"What's going on, Jay?"

"Zane's called a meeting. Looks like we have some info on those crazies we've been patrolling the city for. Rumor has it, Zane captured one last night. I guess we'll be handed new a.s.signments."

Oliver nodded. He was already aware that they'd captured one of the leeches, as Ursula called the vampires who'd frequented the blood brothel. "It's not a rumor. Where's Zane now?"

Jay shrugged. "Beats me." He glanced at his watch. "Meeting is supposed to start in fifteen minutes." He grinned at the crowd that had already formed. "Everybody's licking their chops already, eager to get some action."

"I can see that." At least it meant that Scanguards was now engaging with full force, trying to find out where the blood brothel had relocated. It made him feel marginally better. But it wasn't his priority at this moment. Finding Ursula's whereabouts was. "Have you seen Thomas?"

Jay jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Probably in his office."

"Thanks!"

Oliver marched down the hall and stopped in front of Thomas's office, knocking briefly.

"Come," he heard Thomas's voice from inside.

He pressed the door handle down and pushed the door open, entering quickly. Thomas looked up from the computer.

"Uh, figured you'd show up eventually."

"Where is she?"

Thomas tsked. "What, no niceties? You've gotten downright rude since you've been turned."

Narrowing his eyes, he glared at Thomas. "Well, we can't all be as nice as Eddie, can we?"

Thomas's expression turned to displeasure. "If you think by p.i.s.sing me off you'll get me to tell you where Ursula is, you're a worse strategist than I thought."

Oliver placed his hands on the desk and leaned over it. "Where are you hiding her? Here in the building? In one of the cells?" The thought sent a shiver down his spine. Knowing that Ursula was locked up somewhere made him angry. He felt his gums itch as a result, his fangs eager to descend.

"How stupid do you think we are? Do you think we'd hide her in plain sight where you can just waltz in with your access card and get to her?"

"Is that why Zane isn't back yet? Because he's out hiding her somewhere?"

Thomas didn't flinch. He was too experienced to give away anything, but Oliver knew nevertheless. Zane was the one who'd taken Ursula.

"What does it matter? All that's important is that you're safe."

Oliver let out a bitter laugh. "Safe? From what? Her blood? Don't you get it? I won't bite her. I promised her that. Do you think I'd go ahead and do what these a.s.sholes did to her? Use her for her blood?"

Which didn't mean that he didn't want her bodya"underneath him, panting in ecstasy.

"You say that now, but wait until the temptation becomes too strong." Thomas rose. "If you don't mind, I have a meeting to attend. And you'd do well to join us. After all, it was your case to start with. If only you had told us the truth about Ursula when you found out, it would still be your case. Tell me, Oliver, where do your loyalties lie? With us or with her?"

Then Thomas pressed a few b.u.t.tons on his keyboard, presumably locking his computer screen, and walked out of his office, not waiting for an answer.

Contemplating Thomas's words, Oliver dropped his head and studied his shoes. Scanguards was his life and his family. But over the last few hours he'd fought practically with every member of his extended family and basically told them that he hated them. All because of a woman. He'd never thought that it would come to that. He'd never believed that a woman could come between him and Scanguards.

Knowing he had to do something, he left Thomas's office and stalked down the hallway. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the door to the emergency exit open. A second later, Blake emerged from it and snuck onto the executive floor.

Looking around himself, Oliver verified that n.o.body had seen his step-brother yet and quickly walked over to him. Blake jolted when he saw Oliver approach, but caught himself quickly.

"Are you crazy?" Oliver asked under his breath as he dragged him into a nook which housed a refrigerator and a few shelves. "You're not allowed up here."

"When you stormed out I felt bad. I just want to help," Blake justified his actions.

Oliver shoved a hand through his hair. "You can't. This case is strictly vampires only."

"d.a.m.n it, I can help. I know enough about it to be of use. There must be something I can do."

Oliver felt his frown deepen. "You can find Ursula; that's what you can do." Even though he knew that Blake had even less of a chance of finding her than Oliver did himself.

"Man, I had no idea they would just take her away. Doesn't seem fair. You were the one who protected her in the first place."

Oliver nodded, somewhat surprised that his step-brother was taking his side. "I did. She trusts me. Can you imagine what she must be thinking now?"

"But Zane's never gonna tell us where he took her. You know him."

"Hmm."

"Who else knows?"

Oliver motioned his head toward the corridor behind him. "Thomas. But he isn't talking either. I already tried. Unfortunately he isn't gonna tell you either."

Suddenly Blake grinned. "But he might tell Eddie."

"Eddie?" Oliver echoed, when he felt a light bulb go on above his head. "My G.o.d, you're right. Why didn't I think of that? Thomas would tell Eddie anything. Everybody knows he's got the hots for him."

A movement to his left made Oliver snap his head to the side.

He stared right into Eddie's wide open eyes.

"Oh s.h.i.t!" Oliver cursed.

Blake let out a heavy breath.

It had been an open secret for a while now that Thomas harbored more than just friendship for the young vampire who lived with him. Everybody could see it, no matter how hard Thomas tried to suppress his feelings for the straight young man. The only one who didn't know was Eddie himselfa"well, until now.

Eddie stared at him, frozen in place and shocked to his core. "Thomas . . . he . . . " As if trying to shake off the words, Eddie shook his head. He looked distraught.

"Listen, Eddie, forget what you heard."

The cords in Eddie's neck bulged. "How the f.u.c.k can I just forget that?"

"Believe me, Thomas is an honorable man. He'll never act on his feelings since he knows they're not reciprocated."

s.h.i.t! Not only was he not going to get Eddie to get any information out of Thomas, now he found himself defending Thomas even though he was p.i.s.sed at him for denying him access to Ursula. But what he was telling Eddie was the truth: Thomas would never make a pa.s.s at Eddie. He'd kept his feelings under wraps ever since Eddie had been turned, and there was no reason to think he'd ever try to make the young vampire uncomfortable by exposing him to his feelings.

"G.o.d, I wish I'd never found out."

"I'm sorry." Oliver put a hand on his shoulder, wanting to calm him down, but Eddie pushed him off.

"Don't touch me!"

Eddie turned on his heels and left.

Oliver exchanged a look with Blake who seemed just as sorry about this incident as Oliver.

"f.u.c.k!" Oliver cursed again. He'd made a mess of things. A royal mess. How was he ever going to clean this up again?

28.

After convincing Blake that it was unwise to stay on the executive floor, and making sure he left the way he'd arrived, Oliver headed for the meeting room, where the meeting was already under way. The least he could do right now was see if he could help apprehend the vampires who ran the blood brothel. After all, he had some information that he hadn't shared with his colleagues yet. It didn't mean, however, that he would stop looking for Ursula.

Oliver stopped at the open door to the meeting room and peered inside. Over a dozen vampires were a.s.sembled, and since there was no empty seat, he remained standing at the door.

Zane had arrived in the meantime, and he and Thomas jointly led the meeting, filling in the a.s.sembled vampires on what had happened at the nightclub and whatever information Ursula must have given them about the blood brothel. Surprised murmurs went through the crowd.

"We must a.s.sume that one sip of the blood these women carry can turn you into an addict," Zane continued.

"I beg to differ," Oliver interrupted, drawing the crowd's attention to him.

"So you decided to join us after all," Thomas said.

Oliver ignored the stab and stared back at Zane. "I met a previous client of the blood brothel earlier tonight."

"Why are we being informed of this only now?" Zane griped, clenching his teeth.

"If you hadn't been so busy getting me out of the way so you could s.n.a.t.c.h Ursula behind my back, maybe I would have told you earlier!"

Zane made a hand movement, indicating him to shut up. "That's n.o.body's business. So, get to the point, unless this is another attempt to convince us to let you see her."

Oliver narrowed his eyes, but decided not to fight him on this. There was time for that later. "The vampire was a leech. That's what the girls at the blood brothel called the clients. Very fitting, I guess. He claimed to have only visited the brothel once, and I could see no signs of addiction."

Zane huffed as if he didn't believe him. "What else?"

"He was cooperative and agreed to contact us if he's notified of the new location of the brothel."

"How did you verify that he's a former client? How did you find him when according to you he exhibited no signs of addiction or behavior that made him stand out?"

"I found his wallet."

Zane raised an eyebrow. "Where?"

"In the building in Hunter's Point."

"The building was empty."

"Not quite," Oliver shot back, "it had a wallet in it. Ursula had stolen it from a client and then hidden it beneath the floorboards in her cell. I took her back there to search for it."

"When you were supposed to drive her to the airport," Zane added.

Oliver folded his arms over his chest and squared his stance. "Which we all know now was the wrong decision. If I had done that, I wouldn't have found the wallet or the leech."

But Zane didn't take the bait and remained cool on the outside. "And when were you going to present us with this evidence?"

"I'm presenting it now, aren't I?"

"After this meeting, I want to see you in my office, alone." Then Zane looked back at the a.s.sembled vampires. "Now to your a.s.signments. We have no lead yet as to where they might have relocated, but we a.s.sume they're still in the Bay Area, because this is where their clients are." He pointed to one of the vampires in the crowd. "Jay, you'll be checking out the background of this Michael Valentine we apprehended. He's still in our custody. Search his apartment, his mail, his computer, go through his phone, his address books, anything you can find. See if he's received anything in the last two days that would indicate where the brothel has moved to."

Jay nodded. "Consider it done."

"Benjamin, have Jay give you a list of all of Valentine's friends and acquaintances. Then you, Andrew, and Greg will check up on all the names on that list and see if any of them are also clients of the blood brothel. If they are, put some pressure on them and make them talk. See if they've received any text messages or emails with the new address of the blood brothel. We need to find the place. There are still a dozen women imprisoned there. We have to get them out. Quickly."

Then he let his eyes roam. "The rest of you, you're on regular patrol duty for those . . . leeches. Go to the clubs and watch out particularly for vampires feeding off Asian women, or even speaking with them. From what we know, they seem to be the only carriers of this blood. If you must, drop a few hints and pretend you know where a vampire can get high. Make sure you have backup. Are we clear?"

Several answered with a resounding "yes"; others simply nodded.

Oliver glanced to his side, having noticed that Eddie had approached. He now looked into the room, his eyes darting toward Thomas, who stood in one corner of the room, talking to Zane as the other vampires got up from their chairs.

As if Thomas could feel Eddie's eyes on him, he turned his head and looked straight at him. There was an awkward pause before Eddie turned on his heels and left.

After the meeting, Thomas walked up to Oliver, tossing a long look down the hallway where Eddie had disappeared to.

"I need the name and address of that vampire you found."

Oliver nodded. "Got something to write?"

Thomas handed him his notepad and pen, and Oliver started to scribble down the information.

"Something wrong with Eddie?" Thomas asked casually.

Oliver was glad that he was still busy writing the address down, so he didn't have to look at Thomas when he answered him. "Didn't notice anything." Still feeling bad about what he'd blurted out for Eddie to overhear, he handed Thomas the pad and pen and changed the subject. "Don't let Corbin know you're checking his background. He's cooperative, so don't mess up the progress I've made already."

"I'm not an amateur."

A moment later Oliver stood in Zane's office, tapping his foot while he waited for the bald vampire to make an appearance. He knew he was in for a dressing down, but he didn't care what Zane had to say to him.

He didn't have to wait long. Zane barged into the office, slamming the door behind him, reminding Oliver of the mood he was in. p.i.s.sed off didn't even begin to describe it.