“Better than being a dumbass.”
Olivia sighed and started placing strips of bacon on the grill.
“How did you sleep last night?” Mindy asked as she brought eggs, sausage and thick slices of bread to Olivia.
“Surprisingly well. I think my body finally just shut down.” She wasn’t about to tell Mindy about the nightmare or the talk with Campbell. Mindy had enough nightmares of her own when it came to vampires. Even thinking of Campbell in a remotely positive light felt like a betrayal of her friend.
“Good. You pushed yourself too much yesterday.”
“I needed to.” She didn’t have to explain about needing to work to occupy her mind after a traumatic event. Mindy had personal knowledge of that tactic.
Mindy simply nodded and headed to the dining room to unlock the front door.
As Olivia cooked, the phone rang. She flipped omelets while reaching for the receiver on the wall.
“Comfort Food Diner,” she said as she cracked more eggs.
“Olivia?”
She fumbled and dropped an egg on the floor and cursed. That voice. She hadn’t expected to hear that deep, sexy rumble during daylight hours. But she guessed as long as Campbell was underground or safely protected from the sunlight, he could talk freely. It wasn’t as if he was ensconced in a coffin somewhere. Even in this crazy new world, that piece of fiction was too goofy to be believed.
But why was he calling her now? She couldn’t handle this, not so soon. Not with Mindy nearby. Not when her own thoughts about him were as scrambled as the eggs she was dishing up.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. You...just surprised me.” She wished he’d stop sounding so concerned, so damned human.
Mindy gave her a curious look as she stepped up to the pickup window, but Olivia waved her away, irrationally afraid the fact she was talking to a vampire would be written across her face.
“Listen, do you have a gun?” he asked.
“What?”
“A gun?” he repeated.
“Uh, yeah.” She pictured the Glock in her nightstand. It hadn’t been out since she’d last gone to the shooting range a year ago. “Why?”
“Because my kind are not your only concern now.”
“I feel as if I’m getting more lost by the moment here.” And they might as well start prepping her room in the nearest mental ward.
She listened to what sounded like him pulling out a chair and sitting down.
“Travis intercepted some information that indicates the Nefari is employing humans to do their bidding during the daylight hours.”
“The Nefari?” Did vampires have their own freakish language?
“Basically the vampire equivalent of the Mob.”
Olivia focused on a spot on the grill and took a couple of deep breaths. She didn’t know which part of Campbell’s words surprised her more, that there were humans who would willingly work for vampires or that there was a vampire Mafia. Wasn’t there a band by that name at one time?
“Olivia?”
“Yeah, still here.”
“This means you’re not safe, even in your own home. Even during the daytime at the restaurant.”
She did her best to keep a sudden rush of anxiety at bay. “The world has been a dangerous place for a while now.”
“But it’s never had humans kidnapping other humans for the vampire black market,” he said.
A chill went down her back, but she quickly reined in her fear. She was tired of being afraid. “I’m always careful, but I don’t want to live looking over my shoulder all the time. That’s not living at all.”
“Neither is being chained up in a feeding den.”
There went that chill down her back again, accompanied by some stomach churning thrown in for good measure. She hugged herself against the image his words brought to mind. If he and his team hadn’t arrived when they had, she might be living it right now, chained up as if she were an animal and slowly going insane. She hated the idea that no place, no time of day, was safe from the vampire threat anymore.
“Do you know who these people are? What they look like?”
“Not yet. We’ll get to the bottom of this, though. When I find out who is behind this, you won’t have to worry about them anymore.”
She envisioned him taking the culprit and ripping him apart, and it oddly didn’t bother her. Though she wouldn’t be inviting him in for a nightcap, her gut instinct told her he was a good guy, good vampire, whatever.
“Take every precaution you can,” he said. “And if someone or something looks suspicious and it’s daylight, call the NYPD. If it’s night, call me.”
Despite the gravity of the situation he was describing, she smiled a little at his tone. It was easy to see why he was in charge of his team, but it wasn’t the commanding edge that got to her. It was how he sounded every inch the protector.
This man, this vampire, had her feeling a bit like a teenage girl who’d just been noticed by the hottest boy in school. But teenage girls were ruled more by emotion and hormones than common sense, weren’t they? She was a grown woman now, one who lived in a dangerous world where common sense was often the dividing line between life and death.
“Campbell?”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You’re at a greater risk because of your blood type.”
“Me and everyone else in the city with AB-negative. Are you calling all of them, too?”
He hesitated before speaking. “There’s a list of targets, and your name is on it along with a few others in your neighborhood. Those vampires who were trying to take you, that was no random attack. And if vampires can’t get you at night, whoever is behind this is going to try again with human lackeys during the day.”
Cold dread settled in Olivia’s stomach. “I’d thank you for warning me, but I’m kind of wishing for an ignorance-is-bliss moment right now,” she said, trying to make light of a situation that held not one iota of light.
“I’m sorry.”
“I think maybe you’ve apologized to me enough already.”
He didn’t respond for several seconds, ones in which she realized she was close to burning the omelets. “Crap!” She scooped them onto plates and refused to make eye contact with Mindy when she zipped by to pick them up.
“I’ve caught you at a bad time, haven’t I?” he asked.
“Just the busy morning rush. And I’m not paying attention.”
“I distract you that much?” His voice held some teasing she knew was meant to lessen her tension, but it also had the effect of making her skin warm all over. Did the man have any idea how sexy his voice was? A vision of him naked, rolling around with her in tangled sheets, caused her body to tingle in interesting places. Thank goodness vampires didn’t have the ability to read minds. At least she hoped they didn’t.
“You could say that.” Damn, she’d said that out loud while wishing he was still human. She wished she could recall the words because they were definitely the least wise ones she’d uttered in a long time. This was not the time to be playing with fire, even if it had been a long time since she’d felt these kinds of sexual sparks. She let herself fantasize about what it’d be like to take Campbell to bed if he didn’t pose such a threat to her.
“Be careful,” he said, his voice deepening more. He sounded...aroused. And that sent a thrill through her. A very unwise thrill but a thrill nonetheless.
