9781936653027BorntobeWildArsuaga (23 page)

“Leave the club. Wait
outside. I’ll come for you when it’s clear. We’ll meet with some of my friends
and we’ll go from there,” Stefan said.

Chapter 21

Stefan watched Alexandra
and Johnson walk, no more like run, out of the club. Her attitude cut him to
the core. He wasn’t the enemy, damn it! Didn’t she know he loved her?
Fool, how could she? When have I had the
chance to tell her? Once, but did she remember?
He debated following, but
Dragos’ hand on his shoulder prevented his departure.

“You want to explain what
that was about?” Dragos asked.

“I can,” Ecaterina said.
“The little fat cow is Stefan’s human slave. The one I thought I took down in
Virginia. Seems I didn’t kill her after all. What did you do, baby, save her
without turning her? You’re such a pussy when it comes to rules.” The words
purred from the female vampire.

“Her name is Alexandra,
not fat cow. Respect her or face the consequences of my anger.” Stefan warned
her.

“Okay, children, play
nice. Who was the man with the woman? He is human and didn’t seem like a Dom to
me. Do you know him as well?” Dragos asked.

Stefan hesitated. “I
learned his name a few minutes ago. He’s my mark. He’s Agent Scott Johnson.”

Dragos’ eyebrows arched.
“
Really?
I didn’t
recognize the young man. Hmm, he looks different without a lab coat.” He
laughed. “This is good. You can go and take care of this situation now. Hurry
before they get too far.”

“I’m not doing this now.”

“What do you mean? We
have an agreement.”

“It doesn’t include
Alexandra.”

“The woman obviously is
involved. I can’t have any loose ends. It seems to me she played you from the
beginning. You were involved with her in Virginia. You’re telling me her
appearance here in Miami Beach collared by the same FBI Agent I wanted you to
dispose of is all coincidence Stefan? No, the woman has to go. I insist.”

Stefan shook his head.
“No, I won’t do it. Alexandra is my woman and to kill her you’ll have to go
through me.”

“Then she’ll die by my
hand. I’ve tasted her blood and can track her. I’ll find her and kill her for
you, Dragos. Let me do it,” Ecaterina said.

“No!” Stefan shouted.

“Hmm, you have no choice,
my son. Don’t let this human female destroy your future. You know Cat can do
it. My sweet kitty is quite adept at getting what she wants. But, of course,
there is another alternative.” He walked around to Stefan’s backside, then
around to his front.

“And what would that be?”
Stefan asked.

“You could always turn
her and bring her over to our side. I could accept that as suitable punishment
for her misdeeds against me, but the Johnson man has to die. I want a clear
message sent to the FBI.”

“She won’t do it,” Stefan
said softly.

“Well, then I guess you
have your decision made. You can’t run from what you are my son. I will always
find you and you will always come back to me. Don’t think you can take your
woman and run and hide. I’ll track you down like an animal and kill you myself
for your betrayal. Think carefully.”

“Yes, baby. Dragos
doesn’t give do overs.”

“Come my sweet, I want to
play. Stefan has a job to do. I’ll see you back at SGM later.” He hooked his
arm around Ecaterina and led her off across the room disappearing behind the
stage draperies.

Stefan blinked away the
anger welling up inside him. He kept his composure, barely. Dragos’ words
echoed in his ears—he could always turn her. The hopes of one day bringing
Alexandra over into his world were always a possibility. He wanted her by his
side, for an eternity to complete him, to bring light to his darkness. But, he
was always going to give her the choice. He’d never do to her what he did to
Ecaterina—never again. Now, he was faced with losing her. He could always kill
Dragos.

That was always another
option.

He scanned the room. The
redhead named
Becca
still slumped at the bar.
Whatever high the woman was on, Stefan figured she could stay there and enjoy.
He was no longer interested. The rest of the humans and vamps were pretty much
in the same state. Blue was doing its job, fucking with peoples’ brains and
bodies.

He checked the time on
the wall clock, nearly one-thirty. His friends would be arriving for the
meeting at any time. Perhaps it was fortuitous Dragos and Ecaterina went off on
their own and left him alone. He didn’t have to make up an excuse to leave. He
slipped out the exit to find Alexandra and Johnson.

Stefan tapped on the
window of the black Chevy Tahoe where Alex and Johnson sat, waiting. Johnson
unlocked the door and Stefan slipped in the backseat. Johnson started the
engine.

“Where have you been? I
thought maybe you changed your mind about helping us,” she said, turned facing
the backseat. “I though you we’re setting us up, getting us away from the club,
so we’d be alone and defenseless humans. But you’d be in for a rude awakening
if you thought I’d go down without a fight mister…
Oww
!”
Grabbing her head with both hands, she turned back around. “That wasn’t nice.”
Not fair zapping me in my mind Stefan.

Johnson looked over at
the little red-haired hell-on-wheels in the front seat and chuckled.

“Where
we going?”
Johnson asked, looking through the rearview mirror at Stefan,
but there was no reflection. Only pitch black.

A voice, low and velvety
spoke from the darkness, “Drive to the Executive Airport.”

“Okay. What’s there?”

“Reinforcements.”

After a few moments after
they pulled away from the club, bright lights reflected in the side mirror
grabbing Alex’s attention.

“We have company boys.”

“Probably Palmer,”
Johnson said.

“Who’s Palmer?” Stefan
asked.

“My
partner.”

“Rule Number Eight,” Alex
said softly.

“Huh?” Johnson glanced
over at her, puzzled by the comment.

“One of
her bounty rules.
You mean to tell me she hasn’t recited them to you
Johnson?” Stefan asked.

“No. First time I’ve
heard of them. How many rules are there?”

“Oh, I think I’ve counted
at least ten so far. To be honest with you, I think she makes them up as the
situation warrants.”

“Hey, that’s not funny.
The rules are real. There are ten hard fast ones that we bounty hunters live
by. You’re already on my shit list, Stefan. Keep it up if you want to dig
yourself deeper.”

“And exactly what have I
done to deserve this abuse? Tell me.”

“You know exactly what
you did.
The spanking for starters.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh!” Crossing her arms
at her waist, she harrumphed loudly.

Another black SUV pulled
in front of their vehicle.

“Okay, Johnson, what’s
going on? Another black one just pulled in front of us. Is that Martin or
someone else?”

“Don’t know. Something’s
happening.”

Alex’s cell phone rang
and reached in her purse, retrieving it.

Johnson’s cell phone
rang. He reached in his pocket to retrieve it.

“Okay this is creepy,”
she said, flipping the phone cover. “Hello?”

* * * *

The caravan arrived at
the Miami Executive Airport and parked. Stefan exited the vehicle and went
inside the terminal, leaving Alex and Johnson.

“So, I bet I know why
we’re here at the airport,” she said.

“You got the same phone
call I did didn’t you?” Johnson asked.

“Hmm,
maybe.
Mine was from my brother.”

“Mine from the Chief. He
just got a call from Headquarters.”

“Really?
About the vamps on the move from Virginia?”

“Now how’d Jordan know?”

“Our network is good.”

“Interesting.
When I have more time, we’re talking about this network of yours. And those
bounty rules too.”

A tap on the window
startled Alex and jerked slightly in the seat.

“Jeez, he has to stop
doing that!”

* * * *

He waited ten minutes
before the flight arrived from Virginia with Gregori, Sorin and the remaining
vamps. The group came down the
hall,
a sea of hulking
men dressed in black walked six abreast through the concourse.

Gregori and Stefan
greeted each other first. “Brother, I’m so glad to see you. At first I thought
you took off on one of your moody sabbaticals, until I got your call requesting
my help.” They shook hands and patted each other on the back.

Stefan greeted Sorin, a
friend from his early days as a vampire. Dragos was also his sire and shared in
Stefan’s distrust and hatred. Sorin had risen through the ranks and had the
family in Eastern Europe, an old and strong blood clan. Dragos never challenged
him after he took the Master and Commander
position
.

For security reasons,
Gregori had arranged for transportation, accommodations for sleeping, and the
meeting place prior to the departure from Virginia. Five SUVs were waiting at
the terminal as the group exited and transported them to a location only known
to Gregori. Stefan didn’t want to know the details in case Dragos, as his sire,
would have access to his mind. As it was, Stefan expended a lot of energy
blocking Dragos from knowing the details of the plan thus far. The less Stefan
knew about the initial planning, the better.

With Alex, Johnson, and
the FBI entourage showing up at the same time, there was a change of plans. The
caravan of ten black SUVs and one unmarked van looked like a presidential
cavalcade making its way to the safe house Gregori secured for the meeting. Of
course, when he made the arrangements, he didn’t expect to have the Feds join
them.

Gregori acquiesced after
Stefan convinced him cooperation with the FBI might be the only way to defeat
Dragos, based on what he saw in the club tonight.

“All right, I see no harm
in us sharing information, for now,” was his response, and they loaded into the
vehicles and proceeded to the secured meeting place.

The atmosphere in the
conference room was tense and contentious. The FBI Special Unit Agents sat on
one side of the table, and the Masters of the fifteen Families sat on the
other. Alex took a seat at the conference table next to Chief Martin, who sat
to the right of the head of the table. Johnson sat on the other side of her.
Gregori took the head of the table position. Stefan remained standing along
with the other Knights and Sergeants of the entourage circling the perimeter.
Their side of the room was wall-to-wall black leather jacketed vampires.

Gregori acknowledged the
others sitting around the long table. Sorin sat to his immediate left, followed
by Lucius, Marius, Philip, and the remaining Grand Masters. He nodded to the
humans. Stefan paced around the table, deep in thought.

In the corner of the
room, Chief Martin posted two agents to secure the entrance. Not to be outdone,
Gregori motioned for one of the vampires to stand sentry with the agents.

“Before we get started, I
want to go on the record as saying, this meeting is not taking place and the
United States Federal Government, specifically the FBI Special Vampire Unit
will disavow any knowledge this meeting ever took place. It is not our mission
to ever fully cooperate with the vampire community. We are only mandated to
investigate, regulate and terminate if necessary your kind. It’s only now, well,
that the mission has grown a bit complicated. It seems we need each other’s
help to bring about the elimination of a threat to both sides of the coin
threatening us.” Martin’s gaze darted nervously about the room.

Gregori leaned back in
the chair. He gave Martin a suspicious look, and then crossed his arms. “Okay,
first tell us about this vamp virus. Is it as deadly as the rumors purport it
to be?”

“Yes, we can verify it
conclusively,” Martin said.

“I can too,” Stefan said.
“Dragos showed me the records from the lab reports. His only intentions though
are to scare the human population enough to get Congress to revoke the Vamp
Laws of 1905.”

“Prohibition of Vamp
Blood,” Alex said.

Dead silence fell across
the room and all eyes turned to her.

“
Whaaat
?”
she continued. “It’s what Dragos wants so he can bootleg your blood for a huge
profit. You could be rich. Are you telling me all of you are honorable and
aren’t tempted just a little to let Dragos do this?”

Growing uneasy with the
direction of her theories, Stefan touched her mind and she went silent.

“In answer to your
question, Miss Carlton,” Gregori replied. “Yes we are, and no we’re not
interested in changing the laws that now exist. The accord between humans and
vampires is comfortable. We don’t intend to upset the current balance. When
there is a vampire who steps out of line, we take care of them in our way. That
is why we are here. I didn’t expect to be greeted by the Feds, but my friend
has told me the problem is bigger than he originally thought.”

Martin nodded in
agreement. “There is a bigger threat than the virus. This Dragos Munteanu has
created a new blood, a Blue Blood, laced with a synthetic heroin-like component
he is planning on distributing. It is illegal of course. We want to keep this
off the streets probably as much as you do.”

“I’ve seen the effects of
this Blue tonight at
Euphoria.
Dragos
had the human patrons lined up taking it and within minutes they were in a
drug-induced state,” Stefan said. “The vamps in the room were drawn to them
like animals in heat. It was like an aphrodisiac. Trust me, I felt the effects
and didn’t take the blood like other vamps did. It is very powerful. That’s
when I knew I needed help to stop this plague. Later, Alexandra walked in the
club and told me about her connection with the FBI.”