talk to each other, and it sounded like Hungarian. And of course, Dimitri is Russian.”
Ian leaned back in his chair. “Most Malcontents are Eastern European or Russian.”
“Aye.” Angus nodded. “As for Corky’s whereabouts, since Roman issued a warrant for her arrest here in the States, I doona think she’ll remain here. She’s declared herself the Malcontent queen, so I believe she’ll seek refuge with them. She’s originally from England, so she probably teleported there, and then plans to move on to Eastern Europe or Russia whenever it grows dark there.”
Everyone murmured their agreement.
“We’ll have three search teams working out of three different bases,” Angus continued. “One in Moscow at Mikhail’s house, one in Budapest at Zoltan’s house, and the last one at Stanislav’s house in Minsk. Emma and I will be in charge in Moscow, Robby and Stan in Minsk, and Jack and Lara will assist Zoltan in Budapest. We doona expect any trouble at the school, so Ian and Carlos, I apologize for separating you from yer wives when they’re expecting, but we need every available man to help with the search.”
Carlos touched his wife’s shoulder. “Caitlyn is due in about two weeks.”
“We’ll bring you back in a week, or sooner, if need be,” Emma assured him.
Angus went on to assign everyone, making sure each team had at least two day guards. Olivia, Toni, and Caitlyn, the three pregnant women, would remain behind to protect the Dragon Nest Academy, a fairly easy job since no Malcontents knew the school even existed.
“Phineas, ye’ll remain here at Romatech, in charge of security,” Angus announced.
“But I thought you needed every available—”
“I have to leave someone here in charge, and I trust you,” Angus said.
Phineas sighed. He would have liked to see some faraway places, but he knew the other guys were better suited for the search. Jack could speak Czech and Italian. Austin knew several Slavic languages. Robby and Angus knew French and Russian. “Okay, I’ll stay here.”
“It’s an important job,” Emma reminded him. “Our attempt to capture Corky will have angered the few remaining Malcontents here in the States, and you know that Romatech is one of their favorite places to attack. We also need you to keep Roman safe.”
Phineas nodded. “I understand.”
Angus smiled. “And since ye’ll be here, ye can start yer brother’s training. That is, if he’s interested in working for us.”
“Yes, sir!” Freemont sat up. “Phineas will train me real good. I’ll be solid. Hard-core.”
Angus nodded, his smile widening. “I’m sure ye will. Welcome to MacKay S and I.”
Everyone at the table congratulated Freemont.
With a grin, Phineas gave his brother a knuckle pound. “Way to go, bro.”
“Phineas can get you the forms to fill out,” Angus said, then strode toward the door. “As for everyone else, gather the weapons and supplies ye need. We start teleporting to the London office in ten minutes.”
Chapter Four
A week passed by at Romatech with Phineas and Freemont manning the MacKay security office at night. Eventually, Freemont would guard Vamps during the day, but with most of the Vamps overseas hunting for Corky, there weren’t many left behind, just the night shift at Romatech. Phineas and his brother were responsible for their safety—Vamps like Roman, Laszlo, and Gregori, and a few mortals like Gregori’s fiancée, Abigail.
There was a mortal security team that worked out of a separate office during the day, and they guarded Romatech’s mortal employees. Most of the day shift was blissfully unaware of what happened at Romatech after sunset. That was when the night shift came in to make Vampire Fusion Cuisine.
For right now, Freemont needed to work the same hours as his brother so Phineas could train him. They began with lessons in fencing and martial arts, and they practiced marksmanship in the shooting range in the basement. Freemont also learned how to make the rounds and file reports.
With so many MacKay employees out of the country, it was quiet at Romatech. Roman’s usual day guard, Howard Barr, was in Budapest, so whenever Roman wasn’t working at Romatech, he teleported to the Dragon Nest Academy, where his wife, children, and mother-in-law were now living.
Angus and his Vamp employees e-mailed their reports to Phineas since they were awake while he was in his death-sleep. The shifters, Howard, Carlos, and Phil, called to give him updates. So far, no luck in tracking down Corky. To help out, Phineas made an old-fashioned wanted poster with Corky’s picture on it and faxed it to every vampire Coven Master and shifter contact on Angus’s list.
The Malcontent prisoner, Dimitri, had been released after a tracking device had been embedded in the back of his neck while he was in his death-sleep. They couldn’t be sure how long the device would remain on Dimitri, but it was worth a shot in case he tried to reunite with his queen. According to the device, he was still in the Brooklyn area, hanging out with the few Russian Malcontents who remained there. Roman’s father-in-law, Sean Whelan, had his CIA Stake-Out team watching the Russian Coven House. No sign of Corky there.
After a few nights, Phineas decided his brother could handle a few hours on his own, so he agreed to do another Blardonnay commercial. The next night, he teleported to DVN, where his costar, Tiffany, was waiting, along with Gordon, the director, and Maggie, the producer.
This time, the set was made to look like a tropical island. The backdrop showed a lush green rainforest to his right and a tropical blue lagoon to his left. Lighting had been set up to look like there was a full moon overhead.
He stood ankle-deep in white sand with a brightly striped beach towel tied around his hips. Tiffany wore a red bikini that emphasized her considerable talents. After a few takes, Gordon and Maggie declared the commercial a great success and broke open a few bottles of Bubbly Blood to celebrate.
Maggie poured some of the synthetic blood and champagne concoction into a flute glass and handed it to Phineas. “You really have a flair for this. Any of the soap operas would snatch you up in a minute.”
He took a sip of Bubbly Blood. “It’s a lot of fun, but I don’t want to quit my job at MacKay.”
Maggie gave him a sly smile. “So you like working for that rich old fart?”
He winced. “That was acting.”
“I know. That’s my point. You’re good at it, Phineas. If you ever need another job, you can find one here. They’re getting a lot of disappointed e-mails that you’re not going to appear on the soap.”
“Sorry about that.” He had announced a possible acting gig during his interview with Stone, but it had been a sham. Since then, Stone had reported on the
Maggie’s eyes softened. “You are a good guy, Phineas. We’re all very proud of you.”
He shrugged. Only the married women seemed to think that way.
“I have some good news.” Maggie refilled their flute glasses with more Bubbly Blood. “Since Corky’s show is off the air, and there’s a gap in the schedule, Darcy Erickson and I pitched an idea for a new show, and they bought it!”
Phineas clinked his glass against hers. “That’s great! Congratulations!”
She grinned. “Darcy and I are so excited! I was getting kind of tired of working on the ranch, and Darcy’s been wanting to quit MacKay S and I now that she has two kids. So now we’re coproducers of DVN’s new celebrity talk show,
“Hot damn, woman! That’s gonna be a hit!”
Maggie laughed. “I hope so! We’re going to travel to different locations to interview wives of famous vampires. We’ll tour their houses or castles or wherever they’re living, and what’s really cool is that Darcy can record what their homes look like during the day.”
“Right.” Darcy was the only Vamp Phineas knew of who had managed to become mortal once again. The procedure couldn’t work on him, though, because he didn’t have a sample of his blood from when he was mortal.
