The Vampire and the Virgin

CHAPTER 14

Robby sat at the desk in the security office at Romatech, frowning at his MacKay S&I file on the computer screen. What information should he send to Olivia? He could disclose some of his recent activities, but most of his personnel file was off limits.

Birth: October 21, 1719. Scotland.

Death: April 16, 1746. Culloden, Scotland.

Transformation: Sired by Angus MacKay.

There was no way around it. He’d have to send Olivia a pack of lies.

Phineas McKinney lounged in a chair, watching the wall of security monitors. “I’m bored.” He propped his feet up on another chair. “At least I have something to do tonight. I’m supposed to meet Stan the Snitch in twenty minutes. You want to tag along?”

“Nay, I’m busy.” Robby began typing his response to Olivia, using the generic MacKay S&I e-mail address.

“Are you kidding?” Phineas asked. “I thought you hated Stan. You could threaten him with bodily harm and watch him squirm. It’ll be fun, bro.”

Robby shrugged one shoulder. “’Tis Casimir I really want to kill. Stan is more useful as an informant.” He glanced up. “Have ye learned anything from him?”

“No. The Russians in Brooklyn don’t know squat. Stan and I usually have a few Bleers while he gripes about how crazy their leader Nadia is.” Phineas yawned. “He’s an okay dude once you get to know him.”

The door opened and Connor strode inside. “How’s it going?”

“Boring,” Phineas muttered. “Casimir needs to get his act together, so we can kick some ass again.”

Connor arched a brow. “When is the last time ye practiced yer fencing? If ye want to kick ass, ye need to stay prepared.”

“You want to rumble, Scotty?” Phineas sat up. “I’ll take you on. Name the time and place of your humiliating defeat.”

Connor’s mouth twitched. “Three A.M., the back garden, claymores. The practice ones, of course. I doona wish to do ye permanent harm.”

Phineas smirked. “Bring it on, dude. I’ve been practicing with Jack.”

Connor shrugged. “I can beat Jack with one hand tied behind my back.”

“Ha!” Phineas scoffed. “I heard Jack cut your little ponytail off with his foil.”

Connor chuckled, then turned to Robby. “How about you? Ye want to fight the winner? Which would be me, of course.”

Phineas snorted.

“I’m busy.” Robby frowned at the monitor.

“He’s romancing a hot babe,” Phineas whispered loudly.

“Piss off,” Robby muttered.

Connor’s eyes narrowed. “Are ye serious? Ye’re no’ involved with a mortal, are ye?”

“None of yer business.” Robby typed a few more words, then changed his mind and deleted them.

“It is our business if ye intend to tell her our secrets,” Connor grumbled.

Robby glanced at him. “Maybe ye enjoy being alone for yer entire miserable existence, but I’d like to find someone to share my life with.”

Connor groaned. “Another hopeless romantic. And for yer information, I doona consider myself miserable.”

Phineas snorted. “Show of hands. Who thinks Connor’s a miserable old gasbag?” He waved his hand in the air while giving Robby a pointed look.

Robby smiled and lifted his hand.

Connor rolled his eyes. “I could insult ye both now, but I’ll just wait till I have ye pinned to the ground, begging for mercy.”

“We’ll see who does the begging, bro,” Phineas said.

Robby drummed his fingers on the desk. He didn’t know what age he should claim. “How old would ye say I look?”

“I’d say…thirty-three.” Phineas winced when Robby made a face. “I meant thirty. Not a day over thirty.”

“How old were ye when Angus changed you?” Connor asked.

“I was twenty-seven.” Robby gave Phineas an annoyed look. “Life was tougher back then. Everyone aged faster.”

“Just make up a number, bro. How would she ever know the truth?”

Robby groaned inwardly. Sooner or later he would have to tell her the truth. “I’ll say I’m twenty-nine.” It sounded better than thirty, and he wouldn’t appear too much older than Olivia.

Phineas rose to his feet and stretched. “Well, I’ve got to grab a few Bleers and meet Stan.”

“I’ll go with you,” Connor offered.

The two Vamps strode from the office. Peace, at last. Robby went to work, finishing his message to Olivia.

Olivia arrived at work an hour early so she could continue her extracurricular research. She was still scouring the Internet, looking for any reference to Robert Alexander MacKay. The day before, she’d e-mailed MacKay S&I for information. All day long she’d checked her e-mail, anxious for a response. Nothing.

She’d called the warden at Leavenworth, and he agreed to send her a list of everyone who’d had contact with Otis Crump. The fax arrived in the afternoon, and she and J.L. had examined the list. The only people who had visited Otis were Harrison and herself. A number of people had mailed letters to him: his mother, his brother, and a few female admirers. The mother lived over a hundred miles away in Missouri. J.L. offered to go with her the next weekend to interview the woman. All Olivia needed to do was ask the lady if she was sending her apples. She would instantly know whether the mother was telling the truth.

Olivia downloaded her e-mail while she stashed her handbag in the drawer. Her breath caught when she saw the response from MacKay S&I. She clicked on it.

Dear O. Sotiris,

Thank you for contacting us. MacKay S&I is a premier investigative firm and provider of security for select clients worldwide. Founded in 1927, its headquarters are located in London and Edinburgh.

Robert Alexander MacKay is one of our most valued employees. He’s an expert in firearms, martial arts, and fencing. He has recently served as head of security for Jean-Luc Echarpe, and is currently providing security for Romatech Industries in White Plains, New York. Age: 29. Height: 6’2”. Weight: 220.

We would be hard pressed to find anyone as trustworthy as Robert MacKay.

Olivia sat back and read the last line again. It seemed almost identical to something Robby had told her on Patmos. She checked the e-mail address: info@mackays&i.com.

She read the entire message again. It was a favorable report where Robby was concerned, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d written the last line himself. In fact, he could have written the whole damned thing.

His grandfather owned the organization. He could have passed her request straight to Robby. She gritted her teeth. Dammit. Now she felt like a fool. Did he really think she wouldn’t figure this out?

She hit Reply, then typed a message. With a grim smile, she hit Send. Take that, Robby.

All day long she checked for a response. Nothing.

By the time she left work that evening, she was beginning to doubt her initial conclusion. If Robby was behind this, he would have responded by now.

Robby woke that evening in his small room in Romatech’s basement. One whole wing of the complex’s basement had recently been transformed into guest rooms for the Undead. He quickly dressed, grabbed a bottle of synthetic blood from his minifridge, and dashed up to the MacKay security office. While his e-mail downloaded, he drank from the bottle.

He smiled when an e-mail from O. Sotiris appeared. He clicked on it, and his smile faded.

We regret to inform you that we may have wasted your time. The Robert MacKay we’re looking for doesn’t quite match up to your specifications. We believe he is older and quite a bit heftier than the one you mentioned.

“What?” He didn’t look older than twenty-nine. And he sure as hell wasn’t fat. He punched Reply.

Robert MacKay is in peak physical condition!

He clicked on Send, then winced. What if Olivia had figured out that he’d sent the original message? She could have laid a trap, and like a fool, he’d jumped right into it.

He finished his bottle, glaring at the screen. She’d probably left work for the day. He’d have to wait till tomorrow night for her response.

“Damn it to hell.” Sometimes being a vampire was a bloody nuisance.

The next evening he dashed upstairs to check his e-mail. Sure enough, she’d responded that morning.

We at the FBI are willing to concede that Robert MacKay is in excellent physical condition. However, we are experiencing some major concerns regarding his mental faculties. He may not be the brightest lightbulb in the pack.

“What?” Robby slammed his bottle of synthetic blood on the desk. He hit Reply.

I’m smart enough to know when you’re toying with me, you saucy wench!

He hit Send. “Take that, Olivia.”

The next evening, he rushed to the computer. She’d responded to his last message from a new e-mail address that looked like a personal one. That was a good sign. It was Friday night, so maybe she was planning to correspond with him from her home. Maybe he wouldn’t have to wait so long for her reply.

He clicked on her response.

And I’m smart enough to know when I’m being punked! Admit who you are, Robby. This wench is too saucy for you.

He snorted. She’d known all along it was him. A grin tugged at his mouth. What a clever lass she was. It was a good thing she’d moved from her business address to her personal one. His grin widened. Their correspondence was about to get very personal.

In her tiny apartment in Kansas City, Olivia lounged on the love seat in her pajamas. A half-eaten bowl of soup rested on the coffee table in front of her, next to an open package of saltines, her notes, and her laptop. The television was on, tuned to a news channel with the volume turned down to a soft drone.

The three letters from Robby sat on the cushion next to her. She’d brought them home so she could open them in private. She spread the letters out and scolded herself for waiting so long to open them. There was nothing sinister inside. Robby had written that he missed her, and he’d given her his phone number. Simple and to the point. No flowery purple prose with claims of everlasting love. No threatening remarks that indicated an alliance with Otis.

All her instincts told her that Robby was innocent and could be trusted. Still, she’d feel a lot better if she could find the actual person who was helping Otis.

Hopefully, she would tomorrow. She dragged her computer into her lap and clicked on Maps. Then she checked her notes for the address of Otis’s mother.

The town in Missouri came up, and she wrote down some quick notes. J.L. had offered to drive, and he was going to pick her up in the morning. His car was equipped with a GPS navigation system, plus every other modern gadget known to mankind, so the trip should go smoothly. Thanks to her lie-detecting skills, she would know instantly if the mother was telling the truth.

Olivia clicked on her e-mail, and her heart did its usual flip when she spotted a new message from the MacKay S&I e-mail address. She checked the time. Why did Robby e-mail only at night? She’d had a good laugh when he’d called her a saucy wench. It sounded so old-fashioned, but maybe it was normal speech for a Scotsman. With her heart racing, she opened his latest message.

Aye, this is Robby. I have tasted you, wench, and you weren’t too saucy. I thought you were perfect.

She gasped. That…that…

She clicked on Reply, typed Pig! and hit Send. How dare he joke about their most intimate moment? Her cheeks blazed with heat. Memories flooded back of Robby kissing her all over and giving her the biggest orgasms of her life. Thank God she’d taken this conversation off her official FBI address.

A new message popped up. So fast. Her heart pounded. She grabbed her glass of ice water off the coffee table and gulped down a few swallows. Then she opened the message.

Good evening, sweetheart. I have missed you.

“Oh, Robby.” Now he was making her heart melt. She sent a message back: I missed you, too.

Within a few seconds, a new message appeared. May I have your phone number?

Her mind raced. Was she ready to get involved with him again? She hadn’t found the guilty party yet who was helping Otis, so she couldn’t swear with one hundred percent certainty that Robby was innocent. And it was so strange that she couldn’t find any trace of him over the Internet.

What did she know about him, really? He’d been the one to send the information from MacKay S&I. He could be telling her all sorts of lies, and she had no way of determining the truth.

But how could she get to know him better if she refused to talk to him? With trembling fingers, she typed her cell phone number and pressed Send.

She jumped when her phone rang. Don’t be silly, she chided herself. What did you think he’d do with the number?

She set her laptop aside and strode to her handbag she’d left on the console by her front door. The phone rang again. She retrieved it from its pocket inside her handbag and opened it. “Hello?”

“Och, ’tis good to hear yer voice again.”

She bit her lip to keep from moaning out loud. The soft lilt of his accent and the deep timbre of his voice made a lethal combination. Her knees actually wobbled as she headed back to the love seat.

“Olivia? Are ye there?”

She collapsed on the love seat. “Yes. I’m here.” Her heart swelled with a flood of longing. God help her, she still loved this man.

CHAPTER 15

Robby covered the phone with his hand and glowered at Phineas. “Go on with you.”

Before dialing Olivia’s phone number, Robby had told the young Vamp to do a security check of the grounds, but Phineas was loitering by the office door, grinning at him.

“You might need some assistance from the Love Doctor.” Phineas motioned to himself. “I can provide the right words for romancing and entrancing your hot babe.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Robby whispered. “Go.”

“Tell her she’s sizzlin’ hot. And bootie-licious.”

“Piss off!”

“Excuse me?” Olivia asked on the phone.

“No’ you,” Robby told her, then made a face at Phineas as the young Vamp left the office, laughing. “My apologies. I needed to get rid of someone in the office, so we could have some privacy.”

“You’re at work?” she asked.

“Aye. I work at night.”

“So that’s why you e-mail only at night?”

“Aye.”

“And you’re working at Romatech Industries, the place that manufactures synthetic blood?”

“I work for MacKay S and I. My current assignment is Romatech.” He frowned. This was not the fun, flirtatious conversation he’d hoped for. Why was she interrogating him?

“I read that two Romatechs were bombed last summer. Apparently, domestic terrorists were responsible?”

“Yes. Olivia, did ye receive yer jumper and the letters I sent?”

“You—you mean the sweater?”

“Aye.”

She hesitated before mumbling, “Yes, I did. Thanks.”

Something was wrong. Instead of her usual cheerful friendliness, she seemed a bit suspicious and guarded. “Ye left Patmos without warning. I was worried about you.”

“I needed to take my grandmother to my father’s house as quickly as possible. I was concerned for her safety.”

“Because of the apples?”

She drew in a sharp breath. “How did you know about that? I didn’t mention them in the note I left for you.”

“Basic investigation. Ye told me about the bastard who’s harassing you. I asked the woman at the taverna why ye’d left so suddenly, and she said something had frightened you. I asked her if ye’d received apples, and she said yes.”

“Oh.”

“I wish ye had stayed, Olivia. I’m an expert in security and investigation. I could have helped you.”

“I–I’m used to taking care of myself. And I needed to get back here where I could check things out.”

He gritted his teeth. Had it never occurred to her that he would want to help? Didn’t she understand how deeply he cared for her? “So have ye discovered who sent the apples?”

“No. But I hope to make some progress this weekend. J.L. and I are driving to Missouri to interview Otis Crump’s mother.”

Robby’s grip on the phone tightened. “Who is J.L.?”

“J.L. Wang. A special agent from the office. He’s helping me get to the bottom of this.”

“He?”

“Yes. He’s a good friend. Oh…” She paused. “Are you…jealous?”

“Nay.” Robby winced. “Yes, dammit. I should be the one helping you.” He was tempted to teleport straight to her, but that would only cause more problems at this point. “I thought ye understood how much I care for you.”

“I–I want to believe it.”

She didn’t believe him? Damn, that hurt. He grabbed a pen and a pad of paper. “I will help you, Olivia. Tell me everything ye can about this Otis.”

“I—don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered.”

“Ye doona want my help?”

“I…appreciate the offer, but I’ll take care of it.”

He ground his teeth. Why would she reject him? She didn’t mind accepting help from J.L. “What has happened, Olivia? Why can ye no’ trust me?”

“I want to. I really do. But it’s hard when I can’t read you, and it seems foolish for me to go on blind faith.”

He rose to his feet. There was nothing he hated worse than being considered untrustworthy. “Ye were happy on Patmos. Ye trusted me. What has changed?”

She hesitated, then made an exasperated, groaning sound. “The apples came. Whoever sent them knew where I was.”

He tossed the pen onto the desk. “Fine. Who knew ye were on the island?”

“My family, a few people at the office.”

“If yer family is as loyal and protective as yer grandmother, ye can safely rule them out. Is there anyone suspicious at yer office?”

“There is someone who lied to me. J.L. is checking him out.”

J.L. again. Robby groaned inwardly. “What about this J.L.? Wang, was it? Could it be him?”

“Oh no. He’s always been honest with me. I can read him easily.”

And she couldn’t read him because he was Undead. Robby kept a tight grip on his growing irritation. “So ye’re going to check Otis’s mother? How would she know ye were on Patmos?”

Olivia sighed. “I don’t know. I’m clutching at straws now.”

“There has to be another explanation.” When she didn’t respond, he knew she was holding back on him. “Tell me.”

“I can’t. It’ll upset you. It upset me something awful.”

“Tell me!”

She groaned. “My supervisor thought Otis might have hired a professional to follow me.”

“With yer training, I think ye would have picked up on someone trailing you.”

“Maybe,” she whispered. “Unless he was so good at hiding in plain sight that he had me completely fooled.”

The quivering sound of her voice sent a chill down Robby’s neck. Had she met someone on Patmos who could have fooled her?

He stumbled back as if he’d been suddenly struck in the chest. Bloody hell. “Ye thought it was me?”

“Robby, think about it,” she said quickly. “You’re a professional. We knew each other less than a week—”

“We bared our souls to each other! How could ye—” He screamed inside his head. His heart twisted in his chest.

She thought he’d betrayed her? Him? He’d never betrayed anyone in his life. He dropped the phone on the desk and clenched his fists.

“Bloody hell!” He slammed a fist through the wall behind him.

Breathing heavily, he scowled at the gaping hole in the Sheetrock. He didn’t usually lose control like that, but dammit, how could she suspect him? Was it always to be this way? Would no woman ever believe in him? Or stay loyal to him?

“Dammit!” He grabbed a napkin off the credenza where the day guards kept their coffee machine and pressed it against a cut and bloody knuckle.

“Robby? Robby, are you there?” Olivia called from the phone.

He groaned. No doubt the other MacKay employees would notice the hole. They would have fun tormenting him.

“Robby!”

He collapsed in the chair and picked up the receiver. “I’m here.”

“Are you are okay?” Her voice trembled, and he wondered if she was crying. “I heard a terrible crash.”

“I was…redecorating.” He glanced at the hole. “I believe it’s called an art niche.”

“I heard you cursing. Are you all right?”

“Nay. I’m bloody well angry. I canna believe ye suspected me. I would never harm you.”

“I was afraid it would upset you. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I know how much it hurts. It nearly killed me when I first thought about it.”

He tossed the bloody napkin in the litter bin. “Why would ye think of it at all?”

“My supervisor asked me if I’d met anyone on Patmos who could be a P.I. It made sense—”

“Nay! Olivia, I would never betray you. Ye must know how much I hate betrayal.”

She sniffed. “I didn’t want to believe it. I cried and cried. My heart was breaking.”

“If it hurt so badly, why did ye consider it? What did I do to make ye doubt me?”

“It wasn’t you. It was me. I was freaked out because I couldn’t read you. I’ve never had to rely solely on instinct before, and I was afraid I couldn’t trust it. And I just had trouble believing that someone like you could actually fall in love with me in less than a week.”

“Are ye kidding? I canna understand why every man in the world is no’ in love with you. Ye’re beautiful, clever, brave…ye’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”

She made an odd, strangled sound that sounded like a stifled sob. “Oh, Robby.”

“Olivia.” It took all his self-control not to teleport to her and pull her into his arms. He heard a sound in the distance. She was blowing her nose.

“That’s why I didn’t answer your letters. I–I threw the first two away. It hurt too much to see them.”

“And that’s why ye dinna call.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “So how do ye feel now?”

“I believe you.” Her voice shook with emotion. “I heard your reaction. It sounded like the pain I went through. Robby, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right, sweetheart. We’ll be fine.” Until the next disaster. Sooner or later he’d have to tell her the truth about himself.

Not now. Their relationship was too young and fragile. First, they’d had to survive an abrupt separation, and now a crisis of doubt and suspicion. He didn’t want to test their relationship any further at this point. He needed time. Time to prove how well he could be trusted, and how much he loved her.

Their romance had happened so fast, Olivia hadn’t gotten a chance to know him well enough. Even though he was tempted to teleport straight to her and sweep her off her feet, he knew he needed to proceed slowly. She needed time to get to know him and trust him. The physical attraction was strong, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t reveal his secret until she’d gained a complete trust in him.

“I don’t want to lose you, Robby,” she whispered. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

“Ye willna lose me, sweetheart.” He collected the pen and paper. “Now tell me everything ye know about Otis, so I can help you.”

For the next thirty minutes he took notes and asked questions. She promised to call the next evening to let him know what had transpired.

She yawned. “I’d better get to bed. J.L.’s picking me up early.”

Robby gritted his teeth and made a note to check out J.L. Wang, too. “All right. Stay safe, sweetheart.”

“You, too. Thank you for understanding.” She paused. “I wish I could touch you.”

He closed his eyes. “I wish I could kiss you.”

She sighed. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Good night.” She rang off.

Robby set the phone down in its cradle. He’d come so close to losing her. How would she take the news of him being a vampire?

He dropped his head into his hands. She might accuse him of lying to her. And she would be right. He was purposely withholding the truth while he courted her. If he told her now, he would lose her. If he waited, he could still lose her. She might not be able to forgive his deception.

He groaned. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Robby was relieved when Olivia called him Saturday night as promised. She reported that Otis’s mother had passed the lie detector test. Mrs. Crump knew nothing about the apples, but she was delighted to meet Olivia. Otis had told her that he and Olivia were in love and destined to be together forever.

“Did ye tell her the truth?” Robby asked.

“I tried to, but I don’t think it registered. She’s convinced Otis is innocent and that he’ll be set free someday. She’s in major denial.”

“Well, it may be the only way she can cope,” Robby suggested. “Who would want to admit that they’d raised a psychotic serial killer?”

“Exactly,” Olivia muttered. “Anyway, when the mom didn’t pan out, we decided to try the brother. He lives in Indianapolis.”

“So ye drove there?”

“Yeah. We saw him about an hour ago. He was so full of rage, his aura was bright red tinged with black. He was angry at us, angry at his mother, angry at the whole world. Afterward, I called the local police to warn them to keep an eye on him. The guy’s about to explode, and I think he’s capable of being extremely violent.”

Robby winced. This was bad. If the brother blamed Olivia for Otis’s incarceration, she could be in danger. “Did he know anything about the apples?”

“Zilch. He knew nothing, and it was the truth. As raw as his emotions were, he was very easy to read.”

“Are ye still in Indianapolis?”

“Yep. It was getting late, so we checked into a hotel. We’ll drive back tomorrow.”

He gritted his teeth. “Ye’re in a hotel room?”

She laughed. “Separate rooms. So did you make any progress on your end?”

“I have a few ideas. First off, we have to assume everyone in yer office knew ye were on Patmos. The few who did know could have talked to others. So, ye need to check everyone, from yer boss to office workers to the night janitor.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to check on Otis’s lawyer,” Robby continued. “He may have received long range instructions from Otis years ago. And we need to figure out if Otis has a way of communicating with the outside world that the prison doesna know about. Could he possibly be psychic?”

“You think he’s communicating telepathically?”

“I think we need to consider every possibility, no matter how bizarre.” Robby talked to her for another ten minutes, then rang off when she wanted to shower and go to bed.

He decided that since she was obviously away from home, this was the perfect time to visit her apartment. He called her home phone number, and when the answering machine kicked on, he used her voice as a beacon. Within seconds he materialized in her dark apartment. His eyes quickly adjusted, taking in the small living room. It contained a green love seat, a coffee table, and a television set on a small entertainment console. A table for two was tucked into a tiny eating area next to the kitchen.

He made sure the blinds and curtains were all shut before turning on a light. Then he retrieved the bug detector he’d stashed in his sporran. He doubted Otis or his alleged accomplice had managed to bug Olivia’s apartment, but he wanted to make sure.

He checked the living room and kitchen, then ventured into her bedroom. He couldn’t look at the queen-sized bed without imagining Olivia lying naked on the cool blue sheets. Now that he’d teleported to her apartment, the location was embedded in his psychic memory. It would be awfully tempting to pop in at night to join her in bed. Unfortunately, the popping in part would probably make her more frightened than romantic.

Her bedroom, bathroom, and closet all checked out. No bugs. He turned off the lights and peered out a window. He was on a second floor, overlooking a landscaped area and parking lot.

He spotted a dark, shadowy area where the bushes were overgrown, and teleported to it. Now, the next time he returned, he would have the option of arriving outside her apartment.

He retrieved his cell phone from his sporran and called Olivia’s work number. He materialized in the FBI building in Kansas City. Before the night guards could become aware of him, he teleported away, going back to Romatech.

He felt much better now with all three locations in his psychic memory. If Olivia needed him, he could be there within seconds. He’d only started his investigation the night before, but had learned enough to be worried.

Otis Crump was sick and dangerous, a truly evil man. And even though Crump was apparently locked away for life, Robby knew that evil should never be underestimated.

CHAPTER 16

As the month of February wore on, Robby stayed in contact with Olivia, either by phone or e-mail. She told him all about her job. They were busy investigating an adoption scam that had her working overtime. Then, in March, a series of drug-related kidnappings and murders monopolized her time.

Her investigation of Otis had to be postponed, but she claimed it didn’t matter since she hadn’t received any apples since November. Her supervisor had insisted Otis would stop harassing her if she ignored him. It looked like it might have worked.

She admitted that sometimes her job left her completely exhausted and frazzled. She was bombarded with the painful emotions of victims and their families. She could even feel the stress and angry frustration of her fellow colleagues. Since she couldn’t feel anything from Robby, talking to him was like taking a vacation. She looked forward to it at the end of every day.

By mid-February they both installed webcams on their laptops so they could see each other as they talked. Robby knew she was stressed from work, so he did his best to cheer her up. He told her about his friends—how Jack threw a rowdy bachelor party and the police had come to shut it down, and now he was marrying the pretty police officer. How Phineas was in love with a girl who had slipped hot sauce into his drink. Seeing Olivia and hearing her laughter was the highlight of Robby’s evening. Of course, he left out the pesky fact that some of his friends were Undead.

A few times their late night conversations turned sexy and flirtatious, but Robby tried to keep that to a minimum. He would always take his laptop and webcam to a nearby conference room, since there was no privacy in the office at Romatech. Even so, the guys enjoyed barging into the room to tease him. He couldn’t afford to get too excited, or he’d be stuck trying to do his job all night with a conspicuous lump in his trousers.

Even so, it was hard not to get turned on. Olivia was so damned beautiful. More than once she had peered closely at the monitor and asked if his eyes were turning red.

“’Tis the camera,” he’d tell her. “My eyes are always looking red in photos.” Luckily, she accepted that excuse.

One more good reason, he thought, for keeping their relationship long distance for a while. If he went to visit her, his eyes would be glowing red within three minutes.

He verified that J.L. Wang was trustworthy, and he found nothing wrong with Otis’s lawyer. When he mentioned he was the best man in Jack and Lara’s wedding in April, Olivia insisted on hearing all about it.

“What does the wedding gown look like?” she asked.

Robby thought back. Lara had shown him a picture. “’Tis…white.”

Olivia snorted. “That’s real descriptive. Is it bright white or cream? Is it floor length? Is there a train? Does it have beadwork or lace? Is she wearing a veil?”

Robby frowned, trying to recall the picture. “’Tis white.” When Olivia groaned, he added, “I’ll e-mail you the picture.”

He ended up e-mailing all sorts of things that Olivia was curious about, even the menu that the mortals would be eating at the reception. Since she was so fascinated with the wedding, he was sorely tempted to invite her, but he rejected the idea. How could he explain the Bubbly Blood—synthetic blood mixed with champagne—that he and his friends would be drinking at the reception? No doubt she would want to do some sightseeing, too, and she’d wonder why he was completely unavailable during the daytime.

He needed to tell her the truth soon, but figured it should be done in private. A wedding was not the right place to break the news.

The wedding took place in mid-April at the Romatech chapel. While Robby listened to the couple reciting their vows, his thoughts kept returning to Olivia. Could she marry a vampire? It involved more than just accepting him as Undead. If she wanted to stay with him over the centuries, she would have to become a vampire, too.

The conference rooms were opened up to make a ballroom for the reception. The bride and other mortals enjoyed a gourmet meal, while the Vamps celebrated with Bubbly Blood.

The High Voltage Vamps began playing a waltz, and Jack escorted Lara to the dance floor, leaving Robby alone with LaToya at the bridal party table. LaToya had flown into town two days earlier to be Lara’s maid of honor.

When the waltz was over, other couples joined Jack and Lara on the dance floor.

LaToya suddenly jumped to her feet and grabbed Robby’s arm. “Come on, dance with me.”

“As ye wish.” He stood, then noticed Phineas hurrying toward their table.

“LaToya, will you dance with me?” he asked.

“Sorry. Robby asked me first.” LaToya tugged on Robby’s arm. “Come on.”

He gave Phineas an apologetic look, then led LaToya to the dance floor. It was a slow dance, which made it easier to talk. “Ye canna avoid him all evening.”

LaToya frowned as she placed her hands lightly on Robby’s shoulders. “Why doesn’t he give up?”

“He’s crazy about you.”

She glanced to the side where Phineas stood watching her with a lovesick expression. “Crazy is right. I can’t scare the guy away. I practically killed him with hot sauce. He came to see me in New Orleans, and I threatened to shoot his ass. Somehow he thought that was romantic.”

Robby shrugged one shoulder. “He believes in love. He has a big heart.”

“He has a dead heart. Dead as a bloodsucking mosquito caught in a bug zapper.”

Robby winced. “He’s alive now.”

“And what kind of weird shit is that? I mean, you’re alive at night, but dead during the day? Sheesh, make up your minds. Either be alive or be dead. How can you be both? It’s just wrong.”

“So ye’re still upset about us being vampires?”

She heaved a sigh. “I promised to keep my mouth shut, if that’s what you’re worried about. I don’t want any of you creepy guys erasing my memory, not when my memories of Lara would end up erased, too.”

“She is fortunate to have a loyal friend like you.”

LaToya glanced at the bride, who was beaming with joy as she swayed to the music in Jack’s arms. “I want her to be happy. I guess she is, but I don’t see how it can last.”

“There’s never any guarantee.” Robby thought back to his own failed marriage. His wife, Mavis, had rejected him for being Undead. Just because Shanna, Heather, Toni, and Lara were able to love Vamp men, it didn’t mean all women could. Would Olivia be able to handle it?

“My mother’s on her third husband,” LaToya grumbled. “She’s never had a marriage that lasted more than five years. And you Vamps think you can stay married for centuries? You’re out of your half-dead minds.”

Robby smiled. “Maybe so.”

LaToya chewed her bottom lip. “Though I have to admit, the thought of being around for a few centuries is kinda appealing. And staying young forever—that’s not bad.”

“Aye, there are some advantages.” Maybe she was learning to accept them, after all. “We’re no’ so bad once ye get to know us. When I was captured last summer, a lot of the Vamps in this room risked their lives in order to rescue me.”

She nodded. “Yeah, Lara told me about that.”

“Phineas was one of them. He’s known us for only a few years, but he’s demonstrated over and over again how loyal, brave, and trustworthy he is.”

LaToya scoffed. “He was a drug dealer. I checked him out, you know. There’s an outstanding warrant for his arrest.”

“He’s come a long way since then.”

“That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t pay for his crime.”

“He did pay,” Robby insisted. “With his life. He deserves a second chance.”

LaToya huffed. “I’m not sure I can be that forgiving.”

Robby glanced at Marta Barkowski, who was sitting at a table with Vanda and Phil. “I dinna think I could be forgiving, either. But sometimes there’s just no point in prolonging everyone’s suffering.”

With a small shock, Robby realized he was changing. His time with Olivia was healing his heart and soothing his wounds. He still wanted to kill Casimir, but it was no longer the top priority in his mind. And when it came to Vamps like Marta or Stanislav, he now understood that they’d been victimized, too.

“Can I cut in?” Phineas tapped him on the shoulder.

Robby released LaToya and stepped back. “That depends on the lady’s wishes.”

Phineas extended a hand to LaToya. “Sweetness, will you dance with me?”

She gave him a wary look. “I guess I could finish this one with you.”

“Great!” With a grin, Phineas wrapped his arms around her.

The music ended.

“Oops. Dance is over.” LaToya stepped away.

“No, it’s not.” Phineas pulled her back.

“Yes, it is!” She stomped a stiletto heel on his foot.

With a yelp, Phineas released her.

“So long, sucker.” She strode away, flipping her long curls over her shoulder.

Phineas tried putting weight on his sore foot and winced. “Ouch.”

“Sorry about that,” Robby murmured.

Phineas gave him a wry look. “Yeah, it hurts, but at least I didn’t turn emo and punch a hole in a wall.”

“I fixed it,” Robby grumbled. He’d taken a lot of ribbing over that hole.

Phineas turned his attention back to LaToya, who was ordering a drink at the bar. He smiled slowly. “It’s happening, bro. She’s falling under my spell.”

“How can ye tell? She attacked you again.”

“Yeah, but this time she didn’t threaten to kill me.” Phineas smoothed a hand over his short black hair. “Oh yeah, baby, the Love Doctor is hard to resist.”

It was the end of April when the pace at work finally slowed down. Olivia had spent the morning finishing up paperwork. “Ready for lunch?” she called over the partition to J.L.

“Almost,” he replied. “Give me five minutes.”

This was the perfect opportunity to check her personal e-mail account. She grinned when a message from Robby popped up.

Good morning, sweetheart. After we talked on the phone last night, I received a message from Jack and Lara in Venice. They sent some pictures from the wedding. I’ve attached them for you.

Olivia clicked through the photos, delighted to finally put faces to the names she’d been hearing about for the last two months. Her heart swelled when she saw a photo that included Robby. He looked dashing in his formal black jacket, white shirt, and black tie that matched his black and white plaid kilt. There was a twinkle in his green eyes and an amused tilt to his wide mouth. She could have gawked at him for hours, but there were a bunch more photos to see. She clicked through some more.

“Hey, Liv. Here’s that report you wanted.” Yasmine set a file on Olivia’s desk, then glanced at the monitor. “Are those wedding pictures? I love wedding pictures!”

“Let me show you the bride.” Olivia clicked on Lara’s photo.

“All right.” J.L. leaned his elbows on the partition. “I’m ready for lunch now.”

“Wow, she’s beautiful,” Yasmine whispered.

“I know,” Olivia said. “Can you believe she was a New York cop?”

“Hello?” J.L. waved at them. “Lunch?”

Yasmine ignored him. “I didn’t know you went to a wedding. Are you friends with the bride?”

“I didn’t go,” Olivia replied. “I’m just friends with the best man.”

“Just friends?” J.L. scoffed. “He’s all you ever talk about anymore. I can’t eat my lunch without getting the latest ‘Robby’ update.”

Olivia made a face at him. He’d laughed at the stories, too.

“Who’s Robby?” Yasmine asked.

“He was the best man. Here, I’ll show you.” Olivia clicked on a group photo.

Yasmine snorted. “Who’s the big guy in the skirt? And what’s that? A purse?”

Olivia stiffened. “That’s Robby.”

“He’s wearing a skirt? I’ve got to see this.” J.L. peered over Yasmine’s head at the monitor, then snickered.

Olivia glared at him. “Robby’s Scottish. That’s why he’s wearing a kilt and a sporran.”

“Where on earth did you meet a Scotsman?” Yasmine asked.

“Look, guys,” J.L. interrupted them. “I’m starving. If you want to keep drooling on those photos, I’ll bring lunch back here.”

Olivia’s glare switched to a smile. “That would be great. I’ll take a turkey sandwich.”

“Me, too,” Yasmine said.

J.L. walked away, muttering about the female fascination with weddings where poor saps got shackled for life.

“Well?” Yasmine asked. “Where did you meet the handsome Scotsman?”

“On Patmos last November.”

“A Scotsman on a Greek island?” Yasmine laughed, then abruptly turned serious. “Oh my gosh, Liv, he’s not the one who made you cry, is he?”

Olivia’s cheeks warmed with embarrassment. “That was just a misunderstanding. We’re okay now.”

“You’re dating him?”

“Sorta. We talk and e-mail every day. I wish I could go see him, but I’m out of vacation days.”

Yasmine shook her head slowly. “I had no idea you were involved with someone. How serious is it?”

Olivia bit her lip. Yasmine could be annoying sometimes with her constant curiosity about everyone’s personal affairs, but Olivia was dying to tell someone her news. “Last night Robby told me he was taking some vacation time in June so he could come for a visit. He said he had something really important to discuss with me and he needed to do it in person.”

Yasmine gasped. “Do you think he’s going to propose?”

Olivia grinned. She was so excited, she’d hardly slept at all last night. “It sounds that way, don’t you think? I mean, he wouldn’t come all this way to break up with me, would he?”

An aura of anxiety swirled around Yasmine. “Are you seriously considering this? You can’t really know him that well.”

“We’ve had lots of long talks. I can tell him anything, and he understands. He makes me laugh. I make him laugh.”

“Girl, he made you cry last December. You were hurting really bad. Maybe you should rethink this. Or at least slow down.”

Olivia shrugged. The last thing she wanted to hear was something bad about Robby. He was the sweetest, most gentle man she’d ever met.

“Here, I’ll show you the rest of the photos.” She clicked through them, and her eyes were invariably drawn to Robby whenever he appeared in a photo.

Was he really planning to propose to her? She couldn’t imagine anything else of importance that he would need to tell her.

There was, however, something important she needed to tell him. She’d meant to tell him before, but the appropriate time had never come up.

How was yer day? he would ask on the webcam.

Great. We arrested a kidnapper, and by the way, I’m a virgin. That would have been too strange.

But surely it didn’t matter if Robby was unaware of her secret. Why would any man object to it?

Two weeks later, on a Saturday afternoon, Olivia returned to her apartment after running errands. She dropped her handbag and keys on the console by the front door, then carried her bag of groceries to the kitchen.

As she passed the breakfast nook, she noticed something on the dinette table. A brown cardboard box. The logo on top was unmistakable.

Apples.

Her heart lurched up her throat. The box was in her house. Not on the front porch, left by a delivery man. In her house.

She set her tote bag of groceries on the floor and moved quietly to her bedroom. All her senses tingled high on alert. She might not be alone in the apartment. She was good at martial arts, but she’d feel a lot safer with her gun in her hand. She reached her bedside table and removed her sidearm from the top drawer.

With a quick glance, she verified that the pistol was loaded. She flipped the safety off, then quickly checked the bathroom and closet. She did a more thorough check of her bedroom, looking underneath the bed and behind the curtains. Then she checked the living room and kitchen. Empty. The box on the table wasn’t clicking like a bomb, but she wasn’t taking any chances opening it.

She examined the front door. No sign of forced entry. She called the apartment manager and asked if they’d let anyone into her apartment. No.

Someone has a key. Her heart thundered in her ears.

She called J.L. “The box was in my apartment. The bastard’s been inside my house!”

“Calm down,” he told her. “I’ll be right there.”

She hung up. Calm down? Someone could enter her apartment at will. She wasn’t safe in her own home.

Damn that Otis. How long was she supposed to put up with his stupid game? Her supervisor, Barker, had told her to leave him alone and stay away from Leavenworth. Once Otis realized she wouldn’t play his game, he’d leave her alone. But it wasn’t working. Otis was not giving up.

She was tempted to go tell him once and for all to buzz off. Of course, that was what he wanted. He wanted her to visit. He wanted to keep a connection between them.

She groaned with frustration. There had to be a way to stop this. She was ready to rip her hair out. Instead, she called Robby. Since he worked nights, his phone would be turned off during the day while he slept, but she could still leave a message.

“Robby, another box of apples came. I went out to run some errands, and when I came back, they were in my apartment! Sitting on the kitchen table. The accomplice wants me to know he can enter my house whenever he damn well pleases. And you know what? I’m not running away this time. I’ve had it! I’m staying here, and if that bastard dares to come back, I’ll—”

Beep. The allotted time for the message ran out.

She snapped the phone shut. Just stating her thoughts out loud had left her feeling stronger and more empowered. She wasn’t going to take it anymore.

A knock sounded on her door, and she immediately grabbed her gun. Get a grip. The bad guy didn’t need to knock. He either had a key or knew how to pick a lock.

“Olivia!” J.L. yelled through the door. “Are you there?”

“Yes.” She opened the door.

He slipped inside and looked quickly about. “Are you planning to shoot me?”

“No.” She set the gun down on the console. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m packing, too.”

She locked the door, then groaned. “Why do I even bother? The bastard can come in whenever he likes.”

“We’ll get a new lock put in today.” J.L. walked toward the kitchen table. “So this is it. The infamous apple box. No postage or delivery markings. You checked the rest of the apartment?”

“Yes, everything else is normal.”

“Look inside your closet or chest of drawers. He may have taken a souvenir.”

Olivia shuddered at the thought. “Okay.” Everything appeared normal in her closet. She rifled through her drawers and noted one thing missing—a pair of red lace panties. Damn, now she really felt violated.

“The scumbag swiped a pair of—” She froze at the bedroom door. J.L. was standing an arm’s length away from the cardboard box while he used a spatula from her kitchen to open it.

“Stay back,” he warned her.

So he’d purposely managed to make her leave the room while he opened the box. It was heroic of him, but not the smartest move if he actually suspected the box would explode if opened.

“There’s never been anything dangerous about the apples,” she reassured him. Still she held her breath when he flipped the box open. Nothing.

He scooped an apple out, and it bounced onto the table, then rolled off the edge to land on the floor. “Have you ever had the apples tested for drugs?”

“The first time, yes. They were normal.” She watched a second and third apple plummet to the floor. “They’re just meant to be a threat to my peace of mind. It’s a psychological game.”

“Yeah.” J.L. flipped the rest of the apples out of the box with his spatula. “But criminal behavior can escalate over time, when the creeps need a bigger thrill.”

“So far he hasn’t shown a desire to hurt me.” Olivia approached the kitchen table. “He just wants to manipulate me and keep a connection between us.”

“Because you two are destined to be together forever,” J.L. repeated what Otis had told his mother. “If he ever realizes you’re not agreeable to that plan, he’ll turn on you in a second.”

“I know.”

With the spatula, J.L. dug around in the green plastic grass that had cushioned the apples. “It seems all right, but we should still take this to Forensics and see if they can lift any prints off it. The creep obviously wanted to scare you by putting it inside your apartment, but it may have been a big mistake for him to deliver it himself.”

“I think he must be watching the apartment. He knew when I had left.”

“Good point.” J.L. tapped the spatula on the tabletop while he considered. “Let’s see if he’ll come back.”

Olivia and J.L. made a show of leaving the apartment, locking the front door, and driving off in his car. Then, a few blocks away, Olivia exited the car and J.L. proceeded to a nearby hardware store to buy a new lock.

She jogged back and hid behind a Dumpster to watch the apartment. No one approached. She sighed. It could be that the accomplice’s job was done and he’d left.

J.L. returned and installed the new lock while she finally put away the groceries she’d bought earlier. Wearing latex gloves, she returned the apples to the box and wrapped it up in a trash bag. They took it to the forensics department, then picked up a pizza on the way back. Even with the new lock, J.L. refused to leave Olivia on her own.

They sat on the love seat, eating pizza and discussing options. As the sun went down, Olivia finally decided on a course of action, but J.L. didn’t approve because it required a trip to Leavenworth to see Otis. He finally relented when she agreed to let him accompany her.

“You realize you’re doing exactly what he wants you to do,” J.L. warned her as he jammed the last bite of pizza into his mouth. “He sends the damned apples to lure you in.”

“I can’t threaten him without seeing him,” Olivia said. She jumped when a knock sounded on the door.

“Expecting anyone?” J.L. strode to the door while he unsnapped the shoulder holster containing his sidearm.

“No.” Olivia grabbed a napkin to wipe the pizza grease off her fingers, then rushed to the console where she’d left her weapon.

J.L. peered through the peephole in the door. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“What? Who is it?” She envisioned a UPS man with fifty boxes of apples. Or maybe Otis’s enraged brother with a shotgun. She aimed her weapon at the door.

J.L. gave her a wry look. “Is that any way to treat your boyfriend?”

She blinked. “My what?”

He grinned. “Robby MacKay is on your front porch.”

CHAPTER 17

Right after hearing the message Olivia left on his phone, Robby made arrangements for Phineas and Connor to take over at Romatech. Then he teleported to the shadowy, overgrown area next to the parking lot. Now, on the front porch of her second floor apartment, he could hear her and a man talking inside. His heart sped up at the sound of her voice.

The door opened and a tall Asian American greeted him with a wary look. “You must be Robby.”

Robby shook hands with him. “Ye must be J.L.”

“Robby!” Olivia grinned at him.

“Olivia.” He strode into the apartment and pulled her into his arms. His heart swelled with joy when she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.

He enveloped her, burying his face in her hair, breathing her sweet scent. She felt so right in his arms. In his life. What a fool he’d been over the last few months, courting her from afar. Now that he had her in his arms again, he never wanted to let her go.

“Whoa! Is that a sword on your back?” J.L. asked.

Robby lifted his face from Olivia’s curls. “Aye. I brought it for protection.”

Olivia leaned back in his arms. “I guess you got the message I left? You must have caught the next available flight.”

Robby knew she would assume he’d flown there. “I came as quickly as I could. How is everything?”

“You traveled with a sword?” J.L. asked, still eyeing the scabbard on Robby’s back. “What kind of sword is that?”

“A claymore.” Robby slipped the halter off his shoulders. He’d dressed in a black T-shirt and black jeans, to be less noticeable teleporting in. He offered the scabbard to J.L. “Would ye like to see it?”

“Whoa! It’s heavy.” J.L. unsheathed the sword. “Sweet! This is massive!”

“Are ye all right?” Robby turned back to Olivia and touched her face. “I was worried about you.”

“I’m fine. J.L. changed the lock.” She motioned toward the front door. “I should be safe here now.”

Robby shook his head. “There are ways to get past a locked door. Where are the apples?” He glanced about the room. The kitchen table was bare, and an empty pizza box lay open on the coffee table.

“We took the box to Forensics.” Olivia winced when J.L. swiped the sword through the air. “Careful with that! You nearly slaughtered the ceiling fan.”

“This is so awesome!” J.L. made a jab at an imaginary opponent. “I’ve got a Chinese sword and a samurai at home, but they’re not nearly as big as this.”

“Ye know how to fence?” Robby asked.

“Sure.” J.L. ran a hand along the flat of the blade. “I took fencing in college, but there’s not much demand for it at the Bureau.”

Olivia snorted. “They have this bizarre notion that guns might be more effective.”

J.L. rolled his eyes. “A sword like this is a piece of art.” He sheathed the sword and lay the scabbard on the table.

“I’ll be happy to spar with you sometime,” Robby said. “I could loan you a claymore.”

“You’re on.” J.L. motioned for Robby to join him at the table. “Dude, if you hurt Olivia, it’ll be more than a sparring match.”

She huffed. “I heard that. I don’t need big male protectors who like to play Conan the Barbarian.”

Robby smiled at her. “Even so, ye have two.” He rested a hand on J.L.’s shoulder. “I appreciate everything ye’re doing for Olivia. Ye’re a loyal friend.”

J.L. blushed. “Well, I meant what I said. You hurt her, and I’m coming after you.”

She groaned. “I can take care of myself.”

“I would never want to hurt her,” Robby confessed quietly as he looked at her. “I love her.”

She drew in a sharp breath and her eyes misted. “Oh, Robby,” she whispered.

“Okay.” J.L. grabbed his jacket off the kitchen chair. “I can tell when three’s a crowd.”

Olivia dashed over to hug him. “Thank you so much for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“If you need me, call,” he whispered. He glanced at Robby. “I wasn’t going to leave her alone tonight.”

“I’m staying,” Robby announced. “But I need to leave shortly before dawn.”

“You have to go back to New York?” Olivia asked.

He nodded. “They’re expecting me.” She would assume he was catching an early morning flight. He hated misleading her, but didn’t think this was a good time to reveal his secret. She’d been through enough stress and turmoil today.

“Liv, I’ll check on you tomorrow morning.” J.L. fished his keys out of his jacket pocket as he headed for the door. “Good to meet you, Robby.”

Olivia gave J.L. another hug before he left, then locked the door. She turned to face Robby. “Well?”

Alone at last. His fingers curled with a sudden desire to grab hold of her. Her gaze wandered over him, and he could hear her heart rate speeding up. The apartment seemed suddenly smaller and warmer, as if a hot, humid cloud of desire had descended on them. His own heart rate increased, even though he tried to stay calm. He didn’t want his eyes to start glowing.

Think about something else, something not sexy. “I forgot how beautiful ye are.” No, that didn’t help.

She smiled. “I thought the same thing when I saw you in those wedding pictures.” Her cheeks flushed. “You looked very handsome in your kilt.”

She was taking on a pinkish tint, and he didn’t think it was all due to her blush. He glanced down and rubbed his eyes.

“Are you tired from your flight? I can’t believe you came all this way. It was so sweet.” She rushed to the coffee table and folded the empty pizza box. “Sorry about the mess.”

“’Tis all right.”

She scurried into the kitchen with the box. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

She came out of the kitchen with two glasses of ice water. “Pizza makes me so thirsty.” She set the glasses on coasters on the coffee table. “Are you sure you’re not hungry? I’ve got chips and ice cream and—”

“I’m fine. But if ye wish to eat, please go ahead.”

“I’m full.” She clutched her hands together. “I’m just…nervous. It’s been so long since we were in the same room together.”

“I shouldna have stayed away so long.”

“It’s all right.” She perched on the green love seat. “I’ve really enjoyed our talks. I feel like I got to know you a lot better, and that’s important. If we had met in person, we might not have…talked so much.”

No, he would have been making love to her. “That is true.”

Her cheeks bloomed a brighter pink. “I’d forgotten how strong the…chemistry is.”

Chemistry? “Is that a nice word for wanting to throw you on a bed and rip yer clothes off?”

She drew in a sharp breath. “I suppose.”

He sat beside her. “Do ye remember our last night together?”

“Yes!” She jumped to her feet and strode to the door to check the lock. “It was very sweet of you to come tonight.”

“I dinna feel verra sweet when I heard yer message. Ye were so upset.”

“The box was in my house. I felt violated. And the creep took a pair of my underwear for a souvenir. Can you believe it?”

Unfortunately, he could. He still had a pair of her underwear stashed under his pillow at Romatech. “The bastard,” he muttered. “Would ye like me to speak to Otis for you? I could convince him to leave you alone.”

“How?”

Vampire mind control. “I can be verra convincing.” Though the mission would require a lot of planning, since he’d have to erase security tapes and the guards’ memories.

“I appreciate that, but I have my own plan.” She paced across the room. “I’m going to see him Monday.”

Robby winced. “I’m no’ sure that’s a good idea. I investigated the man, and he’s verra dangerous. I could take you away, if ye like, and hide you someplace he would never find you.”

“I’m not running away. I did that before when my supervisor insisted on it, but it didn’t work. And I’m not going to spend the rest of my life in hiding. I’m confronting him Monday. My mind’s made up.”

“And how are ye planning to make him stop harassing you?”

She explained her plan as she continued to pace. “Don’t worry. J.L. is coming with me.”

Robby frowned. “I’m glad ye have such a loyal friend, but it vexes me that he’s here for you, and I’m no’.”

“You’re here now.” She sat beside him once again. “And that means a lot to me.” She touched his cheek.

He took her hand and kissed the pad of each finger. “Ye’ve changed me, Olivia. I’ve seen people the last few months, people who aided and abetted the man who tortured me. Before, I would have wanted to kill them.”

“And now?”

He kissed the palm of her hand. “Now I realize they were victims, too. I want a second chance in my life, and I know ’tis wrong to deny others that same chance.”

“What do you want your second life to be like?”

He smiled. “Ever the therapist. I want it to be full of joy and laughter.” He smoothed a hand across her cheek. “I want it to be with you.”

“Yes.” She closed her eyes as he leaned closer. He pressed his mouth lightly against hers.

“Yes,” she whispered again.

Her eyes popped open when he scooped her up and set her in his lap. He scooted to the center of the love seat.

“What are you—this can’t be very comfortable for you.” She squirmed in an attempt to get up, but he held tight as her wiggling rump incited a delicious agony in his groin.

He moaned.

“I knew it. I’m too heavy for—”

He cut her off with a kiss. Not a gentle peck this time, but a thorough, demanding kiss. For a second she stiffened, then she melted, becoming limp in his arms.

He invaded her mouth, exploring and tasting. His first taste of pizza. So much more spicy and flavorful than the steady blood diet he’d consumed since 1746.

She broke away from the kiss, gasped for air, then kissed him again. Evidently the limp phase had passed. She was now more aggressive, digging her fingers into his hair to pull him closer. She invaded his mouth and stroked his tongue. Her boldness made his groin swell and his heart pound with sudden urgency.

He’d waited too long for this. He slipped his hands under her T-shirt. Her skin was warm and smooth, and her back arched when he pressed against the sweet curve of her spine. He found her bra strap and unhooked it.

She continued to kiss him as he slipped his hands underneath her loose bra. The bottom curves of her breasts were so soft and full. When he palmed one of her breasts and squeezed, she gasped, breaking the kiss. Her breath puffed softly against his cheek as he drew circles around her nipple. The tip hardened, and he rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger.

She moaned, her head falling back. Her neck was exposed, the carotid artery throbbing. He nuzzled his face against her neck, inhaling the scent of her blood. Thank God he’d drank two bottles of synthetic blood before coming. He could resist the temptation of feeding, but the scent of her blood and the throbbing of her veins added to his sexual hunger.

He dragged his tongue along her carotid artery, knowing his saliva would heighten her sensitivity. She shuddered.

“Please,” she breathed.

“I will please you,” he whispered in her ear, then tickled it with his tongue. “All night long.”

“Yes.” She reached for the hem of her T-shirt.

“Let me help you.” He pulled the T-shirt over her head and tossed it onto the coffee table.

She slipped off the bra and threw it on the floor.

He paused a moment to look at her breasts. The nipples pebbled and darkened before his eyes. “Lord Almighty,” he whispered. “Ye’re so beautiful.”

Her eyes glimmered with tears. “Robby, I’m in love with you.”

“Olivia.” He kissed her briefly. “Sweetheart, I love you, too.”

“Will you make love to me?”

“I thought I was.” He brushed a thumb over her hardened nipple.

She drew in a sharp breath. “It feels so good. I can’t think when you’re—” She groaned when he took her nipple into his mouth.

“Robby.” She sounded breathless. “We…we should talk before—” She shuddered when he flicked his tongue.

He suckled her and teased her relentlessly. He didn’t want to talk, dammit. He knew he should tell her he was a vampire before making love to her, but if he told her, there wouldn’t be any lovemaking.

He released her nipple and smiled grimly at the distended bloodred tip.

“Robby, wait a minute.” She gasped when he took her other nipple into his mouth. “I–I should tell you I’m on the pill. I started it at Quantico when all the exercise was messing up my period, and I wanted to be regular.”

“Hmm.” He continued to suckle.

“I just thought you should know that I have about a two percent chance of getting pregnant.”

More like zero percent on account of his dead sperm. “I understand.” He blew on her wet nipple.

She shivered. “But I do want to have children someday.”

“So do I.” He unfastened the top button of her blue jeans.

“Wait. I have to know if you have any diseases.”

He paused with his hand on the zipper. “Diseases?”

“Sexually transmitted ones. I can’t continue with this unless I know you’re…healthy.”

“I’m verra healthy.” Except for the part about being dead during the day.

She bit her lip. “We’d better use a condom just to be safe.”

She thought he had the pox? He stiffened with indignation. “I havena been sleeping with prostitutes.”

“You can get a STD almost anywhere. To be perfectly safe, it’s best to require a medical report prior to engaging in certain activities.”

He blinked. Since when had lovemaking become a business transaction? “I can e-mail you a report tomorrow.”

“Oh. Okay.” She frowned. “I guess I can trust you.”

“Thank you. That’s verra kind of you. And while we’re completely destroying the romantic mood, how do I know if ye’re healthy? Do ye keep yer medical report in yer bedside table so ye can whip it out at the appropriate time?”

“No, of course not.”

He arched a brow. “I guess I’ll have to trust you.”

“You can. I–I’ve never done anything to get a STD.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Neither have I.”

She gasped. “You’re a virgin?”

He scoffed. “Do I look like an inexperienced pup?”

Her cheeks turned pink. “No.”

He smiled and kissed her nose. “Can we get on with this now? I’m dying to bury myself deep inside you and feel ye shudder—”

“I’m a virgin,” she blurted out.

He blinked. He couldn’t have heard that right. “Ye…what?”

“I’m a virgin.”

“Nay. Ye’re sitting half-naked in my lap. Ye were naked and screaming with orgasms on Patmos.”

“I have some experience, yes. Mostly with you.” She moved off his lap and sat on the love seat beside him. “But I’ve never had intercourse.”

“Ye’ve never…what is wrong with modern men?” He winced at the slip. He was supposed to be modern, too. “They must be blind! They should be lining up at yer door.”

“A lovely thought,” she muttered. “I could have them take a number.”

“I just meant they must be incredibly stupid if they canna see what a treasure ye are. How could such a thing happen?”

She shot him an annoyed look. “I finished a master’s degree by the age of twenty-three, so I was really busy. And then there’s the human lie detector thing. A few guys tried to get me in bed, but the minute they lied to me, I showed them the door.”

She’s a virgin. Robby stood and paced across the room. He’d never suspected this. Olivia had reacted to his lovemaking on Patmos with such free abandon. His wife had been a virgin on their wedding night, and she’d acted shy and fearful, refusing to completely undress.

He’d loved Olivia’s boldness. She’d been so responsive to his every touch, squirming and screaming.

Lord Almighty, how could he take her virginity? She was so young, so alive, and he was close to three hundred years old. He was bloody dead half the time. No woman should have to lose her virginity to a bloodsucker.

He would have to tell her the truth, that he was a vampire, because once he made love to her, he wouldn’t want to give her up. Ever. She deserved to know the truth before she ended up straddled with one man for all eternity. He grimaced. How could he live up to that?

“Great,” she muttered. She grabbed her T-shirt off the coffee table and pulled it over her head. “I didn’t realize this would be a problem for you.”

“Olivia—”

“And to think I actually hoped you might be flattered.” She rose to her feet, her face pale. “I can’t believe this.”

“I–I’m no’ sure I should accept such an honor.”

“Honor?” She scoffed. “Yeah, I feel real ‘honored’ that you would reject me for being too innocent.”

“I doona wish to reject you.”

“But you don’t want to be bothered with my pesky virginity!” She strode toward the front door, her breasts bouncing beneath the T-shirt. “Don’t let it worry you, okay? I’ll just run down to the local bar and get rid of it. After all, the guys will line up for it, right?”

He winced. “That’s no’ funny.”

“Who’s being funny? I’m dead serious.” She stalked back to the coffee table and grabbed a glass of water. “I’ll just make sure I get their attention.” She poured the water over her chest, and the wet T-shirt glued itself to her breasts and distended nipples. “Now I’m ready. With any luck, I can get the service for free.”

His hands curled into fists. “Ye canna do this.”

“Watch me.” She strode back to the front door to collect her handbag and keys. “I should be back in fifteen minutes or so, minus a hymen.”

He dashed to the door, ripped her handbag from her hands and tossed it on the floor. “Bloody hell, woman. Ye think I’d let anyone else touch you?”

She shoved at his chest. “Go away! I hate you for thinking my virginity is a problem.”

He grabbed her wrists and pinned them against the door. When she squirmed, he pressed his body against her, letting her feel his erection. “Ye love me, sweetheart, and doona worry. Yer virginity will no’ be a problem for long.”

CHAPTER 18

Olivia glared at him. “I’m not going to bed with you. I’m mad at you.”

“Ye’ll get over it.”

She tugged at her wrists, but he tightened his grip. When he attempted to kiss her, she turned her head so his mouth landed on her jaw.

That didn’t deter him. He nibbled a path along her neck, teasing her with his tongue. Her skin tingled. It took all her concentration not to moan out loud.

“Ye were begging me earlier,” he whispered in her ear. “Ye were saying, ‘Please make love to me.’” He traced the contour of her ear with his tongue.

Her knees nearly buckled. “That was before I realized what a big…” She searched her mind for a good insult, but it was hard to think with him nuzzling her neck.

“Aye. Big.” He rubbed his erection against her.

She fought an urge to press back, to wrap her legs around him and pull him into her core. She ached with emptiness, as if she would scream if he didn’t fill her up.

But dammit, she was still mad at him. There was no way she was going to beg. “Maybe you didn’t want to take my virginity ’cause you’re not up to the task.”

He lifted his head from her neck. “Are ye trying to insult me now?”

She smirked. “You’ll get over it.”

“Unzip my pants and see if I’m up to it.” He released her wrists.

Now that she was free, she tried to move away from him, but he grasped her shoulders and kept her pinned to the door.

“Go ahead, lass. I dare you.”

Her cheeks burned with heat. “Fine. Let’s see what you’re made of.” Pure titanium alloy, most probably. Damn him.

She fumbled with the button at the waistband of his jeans. “I should remind you that I’m thoroughly trained in martial arts.” She jerked the zipper down. “My hands are lethal weapons.”

He chuckled. “And I should remind you that whatever ye do to me, I’m doing to you.”

“Damn. There goes my plan for the kitchen knife.”

He growled deep in his throat, and it sent a quivering sensation through her belly. When she lifted her hand to find the waistband of his underwear, she accidentally brushed against a huge protuberance.

He closed his eyes and moaned.

She hooked a finger in the waistband of his black cotton briefs, close to his hip. “I can’t seem to find it. It must be awfully small.”

He snorted and slid her hand to the center. Her finger bumped into a rock solid column of…pure titanium alloy.

Her breath caught. He was so swollen, he was spilling out. He yanked his underwear down, and his penis slammed against her hand.

She gulped. It was definitely up. And big. Too big. Good Lord, it was a battering ram. She winced. “This is going to hurt.”

His mouth twitched. “Ye’ll get over it.”

“Oh, really?” She wrapped her hand around him and squeezed.

“Easy with that.” He tried to pull her hand away, but she held tight. The jerking motion made him gasp. “Lord Almighty, woman, do ye want me to embarrass myself?”

“You’ll get over it.”

He arched a brow at her, and she gasped, releasing her hold on him.

“Your eyes are red!”

He muttered a curse. “’Tis a medical condition.” He swooped her up into his arms and strode toward the bedroom.

She studied him, frowning. “I’ve never heard of a medical condition like that.”

“Doona fash.”

“Fash?”

“Upset yerself.” He grimaced as he entered her bedroom. “Bugger.”

“What? Are your eyes hurting?”

“Nay. My pants are falling off.”

She laughed.

He stopped by the side of the bed and smiled at her. “Does this mean ye’re no longer angry at me?”

She gave him a sly look. “My final judgment will be based purely on job performance.”

He snorted. “Ye’re a virgin. How would ye know a good job from a bad one?”

“If you’re done in five minutes, then roll over and start snoring, I’ll be very angry.”

His eyes twinkled. “Ye’ll get over it.”

She punched him in the shoulder.

He chuckled and dropped her on the bed. She propped herself up on her elbows, opening her mouth to complain when she noticed his pants had indeed fallen to his ankles and his erection was still…erect.

Her jaw dropped farther when Robby pulled his black T-shirt over his head, displaying a lean six-pack and broad, muscular chest. The curly brown hair narrowed into a thin line that ended in a thick thatch around the…battering ram.

“If ye open yer mouth a wee bit wider, I could fit it inside.” Her jaw snapped shut, and he winced. “Ouch.”

She looked down, embarrassed by her reaction. He was kicking off his shoes. Good idea. She slipped her shoes off and dropped them on the floor.

Her gaze landed on his calf and she gasped. He had a knife strapped to his leg. He’d slung his jeans and underwear to the side, so he was standing by the bed, completely naked except for the knife.

“You’re certainly well-equipped.”

“Thank you. I’ve wanted you a long time.”

Her gaze flitted to his erection. “I wasn’t referring to…although it is rather imp—” She halted when he slipped the knife from its sheath. “What are you—” She gasped when he pointed the knife at her throat.

“Doona fash.” He nicked the neck of her T-shirt, then dropped the knife to the floor. He grasped the cut edges of her T-shirt in his fists and ripped the shirt in two.

Her jaw dropped open. “What are you—”

He pushed her back onto the bed. “I told you I wanted to throw you on the bed and rip yer clothes off. I believe ye called it chemistry.”

She glanced down at her ripped T-shirt. “I liked this shirt.”

“Ye’ll get over it.” With a gleam in his red eyes, he yanked her jeans and panties down her legs and threw them on the floor.

He stretched out on the bed beside her, and she moved to the center to make more room for him. Her heart pounded in her ears. This was it. Maybe she should get under the comforter. She felt so exposed lying here with only a ripped T-shirt. Maybe she should go to the bathroom to freshen up. Maybe she should shave her legs really fast. Maybe she should turn off the light in the living room. It was filtering into the bedroom, making it possible to see.

Maybe she was overanalyzing again. She glanced at him. He was propped up on one arm, looking at her. “Is something wrong?”

He smiled. “It seems right to me.”

Her heart expanded in her chest. It was right. The man she loved was going to make love to her. “I’m so lucky I found you.”

“I’m the lucky one. I had lost my way till ye found me.”

She touched his face. He had shaved, and his cheeks were smooth. “I love you, Robby MacKay.”

He kissed her brow. “I will love you forever.”

Tears gathered in her eyes. She believed him. Even without her lie detecting skills, she believed him.

When his mouth met hers, she opened for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sank into a slow, languid world of sweet sensation. She loved the gentle movement of his lips, the soft stroking of his tongue, and the way his fingers caressed her face and neck. She smoothed her hands down his back, enjoying the feel of his skin and the ripple of muscles.

The kiss continued in a leisurely fashion until she felt wonderfully relaxed. Her fears melted away. She knew he would take it slow and easy. He was such a gentleman.

He kissed a path to her neck. She shivered when he tickled her with his tongue. Suddenly, she became intensely aware of her private parts. The more he tickled her neck, the more she tingled.

She gasped when his tongue dragged up her neck. Good God, she’d felt a delicious throb in her vagina. “Robby?”

He licked her again, and she jolted. Her fingers dug into his back. Her thighs squeezed together.

Suddenly she didn’t want a gentleman anymore. “Robby?”

He made a low growling sound in his throat that sent a shiver down her arms, prickling her skin with goose bumps. Without warning, he cupped her between the legs. She gasped. He pressed against her as he licked her neck again.

She cried out.

He applied pressure again. “Ye’re already wet.”

She whimpered. She didn’t know how he’d made her so desperate so fast.

He moved down to her feet. “Open yer legs.”

She let her knees sag open a bit, then gasped when he spread her feet wide. “What are you…?” She bit her lip. She’d never been so exposed before. He was actually sitting between her legs, studying her.

As embarrassed as she was, she still felt strangely turned on. Her skin itched, desperate for him to touch her.

“Ye’re glistening,” he whispered. “Ye’re like a pink rose covered with dew.”

She felt more moisture seeping from her core. “Robby, if you don’t touch me, I’m going to scream.”

He smiled. “Ye’re going to scream anyway.”

“I’ll get over it.” She jerked when his fingers traced the wet folds.

He slowly inserted a finger inside her. “Ye’re verra tight. I’ll try to loosen you up a wee bit.”

“Oh, oh my…” She gripped the comforter in her fists. She was never going to last. It felt too damned good.

He slipped two fingers inside and waggled them about. “Ye’re dripping now. Growing more red and swollen. I can smell yer scent, and it makes me want to taste you.”

“Then do it! I’m dying here. I—” She squeaked when he pinched her clitoris.

He stroked the inner walls of her vagina while he fondled the highly sensitive nub. Tension sharpened inside her, ready to snap. Suddenly, his fingers were moving incredibly fast, and she was spiraling out of control. Her whole body jolted. She screamed. Her vagina squeezed his fingers with powerful spasms that made her shudder all over.

Moments later when she was still trying to catch her breath, she realized he’d shifted his position. He was now poised over her. He lowered himself onto his elbows.

“Are ye all right?”

She nodded, still breathless. His eyes were redder than ever, actually glowing. It was wrong, but she couldn’t seem to make herself care.

“Wrap yer legs around me.”

She did. She shuddered when she felt his thick shaft nudging her.

“I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.” He nuzzled her neck. When he kissed her and tickled her with his tongue, she felt a tingle in her core.

“How do you do that?” she whispered. Even though she was inexperienced, she knew that couldn’t be normal.

He didn’t answer, just suckled on her neck. It made her throb and ache for him. He pushed into her, stretching her tight until he bumped into her hymen. She felt a twinge of discomfort, then he licked her again, and a frisson of pleasure vibrated through her core.

“Ready?” He lifted his head from her neck. Beads of perspiration dotted his brow, and he grimaced as if in great pain.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Hard…to control,” he grated out between clenched teeth. He seized one of her decorative pillows and jammed it up against her neck.

“What—ack!” She stiffened with pain as he ripped through her barrier.

He shouted, too, and buried his head in the pillow at her neck.

She froze. He was inside her. She was no longer a virgin. The pain seeped away, leaving her with the pleasant sensation of being stuffed to the gills. She giggled.

He grunted, and she giggled again. A seed of joy burst in her chest and brought tears to her eyes. She was so glad she had waited, that it was Robby who was inside her.

She patted him on the back. “Thank you. I’ll always remember this. It was just perfect.”

“Are ye going somewhere?” he mumbled into the pillow.

“No. I live here.”

“Good.” He lifted his head from the pillow. His face seemed pale and strained. “Because we’re just getting started.”

“Really?” She sucked in a breath when he dragged his erection out.

“Really.” He thrust back in. “I’m no’ hurting you, am I?”

“No, it’s—” She moaned when he rubbed himself against her clitoris.

“Ye’re so beautiful, so tight.” He withdrew and pushed into her again. “And ye’re mine.”

“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his face all over. He quickened the pace, and once again she felt the delicious coiling sensation, driving her up and up toward a breaking point. She raised her hips to meet him, wanting him deeper and deeper inside her.

He reared back onto his knees and lifted her hips to meet his. She gasped at the strength of his thrusts. The coil shattered inside her, and she screamed. He ground himself against her, then with a hoarse shout, he collapsed on the bed beside her.

She pressed a hand to her chest as her breathing and heart rate finally slowed. “Oh God, that was so good.”

He moaned.

She turned onto her side to face him. “Are you all right?”

He moaned.

“You’re not going to roll over and snore, are you?”

He opened his eyes. “I don’t snore.”

She smiled. “Your eyes look much better. The redness is gone.”

He snorted. “Not for long.”

“It’s a recurring problem?”

“When I’m with you, yes.”

She frowned. She was causing the problem with his eyes? She knew eyes could get red and irritated, but not the way his were doing. “Are you allergic to me?”

“I’m in love with you.” He sat up. “Are ye all right, sweetheart? Are ye sore?”

She moved her legs. “A little. I think I’ll take a hot bath. Would you like to join me?”

“Maybe later.” He climbed out of bed and put on his clothes. “I’m going to do a perimeter check of the area to make sure I’m guarding you properly.” He kissed her brow and smiled. “Don’t go away. We still have round two.”

Round two? She winced with soreness as she sat up. “I’m not sure I can take any more.”

He chuckled as he strode from the room. “Ye’ll get over it.”

She snorted. “If you’re going outside, take my keys with you.”

“I’ll lock you in. And I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” She heard the front door open and shut, and the sound of a key turning in the lock.

She glanced at the wet spot on her comforter. There was some blood mixed in. Proof her virginity was gone. Her gaze landed on the decorative pillow Robby had pressed up against her neck.

How odd. She picked it up. There were two puncture holes in the blue satin material.

She tossed it back onto the bed. She shouldn’t have washed it last week. The cheap material was falling apart.

She padded into the bathroom and turned on the water. She wasn’t going to let anything detract from the most glorious night in her life. No thoughts about apples or red eyes or ruined pillows. She’d just been bedded by a wonderful lover. Robby MacKay loved her.

Life didn’t get any better than this.

CHAPTER 19

Life didn’t get any tougher than this. Robby dashed down the stairs and across the parking lot to the overgrown bush where he’d hidden a small ice chest. He yanked a bottle of synthetic blood out of the ice and unscrewed the top.

He’d drunk two bottles before coming to Olivia’s apartment, so he wouldn’t be hungry, but he hadn’t counted on spending so much time with his mouth on her neck, and her throbbing carotid artery just millimeters away from his fangs.

He guzzled down some bottled blood. Thank God he’d brought an emergency supply. He hadn’t expected her to be a virgin. Years ago, when he’d had to feed to survive, he’d learned how to ease the pain of a bite and make the whole experience pleasurable for the donor. He’d used the same technique tonight to lessen Olivia’s pain and heighten her pleasure, but the cost had been high.

He’d nearly died, fighting the compulsion to bite her. And the struggle hadn’t ended there. He’d had to make sure the sex was good, too.

He strode around the perimeter of the parking lot, looking for anything suspicious. The parked cars were empty. He studied the apartment building while he finished the bottle of blood. If a mortal was hiding in the shadows, he’d be able to hear a heartbeat. Nothing.

He walked over to the Dumpster and tossed his empty bottle inside. There was still another bottle in the ice chest. He might need it before the night was over.

He ran a hand over his hair, pushing back the strands that had come loose during lovemaking. A virgin. He hadn’t expected that. And he’d taken it.

He shouldn’t have done it. It would be harder now to tell her the truth about himself. No woman would want to hear that she’d lost her virginity to a night creature.

No doubt she was hoping for a normal life. She would want to share normal activities during the day with a normal husband, and give birth to normal children. He could never give her that. He should have been honest with her before taking her to bed.

But dammit, what choice had she given him? He’d had to stop her from throwing herself at a stranger. And he’d tried his damnedest to deflower her with as little pain and as much pleasure as possible.

Stop lying to yourself. He had wanted to do it. He’d wanted Olivia since the first night he’d spotted her on Patmos. He could pretend he regretted behaving in a dishonorable fashion, but the truth was, he was doing exactly what he wanted. He loved her, and he was going to fight for her.

He climbed the steps to her apartment. Round two was about to begin.

A ringing telephone jerked Olivia from a deep sleep. She rolled over and winced. Muscles she never knew she had were sore. She blinked at the sunlight filtering through the edges of her closed blinds. The clock radio on her bedside table beamed 10:16. Good God, she’d slept late.

But then she’d fallen asleep late. Memories of marathon sex flitted through her mind. She glanced at the pillow beside her. Robby was gone. She had a fuzzy memory of him kissing her good-bye at some point.

The phone jangled again, and she fumbled for the receiver. “Hello?”

“Olivia,” J.L. said. “Thank God. I tried calling your cell phone and you didn’t answer.”

“I didn’t hear it. I guess it’s in the living room.”

“Did I wake you?”

“Well…yeah. But I needed to get up.” She struggled to sit up and the bedsheet slipped down to her waist. Sheesh, she was still naked. She vaguely remembered putting on a sexy nightgown about 2:00 A.M. Robby had admired it, then promptly removed it for what he called round three.

“Are you all right?” J.L. asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” What was the appropriate term…thoroughly shagged?

“I’ll be over in about an hour.” J.L. hung up.

She eased out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom. She winced at the sight of herself in the mirror. Her hair was a wild mess, her eyeliner was smudged, and what were those red things on her neck? She peered closer. Good God, they were huge hickeys. She had a matching set. This was embarrassing. She’d have to wear a scarf.

She grinned. Robby had certainly taken on the role of her lover with great enthusiasm.

She took a long shower, and her thoughts went back to round two. She’d just finished her shower when Robby had returned from his perimeter check. He’d ripped the towel off her and tossed her on the bed. He’d kissed her wet and slippery body all over, flipping her over to nibble on her bottom, then flipping her back so he could dive between her legs and wreak havoc with his tongue.

One climax hadn’t been enough. He’d slid her to the edge of the bed where he was standing, and raised her hips so he could plunge into her. She hadn’t thought she could climax again, but he’d proven her wrong. Several times.

What an insatiable man, she thought with a grin. She dried off from the shower and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She glanced at the stained comforter and bedsheets. It looked like she’d be doing laundry today.

She padded into the living room and noticed that it had been straightened up. Her handbag and keys were back on the console. Her laptop and legal pad were stacked on the coffee table. A folded note on yellow legal paper rested next to them with her name written on it.

She sat on the love seat and opened the note.

Good morning, Olivia. I was sorry I had to leave you so early. You looked so beautiful in your sleep, I hated to wake you.

I know you’ll have some questions. We need to talk. Please remember that no matter what happens, I love you. I will always love you. I want to spend my life with you.

Robert MacKay

With a smile, she lounged back against the love seat. He loved her. He wanted to spend his life with her. That was perfect because she felt exactly the same way.

She read the note again and her smile faded. This time the words “we need to talk” jumped out at her. What was there to talk about?

I know you’ll have some questions.

Her hands trembled as she folded the note. Dammit. She didn’t want to think about it. Denial was so much better. Last night had been glorious. Perfect.

But this was the morning after. She couldn’t deny it any longer. Every time they’d made love, his eyes had glowed red. Medical condition, he’d said. There was no such thing.

Tears gathered in her eyes. He’d lied to her. Knowing how much she hated dishonesty, he’d still lied. What was he covering up?

And then there was his lovemaking. Granted, she had been woefully inexperienced, but even so, she suspected there’d been something unusual about it. Unusually fantastic, she thought with a snort. She’d be crazy to complain about that.

But she might complain about the blue satin pillow that now had two holes in it.

She set the note back on the coffee table. Her heart lurched with a sudden thought. He’d taken the sheet of paper from her legal pad, and it was full of notes from the Great Robby Hunt. She grabbed the legal pad and thumbed through it. He must have seen how hard she’d worked to locate information on him. He knew she hadn’t found squat.

I know you’ll have some questions.

Damn. She threw the legal pad down and headed for the kitchen. She needed a strong cup of tea. She halted at the kitchen entrance. All the discarded clothes and towels from the bedroom were neatly piled in front of the washer/dryer combo. The sink was empty. She checked the dishwasher and found the glasses from last night inside. Even the trash and the pizza box had been taken out. Hadn’t Robby slept at all? He must have done all this while she was sleeping.

A man who voluntarily cleaned up? So what if she had a few questions? The man was worth his weight in gold. And he loved her. She loved him. Whatever the problem was, they’d work it out. They’d certainly resolved her virginity problem with satisfactory results.

She started a load in the washing machine while her water heated on the stove. Her tea was steeping when she heard a knock on the door.

“Olivia, it’s me!” J.L. yelled.

She peered through the peephole to make sure, then froze. The door was locked. Robby must have locked it when he left. She glanced at the console where her new key rested, attached to her key ring. This was…odd.

She opened the door.

J.L. strode inside, smiling. “I brought breakfast.” He showed her a white paper sack full of doughnuts.

“The dead-bolt lock you put in—it came with two keys, right?” Olivia asked.

“Yeah.” He strode over to her kitchen table and set the bag on top.

“Where’s the second key?”

He gave her a sheepish look. “I kept it. Just in case I needed to get in here someday.”

In case she was attacked or incapacitated by Otis Crump’s buddy. Great. She frowned at her key ring on the console. How had Robby managed to lock her door without a key?

I know you’ll have some questions.

That evening, Olivia set up her laptop and webcam at the usual time for her daily talk with Robby.

He appeared on screen and smiled. “How are ye, sweetheart?”

She smiled back and touched the monitor. “I wish you were here. Thank you for straightening up. You must not have slept at all.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m used to working all night.” His smile widened. “Though last night was definitely more pleasure than work.”

Her cheeks grew warm. “You must have been exhausted by the time you got back to New York.”

“Aye.” His mouth twisted with a wry look. “I slept like the dead.”

“You’re back to doing security at Romatech tonight?”

He nodded. “The danger here is greater at night. The terrorists who attack the Romatechs always strike in the dark.”

“What have they got against Romatech?” she asked. “Synthetic blood must save thousands of lives.”

“Aye, it does, but these…people doona approve of the cloning of blood.” He glanced to the side. “Piss off, Phineas. I doona need any more advice.”

Olivia heard some laughter in the background.

Robby turned back to her with an exasperated look. “Sorry about that. The guys are giving me hell tonight.”

Olivia sighed. She knew the feeling. J.L. had pretended to gag when she’d carried her bedsheets into the kitchen to stuff them in the washing machine. “Isn’t Phineas the one who calls himself the Love Doctor?”

“Aye. He offered to lend me a book for educational purposes. It shows thirty different positions displayed in photographs.”

She laughed. “I think we went through half of them last night.”

He grinned. “I’m afraid the other half would require us both to be contortionists.”

“Ouch. So what kind of advice is the Love Doctor giving you?”

Robby’s grin faded. “I should make sure ye know how much I love you.”

She touched the screen. “You’re doing well on that.”

A frown creased his brow. “And I should tell you…everything.”

She took a deep breath. “You were right in your note. I do have questions.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything.

She swallowed hard. “Have you been lying to me?”

He winced. “I always try to be honest. I know it’s important to you. There are times, though…” He shifted in his chair. “Sometimes I canna explain things.”

“Like the red glowing eyes.”

A pained expression flitted over his face. “I will explain. But I need to do it in person.”

“What was wrong with last night?”

“I—” He ran a hand through his hair. “I thought ye’d been through enough trauma for one day.”

She sat back. Telling her the truth about himself would be traumatic?

“And then I…I became a bit single-minded,” he continued. “I wanted to make sure ye enjoyed losing yer virginity.”

“Yeah.” She gave him a wry smile. “You made sure of that about ten times.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I got a bit carried away. Will ye be free next weekend?”

“Yes.” That would be the first weekend in June. “You’re coming back?”

He nodded. “We need to talk.”

A chill skittered down her arms. “How did you get out of the apartment this morning and lock the door?”

He looked away, frowning. “I’ll explain it next weekend.”

“Isn’t there an easy explanation? Like you took my key to an all-night hardware store and had a copy made while I was sleeping?”

“That would be an easy explanation.” He grimaced. “But it would be a lie.”

“Oh God.” She leaned back against the love seat cushions.

“Olivia, are ye still planning to see Otis Crump tomorrow?”

“Yes.” She sat forward so she’d be back in camera range.

“Is there any news from Forensics regarding the box?”

She shook her head. “Not on a Sunday. We might get some results tomorrow.”

“Let me know what happens. I’ll be happy to deal with him myself, but it would take some planning.”

What kind of planning? “I’ll update you tomorrow night.”

He nodded. “And I’ll see you Friday night, so we can talk.” He gave her a searching look. “Remember I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Why did he look so worried? “Can you spend the whole weekend here?”

“Possibly. It…depends.”

“Depends on what?” she asked.

He touched the screen. “You.”

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but the screen went blank.

He was gone.

CHAPTER 20

We’re here to see Otis Crump.” Olivia showed her FBI badge to the security guard at Leavenworth. “The warden has authorized it.”

The guard studied her badge, then J.L.’s. “Sign in, please.” He slid a clipboard across the counter.

Olivia signed in, noting the log-in sheet was just for that Monday. “Last time I was here, I signed into the book.”

The guard nodded. “Change in procedure. We’ll add this page to the book tonight. We get all kinds of visitors—wives, girlfriends—it protects the prisoners’ privacy if their visitors don’t know who else is coming to see them.”

“I see.” He was telling the truth. Olivia passed the clipboard to J.L.

The guard stepped back and yelled into an adjoining room. “Hey, Joe, you need to move Crump into the visitation room. Some FBI agents want to see him.”

“Harrison again?” Joe shouted back.

Olivia exchanged a look with J.L. He’d told her a month ago that his investigation had cleared Harrison.

“No,” the guard replied. He looked at the sign-in sheet. “J.L. Wang and Olivia Sotiris.”

The second guard, Joe, peered out of the adjoining room. Even though he kept his face blank, Olivia could sense a frisson of alarm sizzle through him.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

“No,” Joe said quickly. “I’ll get Crump ready.” He slipped back inside the adjoining room, and they heard the banging sound of a metal door shutting.

“It’ll be a few minutes,” the guard told them.

“We understand.” J.L. dragged Olivia across the waiting room. “You stiffened up,” he whispered.

“The other guard lied,” she whispered back. “And he’s seriously freaked out about us being here.”

“That’s…interesting.” J.L.’s eyes narrowed.

Olivia could sense his growing concern. “Are you sure Harrison checked out?”

“Yeah. I came here a month ago and asked to see the videotapes of every interview he had with Crump. The last one, he threatened to do some nasty things to Crump if he didn’t leave you alone.”

“That’s all?” When J.L. nodded, she continued, “Then why did Harrison lie about seeing him?”

J.L. shrugged. “His threats weren’t exactly ethical behavior for a special agent. And I don’t think he wants you to know that he was standing up for you.”

Olivia sighed. “Why was that guard upset that we’re here? I’ve been here before, so it’s not that strange.”

“But it’s been a long time.” J.L. rubbed his chin while he considered. “I might have made a mistake asking to see only the Harrison videos. I should have asked to see yours.”

“Mine? Believe me, you don’t want to see them.”

J.L. walked back to the counter. “I need to see all the interview videotapes of Ms. Sotiris and Otis Crump.”

“Just a minute.” The guard retrieved the log-in book from beneath the counter and set it down. He thumbed through a few pages at the back of the three-ring binder and shook his head. “Ms. Sotiris declined to have her last interview taped.”

“What?” Olivia strode to the counter. She’d always had her interviews taped, and yet she could tell that the guard was telling the truth. “What date was that entry?”

“Last Monday.”

Her breath hitched. “Let me see that.” She rotated the binder and found her name listed on last Monday’s sign-in page. The signature resembled her own. “This wasn’t me.”

The guard’s surprise and confusion was genuine. “We always check IDs before anyone signs in.”

“Were you working the desk when this woman signed in?” J.L. asked.

The guard frowned and studied the log-in sheet. “It was after eleven. I was on lunch break. It would have been Joe.”

Olivia’s heart rate sped up. “We need to talk to him.”

The guard nodded and punched a button on a walkie-talkie. “We need Joe Kitchner at the front office.”

“Look at this.” J.L. had flipped back a few more pages in the log-in book. Four weeks earlier someone calling herself Olivia Sotiris had signed in. He kept turning pages. Every four weeks, Olivia had supposedly visited Crump.

“Check November,” she said.

J.L. found an entry for the eighteenth of November. “You weren’t even in the country. Harrison should have caught this. The moron spent more time threatening Otis than actually investigating.”

Olivia motioned to the surveillance camera in the corner. “Whoever impersonated me was recorded when she signed it.”

The guard groaned. “It’ll take a while to find the right tape.”

“We’ve got all day,” J.L. muttered.

The guard’s walkie-talkie made a clicking noise. “Crump is ready,” a voice declared. “He’s in Visitation 3.”

“Is that you, Chip?” the guard asked over his walkie-talkie. “Where’s Joe?”

“I don’t know,” Chip replied. “He told Bob and me to move Crump, then he left. Do you need me to escort the visitor?”

“I know the way,” Olivia said.

J.L. dragged his gaze away from the log-in book. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“I’ll be okay,” she said. “You find out who’s been impersonating me.”

“I think I already know.” He grimaced. “I hope I’m wrong.”

Olivia hoped she was wrong, too. No doubt she was suspecting the same person. There was only one woman in the office who had access to her ID and her signature.

She strode to the visitor door and waited to be buzzed in, then walked down the plain hallway, her steps echoing on the shiny linoleum floor. She halted outside the door labeled VISITATION 3 and took a deep breath.

Otis Crump was a master at detecting weakness and exploiting it for his own sick pleasure. She needed to be calm and stay in control. If all went well, she’d never have to see the bastard again.

He was standing in the small room, plain walls on all four sides and a fortified Plexiglas wall dividing his half of the room from hers. There was a metal door behind him, and beside him, a plain metal chair was bolted to the floor.

The guards had started the videotape and agreed to wait outside. They could watch what transpired on the monitor in the hallway.

Otis must have been using the prison’s fitness room, for he’d put on some muscle. His jumpsuit was clean, his hair combed; his face shaved. In his narcissistic way, he’d always considered himself exceptionally handsome.

Olivia had always found his features too mellow. No doubt it was his soft look that had encouraged his victims to trust him. Brown hair, brown eyes, average height, good bone structure. But there was nothing striking about him. Nothing overtly masculine and memorable.

He made up for that with his personality.

He smiled as she entered the divided room, and she could sense he was genuinely happy to see her.

“Come in, Olivia. Sit down.” He sprawled in the metal chair. “I’ve been expecting you.”

Predictable. He’d started off with commands in an attempt to establish dominance.

“I’ll make this short.” She strode inside and stopped beside the metal chair in her half of the room. “I have a few questions—”

“And I have all the answers,” he interrupted her with a smirk.

“I expect your full cooperation.”

“Really?” He rubbed a hand up and down his thigh. “What can you give me to make it worthwhile?”

“I can make sure you stay alive.”

He grinned. “Oh, a threat. I like it. Strong women are so much more fun. They fight back and struggle till their last breath. Makes the final victory much more satisfying.” He held up a hand. “Don’t worry, darling. I would never hurt you. We’re destined to be together.”

She could point out that he was serving three consecutive life terms, but he never seemed to grasp that concept. “Since you’re so fond of me, I expect you to answer my questions honestly.”

“And I expect something in exchange. A token of your affection for me.” He lowered his hand to his crotch. “I want an eight-by-ten glossy of you so I can masturbate to it.”

“You’re wasting my time.” She strode back to the door.

“Wait.” He jumped up and followed her on his side of the glass. “Don’t go, Olivia. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

She paused at the door, sensing his desperation. His emotional attachment to her always made her queasy in the stomach. “Are you ready to answer my questions?”

He smiled slowly. “You’ve learned to play the game well. I’m a good teacher, don’t you think?”

He was such a narcissist. Even when she took control, he took credit for it. She sauntered back to the center of the room to force him to follow her.

He did. “Did you enjoy your vacation on Patmos?”

“I’m asking the questions.” She rested her hands on the back of her metal chair. “Who is your accomplice? Who’s sending the apples?”

He lounged in the chair. “Don’t you enjoy the apples? You had so much fun peeling them for me. You could make it all around the apple in one long spiral.” He rotated a finger in the air. “I had to go through several women before I mastered that technique.”

She was careful not to show any emotion, but she could tell he was aroused. “Who is your accomplice?”

He smiled. “‘Quid pro quo, Clarice.’”

“This isn’t a movie.”

“It should be.” He stood and walked toward the glass. “Who do think should play me? Brad Pitt, maybe?”

“Who is your accomplice?”

He pressed his hands against the glass. “Nobody. She means nothing to me. She’s just a way to keep up with you. You’re the one I love.”

“Who is she?”

He stepped back from the glass. “I answered. Now quid pro quo. My turn to ask a question.”

His gaze wandered over her and lingered on her linen pants. “The first time you came to see me, you were wearing a tight black skirt, and your legs were bare. You would sit on that chair and cross your legs, and I thought I’d gone to heaven. I would have told you anything to keep you coming here in those tight-assed little skirts.”

The queasy feeling in her stomach grew. She’d sensed from the beginning that he lusted for her, and she’d used it to lure him into a trusting relationship. When he’d offered to tell her everything if she’d simply peel an apple for him, she’d gone along with it. And he had confessed to torturing and killing ten more women.

Otis planted his hands on the glass wall and leaned toward her. “It nearly killed me when you stopped wearing skirts. You know how much I love your legs.”

She’d started wearing pants when he’d told her what he liked to do to his victims’ legs.

“When you peeled that apple for me,” he continued, “I knew you were the one. No one understands me like you do. You can tell when I’m lying or being naughty, but you keep coming back to see me. Admit it, Olivia. You find me fascinating. When you fuck other men, you’re thinking about me.”

She swallowed hard at the bile in her throat. “You didn’t ask a question.”

He chuckled. “Fine. Tell me, did you peel the apples I sent you? Did you slide the knife just under the skin and hear that little pop when the blade breaks through? Did you skim the knife around and—”

“No. I threw the apples away.” She stepped toward the glass. “My turn. The name of your accomplice.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to rephrase that in question form.”

“Who is your accomplice?”

He shrugged. “Darling, you already know. Now if you would just admit that we belong together, I wouldn’t have to take advantage of the poor, stupid sluts who want to help me in my time of need.”

“The game’s over, Otis. You won’t be manipulating anyone. I’m getting the D.A. in Texas to prosecute you for the murder you committed there.”

“You do that, darling. I would enjoy a trip to Texas. I can use the opportunity to escape so we can be together.”

“You’ll be convicted there, and I will come to see you.”

He grinned. “That’s my girl.”

“I’ll be a witness when they give you the needle.”

His smile faded.

“Death penalty, Otis. How do you like them apples?”

His face hardened with a cold stare. “While you stand here making idle threats, my accomplices are getting away.”

“We’ll get them.” She strode toward the door. As usual, she felt like going straight to a shower.

“Olivia!” Otis called to her.

When she glanced back, he pulled something from the chest pocket of his uniform. It was red and lacy. Her missing panties.

He rubbed them against his cheek. “Till we meet again, darling.”

Her stomach twinged, and she quickly left the room. She rushed back to the front office.

J.L. was behind the counter with the guard. “We’ve got her, Olivia.” He turned the monitor so she could see.

The woman appeared to be about the same height and weight as Olivia. She was wearing dark sunglasses, and her dark hair was covered with a baseball cap. Joe was the guard. She showed him an ID and signed in.

Yasmine. Olivia’s heart sank. She’d hoped it wasn’t her, but it had just made too much sense. “She made a copy of my ID.”

J.L. nodded. “And she knows where you stash your handbag. She probably made a wax imprint of your house key. It would only take a few seconds.”

Olivia pressed a hand to her stomach. It was bad enough to deal with Otis, but to discover that Yasmine had betrayed their friendship—it made her feel physically ill. “Did you call Barker?”

“Yes. They’ve put an APB out on her.”

“She wasn’t in the office?” Olivia asked, then realized what had happened. “Joe must have warned her.”

“Looks like it. He’s disappeared, too.” J.L. skirted the edge of the counter. “How did your meeting with Otis go?”

“He wouldn’t divulge her name, but he admitted to using her.” Olivia made a face. “How could Yasmine do this? Doesn’t she know what a monster he is?”

“You never felt any sort of deception from her?” J.L. asked.

“No! She never lied. She was always nosy, but as far as I could tell, her friendship was real.”

“She knew about your gift, so I guess she was always careful around you.”

Olivia groaned. How could she not have known? Detecting deception was supposed to be her specialty.

J.L. escorted her toward the door. He glanced back at the guard. “You can expect some special agents here this afternoon to interview all the guards. Meanwhile, if you hear anything about Joe, call the number on the card I gave you.”

“Will do.” The guard looked worried as he watched them leave.

J.L. led her across the parking lot to his car. “Are you all right? You look really pale.”

“I trusted her,” Olivia whispered. Her thoughts wandered to Robby and his red glowing eyes. If she’d been deceived by Yasmine, then she could have been deceived by Robby. “I feel sick.”

“I’ll drive you home,” J.L. offered.

“No. I want to keep working.” If she stayed home all day, she’d have too much time to think. Too much time to nurse some terrible suspicions about the secrets Robby was hiding. Had she been wrong to fall in love with him?

That evening, like most evenings, Robby set up his laptop and webcam in the conference room across from the security office. As soon as Olivia’s face appeared on the screen, he knew something was wrong. There was a sadness in her eyes and a weary droop to her expression.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

She told him about her trip to Leavenworth, and how J.L. had discovered that their office manager, Yasmine Hernandez, had impersonated her in order to visit Otis Crump. She’d been assisted in her deception by a guard at the penitentiary.

“Have they been arrested?” Robby asked.

Olivia shook her head. “We’re looking for them, but they’ve both disappeared.”

“At least now ye know who was sending the apples,” Robby said. “Ye should feel good about that.”

A pained look crossed her face. “I thought Yasmine was a friend. I trusted her. I joined the FBI so I could use my lie detector skills to catch bad guys, and there she was, right under my nose, and I never saw it.”

Robby leaned forward. “Ye shouldna doubt yerself. Ye always believed there was an accomplice, and ye were right about that. And did ye no’ use yer abilities to get Crump to confess to more murders?”

There was a glint of moisture in her eyes. “I should have known. I should have sensed deception from her.”

“Ye canna blame yerself. ’Tis normal to be feeling bad right now. Someone ye care about has betrayed you.”

She glanced at him with a wary look. “Are you still coming here on Friday?”

“Aye. I should be there a little before nine.”

She blinked, as if she were trying not to cry. “I wish we’d never left Patmos. It was so…magical there.”

“We’ll go back someday. Just you and me.” If she could accept him as a vampire.

She closed her eyes briefly. “Be honest with me. Have you been deceiving me?”

He inhaled sharply. Pretending to be a normal human was a deception. “Olivia—”

“Forget it.” She held up a hand to stop him, then shook her head with a wry expression. “If you’ve been lying to me, why would you admit it now? I don’t even want to hear it. One betrayal a day is more than enough.”

She was doubting him again? Bloody hell. But could he blame her? He’d already admitted there were things he hadn’t told her.

“Olivia, listen to me. When I say I love you, that is the truth. When I say I think about you every waking minute, that is the truth. When I say ye’ve changed my life, that before my heart was filled with vengeance and now it is filled with love, that is the bloody truth.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you so much, Robby. It’ll kill me if you betray me.”

He swallowed hard. He could only pray she wouldn’t interpret his hiding the truth as an act of betrayal.

“Yo, Robby!” Phineas barged into the conference room.

“This is a bad time,” Robby told him.

“Yeah, it’s bad,” Phineas replied. “We just went on red alert.”

Robby tensed as he turned back to the monitor. “Olivia, I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

She frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll let you know later. I love you, sweetheart.” He disconnected and rose to his feet. “What is it?”

Phineas led the way across the hall to the security office. “Angus and Emma just teleported in. I got an emergency message from Stanislav about five minutes ago. Casimir and his little band of merry bloodsuckers are on the move.”

“Do ye know where they’re headed?” Robby asked as he entered the security office. Angus, Emma, and Connor were there.

Angus gave him a worried look. “According to Stanislav, they’re somewhere in North America.”

CHAPTER 21

Within minutes the security office at Romatech was overflowing with MacKay S&I employees. The mortals and shape-shifters were teleported in by the Vamps.

“We have to locate Casimir and his followers as quickly as possible,” Angus told them.

“It shouldna be difficult once they start leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake,” Connor grumbled.

Emma winced. “Hopefully, we’ll find them before any innocent people die.”

With a scowl, Connor crossed his arms over his chest. “If they’re here, the killing has already begun.”

“We need to check every place Casimir has teleported to before,” Robby said. “One of those places would have been his point of entry.”

“I agree.” Angus nodded. “We know he liked going to Apollo’s compound in Maine.” He turned to Jack. “Ye’re familiar with the place. Teleport there. Take Lara, Zoltan, Mikhail, Austin, and Darcy.”

“Yes, sir.” Jack led his team into the armory at the back of the office so they could select weapons. He vanished, taking Lara with him.

A few seconds later the phone rang. Connor punched the conference call button.

“We’re here,” Lara said. “It appears quiet…” She continued to talk while Zoltan and Mikhail fixed on her voice. They teleported, taking the mortals Austin and Darcy with them.

“Casimir also teleported to the coven house in New Orleans,” Angus said. “They should be warned.”

“I’ll go,” Phineas offered.

Robby snorted. He knew why Phineas was eager to go to New Orleans.

“Go ahead,” Angus said. “Call us if ye need help. And stay in touch with Stanislav in case he hears anything.”

Phineas grabbed some weapons from the armory and teleported away.

“Ian and Toni.” Angus regarded them. “I want you to take Shanna and the children to Dragon Nest. Stay at the school. Keep all the children safe.”

Ian’s jaw shifted with an annoyed look. “If there’s a battle, ye’d better call me.”

“We will,” Angus assured him. “We’ll need every available warrior. In fact, we may need some of Phil’s young lads.” He turned to the Alpha werewolf. “How is the training going?”

“Two of the oldest boys have achieved Alpha status,” Phil replied. He’d been living at Dragon Nest Academy with Vanda. While she taught art, he’d been coaching the young werewolves he’d found in Wyoming. “They’re ready to fight.”

“Good.” Angus glanced at Dougal, who’d teleported in from Texas. “I’m leaving you and Howard in charge here. This could be a primary target if Casimir decides to blow something up.”

Dougal nodded. “We’re on it.”

“That leaves South Dakota,” Robby said. Casimir had teleported there last summer with a small army of Malcontents. He’d taken Robby there to torture him.

“Emma and I are going there now,” Angus replied. “Connor and Carlos, ye’re with us.” He gave Robby a speculative look. “And ye can come, too, if ye’re up to it.”

“I am.” Robby’s heart rate quickened as he strode into the armory. After all these months of waiting, his quest for revenge was drawing near.

Ten minutes later Robby and his companions materialized at a campground south of Mount Rushmore. It was here that the Vamps had caught the Malcontent army by surprise. Many Malcontents had died. Many more had fled.

Sean Whelan from the CIA Stake-Out Team had assisted with the cleanup. The Malcontents had attacked innocent campers, holding them prisoner and feeding off them till they were all dead. Whelan had released a cover story to the media, blaming the deaths on a fictitious neo-Nazi group of fanatics.

This camp was a cursed place for mortals, Robby thought as he and his comrades searched the small wooden cabins. No people inside, but the clothing and toiletries left behind indicated they were in use.

“’Tis a bad sign,” Robby muttered as they strode toward the main lodge.

Carlos halted suddenly with a grimace. “I can smell death.”

They dashed into the lodge, their weapons drawn. Too late. Eight bodies lay on the floor, completely drained of blood and their throats slashed to disguise puncture wounds.

“Oh no.” Emma pressed a hand to her mouth.

Connor knelt down to check a man’s body. “He hasna been dead for long.”

“Casimir could still be in the vicinity,” Emma said.

Angus had already retrieved a cell phone from his sporran and was making a call. “Jack, we need you and yer team here.”

Robby called Phineas in New Orleans. Within a few minutes their number had more than doubled.

“Spread out,” Angus ordered. “If ye find them, back away and call us. We’ll fight them together.”

Robby zoomed at vampire speed toward the cave. What poetic justice it would be if he could kill Casimir in the same place where the bastard had tortured him. He paused at the entrance to retrieve the flashlight he’d packed in his sporran. Even with his superior night vision, he could use some extra light in the cave.

Emma and Angus dashed toward him and stopped.

“We had a feeling you’d come straight here,” Emma said.

Angus frowned at him. “Doona take him on by yerself.”

Robby shrugged one shoulder. “I havena found him yet.”

Angus took a flashlight from his sporran and clicked it on. “Lead the way.”

They proceeded down the main shaft. Torches made of reeds lay extinguished on the stone floor. When the path divided in two, Robby went left and Angus and Emma went right.

The caves appeared empty. There were no lit torches. No voices murmuring and echoing in the distance. Robby headed straight for the small room where the Malcontents had held him prisoner.

The circle of light from his flashlight moved along the stone walls. The scent of blood still lingered in the air. His beam of light landed on the chair. The wooden frame was rickety and lopsided from his violent struggles to free himself. Silver chains dangled from the rungs of the chair’s back, spilling down onto the stone floor. Those chains had held him to the chair, burning his flesh and preventing him from teleporting away. Blood—his blood—stained the floor a dark burgundy.

Dark memories flashed through his mind. All the pain, all the humiliation and despair, came careening back as if it had just happened last night. The flashlight beam wobbled as his hand trembled with rage.

“I thought ye’d be here,” someone said softly behind him.

He whipped around to find Connor at the narrow entrance.

“The cave is empty,” Connor announced. “The campground, too. Casimir and his minions have moved on to another feeding ground.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Robby whispered. “If ye find him, I have to be the one to drive a sword through his black heart.”

“Ye need vengeance. I understand that.” Connor’s eyes took on a sad, haunted look. “Be careful, lad. Vengeance can drive a man to do terrible things. Ye willna feel better if ye lose yer soul in the process.”

“I doona intend—” Robby stopped talking when Connor left the room. He glanced back at the rickety wooden chair. “I will have my revenge.”

Olivia was getting ready to leave work Thursday evening when Barker opened his office door and shouted, “Harrison, Wang, Sotiris—in my office now!”

She exchanged a questioning look with J.L. as they hurried into their supervisor’s corner office.

“What’s up?” Harrison asked.

“Some news just came in from a county sheriff in Nebraska. Some folks complained that no one in a nearby farming community was answering their phones, so he went to check it out.” Barker sighed and shook his head. “Everyone there is dead.”

Olivia gasped. “How many people?”

“About ten, I believe,” Barker replied. “There’s no airport nearby, so we’ll be driving. We may be gone a few days, so pack whatever you need, then let’s hit the road.”

“I keep an overnight bag in my car,” Harrison said.

“And I’ve got one here,” Barker told him. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot in five minutes. You can drive.”

“Gotcha.” Harrison rushed out of the office.

Olivia winced. She didn’t keep an emergency bag ready, since she’d never gone on a field assignment like this with the special agents. “I’ll have to swing by my apartment to pick up a few things.”

“I’ll take you,” J.L. offered. “Then we can drive together. I have a bag in my trunk.”

“This is where we’re going.” Barker handed J.L. a sheet of paper with some information on it. “Olivia, I’m sure you’re wondering why I want you on this case. The fact is, something bizarre is going on here. All the people are dead, but there’s no sign of any struggle.”

“Weird,” J.L. muttered.

“You can say that again.” Barker gave Olivia a wry look. “And when it comes to weird-assed crap, you’re the expert.”

She smiled grimly. “Thanks.”

Forty-five minutes later she dropped an overnight bag in the trunk of J.L.’s car. She set another case containing her laptop and webcam on the backseat. The webcam was just wishful thinking, she realized. Most probably she would miss the usual nine o’clock meeting with Robby. Just as well. He’d missed the last two nights.

“Let’s go.” J.L. climbed into the driver’s seat.

She slid into the passenger seat and buckled up as J.L. took off. Robby had called briefly on the phone the last two nights. He’d sounded rushed and admitted something urgent was happening at work, but he wouldn’t explain what. He’d confessed that he might not be able to come see her Friday night after all.

Now it looked like she was in the same boat. “Do you think we’ll be back by tomorrow night?”

J.L. shook his head as he pulled onto a freeway. “I doubt it.”

She sighed and called Robby on his cell phone. As usual, he didn’t pick up, so she left a message. “Robby, I’ve been sent out of town on an assignment. It doesn’t look like I’ll be home tomorrow night. Call me, so we can work something out. Love you. ’Bye.” She hung up.

J.L. glanced at her. “You had a big date planned?”

“Yeah.” She slipped her cell phone into its pocket inside her handbag. “He was going to tell me something important.”

“About himself?”

“I guess.” She set her holster containing her sidearm in her handbag. It felt awkward, wearing it in the car. She was glad she’d worn one of her more comfortable pantsuits today. The linen pants and jacket were navy blue, and her T-shirt was white with little red stars, making her look patriotic. In her apartment, she’d exchanged her navy pumps for a pair of black Nikes.

“So Robby has a deep, dark secret.” J.L. zoomed past a car on the freeway. “How interesting.”

She scoffed. “What makes you think it’s deep and dark? Robby is a sweet guy.”

“He carries a freaking claymore on his back, Liv. And he’s built like a bulldozer.”

“Thanks.”

J.L. shrugged. “Could be worse. He could be hiding something bad, like he’s a kleptomaniac.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Nymphomaniac?”

She snorted. Though J.L. might have a point, if Robby made a habit of always going three rounds.

“I’ve got it! He escaped from a mental ward.”

She shook her head.

“From the zoo?”

She punched J.L. on the shoulder.

“Hey, watch it. I’m driving.”

“You’re speeding.”

“We’ve got a long way to go.” J.L. passed another car. “I want to get there while it’s still daylight.”

“What’s the latest news on the missing guard and Yasmine?” Olivia asked.

“There is no news. They did a good job of disappearing.” J.L. glanced at her. “Did you learn anything useful?”

“No.” She’d spent the last two days interviewing the other guards at Leavenworth. They all insisted they had no idea Joe was helping someone sneak in to see Otis Crump. And they were all being honest.

She yawned. She hadn’t slept well the last few nights. She was still upset about Yasmine’s betrayal and still worried about Robby.

“Do you need some sleep?” J.L. asked.

She yawned again. “Don’t you want me to navigate?”

“I’ve got my handy GPS. Go ahead and rest. I have a feeling we’re going to be up really late tonight.”

She removed the clip from her hair so she could lean back against the headrest, then closed her eyes.

Sometime later J.L. shook her shoulder. “Hey, you want a hamburger, fishburger, or chickenburger? Those are the choices.”

She blinked awake and realized they were in the drive-through lane of a small fast food restaurant. “Uh, chicken.” She glanced at the digital clock. It was 7:38. “Are we in Nebraska?”

“Yep. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” J.L. lowered his car window and placed their order. He reached for his wallet.

“I’ll get it.” Olivia rummaged in her handbag and passed J.L. a twenty dollar bill. “How much farther?”

“We should be there in about thirty minutes.” J.L. paid for the food, handed the paper sacks to Olivia, then set their drinks into the cup holders. “I passed Harrison and Barker on the highway about fifteen minutes ago, so I figured we had a little time to spare.”

They exited the parking lot and in a few minutes, they’d left the town behind. Fields of corn flanked the road. Olivia estimated the plants were about five to six feet tall. She finished her chicken sandwich, and the view hadn’t changed. She shared some of J.L.’s fries and sipped her drink. The cornfields stretched on and on.

“Lots of corn,” she muttered.

“Yep.” J.L. drank some cola. “It was starting to make me sleepy. I needed some caffeine.”

Shortly after eight, they arrived at the small town where Barker had reserved some rooms. Olivia and J.L. checked into the motel just as Harrison and Barker pulled up.

Olivia used the bathroom and tossed some cold water on her face. In five minutes they were on their way to the cluster of farmhouses where the dead bodies had been discovered. Barker had called the sheriff, requesting that he meet them there.

They turned onto a dirt road that dissected two large cornfields. Olivia noted the sun nearing the horizon. They would end up doing some of their investigation with flashlights.

“There’s the sheriff’s car.” Olivia pointed as J.L. sped past it.

He pulled into a driveway that led to an old wood-frame farmhouse, and they exited the car. Olivia strapped her holster around her waist and wedged her flashlight under the belt. She wound her hair on the back of her head and secured it with the clip.

As they walked back to the sheriff, she noticed there were four farmhouses, two on each side of the road. Farther down the road she spotted two red barns. Each farmhouse was two stories high and painted white. Each house had a wide front porch. Their only distinguishing feature was the color of the shutters. One had black shutters, one had dark green, and the other two were slate blue and maroon. Each house had a big shade tree in the front yard. Surrounding the cluster of farmhouses and barns, green cornfields stretched for miles. The sun hovered on the horizon, painting the sky with shades of pink and gold.

Harrison had parked behind the sheriff’s car, and Barker was already discussing the case with the local officer. J.L. and Olivia introduced themselves.

“I’m telling you it’s downright strange,” the sheriff said. “I can’t make any sense of it. These were good, God-fearing people. Who would want to kill them all?”

“Let’s have a look,” Barker said.

“Come on.” The sheriff led them to the nearest house on the right, the one with slate blue shutters.

A breeze ruffled the cornfield as Olivia passed by. When she heard the rustling sound, she realized how quiet everything else was. No farm equipment being used. No mothers calling the family home for dinner. No sounds of a television filtering through the open windows.

Inside the house, the sheriff showed them the bodies. A man and a woman were stretched out on the wooden floor in the family room. Their throats had been slashed, but there was no pool of blood beneath them.

Olivia swallowed hard. She wasn’t accustomed to working the actual crime scene. She usually stayed at the office where she could interview suspects to see who was lying.

“They must have bled out somewhere else,” Harrison said. “Then the killer moved them here.”

J.L. paced around the bodies. “There’s no sign of them being moved. No trail of blood. No scuff marks from their shoes. And I bet there was more than one killer.”

Olivia pressed a hand to her stomach. She shouldn’t have eaten that chicken sandwich.

Barker leaned over for a closer look. “No defense wounds. They didn’t fight back.”

She turned away from the gruesome sight and noticed the toys in a plastic crate by the television. Oh God. “Are there more bodies here?”

“Nope, this is it,” the sheriff replied. “You want to see the other houses?”

Outside, they decided to split up since they were quickly losing sunlight. The sheriff and Harrison crossed the road to the farmhouse there. Barker, J.L., and Olivia went to the second house on the right side of the road.

Just like the first house, they found a dead couple lying on the floor, throats slashed but no sign of blood. They found an elderly woman in the kitchen, same story.

They went upstairs to check the bedrooms there.

“Come and look,” Olivia called from a bedroom.

“Another body?” Barker asked as he and J.L entered the room.

“No.” She motioned to the floor where toys were scattered about. “The first house had toys, too.”

“Damn.” J.L. grimaced. “Where are the children?”

“I don’t know.” She pulled back the Priscilla curtains and peered out the window. The last rays of sunlight illuminated a small backyard with an old rusty swing set. Behind it, fields of corn went on as far as she could see. “I can’t sense any emotions other than our own and the guys across the road.”

“Maybe the kids escaped,” J.L. suggested. “If a murderer came to my house, I’d run and hide in the cornfield.”

Olivia shuddered. The killers might have kidnapped the children.

“I’ll see if I can track any of them.” Barker grabbed a child’s discarded T-shirt off the floor. “You two stay here.” He left the room and clambered down the stairs.

Olivia and J.L. exchanged questioning looks. They heard a door bang shut.

“There he is.” Olivia pointed out the window. Barker was holding the T-shirt to his face as he strode into the cornfield. “What’s he doing? He could get lost in the corn. It’s like an ocean.”

“Weird,” J.L. muttered.

Olivia watched as Barker disappeared and the last of the sunlight died away. Darkness enveloped the house. She reached for her flashlight, but then a bright light went on in the backyard.

“Great.” J.L. looked relieved. “They have automatic outdoor lighting. If Barker gets lost, he can just head for the light.”

She nodded. “Let’s see how Harrison is doing.”

They went to a bedroom at the front of the house and peered out the window. Outdoor lighting gleamed in front of each farmhouse, but a dark abyss separated each home.

“Creepy looking,” J.L. whispered.

Olivia shivered. She didn’t even want to think about the terror these poor people had gone through before dying. And what if the killers were still nearby? They could be lurking in a field or in the barns. “You told me once that if our lives were ever in danger, you would tell me what your initials stand for.”

“We’re not in danger.”

“Are you kidding? There’s a mass murderer around here somewhere. Maybe several murderers.”

“I think they’re gone,” J.L. said. “They did the job and moved on.”

She sighed. “I hope the children are all right.”

“Look.” J.L. motioned to two lights emerging from a house across the road. “That’s got to be Harrison and the sheriff.”

“It is.” Their emotions were so intense, Olivia could feel them from a distance. The sheriff was devastated, for he was mourning people he had known. Harrison was pissed.

The two men walked back to the road, using flashlights to light their way.

“Let’s go meet them.” J.L. headed for the bedroom door.

“Wait.” In the distance she saw two more lights. “Someone else is here.”

“What?” J.L. returned to the window and peered out.

The two lights came closer, passing in front of the first farmhouse, and thanks to the outdoor lighting, Olivia could make out the forms of two men. She gasped.

“What the hell?” J.L. whispered.

The two men were wearing kilts. They stopped in the middle of the road. Harrison and the sheriff walked toward them, then stopped.

“Are they talking?” J.L. asked.

“I don’t think so. I don’t see their mouths moving.” Olivia realized all of a sudden that she could no longer sense any emotions from Harrison or the sheriff. They’d gone completely blank. And she couldn’t sense anything from the men in kilts.

The sheriff strode past the kilted men, climbed into his car, and drove away. Then Harrison drove away, too. J.L. made a noise of disbelief. “What the hell?”

The kilted men turned toward them. Olivia and J.L. quickly plastered themselves against the wall on each side of the window. A beam of light shot through the window as one of the strangers aimed a flashlight in their direction.

Olivia held her breath. Her heart raced. Who were those men? She recalled a photo she’d seen of Robby in a kilt. There couldn’t be any connection. He was in New York. But on the other hand, she couldn’t read him. He was blank like the two kilted men in the road.

J.L. flipped open his cell phone and punched a number. He waited, then whispered, “Harrison, leave your phone on, dammit. And why did you drive off like that? Get back here now.” He hung up and jammed the phone into his suit pocket.

“Harrison turned his phone off?” Olivia asked. Why would he do that? Why would he abandon them? She ventured a glance out the window. The men in kilts were coming down the road, headed in their direction.

J.L. drew his weapon. “Don’t worry, Liv. Everything will be fine. I know it.”

She swallowed hard. J.L. had just told a lie.

CHAPTER 22

Olivia took a deep breath and removed her automatic from its holster at her waist.

“Two against two,” J.L. whispered. “Let’s find out who these guys are.” He led the way quietly down the stairs.

The stairwell was dark, but they didn’t dare turn on their flashlights. They crept toward the living room at the front of the house and peered out the window.

J.L. pointed, then lifted his finger to his lips.

She didn’t need the warning to stay quiet. The two kilted men were now in the front yard. She could see them well in the outdoor lighting, and neither one was Robby. The man in the red and green plaid kilt had a brighter shade of red hair. The guy in the blue and green kilt looked similar to Robby, with the same dark auburn hair.

J.L. touched his back, then his right calf, signaling to her that the two men had swords on their backs and knives in their right knee socks. A bad sign when the two bodies in the next room had slashed throats.

She wished Barker would come back. She’d feel better if it was three against two.

The kilted men removed cell phones from their sporrans and made calls. A man suddenly materialized in the front yard. Olivia covered her mouth to stifle her gasp. She blinked, not believing her eyes. Then another man appeared. And another.

She struggled to breathe. More people were appearing, and they were all armed with swords and pistols. She thought she detected a woman and a few more men in kilts.

J.L. grabbed her arm and motioned with his head to the back door. She moved quietly with him through the family room and into the kitchen. Her heart pounded in her ears. They slipped out the back door just as they heard the front door creaking open.

They ran for the cornfield. Immediately, she was enveloped in a sea of green. It grew so dark, she could barely make out J.L.’s form. She bumped into him when he suddenly stopped. He grabbed her by the forearms and lowered her into a crouch beside him. She could hear his quick breaths and sense his alarm.

“Those guys materialized like it was a sci-fi movie,” he whispered. “What are they—aliens?”

“I don’t think aliens wear kilts.”

“You’re right. And they’d be armed with lasers instead of swords.”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe we’re having this discussion.”

“Whatever they are, they’ve got us seriously outnumbered.”

“And they have swords, knives, and guns,” she mumbled.

“Could be worse. They could have machine guns and bazookas.”

“Thanks. I feel so much better.”

“Sorry.” He grew quiet.

She glanced back at the farmhouse. She could only see the upstairs, but lights were flickering in the windows. What were they doing? Were they searching for something?

She opened her senses to get a feel for their emotions. Nothing. They were completely blank. Like Robby.

“My first name is Jin,” J.L. whispered.

She winced. Did this mean he was afraid they wouldn’t get out of this? “That’s a nice name.”

“Not if the guys in school keep calling you Jennifer.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“The L stands for Long.”

“Jin Long…Wang.” She smiled. “Sounds very masculine.”

He snorted. “Now you know why I go by J.L. But it could be worse. They named my brother L.H. — Lo Hung Wang.”

She covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

His teeth flashed white in the dark as he grinned. “I just made that part up. I don’t have a brother. But you probably already detected that.”

She had. And she’d also realized he was trying to cheer her up.

“So here’s the plan,” J.L. said. “We move through the corn and get as close to the car as possible. We make a dash for it, drive into town, and get the sheriff and Harrison. And we call for backup.”

She nodded. “What about Barker?”

“We’ll find him. Let’s go.”

They moved as quietly as possible through the corn. They were behind the first house when J.L. abruptly halted and reached out to stop her. He pressed a finger to his mouth to warn her to stay quiet, and she remained perfectly still. Then she heard it. A rustling in the corn.

They were not alone.

She pivoted, searching for the source of the noise. She spotted the swaying plants. Whoever it was, he was moving straight toward them.

J.L. raised his pistol.

The corn in front of them rustled, then out trotted a dog.

Olivia’s knees nearly buckled with relief.

J.L. holstered his weapon. “Good boy,” he whispered.

It was a huge dog. An Irish wolfhound with long lanky legs and a long thin face. He sat on his haunches and regarded them curiously.

She raised her hand slowly to let him sniff her, then patted him on the head. “Aren’t you a big boy.”

The dog seemed to grin.

She smiled. She felt safer with him there.

“Let’s go.” J.L. led the way through the corn, with Olivia and the wolfhound following. They skirted the farmhouse and ventured into the field that extended up to the dirt road. They stopped when they spotted the car in the driveway about thirty yards away.

“You wait here.” J.L. handed Olivia the car keys. “I’ll find Barker. If we’re not back in fifteen minutes, leave.”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“Liv, we’re outnumbered. You can bring the sheriff and Harrison back and alert the state patrolmen. Okay?”

She nodded reluctantly. “Okay.”

J.L. dashed off with the Irish wolfhound trotting along beside him. She was grateful he wasn’t alone.

She sat between two rows of corn and pushed the button on her watch to make the digital time light up. This was going to be a long and lonely fifteen minutes.

She took long breaths to calm her racing heart. She considered calling Harrison on her cell phone, but it wouldn’t do any good if he’d turned his phone off. Why had he left after speaking to the kilted men? Had they told him to turn off his phone? She considered calling Robby, but he was far away in New York. It would take him hours to get here.

After a few minutes she crept close to the edge of the cornfield. She spotted the guys who had materialized earlier. They’d divided into smaller groups and appeared to be searching for something. Most of them were way off by the barns. When one of them located a storm cellar in the distance, they gathered around it and went inside.

With most of them in the cellar, it seemed like a good time to dash to the car. She glanced at her watch. Fourteen minutes had passed. Still, she was reluctant to leave without J.L. and Barker. On the other hand, she would be more helpful to them if she brought back reinforcements.

She groaned inwardly. She was overanalyzing again.

A car engine roared in the distance. Someone was approaching fast. Maybe Harrison or the sheriff was coming back? She hurried down a corn row till she was close to the road. A black sedan pulled over and parked. It looked like a government car. Three people emerged—a middle-aged man, a younger man, and a young woman. The men were tense and high on adrenaline. The woman seemed reluctant and afraid.

The middle-aged man barked out some orders. “Garrett, check the houses on the left. I’ll check the ones on the right. Alyssa, look over the grounds.”

Garrett clicked on his flashlight and shone it around. “I don’t see Connor anywhere.”

“He’s here,” the older man growled. “And he won’t be alone.”

Alyssa shuddered. “I don’t understand why we had to involve them.”

“They’re better at killing Malcontents than we are,” the older man grumbled. “If you see any of them, keep your distance. And keep your psychic guards up. Especially you, Alyssa. They prefer to target young women.”

“I know,” she said quietly.

Olivia felt sorry for the young woman. She was clearly terrified. The young man, Garrett, was excited, and he sprinted to the houses on the left. The older man strode toward the houses on the right. He’d mentioned Malcontents. Was that a gang? Were they the ones who’d committed the murders? And what was the deal with psychic guards?

Alyssa remained close to the car, swinging her flashlight back and forth. “Great,” she muttered. “You just stay here, all alone, with a bunch of murdering Malcontents close by.”

Olivia wanted to know who these people were, so she stepped out of the cornfield and moved slowly toward the woman. “Alyssa?”

The woman squealed and dropped her flashlight.

“I’m sorry.” Olivia held her hands out so the woman could see they were empty. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Alyssa drew her gun. “How did you know my name? Are you one of them? Did you read my mind?”

Olivia raised her hands higher. “I heard your conversation with the other two men, and they used your name. I’m with the FBI. Would you like to see my badge?”

“You’re FBI? You’re not one of them?”

“Who are they?” Olivia assumed she was referring to the men who had teleported in. “Are they the Malcontents?”

“Alyssa?” The middle-aged man came running back. “I heard you yell.” He spotted Olivia and drew his weapon. “Who the hell are you?”

She cursed silently. She should have remained hidden in the corn. “I’m Olivia Sotiris, FBI. Who are you?”

“CIA.” He moved closer. “Show me your badge.”

She did, and squinted when he beamed his flashlight in her face.

“Ms. Sotiris, what you are doing here?”

What did he think? She was on a picnic? “I’m investigating a multiple homicide. May I see your badge, please?”

“I don’t have time to fool with this.” He holstered his weapon. “We’re taking over this investigation, Ms. Sotiris. You may leave.”

His attitude was seriously annoying her. “This is an FBI matter. The local sheriff requested our help.”

“I don’t care,” the CIA man snarled. “Get the hell out of here.”

“I don’t take orders from you, Mister…?”

“Whelan.” He stepped closer to her. “And you will do as I say. We’re a special presidential task force assigned to this mission, so you have no jurisdiction here.”

She lifted her chin. “I suggest you rethink the situation. You could use our help. There are only three of you, and there are about a dozen of…I don’t know who exactly they are.”

Alyssa inhaled sharply. “Did you see them?”

“If you’re referring to the guys who magically materialized in the front yard over there, yes. They’re heavily armed with guns and swords.”

“Did they see you?” the CIA man asked.

Whelan, he’d said his name was. Somehow that sounded familiar. “No,” Olivia answered. “Who are they? Did they commit the murders?”

Whelan snorted. “No. They’re hunting the murderers. But don’t make the mistake of thinking they’re innocent. Do yourself a favor and get out of here before they see you.”

“I can help—”

“Forget it, Ms. Sotiris. You’ll have no defense against them. They can take over your mind and make you do whatever they want.”

She gulped. Was that what had happened to Harrison and the sheriff?

“They’re dangerous,” Alyssa whispered. “We’ve lost two members of our team because of them.”

Olivia winced. No wonder this woman was so afraid. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Oh, they weren’t killed,” Alyssa said. “They’re just…gone.”

A shiver skittered down Olivia’s back.

“Get a grip, Alyssa,” Whelan growled. “And you, Ms. Sotiris, you’ve wasted enough of my time.”

Olivia stumbled back a step when a spurt of heat shot across her brow. Her mind went fuzzy, then sharpened with a sudden compulsion to leave. “I must leave.” She wandered down the road to the driveway.

What was she doing? She glanced back and saw Whelan and Alyssa following her.

Keep going. Leave.

She shook her head. This wasn’t her decision.

Go to your car and leave. Now.

She turned onto the driveway. Dammit, what was wrong with her? She kept walking toward J.L.’s car. She glanced toward the cornfield, wishing he and Barker would emerge. She looked in the other direction and spotted the mysterious men who had materialized earlier. They were leaving the barns and the storm cellar. They were headed in her direction.

She veered toward the cornfield so they wouldn’t see her.

No. Go to the car. Leave now.

Her steps slanted back toward the car. Damn! What was she doing? She felt exposed.

She pulled J.L.’s keys from her pocket and hit the unlock button. The car’s headlights flashed. She winced. Those guys would see her for sure now.

Hurry up. Leave.

She walked up to the driver’s side door.

“Olivia?” someone shouted.

She froze. Robby? She turned and saw a man break apart from the group that had materialized. He sprinted toward her, passing through the light of the second house.

“Robby,” she whispered. It was him. He was wearing a kilt that swished about his knees as he ran toward her.

“Ms. Sotiris, leave now!” Whelan yelled.

She saw the CIA man and Alyssa walking up the driveway. It was Whelan who was making her leave. Somehow, he was projecting commands into her head.

A hot blast seared her brow, and she flinched.

Get in the car and leave.

She reached for the door handle.

“Olivia!” Robby called.

She paused, and suddenly he was there.

“Olivia.” He touched her arm. “What are ye doing here?”

“I must leave.”

He peered closely at her. “Are ye all right?”

She shook her head. “I must leave.”

“Back away from her, MacKay!” Whelan yelled.

Robby glared at the CIA man. “Release her. Ye have no right to control her.”

Whelan snorted. “Better me than you. You know this woman?”

“Aye. Release her now, or I’ll do it.”

“Fine,” Whelan growled. “But you leave her alone.”

“I willna harm her,” Robby said between gritted teeth.

“Right,” Whelan snarled. “Just like no one’s harmed Shanna or Emma.”

A hot wind swooshed through Olivia’s mind, and she swayed. Her keys tumbled to the ground.

Robby grabbed her forearms to steady her. “Are ye all right now?”

“Robby.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank God you’re here.” She shot an angry look at the CIA man. “He was trying to control me.”

“You idiot!” Whelan shouted. “I was trying to protect you.”

Robby hugged her tight. “’Tis all right, sweetheart.”

“Shit,” Whelan muttered. “Another woman compromised.”

“He seems to actually care for her,” Alyssa said.

Whelan slanted a suspicious look at her. “Go back to the car and wait for us.”

As Alyssa walked away, Whelan crossed his arms and scowled at Robby. “Why can’t you bastards pick on your own kind?”

Robby rubbed a hand up and down Olivia’s back. “Go on about yer business, Whelan, and leave us alone.”

Whelan. Now Olivia recalled where she’d heard the name. Robby had mentioned it on Patmos. As her mind continued to clear from Whelan’s control, she realized that Robby was one of the guys who had magically appeared.

She stepped back, pulling out of his arms. “What’s going on, Robby? What are you doing here?”

“Great,” Whelan grumbled. “Now she starts thinking. A little too late.”

Robby gave the CIA man an annoyed look, then turned back to Olivia. “Ye know I work for an agency that specializes in investigation. We’re working with the CIA on this case.”

Whelan snorted. “That’s a cleaned up version.”

Robby scowled at him. “Ye called Connor an hour ago about this place. Ye wanted us to come here first.”

“I thought the Malcontents might still be here,” Whelan said. “Are they?”

Robby shook his head. “They’ve already left.”

“Who are the Malcontents?” Olivia asked. “And how did you magically appear in the front yard?”

Robby stiffened.

Whelan chuckled. “Yeah, try explaining that to your girlfriend.”

Robby’s jaw shifted. “The Malcontents are the terrorists I told you about.”

“The ones who tortured you?” she asked.

“Aye. We believe they murdered these people.”

“Stop sanitizing the truth,” Whelan snarled. “They drained every drop of blood from these people, then slashed their throats to hide the bite marks.”

Olivia stepped back and bumped into the car. “Bite marks?”

“Did you find any blood around the victims?” Whelan asked.

She shook her head no.

“Whelan, enough.” Robby glowered at him. “I need to talk to her in private.”

“You haven’t told her yet?” Whelan scoffed. “Typical. You bastards are never honest about yourselves.”

Olivia swallowed hard. As much as she disliked Whelan, she was afraid he had a point. Robby had materialized out of thin air. And then, there were the other things, like red glowing eyes and leaving her apartment without unlocking the door. She realized with a jolt that he might have simply vanished. “What—what are you?”

Robby regarded her sadly. “I was going to tell you. Tomorrow night.”

“Vampires!” Whelan blurted out.

Robby winced.

Olivia blinked. “What?”

“Vampires,” Whelan repeated.

Robby’s green eyes glittered as he glared at Whelan. “For God’s sake, man, go away and let me handle this.”

A cold chill teased the back of Olivia’s neck. “There’s no such thing as vampires.”

“Think about it, Ms. Sotiris,” Whelan said. “The victims were drained of all blood before their throats were slashed. They were manipulated with vampire mind control. That’s why they have no defensive wounds. They never fought back ’cause they were completely controlled.”

Vampire mind control? She didn’t want to believe vampires existed, but Whelan’s description of the crime scene was too accurate. Why would anyone steal a person’s blood? Unless they needed it to survive. “How do you know what the crime scene looks like? You never went inside the house.”

Whelan shrugged. “I’ve seen it before. They always use the same M.O.”

She looked at Robby. He wasn’t denying any of it. He was simply watching her with a worried expression. “Is it true? Do vampires really exist?”

He nodded. “Some are evil, but some are good.”

She rubbed her forehead. This was crazy. She might as well believe in leprechauns and fairies. Vampires. Bloodsuckers. They’d slashed the victims’ throats to hide bite marks. That meant fangs. A shudder skittered through her. Vampire mind control.

She flinched and looked at Whelan. “You controlled my mind.” She moved closer to Robby, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Whelan rolled his eyes. “Oh come on. I’m not the vampire. I’m the one who told you about them.”

“Leave us,” Robby whispered. “Let me tell her.”

Whelan snorted. “You’ll just control her and make her stay with you, the same way Roman does to my daughter.”

A chill settled on Olivia as memories flashed through her mind. Red glowing eyes, puncture marks in her pillow. Robby never answered the phone or e-mail during the day. She never saw him during the day. Never saw him eat or drink. And could never read his emotions.

She jumped back and stared at him. “No,” she whispered. “No.”

“Olivia, I can explain.”

“Can you deny it? Can you tell me you’re not a—” She couldn’t even say it.

He stepped toward her. “Ye know I love you.”

She stepped back farther and shook her head. He wasn’t denying it. She couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t denying it.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” he said quietly. “We can talk about it.”

A strange sound escaped her mouth, a cross between disbelief and despair. This was the important thing he’d wanted to tell her.

She glanced to the side. The people who had materialized earlier were gathered together by the road. They were keeping a distance and pretending not to watch, but they were casting worried glances at her and Robby and scowling at Whelan.

Vampires. They were all vampires. The murderers were vampires. And Robby.

“No!” She turned and ran into the cornfield. Green leaves swished at her. She batted them away and kept running. Vampires? No. It was ridiculous. It was crazy.

It made sense. It explained everything.

She charged through the field behind the houses. She needed J.L. and Barker. She needed real people.

“Olivia?” J.L. emerged onto the corn row she was running down. “What’s wrong?”

“J.L.!” She sprinted toward him.

Barker joined him.

“Oh thank God. You’re both okay.” She ran into J.L.’s arms and hugged him.

“We were headed back to you,” J.L. said. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She stepped back, still breathing heavily from her run. And the shock. “You’re not going to believe it. It—it’s unbelievable.”

“You figured it out?” J.L. asked.

“Yes.” She pressed a hand to her chest.

“Wow,” J.L. muttered. “I had no idea till Barker led me back to his clothes.”

“What?”

“Then you don’t know?” J.L. looked at their supervisor. “Maybe you should tell her.”

“What?” Olivia repeated.

Barker sighed. “I’m a shape-shifter.”

“What?”

“I was the Irish wolfhound. I shifted to try to track down the children, but I couldn’t trace their scent.”

She stared at him. “No.”

“Yes,” Barker replied.

She stepped back. “No.” Her boyfriend had fangs, and her boss was a dog? Her world was tipping upside down. Where had all the normal people gone? She shivered. The normal people were the dead ones in the farmhouses.

She glanced suspiciously at J.L. “And what are you? Do you turn into an animal, too?”

“I wish. I think I’d be a dragon. That would be cool.”

“No.” She retreated another step. “Not cool.” She heard swishing sounds behind her.

“Olivia?” Robby called.

She spun around. Dear God, no. He was coming after her.

“Is that Robby?” J.L. asked. “What’s he doing here?”

“Vampire,” she whispered. “They’re all vampires.”

“Holy cow,” Barker muttered.

The dog speaks, she thought faintly. Green corn plants swirled around her, and she saw dancing stars.

“Olivia.” Robby pushed through some plants into their row.

She stumbled back, and Barker caught her. She lurched away from him, and Robby made a grab for her. God, no. She was stuck between a vampire and a man-dog. The cornfield swayed, and everything went black.

CHAPTER 23

Robby swooped Olivia up in his arms. A surge of guilt shot through him. He should have told her the truth weeks ago. But was there ever a good time to tell someone you were a bloodsucker? The poor lass had run away in horror, and now she was in a dead faint.

“Wait a minute.” J.L. regarded him suspiciously. “Why was she talking about vampires?”

“She just met one.” Robby caught the scent of the tall man beside J.L. “Ye’re a shifter?”

The man stiffened. “You know about shifters?”

“Aye. Are ye a wolf?”

“Wolfhound. I’m Patrick O’Shea Barker. FBI.”

“Och. Ye’re Olivia’s supervisor. She’s mentioned you before. In a favorable way, of course. I’m Robby MacKay of MacKay Security and Investigation. We have a few shifters in our employ.”

“Really? That’s interesting.”

“Stop!” J.L. held up his hands. “Rewind. I don’t think we sufficiently covered the vampire thing. Are you freaking telling me vampires are real?”

“Aye.” Robby held Olivia close and strode along the corn row, headed toward the farmhouses.

“Where are you going with her?” J.L. followed closely behind.

Robby sighed. She probably didn’t want to see him when she awoke. “Do ye have a safe place to take her?”

“We have rooms at the motel in town,” Barker said.

“Good.” Robby reached the backyard. The two FBI men flanked him and watched him warily.

“Aren’t you one of the guys who materialized here?” J.L. asked. “How the hell did you do that?”

Robby winced. They hadn’t realized they’d had an audience. He started down a worn path between the two farmhouses. “Does the car in the driveway belong to one of you?”

“It’s mine,” J.L. said. “Harrison and the sheriff left.”

“What?” Barker gave J.L. an incredulous look. “Harrison left? Why did he do that?”

“Beats me.” J.L. glared at Robby. “They met some guys in kilts, and the next thing we know, they’re driving off.”

Robby sighed inwardly. That would have been Connor and Angus. They’d been the first to arrive. They’d called the local sheriff’s office and teleported there. Then, using vampire mind control, they’d persuaded the operator to call the sheriff’s car radio. They’d erased memories and teleported to the sheriff’s car, using the radio as a beacon.

“Yer companions were told to leave,” Robby admitted.

“Why would Harrison do what some strangers told him to do?” Barker asked. “I’m his boss, and he doesn’t obey me half the time.”

“Vampire mind control.” Robby spotted his colleagues gathered by the road. Their number had dwindled. Some must have teleported away.

Barker motioned toward them. “Those guys over there are vampires?”

“Aye, but doona worry. They willna harm you.”

“Whoa.” J.L. halted with a jerk. “Then you’re a vampire, too?”

Robby groaned inwardly. “Aye.” Olivia stirred in his arms, so he hurried toward the car.

Barker kept up with him. “You bite people?”

“Nay. I drink synthetic blood.”

“And you materialized here?” J.L. asked.

“We teleported.”

“What other powers do you have?” Barker asked.

“Superstrength and — speed, superhearing and — vision, a prolonged life, levitation, mind control.”

“Cool,” J.L. whispered.

“Nay.” Robby stopped beside the car. “’Tis no’ cool when it is used for evil. The Malcontents used mind control to render those puir mortals helpless. They died in terror, unable to defend themselves.”

“Who are the Malcontents?” Barker asked.

Robby launched into a quick explanation of the Malcontents, Vamps, and the CIA Stake-Out Team. He stopped when Olivia moaned. “Hurry, open the door. The keys are on the ground there.”

J.L. picked up the keys while Barker opened the back door. Robby deposited Olivia on the backseat.

“So basically you’re the good vampires, and the Malcontents are the evil ones?” Barker asked.

“Aye.” Robby shut the back door.

“What’s the deal with the skirts?” J.L. asked. “I thought you guys were more into capes.”

Robby gave him an annoyed look, then noticed Olivia was waking up. “I’ll need you to keep this a secret. ’Tis imperative that the mortal world no’ know.”

J.L. snorted. “Like anyone would believe this.” He climbed into the driver’s seat.

“You can trust us.” Barker circled to the other side of the car. “I don’t want my secret to come out, either.” He folded his long frame into the front passenger seat.

J.L. started the engine, and Robby stepped back. Olivia sat up in the backseat and looked around with a dazed expression. She spotted him, and her eyes widened with horror.

His heart twisted in his chest.

The car backed down the driveway. As it turned onto the road, Olivia peered out the window at him.

He raised a hand. Was this good-bye? Would she ever agree to see him again? She had to. He couldn’t let her go without a fight.

The car sped off, and he was left looking at a cloud of dust.

“Are ye all right, lad?” Angus walked up to him.

He swallowed hard. “I may have lost her.”

“She could still come around.” Angus patted him on the back. “Give her some time.”

“What did I miss?” Robby changed the subject. It hurt too much to dwell on the horrified look on Olivia’s face. And he knew he’d missed some of the strategy meeting while he’d chased after her.

“Casimir is clearly moving south, but we doona know his final destination. Phineas teleported to New Orleans to warn them, in case Casimir is headed there. Dougal went to Jean-Luc’s home in Texas to warn him.”

Robby nodded. “Maggie and Pierce live in Texas, too. We should warn them. And we should tighten security at the Romatech in Texas.” Casimir had blown it up last summer, but production had started again.

“We’re going to spend the rest of tonight checking all the storm cellars in the vicinity.” Angus sighed. “’Tis a waste of time, most likely. They could be far away by now.”

Robby glanced at the farmhouses. “And the people who died? Is Whelan going to take care of the cover story?”

“Aye.” Angus chuckled. “He’s threatening to have you arrested for assault.”

“Let him try, the bastard.” After Olivia had run off into the cornfield, Robby had walked up to the smirking Whelan and punched his face.

His friends had applauded.

“He’ll get his comeuppance,” Angus said. “One of these days he’ll find out his grandchildren are half Vamp.”

Robby smiled. He didn’t know how Roman could stand having Sean Whelan for a father-in-law. His smile faded. He could end up with some angry in-laws, too, if Olivia ever agreed to marry him.

Olivia took a shower, but it didn’t wash away the shock. She took two aspirin, but it didn’t take away the pain. She lounged on the lumpy bed in the motel room in her pajamas, staring into space. The television was on with the volume turned down low. The old familiar sitcom helped her believe the world was still normal. Even though it wasn’t.

Vampires. The word repeated over and over in her mind. Vampires were real. And Robby was one of them.

She recalled how much attention he’d given to her neck when they’d made love. Two giant red hickeys below each ear. But he hadn’t broken the skin. Instead, he’d bitten her decorative pillow. She shuddered, remembering the twin punctures. Robby had fangs.

He was never available during the day. Robby was dead. Or Undead. It was all rather confusing.

She’d caught him drinking something in the villa on Patmos. She’d thought it was a glass of wine, but now she knew better. It must have been blood.

She groaned. She didn’t want to think about vampires anymore. She grabbed the remote control to access the movie channel on the television. Tonight’s feature was…a vampire movie. Great. She flipped the channel to HBO. A vampire series was showing. She switched to the History Channel. A documentary on the history of…vampires.

“Dammit!” She turned the television off and sprawled across the bed. It was a conspiracy.

A knock sounded at her door, and she sat up with a jerk. Please don’t be Robby. She couldn’t handle that yet.

“Liv, it’s me!” J.L. yelled. “I’ve got pizza!”

Like she really wanted food after an evening of dead bodies and shocking revelations. But she didn’t want to be alone. “Just a minute.” She checked her long flannel pajama bottoms and baggy sweatshirt and decided she was decent enough. She opened the door.

“How’s it going?” J.L. strode inside, his arms loaded down with a pizza box and a plastic bag of food. He set it all on the table by the window. “Come on, let’s party.”

She shut the door and locked it. “What’s there to party about?”

He reached inside the bag, grabbed a diet cola and passed it to her. “We’re still alive. That’s something.”

She unscrewed the top off the bottle. “I suppose.”

“Yeah. Could be worse.” He opened a cola and drank a few gulps. “We could be dead.”

“Or Undead,” she muttered, and sat in one of the two chairs that flanked the table.

“And guess what?” J.L. opened the pizza box. “Harrison drove all the way back to Kansas City, so we don’t have to share our food with him. Isn’t that a lucky break?”

“What’s he doing in Kansas City?”

J.L. selected a pizza slice, then sat in the other chair to eat. “Barker called him at his home, and he doesn’t even remember coming here. He knows nothing about this assignment. Isn’t that weird?”

Olivia sipped from her bottle. “How did that happen?”

“The vampires zapped him with some mind control.” J.L. took a big bite of pizza.

She frowned, recalling how frustrating it had felt when Whelan had controlled her mind. “What about the guy from the CIA? He tried to control my mind and make me leave.”

J.L. nodded with his mouth full. “The CIA guys are members of the Stake-Out team. Robby told us about them. They have psychic power so they can resist vampire mind control.”

“When did Robby tell you that?”

“While we were walking to the car.” J.L. took another bite. “You were unconscious at the time. Robby was carrying you.”

She winced. She couldn’t believe she’d fainted like that. She never fainted. But then she didn’t usually spend her evenings surrounded by dead bodies while she discovered her boyfriend was a vampire and her boss was a dog.

She took another drink. “Where is Barker?”

“He’s in his room. He didn’t think you were up to seeing him just yet.”

She sighed. “It’s so strange. I had no idea. I mean his name is a major clue, but people can be named Wood without it meaning they can shift into a two by four.”

“Yeah.” J.L. stuffed more pizza in his mouth. “But it does explain a few things.”

“Like what? His special fondness for fire hydrants?”

J.L. snickered. “No. I mean he never questioned your abilities. When the other guys in the office thought you were crazy or a sham, he believed in you. In fact, he requested you.”

“Really? I never knew that.”

J.L. nodded. “He already knew weird-assed crap was for real.”

She plucked an olive off the pizza and popped it in her mouth. “You believed me from the beginning.”

“Well, sure, but I’m a really smart guy.”

She smiled. “Yes, you are.”

Her cell phone rang and she flinched. Was it Robby? She stared at the phone. She’d left it on the bedside table between the two double beds.

J.L. rose to his feet. “You want me to get that?”

“Not really.” The phone rang again.

“What if it’s Robby?” J.L. walked over to her phone.

“I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Because he’s a vampire?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, come on, Liv. Nobody’s perfect.”

“I’m not expecting perfection. I just think a heartbeat would be nice.” The phone rang again.

J.L. frowned at her. “It really could be worse, you know. He could be like a…zombie who eats your brains.”

She grimaced. “That’s not helping.”

J.L. opened her phone. “Hello? Oh, hi, Robby.” He gave Olivia a pointed look. “So what’s up? Are you out biting people?”

There was a pause, then J.L. covered the phone. “He says he drinks synthetic blood from a bottle, the kind they make at Romatech.”

Romatech. She snorted. That would be a favorite place for vampires to hang out.

“Okay,” J.L. said into the phone, then looked at her. “He says he wants to talk to you.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk to him. Not yet. Maybe after a few days. Or weeks.”

J.L. sighed. “Sorry, dude. She’s not ready to talk to you yet.”

Robby suddenly appeared in the room. “She’ll get over it.”

Olivia jumped and spilled diet cola down her sweatshirt. “Damn!”

“Whoa!” J.L. snapped the phone shut. “Dude, what a way to make an entrance.”

Olivia set her bottle on the table. “I’m not ready for this. I assume you can leave the same way you came in?”

Robby frowned at her. “We need to talk.”

J.L. put her phone back on the bedside table. “I guess I should leave you two alone.”

“No!” Olivia jumped to her feet. “Don’t leave me.”

Robby stiffened. “Do ye think I would harm you, lass? Have ye forgotten how much I love you?”

“I remember.” She crossed her arms over her damp shirt. “I also remember talking to you for months, and you never told me the truth about yourself.”

“I was going to tell you tomorrow night.”

“That’s a little late, don’t you think? You should have told me before taking me to bed!”

He stepped toward her. “I hesitated, remember? Ye thought it was because I dinna want you, but it was because I knew ye deserved the truth first. But ye wouldna wait! Ye forced my hand.”

She snorted. “I forced you to have sex with me?”

“I’m seriously outta here.” J.L. grabbed the pizza box. “You don’t mind if I take this, right? Barker wanted a few slices, and I’m guessing you’re not into it.”

“Ye can take it,” Robby muttered.

J.L. glanced at Olivia. “If you need me, call.”

“Fine.” She plopped down in her chair and scowled at the worn carpet.

The door shut, and she was alone with Robby. Anger simmered deep inside her, along with hurt.

He sat on the bed across from her. “I realize ye’re in shock.”

“I think I’m over the shock and denial stage.”

“That’s good.”

She glared at him. “And I’m rapidly moving into the royally pissed stage.”

He winced. “How long does that one last?”

“As long as I want it to.” She stood and paced across the room. “You should have told me. You know how much I value honesty. You should have been honest with me from the beginning.”

He turned in his sitting position to face her. “Be honest with yerself, Olivia. If I had told you the truth up front, ye would have refused to see me again.”

“We talked for months and you never told me. You purposely deceived me.”

“I fell in love with you. That was no’ a deception.”

She didn’t want to talk about love. It had happened so quickly on Patmos, as if it were magical. She’d thought she was falling for the perfect man, but now she realized she didn’t even know him. “Who—what are you exactly? Are you dead or alive or something in between?”

“I’m alive right now. My heart is pumping blood. My mind is thinking how beautiful ye are. My eyes have noticed ye’re no’ wearing a bra.”

She crossed her arms and winced at the feel of her damp, sticky sweatshirt. “And during the day, when you never call or e-mail, are you sleeping or unconscious?”

“I’m dead.”

She gave him a dubious look. “Seriously…dead?”

“Aye.” He nodded slowly. “’Tis a major drawback to my condition.”

“I should say so.”

“When I doona respond to yer messages during the day, ’tis no’ because I’m being rude or neglecting you.”

“Right. You’re not emotionally unavailable. You’re just dead.” She rubbed her brow. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

He frowned. “’Tis no’ all bad, being a vampire. We have some excellent perks. A prolonged life—”

“How old are you?” she interrupted.

“I was born in 1719.”

Her knees buckled and she sat on the other bed. He was almost three hundred years old. He didn’t age. And she did. This was terrible. “What other…perks?”

“I have superior strength and speed. Heightened senses. I can levitate, teleport, or use mind control.”

She stiffened as her anger flared back to life. “Some of your friends used mind control to make Harrison and the sheriff leave.”

“Aye.”

“Harrison drove all the way home, and he has no memory of ever coming here.”

Robby nodded. “We can erase memories if we need to.”

Her anger escalated to a boil. “So you manipulate us mere mortals whenever you feel like it?”

His jaw shifted. “We doona do it unless we have a good reason.”

Like making sure a woman fell in love really fast?

She jumped to her feet, glaring at him. “Did you ever use mind control on me?”

His mouth thinned. “Aye.”

She cried out with rage. “You bastard!”

He stood. “Let me explain.”

“No! I knew I fell for you too fast. You—you were making me—”

“Nay! I only controlled you once. Ye were in the sea and freezing to death. I told you to sleep so ye wouldna see me teleport you to the patio—”

“You teleported me?”

“Aye. So I could put you in the hot tub. I was trying to save you.”

And she’d been so grateful, so impressed, so ready to fall completely in love. But what if he’d manipulated the whole thing? “Did you arrange it all? Did you know about the panther?”

“I dinna know Carlos was planning to frighten you.”

“Carlos?”

Robby winced. “Carlos Panterra. He’s a shifter.”

She stumbled back a step. “Carlos was the…?”

“Panther, aye.”

“He’s a cat?” And her boss was a dog. She shook her head. Was her next door neighbor a goldfish? “He scared the hell out of me. Why?”

“He was playing matchmaker. He thought if I rescued you—”

“What?” Her anger exploded again. “I was never in any danger? I thought you’d save my life. You tricked me!”

“I did save you. Ye were freezing to death.”

She paced away, her hands clenched. Was nothing the way she’d thought it was? She whirled around to face him. “Was any of it real? Can you swear that you never manipulated my thoughts or feelings?”

“Never. I wouldna want yer love if it was false. Yer feelings were yer own. And they have always been real.”

Tears gathered in her eyes. “What would you know about my feelings? I’ve gone through hell and back because of my feelings for you!”

His eyes glimmered with pain. “I have, too. I love you, Olivia. I have always loved you.”

She covered her mouth to keep a sob from escaping. Damn him. She walked away, headed for the vanity area of the motel room. She spotted herself in the mirror, her eyes glistening with tears and her mouth twisted in pain.

She jerked to a stop. Robby wasn’t there. She spun around. He was there. She glanced back at the mirror. He had no reflection. He wasn’t a real person.

She doubled over as pain stabbed her gut. She’d fallen in love with an illusion. She could never have a real life with Robby. All her dreams of a future with him were gone.

“Olivia, sweetheart.” He took hold of her shoulders.

“No.” She pulled away as tears streamed down her face. “I wanted it to be real. I wanted to love you forever.”

“Ye can. Sweetheart, we can work this out.”

She collapsed on a bed and covered her face.

The bed shifted as he sat beside her. “We’ll be all right, Olivia.”

She sniffed. “I’m not angry anymore.”

“Then ye’ve accepted me?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m…in mourning. I’ve lost the future I thought we would have together.”

He sighed. “If I could be a normal man for you, I would.”

She sat up and pulled at her sticky sweatshirt. “I can’t sleep in this. And I didn’t pack another shirt.”

“No’ a problem.” He vanished.

She started. “Damn.” She looked around the room. He was really gone.

And she was really in love with a vampire. How could this ever work out? A few minutes later he reappeared with something clutched in his hand.

“You went to my apartment?”

“Aye. I brought you something to wear.” He handed it to her.

It was the nightgown she’d put on that he’d promptly removed the night he’d taken her virginity. Her eyes misted with tears. What was she going to do? It hurt too much to just reject him. She needed to learn more about him.

She took a deep breath. “Tell me everything.”

He told her about his job, and how he and his friends were battling the evil Malcontents. A vampire named Casimir was their leader, and he was the one who had tortured Robby.

“Casimir murdered the people at the farmhouses?” she asked.

“Aye. He and his minions.”

“How many…minions does he have?”

“Just a handful, we believe. He needs to replenish his army. He’ll either find more vampires or make them.”

She grimaced. “Why didn’t he change the people at the farmhouses into vampires?”

“They were probably good people. Good people turn into good vampires.”

“Like…you?”

Robby nodded. “Death doesna change a person’s nature.”

She thought about that a moment, then inhaled sharply. “The children! Oh my gosh, with everything that’s happened, I forgot.”

“What children?”

“There were children living in those farmhouses, and they’ve disappeared.”

Robby grew pale. “Bloody hell. Casimir must have taken them.”

“Why? Why would he take innocent children?”

“They’re lighter and easier to teleport with. They’re an easy food source.”

Olivia gasped in horror. “They’re snack food?”

Robby stood. “I need to go.”

She rose to her feet, too. “Can you find them?”

“We’ll do our best.” He touched her cheek.

She stepped back. “Don’t. Please. I’ve had a lot thrown at me in one night. I’m not sure I can handle this.”

He gave her a wry look. “Ye’ll get over it.”

“How can you be so sure?” Her heart felt so heavy, so burdened with pain.

“Because ye love me.” He vanished.

CHAPTER 24

The next evening, Olivia busied herself at her apartment, cleaning and doing laundry. She even cooked some moussaka. Anything to keep from dwelling on the fact that this was Friday night, the night she’d thought Robby was going to propose.

Now she knew better. He’d planned on telling her he was a vampire.

She was sick of hearing about it. On the drive back to Kansas City that morning, J.L. and Barker had talked endlessly about vampires. J.L. thought their powers were awesome. Barker was grateful there were good ones to combat the bad ones. They’d spent a good thirty minutes speculating on what the Malcontents would do next, then another thirty minutes wondering how the CIA would cover up what had happened.

Olivia had been ready to scream by the time they arrived at the office. At least the afternoon had been spent on something different. She and J.L. had interviewed some of Yasmine’s relatives. One of Yasmine’s sisters admitted that she’d seen her two days earlier. She claimed not to know where Yasmine was hiding, but she’d loaned her debit card to her sister.

After more investigation they learned the debit card had been used at an ATM machine on the Kansas side of Kansas City. They canvassed the neighborhood but didn’t find her.

Olivia was exhausted by the time she made it home that evening, but she still kept busy. If she stopped for a moment, her thoughts would return to Robby, and the pain would rush back.

How could she have a relationship with a vampire? He could never share a day with her. Or a meal with her. He would never grow old. And what would it mean to her? Would she continue to age until she lost him? Would she never have children? Would she be lured into a dark world and become one of them?

She shuddered. Love should bring a person joy and life, not darkness and death.

She watched the news while she ate her supper of salad and moussaka. Her fork froze halfway to her mouth when she recognized the scene on the television. A helicopter was flying over the farmhouses in Nebraska. The reporter claimed ten people had died from a new deadly strain of the flu. The public was warned to stay away from the area. It was believed to be the same strain of flu that had recently caused eight deaths in South Dakota.

Olivia set her fork down. The Malcontents were leaving a trail of death down the center of the country. She prayed the children would survive.

When the sun went down, she closed all the blinds and wondered where Robby was. Was he waking up from the dead? Would he spend the night hunting for Casimir and the Malcontents?

She was washing dishes when her cell phone rang. She quickly dried her hands. Part of her hoped it was Robby. Part of her dreaded that it would be. “Hello?”

“Liv, turn on the news,” J.L. said. “Hurry.”

She went to the television. “If this is about that cover story, I already—” She gasped.

There was a picture of Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary on the screen. A headline read: EIGHT INMATES ESCAPE.

“Do you see it?” J.L. asked.

“Yes.” She turned up the volume.

The news anchor reported a strange incident at Leavenworth. Eight of their worst inmates had simply disappeared from their prison cells. The guards had no idea how it had happened.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” J.L. asked. “What if it was teleportation?”

Olivia sank onto the love seat. “You mean the Malcontents teleported in and took them.” She closed her eyes briefly. Robby had said that Casimir needed to expand his army. And if he couldn’t find evil vampires, he would make them. What better place to find evil people than a federal prison?

The news anchor continued with his report. “This just in. We are now able to identify the eight inmates who escaped. If you see any of these men, notify the authorities immediately. Do not approach them. They are extremely dangerous.”

He recited names while the prison photos were flashed on the screen. “And the last prisoner—Otis Crump.”

Her heart plummeted into her stomach.

“Shit!” J.L. shouted. “Olivia, get out of the apartment now. Go straight to work. I’ll meet you there.”

She froze, staring at Otis’s photo on the television screen. He was free. Not only free, but if Casimir had freed him, he might soon be a vampire. Otis’s claim that they were destined to be together forever took on a sinister new meaning.

He would come after her. And if he succeeded, she would end up either dead…or undead.

“Liv!” J.L. yelled on the phone. “Are you there?”

She jerked out of her stunned trance. “I’m here. I’m leaving. See you soon.”

She ran into her bedroom to put on some socks and her athletic shoes. Then she strapped on her holster and sidearm over her blue jeans. Her heart pounded. Otis could be on his way to her apartment right now. If he was alive, he might be driving. If he was already a vampire, he might be able to teleport straight into her living room.

She threw on a jacket and stuffed an extra clip of bullets into the pocket. How fast could someone become a vampire? She had no idea. Could her bullets kill a vampire? She hoped she wouldn’t have to find out.

She rushed into her living room just as a form suddenly appeared. Her heart lurched.

“Oh God, Robby!” She pressed a hand to her chest. “You scared me to death.”

“Ye’re in grave danger.”

“Yeah, I know.” She hurried past him to the console by the front door. “Otis Crump could be on his way here.”

“I’ve come to take you to safety.”

“No thanks.” She collected her handbag and keys.

Robby strode toward her. “Ye must let me protect you.”

“I don’t think so.” She opened the door and stepped onto the front porch.

“What are ye doing?” His eyes were wide with shock. “Ye canna leave on yer own.”

“Watch me.” She closed the door in his face and locked it. She hurried down the stairs, stifling a grin. That had felt surprisingly good.

As she strode toward her car, her stride hitched a bit when he appeared in the parking lot. He wasn’t wearing a kilt tonight. His black cargo pants and black T-shirt hugged a muscular body. Leather straps across his chest probably meant his claymore was on his back. His brow was furrowed with fierce determination.

Damn, he was good looking. And as much as she chafed against his he-man tendencies, she had to admit there was a raw masculinity to him that made her bones melt. She forced herself to look away and headed for her car.

He followed her. “Perhaps ye doona understand the gravity of the situation. We know it was Casimir and his minions who helped the prisoners escape.”

“I already figured that out.” She pressed her keypad to unlock her car.

“Then ye should know the Malcontents could be transforming the prisoners into vampires right now, including the bastard who’s obsessed with you.”

“I know.” She reached for the door handle.

He leaned against the car door, blocking her. “I can take you to a safe place where no vampire can get to you.”

“Including you?”

His jaw shifted. “Ye have no reason to fear me. I would never harm you.”

“Tell that to my breaking heart,” she muttered.

His eyes glittered an intense green. “There is no reason for you to suffer. We could be together. Ye only have to accept me for what I am.”

“I can’t do that right now. Please move, so I can go.”

“Bugger,” he muttered, and stepped back. “Dammit, woman. If ye love me, ye will stay loyal to me. Ye willna stab me in the back with betrayal.”

She flinched. He was accusing her of wrongdoing? How dare he? “If you loved me, you would have been honest with me!”

His face paled and a glint of pain flickered in his eyes. Her heart clenched in her chest. Damn, she hadn’t realized he was hurting as much as she was. She usually knew exactly what other people were feeling.

With a trembling hand she opened the car door.

“Where are ye going?” Robby asked as she climbed inside.

“Work.” She shut the door and turned on the engine.

She backed out of her parking space, then hit the brakes with a lurch when Robby suddenly materialized in the passenger seat. “My God, would you stop scaring me? What are you doing here?”

He removed the sheath from his back. “I have to protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection.”

“No one can protect you from a vampire as well as another vampire.” He settled back in the seat and put on his seat belt. “Where exactly are we going?”

“FBI building, and I didn’t invite you.”

“Och, I could teleport you there in a second. ’Twould save you time and gas.”

She ignored him and stomped on the accelerator. Traffic was light at this time of night, so she was able to make good time.

“Whelan and his team are at Leavenworth,” Robby said as she passed another car. “And Angus and Connor are there. If there are any clues to be found, they’ll find them.”

She sped up to catch a yellow light.

“The safest place for you is the silver room at Romatech,” Robby continued. “’Tis completely lined in silver so no vampire can teleport in or out.”

“You can’t teleport through silver?” The minute the question left her lips, she slapped herself mentally. She’d meant to completely ignore him. It irked her that he assumed she would need saving. She wasn’t a stupid weakling. She could save herself.

“That is how they were able to hold me prisoner last summer,” Robby explained. “They tied me up with silver chains. We canna teleport through it. And if it touches our bare skin, it burns away the flesh.”

She grimaced. Poor Robby. And he hadn’t been able to save himself. Damn. His fear that she might need saving wasn’t an insult. He was simply being realistic.

“I could teleport you to Romatech in a second,” he continued. “Ye would be safe there.”

“I’m not running away. I’m not hiding.” She cast an annoyed look at him. “And I’m not allowing you to take over my decisions.”

He crossed his arms, scowling. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”

She snorted. “Are you sure about that? Don’t you intend to change me over someday?”

He remained quiet a moment, then turned toward her. “Are ye saying ye intend to stay with me?”

She winced. “It was a hypothetical question. I haven’t made any decisions yet.”

“Och, well, becoming a Vamp would be yer decision as well. I would hope we could have children first, and ye need to be mortal for that.”

She shot him an incredulous look. “Wouldn’t you need to be mortal for that?”

He quickly explained a procedure that Roman Draganesti had invented to allow the Vamp men to father children.

Olivia drove in stunned silence. She could have children with Robby. He wanted to have children with her. He described Roman’s children as mostly mortal. They were awake during the day and ate real food. They just possessed a few special gifts.

That didn’t disturb her. She’d grown up with a special gift herself, and had always known her children could inherit it. Even so, she remained quiet until they reached the FBI building.

When they walked inside, she warned him, “They’re not going to let you in here with that giant sword.”

“We’ll see.” He slid the claymore off his back and plunked it down on the security officer’s desk.

“What the hell?” The officer eyed him suspiciously, then his face suddenly cleared. “Go on through the metal detector, sir. I’ll pass your umbrella to you on the other side.”

“Thank you.” Robby slanted her a smug look.

She glared back, then handed her sidearm to the officer. She walked through the metal detector, then he handed her gun back to her. As she snapped it back into the holster, Robby sauntered through the metal detector. It went off.

The officer calmly turned off the buzzer and handed the sword back to Robby. “Have a nice day.”

“Thank you.” Robby swung the claymore onto his back.

“I thought you only used mind control when you had a really good reason,” she whispered.

“I had one. I’m no’ leaving yer side.” He strolled toward the elevator. “Ye’re on the second floor, aye?”

She punched the up button. “How do you know?”

“I’ve been here before.” The elevator doors opened, and he motioned for her to go first.

She pushed the button for the second floor. “What are you packing that made the metal detector go off?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “It could be the dagger strapped to my leg or the jackknife in my pants pocket. Or the silver chain in the other pocket.”

“Wouldn’t it burn you to take out the chain?”

“I have a pair of gloves in another pocket. If I get a chance to capture Casimir, I’m no’ going to let him teleport away before I can kill him.”

“You still want revenge.”

“Aye.”

She sighed. “Why don’t you go hunt for Casimir? Wouldn’t you rather do that than babysit me? I’m safe here.”

His eyes glimmered with emotion. “I’m no’ leaving you.”

Was he putting aside his quest for revenge in order to protect her? He really does love you. She looked at him, and a bittersweet ache of longing filled her heart. Oh God, she still loved him. She’d always loved him.

A hint of red glittered in his eyes.

“Why does that happen?” she whispered. “Why do your eyes turn red?”

The elevator doors swooshed open, and he turned away, closing his eyes briefly.

She exited, and noticed his eyes were back to normal when he followed.

The office was bustling with activity. Every available special agent had been called in.

J.L. rushed toward her with a relieved grin on his face. “Thank God you’re here.” He shook hands with Robby. “Thank you for watching out for her. Come on, Barker will want to see you.” He led them to the supervisor’s office.

Olivia was irked that both J.L. and Barker were delighted that Robby had graced them with his presence. They were full of questions, and Robby explained how the Vamps and CIA Stake-Out Team were at Leavenworth. The Malcontents hadn’t bothered to erase any videos from the surveillance cameras, so they knew, without a doubt, that Casimir and his minions were responsible for the jailbreak.

Angus and Connor were questioning the guards. Sometimes, with vampire mind control, a Vamp could help a mortal retrieve lost memories. They hoped to find something useful.

“If Casimir changes the prisoners into vampires, how long will that take?” Barker asked.

“They would be in a coma the first night,” Robby answered. “Then the next night they awake as vampires.”

“There’s no telling when they’ll do the change,” Olivia said. “They might spend this first night finding a good place to hide.”

“Any idea where they might be?” J.L. asked.

“If we did, we would have already attacked,” Robby said wryly. “With teleportation, they could be anywhere. Our best bet is to check any mortals the prisoners know and trust. Vampires need a dark place to hide during the day, and they prefer to have some mortals nearby to protect them.”

Barker motioned to the large room outside his office where special agents were busily at work. “I have two men assigned to each of the escaped convicts. They’re going through all contacts and coordinating with the local police.”

“Otis might ask Yasmine to help them,” Olivia said. “Or the missing guard, Joe Kitchner.”

“I’m watching the debit card she’s using,” J.L. said. “If she spends any money, I’ll know about it.”

“At some point Otis will come after Olivia.” Barker looked at her. “Do you mind if J.L. and I spend the night in your apartment?”

She shook her head. “What do you want me to do?”

“Stay safe.” Barker packed up his laptop. “Stay with Mr. MacKay.”

“She will,” Robby said.

She frowned as Barker and J.L. left the office. “I’m not going to sit here and do nothing.”

Robby glanced at the couch at the back of Barker’s office. “I could think of a way to pass the time.”

She snorted. “I’m going to work.” She went to her work station, and Robby followed her. The other special agents glanced warily at him as he passed by.

He grabbed J.L.’s chair, rolled it into her cubicle, and sat beside her. At first she found it distracting to have him so close, but as they went through her notes on Yasmine and Joe, she grew more accustomed to him. He was thoughtful and thorough.

At one point he brushed back one of her curls and hooked it behind her ear. She stiffened, but he just smiled and said it was blocking his view of her desk.

J.L. called to report that nothing was happening at her apartment. They’d found the pan of moussaka in the fridge and finished it off.

After an hour of dead ends regarding Yasmine, Olivia and Robby turned their attention to Joe. According to some neighbors who lived close to Joe’s brother, he had been seen a few times there. The brother wasn’t well liked in the neighborhood since he enjoyed hosting loud parties that dragged on all night.

“He might have thrown a ‘congratulations on breaking out of jail’ party,” Robby said, and he called the number. It rang six times, then an answering machine picked up.

“We could drive there,” Olivia suggested.

“Teleporting is faster.”

She gave him a wry look. “I never quite mastered that skill.”

“I have all the skill ye need.” The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I can transport you to another world.”

Her cheeks grew warm. “I’ll take the car.”

“Come with me. I dare you.”

The last time he’d dared her, she’d ended up with a handful. And a night of glorious sex.

He leaned close. “We canna do it here where people might notice. We need to be alone.”

Her face blazed hotter. Damn him. He was seducing her all over again. “Barker’s office.”

“Good.” He grabbed the sheet of paper with the brother’s phone number and led her back into Barker’s office. He punched the number into his cell phone.

“Okay, it’s ringing.” He motioned for her to come closer.

She inched toward him.

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. She gasped at the feel of his hard body against hers. Her heart raced.

He lowered his head and grazed the tip of his nose against her temple. “Put yer arms around me.”

“Do I have to?”

“Do ye want to get lost on the way?”

She threw her arms around his neck. “Are you sure this is safe?”

His mouth twitched. “Safer than yer driving.”

“What? I—” She stopped when she noticed the red glint in his eyes. “Why do your eyes keeping turning red?”

“It—” He glanced at his cell phone. “The answering machine picked up. Hang on tight.”

She did, then everything went black.

CHAPTER 25

Robby knew something was wrong the minute he materialized in the dark room. He could smell blood. He held onto Olivia with one hand, and with the other he punched Angus’s number on his cell phone.

“Angus,” he whispered, knowing his great-grandfather would hear him. Unfortunately, if Casimir was here, he might hear it, too. “Need backup now. Hurry.” He passed the phone to Olivia. “Keep talking.”

“What?” she whispered. “What’s going on? I can’t see anything.”

“Don’t move.” Robby drew his sword. His eyes had adjusted quickly to the darkness.

They were standing in a small foyer. A small amount of moonlight filtered through the half-closed blinds on the living room windows, just enough so he could see the bodies on the living room floor. He moved slowly toward a lamp sitting on an end table next to a sofa.

“Hello? Angus?” Olivia spoke into the phone. “Robby, there’s no one there.”

“I’m here,” Angus replied next to her.

She gasped.

“I’m here as well,” Connor added.

Robby heard the metallic slide of swords being drawn. He turned on the lamp.

Olivia gasped again.

Robby estimated at least twelve dead bodies.

“The devil take it,” Angus muttered. “Let’s check the house and grounds.” He and Connor dashed off at vampire speed.

Olivia’s eyes widened. “That was fast.” She drew her sidearm. “You think the Malcontents are still here?”

“I doubt it. They would have attacked us by now.” Robby motioned to the dead bodies. “We were right. There was a party to celebrate the jailbreak.”

She grimaced. “Not my idea of a party.”

He retrieved his phone from her and pushed the button for another contact. “Whelan, this is MacKay. We’ve found more dead bodies.” He recited the address, then rang off.

He noticed Olivia looked a little green.

“I can teleport you back to the office, if ye like.”

She squared her shoulders. “I’ll be all right.”

He ventured into the living room to get a better look at the victims. “This is clearly the work of both vampires and mortals. Some of the dead have been drained dry. Their throats are cut to disguise the bite marks, but there was no blood left to drip out.”

He pointed at a man. “This one was killed by a vampire.”

“That’s Joe Kitchner,” Olivia whispered.

“Others were murdered by mortals—the escaped prisoners, no doubt.” He gestured to a blond woman with a knife still embedded in her chest. “So much spilled blood. A vampire would never waste blood like that.”

Olivia covered her mouth and looked away.

Robby couldn’t detect a heartbeat. All twelve of the victims were gone. He shook his head. He was almost three hundred years old, but he still couldn’t fathom how a man could do such a thing. They weren’t men. They were monsters.

He spotted a woman in a short skirt with multiple stab wounds all over her abdomen. Her legs were a bloody mess. “Whoever killed her is obsessed with knives.”

Olivia glanced at the body and turned deathly pale. “That’s Otis’s handiwork. He likes to keep souvenirs.”

Robby walked toward her. “I willna let him near you.”

Her eyes glittered with tears. “I hate these bastards.”

“We’ll get them.”

“They were already disgusting as mortals, but when I think about them becoming vampires and acquiring super powers—” She shuddered.

He drew her into his arms, and to his relief, she didn’t pull away. He held her tight.

“They’re gone,” Angus announced as he zoomed back into the room.

“Aye.” Connor followed him. “They’ve probably gone into hiding somewhere so they can transform the prisoners.”

Angus gave Olivia a curious look. “So ye’re the one who’s captured Robby’s heart.”

“This is Olivia Sotiris,” Robby said, still holding her.

Angus slapped him on the back. “She’s a real beauty, lad.”

“She can hear you,” Robby muttered.

“You’re Robby’s grandfather?” she asked.

“Great-great-grandfather, actually. I’m verra proud of Robby. He’s a fine young man.”

“I doona need a sales pitch,” Robby grumbled.

“Aye, this is all verra romantic,” Connor said with a wry look. “Especially with the dead bodies in the room. Did ye notify Sean Whelan?”

“Yes,” Robby replied. “He’s on his way.”

Connor frowned at the bodies. “More victims for Whelan’s deadly flu. The idiot thinks he’s being clever, but he’s going to cause panic among the mortals.”

“If you two can stay here,” Robby said, “I’ll take Olivia back.”

“Stay in touch.” Angus patted him on the back. “And good work, both of you.”

Robby wrapped his arms around Olivia and teleported back to Barker’s office. She stumbled, and he steadied her.

“Are ye all right? Ye look deathly pale. Do ye need any food?”

“God, no. Who could eat after that?” She slumped in a chair and called Barker to catch him up on the latest news. Then she set her phone down and closed her eyes.

Robby swung his claymore off his back and set it on Barker’s desk. “Ye’re tired.”

“It’s been a rough few days. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Go lie down on the couch. I’ll watch over you. Ye’ll be completely safe.”

“With a vampire?” She smiled. “Maybe I’ll just rest my eyes for a little while.” She trudged over to the sofa.

Robby dimmed the lights. Within minutes she’d fallen asleep. He sat at Barker’s desk and watched her. He felt fairly certain that she still loved him. If he could just keep her safe, she would eventually accept him.

A sudden thought made him stiffen with alarm. If Otis was still mortal the next day, he might come for her. He might plan to capture her first, so they could be transformed together the following night.

And Robby was dead during the day. He couldn’t protect her. Or maybe he could.

Olivia woke slowly from a deep sleep and stretched in the big comfy bed.

Bed? A lightning bolt of alarm skittered through her. She sat up and looked around the dimly lit room. The light was coming from an adjoining room, a bathroom. She spotted her holster and jacket on a table. She was still dressed, except for her shoes.

“Robby,” she breathed with relief when she saw him lying on the other side of the king-sized bed. “Where are we? Where have you taken me?”

He just lay there with a peaceful look on his face. He was wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. Since he’d changed clothes, she assumed this could be his bedroom, wherever that was.

“Robby?” She tapped him on the shoulder. No response. “Come on, Robby, wake up.” She gave him a nudge.

His chest wasn’t moving. He wasn’t breathing.

“Oh my God!” She scrambled out of bed. She’d been sleeping with a dead man.

“Ms. Sotiris?” a booming voice said, and she jumped.

“What?” She pivoted, looking around, then spotted a surveillance camera in a corner by the ceiling.

“Ms. Sotiris, don’t be alarmed. This is Howard Barr. Robby asked us to keep an eye on you.”

She noticed a light switch by the door and ran over to turn it on. The room was a fairly typical bedroom. Chest of drawers, easy chair, table and lamp, big bed with a dead body on it. She winced. Poor Robby. At least the light she’d turned on wouldn’t disturb him.

“Ms. Sotiris, I’m sending Carlos down to get you,” Howard Barr announced.

She realized his voice was coming from the intercom by the door. She pushed the talk button. “Where am I exactly?”

“The basement of Romatech Industries,” Howard responded.

Her breath hitched. “I’m in New York City?”

“White Plains.”

She looked at her watch. It was almost eleven. She recalled falling asleep in Barker’s office about 3:00 A.M. Robby must have teleported her while she slept.

She didn’t know whether to be annoyed or grateful. If Otis was still alive and looking for her, he’d never find her here. But Robby shouldn’t have done this without her permission. She was supposed to be at work today.

There was a knock on the door, and she opened it.

“Menina.” Carlos grinned at her. “It is good to see you again.”

“Hello, Carlos.” She stepped into the hall, then slammed him against the wall. “I know it was you who chased me into the sea. Don’t ever terrorize me again.”

His amber colored eyes twinkled. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”

She snorted and released him.

He led her upstairs to the MacKay security office and introduced her to Howard Barr.

“This is where Robby works at night?” she asked. She looked at the wall of monitors and spotted the camera in Robby’s room.

“We don’t usually watch him sleep,” Howard said from his chair behind the desk.

“That’s for sure,” Carlos agreed. “It’s not like he’s going to do anything.”

“He asked us to keep the camera on so we would know when you woke up.” Howard pushed a box of doughnuts toward her. “You must be hungry.”

She munched on a bear claw while she called Barker.

He wasn’t surprised. Robby had left a note on his desk, telling him where she would be.

“I’ll get him to teleport me back as soon as he wakes up,” she told her boss.

She spent the rest of the day getting a tour of Romatech and hanging around the security office. She met Shanna Draganesti and her children about supper time, and they invited her to eat with them at the Romatech cafeteria. They were a lovely family, but she was painfully aware that the father wasn’t with them. He was currently dead, like Robby.

An hour later J.L. called. “Good news! Yasmine used her debit card last night about three-thirty A.M. She rented two units at a climate-controlled storage facility.”

Olivia related this news to Howard and Carlos.

“Sounds like a good place to hide vampires during the day,” Carlos said. “They’re all locked up safe and secure with no windows.”

“Barker and I are going to check it out,” J.L. told her.

“Be careful.” Olivia groaned inwardly. She should be with them, but she was stuck at Romatech until Robby woke up. “Why don’t you take Harrison and Saunders with you?”

“We thought about that,” J.L. said. “But if we find any vampires, we’ll stake them, and we don’t want anyone from the office to see that. Don’t worry, Liv. It’s still daylight here. The vampires will be dead.”

“Okay.” She supposed they would be all right as long as it was daylight. The sun was already nearing the horizon in White Plains, but it would still be up in Kansas City.

She knew the instant the sun had set. On the monitor, she saw Robby’s body jerk, then his chest expanded with a deep breath. “I should go see him.”

“Give him a few minutes,” Howard said. “The Vamps are always very hungry when they first wake up.”

They thought he might bite her? She watched on the monitor as Robby sat up and looked at the spot where she’d slept. Then he climbed out of bed and hurried to a small refrigerator. He removed a bottle of blood and stuffed it into a microwave.

“How many bottles do they need every night?” Olivia asked.

“They can get by on a minimum of two,” Howard said. “But they prefer more.”

“And sometimes they drink for fun,” Carlos added. “I’ve seen them drink lots of Blissky and Bleer.”

Howard chuckled at Olivia’s confused look. “That’s synthetic blood mixed with whiskey or beer.”

“Oh.” She watched Robby guzzle down the entire bottle. Then he grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom. “I’ll go to his room now.”

“I’ll show you the way.” Carlos led her downstairs. “There are about ten bedrooms down here in the basement. You wouldn’t want to venture into the wrong one. Connor, Angus, and Emma stayed here last night, too.”

That surprised Olivia. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to stay close to where the action is?”

“You mean in Kansas City?” Carlos shrugged. “Teleportation only takes a few seconds, so the distance doesn’t matter. Besides, they have a strategic advantage by staying here. They’re already awake. They’ll be fed, armed, and ready to go before the bad guys even wake up.”

Carlos opened a door and peeked inside. “This is it.” He winked. “Have fun.”

“We’re just going to talk.”

Carlos chuckled as he strode away.

Olivia eased inside and locked the door. She could hear the shower running in the bathroom.

She was sitting in the easy chair when Robby emerged from the bathroom. His hair was wet and loose. He had on a pair of jeans, unbuttoned at the waist, and was drying his damp chest with a towel.

All the memories of the night she’d lost her virginity came rushing back to her. He’d far surpassed any fantasy lover she’d ever imagined. He had been both gentle and strong, both giving and demanding.

He froze when he saw her. “Good evening.”

“Good evening,” she whispered.

“Did ye sleep well?” He dropped the towel, then slowly fastened his jeans. His eyes glimmered with a reddish tint.

“Why do your eyes turn red?”

He glanced at the surveillance camera and made a cutting motion. The light went off. He sat on the edge of the bed. “A Vamp’s eyes glow red when he wants to make love.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me? Your eyes are always turning red.”

His mouth tilted up. “True.”

Her face grew warm. “Then all that stuff about the webcam, or the sand in your eyes, or the reflection from the fireplace—that was all lies?”

He winced. “Olivia, I never wanted to lie. I just never knew how to explain things without scaring you away. The closer I got to you, the more I knew I needed to tell you the truth, but the more I fell in love with you and couldna bear to lose you.”

She nodded slowly. “This is a big decision for me. I can’t make it lightly.”

“I understand.”

She studied her hands in her lap a moment, unsure what to say next. When she glanced at him, he was watching her with the red glint in his eyes. Her heart rate quickened. He wanted to make love to her.

He was tempting, so very tempting.

Her cell phone rang. Saved by the bell. She stood to retrieve it from her jeans pocket. “Hello?”

“Olivia,” Barker said in a rushed voice. “Have you heard from J.L.?”

“No. I thought he was with you.” She motioned for Robby to come over and listen.

“Damn,” Barker muttered. “He must have gone back.”

“What happened?” Olivia asked.

“We went to the storage facility to check out the two units Yasmine rented. We heard crying behind one of them, so we opened it up and found the children.”

“Oh thank God!” Olivia cried. “Are they all right?”

“They’re very weak. We called ambulances and took them to the hospital. There are eleven of them. I had six in one room where I was questioning them. The vampires were controlling their minds, so they don’t remember very much.”

“That might be a blessing.” Olivia’s heart ached for the children. They would have to learn that their parents were dead.

“J.L. was supposed to be interviewing the other children,” Barker continued. “I went to see how he was doing, but he was gone. He left the kids with a nurse. I’ve tried calling him, but he doesn’t answer his phone.”

“He must have gone back to check the other unit,” Olivia said. “Is it still daylight there?”

“Yeah, but the sun is setting. I’m going to drive back to the storage unit.” Barker sighed. “It’s rush hour traffic around here. It may take a while to get back.”

“Let us know when you arrive.” Olivia hung up and looked at Robby. “I hope J.L. hasn’t done anything stupid.”

“He probably wanted to stake some vampires. They won’t give him any trouble when they’re dead.” Robby pulled on a T-shirt. “But he’d better not be anywhere near them when they wake up.” He pulled on some socks and shoes.

Olivia fastened her holster and slipped on her jacket.

Five minutes later she was back in the security office. This time, Robby, Connor, Angus, and Emma were there, along with Howard and Carlos.

“This could be it,” Robby said. “Casimir and his followers could be in the other storage unit.”

“The escaped prisoners, too,” Olivia added.

“If we get there right at sunset, we could catch them by surprise,” Connor said.

They made plans. Howard was to remain behind to keep Romatech secure. Robby downloaded contact numbers for five more Vamps in Olivia’s cell phone so she could call for backup if necessary. They armed themselves. Robby slipped some wooden stakes into her jacket pocket and wedged a long dagger under her belt.

They called Barker from the speakerphone so all the Vamps could use his voice as a beacon.

“I’m just getting off the freeway,” Barker told them. “Damn. The sun’s going down.”

“Let us know the second ye arrive at the facility,” Angus said.

They all waited, tense with excitement.

“It’s dark now,” Barker reported. “I’m about a mile away.”

Olivia prayed J.L. was all right. The minutes seemed to drag on like hours.

“Okay! I’m pulling into the parking lot,” Barker said. “I see J.L.’s car.”

Olivia held onto Robby, and everything went black. They arrived in a dark parking lot. Connor had brought Carlos. Angus and Emma arrived together. Barker exited his car and joined them.

“Let’s go.” Angus dashed forward.

Olivia found herself with the two shape-shifters, running to try to keep up with the Vamps. Inside the facility, she heard screams of terror. The Vamps drew their swords as they zoomed toward the noise.

She heard the clashing of swords in the distance. The battle had begun. She arrived at the storage unit with her gun ready. It was a huge room with too much movement and mayhem for her to get in a clear shot. She recognized the faces of the escaped convicts. Some of them were hissing with long fangs as they clumsily wielded swords. The Vamps made short work of them, stabbing them in the heart. They turned to dust.

A few escaped prisoners screamed when they were stabbed. They fell to the floor, writhing in pain. She spotted bite marks on them. They’d been kept mortal to provide food for the vampires.

“Olivia, help!”

She spotted Yasmine at the back of the unit. The poor woman looked terrified. Blood seeped from punctures on her neck.

“Hang on!” Olivia drew her dagger and eased into the room.

A vampire made a grab for her, and she slashed at him with her dagger. He hissed and lunged, then turned to dust as Robby stabbed him through the heart.

She rushed toward Yasmine, but a vampire grabbed the woman from behind and teleported away.

“Olivia, darling.”

She turned to see Otis coming toward her. He smiled, and his pointed fangs were stained with blood.

“No!” Robby pulled Olivia behind him.

“Well, hello, Robby.” A vampire with black eyes moved next to Otis. “So good to see you again.”

“Casimir.” Robby pointed his sword at him. “’Tis time for you to die.”

“If you come after me, my new friend here will attack the woman,” Casimir said.

“She’s the one I told you about,” Otis whispered to Casimir. “She’ll be mine for all eternity.”

Robby shifted his sword to Otis. “Ye’ll never have her.”

“You will, dear friend.” Casimir seized Otis by the arm. “But not tonight.” He vanished, taking Otis with him.

Robby lunged forward, but it was too late. “Dammit. Bloody hell!”

Olivia glanced around. There were piles of dust on the cement floor and the writhing bodies of wounded mortals. The other Vamps were still fighting, but the Malcontents were starting to teleport away. She spotted Barker and Carlos in a far corner and headed toward them.

Her heart lurched when she realized they’d found J.L. He lay unconscious on the ground, trussed up in ropes. Carlos cut through them with his knife.

She fell to her knees beside J.L. and grabbed his wrist to check his pulse. Usually, she would check a pulse at the neck, but J.L.’s neck was punctured with bite marks and stained with blood. More blood was clotted along his temple where he’d been bashed in the head.

“He must have thought there were only vampires in here,” Barker whispered. “He thought it would be safe as long as the sun was up.”

“The mortals in here must have attacked him,” Carlos added. “They tied him up so the vampires could feed on him when they woke up.”

“He’s still alive,” Olivia cried. “Call an ambulance.”

Robby knelt beside her. “I’m so sorry.”

She flinched. “He’s not dead yet!”

Connor crouched on the other side of J.L. “He hardly has any blood left in him. He’ll never make it to a hospital.”

“We have to do something.” Olivia’s hands trembled as she took hold of J.L.’s limp hand. Hot tears stung her eyes. “We can’t just let him die.”

“We could transform him,” Angus suggested as he approached.

“Nay.” Robby shook his head. “We canna force such a change on him without his permission.”

“He’ll be all right with it,” Olivia insisted. “He thinks your powers are awesome.” She grabbed Robby’s arm as tears ran down her face. “Please. You have to help him.”

Robby’s face paled. “I–I’ve never done it before.”

“If ye doona do it, I will,” Angus said. “We need all the good men we can get.”

“Ye’d better be quick about it,” Connor said. “We’re losing him fast.”

Olivia squeezed Robby’s arm. “Please. Save him.”

His eyes glimmered with unshed tears. “All right.”

CHAPTER 26

Robby feared he would lose Olivia forever. He couldn’t guarantee J.L. would survive the transformation. Sometimes human bodies rejected the change, and if that happened now, he would be responsible for killing her friend.

And regardless of the outcome, wouldn’t Olivia be repulsed by the gruesome act he was about to commit?

“Give him some room.” Connor shooed everyone back.

“Ye should step into the hallway,” Robby told Olivia. “Ye doona want to see this.”

She shook her head, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m not leaving.”

Robby was tempted to argue, but there wasn’t any time. He leaned over her friend, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply the scent of blood. The primitive urge was always there, usually well-controlled, but this time he surrendered to the lust for blood. His gums tingled. With a hissing sound his fangs sprung out.

He was barely aware of Olivia’s gasp. He sank his teeth into J.L.’s neck. He drained the last of J.L.’s blood from his body, and then, instead of stopping, let his vampire saliva seep into the wound.

Angus had described the process to him before, but Robby had never had occasion to use it. He could only hope he was doing it right. If he was, J.L. would defy death and slip into a vampire coma.

“Ye did it, lad.” Angus touched his shoulder. “He’s in a coma.”

Robby sat back with a relieved sigh. He glanced at Olivia, and her eyes widened with alarm. Bugger. His fangs were still out. He was repulsing her. He wiped the blood from his mouth and focused on making his fangs retract.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“He’ll either come out of the coma or he’ll die,” Angus told her bluntly, then looked at Robby. “Give him a few moments to adjust before ye proceed.”

The room grew quiet except for the moaning of a few wounded escaped convicts.

“I need to call an ambulance,” Barker said.

“No’ yet,” Angus replied. “We have to let Whelan handle this.”

“We’d better erase their memories before they go back to prison,” Connor said.

Barker kicked at a pile of dust. “Some of these dead vampires were escaped prisoners. Why didn’t they teleport away like the Malcontents?”

“They were newly turned,” Emma explained. “They hadn’t learned how to teleport yet. I doubt they even realized they had the power.”

Robby took a deep breath. Time to proceed with the next step. He removed the dagger from the sheath on his calf.

“What are you doing?” Olivia asked.

“I have to feed him.” Robby’s eyes misted with tears. “If he rejects my blood, he’ll die. I will have killed him.”

She touched Robby’s arm. “Whatever happens, it won’t be your fault. You’ve done your best.”

He gave her a wry smile. “Still trying yer therapy on me?” He sliced his forearm and hissed in a long breath. Blood oozed from the wound. He pressed the blood against J.L.’s mouth.

Nothing happened. Drops of blood dribbled down J.L.’s cheek.

“Come on, lad.” Robby grazed his wounded arm against J.L.’s nose to make sure he caught the scent.

J.L.’s nostrils flared.

“That’s it.” Robby held his arm above J.L.’s mouth. Drops of blood landed on the closed lips. “Drink, lad.”

Olivia leaned close, with tears glistening on her cheeks. “J.L., please. If you can hear me, you have to drink.”

More drops plopped onto J.L.’s mouth, staining his pale lips red. His mouth opened.

“That’s it.” Robby pressed the wound to J.L.’s mouth.

A shudder racked J.L.’s body. He suddenly grabbed hold of Robby’s arm and sucked.

“It’s working.” Robby blinked back tears. He hadn’t lost J.L.

Now if he could just hang on to Olivia.

Olivia perched on the edge of a bed where J.L. was resting. Robby had teleported her back to Romatech, while Angus had brought J.L. They’d placed him in one of the bedrooms in the basement.

She’d cleaned the blood off J.L.’s neck. To her amazement, the wounds were actually healing. Robby had explained that a Vamp’s body could heal during death-sleep.

Robby and Angus had then teleported back to Kansas City to hunt for Casimir and make sure Whelan cleaned up the mess at the storage unit.

Alone with J.L., Olivia recalled how difficult the transformation process had been on Robby. He’d suffered both physical and emotional pain. His eyes had glistened with tears. Would he have to do the same process on her someday?

She slipped into Robby’s room next door to take a shower. Then she rummaged through his chest of drawers for something that wouldn’t fall off. She ended up with a pair of flannel pants with a drawstring she could cinch tighter. She topped it off with a T-shirt that reached her thighs.

She went back to J.L.’s room to keep him company. He was still in a coma, so he wasn’t aware of her presence, but she needed to be there.

An hour later Robby strolled into the room. “I brought you some clothes from yer apartment.” His mouth twitched when he saw she’d already changed.

“Sorry.” She tugged at the baggy T-shirt. “I helped myself.”

“They look better on you than me.” He walked over to the small fridge and removed a bottle of blood. “Tomorrow night at sunset you’ll need to be here with a glass of warm blood ready for J.L.”

Robby set his bottle in the microwave. “In fact, ye’d better have several glasses ready. He’ll awaken with a terrible hunger, and he may be tempted to jump you.”

Olivia winced. Poor J.L. He was going to be in for a shock when he woke up.

“I’ll be awakening next door.” Robby removed the bottle from the microwave. “I’ll come here right away.”

She nodded. “Thank you for saving him.”

Robby sighed. “He may not like being Undead.”

“It’s better than dead.” She perched on the bed next to J.L.

Robby took a long drink. “There is a process for changing Vamps back into mortals, but ’tis verra dangerous.”

“You—you could become mortal again?”

“Nay.” He settled in the easy chair. “It requires a sample of yer blood and original DNA from when ye were human.” He motioned toward J.L.’s bloodstained clothes. “We have that for J.L., but ’tis impossible for us old-timers.”

“Oh.” She tried to hide her disappointment.

He gave her a wistful look. “I’m afraid ye’re stuck with me the way I am.”

She took a deep breath. That was what it all boiled down to. Could she accept him as he was? Could she accept the consequences of her acceptance when it meant she might become a vampire, too, someday?

“How did it happen to you?” she asked.

Robby took another sip from his bottle. “I was a soldier back in 1746. Dougal and I went to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie and the end of English tyranny. We lay dying on the field of Culloden as the sun set. I was drifting in and out. I thought I was imagining it when a voice asked me if I wanted to keep on living so I could fight evil.”

“And you said yes.”

“Aye.” Robby drank some more. “’Twas Angus who asked the question. I dinna realize at the time what I was agreeing to. I just knew I dinna want to die.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Olivia whispered.

“Angus changed me, and Connor changed Dougal.” Robby finished his bottle of blood and set it on the table.

She frowned. Robby was being macho and completely glossing over the pain and fear he must have experienced. “I guess you had to bite people back then?”

“Aye, but I was careful never to hurt anyone. I tried to go back to my farm, but I could only farm at night. And my wife—”

“Your what?” Olivia stiffened.

His mouth thinned. “I had a wife and daughter. They were repulsed by my new condition. Mavis taught my little girl to run from me for fear I would bite her.”

“I’m so sorry.” Olivia didn’t need empathic powers to know this had caused Robby a lot of pain.

“Then I learned that during the day while I was hiding in a cave in my death-sleep, Mavis declared me dead and took a new husband. A bloody English soldier.”

Olivia winced. “This is why you value loyalty so much, isn’t it?”

Robby arched a brow. “Are ye being my therapist again?”

“I’m just trying to understand you.” Now she knew why he hated betrayal so much.

He glanced down at his bloodstained T-shirt. “I need to wash up. I’ll be back soon.” He strode from the room.

She thought back on his story. He hadn’t asked to be a vampire. He’d only wanted to stay alive. And he was using his prolonged life to fight evil. There was no denying the fact that Robby MacKay was a good, honorable man.

And she loved him.

She couldn’t bear to wound him with rejection. She couldn’t let him feel betrayed all over again.

She rose slowly to her feet. She was going to accept him. And love him, no matter the cost.

She eased into his bedroom and locked the door. She could hear the shower running in the bathroom. She glanced up at the surveillance camera to make sure it was still turned off.

She padded into the bathroom. He was soaping up in the clear shower stall, his back turned to her. Rivulets of soapy water meandered down his strong back and tight buttocks.

She sighed.

He turned and his eyes widened. He cracked open the door. “Are ye here for the view, or did ye need something?”

With a smile, she pulled his baggy T-shirt over her head and dropped it onto the floor. “I do need something.” She tugged at the drawstring holding up his flannel pants. “I need you.”

He leaned back into the water spray and turned the water off. He looked at her, his eyes glinting with a reddish tint. “Olivia, I canna play at this. If I take you, I willna let you go.”

“Good.” She wiggled the flannel pants over her hips and let them drop. “Because I’m not letting you go.”

He burst out of the shower and swooped her off her feet.

She laughed. “You’re all wet.”

“Ye will be, too.” He tossed her on the bed and landed beside her.

“Do ye know how much I love you?” He kissed her brow, her cheeks.

“About as much as I love you.” She ran her hands into his long, wet hair.

With a growl, he took her mouth. She opened and welcomed his tongue, stroking it with her own. She invaded his mouth and tested the sharpness of his fangs against her tongue.

He pulled back. “Careful with those.”

She smiled. “I’m not going to live in fear of you. And you don’t have to keep punching holes in my pillows.”

His eyes widened. “Are ye saying ye’re no’ opposed to a wee nip here and there?”

She laughed. “That depends on where.”

“Oh aye.” He cupped a breast. “There are definitely places I would never want to puncture.” He brushed his thumb over her nipple.

She shivered, and her nipples pebbled.

“Och, now would ye look at that? Is there no’ a lovelier sight in the world?” He leaned over and sucked a nipple into his mouth.

The rasp of his tongue sent goose flesh shimmering down her arms and legs. Heat pooled between her thighs, and her core felt empty and aching with need.

“Robby.” She dug her fingers into his back.

“Are ye rushing me, lass?” He trailed kisses down to her belly.

“Yes, yes, I am.” She wrapped a leg around him.

He slid a hand between her legs. “Do ye know what happens when ye rush a Vamp?”

“I…no.” She closed her eyes, enjoying the slow and gentle exploration of his fingers.

“Ye might end up with me moving at vampire speed.” Suddenly, his fingers were rubbing her as fast as a vibrator.

She squealed. “Oh my gosh. That’s…that’s…”

She spiraled out of control and shattered with an orgasm.

“Oh my…” She pressed a hand to her chest as she struggled to breathe.

His mouth tilted up. “So maybe we should slow it down a wee bit?” His hand returned to its more leisurely pace.

“You rascal,” she breathed. “You’re good at every speed.”

With a grin, he buried his head between her legs and continued his languid exploration with his tongue.

She moaned and writhed in motion with him. This time the climax hit her without warning. It was sudden, deep, and thorough, pulsating through her with throbs that stretched on and on.

She was so sensitized that when he plunged into her, she came again. And she wanted more. She couldn’t get enough of Robby. She wrapped her legs around him and met each hard thrust. The pace escalated, becoming frantic and frenzied.

He licked her neck, and it ignited spasms of pleasure. With a shout, he climaxed with her. She felt a small pop on her neck as her core clenched rhythmically around Robby.

When her breathing and heart rate returned to normal, she realized what had happened. “You bit me?”

“Just a little.” He licked the wound, and she shivered. “I couldna resist marking you. Ye’re mine now.”

She hugged him tight. “I’ll always be yours.”

CHAPTER 27

The next day at dusk, Olivia paced nervously beside J.L.’s bed. Carlos waited at the foot of the bed, ready to pounce, in case he needed to restrain J.L. from biting her. She had three glasses of warm blood ready on the bedside table. Emma had recommended she have some straws on hand.

Olivia had spent half the night making love to Robby before finally succumbing to sleep. She’d wakened around noon. It no longer freaked her out that he was lying next to her not breathing. She’d showered and dressed in the clean clothes he’d brought from her apartment.

Carlos checked his watch. “Any minute now.”

“Do you like working for MacKay S and I?” she asked.

“Yes.” Carlos smiled. “Are you thinking about applying for a job?”

“Maybe.”

“Angus is a good boss. He’s been very helpful and supportive with my…particular problem.”

“Fur balls?”

Carlos snorted. “I wish it were that simple. My kind is an endangered species. The village where I grew up was destroyed and most of the were-panthers were killed.”

“I’m so sorry. That’s terrible.”

“I’ve made a few excursions to hunt for more of my kind. Angus not only gives me the time off to do it, but he finances my trips.”

“Where—” she stopped when J.L.’s body jerked.

His chest expanded as he dragged in a big breath of air. His eyes opened.

She leaned over him. “J.L.?”

He snapped his head toward her. His brown eyes possessed a strange new amber glow. “What…where…aargh!” He curled up, grasping his stomach.

“That’s a hunger pain,” Carlos whispered.

Olivia wanted to explain the situation before shoving a glass of blood at him. “J.L., you were attacked by vampires. They nearly killed you. The only way to save you was—”

He shouted and covered his mouth. He moaned in pain.

She winced. “I’m so sorry. We had to change you, J.L. It was the only way to save you.”

“Change me?” he whispered. He cried out as fangs ripped through his gums. He touched the fangs with his fingers, and his eyes widened. “I’m a…?”

“You’re a vampire, dude,” Carlos said.

Olivia’s eyes blurred with tears. Poor J.L. looked so shocked. In the past, she’d always known exactly how he was feeling, but now he was blank. It was like she’d lost a part of him forever in exchange for making sure he survived. “I’m sorry, J.L. You were dying, so close to dying. It seemed like the only way to save you.”

He looked at his hand, which had touched his new fangs. The fingers were smeared with blood from his ripped gums. His nostrils flared. “I’m so hungry.” His gaze shifted to Olivia and the amber glow in his eyes intensified.

“Here.” She held a glass of warm blood up to his mouth. It clinked on his fangs, so she plopped a straw in it. “Drink.”

He took a hesitant sip, then grabbed the glass and drank it all. “Still hungry.”

She passed him the second glass, and he finished it. His fangs retracted and there was color once again in his cheeks.

“I have another glass if you need it.” She motioned to the bedside table.

He glanced at it with a bemused look. “It’s so weird. It actually tastes good to me.” His gaze drifted about the room. “Everything’s more sharp and clear. Where am I?”

“Romatech Industries,” Carlos replied. “The manufacturer of synthetic blood, or in your case, the local food store.”

J.L. looked confused. “Do I know you?”

“I’m Carlos Panterra, day guard for MacKay S and I. And I’m a were-panther.”

“Wow.” J.L. looked at Olivia. “This isn’t some kind of weird dream? I’m really a vampire?”

“I’m afraid so.” She squeezed his hand. “I begged Robby to do it. But if you’re really miserable, I heard there’s a way to reverse it and make you mortal again.”

“I’ll consider it, but I think I’m going to be all right with this.”

She heaved a sigh of relief. “I was afraid you would hate me.”

“No.” J.L. shook his head, frowning. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have gone back.”

“What happened?” She perched on the bed next to him. “Do you remember?”

“I was at the hospital when Yasmine called. She said she was trapped inside the storage unit, locked in with a bunch of vampires, and if I didn’t save her, they would wake at sunset and kill her. So I rushed back to get her. I thought it would be safe, you know, ’cause it was still daylight, and all the vampires would be dead.”

He dragged a hand through his thick black hair. “It was a trap. There were some escaped convicts locked in there with her. I guess the Malcontents kept them alive to be breakfast. They attacked me and knocked me out. I think they were hoping to save themselves by offering me up as the entrée.”

“It must have been terrifying,” Olivia said softly.

He nodded. “I thought I was a goner.” He smiled suddenly. “But hey, it could be worse.”

She smiled back. “You could be a zombie?”

“Exactly. So when do I get to kick some Malcontent ass?”

Carlos chuckled. “Easy, bro. You need some training first to learn how to use your new powers.”

“Superpowers!” J.L. grinned. “Sweet.”

Robby was in the security office at Romatech, discussing strategy, when he spotted Olivia on a monitor. She was approaching the office with Carlos and J.L. He had checked on the newly turned Vamp earlier and was relieved to find him and Olivia in good spirits.

Robby opened the door to let them in, then introduced J.L. to the others.

“If ye’d like a job at MacKay S and I, we’d be happy to have you join us,” Angus said.

J.L. shook his hand. “That would be great. Thank you.”

“Everything’s fine,” Olivia whispered to Robby. “He’s happy with the change.”

“Wow, I could hear that,” J.L. said as he crossed the room. He studied the weapons in the caged armory. “You guys have some awesome swords.”

“We’ve decided to teleport back to Kansas City,” Robby announced. “We believe Casimir will still be in the vicinity, mainly because his new buddy, Otis, will be there, looking for Olivia.”

Olivia frowned. “I suppose you need to use me as bait to draw him out.”

“Nay,” Robby said quickly. “I’d rather come up with another option.” He took her hand. “But for now, we’re moving to Barker’s office at the FBI building.”

“I’m coming with you,” J.L. insisted. “I don’t know how to teleport yet, but I do know how to fence.”

They armed themselves. Robby made sure Olivia had a dagger in addition to her pistol.

He slipped on some gloves, so he could load her pistol with silver bullets. “These willna kill a vampire, ye ken, but it will hurt like hell and slow them down.”

“Thank you.” She snapped her gun into her holster.

He stuffed a silver chain into one of the pockets of his black cargo pants. He’d learned months ago that he could teleport with the chain as long as it didn’t touch his bare skin or wasn’t wrapped around him. “This could be the night. If I can get this chain around Casimir, he willna be able to escape.”

“And you’ll finally have the revenge you’ve wanted for so long.” Olivia touched his face. “Be careful, I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

He kissed her brow. “Lass, ye’re going to be stuck with me for a long, long time.”

She called her supervisor on the speakerphone. Robby teleported her to Barker’s office, and Connor brought J.L. Angus and Emma arrived with Carlos.

Barker grinned when he saw J.L. and slapped him on the back. “You’re looking good.”

“Thanks.” J.L. peered into the main office. “Everybody’s gone home.”

“Yep.” Barker led them all into the larger outer office. “They think all the escaped prisoners are accounted for. Of course, Otis is still out there. Any ideas for finding him?”

“Maybe Yasmine used her debit card again.” J.L. headed for his work area. “I’ll check.”

“I’ll help.” Olivia followed him.

“Do you know how many vampires we’re up against?” Barker asked.

Robby sighed. They’d compared notes earlier about the battle in the storage unit. Three Malcontents had managed to teleport away in addition to Casimir and Otis. “We believe they have a total of five, but Casimir could have had more of his followers teleport in.”

The Vamps had five vampires, including J.L., plus two shape-shifters and Olivia.

“We could call in reinforcements,” Emma suggested. “Jack, Ian, Dougal, and Jean-Luc would be happy to help.”

“Let’s do that,” Angus told her, and she pulled out her cell phone to make the calls.

Robby glanced at Olivia. She was at her work station, turning on her computer. “I willna allow Olivia to be used as bait. Otis may have learned how to teleport. If he gets his hands on her, there’s no telling where he might take her. We would never find her.”

Jack and the others appeared. Robby introduced them to Barker, and Angus brought them up to date.

“Robby!” Olivia called from her desk. “I just received an e-mail from Yasmine.”

He dashed over to her, followed by the others.

“It was sent via a BlackBerry,” Olivia explained. “She wrote, ‘Help me, Olivia. They will kill me. I’m texting so they won’t hear. Come to the old warehouse at Pier 6 by the river.’”

“’Tis a trap,” Connor grumbled.

“Aye. Otis will be there waiting for you,” Robby told Olivia. “We canna let you go.”

She frowned. “I’m not helpless, you know.”

“Ye’re no match for a vampire,” Robby argued. “They dinna let Yasmine call ’cause they dinna want us using her voice to teleport.”

“I’ve located an office on Pier 6,” J.L. said as he typed on his keypad. “We can call the number and teleport there.”

Angus patted him on the back. “Lad, ye’re going to fit right in at MacKay S and I.”

J.L. smiled. “Just let me hitch a ride with one of you.”

Olivia sighed. “And what am I supposed to do?”

“I’ll stay here with you,” Barker said.

“Verra well.” Robby stepped back and drew his sword. “Call the number on speakerphone, J.L.”

All the Vamps drew their swords and waited for the beacon to teleport. The phone rang.

“Be careful,” Olivia told Robby.

He smiled. “Doona fash. I’m finally getting my revenge.”

“Kansas City Exports,” a female voice answered the phone. “How may I help you?”

Robby and his eight companions teleported, landing in a small office with a shrieking woman. Angus quickly erased her memory, and they all dashed from the office building. They headed toward the old warehouse.

Angus silently divided them into three groups of three, then they slipped inside. Angus took his group to the right, Jack veered to the left with his group, and Robby led Connor and J.L. down the wide path in the center.

Dim lights shone overhead with dust motes dancing in the weak, golden glow. The air was musty and stale. Robby passed rows of stacked wooden crates and boxes, then came to an open area in the center of the warehouse.

On the far side of the open area, close to a double stack of crates, Yasmine sat tied up in a chair. Definitely a trap. She couldn’t have sent the text to Olivia with her hands tied behind her back.

A clash of swords sounded on the right, then another clash on the left. Angus’s and Jack’s groups were under attack.

Robby slowly advanced into the open area with Connor and J.L.

Yasmine spotted them. “Help! They’re going to kill me!”

“That’s what you said last time!” J.L. yelled back.

“I’m sorry,” she wailed. “The prisoners said they would kill me if I didn’t find someone else for the vampires to feed on.”

“So you chose me?” J.L. glared at her.

“Please!” Yasmine cried. “I’m so scared. I didn’t know Otis would become a vampire!”

“Doona approach her, lad,” Connor said.

“Don’t worry,” J.L. grumbled. “I’ll never trust her again.”

Yasmine’s desperate look vanished and she glared coldly at them. “Where’s Olivia? I promised him Olivia.”

“He will never have her,” Robby said.

Yasmine lifted her chin. “Fine by me. She’ll never love Otis like I do. I can make him happy—”

“You stupid bitch!” Otis zoomed from behind the crates and backhanded Yasmine across the face. “You failed me again.”

“Otis,” she cried. “I’ll do anything for you.”

J.L. charged toward Otis, but he teleported away just as J.L. lifted his sword. “Damn!”

Yasmine laughed. “You’ll never catch him. He’s too smart for you.”

Connor ran behind the crates to see if another vampire was hiding there.

J.L. gave Yasmine an incredulous look. “What is your problem? How can you help a monster like that?”

“Otis needs me. He said I was different from the others. He said I was special. He hates other women, but he loves me.”

J.L. scoffed. “He loves Olivia.”

“No!” Yasmine struggled against her ropes. “He said I would be with him forever. All I had to do was help him drive Olivia crazy.”

“You’re the crazy one!” J.L. yelled.

“Enough.” Robby held up a hand. The clashing of swords in the distance had stopped. He pivoted, searching the warehouse, then focused on Yasmine. “Is Casimir here?”

She glowered at him. “Why should I tell you anything? Otis hates you. I told him Olivia was dating you, and that’s when he had me put the apples in her apartment to punish her. I’m the one who really loves him. When he realizes that, he’ll change me into a vampire. Not Olivia. And then we’ll be together forever.”

“He’s just using you, Yasmine,” J.L. muttered.

Connor emerged from behind the crates. “It’s clear.”

“He loves me!” Yasmine shouted. “Otis loves me.”

“Enough, woman!” Connor shot a vampire mind zap at her, and she slumped unconscious in her chair.

“Wow,” J.L. whispered. “I need to learn how to do that.”

Connor shrugged. “’Twill no’ make you verra popular with the ladies.”

The other Vamps ran into the open area.

“We killed two,” Angus reported.

“We killed one,” Jack said.

“Bravo,” a voice said from above. Casimir stepped off a rafter far overhead and floated down to land on top of the crates. He held his sword in his right hand. His long coat didn’t hide the fact that his left arm was bent in an unnatural way. His left hand was gloved and curled up against his chest. “It only took nine of you to kill three of my men. How very brave of you.”

Robby reached a gloved hand into his pocket to grab hold of the silver chain. He teleported to the top of the crates and whipped the chain out.

Casimir pointed his sword at him. “Do you think you’ll get revenge? The joke is on you, MacKay. I found a new way to torture you, and the wound will cut deep. You see, Otis stole the Asian’s cell phone last night while I was feeding on him.”

J.L. felt his pockets. “He’s right. It’s gone.”

Casimir chuckled. “I wonder if the lovely Olivia will answer a phone call from her friend? If she has, Otis has already teleported there.”

Robby’s blood turned cold.

“What will you do, Robby?” Casimir sneered. “You can make a feeble attempt to kill me, or you can rush back to your woman and discover you were too late to save her.”

Olivia was pacing in Barker’s office, waffling between anger and anxiety. She was worried about Robby and J.L., but also angry that they hadn’t allowed her to go with them.

“Relax,” Barker said from behind his desk. “They’ll be fine.”

“J.L. isn’t used to being a vampire yet. He shouldn’t be fighting so soon.” Her cell phone rang, and she checked the caller. “Oh my gosh, it’s J.L.”

She flipped the phone open. “Hello?” She shot Barker a worried look. “J.L.? Are you there?”

“I’m right here, darling.”

She gasped and spun around. Otis was in the office, holding J.L.’s phone.

“Shame on you, darling.” Otis affected an injured look. “You were supposed to come to the warehouse. But lucky for me, I had another way to find you.”

She dropped her phone and drew her weapon.

Barker jumped to his feet, aiming his pistol.

Otis tossed the phone on the floor and stepped toward her. “Now, at last, we can be together.”

Barker shot at him, but Otis vanished. Olivia spun around, looking for him.

She heard Barker gasp. His face contorted in pain, then he slumped to the floor. Otis was standing in his place with a bloodied knife in his hand.

“They left you poorly protected, didn’t they?” He wedged the knife under his belt.

Rage exploded in Olivia. She fired her gun. And missed.

Otis had moved out of the way at vampire speed, his body zooming across the room in a blur. He knocked the gun from her hand. She jumped back and drew her dagger.

Otis smiled. “You like knives, too? I knew we were perfect for each other.”

She lunged forward, stabbing at his chest, but again he vanished. He was suddenly behind her, yanking her up against his chest and ripping the dagger from her hand.

She elbowed him in the ribs and stomped on his foot. When his hold loosened, she broke free and ran for her dagger on the floor.

He tackled her from behind, slamming her onto the carpet. Before she could catch her breath, he flipped her over. She swung punches at his face, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms down.

“At last.” He breathed heavily. “I’ll make you mine forever.” He reared his head back and his fangs sprang out.

She kneed him in the balls. He hissed, and lifted her up just to slam her back onto the floor.

Pain shot through her skull. Her vision cleared in time to see him drawing closer to her neck. She struggled, but he was too damned strong.

He flinched and pulled back. “What?” He regarded her with horror. “You’ve been marked. You let someone else bite you?”

“I’ll never be yours. Never,” she hissed.

“You bitch!” He pulled his knife from his belt.

A silver chain was suddenly looped around Otis’s neck and he cried out in pain. The knife tumbled from his hand.

Robby yanked the chain tighter, and Otis’s skin sizzled. He hauled Otis off her. Otis flailed his arms, trying to reach Robby behind him.

“His knife,” Robby growled. He yanked Otis to his feet, still squeezing him around the neck with the silver chain.

She spotted Otis’s knife on the floor beside her, grabbed it and scrambled to her feet. “This is for all the women you tortured and killed!” She plunged it into his chest.

He turned to dust.

She dropped the knife to the floor. Robby dropped the chain and pulled her into his arms.

She held him tight. Even so, she started to shake.

“’Tis over, sweetheart.” He hugged her. “He’ll never threaten you again.”

“Is it really over? Did you kill Casimir?”

“Nay. I left him to save you.” Robby kissed the top of her head. “I couldna bear to lose you.”

A moan sounded behind the desk.

“Oh my gosh, Barker!” Olivia skirted the desk and found him on the floor. Blood oozed from his wound.

He blinked up at her. “You’re all right?”

“Yes.” She fumbled for the phone on his desk. “I’ll call an ambulance.”

Robby stopped her. “Ye may no’ need to. Barker, will ye heal if ye shift?”

“I think so. But I’ve lost a lot of blood.” He winced. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I wasn’t much help. I passed out.”

She squeezed his arm. “Don’t apologize.”

More Vamps appeared in the room.

J.L. ran toward Olivia and Barker. “Are you guys okay?”

“Otis stabbed Barker in the back,” Olivia told him.

Connor stepped forward. “I can teleport him to a Vamp doctor in Houston. We’ll make sure he heals properly.”

“Oh, thank you,” Olivia said.

Connor gathered Barker up and vanished.

Olivia gave J.L. a hug. “I was worried about you. Did you find Yasmine?”

“Oh yeah.” He made a face. “The woman’s crazy. We called the police to come get her.”

“What happened to Casimir?” Robby asked.

Angus sighed. “The bastard teleported away right after ye did.” He motioned to the pile of dust on the floor. “I gather this was Otis?”

“Aye. Olivia killed him.” Robby smiled at her.

“We did it together.” She stepped into his arms.

He hugged her tight. “We make a fearsome couple.”

Angus chuckled and nudged his wife. “I think we’ll have some wee bairns in the family soon.”

Emma grinned. “Oh, I hope so.”

Robby scoffed. “Do ye mind if we get married first?”

Olivia touched his cheek. “Are you proposing?”

“No’ here.” He kissed her brow. “But I know the perfect place.”

She smiled. “It’s a date.”