stoked once more, I had kind of forgotten I had Ludwig on a string. Lola was just playing with him now, getting him all hot and bothered. Luckily, she hadn't gone all the way to suck him dry. Embarrassed, I let him go. Now I kind of understood how the vamps felt after not feeding for awhile.

"Sorry,” I told Ludwig.

NO WORRIES, Fang said. HE ENJOYED IT ALL RIGHT, BUT FEELS SICK THAT HE HAD THE HOTS FOR A GIRL HIS DAUGHTER'S AGE.

True, he did look a little stunned and horrified. Good—it was a punishment after all.

Micah gave him a stern look. “It wouldn't have been necessary if you hadn't lost control.” Then to everyone else in the room, he said, “Let's all sit down and see if we can discuss this rationally."

Luis and Austin took their cue from Alejandro and returned to the table. As everyone took their seats, Micah added, “After what happened with Lily Armstrong, we're all aware that one person's secret ambitions can have a devastating effect on an organization. But I believe both the New Blood Movement and the Demon Underground are united in wanting to find the culprit, whether vampire, demon, or human, and put a stop to the damage he or she is inflicting on both organizations."

"Very true,” Alejandro murmured. “The organization should not be held responsible for the actions of one aberrant individual.” He stared at Luis as if to bore that into his head.

NOT SURE THAT'S GONNA WORK, Fang muttered. HIS HEAD'S A BIT THICK.

"A change of subject,” Micah proposed. “How are Lorenzo, Corina, and the others doing?"

"Better. But not entirely recovered yet. It may take some time for the poison to work its way out of their system."

Micah nodded. “Are they able to talk yet? Rationally?"

"Not yet. But when they are, we hope they may be able to shed some light on what happened.” He spread his hands. “As you can see, tempers are growing short. Now that we've learned the donors are not the cause, we plan to reopen the blood banks for personal donations—no storage."

"Do you think that's wise?” Micah asked. “The banks may be a target."

Alejandro nodded. “We plan to add more security."

"I can add some of my people as well, if you think it will help,” Micah offered.

YEAH, SINCE THEY'RE WATCHING THE VAMPS AT THE BLOOD BANKS ANYWAY.

Weird. Everyone knew it, but pretended like they didn't.

IT'S CALLED DIPLOMACY, BABE.

Alejandro nodded his acceptance. Well, at least the two leaders agreed, but I wasn't sure all their followers were totally on board. Not judging from their expressions, anyway.

"I assume this means you are not planning to come out nationally anytime soon?” Micah ventured cautiously.

Luis's mouth tightened but Alejandro quelled him with a glance. “For the moment, until this . . . issue is resolved. But we do plan to announce our existence. We would prefer to do it with you rather than without you, but either way, it will eventually happen."

Now Ludwig didn't look happy, but Micah merely nodded thoughtfully. “We have not yet come to an agreement, and some of the demons are very unhappy about it."

"And if these are the ones who are poisoning my people?” Alejandro asked with an arch of his eyebrow.

"Then I will ensure they are dealt with."

"How can we trust you to do that?” Luis asked skeptically.

"Indeed,” Alejandro said. “What assurance do we have that you will do as you promise?"

Micah spread his hands. “What assurances would you accept?"

They all stood quietly for a moment, and I could feel the tension rise as both sides regarded each other with suspicion. Crap. Any moment now, they'd be at each other's throats again. Abruptly, I blurted out, “I'll be your assurance."

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, so I added quickly, “If Micah breaks his word, or if any more of his people try to harm yours, I-I'll quit my job and work for Alejandro."

"Val, no,” Micah said. “I can't let you take on my debts."

I raised my chin. “You can't stop me."

HEY, BABE, DID YOU THINK THIS THROUGH? Fang sounded worried.

Not really, but I had faith in our ability to make sure that didn't happen.