“Everyone okay?” he said, brushing at the shiny metal flakes that coated him.
“You look like a disco ball,” I said. Jane giggled, causing Nicholas to stop brushing at himself and look up at her.
“Nicholas Vanbrugh,” I said, “this is my girlfriend, Jane Clayton-Forrester, your ghost in the machine.”
Nicholas held his hand out, upturned in a formal gesture. Jane clutched my coat closed around her with one hand and gave him her other. Nicholas gave a low bow, and then kissed it. “Enchanted.”
“As am I,” she said. She withdrew her hand and started buttoning the coat. “Forgive me. I’m usually not so naked.”
Nicholas turned away in modesty. He looked at me. “Sorry I acted like that in the break room.”
“Hey, no apologies,” I said. “Your Hulking out seemed to have had a positive effect on getting out of this situation.”
Nicholas looked hesitant. “Still… I prefer to not show that side of myself, but when that salad hit me, something inside me snapped. I’m wearing Armani, after all.”
“A little vanity can go a long way,” I said, and he smiled.
“That it can.”
“Hey, riddle me this,” I said. “Why would vampires need a soda machine or a vending one?”
Nicholas looked mock offended. “What? We can’t drink or eat for flavor?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I guess we’ve spent so much time in the Department figuring out how to fight you guys. Not really up on your culinary habits-other than the blood drinking.”
Nicholas nodded. “Besides, not everyone who works here is of the fanged persuasion.”
“Ah,” I said. I turned to Jane. Her brow was furrowed with concern. “Jane…?”
She held up her finger to shush me and I fell silent. “Do you hear that?” she asked.
I listened for a few seconds and shook my head. “No, I don’t. Sorry.”
“Exactly,” she said. “It’s far too quiet. Mr. Vanbrugh, is the building all right?”
Nicholas listened for a minute, and then headed for one of the few still-operational consoles in the room.
“No, it’s not,” he said, after a moment at the keyboard. “A lot of the systems are down, including the security systems.”
He keystroked in a few commands, then entered them again and again before the security doors to the room finally opened. A stream of workers poured in, all of them looking around at the chaos with amazement. A few of them, I noticed, weren’t shy about getting a look at Jane wearing nothing more than my coat.
We left Nicholas and his men to assess the damage to the Gibson-Case Center. I put my arm around Jane’s waist and headed us toward the door, carefully helping her step over all the shards of broken discs covering the floor. One crisis down, seventy-three to go. I didn’t know what I was going to do next on that list, other than find some clothes for my recently returned girlfriend. Something more substantial than just a necklace, anyway.
On our way from the control room down to the castle, we had to go through part of the shopping district of the Gibson-Case Center, but no one dared stop us. They all just stared. When Jane and I entered the forest and she saw the castle for the first time, Jane looked like she was dazed. When we finally went into the castle and came to Brandon’s chamber door, the blond vampire from his council, Gerard, let us in. Council seemed to be in session, and with them were Aidan, Beatriz, and Connor. When Connor turned and saw it was us, his face lit up.
“Jane!” Connor said. His face broke into a wide smile and he ran across the room to hug her. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. Jane just stood there, looking stunned.
“Oh,” she said, a pained look on her face. “Hello.”
Connor stepped back from her, put his arms on her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes. “You do remember me, right?” He looked to me. “She does remember me, right, kid?”
I took her back from him and put a comforting arm around her. “She’s a little shaken, I think. From the whole Gibson-Case-Center-eating-her business. That’ll do it to a lady.”
“Gotcha,” Connor said. He stepped away from her, giving her a little distance. It seemed to relax Jane a little. I turned her to Brandon.
“This is Brandon, the man we have to thank for getting someone to help rescue you. If he hadn’t set his best man to the task, I don’t know where you’d be right now.”
Brandon looked at Jane, who was simply staring at him with a big blank smile on her face.
He nodded to her politely. “Nice to finally meet you in person. I’ve heard much about you.”
“You have?” Jane said, sounding a little too bubbly for talking to the lord of the vampires.
“Jesus,” I heard Aidan whisper to his Connor. “Are you going to have to buy safety scissors with her around?”
I shot him a dirty look to let him know I had heard him. He looked at me and bulged his eyes. What? they said.
“She’s just disoriented,” I said. “It’ll pass. I think.”
Brandon turned to Gerard. “Find her some clothes, if you would.” Gerard nodded and blurred off toward the door.
“I was just discussing with the council what our options were for a course of action…”
“And?”
Brandon sighed. “We hadn’t even figured out when to best discuss it,” he said.
Connor laughed. “So you’re effectively having a meeting to discuss when you’re having a meeting.”
I looked over at my partner. “It would appear our people have more in common with the vampires than we thought. That’s promising.”
Brandon looked at me, his brow nice and furrowed with frustration. “Do you have anything better in mind?”
“Actually,” I said, “I do. Your saboteur has toyed around enough with trying to keep your prophecy from coming true. Without knowing who exactly to get rid of, they tried to stop us all-first Connor, then Jane and myself. I can only speak for myself, but I’m sick of being a target. The sooner we get our sides talking, the less chance our saboteur has of succeeding. I’m taking Aidan with us. I have some business the four of us need to attend to.”
The council erupted in an uproar of protest, but Brandon shut them down with a look. “Agreed,” he said, gesturing toward me and Jane, “but first, pants.”
I smiled, feeling a little optimistic for once. My girl was at my side, albeit pantless, and I had a plan that felt like it stood a chance of actually working.
26
Just before sunrise the next morning, Jane, Connor, Aidan, and I walked straight into the Lovecraft Café without a problem. I was sick of all the skulduggery going on, and now that Jane was free, I wanted to take a no-bullshit approach to handling matters between the Department of Extraordinary Affairs and the slightly less living contingent that resided in the Gibson-Case Center.
In the café, no one gave us a second glance, and we kept on going, heading past the coffee counter toward the black curtain at the back. I pulled it aside and the four of us continued down the main aisle of the movie theater, where Connor MacLeod was loudly proclaiming up on the screen that, indeed, there could be only one. Aidan was eerily silent the entire time, even when we entered the tiny hallway where I pulled out my card key and swiped it outside the large wooden door marked H.P.
The offices were already busy with morning activity. Jane and I were the first to step through the door leading into the Department of Extraordinary Affairs, but Aidan remained firmly in place on the other side of it, making it impossible for Connor to get through.
“What?” I said. “He can walk into the Lovecraft Café and back through the theater, but not into here?”
Connor looked at me. “I think it’s the difference between public and private space, kid,” he said.