Oliver's Hunger (Scanguards Vampires #7) (25 page)

Jay nodded. “Consider it done.”

“Benjamin, have Jay give you a list of all of Valentine’s friends and acquaintances. Then you, Andrew, and Greg will check up on all the names on that list and see if any of them are also clients of the blood brothel. If they are, put some pressure on them and make them talk. See if they’ve received any text messages or emails with the new address of the blood brothel. We need to find the place. There are still a dozen women imprisoned there. We have to get them out. Quickly.”

Then he let his eyes roam. “The rest of you, you’re on regular patrol duty for those . . .
leeches
. Go to the clubs and watch out particularly for vampires feeding off Asian women, or even speaking with them. From what we know, they seem to be the only carriers of this blood. If you must, drop a few hints and pretend you know where a vampire can get high. Make sure you have backup. Are we clear?”

Several answered with a resounding “yes”; others simply nodded.

Oliver glanced to his side, having noticed that Eddie had approached. He now looked into the room, his eyes darting toward Thomas, who stood in one corner of the room, talking to Zane as the other vampires got up from their chairs.

As if Thomas could feel Eddie’s eyes on him, he turned his head and looked straight at him. There was an awkward pause before Eddie turned on his heels and left.

After the meeting, Thomas walked up to Oliver, tossing a long look down the hallway where Eddie had disappeared to.

“I need the name and address of that vampire you found.”

Oliver nodded. “Got something to write?”

Thomas handed him his notepad and pen, and Oliver started to scribble down the information.

“Something wrong with Eddie?” Thomas asked casually.

Oliver was glad that he was still busy writing the address down, so he didn’t have to look at Thomas when he answered him. “Didn’t notice anything.” Still feeling bad about what he’d blurted out for Eddie to overhear, he handed Thomas the pad and pen and changed the subject. “Don’t let Corbin know you’re checking his background. He’s cooperative, so don’t mess up the progress I’ve made already.”

“I’m not an amateur.”

A moment later Oliver stood in Zane’s office, tapping his foot while he waited for the bald vampire to make an appearance. He knew he was in for a dressing down, but he didn’t care what Zane had to say to him.

He didn’t have to wait long. Zane barged into the office, slamming the door behind him, reminding Oliver of the mood he was in. Pissed off didn’t even begin to describe it.

Zane pinned him with a glare. “Insubordination. Withholding of evidence. Refusal to follow orders . . . ”

“You’re repeating yourself. Insubordination and refusal to follow orders I believe are the same thing.” Oliver knew he was treading on thin ice, but he couldn’t help himself. Zane needed to be cut down from his high horse.

“Oh, you think you’re so smart! What happened to you, Oliver? What happened to the nice young guy who couldn’t do any wrong? Who looked up to us?”

Oliver fisted his hands at his hips. “That guy became one of you and realized you’re all made out of flesh and bone, just like the rest of us. You’re not any better than me! You’re just a bigger asshole! So, go ahead, be yourself! Behave like an asshole like you always do, and let’s get this over with. You wanna dress me down? Take a swing! See if I care.”

The standoff took several seconds, then Zane sighed. “You haven’t changed at all. You’re still a hothead, just like when you were human. Only then, you still had some respect for us. Or maybe you were afraid of us.”

“I was never afraid of you,” Oliver hissed.

“Well then it’s time to make sure you’re afraid of us now. So let me tell you this: you can kiss your job and your association with Scanguards goodbye if you don’t fall in line now. Orders issued by a Scanguards superior are to be followed. That goes for everybody, including you!”

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s funny coming from you. Considering that not too long ago you defied direct orders from Gabriel and Samson to be with Portia.”

Zane’s chest rose. “Keep Portia out of this.”

Satisfied that he’d hit a nerve, Oliver continued, “It’s the same thing, so don’t make it sound like I’m the first one in this company who’s ever defied an order when he knew it was wrong. You of all people should understand. But no, you’ve suddenly turned into the establishment. When did you stop using your gut to figure out what’s right or wrong?”

“Don’t tell me who you think I am!” Zane thundered. “I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not working. I won’t tell you where she is. No discussion. You’re in no condition to be around her. Her blood will destroy you. And we all—all of us at Scanguards—care too much about you to let that happen.”

“You have a funny way of showing that!” Oliver grumbled and tuned on his heels.

Before Zane could stop him, he was out the door, slamming it even louder than Zane had only moments earlier.

29

A persistent ringing sound penetrated his sleep. Blindly, Oliver reached for his alarm clock and slapped his hand over it, hitting the snooze button. But the ringing didn’t stop. He forced open one eyelid and glanced at the clock. It was just past three in the afternoon. Who had set his alarm clock to three p.m. and why the hell didn’t it stop?

He shot up to sit and glanced around the dark room, with every second more awake, until he finally realized that the ringing wasn’t coming from the alarm clock but from the heap where he’d tossed his clothes when he’d come home shortly before sunrise.

He lunged for it, and pulled his cell phone out of his jeans pocket. “Yes?” he answered it without even checking caller ID.

“Hey Oliver,” a female voice cooed.

“Huh? Who’s this?”

A chuckle on the other end of the line. “Karen, of course. Don’t tell me you were sleeping.”

“Hey, Karen,” he answered quickly. She was one of Vera’s girls—probably the chattiest of them—and she had no idea that he was a vampire. Nobody who knew what he was dared calling him during daytime hours. “I had a late night. What’s up?”

Did she want him to come over to Vera’s tonight? While he was a regular at Vera’s establishment, all the girls there knew that he never came for sex. He simply loved hanging out with Vera and flirting with the women in her employ. Even though he’d gotten plenty of offers from several of the women—freebies so to speak—he’d never taken any of them up on it. He wouldn’t start now.

“We haven’t seen you all week. Are you cheating on us?”

“Would I do that to you?” He forced a chuckle, even though he wanted to get back to sleep so he would be refreshed by sunset to continue searching for Ursula. The night before, he’d stopped by Amaury’s place, finding only Nina at home. He’d eliminated their home as Ursula’s hiding place after his visit and driven to Zane’s house. The dog had been the only one at home. Nobody had answered the doorbell, and after climbing a fire escape and peeking into the windows on the upper floor, he’d determined that there was no trace of Ursula. Besides, Zane would never leave her alone in his house, knowing that she would probably try to escape.

“ . . . so I figured I’d call you.” Karen’s voice drifted to him.

Shit, he’d missed half the conversation!

“Mmm,” he answered, wondering what she’d been telling him.

“So what’s the deal? Why doesn’t she like you?”

Confused, Oliver scratched his head. “Who?”

“That girl of course. Have you even been listening?”

“Of course I have. What girl?” If this was one of her long-winded stories that could go on forever, then he had to make up an excuse to get out of this pointless conversation. “Listen, I’ve gotta go.”

“Come on, just tell me. Did she come onto you and get pissed off because you’re not into Chinese girls?”

Oliver was instantly alert. “Chinese? What’s she look like?”

“Well, Chinese of course. Long black hair. Pretty.”

Could he be so lucky? Was Karen talking about Ursula? “What did she say to you?”

“Well, she didn’t say it to
me
, but I overheard her. She said you betrayed her the first chance you got. Sounded pretty pissed off to me.”

He wasn’t surprised at that, but he cursed nevertheless. “Ah, shit! You wouldn’t know where she is now, would you?”

“She’s staying up in room 407.”

Shock made him catapult from his bed. “In the brothel?”

An annoyed huff came from Karen. “We don’t call it that!”

Oliver backpedaled. “I meant, at Vera’s . . . uh . . . establishment?” But he didn’t listen to Karen’s next comment, because all he could think of was that he knew where Ursula was. Of all places, Zane had hidden her in a brothel. Did that big oaf have no concern for Ursula’s feelings? To hide her in a brothel, when she’d been imprisoned in one for three years!

“Thanks Karen, you’re a sweetheart. Please, may I ask you for a favor?”

“ ’Course you may, hon.”

“Don’t tell anybody you told me about her. I’ve gotta keep a low profile on this. Promise?”

“What do I get for it?” she negotiated.

Oliver thought about it for a moment, wondering what would pacify her. “Flowers? Tickets to a show?”

“The best seats?”

“Only the best for you.”

When he disconnected the call, he was ready for action. He went into the bathroom and jumped in the shower. It was no surprise to him that his cock was already fully erect the moment he soaped up. No wonder—he was imagining Ursula’s hands touching him. Of course, before that could happen, he had to first explain to her that he hadn’t betrayed her secret. Considering her current opinion of him, he doubted she’d let him hold her hand, let alone make love to her.

For the remaining hours until sunset, he paced in his room, practicing in his mind what he would say to her, how he would start his explanation to make sure she believed him.

The time seemed to stretch forever, but finally, the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. On his way out, Oliver stopped in the library and unlocked the supply cabinet where Quinn kept spare electronic gadgets. He grabbed a cell phone and headed out the door. He left the car behind, wanting to be as inconspicuous as possible. Just in case anybody from Scanguards showed up at Vera’s, he didn’t want them noticing his car parked in the area. Besides, Vera’s was in Nob Hill, which lay adjacent to Russian Hill and was therefore only a short walk away.

Since it was still early evening, it would be quiet at Vera’s. Most clients would show up later as the evening progressed. Therefore, he had to be extra quiet. Knowing he couldn’t simply march into the place, he walked around to the small alley that framed one side of the building, where a fire escape was located. Room 407 overlooked this alley, but there was no fire escape leading down from it. Instead it had a tiny balcony.

Oliver quickly assessed the situation. The closest fire escape led to the room next to it, but since it was an anteroom to Vera’s office, he could not enter that room to get into Ursula’s room from the inside. He had to get to Ursula’s balcony.

The fire escape only reached to the second floor where a quick release lever allowed anybody escaping from the building to bring the remainder of the ladder down to the ground. But from his position in the alley he couldn’t reach up high enough to grab onto any part of the fire escape. Testing how high he could jump, Oliver took a few steps back, then ran and leapt upwards, stretching his arms, but his fingers didn’t quite reach the metal fire escape. He tried again for good measure, but his second try didn’t prove any more fruitful than his first. He was out of shape. Maybe if he ran from farther back and got up to a higher speed, he could reach the ladder.

His eyes roamed the alley. A large dumpster stood less than twelve feet from the fire escape. He walked to it and inspected it. There were no rollers underneath it, and while he could have moved the heavy thing with his vampire strength to shift it closer to the fire escape, the noise of the metal scratching against the concrete underneath would wake the entire neighborhood.

Oliver climbed the dumpster, pushing the lid closed with his foot, then stepped onto it. He was almost eyelevel with the ladder now. He assessed the distance quickly and decided it was worth a try. Taking one step back, he lunged forward, jumping toward the fire escape, his arms reaching upward and forward. His fingers connected with the metal platform, instantly tightening around a rod as his body continued to swing.

“Gotcha!” he murmured under his breath and swung his legs up. Helped by his strong stomach muscles, he was able to lift himself onto the platform and stand up.

He looked up and took the two flights of the metal ladder up to the fourth floor, then stopped there. He pressed himself against the wall, making sure that he couldn’t be seen from the window of Vera’s anteroom. As he looked across to the small balcony in front of room 407, he realized that he had underestimated its distance to the platform he now stood on. There was no way he could jump from his current position and land on the balcony.

Looking for another solution, he glanced up. If he could get to the roof, he could jump straight down to the balcony. He focused his eyes and noticed several short metal rods sticking out from the wall, where at some point another ladder leading to the roof must have been affixed. For some reason it had been removed, but some of the metal rods that were anchored in the brick facade—and were no longer than three inches—had been left.

Oliver ducked to pass by the window and get to the other side of it, then lifted himself up onto the railing that surrounded the fire escape. From there, he stepped onto the first rod, gripping a higher one with his hand. Like a cat burglar, he worked his way up, careful not to lose his grip and fall and draw attention to himself.

Within seconds, he reached the roof and pulled himself onto it. Trying not to make too much noise, he treaded lightly and walked over to where the window to Ursula’s room was. He looked down. He was right above the slim balcony.

Oliver jumped, bending his knees all the way into a crouch to absorb the shock and sound as he landed squarely in the middle of the balcony. He quickly tossed a look toward the fire escape, but nobody had seen or heard him. The curtains were drawn in Ursula’s room, and the windows were closed. However, Oliver knew from experience, that the building was old and that many of the windows didn’t lock, since the old sash windows had warped over the years.