“She’s busy with the twins, and Papa’s in an important meeting with Uncle Angus and Roman.”
Dougal tilted up his glass, finishing off the contents. No one had told him about an important meeting.
“Dougal!” Bethany’s eyes grew desperate. “I need to go!”
“I’ll take you.” He grabbed the bottle of Bubbly Blood. “This way.”
He led her out the double doors into the foyer of Romatech, then headed down the west hallway. Halfway to the MacKay security office, they reached the restrooms. Bethany went inside, while he leaned against the wall, drinking Bubbly Blood and wondering what was going on. Angus MacKay, head of MacKay Security and Investigation, sent a monthly report to all his employees to keep them informed, but there had been no mention of a meeting tonight.
According to the reports, after the deaths of Malcontent leaders Casimir and Corky, most of their followers had fled back to Russia and Eastern Europe. Angus sent security teams there whenever the bad vampires got out of hand.
Master Han, another evil vampire, was still growing an army in China and acquiring more territory. There had been three vampire lords assisting Master Han, but MacKay S&I employee Major Russell Hankelburg had managed to kill one before ripping out his tracking chip and going AWOL. About three times a year, Angus sent guys to hunt for Russell, but as far as Dougal knew, the ex-Marine had never been found.
Dougal’s last mission had been over a year ago when he’d helped a were-bear in Alaska. And he’d only landed that job because all the other guys had been busy in the field elsewhere.
With another gulp of Bubbly Blood he chided himself mentally. While the other lads were battling evil, he was waiting for a little girl to finish using the restroom. Face the facts. They doona think ye’re suited for being more than a babysitter.
After that disastrous battle four years ago when he’d lost his hand, he’d been grateful just to stay employed at MacKay S&I. Angus had arranged for him to be transferred to Jean-Luc Echarpe’s house in Texas, where he had replaced Robby MacKay as head of security. It was a cushy job, since Jean-Luc was the best swordsman in the vampire world and could easily take care of himself. But when it came to keeping his family safe, Jean-Luc wasn’t going to turn down the extra help, even if it was one-handed.
Dougal had been grateful to Jean-Luc, too. In spite of his busy schedule, Jean-Luc had taken the time to teach Dougal how to fence with his left hand. And then two years ago, when he had received his first prosthetic hand, Jean-Luc had trained him once again.
Now Dougal could fence equally well with both hands—a rare talent amongst the employees of MacKay S&I. So why was he still working as a glorified babysitter? Why wasn’t he being sent on field work? The boredom was becoming increasingly hard to bear. Maybe he should just retire.
And do what? Sit in his cottage on the Isle of Skye and stare at the sea all night? There would be no one there, no sound other than the plaintive cry of birds and the rhythmic beating of waves against the cold rocky shore. One night would follow another, a hollow, desolate refrain stretching into eternity.
His friends here might pester him with painful questions, but at least they cared. He wasn’t left alone with a half-empty soul.
He lifted the bottle for another drink.
“Dougal?” Angus’s voice boomed down the hallway. “What are ye doing out here?”
He swallowed so fast that his eyes watered. Angus and his wife, Emma, approached him, their gazes shifting from him to the bottle of Bubbly Blood in his hand. Damn, they were going to think he was drinking on the job. Well, technically, he was.
“We’ve been looking for you,” Emma said with an amused twinkle in her eyes.
“Aye,” Angus agreed. “We need to talk.” He motioned to the security office.
“I’ll be there in a moment.” Dougal glanced at the restroom door, his face growing warm. “I-I’m waiting for Bethany so I can escort her back to the party.”
Emma smiled. “I’ll take her. You two go on.”
Dougal nodded and accompanied Angus to the office.
Inside, Phineas’s younger brother, Freemont, was seated behind the desk, munching on a donut. He jumped to his feet and saluted with the donut still in his hand, leaving behind flakes of sugar on his brow. “Everything’s cool in the building, sir. Robby did a perimeter check ten minutes ago. The grounds are clear.”
“Good.” Angus strode across the office, his kilt swishing about his knees. “And our guest downstairs?”
“The weird psycho dude?” Freemont gestured at the wall of security monitors opposite the desk. “He’s still in stasis.”
A weird psycho dude? Dougal studied the screens. The party in the ballroom was in full swing. In the hallway outside, Emma was leading Bethany back to the ballroom. The foyer was empty. Same with the cafeteria and Roman’s laboratory. Laszlo was in one of the labs. He appeared to be cleaning and organizing. No activity in the parking lot and front entrance.
On the bottom row, Dougal spotted an interesting scene, and he leaned over for a better look. It was the silver room in the basement, a room designed for imprisoning vampires. A man was laid out on a stretcher, unconscious, with his arms and legs buckled down with restraints. “Who is he?”
“A more likely question is what is he?” Angus replied.
Dougal straightened. “He’s no’ a vampire?”
Angus shook his head. “No’ exactly human, either. We have him in the silver room so none of his vampire friends can teleport in to rescue him. He has superstrength, as strong as we are. And since he’s normally awake during the day, I was worried he would overpower our mortal guards. The only safe way to hold him was to put him in stasis.”
“You should have seen it!” Freemont’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “The psycho dude is so strong, it took three Vamps to hold him down while Abby gave him the injection.”
Dougal searched his memory. He’d been out of the loop for too long, stuck in Texas. “Abby is Gregori’s wife?”
“Aye. President Tucker’s daughter. Luckily for us, she’s a biochemist who earned her Ph.D. on stasis research.” Angus patted Freemont on the back. “Ye can go to the party now.”
“Cool!” Freemont headed for the door, stuffing the last of the donut in his mouth. “I think they’re about to cut the cake.”
When the door shut, Angus took a seat behind the desk. “I just came from a meeting with Jean-Luc and Roman.”
“Aye.” Dougal sat in one of the chairs facing the desk and set the bottle of Bubbly Blood on the floor next to him.
“Phineas and Austin have been in charge of security here at Romatech,” Angus began. “Austin wants to continue when he’s no’ needed on missions, but Phineas wants to take an extended leave of absence. He’s verra busy with the twins and his ranch in Wyoming. And I think he prefers the country now that he has to shift every month.”
Dougal nodded. It must have been difficult for Phineas to make the transition to his new hybrid status of half vampire, half werewolf. He was fortunate to have a werewolf wife to help him adapt.
Angus leaned back in his chair. “So that leaves a position open here. I asked Robby if he was interested, but he wants to be transferred to Texas. His wife, Olivia, has family there. She wants her grandmother to help her with the bairn.”
Dougal wasn’t surprised. It had to be tiring for the mortal wives when their vampire husbands were dead all day and unable to help with the children. “So Robby is going to do security at the Texas Romatech?”
“He’ll oversee that, but he’ll also be in charge of Jean-Luc’s security.” Angus sat forward, his elbows on the desk. “He’s taking his old job back.”