“Or they could just be two hungry guys who contributed to my bank account. I don’t want to live in a constant state of fear, suspicious of everyone who walks through the front door.”
She braced herself for an argument because she could feel the disagreement cross the miles between her and Campbell.
“I think you might be right,” he finally said. “Maybe it is time for the Souled vampires to reach out to human officials about working together. It’s time I contact my former brethren at the NYPD. You need protection. Keep your eyes open until I can arrange it.” And then he hung up.
Olivia pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Evidently, the male sex’s tendency to take charge without asking didn’t go away when they turned into vampires.
“Who was that?” Mindy asked.
“A really pushy salesman.” She didn’t like lying to Mindy, but it was better than losing her.
“I guess some things never change.”
Olivia looked toward the table where the two guys had sat. Despite what she’d told Campbell, she still had the heebies.
Mindy noticed where she was looking. “You ready for some more self-defense lessons?”
“More than ready.” She needed to rely on herself for protection, not her friend, not the overworked cops and definitely not a vampire.
Chapter 9
Campbell felt like cussing until the walls melted around him. The first time he’d called his old NYPD precinct to ask for protection for Olivia, the officer on the other end had told him to stop prank calling and hung up. The next time, he’d asked for a supervisor and had gotten an earful about how the day the officer did something for a vampire was the day hell froze over.
They had to know the kidnapping threat was real. It had already hit the news outlets. Why wouldn’t they listen? Because they had their hands full and probably received at least a dozen prank calls a day. And he’d made the mistake of telling them he was a vampire.
He rubbed his hand over his face. How was he supposed to protect Olivia if he couldn’t go out during the day and the cops who patrolled then wouldn’t listen to him? Why the hell did he think he could bridge the gap even the Imperium didn’t attempt to bridge?
He paced his private quarters and ran his hand over his face. At least he wasn’t out in the main room, where his team members could hear every word and shake their heads at his involvement with a human.
He wasn’t involved, not really.
But he’d like to be.
He sank onto his bed and propped his back against the wall. Here, in the privacy of his own space, he allowed himself to fantasize about what it would be like to be with her. To touch her soft skin, inhale her scent, run his fingers through all that lovely blond hair, join with her body and lose himself.
The thought of her being hurt or worse ate at him. He knew if the Nefari got hold of her, he’d tear Manhattan apart brick by brick, as well as anybody, vampire or human, who got in the way of finding her.
The power of that image jolted him. Olivia was right—he barely knew her. There was no reasonable explanation for why he felt such a pull toward her, why keeping her safe consumed him. In some moments it felt a little as though he was losing touch with reality.
And sitting in this little room alone wasn’t helping.
He stood and headed out to the fridge for a bag of blood from a supply he’d picked up the night before from the blood bank on the Upper West Side. He popped it in the microwave for a few seconds then drank it as he headed toward his desk. If he didn’t occupy his mind with something besides Olivia and his inability to protect her how he wanted to, he was going to go stark raving mad. And forever was a long damn time to be crazy.
“You okay?” Sophia asked when she looked up from her own desk. She said it quietly, with a glance toward where Len and Colin were watching a football game.
“I’d say yes, but you’d know I was lying.”
“Is it Olivia?”
He liked how Sophia used Olivia’s name and didn’t just call her the human woman like some of the others did. Of all his team members, he and Sophia probably missed being human the most. Though she certainly had more reason than he did and was more open about it.
“I tried to get her protection during the day, but let’s just say the NYPD wasn’t keen on listening.”
“Maybe a delegate could speak for you.”
The last thing he wanted was to bring the Imperium into this. “Not sure they’d be thrilled with my being so concerned about one human.”
“I doubt you talked to the NYPD just about her.”
“No. I mentioned the list, but they thought I was pranking them.”
Sophia nodded. “Have you talked to Olivia about this? What does she say?”
“That she doesn’t want to live in fear of every person who walks through her front door.”
“Understandable. Goodness knows there’s plenty to be afraid of without one more thing.”
Campbell stared at the TV for several seconds, then at how relaxed Len and Colin looked on the couch with their feet propped on the coffee table. He envied them.
“Do you think I’m off my rocker?” he asked.
“No,” Sophia said simply.
He shifted his gaze to her. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t think there’s anything crazy about caring about someone.”
“Even someone I barely know?”
Sophia placed her forearms on top of her desk and leaned forward. “That’s what makes you a good team leader,” she said. “You care about justice, about truth, about keeping both vampires and humans safe, helping us coexist the best that we can.”
If she’d claimed to be the reincarnation of Cleopatra, he wouldn’t have been more surprised. That was how she viewed him? He was one part humbled and one part embarrassed.
“Plus, this can be a lonely existence,” she said. “I’d venture that everyone on the team yearns for someone to be with. Of course, some of them wouldn’t admit it if you had a stake pointed at their hearts.”
“But she’s human. Why her?”
“Maybe because she’s human. I think we’re all still human deep down. We just have a condition that doesn’t allow us to live alongside them anymore.”
He heard the sadness creep into her words and knew she was missing her family, the husband and children she’d lost when she’d been turned.
But then she smiled a little. “Plus, she’s really pretty.”
He found himself smiling back. “That she is.”
Sophia went back to working on her computer, and Campbell sat back and tried to read the latest news from the Imperium’s headquarters in Bucharest. When he realized he’d read the same paragraph three times without having any idea what he’d read, he tossed the paper onto his desk and leaned back in his chair.
“I know the others will disagree with me, but I think maybe it’s a good thing if you befriend Olivia,” Sophia said. “You may not be able to be any more than that, but friendship is better than nothing. It’s a link that none of us have anymore.”
“I don’t want to use her just so I can feel human again.”
“That’s not what I meant. It’s more...maybe there’s a reason the two of you met.”
“I’m not a big believer in destiny or fate or whatever you want to call it.” And if it did exist, it had a cruel, morbid sense of humor.
“I am. And who knows? Maybe it’ll be the start of our two species understanding each other better.”
“Now I know you’re giving me way too much credit.”
“Hey, guys, switch to Channel 2,” Travis said as he shoved his rolling chair back from his desk and spun toward Len and Colin.
“Like hell,” Colin said. “The Jets are inches from the goal line.”
“Just do it.”
Colin grumbled under his breath as he snatched the remote control and switched the channel.
“If you’re just joining us, a recap of our top story,” said t
he familiar voice of local news anchor Joe Finnion. “New York Times reporter Leila Russell was abducted by unknown assailants this afternoon as she was leaving the paper to conduct an interview. Russell has covered the vampire beat since it was revealed that vampires were indeed real. Police are investigating the possibility that her abduction was tied to her coverage.”
“Tell me the paper has video surveillance outside,” Campbell said.
“Computer’s looking for it now,” Travis said. Just then the computer dinged that it had completed its search. Travis punched a couple of buttons and pulled up the video. He advanced it slowly to the approximate time the news report had said Leila Russell had been taken. And there it was, a wedding-catering van pulling up to the curb next to her. Someone grabbed her and dragged her inside with little effort, and then the driver sped away.
“What do you want to bet that van was reported stolen?” Len said from where he’d come to stand behind Travis with the rest of the team.
A few clicks on the keyboard, and Travis was in the NYPD report database. “Yep, five days ago.”
“Generate a list of all the vehicles reported stolen in the past month,” Campbell said.
“You think whoever is behind this is who took Olivia’s car?” Sophia asked.
“Possible, but I doubt it,” Campbell said. “Looks as though they prefer vans. Easier to nab a person and make a quick getaway. Hard to stuff an unwilling victim in a compact car.”
He didn’t have to look at a clock to know they had about an hour before they could go topside. But they would make the most of that time.
“We need information, everything we can get our hands on. Cross-reference to see if the two victims we know about have anything in common other than being women. Hack their medical records to see if they have the same blood type. Find out if there have been any more missing persons reported in the past month.”
Campbell divvied up the tasks, then started searching the Times’ archives for Leila’s articles to see if she’d written anything to fire up the Nefari or anyone else in the vampire community. Her recent coverage of humans working for vamps seemed the most likely catalyst. The moment he felt the sun hit the horizon, he stood and started gearing up. When it was safe to emerge, he headed for the stairs that led up to the street level.
“I’ll be back in an hour,” he said without looking back at the rest of the team. He headed straight for Hell’s Kitchen and the Comfort Food Diner. The team could think what they wanted, but he needed to know Olivia was safe, see it with his own eyes.
The hardest part would be not caving in to the need to talk to her. Because if he started, he didn’t know if he could walk away. And he had work to do, work that would hopefully keep her and the rest of Manhattan’s human population safe from the very ugly side of his species.
* * *
It took a lot of effort, but Olivia finally got Mindy to go home. Once she was alone, however, she started jumping at every little sound, things that she wouldn’t have even noticed before. After rubbing the muscles she’d put through the ringer that afternoon with karate lessons in the diner’s kitchen, she tried to watch TV. But she kept worrying that the noise of it would prevent her from hearing if an intruder was climbing the stairs from the restaurant below. Seeing the report that Leila Russell had been abducted didn’t help.
“Dang it, DaCosta, stop driving yourself batty.”
Reading didn’t help with her anxiety, so she headed downstairs to check the door locks for what must have been the hundredth time. With that completed, she went to the diner’s fridge and stared at the contents. Lots of leftovers.
Needing to reclaim a semblance of power over her own life, she started pulling out pork loin and mashed potatoes, three-bean salad and chocolate pudding. Maybe assembling a few meals to take to Central Park the next day would settle her nerves.
It did feel good to think she could venture out and help people again. If she left Mindy in charge of the restaurant during the morning lull, she could either walk to the park or take a cab. She couldn’t afford to do the latter every day, but one day of feeding the hungry was better than none.
In the middle of scooping potatoes onto several paper plates, a chill skittered over Olivia’s skin. She got the distinct impression that someone was watching her. She spun with the serving spoon in her hand, as if that would do her any good as a weapon. As she moved slowly toward the butcher block, she scanned the darkness outside the front windows but saw nothing. But there was someone out there. She was as certain of that as she was her own name.
Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, making her yelp and drop the potato-covered spoon on the floor. It slid far back underneath the metal prep table, but it was just going to have to stay there until morning. When she checked the display on her phone, she recognized Campbell’s number.
“Please tell me you’re outside,” she said when she answered after the third ring.
“Well, I have to say I’ve never heard that from a human before,” he said.
“Are you?”
“Yes. Are you okay?”
She let out a long breath. “You scared me half to death.”
“By calling you?”
“No. I felt someone watching me, and my hyped-up imagination was not being kind to me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
As she watched out the front window, Campbell stepped into view, though he remained partially shadowed. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“A phone call would have done that.” She sounded snappish, and she realized it was because she was unable to tell him to stay away. And each time she talked to him, she betrayed Mindy even more.
“I believe I’m on the phone with you right now.”
“Pretty sure your phone will work from anywhere in Manhattan.”
He met her eyes, and even though he was several yards away, she felt their intensity. “Do you want me to go?”
Say yes! “I didn’t say that.”
“Then you want me to stay.”
She sighed in frustration. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
He smiled a little. “I’ll try not to get a big head from the enthusiasm.”
She laughed. “Who knew vampires had a sense of humor?”
“Oh, yes, we’re regular stand-up comedy material.”
“You could get your own late-night talk show and interview all your vamp friends. Hey, maybe your own network. VTV.”
“Somehow I don’t think we’d get very good ratings.”
“Vampires have TVs. I’ve seen them in the shop windows in the vampire shopping districts.”
“Have to have something to do all day.”
She thought about how TV and movies used to have a fascination with vampires. While she and everyone else knew they were no longer fiction, she realized there was a lot she didn’t know, more information the vampire world kept hidden in the name of self-preservation.
“You look as if you’re thinking hard,” he said.
“Just curious how much of the vampire lore is real and how much is a bunch of bunk.”
“What do you want to know?”
“I know stakes can kill you. What about crosses and holy water?”
“Crosses only affect the Soulless. They burn their skin, very painfully, from what I’ve witnessed. Holy water will burn them, too. And as you’ve seen, if any of us wear silver bracelets or cuffs soaked in holy water, it prevents our fangs from descending.”
“I feel the sudden need to wear a cross all the time and to go to St. Patrick’s for some holy water.”
“Not a bad idea,” he said. “Though those won’t help against the humans.”
A chill raced down her back.
“Do you think Leila Russell was taken by the same people who took that other girl?” she asked.
He shrugged. “We don’t know, but that’s the theory we’re working right now. Did you see any more of those two
guys?”
“No. They just ate, freaked us out and left.”
“I still don’t like it.” He leaned against the post for the streetlight, which drew her attention to his long legs. “What are you still doing down in the restaurant? You’re too easily seen.”
She forced her attention up from where it was roaming over his body back to his eyes. “I tried going upstairs, but I kept spooking myself at every little sound. So I came down here to make some lunches to take to the park tomorrow.”
“Olivia.”
She held up her hand to halt his objection. “If it’s humans I have to worry about now, they could just as easily stroll in and get me here.”
“But it’d be easier to grab you on the street. The two women we know have been abducted have been grabbed outside.”
“I’ll be very careful. But, Campbell, there are people out there who are hungry, who don’t have homes, who the world has forgotten about. I can’t sit here and do nothing while that is going on when I could make a difference. Maybe it’s a small dent in the problem, but it’s something.”
“I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I?”
“No. It means too much to me.”
“Why?”
“I just told you.”
“I know, you care about the people. But it’s more than that. There’s caring, and then there’s passion.”
She turned her back on him and started wrapping the prepared plates with plastic wrap and placing them in the refrigerator. “Someone close to me started this program, someone who isn’t around to do it anymore.” She turned back to face him again. “Listen, I’m going upstairs. There’s a small balcony on the back side of the apartment. You’re welcome to sit out there if you’d like.”
“I need to get back to work and patrol the area.”
“Oh, okay.” She was surprised by how much she wanted him to stay, but she wasn’t about to admit that just because she didn’t want to be alone.
“But I can stay a bit longer.”
She climbed the stairs, calling herself a fool all the way up. By the time she reached the top one, he was already seated outside on the balcony.
Out of the Night (Harlequin Nocturne) Page 11