Part 8 (1/2)
I made a quick decision. I'd gotten about as far as I thought I could with Valerie. Her memory wasn't clear anyway. That security camera footage was what I really needed.
”I'm going back to the club now. I'll get that recording. Stay out of there. Go to Nebraska. One of us will call you.”
I got out Domine's card and had Valerie write her cell phone and landline numbers on the back. I gave her my cell number and said goodbye to Leo, who granted me permission to leave.
At the door, she stopped me, one light hand resting on my arm.
”You're welcome to sleep on the sofa, after you've finished at the club. I have lots of breakfast stuff.”
I didn't think the offer was really for the sofa.
”I'm good, thanks. Promise me you'll go?”
”Okay. And thanks.”
I drove back to the club. I knew what I was expected to do. I knew what my orders would be.
The colonel had to have Valerie under observation. After all, the same thing had happened to her as happened to me. She might turn. I thought of her painting bright, funny pictures of penguins while locked in the laboratory at the base.
It made me ill.
Chapter 9.
If Domine was surprised to hear from me so soon, she didn't say. I called ahead and despite having scrubbed off my vampire face, I was let straight in and taken to her office. We were left alone.
”There's a security recording of Valerie being bitten, Domine. It would be very useful to me.”
She nodded and retrieved a DVD from a drawer. ”I thought you might want it. Would you like to view it now?”
”Please.”
She opened a slim laptop on her desk and slid the disk into the drive. When the video came up, she clicked on the timeline and the screen showed Valerie and Marcel standing as I'd first seen them, on the stairs outside the inner club.
The three vampires walked up the stairs and Marcel tried to stop them, saying they weren't members and he was under instruction to refuse entry. Valerie shrank back against the wall.
In a second, Marcel was shoved to one side by two of them, but I kept watching Valerie. Raul, the tall vampire, had her pressed against the wall. She was terrified and it looked to me as if that triggered a response from Raul. Her frantic blows against his body were ignored and died away as he fastened on her neck. Her face was tilted up and showed she was still aware and still frightened out of her skin, but her hands hung down limply.
”What the f.u.c.k are you doing?” shouted Rodrigo.
Whatever it was that set Raul off seemed to communicate itself to the third one, Antonio. He joined Raul.
Rodrigo had Marcel by a grip around his throat. He swore again and turned back to Marcel as his struggles were weakening. He glared at his face and then just simply let him go. Marcel slid down the wall. He didn't seem unconscious. He looked completely bewildered.
In the s.p.a.ce of a few seconds of security video, the implications of the power of vampires sank in. Not just strong and fast, but capable of attacking a person's mind as well. No wonder they managed to stay hidden.
On screen, Rodrigo tore the other two off Valerie. He seemed exceptionally strong. Raul fought back and Rodrigo sent him slamming against the wall with a push.
They were shouting at each other, their voices distorted in the pickup. I didn't recognize the language.
It lasted only a minute. Rodrigo drove them out, leaving Valerie and Marcel sitting looking blankly at each other.
Domine clicked on the player and the screen blanked.
In the silence, I retrieved a sc.r.a.p of paper from my clutch bag. It was a bit torn off the club's check ticket for my cloak. Just enough. I wrote my cell number and name on it.
”Please give that to Marcel, and tell him to call me if he's worried.”
She inclined her head.
I licked my lips. ”And as a favor, would you erase the copies of that footage?”
”A favor for whom?” She watched me calmly as I struggled with what I could say that might convince her.
”For Valerie. I can't tell you why.”
”Anything else?”
”Is there any way that she can be tracked from here-employee records, phone numbers?”
”Of course. You wish me to erase everything?”
”Just the contact information. And what about friends of hers?”
”You are very thorough in your requirements, Amber. I don't believe any of her friends would give her away.”
”I wasn't thinking of a voluntary disclosure,” I said.
”I see.” She put the DVD in a case and handed it to me. ”Then as far as I know, the only record of her address will be in my head. That, unfortunately, I cannot erase.”
”Can I recommend precautions?” I said. ”Some professional bodyguards to supplement the bouncers.”
”These bodyguards, they will keep the three men away?”
”I think so.” Even if they were going half crazy, they'd have to understand that forcing their way in here would bring the police after them. They couldn't wipe everyone's mind.
”Then surely I do not need to erase records?” asked Domine.
”I would advise-”
”It seems,” she said slowly, interrupting me, ”I have many people to watch out for, on behalf of Valerie. This is not just about those men returning, is it?”
”No,” I said. ”But they're the most dangerous. The only protection you have is they want to operate in secret. They can't risk attracting too much notice. That alone should keep them from making trouble here, but not from pursuing Valerie if they realize that she is a security breach that they have to stop.”