Angus leaned against the desk, studying the prosthesis. “Yer fist locks and doesna release?”
“Aye. So when I turned toward the door, VANNA’s arm came with me.”
Angus snorted. “Then ye would have an excellent grip on a sword. I think ye can still do security here.”
Dougal exhaled with relief. “Thank you.”
“In fact, ’tis best for you to remain here, where Roman and Abby can work with you to get the problem fixed.” Angus sighed. “But until then, we’ll have to remove you from the mission roster.”
Dougal groaned inwardly. “I understand.”
Angus grabbed a new MacKay S&I polo shirt off a bookcase shelf and tossed it to him. “Put this on and clean yerself up. I’ll tell Emma what happened so she can explain it to Dr. Chin. Hopefully, she’ll still agree to help us with our guest in the basement.”
Dougal glanced at the monitor that showed the silver room and the captive soldier still in stasis. Would Leah want to help? Or had he frightened her so badly that she would wish only for escape?
As he strode to the restroom, his old vow reverberated inside his head. I will find you. No matter what. If it takes a thousand years, I will find you.
Another sizzle skittered along the length of his tattoo, and he rolled his right shoulder to relieve the itch. Why was it bothering him after all this time? The last time he’d felt it had been after the battle of Culloden when he had crawled beneath a bush to die. As his lifeblood had seeped from his wound, he’d imagined Li Lei sitting next to him, promising him that someday they would be together again. He had murmured yes as comforting heat had spread along his tattoo, lulling him into the deep sleep of the dead.
He knew now that it was Connor who had sat beside him and his “yes” had been interpreted as an agreement to join the ranks of the Undead. He’d awakened a vampire, and for centuries the tattoo had remained as cold as his Undead heart.
Had Leah awakened the dragon? Could she bring his half-dead soul back to life? Unfortunately, after waiting close to three hundred years, he was in danger of losing her before he could even talk to her. If she demanded to leave, they would teleport her back home and erase her memory.
He had to see her tonight. Before he lost his chance.
Leah stiffened when Gregori walked into the room carrying a woman in his arms like a sack of potatoes.
“Don’t worry.” Abby perched beside her on the bed. “I asked him to bring her here so you could see she’s not real. This is VANNA Black, the sister to the doll you saw with Dougal.”
Leah watched as Gregori set the lifelike woman in an easy chair. “Why is she dressed like a cheerleader?”
Abby gave her husband a wry look. “Good question.”
“I didn’t do it,” Gregori mumbled. “Phineas must have dressed her like this before he got married.”
Leah shook her head. A few minutes earlier, Abby had explained that VANNA was a failed experiment the guys kept around as a joke, but it all sounded a bit crazy to her. “And this doll is supposed to keep vampires from attacking us?”
“You don’t need to worry about being attacked.” Emma sat in the other easy chair, facing the bed. “The Vamps are morally opposed to it.”
Leah scoffed. “They’re vampires. How moral can they be?”
Emma smiled slightly. “Well, I can speak on the matter with some knowledge, since I’ve become a Vamp myself.”
“Oh.” Leah winced. “I . . . didn’t mean to offend.”
Emma’s smile widened. “You haven’t. There was a time when I hated vampires. But then I got to know them better. You see, the Malcontents imprisoned me with Angus and let him go hungry so he’d have no choice but to bite me. For several nights he restrained himself. He was starving to death, biting himself, and I even caught him climbing on a table where the sunlight would hit him.”
Abby gasped. “He was going to commit suicide?”
Emma nodded. “Yes. He was ready to die rather than harm me. I had to beg him to bite me so he could survive.”
“So vampires retain a sense of right and wrong?” Leah asked.
“Death cannot change a person’s character,” Emma explained. “Bad people become evil vampires, and good guys like Angus—well, he’s my hero.”
Leah hated to admit it, but Emma’s story sounded a bit romantic. “And you’re married to him now?”
“Yes. We’re very happy.” Emma’s smile grew wistful. “He reminds me of a historical hero—Braveheart or Rob Roy. And the way he talks—it still melts my heart.”
Abby nodded in agreement. “There’s something about a guy in a kilt. I’ve been trying to talk Gregori into getting one.”
He snorted. “I’m not wearing a damned skirt.”
A vision of Dougal flitted through Leah’s mind. She’d thought he was wonderfully attractive until she’d caught him assaulting a woman. Or a doll. “I still don’t understand why Dougal was attacking a rubber doll.” She shuddered, remembering the shock of seeing the arm rip off and the blood squirt out.
The room grew silent. Emma and Gregori exchanged a worried look.
“I-I’m sure he had a reason,” Abby mumbled.
“Like he’s a violent pervert?” Leah asked.
Abby winced. “He never struck me that way. I always thought he was shy.”
“Actually,” Gregori said, “I don’t think he approved of us bringing you here. He questioned if we had the right to drag you into our world.”
Leah sat up. Was that why he’d looked so tense and agitated when everyone else had been cheerful? Was he actually on her side? She shook that thought away. He was a violent, wild person. She didn’t dare trust him.
Emma’s cell phone rang. “It’s Angus. I’ll take this in the hall.” She hurried from the room.
Gregori picked VANNA up and headed for the door. “I’ll get rid of this.”
“Permanently, I hope,” Abby muttered, then shifted on the bed to look at Leah. “So you’re okay now?”
“I guess.” Leah shrugged. “Did you have a hard time accepting all this supernatural stuff?”
“Not too hard. I was desperate to find some plants in China that I thought would help my sick mother, but it seemed impossible. That’s when my father arranged for the vampires to teleport me there.”
“So you were well motivated to accept them.”
“Exactly.” Abby smiled. “The Vamps and shifters took me there and protected me.” Her smile faded. “At one point, we were captured by Master Han, and while we were escaping, one of the bad guys came at me with a sword. Gregori jumped in front of me and was stabbed in the back. I almost lost him.” She blinked away some tears and smiled. “I cry way too easily these days. Must be the hormones.”
Leah slid off the bed and paced across the room. Abby and Emma made their husbands sound like heroes. Undead heroes fighting against the supernatural forces of evil. It sounded as fanciful as the stories her grandfather used to tell her.
Grandpa had always said there was a world beyond science, a magical world that could not be explained with logic. Her mother had warned her to pay no attention to his silly tales. Grandpa could never stroll along a rocky shore without looking for a selkie, or roam the green fields without searching for the fae. He had claimed his Uilleann pipes could entice the leprechauns to come out of hiding.
Mom had rejected her father and Ireland. She’d moved to the States to study at MIT, and there she’d fallen in love with a brilliant physics professor, Dr. Kai Ling Chin.
Leah had been raised on a strict, home-school regimen of science and rationalism. Her mind had thrived on it. But her heart had loved the one magical summer she’d spent with Grandpa. Her parents had been invited to speak at several prestigious conferences, and her two teenage brothers were already in college. After realizing that a nine-year-old girl was too young to fend for herself all summer, her parents had shipped her off to Ireland.