Out of the Night hn-170

by Trish Milburn

  As Mindy took the couple’s orders and did a round of the room to check on the other customers and top off coffee cups, Olivia took the moments to try to bring her racing thoughts under control. She eyed the back door, for a split second considering making a run for it despite her injured ankle. But then she remembered the news Campbell had shared with her and resisted the urge to shove a large appliance in front of the door.

  Mindy blew back into the kitchen and slammed a dirty plate down on the prep table. “Okay, duty done. Who is this vampire and what on earth did you find to talk about?”

  “Min, please let it go. It’s not important.”

  “No, I’m interested.” She didn’t sound interested, more as if she was compiling information for when she called the guys with a straitjacket to haul Olivia away.

  “You don’t really want to hear this.”

  “No. But I need to know where your common sense went.”

  An irrational anger rose up in Olivia at Mindy’s tone, but she took several breaths to calm down. The sooner she just spilled everything, the sooner they could move on and forget about it.

  “His name is Campbell Raines.” She hesitated, wondering at the wisdom of a full confession. “I was as surprised as anyone that we actually found a lot to talk about.”

  “Such as?” Mindy’s voice cracked like a whip.

  Olivia looked at the order form Mindy had slid onto the counter and went about pouring pancakes onto the grill. “For instance, did you know there are different kinds of vampires? Souled and Soulless?”

  At Mindy’s confused look, Olivia relayed all that Campbell had told her about the “good” and “bad” of the vampire world.

  Mindy stood with her arms crossed and her expression full of doubt. “Sounds like a story concocted to make you think he’s a good guy.”

  “He is.” Olivia was surprised by how much force she put behind her words then felt the need to backtrack. “I mean, he seems as if he might have been despite some rough edges.” She glanced at Mindy, wondering if she should go on or quit before she made things worse. But she had no one else to talk to about what Campbell had told her, no one with whom to ponder if any of it could possibly be true. “I know how crazy this sounds, but I got the feeling he missed being human, that if he could undo being a vampire that he would.”

  “Listen, no one knows better than me that the vampire mystique can be alluring. At least it was when we didn’t know they were real, life-sucking monsters. But this vamp is playing you....” Mindy’s voice trailed off in such a way that Olivia made the mistake of making eye contact. “Just which one of the vampires is this?”

  Olivia knew what Mindy was asking, and there was no use in trying to hide the answer. “He’s the head of the V Force team that saved me.”

  Certainty slid into place on Mindy’s face. “The one who attacked you.”

  Olivia lowered her gaze and flipped the pancakes. Her stomach grumbled at the smell, and she realized how long it’d been since she’d eaten anything.

  “The AB-negative monster who nearly killed you?”

  It sounded so awful when she said it like that. Who was Olivia kidding? It was awful. He had almost killed her, and given the chance, he might again. Might succeed the next time. Had said so himself.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, that’s taking Stockholm syndrome a bit too far, don’t you think?”

  Olivia flinched at how Mindy’s words echoed her own thoughts. She scooped the pancakes onto two plates and placed them on the counter next to Mindy. “It was one conversation. I was safely inside my apartment, and he was on the other side of the glass, unable to get to me.”

  “He was here?”

  Crap, how did she manage to step even deeper into this uncomfortable conversation?

  “He found my cell phone, so he brought it by. And...he apologized for what happened.”

  “For almost munching on you.”

  Olivia’s nerves finally snapped. “Yes, Mindy. We’ve established he was a victim of bloodlust and just about did me in. I was there, remember?”

  “A victim? Now, there’s a term I’ve never heard used to refer to vamps.”

  Olivia stared at her friend, not wanting to hurt her but needing to make sense of the past thirty-six hours. “What would you call it when your life is ripped away and you’re condemned to roam the earth forever drinking human blood and never being able to see the sun again?”

  Silence fell on the kitchen. Mindy looked as if Olivia had slapped her.

  “Vampires don’t have feelings,” Mindy said. “They are predators, and you are the prey he’s very, very good at luring in. You know the AB-neg vamps are the most aggressive because that blood supply is the lowest.”

  “I know. Really, I do. And I’m not going to do anything stupid like invite him in.” Beyond talking on the phone with a vampire who made her pulse quicken and wishing he was a flesh-and-blood man.

  The sound of more people coming in the front door drew Olivia’s attention away from her thoughts.

  Mindy threw up her hands and moved toward the dining room. “I can’t listen to this anymore.”

  “Mindy.”

  She stopped and looked back toward Olivia, though she seemed reluctant.

  “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

  A momentary look of pain flitted across Mindy’s face before she turned without a word and walked away.

  For several seconds, Olivia sat staring at the spot where her best friend had been standing. She couldn’t help but feel she’d made a colossal mistake in confiding to Mindy. The irony of Mindy’s situation was that she’d once been the biggest fan of the vampire genre you’d ever meet. Buffy, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, every book series she could get her hands on. But that was before she’d come home to find her mother and younger sister drained and left on the front porch steps of their house.

  The cruelest part? The fact that they had survived the global virus outbreak only to die one day before the official word went out that vampires were real and that people should stay indoors after sunset. Mindy’s mother and sister hadn’t even known they needed to protect themselves.

  Throughout the rest of the morning rush, Mindy refused to meet Olivia’s gaze. Olivia hated that she’d brought back bad memories. And if Mindy was that worried over a phone conversation with a vampire who couldn’t even come inside, how was she going to take the news of the new human threat? Because Olivia had to tell her so she’d know to protect herself. As a type O, she might not be in as much danger, but any danger at all was too much.

  But maybe that information would be what convinced Mindy that Campbell wasn’t like any vampire she’d imagined. He’d have no reason to warn her about daylight dangers if he weren’t truly trying to keep her safe, right?

  Doubt warred with a need to believe in something good until a headache started forming between her eyes. She silently cursed whoever had stolen her car. If the thief had kept his grubby fingers to himself, she would have arrived home safely before dark as she always did. She wouldn’t have been attacked, kidnapped and terrified to within an inch of her life. She wouldn’t have met Campbell Raines and spent the dark predawn hours talking to him about the nature of vampires.

  And she wouldn’t be having thoughts that could lead to her death.

  * * *

  Campbell threw the dart with enough force to impale it halfway through the dartboard.

  “Dude, you know you don’t get extra points for doing that, right?” Billy said.

  Campbell gave him a hard stare.

  “Be careful, Puppy,” Colin said, using the nickname they’d given Billy because of his relative youth. “He’ll impale you with the power of his mind.”

  “He’s just feeling cooped up,” Len said as he sat shaving new wooden stakes to a fine point. “I can relate. Sometimes I want to go out and dare the sun to burn me up.”

  “Another of your spectacularly smart ideas,” Kaja said as she strolled by wearing a new black s
kirt and heels.

  “Yeah, about as smart as buying clothes like that.”

  “At least I care what I look like.”

  “My clothes were fine when I was alive, so I don’t see any reason to change now.”

  “Ditto.”

  Campbell left the familiar bickering behind as he retreated to his room. Privacy didn’t alleviate his caged-up, edgy feeling, though. The smaller, windowless room just made it worse. He’d never liked windowless rooms when he’d been human, and having to exist with them all the time now was his own private torture.

  He eyed the phone but resisted the urge to call Olivia. Sure, he was worried about her, but he didn’t want her to think he was a crazy stalker. He flopped onto the bed that was there mainly for rest, though he had no need for sleep anymore. That was another thing he missed, the oblivion of sleep. Those few hours when he didn’t have to think or plan or be in charge.

  But he was in charge, and he was going to make the most of it. If it helped Olivia in the process, so much the better.

  He picked up his cell phone and dialed the number he always dialed when he needed to know what was going on down in the dregs of vampire society.

  “Yo,” came the Italian-accented male voice on the other end of the line.

  “Rico.”

  “Oh, man, you have the worst timing in the world. I’m in the middle of something.” Rico Bovari was always in the middle of something. That was what made him such a valuable confidential informant.

  “Then wrap it up.”

  Rico cursed and by the sound of things, what he’d been preoccupied with was decidedly female. After a few moments and one door slam, Rico came back on the line. “Man, you so owe me.”

  “I repay you every day by not arresting you.”

  “For what?”

  “I’m sure I could find something.”

  “Hey, hey. I’m one of the good guys, remember? I have a soul and everything.”

  “Just because you have a soul doesn’t mean you’re perfect. Just means you’re not evil to the core.”

  “Glad to hear you think so highly of me.”

  “You’ll do in a pinch.” Truth was Campbell actually sort of liked the guy. Despite having been active with the Mob prior to growing a conscience, he didn’t really seem like a bad sort. At least not Mob-level bad. More of an opportunist who liked living on the edge a little. Of course, that living on the edge had been what had gotten him turned. The walk home after an illegal game of poker had been his last with a heartbeat. Why he hadn’t been drained instead, Campbell didn’t know and Rico wasn’t telling.

  “Have you heard anything about the Nefari enlisting humans to work for them during daylight hours?”

  “Humans? What kind of crazy person would do that?”

  “Maybe ones who like the looks of the money involved, no matter where it’s coming from.”

  “No, haven’t heard anything. Sounds like just a rumor to me.”

  “Rico, you paint yourself as a man in the know. I can’t believe you’ve heard nothing.”

  “I’ve been a little busy with other things.”

  “The female I heard.”

  “Used to be a yoga instructor. Very limber.”

  “Classy.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, man. I love her. I just appreciate her abilities, too.”

  “Love? Did you cross someone one too many times and they dropped you on your head?”

  “Now who’s being classy? Man, forever’s a long damn time to be alone, don’t ya think?”

  What the hell was going on? First he couldn’t stop thinking about a human woman who was off-limits to him. Now his informant was going all lovey-dovey. The world was surely coming to a vile and bitter end.

  “Listen, just keep your ear to the ground, okay? It’s very important we know immediately if you hear anything, anything at all, about the Nefari using humans to abduct other humans.”

  “You think they’re doing that to get past the only two defenses humans have?”

  “I hope not, but there’s chatter. And if it’s true, daylight and buildings will no longer help humans.”

  “They’ll be sitting ducks.” Rico drew in a deep breath he didn’t need. He could no longer be part of the living crime families, and the Nefari wouldn’t accept him because he had a soul. The only reason he hadn’t been taken out was because he’d saved the life of one of the Nefari’s big bosses. They allowed him to coexist in the same section of Little Italy because they didn’t consider him a threat. Little did they know he’d been an informant even when he’d been alive.

  He’d reached out to the NYPD, to Campbell, after seeing his higher-ups wipe out an innocent family because the father refused to pay protection money. Because of Rico, who was never going to be the guy you suspected of ratting you out, the NYPD had put away half a dozen mobsters for all manner of crimes. By tapping him in this instance, Campbell hoped that good fortune would continue and they could wipe up this using-humans-as-fetchers mess before it got out of hand.

  “I’ll let you know if I hear anything,” Rico finally said.

  “Thanks.”

  Just as Campbell disconnected the call, someone knocked loudly on his door.

  “Hey, man,” Travis said through the door. “Got something you’re gonna want to look at.”

  Campbell stood, determined to flood his mind with work so he’d stop imagining greasy humans snatching Olivia and dragging her off where he’d never see her again.

  He shook his head and tried to convince himself that it didn’t matter if he never saw her again as long as she was safe, from vampires and her own kind alike.

  “Be right there.” He made the mistake of closing his eyes for a moment, and a vision of Olivia immediately materialized against his eyelids, her hair dancing in the breeze and sunlight glinting off those golden waves. He had to forcibly yank himself from that daydream and head out into the work area.

  “Find something new?” he asked, in command.

  Travis slid behind his desk. It was loaded with two computers and four monitors and all kinds of other high-tech gizmos Campbell couldn’t even begin to name. Travis had garnered the nickname Wizard not because he looked a thing like Gandalf or Harry Potter but rather because the dude could do magic with computers. It was hard to believe he’d been a stockbroker instead of some tech wonder boy out in Silicon Valley.

  “I was checking security cameras around the city and spotted this from a couple of hours ago.” Travis pulled up a video recording and pointed at the screen. “Watch this building here.”

  It looked like the back entrance to a high-rise apartment building. After a few seconds a van with Dan’s Carpets written on the side pulled into the parking lot close to the large garbage bin. Travis hit a button to skip ahead a couple of minutes to when a woman carrying a garbage bag stepped out the door.

  Campbell realized whoever was in the carpet van hadn’t gotten out. Just as the woman tossed her garbage into the bin, the van’s sliding side door opened behind her. Before she could scream, a masked man clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her backward into the van. The door slid closed before a total of five seconds had elapsed.

  “Think that’s our guys?” Colin asked from where he stood with his arm propped on top of one of Travis’s four-drawer filing cabinets.

  “I’d be willing to bet a week’s supply of blood on it. The abductee is Jennifer Watson.” Travis looked up at Campbell. “She’s on the list and type AB negative. They all are. We hadn’t been able to reach her to tell her about the danger.”

  The muscles in Campbell’s crossed arms bunched. “They’ve taken her for a blood slave.”

  Travis nodded. “She’ll bring top dollar. All of them will if the slavers get their hands on them.”

  What happened to the days when picking up the odd human who wandered out at night had satisfied the blood slavers?

  Campbell pointed at the computer monitor. “Find out everything you can about Dan’s Carpe
ts and Jennifer Watson. I want these guys stopped, and stopped yesterday.”

  He had to put an end to this newest threat before the trail to AB-negative humans led them to Olivia’s front door. And if they even attempted to touch her, he would rip them apart limb by limb and not be the least bit sorry about it.

  Chapter 7

  Olivia tied the garbage bag as she glanced toward where Mindy was adding up the receipts for the day and reconciling it with the cash and credit card slips. “Go on home,” she said. “I can finish that up.”

  Mindy gave her a suspicious look. “I do this every day.”

  “After everything that’s happened, I’m a little jumpy. I want to make sure you get home before sunset.”

  Mindy returned her attention to her work. “I’m almost done.”

  Truth was that Olivia wanted to be alone. Well, no, that wasn’t exactly true. The idea of being here alone when kidnappers might break in at any moment frightened her near senseless, but trying to ignore all the looks Mindy had been shooting her all day was exhausting. She’d felt as if she had to play at normal when her life felt as if it had left normal far in the rearview mirror.

  She picked up the trash bag and headed for the back door. She stopped halfway there, overrun with a not totally irrational fear of stepping foot outside despite blue skies and plenty of sunshine left in the day.

  “Olivia, what’s wrong?”

  Olivia dropped the bag and leaned against the center worktable. “Don’t get mad. Just listen.”

  Mindy’s expression hardened, but she stayed quiet.

  “I’ve talked to Campbell more than once. He was who called this morning.”

  Mindy cursed and took a couple of angry steps to her right.

  Olivia pressed on. “He told me something you need to know.”

  “I doubt he has anything to say I want to hear.”

  “He said his team had heard that something called the Nefari—I can’t believe I’m saying this—the vampire Mafia, has employed humans to work for them during daylight hours.”