"A substance abuse problem? What the f.u.c.k are you talking about? Do you think I was born yesterday? Drugs have no effect on vampires. Every newborn knows that! So don't dish up c.r.a.p like that or I'm gonna shove it back down your throat!"

Valentine jumped up from his chair. "But you have to believe me!"

Zane glared at him. "I don't have to do anything! You almost killed that girl! And whoever the other vampire was, he butchered another one downstairs. Or was that you too?"

Shocked, Valentine shrunk back. "No! I didn't kill her. Larry, he was even more in need of a fix than I. I swear! It was Larry, he killed that girl. He couldn't stop. And when he realized she didn't have the right blood, he went apes.h.i.t on her."

Zane s.n.a.t.c.hed him by the collar of his shirt. "What right blood? A specific blood type?"

"No! Not a blood type. It's not that. It's just . . . "

"It's what?" Zane growled impatiently.

"I don't know what it is, but it's like a drug. It makes you high. It comes from those Chinese girls. They keep them in that place."

Cain let out a breath and exchanged a quick glance with Thomas. Was this conversation going in the direction he thought it was?

"What place?"

"Down there, an old building in Hunter's Point. They keep a bunch of them there. They rent them out. It's expensive, but that s.h.i.t is good. But f.u.c.k, they're gone! They just left from one night to the next!"

A look of realization crossed Zane's face as he lifted his head to look up to the window.

"Are you saying that there's a place in Hunter's Point where vampires are keeping women for their blood?"

Valentine nodded. "It's not just ordinary blood. It's like a drug, like crack or heroine. And all the girls are Chinese. That's why we figured, Larry and I, that if we found some Asian chicks and fed from them, maybe we'd find one who has the same kind of blood. But it wasn't the same. It was just ordinary blood."

"s.h.i.t!" Zane cursed.

Cain looked at Thomas. "Ursula was telling the truth."

"Thomas, get the guards in here and have him taken back to his cell," Zane ordered.

Moments later, the guards picked up Valentine.

"What are you doing with me? You have to let me go!" Valentine whined as they dragged him from the room. "I told you everything you wanted to know!"

"What the f.u.c.k are we gonna do now?" Cain asked.

Thomas shoved a hand through his blond hair and leaned back in his chair. "Find those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"And Ursula?"

"There's nothing we can do now. Oliver wiped her memory, and she would have landed in Washington DC by now. Maybe it's for the better."

"But she would have been able to help us. She knows what they look like," Cain insisted. "We shoulda""

The ringing of the phone interrupted him. Thomas picked up the line. "Yeah?"

Cain heard a familiar voice, then Thomas's greeting. "Quinn, you're back? That's a nice surprise."

The door flew open and Zane tore into the room, cursing loudly. "f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k!"

Cain refrained from saying anything, knowing that Zane was seething over his failure to recognize Ursula's claim as the truth.

"We have to come up with a strategy," Zane said, then turned to Thomas. "Get off the phone. This is more important."

Thomas pursed his lips. "It's Quinn, and I think you want to hear what he's got to say . . . Quinn, I'm putting you on speaker. Zane and Cain are here."

He pressed a b.u.t.ton and put the receiver down. "Now tell them what you just told me."

"Hey guys. I'm a bit out of the loopa"just got in a few hours agoa"but the girl who says she was imprisoned by vampires, she's here."

Zane leaned over the desk. "Oliver didn't take her to the airport?"

"No, why would he?"

"Because I ordered him to!" Zane thundered.

There was a pause on the other line. "Guess he didn't like your order."

"Guess not," Cain murmured to himself, not a bit surprised at the turn of events. He'd seen the way Oliver had looked at the girl. She'd probably used her big brown eyes to wrap him around her little finger and make him do whatever she wanted to.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," Thomas said calmly. "She might still be useful, because we've just found out what the deal is with that brothel."

"Care to share?" Quinn asked.

Thomas shifted closer to the phone. "Apparently all the girls at the brothel have special blood. It acts as a drug to vampires. They go crazy for it, and when they're not getting any more, they're showing withdrawal symptoms. Like human drug addicts. It's not pretty."

Not pretty didn't even begin to describe it, Cain thought, remembering the scene in the nightclub.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely," Thomas confirmed.

"Then we have a problem," Quinn said gravely.

Zane put his hand on Thomas's shoulder, leaning over the speaker phone. "I know, Quinn. I was thinking the same thing."

Cain stared at Zane, then at Thomas who nodded.

"What?" Cain asked.

Zane sighed. "Oliver was a drug addict when he was human. He's susceptible to any kind of addiction. If he's with the girl and bites her, we have to a.s.sume the worst."

Thomas turned toward the phone. "Quinn, has he slept with her?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm suspecting it."

Zane cursed. "f.u.c.k, then he's probably already bitten her!"

"No!" came Quinn's voice as if shot from a pistol. "He made a point to say he wasn't going to bite her."

"And you believe him?" Cain asked. "Quinn, I was there, I saw the girl, and I saw how he looked at her. He wanted her, not just her body, but also her blood."

A sigh came through the line. "Jesus, Rose and I should have never left."

"We'll take care of it," Zane a.s.sured him.

"What are you planning?"

"We have to separate them. It's for his own protection, and for hers too. As soon as the sun sets, here's what I want you to do . . . "

25.

Oliver felt warm breath blowing against his naked chest. The heartbeat of another person pounded against him, and the scent of a woman teased his nostrils.

He'd fallen asleep with Ursula in his arms, and sometime during the day rid himself of his shirt, because he'd gotten too hot. He should have left her bed then, but she had molded herself to him in such a trusting way that he hadn't been able to tear himself away.

The sun was setting already, and soon the house would be turning into a beehive. It was best that he went back to his room now before Rose and Quinn noticed him in Ursula's room.

As he gently removed Ursula's arm from his chest and rolled her onto her back, trying not to wake her, the door opened. Oliver's eyes shot to the figure standing in the doorframe: Quinn.

"That's just great!" Quinn said sarcastically. "You couldn't leave her alone, could you?"

Next to him, Ursula jerked awake, a scared gasp coming from her lips.

"Can't you knock?" Oliver growled at his sire.

"d.a.m.n it, Oliver, did you not listen to anything I said last night?"

"I haven't done anything!"

Quinn looked him up and down. "Oh, stop lying!"

Outraged at Quinn's wrong interpretation of the situation, Oliver grabbed one edge of the blanket, wanting to get out of bed, but Quinn lifted his hand in protest.

"Spare me the sight of your naked body!" Then he turned.

"But I'm nota"" Naked, he'd wanted to say, but Quinn slammed the door.

From the corridor, he issued one last command. "Get dressed! Samson wants to see you. Now!"

Then his footsteps were swallowed by the rug in the hallway.

Oliver shoved a hand through his messy hair. "Ah, s.h.i.t!" He looked at Ursula.

Her eyes were wide open in shock and embarra.s.sment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to stay."

He smiled at her and stroked his knuckles over her cheek. "Don't be silly. He'll calm down. He's just not used to me having a girl over."

Oliver dished up the explanation even though he knew it wasn't true. Quinn was worried about what he would do to Ursula if his hunger for blood became too much. He'd made his concerns clear earlier. But that still didn't excuse him busting into the room without knocking. Something else must have gotten Quinn all riled up.

"You don't have many girls stay over?"

He bent to her and pressed a kiss on her cheek. "No. You're the first." Then he straightened. "And as much as I would love to stay with you right now, I'd better see what my boss wants."

A frightened look crossed her features. "You're leaving me alone with them?"

"You have nothing to fear. They won't harm you." In fact, she would be much safer with Quinn, Rose, and Blake than with him. At least, none of those three was tempted by her blood. But he kept his thoughts to himself.

With another rea.s.suring look at her, he swung himself out of bed, s.n.a.t.c.hed his shirt from the floor and left her room. He went to his room, and ten minutes later he was ready to face his boss. It wasn't unusual that Samson wanted to see him. Samson often called him to his private residence to check in with him and see how he was doing. After working as his personal a.s.sistant for over three years, Oliver still had an especially close relationship with his boss, even though he was now a.s.signed to other duties.

Unfortunately, this meeting with Samson was d.a.m.n inconvenient. Oliver had wanted to stop by headquarters to see if he could find out more about what had gone down with those crazy vampires at the nightclub.

Quinn was in the foyer when Oliver descended the stairs. His sire gave him an odd look. Still annoyed about his rude intrusiona"which was so unlike Quinn's impeccable mannersa"he lifted his chin and glared at him.

"Next time get your facts straight: I wasn't naked!"

Then he sailed past him and slammed the door, realizing too late that he had parked the car in the garage. "d.a.m.n it!"

But he was too proud to turn around and go back inside. Samson's Victorian house was only a stone's throw away in neighboring n.o.b Hill. He would just have to walk there.

Delilah, Samson's wife opened the door for him when he arrived. She looked lovely as ever and had completely regained her figure after the birth of her daughter Isabelle only six months earlier.

"Hi Oliver, how are you?"

He smiled at her and entered the house, pulling the door shut behind him. "Nice to see you, Delilah. How's Isabelle? Is she sleeping?"

Delilah sighed, motioning him to follow her into the living room. "I wish! But I'm afraid she's keeping her father's hours!"

"Samson wanted to see me."

Delilah crouched down to the floor where a large blanket had been spread out. "He's still on the phone. Why don't you keep me company in the meantime?"

She tossed a little ball in Isabelle's direction, and the girl reached for it, but a Labrador puppy suddenly jumped onto it and s.n.a.t.c.hed it.

"Coco!" she chided the dog. "You don't give her a chance."

But the toddler didn't seem to mind having been bested by her pet. Isabelle laughed, and it sounded more like a gurgle, but her eyes beamed when she smiled up at Oliver, flashing tiny fangs at him.