Blood Revealed
Page 24
When had she got so good at reading his body language?
“Sure,” Patrick told Eloise.
“Have you stopped being an actor now?”
Patrick hesitated. He shook his head slowly. “I haven’t given up the trade,” he said, his voice even and without emotion. “I’m pretty busy these days with everything else on my plate. Besides, I don’t think Hollywood wants me anymore.”
“Assholes,” Simone murmured. Her back was still to the room, as she bent over the sink.
“Simone!” Blythe spluttered as she coughed over a mouthful of coffee.
Dominic just grinned.
Patrick looked just as startled as Blythe felt.
Simone turned around to face everyone and shrugged. “He’s brilliant in the movies. That makes everyone else idiots.”
Patrick looked pleased. “To be fair,” he said, “it’s complicated.”
“What’s complicated about it? Jake demanded. “They won’t hire you because you are a vampire and had the guts to say that in public.”
The room was silent while everyone absorbed that.
Then Eloise shoved the coffee pot back onto the hotplate with a decisive click and turned around to face everyone. “Mom, what’s for supper?”
“Any requests?” Blythe asked.
“I want Patrick to stay for dinner,” Jake said.
“And I want Dominic to stay,” Simone said.
“I meant requests for food,” Blythe said weakly.
“I’d love to stay for supper,” Dominic said.
Patrick uncrossed his legs and stretched them out, relaxing. “I’ll stay, too.”
“To eat?” Blythe said, her voice rising in surprise.
“I’ll sit at the table with everyone,” Patrick said. “I’ve gotten used to watching people eat now.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting back to the house? You have to hunt tonight, don’t you?”
“Hunting! Yeah!” Jake said with enthusiasm. “I saw you on TV this morning. Very cool.” Then his gaze swiveled to Dominic. “And you’re a hunter, too. That’s so cool.” His eyes were shining.
“And so is your mother,” Dominic reminded him.
“I bet Mom is better than both of you combined,” Eloise said.
Blythe looked at her, startled.
“Your mother has no competition,” Dominic said. “Including either of us.” He nodded toward Patrick. “Patrick is far better than me, too. I just sniff them out.”
Simone shivered delicately and turned to open the fridge, checking for contents and possible supper menus ideas.
Jake looked at Patrick. “You will stay, won’t you?”
“I think that’s up to your mother to decide.” He looked at her directly and frankly. “Your squad’s numbers are down. I was thinking that, if you don’t mind, I should hunt with you. It will help prop up your numbers to have a vampire with you.”
Tallying the strength of men available to her was automatic and Blythe didn’t even have to think about it. “More people would absolutely be good. A vampire would be even better. Don’t tell me that you carry your sword in your car with you?”
Patrick shook his head. “I’ll borrow a knife or two. I’ve had training with those, too.”
“Wow!” Jake studied Patrick with open admiration.
“Your mother and Dominic are the heroes,” Patrick said flatly. “They’re hunting night after night, despite being weaker, vulnerable and the Summanus’ most favorite food. I am a vampire and hunting the Summanus is what I was made for.”
He glanced at Blythe and Dominic. “It’s all starting to make sense now that I’m hunting. We have better hearing, can see better in the dark and can smell a scent signature half a mile away, if the wind is right. We can move silently and faster than a human. And even though Summanus toxin hurts like hell, we heal faster than you do. We don’t need sleep, so we can hunt at night and still have time during the day to live as a human and move among them.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Blythe said.
“What about acting?” Simone insisted.
“If it happens,” Patrick said, “it will simply be a bonus, now.”
“Because you’re a hunter now,” Jake finished.
Patrick shook his head. “Acting used to be everything I lived for. Not being able to act would drive me into the deep end of a bottle and worse. It was my entire life.” He looked at steadily at Blythe and Dominic as he finished. “I have something else to live for, now.”
The silence was profound. Blythe was afraid to breathe. Not even her kids moved or made some sarcastic comment or otherwise ruined the moment. They all just stared at Patrick.
Then Jake cleared his throat. “I vote for pizza.”
“A really hot ginger beef for me,” Dominic said.
“Salad!” Simone sang out from the fridge and Jake groaned.
“There’s all that leftover stew in the freezer,” Eloise said. She didn’t sound the least bit enthusiastic.
“Summani steak, cooked rare,” Patrick said loudly.
“Oh, gross!” Simone said clutching at her stomach, as everyone else laughed. And just like that Blythe found herself preparing supper for a room full of people who had increased by two.
She didn’t mind, which for her was really saying something. Perhaps Winter’s tinkering had done more than relieve her stress symptoms.
As she prepared supper, she watched Dominic and Patrick talk and laugh with her kids, settling in at the table as if they had always belonged there. Her kids had been won over by Patrick almost instantly and Dominic had made his impression that morning. So now they blended in together like it was meant to be.
Perhaps it wasn’t Winter who had worked magic at all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When his phone started ringing for the third time in three minutes, Roman swore and untangle himself from Garrett’s arms and legs. “Sorry, Mikey,” he muttered and picked up the phone.
Garrett rolled onto his back with a heavy sigh. “So much for a lazy afternoon.”
The caller ID made Roman’s brows rise. He looked over his shoulder at Garrett. “You’re not going to believe this.” He answered the phone.
“Hi Roman. It’s Max Balfour. I don’t know if you remember me.”
“Max Balfour,” Roman said aloud, for Garrett’s benefit, although Garrett could hear Max as clearly as he could.
Garrett sat up, his attention snagged.
“Of course I remember you, Max,” Roman said into the phone. “President of the SG4 group. I think we met a few years ago.” He made himself shut up, so that the head of the most powerful private security firm in the country would be forced to make the first overture.
“Our paths don’t cross very often,” Max said. “I know you’ve been running with the Hollywood crowd for many years.”
“I’m married to one of them,” Roman reminded him.
“And to Calum Garrett, too, I believe.” It wasn’t a question. Max had been doing his homework. However, their lives had been public fodder for so long that he wouldn’t have had to try too hard to find that much out.
“How’s business these days?” Max said.
Roman hesitated. Business was in the basement. Just like Patrick, he had been excommunicated in absentia. Hollywood had turned its collective back on him, for the crime of speaking the truth. “With the Summanus taking bites out of us every night, I don’t think anyone’s business is doing particularly well these days,” he said carefully.
“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Max said. “I may have a proposition for you.”
“Go on.”
“SG4 is the largest security group in the northern hemisphere. We do corporate security, corporate espionage, drone work, paramilitary, we’ve even been hired to help run a military coup. There isn’t too much we don’t have a finger in, but guess what our biggest contracts are these days?”
Roman nodded. “Security forces against Summanus encroachment?”r />
“Right in one. So you can probably figure out now why I called.”
“Why don’t you spell it out for me?”
“I’ve been watching you on TV and I had my Chief of Staff pull up some videos and interviews that you’ve done, too. You know these bastards.”
“Even among the vampires, I’m probably one of the top three experts,” Roman said.
“And I think you’re being modest. I’ll be frank, Roman. I need your help. I need your expertise. We hire the best of the best, only this is a whole new world we’re in. My guys do their best. They just don’t know the Summanus the way you do and they don’t know vampires. They can’t make an honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses of the enemy, or even the strengths and weaknesses of allies like vampires, if they don’t understand them. You could educate them.”
Roman thought quickly. “I haven’t worked for anyone for hundreds of years. You’re not offering me a job?”
Max replied smoothly. “I’ll hire you as a consultant, if that’s the way you want it. This is a big job, though. You probably wouldn’t be able to spare the time for anyone else for quite a while.”
“No kidding. You’re talking about orchestrating an entire cultural shift of your corporation. Change doesn’t come easy, not even these days.”
“I think you’ll find it easier than you’re anticipating. My guys know they’re outflanked for as long as they don’t understand who it is they’re fighting. That’s going to make them eager to learn and more willing to change than the average Joe on the street.”
“Almost every average Joe on the street is hunting Summanus now, too,” Roman pointed out. “So am I.”
“I’ll make this worth your while. Once you’ve trained my boys, they can train others. You just have to get the ball rolling.”
“They’re not going to mind taking instructions from a vampire?”
Max didn’t hesitate. “If they do, they’re out. I don’t have time to deal with that sort of bullshit, anymore. Everyone needs to wake up and smell the new reality.”
It was a refreshing attitude and Roman could feel himself unbending. “Where are you located these days?”
“At the moment, I’m in Sydney. They’re having a bitch of a time down here. I’ll fly to wherever you want to meet.”
“I’m not committing myself. Not yet. Let’s make it Boston, next Wednesday. That’s seventy-two hours from now, which gives you time to get here. Do you have any objections if I bring Garrett along?”
“The more vampires the better,” Max said.
Garrett snorted.
Roman settled the time and place with Max then hung up. He tossed the phone on the bed between them and looked at Garrett. “It occurs to me that you have the second biggest security firm in your portfolio.”
“So that’s why you suggested Boston.” Garrett shook his head. “Most of my portfolio was decimated when they forced me out of the boardroom. That doesn’t mean I still don’t know people.”
They looked at each other.
“The Libertatus were filtered throughout most of the world’s military,” Garrett said slowly, which told Roman that he had been following his chain of thought almost exactly. “You couldn’t sell contracts to the military, because they already have their own experts. That is, if the Libertatus have come out for them.”
“It doesn’t matter if they have or haven’t,” Roman said. “As soon as news of a contract for consulting services makes the news, they’ll come out just to protect their positions and take advantage of the fact that they’re vampire.”
“So the military is out,” Garrett said. “But there are more civilians out there hunting than there are professional soldiers.”
“Most of them badly in need of training and expertise.”
Garrett frowned. “Is it right to profit from this?”
“You think the Max Balfours of the world are not going to turn this into a revenue stream?”
“Except they don’t have the vampire expertise they need,” Garrett said.
“And here we are, waiting.”
Garrett considered it. “Nial keeps railing at us about serving humans, protecting them. Instead of trying to force ourselves down their throats, we can use economic forces. People appreciate what they pay for more than they do free advice. If we sell our expertise, then we know that whoever steps up to pay for it is really interested in learning.”
“And it would be nice to be able to pay for the roof over my head, too,” Roman said dryly.
“Like you’re going to run out of money anywhere in the next millennium.” Garrett stretched and got to his feet, reaching for his jeans. “We’ve got a day or so before we have to present ourselves in Boston. Let’s go and tell Nial the good news.”
* * * * *
St. Petersburg, Russia.
When Sasha arrived, Marcus was sitting in one of the big armchairs in the foyer of the hotel, watching one of four big-screen TVs posted around the foyer, covering up the beautiful gilding and paintwork on the columns.
It fascinated Marcus that despite their aversion to all things western, the Russians had no objection to consuming western TV like they did their vodka. The screen he was watching was tuned to the BBC and although it was late afternoon here, the BBC was running one of their early-morning entertainment shows.
He sat up and started paying more attention when Ilaria appeared on the screen. The cameras had caught her stepping out of the cab and heading into the hotel. She was wearing a brown velvet cape thing that stopped short of her legs, which were encased in snug denim. The boots had ridiculously high heels on them. Marcus still didn’t know how she walked on them, despite watching her walk on them a lot. Especially as she walked away from him.
This was a gossip show, so they didn’t spend endless minutes asking her questions. They did pan across the portico as she threw herself into Rick’s arms, wound her legs around his waist and peppered his face with kisses, before kissing him properly. Marcus started to laugh, especially when Rick wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back just as firmly, despite the cameras on them. Rick was unbending, an inch at a time.
“You laugh, despite not being there with them?” Sasha had strolled up to the side of the armchair without Marcus noticing. He was wearing a Russian military uniform that had no betraying signature insignia to tell the world that he actually belonged to the GRU.
Marcus got to his feet. “It stuns me how much the media likes Ilaria. She brings us more goodwill in one day then we can build with a million Summanus carcasses at our feet.”
Sasha hugged him warmly, then stepped back and held his shoulders. His eyes were grave. “Is that why you come to visit me so unexpectedly?”
“Sort of.” Marcus glanced around the foyer.
“This is a secure hotel,” Sasha said. “That is why they permit the display of English chat shows. Everyone who walks in here is cleared, first.”
Marcus glanced around again. “There’s no surveillance that I noticed and no security barriers to pass through.”
Sashes smile grew broader. “Then Russia can still surprise the west. It is new technology. Your phone is scanned every time you stepped through the doors. If you are unwelcome here, you would be surrounded by guards before you pass the second doors.”
“That is new. I didn’t come here to swap spy stories, though.”
“So you are not here on behalf of the CIA?”
“This is off-book. Nial sent me.”
“Ah.” Sasha turned and draped his arm over Marcus’s shoulders. “There is a very good bar here. They serve excellent vodka. We will drink and you will tell me everything about the others that I do not know already. And I warn you, we know much more than you think we do.”
Marcus let himself be drawn toward the dim bar entrance on the other side of the foyer. “And somewhere in there I get to tell you why I’m here, right?”
“It can only be something unpleasant, as the world is a most unpleasant place now
.” Sasha sounded morose. “We need much vodka before you say what you must say. Then I will be in a better mood to hear it.”
“As long as you’re being positive about it…” Marcus wasn’t too upset. Sasha was a typical Russian. There was pacing and civility in the way they approached business, that helped grease the skids. A few glasses of vodka, toasts to everyone important in their lives, then they could get down to business.
His only concern was that he was completely out of practice when it came to drinking. Neither Ilaria nor Rick drank and there were not many other people he cared to sit and share shots with.
It was just as well that Sasha was one of those few.
* * * * *
Patrick had never had to cook a meal in his life. So just before Jake and the twins would be downstairs for breakfast, he quietly tugged Dominic out of the bed and pulled him downstairs.
Dominic looked puzzled. “You can’t even cook eggs?” He shrugged. “You’re going to have to learn fast, then. I’m not going to haul my ass out of bed every morning just because of your delicate disposition.”
“I’m more concerned about the fact that three hungry teenagers are about to come downstairs. I prefer that Blythe get her sleep.”
Dominic looked at him from under his brow, his dark eyes amused. “But it’s fine if I go short on sleep?”
“You weren’t swinging a sword all night.”
Dominic started opening cupboards, locating things. “I was still awake.” He pulled out an electric skillet and dug deeper into the cupboard, then emerged holding the electric cord. “Don’t sit down, you lazy bugger. Get your ass over here. I’m not doing this all by myself.”
Patrick moved behind the island, where Dominic was setting up the skillet.
“There’ll be eggs in the fridge. And grab the milk while you’re there. Then you can put the kettle on. Make sure it’s full.” Dominic was opening and closing more cupboards as he spoke, adding ingredients to the counter next to the skillet.
Patrick turned to the fridge to get the milk.
Ten minutes later, one of the girls appeared at the kitchen entrance. She looked around. “Where’s Mom?”
Patrick looked up from measuring coffee into the filter. “Sleeping. You’re going to have to put up with our cooking this morning. We didn’t get in until around four last night.”