“I’d rather be informed than anonymous. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”
Murders along the border. He’d tracked the activity in Juarez for years, and he had to agree with Dez. There was probably a vampire or a group of them that was responsible for the deaths of so many young women. But since Juarez, Mexico, was clearly out of his sire’s territory, there wasn’t much that he could do about it. It was horrible, but not his concern. Murders along the California border, however…
“When did she start following this story?”
“Natalie said it started a few months ago. There were isolated reports out in Imperial Valley about farmers finding bodies, but the police investigations went nowhere. Then the Border Patrol reported that nine bodies were found out in the middle of the desert two months ago. They guessed that a coyote, a smuggler, had taken the women’s mo
“Why not?”
“All the women were found together, within a few yards of each other. If they’d been left out there, they would have walked. Probably some would have fallen behind. They would have been spread out, at least a little. But the bodies looked like they’d been dumped in one location.”
Smart human.
“And there were no visible signs of death or struggle?”
“No bruises or wounds. Could they have been—”
“Drained?” He hated to think it. “Yes. A vampire could have drained them and sealed the wounds. It would be unusual, but it’s possible.”
Most of their kind didn’t need to drink much blood. To drain a human was wasteful. Gluttonous. Like killing a chicken to get the eggs. Only the youngest and most immature would do it, and a responsible sire wouldn’t want to attract the attention. No, vampires only drained when they were out of control or intended to kill an enemy. How could nine young women in the desert have become a target? Dez was right. The similarities to Juarez were disturbing.
“And then she started to get in touch with some of her contacts in Mexico,” Dez continued. “When she called me… Baojia, I’m sorry if you feel like I exposed you in some way, but if this is like Juarez, then it has to be stopped. The killings down there have been going on for years. They’re still going on, despite what the Mexican authorities say. If this is a vampire in Ernesto’s territory—”
“I’ll look into it.” He came out of his frozen stance, continuing in his practice as his mind started to catalogue the information he’d been given.
“You will?”
“Of course I will,” he said, slightly annoyed. “Did you think I was going to let some vampire run rampant in the desert?”
“Well, no, but—”
“It would look incredibly bad for my sire if I allowed something like that to continue.” The fact it had happened in Ernesto’s territories at all was bad enough. Did Rory know about this? Why hadn’t he come to him for help? He felt the water from the fountain draw to his chest as he resumed practice. Cross. Thrust. Center. Draw back. Center. Sweep. His loose practice pants brushed silently against his legs.
“There’s the whole innocent-people-being-slaughtered thing, too,” Matt said.
“That too.” His thoughts tripped back to the curious redhead. “How did your friend get Ivan’s name?”
“I have no idea,” Dez said. “Honestly, I’ve never even heard of him before. But Natalie… she has a way of finding out things. She didn’t mention Ivan to me. Who is he?”
Matt said, “Not anyone you’re ever going to meet. That’s for sure.”
Baojia took a deep breath, willing himself to be patient toward the human man. Really, did he think keeping his mate uninformed was to her benefit? “Ivan has a similar job to mine, Dez, but he works for the vampires who control most of Mexico and Central America.”
“Who is that? Are they in Mexico City? I thought you said something about Ensenada.”
“Who runs Mexico is not important. Yes, Ivan runs things in Ensenada, and he’s the one who I’ll have to talk to if there’s a vampire ou hea vampit of control in Northern Mexico.”
“Ensenada’s only a few hours away. Shouldn’t he be taking care of something like a vampire on a rampage?”
He tried not to roll his eyes. “He should be. But Ivan often does what he wants. I’m curious how your friend got his name. She shouldn’t go talking to him. Can you persuade her to leave this alone?”
“Natalie?” Dez snorted. “Not likely. And she never mentioned his name to me, so I can’t warn her without making her even more curious.”
“You’re going to have to stall her.”
Now it was Dez who sounded exasperated. “Look, you don’t know this woman. She’s like a really friendly bulldog. If she gets her teeth into something, she’s not going to let go. And she has very little sense of self-preservation.”
He frowned, unaccountably irritated with the human reporter. “Is she stupid?”
“I thought you said you met her. Did she seem stupid to you?”
No, she seemed clever. Persistent, obviously. Funny. Tempting. He willed away the image of the reporter stumbling into her little house and immediately stripping off her dress before he could escape. The light dusting of freckles on her pale skin was scattered… everywhere. He cleared his throat. “No, she didn’t seem stupid, but she needs to stay away from Ivan. Other than his mistress, he has no regard for humans. They’re food and entertainment, that’s all.”
“Wow. He sounds like a peach.”
“She needs to stay off his radar, Dez. Give me some time to investigate this without having to worry that your friend is going to trip into something that will get her killed.”
“But, Baojia—” Dez sighed after Matt whispered something to her. “I’ll do what I can. I’ll try to distract her, but if she finds out, she’s going to be pissed.”
“Better pissed off than drained in the desert.”
“True,” Matt said. “And if there’s anything we can do on our end, let us know.”
“I will.” He wasn’t going to pass up that offer, not while he was stuck in San Diego. Matt Kirby could be a good ally in Los Angeles. “And Matt, I’d appreciate your discretion in all this, if that’s possible.”
In other words, don’t tell Vecchio.
A tentative alliance existed between Matt’s employer, Giovanni Vecchio, and Baojia’s sire, Ernesto Alvarez, mostly because Vecchio was married to Ernesto’s favorite granddaughter. But like most in-laws, there was tension. A vampire of Vecchio’s age and reputation didn’t exist in any city without tension. He was a fire vampire and a powerful one. It was only through Beatrice’s influence and her mate’s desire for a low profile that Giovanni and Ernesto could exist in the same city without killing each other. For Ernesto to look weak to Beatrice’s husband would tilt the alliance in Giovanni’s favor, which would throw off the delicate balance of power.
Matt heaved a sigh Baojia could hear from 120 miles away, even without the phone connection. “I swear vampires are like kids in high school some days.”
Baojia chuckled, knowing exactly what Matt meant. “Some of us act our age, human.”
“That’s because you’re the guy who has to clean shit up when things get messy.”
He smiled. Matt was human, but Baojia still considered him a peer, and a competent one at that. He’d tried for years to get Matt to work for him, but the human preferred his more low-key role underspay role the fire vampire’s aegis.
“We have to make sure Beatrice doesn’t hear about it,” Dez said. “She and Natalie were friends, too. If B hears that Natalie may be in trouble—”
“She and Gio will step in,” Matt added. “And if they step in—”
“I won’t have to worry about being stuck in San Diego anymore,” Baojia said. “Because Ernesto will kill me.”
“You said it, not me.”
“All right. Let me dig around down here.” He walked to the giant windows that looked over the water and crossed his arms. How was he going to poke around without raising Ivan’s ire? Or Ernesto?
??s? And why was he still concerned about that annoying human woman who had complicated his life? “Just distract your friend, Dez. However you can.”
“I’ll do my best,” Dez said as a baby cried in the background. He’d forgotten Matt had recently become a father. “I gotta go.” There was a slight pause. “Baojia?”
“Yes?”
“I know I’ve kind of made a mess of things, but Natalie’s a really great person. And she’s really dedicated to helping people with her work. Just… keep that in mind. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. If she gets in trouble, will you help her?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the weight of obligation she was thrusting on him. Damn woman. Once he was given a job, he was incapable of not seeing it through.
“Baojia, please.”
He shook his head in resignation. “I’ll do what I can to keep her safe.”
Shit, shit, shit. Why couldn’t he just say no?
“Thank you. I won’t forget it.”
Neither will I. In fact, Baojia had a feeling there was a lot about this situation he wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
Despite the new complications in his life, Baojia walked into Boca that night in a better mood than he’d enjoyed in months. Maybe years. He ignored the boring pulse of music and the human women who tried to catch his eye. He nodded once to Luis, then ducked into his office to call Paula, trying not to smile. For the first time in almost two years, he wasn’t bored out of his mind.
He dialed the old-fashioned rotary phone and swirled the ice water the waitress brought back. He was watching the ice cubes tumble when his sister answered.
“¿Cómo?”
“Paulita.” He slipped into Spanish. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Hermanito, Rory complained all last night about spreadsheets and résumés. What are you doing to my husband?”
He smiled. One of the things he disliked most about being in San Diego was missing the company of Paula. There were few vampires or humans he liked spending time with, but Paula was one. “It’s not my fault he doesn’t have your keen appreciation for numbers. What’s going on at home?”
“Oh, the usual. Lots of meetings with the accountants as we get ready for the end of the fiscal year. And there’s a trade meeting with a Japanese company that Father seems anxious about.”
“Any security concerns? Human or vampire?”
“Human. And not that I know of,” she said. “It’s more financial. Their earnings reports don’t seem to match their investment activity…” She started in on a litany of business information he would catalogue and examine later. Ernesto’s shipping inte="1hippingrests had shifted in the past forty years to focus on Asia, which created new balances of power and influence that Baojia had to keep track of. He had a hard time getting excited about the business side like Paula did, but the political and security ramifications were interesting.
Power followed money in the vampire world, and both fed into the influence that individual immortals wielded. An immortal in power only lasted as long as he could support those under his aegis. And what had been the status quo for hundreds of years could shift in the space of a heartbeat if the balance of power became tenuous. Considering most immortal business empires were run like combinations of corporations and organized crime, it had never been a boring job. Paula handled the business end, and Baojia had been in charge of security and information. Up until he had fallen out of favor with his sire, the balance had worked beautifully.
“Paula?”
“Hmm?”
He could tell she was distracted by something. She was probably looking at financial papers the same way he read police reports or watched security tapes. “Have you heard anything about humans being killed along the border?”
“You mean Juarez? You know Father told you to stay out of that. It’s none of our—”
“Not Juarez. Closer. On our border, hermana.”
There was a pause on the line. “What? Our border? With Ivan?”
“Mmhmm. I heard a disturbing rumor that humans were being found out in the desert.”
“Ivan’s side or ours?”
“Both. I need to investigate more. I may need to set up a meeting with him.”
He heard her mutter. “Well, don’t let Father get wind of it. He’s still… you know.”
“Trust me, I know.”
“Want me to mention it to Rory? I think technically that’s his job while you’re gone.”
“Mention it to him. Have him call me when he can.”
“Hermanito…” Her voice was soft. “I don’t know why he’s being like this. I’ve tried to talk to him.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said, unexpectedly homesick. “It’s mine. I fought alongside Vecchio. I knew it would make him angry, and I did it anyway.”
“Why?” she groaned. “I still don’t understand—”
“It was the right thing to do, Paula.” When he closed his eyes, he could still see the bodies of the dead monks. The blood pouring out from under Beatrice’s body on the riverbank where Lorenzo had stabbed her. “Even if he doesn’t understand.”
“You were supposed to protect his human, not join a war.”
“I know.” His thoughts flicked to the reporter and his promise to Dez. “Right and wrong are subjective in our world. We both know this.”
“Be careful,” she said. “I don’t want you hurt.”
He smiled. “I’ll be fine.”
The following night, he had Luis put in a call to Ivan’s human staff, laying the groundwork for a meeting between the two vampires. In all likelihood, it would take weeks to actually happen. The night after that, he was following a smartly dressed redhead into the cheapest bar in downtown San Diego. She crossed 5th Street and headed into the dimly lit club that clung stubbornly to its cheap neon beer signs and even cheaper beer while the rest of downtown San Datwntown iego reveled in aspiration.
Slipping into the dim bar, he tried to ignore the floor that stuck to his handmade leather shoes. The barstools were cracked red vinyl and occupied by a curious mix of patrons, but the old Chinese woman behind the bar nodded at him and pointed her chin toward an empty stool. It was well away from where Natalie Ellis was sitting, but he preferred that. He wanted to observe the woman. For now.
He watched her as she slid onto a stool and dove into the conversation at the end of the bar, obviously familiar with the group of older men who looked like regulars. Their voices drifted to him as he ordered a vodka tonic and settled in to watch.
“Hey hey! There’s our girl,” one of the men called. “About time you let us take you out to celebrate.”
“You guys…” She shook her head while plopping onto the empty barstool in the middle of the group. “It was months ago.”
“Biggest drug bust in county history and you act like it’s no big deal?” another man said. “Your story practically broke that case for those knuckleheads in the DEA.”
“Hey, Marty, isn’t one of those knuckleheads your nephew?”
“Doesn’t mean he’s smart.”
She grinned. “Pretty sure that means he’s not, actually.”
The men around her burst into laughter.
This was her natural environment, Baojia decided. The perfectly coiffed woman at Boca had intrigued him, but the friendly girl who joked with the old men and sipped a beer almost came close to charming. She was relaxed here, despite her professional attire, which did not stand out as much as he would have expected. The gritty bar was filled with all manner of humans. Businessmen in suits mingled with working men in coveralls, both watching a baseball game that was on the television in the corner. There were more men than women, but not so few that Natalie stood out. There weren’t many students, but then it was Thursday night, not Friday or Saturday. Strangely, though the dive bar was completely opposite of his own club in numerous ways, the smell was remarkably similar. Alcohol. Sweat. Skin.
Blood.
He hadn??
?t eaten since he’d taken Natalie’s blood days before. It was probably a bad idea to see her again without feeding, but he trusted his self-control enough to chance it. This was the human who had provided him with some level of intrigue. He was grateful for that. And since he’d promised Dez anyway…
He watched her with the old men at the end of the bar. Almost all of them were grey-haired and wrinkled—men who would be her father’s age or older, if he had to guess. They watched her with a paternal protectiveness he could respect. She told stories they laughed at. They told jokes that made her groan.
She was happy. Bright.
His eyes slipped to her collar; he could see the pale, freckled skin where he had bitten her. He knew instinctively that, should she ever discover he had marked her, she would be angry. He took a sip of his cocktail and mentally shrugged. There was no need for her to know unless she came to the attention of another immortal. And if she did, annoyance with him was the least of her problems.
“I’m gonna pee my pants unless you stop.” She burst out laughing. “Okay, okay. When I get back, we’re changing the subject.”
“Spoilsport,” one man said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She laughed and stood up. “Hey, Howard, can you order me another beer?”
“Sure thing, Nat.”
He watched her as she rolled her eyes and ducked down the hall leading to the bathrooms. Baojia picked up his drink and wandered closer, pretending to watch the baseball game. As he approached, he ignored the sounds of the television and tuned in to the old men’s conversation.
“—anyone called her dad?”
“Would she ever forgive us if we did? She didn’t even call him when she was getting threats during that last story.”
There was scattered muttering. “I’d feel better if she at least had a dog. She lives all alone.”
“She travels too much for a dog. She needs a nice guy. Marty, I thought you was gonna set her up with your nephew.”
“She heard he was a cop and wouldn’t give him the time of day.” They all laughed. “Says she’ll drink with us, but that’s as far as it goes.”