Vamps And The City (16 page)

And her friends? They did believe they were superior to humans, but he couldn’t imagine them hurting anyone. They weren’t anything like the vampires he and Emma had seen in the park. And they didn’t seem to constitute a threat to humanity like Sean insisted. They actually cared about each other. They were capable of love. He’d heard it in Darcy’s thoughts. She was in love with Adam. In love with him.

Could Shanna and Roman Draganesti actually be in love?

Dammit, how could such a relationship work? It was impossible. And even if these modern vampires were harmless, they couldn’t have always been that way. Darcy’s friends were obviously a great deal older than she. They could have been around for hundreds of years before the invention of synthetic blood. They had to have been feeding off humans.

And it was his job to protect humans. The vampires had to go. They were already dead, so why should he care? He was letting his emotions get in the way of his job. Refusing to do his duty was tantamount to treason. He couldn’t betray his country or all the innocent people who were relying on him to do the right thing. With a growl, he seized a pen and scrawled Darcy Newhart on the bottom of the list. On the top, he wrote Vampires Must Die.

His heart cringed in his chest. The pen dropped from his hand. Oh, God.

He jumped up and paced across the room. How could he do this to Darcy? Darcy is dead, he repeated over and over as he paced the floor. Darcy is dead.

And he was cursed. For he was still alive and didn’t know how he could live with himself.

The next evening, Darcy rushed to DVN to begin the editing process. Sly had arranged for an experienced technician to train her. She needed five segments, each lasting ten minutes. The remaining ten minutes of the hour-long show was reserved for commercial breaks. As part of the rental agreement on the penthouse, Roman Draganesti was expecting free commercial time on each show to advertise his Vampire Fusion Cuisine.

Gregori was going to be busy the next three nights in Studio Three making new commercials for Chocolood, Bubbly Blood, and Blood Lite. This had worked out perfectly for Darcy, allowing her to catch a ride with Gregori to DVN. Maggie was also excited about it, because Gregori had offered to let her star in one of the commercials.

By eight-thirty, Darcy was satisfied with the opening segment of the show—a tour of the penthouse and the arrival of the female judges. She looked up, startled, when Sylvester Bacchus barged into the workroom.

“You gotta see this!” He switched the television on to DVN’s live broadcast. “I told Corky to do some promotion for the new show.” He turned up the volume as Corky came on the screen.

“Welcome to Live with the Undead! I’m Corky Courrant with the hottest celebrity news in the vampire world. Tomorrow night is the night we’ve all been waiting for! The debut of DVN’s first and only reality show, The Sexiest Man on Earth. But first, let’s see what’s going on with the sexiest man on the soaps.”

“Oh, shit,” Sly muttered. “Not this again.”

A picture of Don Orlando flashed on the right half of the screen. It had been digitally embellished with a pair of goat horns.

“Is Don Orlando really the greatest lover in the vampire world?” Corky asked. “Or does he change partners every two hours because he’s unable to satisfy a woman for longer than that?”

Sly shook his head. “He should have never cheated on her. She’s going to crucify him.”

Corky smiled sweetly. “I’m a fair person, so I’m going to let you, the viewers, decide. Email me at the address on the screen, Corky at DVN.com, and vote for which answer is correct. Is Don Orlando a stinking fraud or merely an odious pig?”

Darcy sighed. She still needed to talk to Maggie.

“And now for the main story,” Corky continued with a wide grin. “Everyone is eagerly awaiting the first show of a hot new series that will debut tomorrow night, then air every Wednesday and Saturday. It’s the vampire world’s first reality show, The Sexiest Man on Earth. It stars the famous former harem of coven master Roman Draganesti and some of the hunkiest, sexiest men in the vampire world!”

An aerial shot of the penthouse roof came on screen. Darcy sat up. Her nerves tensed.

Sly waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry. I asked Bernie to give her a little advance footage. It’s just teaser stuff, great for promotion.”

“Here at Live with the Undead, we’re going to treat you to an exclusive preview of DVN’s hottest new show,” Corky continued. “And just how hot is this show going to be?” She laughed. “Hot enough to smoke up your screen, and we’ll show you what I mean. Believe me, this guy gets my vote for The Sexiest Man on Earth.”

A scene wavered on the screen as if a cameraman was struggling to focus on something in the distance. Slowly, the image grew sharper.

Darcy gasped.

“Yes!” Sly slapped a hand against his thigh.

The picture was a bit hazy since it was recorded at a distance in the dark without sufficient lighting. But it was certainly clear enough to make Darcy want to scream.

“I knew that hot tub was a great idea.” Sly grinned. “Look at this. Off comes the dress. Then the guy throws it into the pool.”

Darcy sank in her chair. “You’ve seen this before?”

“Sure. Bernie showed it to me last night. We watched it about ten times. Now here’s my favorite part.” Sly pointed at the television. “Off comes the bra.”

Darcy covered her mouth to keep from groaning out loud.

“Wow, that’s cool,” the technician said, his eyes riveted to the screen.

Sly turned to Darcy, smiling. “Great work, Newhart. I just wish it had come out a bit clearer. So, was that one of Draganesti’s ex-harem ladies?”

Darcy winced. “You could say that.” Oh, God, this was terrible. The only thing keeping her from running from the building, screaming and ripping out her hair, was the fact that the recording had been fuzzy. It was just clear enough to tell there were two nearly naked bodies making out in the hot tub, but the faces weren’t clear. Thank God. She was safe for now.

“Man, is she hot. I need to get to know her a little better, if you know what I mean.” Sly winked. “So tell me, Newhart, who is she?”

Darcy swallowed hard. If the truth got out, Sly would probably fire her as a director and offer her a job as DVN’s first porn star. “I believe the woman in question was unaware that she was being recorded.”

“So?” Sly scratched at his goatee. “She was in a hot tub. It’s not like she had any expectation of privacy.”

“A good point.” And one she would be sure to remember in the future. Although she doubted she’d ever experience such a sexy scene again in her long, miserable life. “I don’t believe I should divulge the woman’s name without her permission.”

“Well, you should. I could make her a star.” Sly handed her his card. “Just give her this and tell her I want to meet her.”

“Will do.” Darcy dropped the card into her purse. “I need to work now, or we won’t have the show ready for tomorrow night.”

“Fine. Make it great.” Sly sauntered out the door.

With a sigh, Darcy switched off Corky’s show. “Let’s get back to work.”

The technician finished scribbling a note, then handed it to her. “Could you, uh, give this to the lady in the hot tub?”

Darcy noticed his name and phone number on the note. Rick was one of the few mortals who worked at DVN. “You realize the lady in question is a vampire?”

“Yeah.” He sipped from his coffee. “So?”

“You don’t think it could be dangerous to date a vampire?”

He reached into his paper bag and removed a doughnut. “I work with you all. You seem safe enough to me.” He crammed half the doughnut into his mouth.

The hot, yeasty smell was heavenly. Darcy was so tempted, but the last time she’d tried real food, it hadn’t stayed down.

“I just want some fun, and that lady is hot.” Rick stuffed the rest of the doughnut in his mouth. “Besides, it’s not like I’m looking for a commitment, you know.”

“I see. You don’t think there could be a lasting relationship between a mortal and a Vamp.”

“Not really.” He licked the sugar off his fingers. “Can I ask you something?”

Darcy nodded. She’d known a relationship with Adam couldn’t work. She just hadn’t expected the truth to hurt this much.

“Is it hard giving up real food?”

She turned away. “Yes.” She dropped Rick’s note into her purse. “Let’s get back to work.”

They’d been working about ten minutes when the door cracked open and DVN’s receptionist peeked in.

Darcy glanced up. “Can I help you?”

“Yes.” She slipped inside. “Corky asked me to give this to you, so you could pass it on to the sexy guy in the hot tub.” She handed Darcy a business card. Corky had written on the back Call me. She’d included her private phone number and a drawing in red ink of two entwined hearts.

“How sweet,” Darcy ground out, tempted to rip the card in two. “Anything else? I have work to do.”

The receptionist blushed almost as red as the dyed streaks in her hair. “Could you, uh, give him this, too? But don’t tell Corky. She’d kill me.”

“What is it?” Darcy accepted the note.

“It’s my phone number.” The receptionist rushed from the room.

Darcy tossed the card and note into her purse. So, it was Adam’s lucky day. He was rapidly acquiring a fan club. And all because he knew how to remove a lady’s bra in record time.

She took a deep breath and shoved her frustrated emotions to the side. She could scream later. Right now, she needed to work. Five minutes later, the door opened. She glanced up. Well, speak of the devil.

“Good evening.” Don Orlando swaggered into the room. He was wearing black leather pants low on his hips, and a black silk cape, which looked a bit odd without a shirt underneath. He took a wide stance in his black leather boots. His hair was so black, Darcy suspected it must be dyed. Did that mean his mound of chest hair was dyed, too? Just how much of Don Orlando was fiction? No one seemed to know his real name.

He raked his dark eyes over her and smiled slowly. “You know who I am, of course.”

Either a stinky fraud or an odious pig, according to Corky. “Yes, I do.”

“I wish to know the name of the sexy woman in the hot tub.”

Darcy stifled a groan. “I can’t divulge her name.”

He smirked. “Just tell her Don Orlando de Corazon, the greatest lover in the vampire world, wishes to woo her. She will comply.”

“Right.” Over my dead body, which was unfortunately, too close to the truth. Darcy stood and headed to the door. “I have a lot of work to do. So, if you could move your little booties somewhere else, I’d appreciate it.”

He turned with a flourish of his cape and left. Darcy shut the door and locked it.

Austin rose before dawn and went to the office. Since it was a Saturday, Sean wasn’t there, and he was grateful for that. He didn’t want to answer questions. He borrowed a white surveillance van from Homeland Security and visited a local cable company where flashing his badge got him a clipboard full of invoices and a work shirt with the company logo. He drove to DVN and arrived by eight o’clock in the morning.

“We got a complaint about four in the morning from Sylvester Bacchus,” he explained to the mortal security guard. “The internet connection was going on and off.”

“Really?” The guard took the clipboard and regarded the invoice with a suspicious eye. “I wasn’t notified about this.”

“They probably forgot to tell you.” You will believe me, Austin projected his thoughts into the guard’s head.

The guard handed the clipboard back. “Come on in.”

“Thanks. This won’t take long.” Austin headed for the offices with his tool box. Sylvester Bacchus’s office was easy to find since he had a big brass name-plate on his door. Austin closed the door and went to work. The computers at DVN were basically dinosaurs, so he had to download everything onto disks. When he was done, he made sure everything looked the way it had before.

As he crossed the lobby, he waved at the security guard. “Everything’s fixed.”

Back in his apartment, Austin made labels for each of the disks and downloaded all the data onto his laptop. He now had all the information anyone would ever want to know about DVN. All he had to do was email it to Sean. But if he sent the information, Darcy would be targeted with all the other vampires.

He shut the laptop and looked at the stuff on his coffee table. Videos of Darcy, disks from DVN, and the damned list that said Vampires Must Die. He couldn’t take it anymore. The more he tried to do the right thing, the worse he felt.

Sometimes, being the good guy really sucked.

It was Saturday night and time for the debut. Gregori drove Darcy and Maggie to the penthouse. There, they found the lady judges in their parlor, waiting excitedly for the show to begin. The Bubbly Blood was chilling in an ice bucket.

Midnight arrived, and the ladies were glued to the screen. All televisions had been removed from the rooms upstairs. The male Vamps needed to remain ignorant about the mortal competitors, so they weren’t allowed to watch the show until it was finished. And of course, the mortals had to be kept completely in the dark. That was easy to do, since the two mortals had left the penthouse entirely.

As the show came to a close, Darcy grew tense with worry. The last scene was the one in the portrait room when the ladies discovered for the first time that some of the contestants were mortal. Soon, the ladies’ outrage would explode on the screen. How on earth would Sly react? He’d wanted a big twist, but this might be a bigger one than he could handle.

When the closing credits began, the ladies poured Bubbly Blood and toasted each other. Darcy accepted a glass with a growing sense of doom. Any minute now…

The phone rang. She set down her glass with a sigh.

Gregori answered the phone. “Sure, she’s here.” He handed the receiver to Darcy. “It’s Shanna Draganesti.”

Darcy blinked. Shanna? Why would she be calling? “Hello?”

“Darcy, I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

“Okay.” Darcy waited for Shanna to talk.

“I mean in person. I’m at our new house in White Plains. Can you teleport here?”

Darcy’s grip on the phone tightened. “Actually, no. Maybe Gregori can drive me—?” She gave him a questioning look.

“No, that’ll take too long.” Shanna’s voice faded. It sounded like she had covered the receiver to talk to someone else. “Connor wants you here now.”

Darcy’s heart lurched in her chest. “I—I’d rather not—“

“It’s urgent, Darcy. You need to teleport here now.”

“I don’t… know how. I’ve never done it before.” Her face flooded with heat as she realized Shanna was sharing her inadequacy with Connor. Her eye twitched. “Look, Gregori can drive me. We’ll leave right away.”

“Keep talking,” Shanna said. “Connor’s coming to get you.”

“No!” Darcy gasped for air. “I don’t want to teleport, and I sure don’t want to go anywhere with—” A figure materialized beside her. A man in a red and green kilt. “Connor.” The phone slipped from her hand and clattered on the floor.

“I’m sorry, lass, but ye need to come with me.” The Scotsman wrapped a strong arm around her, and everything went black.

Terror whipped through Darcy. She was trapped and helpless, just like she’d been four years ago. She couldn’t feel her body. The only thing keeping her from floating away like vapor into a black void was the steel-like grip of Connor. Once again, he was abducting her against her will. She hated him for it, and she hated herself for being so damned afraid. Good God, if she had any courage in her at all, she’d push herself away and fade into oblivion, never to materialize again.

As soon as her feet touched ground, a room wavered before her eyes and came into view. A living room with two wingback chairs, a television, and a sofa. Shanna was sitting in a chair, watching them. Darcy broke free from Connor and stumbled.

“Careful.” He reached out to steady her.

“Don’t—” The words touch me stuck in her throat when she saw his face. Regret had etched lines on his brow and dulled the blue of his eyes. The truth scraped at her like overlong fingernails, and she looked away. God have mercy. His decision that night haunted him as much as it did her.

Shanna set her phone down on the coffee table next to her drink. “Thank you for coming, Darcy.”

Like she’d been given any choice. Darcy pivoted, surveying the comfortable room decorated in blue toile with yellow accents. “Is this your new house?”

“Yes. Roman wants to keep the location a secret. The Highlanders know, of course, since they do our security.” Shanna motioned to the blue velvet couch. “Please have a seat.”

Darcy circled the coffee table and sat close to Shanna. “What’s wrong? Are the Malcontents causing trouble again?”

“Not so much, now that Petrovsky is dead. I’m afraid our latest security problems are caused more by my father.”

Darcy glanced briefly at Connor who was standing still, his arms crossed over his broad chest. “I heard a little about your father the night of your wedding.”

Shanna sighed. “At least we were still able to have the wedding. Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you.”

“I need to go to Roman’s townhouse to fetch the file,” Connor announced quietly. “I’ll return soon.” He faded away.

Darcy breathed easier once he’d teleported away.

Shanna smiled. “I saw your show. You did a fabulous job.”

“Thank you.”

“I know the ex-harem probably hates me, but I really do wish them well.” Shanna’s smile widened. “I just wish them well far away from my husband.”

“I understand.” Darcy wondered what on earth could be so urgent that she was here. “If it helps, I can assure you that none of the harem ladies ever harbored romantic feelings for Roman. It was simply a matter of convenience.”

“Thanks. That’s good to know.” Shanna sipped from her drink as an awkward silence fell between them.

“Why am I here?” Darcy finally asked.

Shanna shifted uneasily in her chair. “I think we should wait until Connor returns.”

Darcy sighed. She really didn’t want to discuss anything with Connor around. It was so hard to concentrate when she kept imagining what he had done four years ago. “It doesn’t bother you to be surrounded by vampires?” Darcy blurted out. “I mean you’re not frightened or… repulsed by us?”

Shanna smiled. “I was a bit freaked at first, but once I got to know Roman and his friends, I knew they’d never hurt me.”

“But Roman—I mean—” Darcy was curious how a relationship could work between a Vamp and a mortal. If somehow, Adam could accept her as a vampire, perhaps…

“You’re wondering how I could marry a vampire?”

Darcy nodded.

“I was already falling in love with Roman when I found out the truth.” Shanna’s eyes filled with tears. “And he loves me so much. He’s willing to do anything to give me the normal life I want. He’s even trying to become mortal for me.”

“What?” Darcy sat up. She dug her fingers into the sofa cushion. “Is such a thing possible?” Oh, please, say it is.

“Roman believes it’s possible. But even so, the first experiment failed.”

Darcy’s heart plummeted to her stomach. She slumped back on the couch.

“Oh.” Shanna winced. “I should have realized— I’m sorry.”

Darcy shook her head. Her throat had contracted too tight to say anything.

“I am sorry.” Shanna leaned over to touch Darcy’s knee. “Connor told me how unhappy you are.”

Darcy swallowed. “He should know.”

“I know.” Shanna watched her sadly. “But I know Connor very well. He wouldn’t knowingly hurt anyone. He’s a good man.”

Darcy gritted her teeth. “I’ve heard it before.” And yet, here she was, a vampire against her will. He hadn’t asked for permission. He’d just assumed she would be grateful to spend eternity as a blood-sucking creature. No matter what the price. She squeezed her eyes shut.

The price had been too high, dammit. She’d lost everything. Her family, friends, career. And she was still losing. She would lose Adam once he knew the truth. But if she could become mortal again… “Tell me about the experiment.”

Shanna sighed. “Well, it’s basically the reversal of the process that transforms a person into a vampire. During the transformation, a mortal is drained completely of blood. Roman believes a chemical is released from the attacking vampire, and it’s this chemical that induces the coma. When the chemical wears off, the person dies a natural death. But if a vampire feeds his own blood to that person, he will become a vampire.”