The Merzetti Effect (A Vampire Romance) (30 page)

Wait a minute‌—‌sun searing his skin? Definitely a dream. He’d never make it fifty feet in the Saharan sun before collapsing from anaphylactic shock, let alone trekking for miles in the burning sand.

But the thirst! It was so real, so urgent and all-consuming.

“Delano?”

Confused, he turned full circle, scanning the barren landscape. “Eli?”

“Delano, wake up!”

He cocked his head at the female voice. Ainsley was here, too? This was too strange. Why couldn’t he see them? Had he gone blind from the sun?

“Delano.” This time, Eli’s voice held a note of command. “You have to wake up. We have a problem.”

Someone laid a hand on him, jerking him out of the dream state. He jackknifed up, causing both Eli and Ainsley to spring back.

“What is it?” His heart banged against his ribs. “Are we under attack?”

“No, but I have some grim news from the team we sent to Mexico.”

“What’s happened?”

“They’re gone.”

Delano swallowed. Christ, his mouth felt like the desert of his dreams. Clearly, it had been a very long time since he’d last fasted. He didn’t remember the physical symptoms being so … well,
physical
. Even his pulse felt skittery. Skittery and feeble at the same time.
Concentrate, Bowen.
What had Eli said? They’re gone. Who were
they
?

Holy Christ!

“Mrs. Michaels and her daughter?”

“Yes, and the local operatives were slain. All four of them.”

Janecek!

Delano shot a glance at Ainsley, who looked like someone had unplugged her power supply. She sat there with the bedspread wrapped around her naked body, her eyes vacant, her mouth gone slack. Shock. It wouldn’t last.

He took her left hand in his and chafed it with his own hands. She showed no awareness of his attempt to comfort, but he didn’t release her hand. The contact comforted
him
, dammit.

He turned back to Eli, doing his best to pretend that he was facing his lieutenant across a table, rather than sitting here buck-naked in bed with a sheet covering his privates.

“Okay, let’s hear what you know. Start from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.”

Eli grimaced. “It’s a short story, I’m afraid. Our day/night team went wheels up shortly after 1:00 this morning, and reached shelter for our vamp before dawn. Digger Harris took the day shift, but couldn’t make contact with the locals we hired. After he failed to reach a single member of the team at the coordinates we provided, he made a personal reconnaissance of the subject’s house.”

Delano swallowed again, no easy task given he seemed to have no saliva available. “Which is when he found the whole team slaughtered and the Michaels woman and child missing.”

“That’s it,” said Eli, rubbing the back of his neck, “in a fuckin’ nutshell.”

“We’re sure it was Janecek?” Delano knew the answer but had to ask the question.

“I think it’s a safe assumption, particularly given that they were all exsanguinated.”

“Where are they?” Beside him, Ainsley stirred at last, extracting her hand from his. “What has that creature done with Lucy and Devon?”

Ainsley’s eyes no longer looked vacant, but Delano wasn’t entirely certain their new expression was much of an improvement. Her beautiful violet eyes had gone volcanic with a hot fury with which Delano was only too well acquainted. He didn’t have to probe her mind to appreciate what she was feeling. Her lust for vengeance spilled from every pore, permeating the room.

Easy, baby.
“He won’t have harmed them.”

She glowered at him.
Yet, you mean.

He wished he could refute her assessment of Janecek’s intent, but she’d know he was lying. But what Janecek intended wasn’t necessarily what would come to pass. Not while he still lived and breathed.

“He’ll use them to negotiate. And to do that, he’ll have to bring them to us. When he does, we’ll simply have to figure out how to wrest them away.”

She stared at him, unblinking. “You know what he’s going to try to negotiate. Us for them. Plus destruction of your labs and the work you’ve done.”

“I know.”

“Whoa right there.” Eli held up a hand. “Don’t tell me you’re seriously thinking about agreeing to his demands?” He looked from one to the other. “Goddammit, he’ll kill you both! And when he’s done, he’ll kill the Michaels woman and her kid just to put an exclamation point on his victory.”

Delano tried to work up enough spit to swallow again. “At the risk of sounding repetitive, I know.”

“And then there would be nothing standing between Janecek and his prey.” Eli didn’t raise his voice. Rather, he got quieter and more deadly as he went. “Our friend Radak and all the other monsters like him will be free to cull the herd with impunity then, wouldn’t they? Alleyways and crack houses and battlefields and hospital wards and anywhere else where sudden deaths can be readily explained. That is, until the day arrives when their numbers are so plentiful that they no longer give a shit whether or not their kills go unnoticed.”

Delano dragged a hand through his hair. “Christ, Eli, I know that, too. Obviously, we can’t concede to his demands.”

“
I
can.”

Delano and Eli swiveled to gawk at Ainsley.

“The vaccine is all but finished, right? You don’t really need me any more. And if there’s any doubt, you can take as much blood as you like. I just need enough to stay on my feet to make the exchange.”

“No!”

Both men spoke at once.

Ainsley held up a hand. “Hear me out. This makes sense. We oblige him to settle for me. He lets Lucy and Devon go. Of course, he’s not really planning to let them go. He’ll be planning to kill all of us, but as soon as I get close, I detonate a bomb and take him out.”

Delano found his voice first. “A bomb?”

“Yes. You can wire it onto me.”

“A suicide bomb?”

“No, a smart bomb that will hurt him but not me.”

Delano leapt up, yanking the sheet with him. “No way. No fucking way.”

Stunned silence greeted his use of the blunt Anglo-Saxon epithet, and he took advantage of it.

“Have you forgotten the blood-bond, Ainsley? You die, I follow. It’s as simple as that. Then there will be no one left to perfect the vaccine, no matter how much blood you leave behind.” He wrapped the sheet around himself, holding it bunched at his hip with one hand. “Christ, we might as well concede to his demands if that’s your plan.”

“He’s right, Ainsley.”

Ainsley wheeled on Eli, her lip curled in a veritable snarl. “I know he’s right, dammit!” Her fierce expression crumpled, leaving raw, stomach-churning fear etched in every line of her face. “Oh, God, what are we going to do? I can’t let anything happen to them. This is all my fault.”

Guilt scored Delano’s conscience, raking its claws deep into his psyche. The two people who gave her life meaning, the people for whom she’d sacrificed everything… And now, because of him, their lives now hung in the balance. If he hadn’t hunted her down, Lucy and Devon Michaels would still be safe. Ainsley would be safe.

“I’m the one who dragged you into this, remember? It’s my fault.”

Eli snorted, crossing his arms across his powerful chest. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Janecek is the villain of this piece, make no mistake about it.” He glared at Ainsley. “None of this is your fault, Ainsley. Absolutely none of it. You just happened to be born with a funky gene. Are we clear on that?”

Before Ainsley could respond, Eli wheeled toward Delano.

“And you‌—‌you coulda been more transparent with Ainsley from the start, no question. You know my position on that, so I’ll leave it alone. But everyone in this room knows that it wouldn’t have made a tinker’s damn of a difference to the outcome. Once her eyes were opened to the predators, Ainsley could no more have turned her back on this project than I could. So if you please, a little less self-flagellating and a little more strategizing as to how we’re going to bring this motherfucker down.”

Amazed, Delano arched a brow. “Are you finished?”

“Gawd, I hope so. I just shot my word quota for the next four days.”

Delano clapped his free hand on Eli’s back. “As always, you give wise counsel. Why don’t we, er,” he looked down at the sheet he clutched over his nakedness, “compose ourselves and meet over the dining room table?”

Eli nodded. “I’ll put coffee on.”

As soon as they were alone, Delano went to Ainsley and gathered her into his arms. She shuddered, and he held her closer, absorbing her fear and dread and guilt and misery. “I’m so sorry, little one.”

She let herself lean on him a moment, then pulled back. “I’ve got to go get dressed,” she said, her voice thick with unshed tears.

“Of course.” He released her immediately, although it was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to tell her what this past day had meant to him. He wanted to hear what it meant to her. He wanted the equivalent of morning-after assurances, in the evening. But this was not the time. He gave her arm a last squeeze. “I’ll see you shortly.”

When she’d left, he headed straight for the bathroom. Standing at the basin, he turned the water on. He gave it a few seconds to run cold, then cupped his hands beneath the faucet to capture the crystal-clear liquid, bent and drank deep. Then he repeated the process a half-dozen times, until the sweet, clean water had knocked the edge of his thirst. Shutting off the tap, he reached for a hand towel and swiped it across his face. Catching his own gaze in the mirror, he cursed. “Great timing, Bowen.”

He was about to go up against an enemy who was among the most powerful vampires alive.

Cursing, Delano started the shower, adjusted the water temperature and stepped under the hot spray, letting it bathe the scratches on his back with tongues of fire. Scratches that had failed to heal during his day sleep, because, God help him, he was no longer a vampire, or fast achieving that state. A fact he was going to have to keep from Ainsley and Eli, who were going to need every ounce of courage they could muster for the confrontation to come.

Ainsley managed to stay in her chair out of sheer willpower. They’d been going over different scenarios and what-ifs and contingencies for hours now, and she was ready to scream.

No, she wanted to hit something, to lash out. She wanted to tear this room apart. She wanted to hurl her coffee mug against the wall, overturn the table, smash the stupid speakerphone that refused to ring.

She glanced at Delano, and felt some of the desperate edge come off. Poor Del. He didn’t look to be in much better shape than she was. Not that he looked bad; she’d come to believe he was incapable of that. But he looked … what? More vulnerable, maybe. Suddenly, she wanted to circle the table and put her arms around him right where he sat, holding him as tightly as he’d asked her to do last night.

He looked up and caught her eye.

Tell me again that it’s going to be all right.

Instead of replying to her silent plea, he reached across the table and covered her hand with his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Of course. He wanted her to conserve her psychic energy. He’d been right about that. Her mental exhaustion in the wee small hours before dawn had been profound. When Delano sent her a sleep suggestion, it had been lights out. She couldn’t remember the last time she slept so soundly, even with the help of a sleep aid.

The speakerphone rang, jolting everyone visibly.

Delano stabbed a button. “Bowen.”

“So curt.” Janecek’s voice filled the dining room, but there was a great deal of background noise, a rhythmic
whup-whupping
. “And after I’ve come all this way to see you.”

Eli muted the phone. “Chopper,” he said, then depressed the mute button again.

“I’m touched,” Delano drawled.

“It doesn’t look like it from up here,” shouted Janecek over the beating of the helicopter’s blades. “It looks like you’ve got a SWAT team up here ready to take us out on your command.”

Ainsley’s stomach churned. He was here, in a helicopter, hovering close enough to see the guard posted on the roof!

On cue, Eli’s radio erupted with a report from the roof of an incoming aircraft, potentially hostile. He stabbed the mute button on the phone, then depressed the transmit button on his radio. “Roger that, B-Team. Hold your fire. Repeat, hold your fire. There are hostages on board that helo. Over.”

When Eli’s radio had crackled a “Roger that”, Delano took the mute off again.

“You expected us to roll out the red carpet, perhaps?”

“What I expect,” he said, “is a little respect for my cargo.”

Unable to stand it a moment longer, Ainsley jumped up. “Goddamn you, you monster, they better be all right!”

“Ah, Ms. Crawford. Good of you to confirm your presence. Because without you, this delightful duo would be of no use to me, save perhaps as an appetizer. They’re neither one of them very big.”

Ainsley gasped, but Delano pushed into her mind with a faint but firm command not to rise to the bait. Digging her nails into her palms, she forced herself to sink back into her chair. His eyes thanked her, and he turned his attention back to the phone.