The Vampire and the Virgin

“Olivia, I can explain.”

“Can you deny it? Can you tell me you’re not a—” She couldn’t even say it.

He stepped toward her. “Ye know I love you.”

She stepped back farther and shook her head. He wasn’t denying it. She couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t denying it.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” he said quietly. “We can talk about it.”

A strange sound escaped her mouth, a cross between disbelief and despair. This was the important thing he’d wanted to tell her.

She glanced to the side. The people who had materialized earlier were gathered together by the road. They were keeping a distance and pretending not to watch, but they were casting worried glances at her and Robby and scowling at Whelan.

Vampires. They were all vampires. The murderers were vampires. And Robby.

“No!” She turned and ran into the cornfield. Green leaves swished at her. She batted them away and kept running. Vampires? No. It was ridiculous. It was crazy.

It made sense. It explained everything.

She charged through the field behind the houses. She needed J.L. and Barker. She needed real people.

“Olivia?” J.L. emerged onto the corn row she was running down. “What’s wrong?”

“J.L.!” She sprinted toward him.

Barker joined him.

“Oh thank God. You’re both okay.” She ran into J.L.’s arms and hugged him.

“We were headed back to you,” J.L. said. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She stepped back, still breathing heavily from her run. And the shock. “You’re not going to believe it. It—it’s unbelievable.”

“You figured it out?” J.L. asked.

“Yes.” She pressed a hand to her chest.

“Wow,” J.L. muttered. “I had no idea till Barker led me back to his clothes.”

“What?”

“Then you don’t know?” J.L. looked at their supervisor. “Maybe you should tell her.”

“What?” Olivia repeated.

Barker sighed. “I’m a shape-shifter.”

“What?”

“I was the Irish wolfhound. I shifted to try to track down the children, but I couldn’t trace their scent.”

She stared at him. “No.”

“Yes,” Barker replied.

She stepped back. “No.” Her boyfriend had fangs, and her boss was a dog? Her world was tipping upside down. Where had all the normal people gone? She shivered. The normal people were the dead ones in the farmhouses.

She glanced suspiciously at J.L. “And what are you? Do you turn into an animal, too?”

“I wish. I think I’d be a dragon. That would be cool.”

“No.” She retreated another step. “Not cool.” She heard swishing sounds behind her.

“Olivia?” Robby called.

She spun around. Dear God, no. He was coming after her.

“Is that Robby?” J.L. asked. “What’s he doing here?”

“Vampire,” she whispered. “They’re all vampires.”

“Holy cow,” Barker muttered.

The dog speaks, she thought faintly. Green corn plants swirled around her, and she saw dancing stars.

“Olivia.” Robby pushed through some plants into their row.

She stumbled back, and Barker caught her. She lurched away from him, and Robby made a grab for her. God, no. She was stuck between a vampire and a man-dog. The cornfield swayed, and everything went black.

CHAPTER 23

Robby swooped Olivia up in his arms. A surge of guilt shot through him. He should have told her the truth weeks ago. But was there ever a good time to tell someone you were a bloodsucker? The poor lass had run away in horror, and now she was in a dead faint.

“Wait a minute.” J.L. regarded him suspiciously. “Why was she talking about vampires?”

“She just met one.” Robby caught the scent of the tall man beside J.L. “Ye’re a shifter?”

The man stiffened. “You know about shifters?”

“Aye. Are ye a wolf?”

“Wolfhound. I’m Patrick O’Shea Barker. FBI.”

“Och. Ye’re Olivia’s supervisor. She’s mentioned you before. In a favorable way, of course. I’m Robby MacKay of MacKay Security and Investigation. We have a few shifters in our employ.”

“Really? That’s interesting.”

“Stop!” J.L. held up his hands. “Rewind. I don’t think we sufficiently covered the vampire thing. Are you freaking telling me vampires are real?”

“Aye.” Robby held Olivia close and strode along the corn row, headed toward the farmhouses.

“Where are you going with her?” J.L. followed closely behind.

Robby sighed. She probably didn’t want to see him when she awoke. “Do ye have a safe place to take her?”

“We have rooms at the motel in town,” Barker said.

“Good.” Robby reached the backyard. The two FBI men flanked him and watched him warily.

“Aren’t you one of the guys who materialized here?” J.L. asked. “How the hell did you do that?”

Robby winced. They hadn’t realized they’d had an audience. He started down a worn path between the two farmhouses. “Does the car in the driveway belong to one of you?”

“It’s mine,” J.L. said. “Harrison and the sheriff left.”

“What?” Barker gave J.L. an incredulous look. “Harrison left? Why did he do that?”

“Beats me.” J.L. glared at Robby. “They met some guys in kilts, and the next thing we know, they’re driving off.”

Robby sighed inwardly. That would have been Connor and Angus. They’d been the first to arrive. They’d called the local sheriff’s office and teleported there. Then, using vampire mind control, they’d persuaded the operator to call the sheriff’s car radio. They’d erased memories and teleported to the sheriff’s car, using the radio as a beacon.

“Yer companions were told to leave,” Robby admitted.

“Why would Harrison do what some strangers told him to do?” Barker asked. “I’m his boss, and he doesn’t obey me half the time.”

“Vampire mind control.” Robby spotted his colleagues gathered by the road. Their number had dwindled. Some must have teleported away.

Barker motioned toward them. “Those guys over there are vampires?”

“Aye, but doona worry. They willna harm you.”

“Whoa.” J.L. halted with a jerk. “Then you’re a vampire, too?”

Robby groaned inwardly. “Aye.” Olivia stirred in his arms, so he hurried toward the car.

Barker kept up with him. “You bite people?”

“Nay. I drink synthetic blood.”

“And you materialized here?” J.L. asked.

“We teleported.”

“What other powers do you have?” Barker asked.

“Superstrength and — speed, superhearing and — vision, a prolonged life, levitation, mind control.”

“Cool,” J.L. whispered.

“Nay.” Robby stopped beside the car. “’Tis no’ cool when it is used for evil. The Malcontents used mind control to render those puir mortals helpless. They died in terror, unable to defend themselves.”

“Who are the Malcontents?” Barker asked.

Robby launched into a quick explanation of the Malcontents, Vamps, and the CIA Stake-Out Team. He stopped when Olivia moaned. “Hurry, open the door. The keys are on the ground there.”

J.L. picked up the keys while Barker opened the back door. Robby deposited Olivia on the backseat.

“So basically you’re the good vampires, and the Malcontents are the evil ones?” Barker asked.

“Aye.” Robby shut the back door.

“What’s the deal with the skirts?” J.L. asked. “I thought you guys were more into capes.”

Robby gave him an annoyed look, then noticed Olivia was waking up. “I’ll need you to keep this a secret. ’Tis imperative that the mortal world no’ know.”

J.L. snorted. “Like anyone would believe this.” He climbed into the driver’s seat.

“You can trust us.” Barker circled to the other side of the car. “I don’t want my secret to come out, either.” He folded his long frame into the front passenger seat.

J.L. started the engine, and Robby stepped back. Olivia sat up in the backseat and looked around with a dazed expression. She spotted him, and her eyes widened with horror.

His heart twisted in his chest.

The car backed down the driveway. As it turned onto the road, Olivia peered out the window at him.

He raised a hand. Was this good-bye? Would she ever agree to see him again? She had to. He couldn’t let her go without a fight.

The car sped off, and he was left looking at a cloud of dust.