Nikos gathered me into his lap again. “If it helps, I don’t think Aylmer is dead. He would have squirreled away ‘evidence’ somewhere.”
It helped. As I relaxed, Nikos tucked me close. “Twyla, this frightens you, but you’re still fighting. You are a strong warrior.”
“I’m glad you think so.” I burrowed deeper into his strong chest, just for a minute. “I’m not my brother the Marine.”
“A good thing. I would not have enjoyed sex with him.”
I felt the start of a smile and sat up. “See. Not a lot of words but just the right ones. All right, how do we find out where they’ve gone?”
“The boxes in the living room, to start.”
The letter boxes were labeled eMailnXpress. I opened one, pulled a sheaf of papers from it and was surprised when more tumbled out. They were connected, multi-part printouts. I scanned a couple, saw lists of items, quantities and weights. But instead of dollar amounts I saw cities. “What are these?”
“Freight bills,” Nikos murmured thoughtfully. “ Aylmer audits truck lines.”
I tossed the papers back into the box. “How can these help us find them? You know, things were a lot easier when all we had to do was stop my crazy cousin-wait.”
Nikos cocked a jet brow at me. Maybe his version of “tell me more”. He wasn’t as closed off as I’d originally thought.
I picked out a form. “Look at these. Paper, and pin-fed at that. Eighties technology. And Aylmer himself is stuck in the fifties.”
Nikos gave me a single nod. An eloquent “go on”, for him.
“Well, think about it. The favor I did involved a very high-tech company. How does that square with pin-fed forms and tinfoil hats? I think-”
A big warm hand suddenly covered my mouth. “Shh.” Nikos cocked his head at the front door.
Concentrating, I heard voices approaching. Boys, from the snickers.
Feet trundled up the hallway. “What’re we going to do to the old weirdo this time? Hey, I know. Let’s show him our fangs.”
“Nothing’ll top the look on his face that first time we delivered his stupid boxes. You have to invite us in over the threshold, bleh. I nearly peed my pants laughing.”
I sucked in a breath.
“The loon. I thought he’d have apoplexy when he realized he’d met real vampires and nobody’d believe him.”
“Although he tastes pretty good. For a nut job.”
Grim-faced, Nikos caught my eye and nodded. Vampires, just a little creepy and not very subtle. This explained how Aylmer found out.
Faster than I could follow, Nikos was at the door, throwing it open. He collared the two vampires, young men by the thin, hungry look of them, and dragged them in, slamming the door shut with a kick.
“Hey man, what do you think-”
“Stop it, you can’t-”
Nikos shut them up by shaking them hard. He eyed their uniforms, the eMailnXpress logos matching the boxes. “Foot soldiers,” he spat. “Who runs you?”
“Our boss?” one of them squeaked. “You can’t tell Klaus. He’d kill us!”
Nikos and I exchanged a glance. He tossed the young vampires sprawling to the floor. “Fine. But if I ever hear of you ‘tasting’ again-” His death glare finished the sentence more eloquently than words.
The boys scrambled to their feet, threw open the door and dashed out.
Nikos watched them escape. “Idiots.”
“Kids. But if you really think Aylmer ’s okay, maybe we should put finding him on hold and get to Times Square. We know whatever Klaus has planned will happen there.”
“Not yet. We need better intelligence.”
Ever the general. “Well, freight bills won’t tell us anything.” The kids had dropped a couple boxes when Nikos yanked them inside, and I went to pick them up. “And since Aylmer isn’t here, who else can we ask? I can’t think he confided in anyone besides me. He didn’t have any friends.”
Nikos followed me to the door. “Maybe a neighbor.”
“Don’t think so.” We stared at the closed 7A across the hallway. “Although his neighbor must have heard Harold and Kumar too. I wonder what he thought of it.” I picked up a box, brought it inside.
Nikos brought in the other and shut the door behind him. “A knot has two ends. Tell me about Bujný a Zvuk Magie.”
“Besides their being headquartered in Eastern Europe, I don’t know that much. My job was to get Aylmer -or somebody-clearance to be their representative here. Or maybe it was as a subcontractor. We communicated in a mix of Czech, German and English and I wasn’t always sure of the nuances. It was very frustrating.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Bujný a Zvuk Magie means Light and Sound Magic.”
“I wish I’d had you then. You speak a bunch of different languages, don’t you? Well, in a couple thousand years, you’d have to. You’d have cut that red tape like sharp shears.” I slumped down on a pile of boxes. “I feel totally useless. Why couldn’t Nixie be here instead? She’d have done a much better job.”
“You feel inadequate? Why?” He frowned. “You’re smart, capable and sexy as hell. Why don’t you know that?”
“But it’s sound. Nixie’s the musician. Or tactical, then my brother Colin would help. Or-”
“No. Your disturbance-it’s more. Personal.” He knelt before me, looked deep into my eyes. “Your family?”
How did he figure that out? I jerked one shoulder. “Maybe. My mom, dad, sister and brother became internationally important people. I didn’t even find a job in my field.” The only time I got close to using my art degree was arranging table decorations for the mayor’s cheeseball-and-blood-sausage shindigs. “But it’s no big. I cope.”
“Your mother and father belittle you? Your brother or sister?”
“No.” I looked away. “Mom and dad didn’t live to see what a flop I am. And my sibs are nothing but supportive.” It came out more bitterly than I meant.
“Twyla.” Nikos cupped my face in both hands, made me look at him. “There’s nothing wrong with your potential.”
How nice if that were true. Maybe it even was. Of course then I was squandering that potential, an even bigger issue. I started to tug away but his iron hands stopped me. He said, “But sometimes living up to that potential needs the right circumstances. Being ready is just as good. Just as important. When the crisis comes, you’ll see.”
“But I don’t know that, do I? I don’t know how I’ll act in a crisis, if I’ll be up to it. I can guess, but you yourself said that’s not knowing.”
Nikos released me, saying simply, “I have faith.”
I jumped to my feet, started pacing. “Take this crisis. What good am I? A compulsion device that works by sound waves. I don’t even have the potential to solve that puzzle. I couldn’t tell a whole note from an octave. What the hell is an octave anyway?”
“It’s from ‘say’ to ‘see’ in the first line of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.”
I ran the song in my head. Felt the notes with my throat. “Ouch. That’s a leap.”
“Yes.”
“But see what I mean? Here’s a crisis and circumstances or fate or whatever has put one of the least appropriate people for the job in the hot seat. What if ‘circumstances’ never come together for me? What if I’m just a dud?”
“Twyla, love. We need to go back to my hotel.”
I stopped pacing. “Pity sex?”
He smiled. “No. I must retrieve my patrol blade. And I think you’ll help me figure this out, but only when your thoughts aren’t blocked.”
Wow, over a dozen words, a veritable novel for the reserved Nikos. “Blocked by what?”
“By a belief that everyone has more to contribute than you.” He guided me out. “A mistaken belief.”