The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo(12)

"In battle." He shifted his weight. "I'm no' a bad swordsman. I was outnumbered. Five to one."

"You were fighting with swords?"

"Aye. I lunged at one, and another one sliced my hand off. It turned to dust."

Leah grimaced. "That had to be awful to see."

"It dinna feel verra good, either."

"You can . . . feel pain?"

He gave her a wry look. "Ye think my feelings are dead?"

"I don't know what to think."

He lifted one brow. "I can feel anything ye can."

One look at his expressive eyes and she knew that was true.

He stepped closer and lowered his voice. "May I have a word with you, lass?"

Her heart fluttered. She hadn't been called a lass since the last time she'd seen her grandfather. Odd, but this man was probably older than her grandfather, even though he looked fairly young, only a few years older than herself.

"In private," he added.

"Not a good idea," Emma said. "We can't have you scaring her away."

He cast an annoyed look at her. "Verra well." He turned back to Leah, and his dark brows quirked slightly with a questioning expression. "Do ye wish to leave?"

Her breath caught. "Leave?"

"Aye. If ye want to go home, I can take you."

He was on her side. A burst of warm hope spread through her chest. She could go home. Dougal would help her.

"Dougal," Emma warned him.

"Aye, I ken." He shot her an irritated look. "Ye want to drag the puir lass into our world and our problems. But has anyone asked her what she wants?" He shifted his gaze back to Leah. "We have no right to keep you here. If ye want to go, I can teleport you home right away."

Leah blinked. "Teleport?"

"Dougal," Emma spoke more sharply. "We need her."

"She doesna need us."

Emma sighed. "We can't simply let her go, not when she knows about us. There's protocol to follow-"

"You mean erasing my memory?" Leah asked.

"I willna do that," Dougal said.

"What?" Emma stiffened. "That's against regulations, and you know it."

"To hell with yer regulations," Dougal growled. "If ye trust her enough to expect her to help us, then ye can trust her to keep our secret." He turned back to Leah. "Am I right? Do ye plan to make us public?"

She shook her head. "Everyone would think I was crazy. And then I'd have a really hard time getting another job."

The corner of his mouth tilted up. "Aye, there is that." He moved closer. "Shall we go?"

She stepped back. Her prior reluctance to remain had stemmed from feeling forced, but now that she actually had a choice, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. Any other job would seem boring compared to what she could do here. Still, it wouldn't hurt to get away for a few days to think it over. "How does this teleportation work?"

"I hold onto you and read yer mind to see where ye want to go. Then we go."

The prospect of him holding onto her was intriguing, but she had serious doubts about the mind reading or going part. If he read her mind, he might see how attractive she thought he was. And the going part simply sounded impossible. "You mean we disappear and rematerialize?"

"Aye."

"That can't be safe. What if our bodies get accidentally fused together?"

He leaned forward and whispered, "Lass, if our bodies fuse together, 'twould no' be by accident."

Her mouth dropped open, and she stepped back. Was he referring to sex? The gall of the man. He certainly wasn't as shy as everyone thought. "How could I rely on you to take me home? You might take me to . . . to your underground lair." Wasn't that what vampires did?

His mouth twitched. "I'm fresh out of underground lairs."

He'd said "oot" again, but she ignored the way it made her heart flutter. "I don't trust you."

"I understand. Ye doona know me."

No, she didn't. And if she refused to stay at this job, she might never get to know him. And that suddenly seemed like a terrible shame. How old was he? When and where had he been transformed? Why did he look at her like he was starving, and not just for blood?

Would it hurt to stay in New York while she made her decision? Would it hurt to even try the job for a few days? It might be the most interesting work she'd ever find. What if she could actually help these people and save lives? Maybe her own life would seem more like an adventure. Maybe, for the first time, she would find a place where she could actually make friends. These people would never consider her a freak, not when they were abnormal.

She took a deep breath. "I think I'll stay here and give the job a try."

Emma clapped her hands together. "That's wonderful! Thank you!"

Abby rushed forward, grinning. "I'm so excited! It's going to be great working with you."

Leah smiled. "It should be interesting." She cast a nervous glance at Dougal, who was watching her with a fierce gleam in his green eyes. Was he excited or angry? She couldn't tell. "Are you going to be here?"

"Aye." He shrugged his shoulder, and his gaze grew more intense. "I'm in charge of security here. I'll be keeping you safe."

A shiver pebbled her skin with gooseflesh. He would be keeping her safe? He presented a bigger danger than anyone else.

To be honest with herself, she knew that she'd based part of her decision to stay on him, so in an alarming sense, she was flirting with danger. And even more alarming, she was looking forward to it.                       
       
           



       Chapter Seven





Leah woke with a jolt, sitting up in bed. For a second she felt disoriented, then she remembered where she was-a guest bedroom in Roman Draganesti's townhouse in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. More memories from the night before flooded back. Vampires, shifters, hybrid children, and him. Dougal.

With a shudder, she pulled the blanket up to her chin. He had given her a chance to escape, but then he'd also become a major reason to stay.

She shook her head, not comfortable with that thought. In truth, she had many reasons to stay. She was intrigued by this new supernatural world, challenged by the work, and honored to have a chance to save lives. Those were legitimate reasons that made her decision sound much more noble than the way her heart pounded whenever he looked at her.

Even so, he was the one who dominated her thoughts. When would she see him again? Where was he now? Light filtered in around the curtains, so it was daylight outside. He would be sleeping or whatever happened to vampires during the day.

To her surprise, the bedside clock read a few minutes past noon. She jumped out of bed and headed to the shower. As she washed her hair with her favorite jasmine-scented shampoo, she let her mind wander back to the night before. After her decision to stay, she'd gone back to the lab with Abby to study the two remaining blood samples.

Abby was right. Tino was basically human. But the third sample, taken from a soldier for Master Han, had shown an alarming number of mutations. Changing him back to a normal mortal would not be easy, but it was a challenge she was looking forward to.

By two in the morning, she'd been exhausted, so Gregori and Abby had driven her back to the townhouse before going on to their own place. Abby had promised to pick her up at 3:30 p.m. so they could return to Romatech and get what she called an early start. Leah supposed these strange hours would become the norm for her now that she was working with vampires.

She was too hungry to mess with her wet hair, so she towel-dried it, threw on some jeans and a T-shirt, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. To her surprise, she heard voices inside. And smelled coffee brewing.

She peeked inside the swinging door. There were two women and three children. Two of the kids looked like twins, and they were sitting in high chairs.

The younger woman, a pretty redhead, glanced her way and smiled. "Hi, Leah. Come and have breakfast with us."

She eased inside. "Good morning. I mean, afternoon." She'd been introduced to the party crowd the night before, but there had been so many of them that she couldn't recall any names.

"Buenos dias," the older woman said. "I'm Fidelia." She placed pieces of toast and jelly onto two plastic plates. "The little ones are Jillian and Jean-Pierre."

"We call him John for short," added a young girl. "I'm Bethany."

"And I'm Heather." The mother poured milk into two cups and snapped spouted lids on top before passing them to the toddlers.

"Papa's still asleep," Bethany added.

Fidelia snorted. "That's a nice way to put it. Dead as a rock is more-" She paused when Heather cleared her throat.

Dead? The older woman must be exaggerating. "So you're married to a vampire?" Leah asked Heather as she eyed the children. They were probably hybrids like Tino.

Heather nodded, smiling. "Yes. I'm married to Jean-Luc Echarpe. You met us briefly last night."

Leah blinked. "The famous fashion designer?" He was a vampire?

"That's Papa!" Bethany sat up in her seat, grinning.

"We came for the party last night, but we'll be staying a while, getting ready for fashion week." Heather motioned toward the counter. "We bought some groceries yesterday. Please help yourself to whatever you like."