The Perfect Ten Boxed Set

by Dianna Love

  “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.

  Delano found his gaze straying more and more frequently to Ainsley as he listened to Eli. They’d been cleared to go back into the building, but Eli had insisted a tactical team go in first to search and secure every floor, just in case Janecek wasn’t the only vampire who’d gotten past their checkpoints. Delano had hoped the long wait might give Ainsley an opportunity to cool down, but she hadn’t shown much sign of it.

  He stole another glance at her. Nope, no cooling off happening there. If anything, she looked to have whipped herself up, imagining God knows what nefarious plots.

  Too bad the truth was going to be so much worse than anything she might have conjured.

  Eli’s radio squawked and he answered it.

  “Looks like we’re cleared to go back in,” he said.

  Ainsley smiled, a cool, frightening thing any vampress would have been proud of. “Splendid.”

  Delano sighed. The hour of reckoning was upon him.

  Chapter 13

  BACK AT the penthouse, Eli insisted they stick with him while he did his own thorough check, notwithstanding that the whole building had already been searched and cleared. Delano should have been grateful for the reprieve, but now he just wanted it over.

  “It’s clear.”

  “Thanks, Eli. Now if you’ll excuse us?”

  He grimaced. “Not quite yet, I’m afraid. I need to clear the lab, as well, since it has direct access to the penthouse.”

  This time Delano and Ainsley stayed put while Eli descended the stairs alone to search the 28th floor. As soon as his footsteps faded, Ainsley broke away.

  “I need to make some tea.”

  “Fine. I’ll join you in the kitchen when Eli’s through.”

  She marched toward the kitchen with her head held high, giving no sign that she heard him. He sighed. This waiting hadn’t done her nerves any more favors than it had done his, it would seem.

  Eli emerged from the stairwell, immediately plugging a code into the alarm panel on the wall to prevent it from sounding. “Clean as a new penny,” he declared. “And now, while there’s a few hours of darkness left, I’d better go out, see if I can’t recruit some vampire eyes to help staff security checkpoints tomorrow night.”

  “Good plan. And while you’re at it, you’d better outfit them with uniforms so they can blend in better with the other guards. They’ll have to drop their own glamours for optimal performance, but that will make them stand out like neon in the dark. The uniform will help camouflage them.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  At last, Eli left. Delano headed for the kitchen, where he found Ainsley seated at the small cherry wood pedestal table. His heart squeezed as he took in the line of her back as she sat bent over her cup. She’d pulled all that blond hair to one side, exposing her nape. Was there anything in the world more beautiful? More achingly vulnerable?

  She sat up sharply. “Finally.”

  There was nothing vulnerable or soft about her tone.

  “Is that tea hot?”

  She blinked. “You drink tea?”

  He brushed past her and helped himself to a china mug. “Once in a while I like to remind myself what a steaming beverage feels like sliding down my throat, what the tannins feel like in my mouth.”

  Her face softened momentarily, then the line of her jaw hardened again. “Don’t try to play me. Just sit down and start talking.”

  “I think what I promised was that I’d answer all your questions.” He filled his mug, sat down and inhaled the steam from the pale brew. Peppermint leaves, ginger root, chamomile flowers and something more. Definitely an herbal concoction designed to calm the nerves. Too bad there’d be no uptake of those soothing ingredients as the fragrant liquid made its way through his system. He glanced up at her. “I promise to answer them truthfully.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Does this mean if I don’t ask the right questions, you’ll withhold information?”

  “I’m confident you’ll have a comprehensive picture of the situation when we’re done.”

  She sat up straighter in her chai
r. “Okay, we’ll do it your way. Why do you want my blood? He said you were using it for experiments.”

  “I believe your blood holds the key for the vaccine I’ve been trying to develop.”

  “Why? Because I was bitten? Because I’m in transition? Or maybe because I’m not? Did I resist infection, and that’s why you want my blood?”

  “No. It has nothing to do with the fact that you were bitten.”

  “The daily blood samples? Are you still testing them for antibodies?”

  “No.”

  “No? Why not? Has the risk passed?” The furrow in her brow deepened. “And if you’re not testing my blood for the virus, then why bother draw—”

  He held up a hand to stop her. “Listen to me, Ainsley. There never was any risk of infection.”

  Her face paled. “What did you say?”

  “There was never any risk of infection. None whatever.”

  Her mouth opened and closed, opened again, but nothing came out.

  He dropped his gaze to his mug once again.

  “Yes, I lied to you. There it is. I led you to believe you might have been exposed to the virus, when in fact, it was out of the question.” His grip on the mug tightened until he realized he was in danger of crushing it. Carefully, he unclenched his hand.

  “You lied?”

  He heard the scrape of her chair as she pushed it back from the table, but still he didn’t lift his gaze from the steaming amber liquid in the mug before him.

  “Yes, I lied. You see, it’s impossible to contract the virus if a vampire merely feeds from you. The pressure of your arterial blood far outstrips the pressure in his venous system. In order for Edward Webber to have infected you, he would have had to abandon your carotid artery and staunch the bleed with a self-secreted coagulant. He would then have bitten your jugular vein, exerting enough positive pressure to infuse a very small amount of his vampiric blood into yours, after which he would have closed that second wound. You’d have been left with no visible evidence of the attack, but the transition would have started within four to six hours, culminating within twenty-four to thirty hours.”

  “It’s all been a lie?”

  At her shaky tone, he looked up, meeting her wide, shocked eyes.