“You deserve some time off. Get some rest. Do something fun.”
“Hey, maybe I’ll get that massage,” Mindy said a bit halfheartedly.
“Tease.”
Mindy laughed a little, but it was a shadow of her normal laughter. “You going to be okay running things on your own?”
“Yeah. Not expecting a big run on the diner.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
When Mindy hung up, Olivia felt the void where her friend should be. It grew bigger with each moment that passed in condemning silence.
* * *
Campbell stood in front of the Imperium the next night. He’d wanted so much to go back to Olivia’s, to hold her again, but he’d been summoned to the Imperium’s North American headquarters a mere two streets away from the United Nations. At least this time the reason for the meeting was of his own making.
When he climbed the stone steps to the front door, he remembered when this building had used the cover of the private residence of a reclusive billionaire. He remembered driving by when he’d been with the NYPD and wondering about the identity of its owner. He and his partner had gone back and forth guessing how the recluse had made his billions.
He’d had no idea that the owners had amassed their fortune by living for centuries.
When he stepped inside, the unease that he always felt here made a reappearance. He didn’t feel threatened, more like out of place, as he had felt at really fancy restaurants when he’d been alive. He’d been more of a takeout-pizza kind of guy.
“Officer Raines, your timing is perfect,” said the redheaded vampire at the front desk. “Representative Drogan just finished a phone call and can see you now.” The woman stood and led him down a hallway beside the stairs that led to the upper levels of the six-story building. He didn’t know what was on all the floors or in all the rooms, only that the courtroom was on the top floor.
As he entered the office the woman indicated, Charles Drogan stood and rounded his desk with a formal-looking stride. Though he’d lived through centuries, he sometimes still showed the mannerisms of King Henry VIII’s court, which was where he’d been turned.
“Ah, Raines. Good to see you.”
Campbell nodded in acknowledgment. “Representative Drogan.”
“What can I do for you today?”
“I’ve been trying without success to make contact with the NYPD on a matter. I’d like your help in making them listen. Perhaps if a request came from the Imperium—”
“What is this matter?”
Campbell hid his annoyance at being interrupted. People doing that had always irked him, as if they were indicating what they had to say was more important than what he’d been in the middle of saying.
“Protection for a woman.”
“A human woman?”
“Yes. She’s a target of whoever is behind these abductions.”
“All humans could be their targets.”
“Yes, but she’s escaped two attempted abductions already.”
“Sounds to me like she can take care of herself,” Drogan said.
Campbell couldn’t help his hands fisting at his sides. And by the quick glance he saw, it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Drogan. “My team intervened. She wouldn’t stand a chance against vampires on her own, not even the humans they have working for them.”
“Your team happened to be nearby on both occasions?”
If Olivia’s life weren’t so important to him, he’d tell this guy what a jerk he was, Imperium be damned.
“The first time, we detected human distress while we were on patrol. The second, we were alerted by a tip from an informant.”
Drogan returned to the far side of his desk and sat in his large leather chair. “Protection for a single human hardly seems a concern for the Imperium.”
“I thought all humans were important. Isn’t that why we changed the laws about tapping veins, why we established the blood banks?”
The tick in Drogan’s jaw told Campbell he’d probably just crossed a line and shouldn’t expect any help from the Imperium. He forced himself to calm down and remember that Olivia’s safety was the important thing here.
“All I’m saying is that if the Imperium and the NYPD were to work together, perhaps it would be beneficial for everyone. There are others in her neighborhood at risk, too.”
“Noted,” Drogan said, sounding as if he’d already begun the process of filing Campbell’s idea in the “no action” part of his brain’s file system. “Though it’s my opinion that the less we interact, the better.”
Before Campbell could say anything else, Drogan picked up his phone. “If you’ll excuse me, I have an important call to make.”
Campbell could rant and rave all he wanted, but once an Imperium representative made up his mind, there was no changing it. Anger made his bunched muscles throb as he nodded and turned to go. By the time he hit the hallway, he wanted to punch something, and hard. He was taking such long angry strides that he nearly ran over someone as she came out of the door of the next office.
“I’m sorry,” he said a moment before he recognized her. “Baroness. I didn’t realize you were in town.”
She sighed. “It seems I am always in a town not my own.”
“You do have a demanding job.” Catherine Flanders, the Baroness of Edgemont, called London home, but her position as a liaison between the Imperium’s home and all the offices around the world kept her traveling more often than not. She was what you might call Internal Affairs for the Imperium’s leaders in Bucharest.
“Yes, and it only seems to get more so with each passing year.”
“What brings you to New York?”
She slid her arm through the crook of his and walked slowly toward the front door. “I’m not at liberty to say. What brings you to the Imperium? I know you didn’t just drop by to pass the time.”
She knew him pretty well considering they’d only spoken a handful of times, but he’d liked her the moment they’d met when she’d been in town to bear witness at the trial of an Imperium employee who’d drained a teenage girl almost to the point of death. What made it worse was that the vamp had called the girl, posing as a hospital employee, to say her mother had been in an accident to get her to come outside. Because the girl lived, the man hadn’t been put to death. But if Campbell had to guess, he’d bet wherever he was now he was wishing he had been. A life sentence had quite a different meaning for a vampire.
The baroness had told the man to his face that he not only was a disgrace to the Imperium and vampires everywhere but also gave pond scum a bad name.
Baroness Flanders was what one might call filthy stinking rich, and so she said whatever she wanted and no one challenged her.
He debated telling her about his run-in with Drogan.
“Come, now,” she said as they descended the front steps outside and headed slowly up the sidewalk. “I know you were in with Drogan, and I know that the man is a pompous ass.”
He laughed then told her the extent of his conversation.
“You like this girl.” It wasn’t a question.
He didn’t contradict her. “She is a good person. Sometimes it seems those are hard to find these days.”
“What makes her a good person?”
“She’s kind, selfless, feeds the homeless.” He looked down at the baroness. “She’s only the second human I’ve ever met who believes all vampires aren’t like the Soulless. Granted, our kind hasn’t really advertised otherwise.”
The baroness smiled and patted his arm. “She sounds good for you. It sometimes isn’t a popular viewpoint among my colleagues, but I think it’s very important to remain as close to our human selves as possible. Understanding of differences often takes a great deal of time to come to pass, but I have hopes of one day seeing humans and vampires coexisting in a friendlier, easier way.”
“That’s a tall order, especially when humanity still has problems with acceptance among themselves.”
“Yes, but we will live a very long time. There’s no telling what we’ll see.”
He didn’t know why he’d not thought of it before, but it hit Campbell that even if he and Olivia found a way to make their relationship work, it would only be for a tiny fraction of his immortal life.
“You’re thinking of your lady’s life span?”
He stopped and looked the baroness in the eye. “How did you know?”
“I’m a keen observer, Mr. Raines. How do you think I got this job? Why I’m so good at it?”
“Why do you work, anyway? I know you don’t have to.”
She pushed some of her dark hair behind her ear. “Because I bore easily.” She waved her hand in a swirling motion. “I guess I’m a little like you. Somebody has to keep all these crazy vamps in line.”
He looked off into the night. “Sometimes it feels like a losing battle.”
“I know.”
He returned his attention to her. For the first time since he’d known her, she sounded tired. It was so unlike her that it caused concern to swell in him. What did she know that he didn’t? Did it have anything to do with the fact that she was in New York?
Her abnormal moment passed and she met his eyes. “My advice is don’t think about how long her life is. It robs you of the joy you can have with her while she is here.”
“You sound as if you speak from experience.”
“I do. I loved a man very much, but I spent all the years we had together tied in knots over the fact that I’d lose him too soon, that we wouldn’t be like other couples who got to spend their entire lives together. When he was gone, I realized how much time I’d wasted, time when I could have been truly happy.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the night sky. “If I were sane, I’d stay away from her. I fear hurting her, or worse.”
“You know what my favorite saying is?” the baroness asked. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” With that, she patted his arm again and turned on her heel. “Well, I better get back. Maybe I’ll think of a way to make Drogan’s night miserable on the walk back.”
He smiled then kissed her cheek. “Maybe I should have fallen for someone like you.”
“My dear, you wouldn’t be able to keep up with me.”
As he watched her walk away, her words reverberated in his head. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Was there? He wasn’t so sure, not with memories of Bridget tormenting him. But if so, he was damn well going to find it.
* * *
Something was wrong. Olivia stared out at the handful of people sitting in the diner, a fraction of the normal morning crowd. And it was too quiet. She’d noticed that as soon as Rusty had shown up. First, he’d been several minutes later than usual. Then he hadn’t been able to meet her eyes, and he’d barely said anything.
“What is going on?” she said to herself.
Could the abductions be keeping people away? Or maybe the fact she’d had two dead bodies found in her alley? She shook her head. It was more than that, and she intended to find out what. She headed for the dining room.
She stopped only a few steps in when Rusty simply left his money on the table and left. Dread settled in her stomach. With Rusty’s exit, that left only a family of four in the back corner and Jane next to the window. When she met Jane’s gaze, the other woman gave her a sad smile. Olivia took it as permission to approach. At least Jane wasn’t making a beeline for the door without a word.
Jane pointed to the chair across from her. “Have a seat.”
“Are you sure? Seems everyone else thinks I’m contagious with something.”
Jane nodded to the empty chair, and Olivia slipped into it. “Word has gotten around the neighborhood that you’re seeing a vampire.”
Olivia jumped as if she’d been stung. “What?”
Jane leaned a little closer. “One of your neighbors saw you together, saw him jump from the street to your balcony.”
What should she say? Deny it? Try to explain.
“You are not the first and likely won’t be the last,” Jane said.
“I... You don’t seem upset.”
Jane shrugged. “It doesn’t affect me. I personally think people ought to mind their own business and not tell everyone else how to live.”
Olivia glanced across her nearly empty diner. “You seem to be in the minority.”
“Unfortunately.” Jane slid her glasses to the top of her head. “You ever wonder what I’m writing in here every day?”
“Yes. Mindy and I have actually debated many times. Our latest guesses are erotic novel—that’s Mindy’s guess—or spy thriller because you used to be a spy.”
Jane laughed. “Maybe it’s an erotic spy thriller.”
“Hey, new genre.”
Jane placed her hand on either side of her laptop. “No. I’m writing about human-vampire relations throughout history.”
Olivia scrunched her forehead. “Is there enough material for that? There really hasn’t been much interaction.”
“See, I don’t think that’s true. There are too many stories of vampires throughout history. I’m taking a look at all of them again, along with historical accounts of the same periods when the stories originated. I don’t think all of those tales are fiction.”
“I was told that those stories sprang up because of rogue vampires who killed too much and didn’t make sure no one saw them.”
“Maybe part of it. But I don’t think all the interactions were deadly. They’ve just been very well hidden or disguised. Do you think your vampire would consent to being interviewed?”
Olivia couldn’t imagine it in a million years. She gave Jane an apologetic smile. “I don’t think so. Besides, he’s a very young vampire. He wouldn’t have witnessed any of these potential historical encounters.”
Disappointment fell over Jane’s face. “Oh, well. It was worth a try.”
“You don’t fear them?”
“I wouldn’t say that. I’m not so adventurous that I step out of my building after sunset. But they do fascinate me. I want to know the reality versus the myth. Before the Bokor virus, I traveled to remote locations all over the world writing about little-known peoples and places, but this is like nothing I’ve ever worked on before. I feel as if I could peel back layers forever and still not get the entire story.”
“They were very good at hiding their existence.” Despite her relationship with Campbell, Olivia still found the vampire world frightening and the fact that they’d lurked in the dark for centuries creepy.
“The most secret of societies.” Jane took another sip of her coffee.
“Can I get you a fresh cup?”
Jane closed her laptop. “Sorry, no time. I have a meeting this morning.”
“Will you be coming back?” Olivia hated the hint of desperation in her voice. But her dining room sat as sparsely filled as it had in the days after she’d reopened following the pandemic. Just when she’d felt as though things were getting better, bam, the rug got pulled out again. At least Mindy wasn’t here to see what Olivia’s actions had done to their livelihood.
“Yes, dear. I’ll be back again tomorrow.” She looked at the empty tables around her. “Hopefully the others will come to their senses soon, too.”
Olivia sat at the table for several minutes after Jane left, watching people walk by on their way to work. Could she really blame customers for staying away? Not so long ago, would she have been any different?
She had to find a way to fix this, to fix everything.
Chapter 18
Campbell would swear it’d been ages since he’d seen Olivia rather than the mere day since he’d left her apartment. He needed to feed later tonight, had confirmed with Ethan that there were a couple of units of AB-negative available. He wasn’t going to push himself to the breaking point ever again if he could help it. But first he needed to see Olivia, hold her in his arms.
The baroness’s words had reverbe
rated in his head ever since she’d uttered them. He didn’t know if he could totally turn off the thoughts of her mortality or the danger he posed to her, but he couldn’t imagine never seeing her again either.
When he arrived at her apartment, she was lying on her couch watching TV. All he could see of her were her sock-covered feet hanging over one of the couch arms. Hoping he wasn’t disturbing her if she was asleep, he knocked on the balcony window.
It took her a moment, but she rose, turned off the TV and crossed to the door. “Hey,” she said when she opened it and ushered him inside.
Once he was standing in her dining room, she pulled the blinds closed over the sliding glass door.
“You okay?” he asked.
She offered a small smile. “Just a long day.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Are you too tired for company?”
“No.” She wrapped her arms around him and placed her cheek against his chest. “I want you to stay.”
Sensing her fatigue, he led her to the couch and urged her to curl up against him. He kissed the top of her head.
“How’s the abduction investigation going?” she asked.
Campbell’s muscles tightened. “We’ve got a suspect. Just have to find the evidence to prove it.”
“Do you...do you think those people are still alive?”
“I hope so.”
When she fell silent again, he knew something was wrong. He rubbed his hand along her arm. “You’re hiding something from me. What is it?”
“Just had a bit of a dip in the amount of customers today.”
“How much of a dip?”
She let out a long sigh. “A big one. It hasn’t been that bad since I first reopened after the pandemic.”
He knew the reason without her having to say it. “It’s because of me, isn’t it? Someone found out about us?”
She hesitated but then nodded. “I guess one of my neighbors saw you.”
He cursed, then closed his eyes and let his head fall against the back of the couch. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself,” Olivia said as she sat up.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Who do you think is at fault?”
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