"Any sign of Shanna?" Roman asked.
"No, but they're dressed in formal clothing. Black and white." Gregori gave Laszlo a worried look.
God's blood, Roman thought. They were coming to the ball.
"What should I do?" Laszlo asked, his eyes wide. "I can't stay here."
"Doona fret, lad." Angus marched over to Laszlo and gripped his shoulder. "I willna let them harm you. My men will be on red alert."
Roman watched as Angus pulled out his pistol. Jean-Luc twisted the knob on his walking stick and withdrew a long, sharp dagger. Damn. Was this going to be a ball or a bloodbath?
Suddenly the door opened, and Angus pointed his gun at the man entering.
Ian blinked. "Bugger. Not quite the welcome I was expecting."
Angus laughed and slipped the pistol back into his shoulder holster. "Ian, my old friend. How are you?"
"Verra well." Ian exchanged slaps on the shoulder with his boss. "I've just now returned from
Washington."
"Well, ye're back in the nick of time. Ivan Petrovsky is on his way. We may have a bit of trouble."
Ian grimaced. "We have a lot more trouble than that." He glanced at Roman. "It's a good thing I went to Langley. At least we have prior warning now."
"What are ye saying, man?" Angus asked.
"I did some investigation on Dr. Whelan's father," Ian explained.
Roman stood. "Is he CIA?"
"Aye." Ian nodded. "Last stationed in Russia, but three months ago he was brought back to
Washington to head up a new program. The files were heavily encrypted, but I was able to figure out most of it."
"Go on," Roman urged.
"He's in charge of an operation called Stake-Out."
Angus shrugged. "That's a common term in law enforcement."
"Not in this sense." Ian frowned. "They have a logo to go with the name. A wooden stake struck through a bat."
"Bugger," Angus whispered.
"Aye. They're compiling a list of targets for termination. Petrovsky and a few of his friends are on there." Ian regarded Roman sadly. "Ye're on the list, too."
Roman caught his breath. "Are you saying everyone on the list is a vampire?"
"Aye." Ian grimaced. "I'm sure ye know what this means."
Roman sat heavily in his chair. God's blood, this was terrible. His voice came out as a whisper, "They know about us."
CHAPTER 15
Ivan Petrovsky checked the address Katya had given him. "This is it, Vlad. Pull over."
Vladimir located a parking space not far from the safe house in New Rochelle. Both sides of the dimly lit street were lined with tall, narrow, wood-framed houses. Covered porches looked out onto tiny front yards. Most of the houses gleamed with light from their windows, but the safe house was dark.
There was no female vampire Ivan respected more than Katya, and once again, she'd proven herself worth her weight in gold. A longtime member of his Russian coven, Katya was every bit as vicious as he. She'd been the one to locate and seduce the U.S. marshal in charge of Shanna Whelan. With the marshal completely under her control, Katya had easily set this trap.
Ivan instructed Vlad to stay with the car, then zipped toward the safe house with vampire speed. He stopped at the back door and waited for Alek and his harem girl Galina to catch up. They slipped inside the house, their superior vision enabling them to see in the dark. They moved across the kitchen and down a narrow hallway. In the front room, Ivan found Katya and her U.S. marshal on the couch. She was straddling the man's lap, her skirt scrunched up to her hips.
"Enjoying yourself?" Ivan asked.
Katya shrugged. "I was bored. It's something to do."
"Do I get a turn?" Galina sat next to the marshal. His eyes were glazed over. Blood trickled from punctures on his neck.
Ivan waved a hand in front of the lawman's face. No reaction. He was tempted to stick a Post-it on the man's forehead. Room for rent. "So, where is the Whelan girl?"
Katya scooted off the marshal's lap and onto her feet. The hem of her slinky black skirt tumbled down to graze the tips of her black sandals. "Do you like?" She struck a pose, designed to highlight the slit that went up one side of her skirt to the square knot on her hip. With this skirt, it was obvious Katya was missing her panties. Her sleeveless white blouse draped in folds down to her waist, exposing much of her breasts.
"I like. Very much. But where is the Whelan girl?" Ivan glanced at his watch. It was eight-forty. They needed to leave in ten minutes. It would only take a few minutes to kill Shanna Whelan, but he had his heart set on playing with her first.
Katya gave Ivan's lieutenant a sympathetic look. "Poor Alek. Always seeing the boss with his women, but never having a taste for himself." She slipped her hand beneath her skirt and outlined the contour of her naked derriere.
Alek turned away, his fists clenched.
"Enough, Katya." Why was she trying to cause trouble between him and Alek? It was hard to find good help these days-strong male vampires who would follow his orders but leave his harem alone. Over the years, Ivan had executed too many vampires for messing with his women. He couldn't afford to lose any more.
He motioned to the zombie marshal. "I assume you have the Whelan girl in a similar state? Where is she? Upstairs?"
Katya stepped back, a wary look in her eyes. "She has not yet arrived."
"What?" Ivan advanced toward her.
Katya flinched, clearly expecting to be slapped.
Ivan fisted his hand. Tension coiled in his neck, the pressure building till it became unbearable.
When he snapped the vertebrae, there was a distinct pop. Katya blanched. Maybe she feared he'd do the same with her pretty neck. She bowed her head. "I am devastated to have disappointed you, my lord." She reverted to the old form of address.
"You told me the Whelan girl would be here by eight-thirty. What happened to her?"
"I don't know. Bob told her to come here, and she agreed."
Ivan gritted his teeth. "And yet she is not here."
"No, my lord."
"Has she tried to contact him?"
"No."
"I had planned to feed on her before the damned ball." Ivan paced across the room. His plan had been brilliant. Not only would he make a quarter-million dollars, but he'd have the pleasure of watching Roman Draganesti suffer. First he'd suck the Whelan girl dry, then he'd go to Draganesti's ball and toss the dead girl's body at his feet. While Draganesti and his feeble friends flew into a panic, Alek and Vladimir would sneak off to execute the grand finale for the evening. It was perfect. It should have been perfect. Where the hell was the girl? He hated it when his meals were late.
"Stupid bitch!" Ivan cricked his neck to the side.
Katya winced. "She might come. She could be running late."
"I can't wait all night for her to show up. We have to go to that stinking ball. It's our only chance to get inside Romatech without those Highlanders stopping us." Ivan paced to a wall and punched a fist through it. "Now I'll have to go to that damned ball hungry. And there won't be anything fit to eat there."
"I'm hungry, too." Galina stuck out her bottom lip. A former prostitute from the Ukraine, the sexy redhead knew how to pout and how to please.
"There's plenty of blood left in Bob," Katya offered. "I only had a snack."
"Mmm. Yummy." Galina straddled him, licking her lips.
Ivan glanced at his watch. "We have five minutes." He watched as Galina sank her fangs into the marshal's neck. "Leave some for me." The man had outlived his usefulness.
Gregori checked his watch. "Almost nine o'clock. We'd better get to the ballroom."
Roman rose from the chair behind his desk. He dreaded this ball. How could he party while Shanna was in danger? Just the thought of drinking Bubbly Blood made his stomach churn. And now this latest news-Shanna's father was the head of a group who wanted to kill him.
God's blood. Was history doomed to repeat itself? This was too much like the debacle he'd experienced in London in 1862. He'd met a pretty young lady named Eliza. When her father uncovered Roman's secret, he demanded Roman leave the country. Roman agreed, but he hoped Eliza would understand his dilemma and elope with him to America. So he confided in her. The next evening, he woke up with his casket open and a wooden stake resting on his chest.
He went to confront the father, but discovered it was Eliza who had left the stake. Her father had stopped her from killing him out of fear that other demonic creatures would wreak vengeance upon his family. Sickened by the whole affair, Roman erased their memories of him. Too bad he could not erase his own. He started a new life in America, but the sad affair haunted him. Never, he swore, would he risk another involvement with a mortal female. And yet Shanna had entered his life and filled the dark recesses of his heart with hope.
How would she react if she learned the truth? Would she, too, try to kill him while he lay sleeping? Or would she simply wait for her father to do the job?
How had the CIA learned the truth about vampires? Some fool must have performed a vampire trick in front of mortals without clearing their memory of it afterward. However it had happened, it constituted a serious problem. He, Angus, and Jean-Luc would spend most of the conference deciding how to handle the matter.