The Merzetti Effect (A Vampire Romance) (17 page)

“Didn’t he also say something about a hotel?”

“You understand French?”

“Not much, but even I can puzzle out l’hôtel.”

He urged her into motion again. “You heard right. He suggested we find a hotel for the night, since it will take them a while to clear the scene. Until they do that, they won’t let anyone back in.”

“And you agreed?”

“I told him I was the owner of the building and I preferred to hang around to see how long it’s going to take.”

“Don’t we need to get back in there? I mean, before sunup?”

Irritation raked across nerve endings left raw by this unexpected development. Did she think he was completely helpless outside of his bedroom? Or lair, as she no doubt thought of it. “I can make do very nicely in a hotel room, as long as the black-out drapes are drawn and no one intrudes during the daylight hours to yank them open.”

“But surely this place is easier to defend in the event‌—”

“Un moment, Monsieur Bowen!”

Delano glanced around to find a fireman approaching at a brisk pace. Maybe he had a situation report already. He signaled for the guards to fall back a few feet. The firefighter pulled abreast of them.

“You have a report for me?”

“More of a catch-up.” The fireman removed his helmet and tucked it under an arm. “How’ve you been, Dad?”

D
ELANO MADE A
hissing sound, exactly like the noise Ainsley’s attacker had made in that alley back in St. Cloud when Delano had saved her life. She recoiled, intuitively recognizing this to be a vampire-on-vampire confrontation, but Delano’s grip on her hand held her fast.

“You’re no relation of mine, Janecek.”

Janecek!

Ainsley’s already racing heart took another bounding leap. She cast a glance over her shoulder to see their bodyguards moving in. Thank God! They’d heard.

“I’d call them off if I were you, Bowen. Unless you’d like the world to see an extremely bloody shootout play out on network television.”

The bodyguards froze. Ainsley whipped her head around to see that Delano had thrown his palm up in an unmistakable stop sign for Shalvis and Hayes. Then she saw the gun in Janecek’s hand. Ainsley knew nothing about guns, other than what bullets did to flesh and bone, but this looked nothing like the compact pistol Delano had brandished in his lab. It looked quite capable of discharging enough automatic rounds to kill everyone. A glance back toward the high-rise confirmed that the local media had, indeed, arrived.

“Come on, Delano, I just want to have a civilized conversation.”

For seconds, there was only silence. Ainsley imagined she could hear Delano’s heart thudding. Or maybe it was her own.

“Hold your fire,” he said at last. “For now.”

“Much appreciated.” Janecek bared gleaming white teeth in a smile, but he didn’t lower his weapon. “Like my new duds? I gotta say, it’s a little hot under this gear.”

“Nice. Did you kill the fireman you stole it from?”

“Nah. I just left him unconscious. He’ll be fine.” His shrug was barely perceptible beneath the bulky fire-fighter’s jacket. “Call it a late Father’s Day gift.”

Delano’s hand tightened on Ainsley’s so hard, it was all she could do to keep from crying out. Then it slackened again.

“I am not your father.”

“Well, how do you like that?”

Janecek fixed his gaze on Ainsley, facing her fully for the first time, and she caught her breath.

Dear God, he was stunning. Wavy blond hair that touched his collar, flawless skin, strong white teeth, dark eyebrows and green, eerily feline eyes.

“But I guess you’d understand that whole foster parent thing, wouldn’t you, little one? So anxious to disown us.”

Ainsley’s heartbeat faltered as she belatedly began to absorb the meaning of his words. Delano had fostered Janecek? His enemy?

“Del?” She glanced up at him, but his gaze was still fixed on Janecek.

“What? You didn’t tell her about our relationship? I’m wounded.”

“Why would I volunteer that information?” Delano spat the words out. “To think I kept your worthless hide alive, allowed you to reach maturity, and you repay me by preying on the vulnerable. It’s my deepest shame. One I hope to atone for some day, God willing.”

Janecek snorted. “Did you hear that, Ainsley?”

The creature knew her name! And, oh, sweet Jesus, he’d known she’d been in foster care. What else did he know? She looked into his glittering green eyes and saw the truth there. A lot. More, perhaps, than she knew herself. She sagged against Delano, clutching his arm.

The creature transferred its attention back to Delano. “And you. I should think by now you’d realize your God has forsaken you.”

“Just because you willingly surrendered your own soul doesn’t mean the rest of us have.”

“Face it, Delano. After all these years, he’s forgotten you. He’s never going to come to collect your shriveled-up soul. You’re stuck here, locked inside your own personal, self-loathing prison of flesh.”

Delano’s bicep bulged beneath her hands.

“Shut up.”

Janecek grinned. “Aw, come on, Dad, call me Radak. Just once, for old time’s sake.”

“I should have left you in that monastery to starve to death after you killed the last of the monks.”

“Now that cuts.”

“Look, if you’ve got something to say, say it, before a real fireman comes jogging over to see why you’ve strayed so far from the scene.”

“Straight to the point, as ever.” When Delano held his silence, Janecek sighed. “I come to offer a truce. Give me what I want, and I’ll leave you alone in your lab to tinker with your toys.”

“A truce?” Delano snorted. “And what would your price be for that?”

Janecek’s odd eyes fixed on Ainsley. “The woman.”

Beside her, Delano went rigid.

Dear God! They were talking about her. But why would Janecek want her badly enough to engineer this dialogue, unless he thought it would hurt Delano?

“Forget it.” Delano ground the words out.

“Think about it,” Janecek urged. “I’m sure you’ve got plenty of her precious blood squirreled away by now for your experiments. You don’t need her anymore.”

Ainsley put a hand to her head, battling a new surge of vertigo. Blood for his experiments?
Her
blood? Is that why he’d been drawing it daily?

“You’re a killer. I wouldn’t turn a rabid dog over to you, let alone a human being. And even if I had no such scruples, I’d be a fool to accept your word that you’d keep the peace. I made that mistake once, which is the only reason you live and breathe today.”

“Del, what’s he talking about?”

Janecek laughed. “Don’t tell me she doesn’t know!”

Delano growled.

“Oh, this is priceless! He really didn’t tell you?” He threw back his head and laughed again.

“Del?”

“Later, Ainsley,” he said, keeping his gaze locked on Janecek. “You’ve had your answer. I’ll give you nothing, save perhaps a hypodermic dart full of that vaccine I’ve got cooking.”

Janecek’s face went hard. “You’re a fool, Delano. A fool on a misguided mission. You’d be so much happier if you’d just embrace your nature. Do you never grow weary of fighting it?”

“I never lose sight of who the enemy is. It’s you and predators like you.”

Janecek’s mouth curved in a smile that was almost gentle. Pitying. “Is it? Is it really?”

Then he seemed to melt away. Ainsley blinked. Of course. He could move as fast as Delano. As fast as her attacker had back in that alley.

“Boss?”

Shalvis and Hayes were poised to pursue Janecek, on Delano’s word.

He shook his head. “Forget it. You’d never catch up.”

Gone. Thank God. Ainsley shuddered. Except now there were all these questions. Ugly questions, the answers to which she knew were going to change her. Possibly even destroy her. “Delano?”

“I’ll answer all your questions. Just not now.” Without glancing down at her, he lifted the radio to his mouth. “Did you get any of that, Eli?” He released the button he must have been pressing for the whole exchange.

“All of it,” came Eli’s voice. “And let me say, quick thinking. That heads-up allowed us to run interference with the media to keep them off you.”

“Thanks.”

“Now get your butts over here. Our guys have spotted some of Janecek’s soldiers. We need to circle the wagons.”

Delano pocketed the radio. “Come on. You heard him.”

Ainsley fell into step, and this time she had no trouble keeping up, a combination of anger and fear fuelling her limbs.

Her
blood
. He was using her blood for something.

Was it because she’d been bitten but not yet turned? Did he need the blood of a victim in transition?

Transition.

God, she’d almost forgotten about the possibility of infection. Okay, maybe not forgotten. It was hard to forget when she had to roll up her sleeve twice a day, but the regular negative results had lulled her into a sense of security.

And why had Janecek tried to bargain for her? For her blood? Could he want it, too? But why? Or had he made the offer just to taunt Delano? The latter, she suspected. He had to have known Delano wouldn’t deal a human life for any kind of favor. If Delano had in fact fostered Janecek, he had to understand that much about him.

She longed to grab Del’s arm, make him stop, make him answer her questions now, but if Eli said they were still in danger, they couldn’t afford that kind of distraction.

As they neared the knot of people, the outer ring opened to admit them‌—‌Delano, followed by Ainsley, then the two security officers.

Eli stepped forward and clapped Delano on the back. “Good thinking, transmitting that exchange.”

“Squeezing that transmission button had a dual purpose, I assure you,” Delano said grimly. “It kept me from going for the bastard’s throat.”

Eli turned to Ainsley. “You okay?”

His gaze slid over her face without ever really meeting her eyes, and the other shoe dropped.

He knew. Eli knew what Delano’s real interest was in her. Oddly, she felt closer to tears than she had when she’d challenged Delano. She’d always known Delano was keeping something from her, but somehow she’d trusted Eli to be straight with her.

She glared at him. “Do I look okay, Eli?”

He mumbled something about it being a rough night all the way around, then turned back to Delano.

“How the hell did he get in? He must have gotten past the guards in the lobby to get to the second floor to start that blaze.”

“He could have hired someone to start it,” Delano said.

“But he had to have been inside the building to have surprised that fireman and strip him of his turn-out gear.”

“Speaking of which, do we know if he’s okay? The fireman he suckered?”

“He’s fine. The guys we sent over there to distract the media just reported that he was hauled out. They’ll evacuate him in an ambulance any minute.”

As if on cue, a siren started up and an ambulance nudged its way onto the street, before accelerating and quickly disappearing.

“But how’d he get past the guards?”

The sound of the ambulance’s siren had started to fade. Delano stood looking after it. “Glamour.”

“Glamour?”

“Yeah. A cheap parlor trick. All vampires use it, to some extent, to look more normal, to fit in, to fade into the background a bit. It works great for most people, who see what they expect to see. But for Janecek to have slipped past guards who are watching for him…” Delano shook his head. “He must have cultivated a talent far beyond anything he possessed when I knew him.”

Eli swore. “Does this mean he can slip past our check points whenever he likes?”

Delano shook his head emphatically. “Highly doubtful. You need a certain degree of willingness on the part of the person fooled before the trick can work, and after this incident, everyone will be on high alert. Having said that, I don’t think we should take any chances. From now on, I want a vampire at every post for the night shifts.”

Eli coughed.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“I hope you’re not suggesting we replace our agents altogether?”

“Of course not. They’d be in addition to the current complement.”

“I presume they’d be civilians, for lack of a better word. No tactical training?”

“They won’t need tactical training to see through a vampire glamour. No matter how slick young Radak has gotten, he’ll never slip by another vampire.”

Ainsley put up her hand. “Ah, excuse me?”

Both men turned to frown at her, which she chose to interpret as leave to interject. “Umm, if Janecek couldn’t fool a vampire, how come he got right up to us tonight without you sensing him, Delano? Unless, of course, your own power is waning while Janecek’s is growing?”

There was a collective hiss of indrawn breath from the men who circled them.

Delano’s face in the harsh streetlight looked carved from stone. “I know you’re angry, Ainsley, so that was a free shot. But I assure you, my powers are as potent as the day I was made.” He turned back to Eli. “Perhaps it was the clothing?”

Eli nodded vigorously. “Of course. There’d be Kevlar in the turn-out suit, and it looked like he had a hot shield around his neck, not to mention a helmet. Maybe all that shielding was sufficient to muffle his vamp vibe.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

“Okay, we’ll add excessive shielding to the list of flags. From now on, anybody wearing more than a summer-weight business suit gets an extra-hard look. Firemen, riot police, hell, the fuckin’ Marlboro Man if he’s wearing an oilskin duster. I’ll spread the word.”

They went on to discuss where Janecek’s operatives had been spotted, the situation on the roof, and so on, but Ainsley listened with only half an ear. Her brain was too busy going over the confrontation with Janecek, dredging up every word that had been said.

Delano was using her. There could be no other conclusion. And everyone seemed to know about it‌—‌Janecek, Eli, and who else? The security staff? Her personal bodyguard? Everyone but stupid, unsuspecting Ainsley?

Well, she was going to get to the bottom of it tonight. Come hell or high water, she’d have her answers before the sunrise chased Delano to his bed.