Out of the Night

Imperium didn’t attempt to bridge?

He paced his private quarters and ran his hand over his face. At least he wasn’t out in the main room, where his team members could hear every word and shake their heads at his involvement with a human.

He wasn’t involved, not really.

But he’d like to be.

He sank onto his bed and propped his back against the wall. Here, in the privacy of his own space, he allowed himself to fantasize about what it would be like to be with her. To touch her soft skin, inhale her scent, run his fingers through all that lovely blond hair, join with her body and lose himself.

The thought of her being hurt or worse ate at him. He knew if the Nefari got hold of her, he’d tear Manhattan apart brick by brick, as well as anybody, vampire or human, who got in the way of finding her.

The power of that image jolted him. Olivia was right—he barely knew her. There was no reasonable explanation for why he felt such a pull toward her, why keeping her safe consumed him. In some moments it felt a little as though he was losing touch with reality.

And sitting in this little room alone wasn’t helping.

He stood and headed out to the fridge for a bag of blood from a supply he’d picked up the night before from the blood bank on the Upper West Side. He popped it in the microwave for a few seconds then drank it as he headed toward his desk. If he didn’t occupy his mind with something besides Olivia and his inability to protect her how he wanted to, he was going to go stark raving mad. And forever was a long damn time to be crazy.

“You okay?” Sophia asked when she looked up from her own desk. She said it quietly, with a glance toward where Len and Colin were watching a football game.

“I’d say yes, but you’d know I was lying.”

“Is it Olivia?”

He liked how Sophia used Olivia’s name and didn’t just call her the human woman like some of the others did. Of all his team members, he and Sophia probably missed being human the most. Though she certainly had more reason than he did and was more open about it.

“I tried to get her protection during the day, but let’s just say the NYPD wasn’t keen on listening.”

“Maybe a delegate could speak for you.”

The last thing he wanted was to bring the Imperium into this. “Not sure they’d be thrilled with my being so concerned about one human.”

“I doubt you talked to the NYPD just about her.”

“No. I mentioned the list, but they thought I was pranking them.”

Sophia nodded. “Have you talked to Olivia about this? What does she say?”

“That she doesn’t want to live in fear of every person who walks through her front door.”

“Understandable. Goodness knows there’s plenty to be afraid of without one more thing.”

Campbell stared at the TV for several seconds, then at how relaxed Len and Colin looked on the couch with their feet propped on the coffee table. He envied them.

“Do you think I’m off my rocker?” he asked.

“No,” Sophia said simply.

He shifted his gaze to her. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t think there’s anything crazy about caring about someone.”

“Even someone I barely know?”

Sophia placed her forearms on top of her desk and leaned forward. “That’s what makes you a good team leader,” she said. “You care about justice, about truth, about keeping both vampires and humans safe, helping us coexist the best that we can.”

If she’d claimed to be the reincarnation of Cleopatra, he wouldn’t have been more surprised. That was how she viewed him? He was one part humbled and one part embarrassed.

“Plus, this can be a lonely existence,” she said. “I’d venture that everyone on the team yearns for someone to be with. Of course, some of them wouldn’t admit it if you had a stake pointed at their hearts.”

“But she’s human. Why her?”

“Maybe because she’s human. I think we’re all still human deep down. We just have a condition that doesn’t allow us to live alongside them anymore.”

He heard the sadness creep into her words and knew she was missing her family, the husband and children she’d lost when she’d been turned.

But then she smiled a little. “Plus, she’s really pretty.”

He found himself smiling back. “That she is.”

Sophia went back to working on her computer, and Campbell sat back and tried to read the latest news from the Imperium’s headquarters in Bucharest. When he realized he’d read the same paragraph three times without having any idea what he’d read, he tossed the paper onto his desk and leaned back in his chair.

“I know the others will disagree with me, but I think maybe it’s a good thing if you befriend Olivia,” Sophia said. “You may not be able to be any more than that, but friendship is better than nothing. It’s a link that none of us have anymore.”

“I don’t want to use her just so I can feel human again.”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s more...maybe there’s a reason the two of you met.”

“I’m not a big believer in destiny or fate or whatever you want to call it.” And if it did exist, it had a cruel, morbid sense of humor.

“I am. And who knows? Maybe it’ll be the start of our two species understanding each other better.”

“Now I know you’re giving me way too much credit.”

“Hey, guys, switch to Channel 2,” Travis said as he shoved his rolling chair back from his desk and spun toward Len and Colin.

“Like hell,” Colin said. “The Jets are inches from the goal line.”

“Just do it.”

Colin grumbled under his breath as he snatched the remote control and switched the channel.

“If you’re just joining us, a recap of our top story,” said the familiar voice of local news anchor Joe Finnion. “New York Times reporter Leila Russell was abducted by unknown assailants this afternoon as she was leaving the paper to conduct an interview. Russell has covered the vampire beat since it was revealed that vampires were indeed real. Police are investigating the possibility that her abduction was tied to her coverage.”

“Tell me the paper has video surveillance outside,” Campbell said.

“Computer’s looking for it now,” Travis said. Just then the computer dinged that it had completed its search. Travis punched a couple of buttons and pulled up the video. He advanced it slowly to the approximate time the news report had said Leila Russell had been taken. And there it was, a wedding-catering van pulling up to the curb next to her. Someone grabbed her and dragged her inside with little effort, and then the driver sped away.

“What do you want to bet that van was reported stolen?” Len said from where he’d come to stand behind Travis with the rest of the team.

A few clicks on the keyboard, and Travis was in the NYPD report database. “Yep, five days ago.”

“Generate a list of all the vehicles reported stolen in the past month,” Campbell said.

“You think whoever is behind this is who took Olivia’s car?” Sophia asked.

“Possible, but I doubt it,” Campbell said. “Looks as though they prefer vans. Easier to nab a person and make a quick getaway. Hard to stuff an unwilling victim in a compact car.”

He didn’t have to look at a clock to know they had about an hour before they could go topside. But they would make the most of that time.

“We need information, everything we can get our hands on. Cross-reference to see if the two victims we know about have anything in common other than being women. Hack their medical records to see if they have the same blood type. Find out if there have been any more missing persons reported in the past month.”

Campbell divvied up the tasks, then started searching the Times’ archives for Leila’s articles to see if she’d written anything to fire up the Nefari or anyone else in the vampire community. Her recent coverage of humans working for vamps seemed the most likely catalyst. The moment he felt the sun hit the horizon, he stood and started gearing up. When it was safe to emerge, he headed for the stairs that led up to the street level.