Psychic Undercover [With The Undead]

by Amie Gibbons

  I opened my mouth again.

  “No, you don’t get to talk. You compromised the case, not to mention your own safety, yet again.”

  He breathed hard and paced around the small bathroom like a bull.

  “I don’t know what to do with you,” he finally said in a soft, low tone. “I can’t fire you because you are an asset, and I don’t want to fire you. I already put you on desk and it didn’t help.” He shook his head. “Fine, I want to know. I want to know why you’d do this. I want to know why the fuck you would jeopardize, not only the case, but all that, over a guy. Especially a vampire.”

  “I don’t believe I am,” I said once it was clear he was finished. “I don’t believe I am jeopardizing the case.”

  “That’s it?” He scowled, meeting my eyes with his cold, hard stare. “That’s your excuse? You don’t even have a ‘There’s something about him,’ or an ‘It was love at first sight?’ Or any of that bullshit? All you have is that a relationship isn’t jeopardizing the case?”

  I just looked at him. Couldn’t let him get me on the defensive. Once you’re on the defensive with Grant, you’re as good as done.

  “Then what about your life, Ariana? Because he is a vampire, and that is asking for trouble.”

  “No it isn’t,” I said.

  Grant’s eyes flashed and he was up in my face in a second.

  “Oh really?” he asked in his dangerous, interrogator tone.

  “He isn’t going to hurt me. And a relationship with anybody is a risk. Trusting anybody is a risk, Grant. The fact that he’s a vampire has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

  “Did he bite you too?” Grant asked.

  My face burned so hot I coulda fried an egg on it.

  “That!” He pointed at me. “Is why you’re wrong. Because he is a vampire, there will always be the risk of something going too far, and he’ll slip and take too much. Or that he’ll decide that he loves you and wants to be with you forever and he’ll turn you. There’s that risk. And those aren’t normal ones in a relationship, Ariana.”

  “He wouldn’t do that.” Damn my cracking voice.

  “Not on purpose, maybe. Ariana, this is a dangerous path and I’m trying to help you. End it. Whatever it is, end it.”

  “Are you saying that as my boss?” I asked, finally looking up into his eyes again.

  “I’m saying it as your boss and as your friend,” he said.

  “Quil isn’t going to hurt me, General. And if he does, it’ll be my fault, not yours. You don’t need to protect me. As for the case, I will not tell him anything except what we agree on here, but since we are supposed to be collaborating, that should be everything anyway. I’m not going to let my feelings for him affect me as I work the case. And after this case, I’ll be like anyone else in this office with a...” I paused. A what? “A someone.”

  “You done?” Grant asked and I nodded. “Good. You don’t run off with him in the middle of the night on anything pertaining to the case. I don’t give a damn what he says, you call me.”

  I nodded again. “Yes, sir.”

  “And you’re wrong. You’re my responsibility. When I saved you last year, you became my responsibility. When I offered you a spot on this team, I made you that even more. You are mine to protect. So if anything happens to you, I will blame myself.”

  He looked me in the eye. “So don’t let anything happen to you.”

  I nodded, feeling like my insides were about to burst.

  I was his. Even if it was just him seein’ me as a kid, he cared enough to be worried.

  I grinned. “Anyone tell you, you’re kind of a chauvinist?”

  “The director.” He smiled back and patted my shoulder. “Every damn day.”

  “Time out over?” Dan asked as we walked back to our desks.

  I grabbed my latte. “Yup. I’m ready to act like an adult again.”

  Dan snorted. “When did you ever act like an adult before?”

  “Yeah, like you’re one to talk, man,” Jet said. “Seriously, girl, everything okay?” He glanced at Grant.

  “I’m good, as long as General doesn’t eat my badge.”

  “No promises if you three don’t shut your holes and get working,” Grant said.

  “Sir, yes, sir,” I said with a wrong handed salute.

  Dan and Jet flinched. They hate it when I do that.

  “Run down every one of these,” Grant said once we were all settled. “I want to know every piece of every pie these people have their hands in.”

  He stood and slammed folders on each of our desks. “Each nest has thousands of vampires. We treat this like a gang war. It could be a fight over something like territory, or more personal. We don’t know. What we do know is they aren’t attacking the gang members themselves, they’re going after outsiders who know about them.”

  I raised my hand.

  “Yes, Ryder, something to share with the class?” he asked.

  “I had an idea. We could have Quil bring in the leaders of the suspect nests. We all go in, undercover of course, and I get visions until something tells me something.”

  “Why all at once?” Dan asked.

  “Remember what Len told us last night?” Jet asked. “They have government just like us. The nests are like different countries, but in the human world, if one country attacks another, the rest in the UN go after them. I got the impression it’s the same here.”

  “A vamp summit,” I said.

  Grant nodded. “Good idea. Ryder, set it up.”

  I pulled out my cell and clicked to Quil’s number. I looked up as I hit it and they were all starin’ at me.

  “You wanted me to set it up now, right?” I asked and Grant nodded.

  I stood as it started to ring.

  “Where are you going?” Grant asked. I pointed to the hall leading to the bathroom. “No, any call with someone we’re working with doesn’t require privacy.”

  I plopped back down in my chair.

  “You calling for a reason, sweets?” Quil’s groggy voice asked and I had to hold back a smile.

  “Yes. I talked to Grant, he wants you to set up the meeting with your nest. We’ll be there, acting as waiters or something. And then also set up a meeting with the people in other nests who are suspects. I’ll get in close and get visions, see if we can’t get the guy.”

  “You sound very professional.” He sounded more awake. “You’re in front of the others, aren’t you?”

  “Yup.”

  “And they know?”

  “Yup.”

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Yup.”

  “And they’re okay with this?”

  “Nope.”

  “Figures,” he said. “Oh well.”

  “Yup.”

  “I can call the leaders of the other nests. It’s going to take some doing to get them over here, but I think I can wrangle it pretty fast for an emergency. And it will take a day for the travel. I’ll call them and tell you when I have it arranged, but it will take until night at least. Most of us are asleep.”

  “Okay, one second.” I muted the phone. “He says he can call them up, and he’s pretty sure he can get them here, but we can’t expect an answer until tonight. Then it’ll take till at least tomorrow night for the meeting cuz they have to travel.”

  Grant nodded one stiff nod.

  I unmuted. “Okay, do it.”

  “Okay, I will,” he said, almost soundin’ amused. “I’ll call if I get answers before you get home. And if it’s not till tonight, I’ll be here to tell you then.”

  So many things were implied in that sentence, I turned red before the guys.

  “Bye,” I said.

  “Goodbye, sweets.” We clicked off.

  “Blush on your own time, Ryder,” Grant said.

  I nodded. “Of course, General.”

  “So we have until tomorrow night to learn everything we can about these other nests,” Grant said. “Crowley’s team’s helping
us out. But this is still going to be a marathon. Get on your computers and get going.”

  So we did.

  I had the Charlotte nest. Jet worked on the Kansas one. Apparently their king got the whole state, who knew? Dan was on the Atlanta one. Charles Crowley had Miami. Amanda Stone, Haile Temang, and George Wallace, from Crowley’s team, were on St. Louis, Orlando, and Indianapolis respectively.

  The most likely suspects according to Grant after going through the info he got from Len were Atlanta, Miami, or Kansas, but the others had some red flags, so they were on our list too.

  My phone buzzed with a text about two hours into our diggin’. Kat. I flicked it open and she was asking me to meet her in the bathroom. I got up and took a peek over Grant’s shoulder on the way.

  And stopped dead. He wasn’t checking out another one of the possibly hostile nests. He was checking out the Nashville one.

  “Problem, Ryder?” he asked without even turning around.

  They were going to be our allies, so we needed to know about them. Also, there could be some kind of paper trail between one of them and another nest that would show who was the traitor, if there even was one.

  “Of course not, sir.” I shook my head and kept on to the bathroom.

  Kat was already waiting in there. “Nope.” She shook her head when I opened my mouth. “Give it a minute.”

  Sure enough, Jet joined us a moment later.

  “Now you can explain,” Kat said.

  “You know if we’re not back soon, Grant’s gonna kill all of us, right? And I’m in enough trouble as it is.”

  “Then talk fast,” Jet said, crossin’ his arms.

  “He came over. We had sex. We are, I think, in some kind of relationship now. Neither of us are going to let it affect the job. And Grant already lectured me on dating a vamp, so if you two want to, go ahead.”

  “He does know if he hurts you, there’s an entire office who will gang up and silver-shoot him, right?” Jet asked after taking a minute.

  “Not to mention your family,” Kat said. “I wouldn’t want to date you with your ex-Marine and now politician dad.”

  I shrugged. “I think Quil and Daddy will hit it off… I mean, when, if, I introduce them at some point. I mean, it’s new… I’m not plannin’ anything or, um, anything.”

  Kat snorted. “So, details. What’s he like? Did he try to bite you? Did you let him?” She eyed my neck.

  “Okay, I’m outta here.” Jet held up his hands and left, closing the door a little too hard behind him.

  Kat looked at me and I felt the fire on my face. I must have some kind of hormone problem that causes excess blushing cuz there’s no way any normal human lights up like a Christmas tree at every little thing.

  I gave her the fuzzy watercolor recap of events and she giggled with me.

  “Oh man, I need to find me a man. I’m getting old over here,” she said.

  “Oh please, you’re not even thirty and you look my age.”

  She placed a hand on her chest. “Thank you! And this is why I love you.”

  “You want a nice guy, go find one. Stop dating the crazies.”

  “I don’t date crazies.”

  “You described your last three, count ‘em, three, boyfriends as man-children.”

  She shrugged. “They were.”

  “So, go find an adult. Or hey, there’ll be lots of nice vamps at the party, and we’ll probably be in contact with them after this so…”

  She was shakin’ her head so hard I stopped talkin’.

  “No vamps,” she said. “That’s a little too bad boy for me.”

  “Quil’s not a bad boy. He’s… he’s a man.”

  “True. So, did he bite you?”

  I nodded. “He bit, I bit. There were just a lot of fluids.”

  She made a face and I took a deep breath.

  “Overshare, got it,” I said.

  “That’s just a little too kinky for me.”

  I snorted. “After the things you told me, I can’t believe you’re sayin’ that with a straight face.”

  She shook her head again, makin’ the pigtails dance. “I see biting going beyond that, but hey, to each her own.”

  I shrugged and grabbed the door.

  “Ariana?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m happy for you. No matter what the guys say, I think he’ll be good for you.”

  I smiled and squashed her in a one armed hug.

  That was one at least.

  ###

  We dug through financial records, social media pages, business records, and contracts all day. It was like trying to untangle a huge ball of string, since everyone’s dealings were mixed up with everyone else’s, and we only had what Len had down on his computer.

  How does Len have all this info?

  “Oh, red flag!” I screamed sometime around dinner.

  “Is she always this loud?” Amanda asked, flashin’ me a smile to soften it.

  “Yes,” Jet and Dan said as one.

  “The Charlotte king was supposed to have a meeting with Senator Charleston here last month, work out a deal between their nest and some Tennessee regulations that were affectin’ a business in Knoxville. But the queen vetoed it. According to this, the Charlotte vamps are out millions of dollars.”

  “What was the deal?” Grant asked and I shrugged. “Find out.”

  Oh, like that would be easy.

  “General?” I asked.

  He looked up again.

  “Could I just call him?”

  “Who, Ryder?”

  “The senator. Couldn’t I just call and ask?”

  “Ask about a secret deal he never really had with a bunch of creatures that don’t exist?” Dan jumped in. “Yeah, good luck with that one.”

  “He’s right, Ryder,” Grant said. “If you call, you’ll just be telling him how much we know.”

  “Right.” I nodded. “Stupid idea.”

  “Call Quil,” Grant said.

  “General?” I asked.

  If Quil knew then it would probably be in Len’s info. Wouldn’t it?

  “Ask Quil to call the senator and ask what it was about,” Grant said.

  “Ohhhh.” My eyes flew wide and I grabbed my phone. “Yes, sir.”

  “If the vamps know all this, why aren’t they digging through the info?” Dan asked.

  “Because, Bridges,” Grant said. “They have the information, we have the resources to track the official records down and we’re trained investigators. We know what to look for and how to spot patterns. And if you make me explain myself to you ever again you’re going to have a boot so far up your ass you’ll be licking leather.”

  Whoa! Someone was getting crabby.

  Maybe it was the sittin’ all day? Grant’s more of a man of action than a research guy.

  I dialed Quil and he answered on the first ring. “Hello.”

  “Hey.” I told him about the deal and wanting him to call the Senator.

  “Business again?” He sighed. “Well alright, sweets, but next time better be a call for phone sex.”

  I turned in my chair so the others wouldn’t see the blush. “Focus.”

  He said he’d look into it but didn’t think it was them and we hung up.

  “Okay. That’s one,” Grant said with a nod. “A few hundred to go. Get back to work.”

  I did.

  By the end of the day, and I do mean the end cuz we weren’t out of there till past eight, my back, neck, wrists, and eyes hurt from being chained to a computer for hours. And we probably would’ve been in longer if Len hadn’t called, invitin’ us to a gathering at one of his human’s houses to check out their nest.

  “Do we have time to get home and change?” I asked.

  “Just,” Grant said. “We want to be there at the beginning.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I ran out before he could change his mind.

  ###

  I called Quil on the way home. He was already at the
place, helpin’ Len set up for the last minute party.

  “So tonight is for us to check out your people, right?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Quil said.

  “Is there anyone off the top of your head? I mean, they all aren’t gonna come, sooooo, what if there is someone in your nest and he just doesn’t come?”

  “If there’s a traitor in the nest, I think they’ll be there tonight,” Quil said. “It’s a good opportunity.”

  I nearly missed the light in front of me was red and slammed on my breaks.

  “Waitwaitwait,” I said. “Is this party bait?”

  I could almost see him shrug as he said, “Kind of.”

  “Oh dear. But the demon… If he summoned another one.”

  “Could show up as someone else, yes.”

  “And we’ll be sittin’ ducks.”

  “Carla will be smelling for demon.”

  “Oh, okay. And there’ll be me to get visions off everyone. I’m lookin’ at a long night, aren’t I?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “How many people?”

  “Around five hundred.”

  “In one house!”

  “It’s more like in an old estate manor.”

  I whistled low. “That’s a lot of visions for me. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it. This might be a waste of time.”

  “Possibly. I don’t think so, but it’s also to plan for the meeting with the other nests. We’re looking at having them here as soon as tomorrow night.”

  “Wow! Fast,” I said.

  “This type of warfare where they go after civilians is unprecedented. No one wants an out and out war, and I made it sound like that’s what would happen. Most of the leaders are coming themselves, which means they’re taking this very seriously.”

  “How many we thinkin’ tomorrow?”

  “About two hundred, mostly higher ups.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m gonna need a lot of alcohol for this.”

  Chapter fifTEEN

  I took a quick shower and fixed myself up fast before headin’ back out. It took a little more time than it should’ve, mostly cuz Pyro was arguing he wanted to go with me.

  I told him absolutely not. We’d be busted so freakin’ fast if he showed up at a vamp and fed party.