The not-very-well-hidden smiles and snickers of his team faded at his news.
“It’s possible they were the guys who have been kidnapping other women. Could have been scouts. Could have been nothing more than a couple of grunts who needed some food. But it’s worth keeping an eye on the place when we can. I patrolled by the homes of the others on the list but saw nothing but a vamp snooping around.”
“But these kidnappers hit during the daytime,” Sophia said. “We can’t protect her or any of them then.”
And that fact tore him totally to shreds inside. “I have a call in to the Imperium representative here, see if he can make the NYPD listen. Until I hear back, we concentrate all our efforts on finding out who is behind this and shutting them down, hard.”
From the nods around the room, the team was in total agreement.
Campbell nodded toward Travis’s computer. “Do we have any shots at all clear enough to identify the abductors? Height, hair color, anything?”
“No. It’s as though they know exactly where the security cameras are and are very good at shielding themselves from them.”
“No demands have been made, so we know these aren’t your typical kidnappings,” Kaja said. “Those girls have been taken into the blood-slave trade. I’d bet my immortality on it.”
“Monsters,” Sophia said under her breath.
Campbell met the eyes of every member of his team. “If it takes us kicking down every vampire’s door in Manhattan to find those girls, we’re going to do it. We monitor every police report, every security camera in the city, every whispered rumor on the street. We get help from other teams if we need it. But I’m not having this happen in my own backyard.”
After forceful expressions of agreement, his team went to their respective desks and got to work, a renewed fervor in their efforts. The vampires behind these abductions had no idea what level of hurt was coming their way.
When he tried to work, his thoughts kept straying back to Olivia, hoping she was safe. His hand itched to grab the phone and call her, but it was too early. He’d already kept her up too late talking, kissing. God, that kiss had been even more amazing than he’d imagined. And stupid. Really, really stupid. Even after he’d jumped from her balcony, it’d been so difficult to leave. He hadn’t felt that human in a very long time. He’d been afraid if he left, he’d never feel it again.
And if he truly cared about her, it would be the last time he got anywhere near her. Each time he saw her, it got harder and harder to walk away, to not ask her to invite him in.
That last thought was what frightened him more than anything. If he ever lost control with her again and the worst happened, his team wouldn’t have the chance to take him out, because he would do it for them. He needed to assign one of the others to the patrol of her neighborhood and figure out how to ensure her safety during the day while he waited for the Imperium member to take his good sweet time getting back to him.
“Seriously?” Kaja said as she looked up to find Len walking back to his desk after warming up some B- positive in her mug. “Now I’m never going to be able to use that mug again.”
“We have this thing called water. You use it to wash dishes,” Len replied, then took a long drink just to further irk her.
Kaja wrinkled her nose. “I could use the entire New York City water supply and never get the stench of that vile stuff you drink out of there.”
Len just chuckled and went back to work. Kaja gave him another hard stare before resuming her work, as well.
Campbell shook his head. He didn’t know why those two were like a case of sibling rivalry on steroids, but they’d been that way from the day they’d met. He shifted his attention back to the computer screen, where he was looking through the business records for both of the companies whose vehicles had been used in the abductions. He wanted to see if someone at either place had a reason for wanting to go into business with vampires or faking the reports of stolen vehicles.
But the more he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, the more his thoughts diverted back to Olivia and how she’d felt in his arms. The way she’d talked to him as if he were just a normal guy, how she’d put herself at risk by coming out onto the balcony. She’d been so beautiful, and he’d found himself wishing he’d met her before he’d been turned, before she’d met her fiance.
He also remembered the meals she’d been preparing the night before and how he wasn’t able to talk her out of delivering them. As his gaze wandered the room, it lit on the wall full of weapons and blessed cuffs. An idea popped into his head. Not a perfect one by any means, but something that might prevent Olivia from going out alone. Unwilling to make the necessary call in front of the others, he got up and went to his room.
He picked up the phone and dialed.
“St. Patrick’s Cathedral,” came the bright and cheery voice on the other end of the line.
“Hey, Chloe. It’s Campbell.”
“Hey there. What’s shaking in the Bat Cave?”
“Kaja and Len snapping at each other again. You know, business as usual.”
Chloe chuckled. “I swear those two are either going to kill each other or fall head over heels for each other.”
This time it was Campbell’s turn to laugh. The idea of those two together just didn’t compute. “If ever there was a story of oil and water,” he said.
“So what can I do for you this bright and sunny day?”
“That’s right, rub it in.”
“Sorry. Just trying to help you live vicariously. So do you all need more holy water?”
Chloe Ferris, the younger sister of Ethan “Doc” Ferris at the blood bank, was basically a dealer for V Force. They needed holy water to do their jobs, and her job as secretary for St. Patrick’s Cathedral put her in the position to get it for them.
“No, we’re good for now, thanks. I... Listen, I need a favor.”
“Sure, if I can help.”
Campbell stared at the ceiling and tried to convince himself he was doing this for all the people Olivia helped and not just her.
“We helped a woman a couple of days ago whose car was stolen. She was out delivering food to the homeless, which I guess is something she does on a regular basis. Travis is trying to find her car, but until then she has no transportation.”
“And you want me to provide the wheels for her meals.”
“Is that too much to ask?”
“No. I think it’s a great idea. I just wish people could see this side to you guys.”
“Maybe someday.” But again, he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for humanity’s safety.
Chloe sighed, and he knew the look of frustration she likely wore. She’d tried, unsuccessfully, to get the church to consider the possibility that all vampires weren’t bad. To them her brother was one of the damned, a demon who should be burning in hell. Though she was one of the perkiest, happiest people he’d ever met, that particular fact weighed heavily on her.
“Before you agree too quickly, I need to tell you something else,” he said. “You’ve seen the stories of the abductions on the news?”
“Yeah. It’s awful.”
“We have information that makes us believe that vampires are behind it.”
“So this is what they’ve been talking about on the news, the humans working with vamps?”
“Yes. We suspect the Nefari, or at least someone who knows he can make a nice income off selling humans to the blood-slave trade.”
“Oh, no.”
“It gets worse. There is a list of targets and the woman who delivers the meals is on it. So she’s in danger until we catch these people. You would be, too.”
He felt awful for asking Chloe, the one human before Olivia who didn’t think they were a pack of ravenous beasts, to put herself at risk.
“Stop it,” she said.
