Part 14 (1/2)
There . . .
She stared into the darkness, her eyes picking out the silhouette of a figure in the alley beyond the parking lot. It looked like a woman . . . a woman who was watching her.
Kat's stomach churned with acid as she got a feeling . . . barely restrained menace, even hatred, aimed at her, an oily black desire to drain the life from her, leave her bleeding on the street . . .
Kat jammed her key in the ignition and started the car, at the same time groping for her cell phone-should she call 911, or Drew, or Miranda? Was it a vampire or a mugger? Could the cops do anything if it was a vampire?
But when she looked up, the woman was gone.
Relieved, somewhat, Kat threw the car into reverse and pulled out of her spot, not caring one bit that she squealed her tires around the corner as she floored the gas pedal and headed home.
Miranda did not react well.
”I want her under surveillance twenty-four/seven, and under guard from dusk till dawn. Why the h.e.l.l isn't the sensor network catching this b.i.t.c.h?”
Kat, who was curled up on her couch drinking a cup of chamomile tea, shook her head. ”I don't want to be watched all the time, Mira.”
”Too d.a.m.n bad,” the Queen snapped. ”If she's after you, it's because you know me, and I'm not going to get you killed.”
”Miranda,” David said evenly, ”Kat's safe for now. That's what matters.”
Miranda shot him a distinctly uncalm look. ”But what about tomorrow night? And after that?”
”No surveillance,” Kat said firmly. ”I'm serious.”
Kat had to hand it to David; the Prime had listened to Kat's story without interrupting and was considering it from all sides without reacting emotionally. He practically oozed confidence and security, and he neither coddled nor silenced Miranda but tried to calm her down without discounting her fears. He was either a born leader or a master manipulator; the two weren't mutually exclusive.
It was weird having him in her house, though. It reminded Kat of the night he had shown up on Miranda's doorstep while Kat and Drew were there and swept into the room like Death popping in for a game of chess.
As if summoned by the memory, there was the sound of a key turning in the front door lock, and while Miranda spun toward the entrance with her hand already seeking beneath her coat for a weapon, David reached out and touched his Queen's arm, shaking his head.
Drew burst into the house in a flurry of coat and briefcase and clarinet case, all of which he dropped by the door so he could be at Kat's side in a heartbeat. ”Are you okay?”
Kat smiled and took his hand. ”I'm fine, honey, I told you I was.”
It wasn't until she glanced up at Miranda that Drew seemed to realize they had company. He looked up at the Pair and went just a little pale before taking a breath and saying, ”All right, what are we going to do to make sure this doesn't happen again?”
David regarded Drew much the same way he had the first time they'd met, as if he were some sort of curious creature in a zoo, but when Drew didn't avert his eyes, the Prime gave a measured nod. ”You will do nothing,” David said firmly. ”There's no need to risk your own life.”
”Bulls.h.i.+t,” Drew countered, and Kat felt a little tug at her heartstrings at the way he refused to be cowed by a being who could quite obviously snap him in half like a twig.
David raised an eyebrow, and Drew just glared at him. Kat found herself smiling.
”Here's the thing, Drew,” David said. ”It's entirely likely that whoever was watching Kat was, in fact, one of our kind. If that's the case, there's nothing you can do to protect Kat. Even the weakest vampire could tear you apart before you could draw a gun . . . a.s.suming you're armed, like Kat, and have impeccable aim. Even then, bullets cannot kill a vampire. They only p.i.s.s us off.”
”So how do we kill a vampire? Wooden stakes?”
Miranda snorted quietly. ”Drew . . . you don't. Unless you have specialized weaponry or arm muscles like a wrestler, you wouldn't be able to get a stake through the sternum into the heart. You're not a vampire hunter. Giving you weapons you can't use would be stupid. It's better to concentrate on staying alert and keeping in contact with us until this all blows over. You have to use the resources you have-like your brain. You can watch and listen and remain aware of your surroundings at all times. Leave the killing to us.”
Drew took a deep breath, weighing his protective instinct with what Kat knew was the truth. David and Miranda were both right; if they were dealing with vampires, vampires were their best shot at staying alive. ”Okay. What can you do, then?”
David returned his attention to Kat. ”During the day you're typically surrounded by people, yes?”
Kat nodded. ”Even on weekends. The office itself has security and cameras, but the parking lots don't.”
He said, reasonably, ”We can't be absolutely sure yet that we're looking at a vampire, but regardless, it's unlikely you'll be attacked during daylight in a public place, so there's no real need for daytime surveillance. I would like to put a night guard on you, however, until we figure out whom exactly we're dealing with. Just one, at a distance, strictly non-interfering.”
Kat started to protest that it sounded like surveillance to her, but for some reason she didn't want to disagree with David. He seemed like he'd be hard to argue with. ”Okay. But it's only temporary.”
”Absolutely.” David reached into his coat pocket. ”May I have a look at your phone, please?”
Nonplussed, Kat handed it to him. He had pulled out his own, and he fiddled with the settings on hers for a second before taking a thin cable and connecting it to both phones.
”What are you doing?” Kat asked.
David ignored her, absorbed in his work. Meanwhile Miranda was pacing up and down the living room, making Kat faintly seasick, and Drew was squeezing her hand so tightly she was starting to lose feeling.
She looked at him. ”Honey, you're cutting off my circulation.”
Sheepish, he let go, nervously wiping his hands on his jeans. ”Sorry. I just don't like feeling so helpless.”
”It was probably nothing,” Kat ventured, but she didn't believe it and neither did they.
”Whoever it was didn't show up on our network,” David said without looking up. ”That means it was either a human, which is easily dealt with, or the a.s.sa.s.sin who came after Miranda . . . and that's a much thornier issue. We can't track her and we don't know why, but she's already made an attempt on Miranda's life.”
”Seriously, though, why me?” Kat asked. ”I get that I'm connected to Mira, but if this chick has already been after her, why come after me? I'm not standing between them. I'm not a threat.”
Now David looked at her. ”Do you really want to hear my theory? I doubt it will make you feel better.”
Kat pursed her lips. ”Don't sugarcoat it, Count. Just tell me.”
”I would guess that this isn't about killing Miranda . . . or, not just about that. There may be a personal feud involved. Someone who wants to hurt Miranda, not just kill her. The best way to do that is to start with her friends, particularly the human ones who are weak and vulnerable.”
David saw their faces, gave a one-shouldered shrug, and unclipped the cable from the two phones. ”As I said, it's just a theory.”
He handed Kat her phone back. ”Your signal is now coded onto our network,” he told her. ”Keep the phone on you at all times, and we'll be able to find you anywhere in the city at a second's notice. More important: I've set up a panic b.u.t.ton. Hit star-one and it will trigger an alarm; a patrol unit will be sent to your location immediately and you'll get a call from me within thirty seconds to check on your safety.”
”Wow,” Drew said, sounding reluctantly impressed. ”You did all of that in less than two minutes?”
David smiled. ”Didn't Miranda tell you? I'm a genius.”
”You didn't tell her the whole truth,” Miranda pointed out as they left Kat's house and walked up the street to where the car was waiting.
”She doesn't need to know the whole truth.” David looked at her sharply. ”She already knows way more than she should about us.”
”But her life is in danger.”
”Irrelevant.” He put his hands in his coat pockets as he walked, and added, ”The whole truth isn't always the best truth.”
”What about Jake?” she asked. ”We still haven't found his body. I find it hard to believe that it's not connected-what are the chances of someone kidnapping my bodyguard right after someone tries to kill me, and then someone else making fang-eyes at my best friend?”