Like the feeders, like the males who had been turned, all these people had supposedly volunteered to do what they were doing. But in his heart, Mahone knew that even if that had been true in the beginning, it wasn’t the case anymore.
Not a godddamn thing he could do about it.
Most of the born vampires they knew about followed rules and customs long established. They respected the authority of their queen. But there were rebels. Anarchists. Rogues—the born vampires the FBI had connected with, somewhat at random. They didn’t seem to follow the same law as the vast majority of vampires. They were the immediate problem. But so was the Vampire Queen’s refusal to provide the Bureau with crucial information about her race.
Even if Belladonna contained the Rogues, continuing peaceful relations between vampires and humans depended on humans believing that vampires in general weren’t a threat.
“Do you think Queen Bianca will meet with me?” he asked Locke.
“Why?”
Just listen, he wanted to scream. Because humans and vampires need to come together, work together, to fix this. It was the only way.
“To exchange what information we have. To see if there’s a way we can stop this crazy crap from going any further.”
“You’d do that?” Locke asked, her voice tense. “Even if it could mean your job? Your life?”
The blood spatter on the one-way mirror trickled down. Mahone cast a glance below before quickly looking away, sickened. “Yeah. Yeah, I would.”
A minute later, he ended the call. Thought things through. Then dialed a number.
When the man on the other end answered, Mahone took a deep, silent breath, then said, “Hallifax. This is Mahone.”
“So talk.” The assistant director of the FBI sounded less than thrilled to hear from him.
“I just got a call from Rhonda Locke. Queen Bianca knows the Bureau has been working with rogue vampires.”
Hallifax’s response was short and curt. “And?”
“And I’ve set up a meeting with her.”
“To what end?”
Mahone hesitated a moment again. He obviously wasn’t going to tell Hallifax everything, but he had to tell him something. “I’m hoping I can convince her to do what we originally asked. Work with us so our need for the Rogues is eliminated.”
“You’re a fool, Mahone. It’ll never happen. The Vampire Queen isn’t interested in playing nice. She’s waiting for a chance to strike first. In the meantime, we’re doing what we can in the way of preemptive measures.”
Mahone waited for an explanation. None was forthcoming. “Are you saying you don’t want me to meet with her?”
“What if that’s exactly what I’m saying, Mahone?”
Mahone hesitated, not liking the hint of a threat in the man’s voice. He forced himself to respond calmly. “I understand, sir. I just thought this could be another way to get what you want.”
After a tense silence, Hallifax chuckled. “Good to know where your loyalty lies, Mahone. Go ahead. Meet with the Vampire Queen. Feel her out … or feel her up, for all I care. Doesn’t matter to me. Like I said, I think you’ll find she’s not prepared to play nice. But do let me know if I’m wrong.”
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
Two weeks after Ty had delivered an offer of employment, Ana sat in the back of a plush sedan, wondering if she’d lost her mind. Even if she had, she thought, there was no going back. Not now.
To maintain her precious anonymity, she’d sold her coffee shop—the one thing she’d built for herself after years of having nothing—at a loss. She’d given up her little house, too, the one she’d rented the same day she saw it, simply because she’d loved the big backyard and the garden that grew there. And for what? Because Belladonna wanted her to teach wannabe female agents what she knew—how to act tough so people respected you. Not liked you, but respected you, because they were too scared not to.
Ty was right. If there was one thing she knew—one thing she might be able to teach a woman—it was the ability to stay alive.
Siga adelante conlo ya, Ana. Get on with it.
How long was she going to sit here blindfolded before she worked up the courage to do what needed doing? The blindfold, she was sure, was more to cow her than anything else. Ty and the mysterious Carly wanted to see how serious she could be about cooperating with the agency’s security. Knowing that, she’d played along simply because she had no reason not to. Blindfolded or not, she could find her way out of anywhere.
“Ma’am, are you ready to go in now?”
The voice of her driver, the well-mannered gentleman who couldn’t make a smooth lane change if his life depended on it, asked the question for the thousandth time.
“One minute,” she said, then mentally listed the reasons why taking this job would be insane.
Fact: The top-secret stuff was getting a bit tiresome and things hadn’t even started yet.
Fact: She didn’t know what the hell she was getting into besides teaching other women some of her “special skills”—but only after she underwent Ty’s brand of anger-management training. Ana snorted at that one.
Fact: The women she trained might have to kill, which meant she’d have to teach them how. There was no guarantee the women wouldn’t turn around and try to kill her.
Okay, that last one pretty much covered it, she thought. To be fair, she then listed the reasons she should take the job.
Fact: She’d be working for the good guys.
Fact: She’d have a purpose again.
Fact: She’d get to spend more time with Ty.
Fact: Gloria.
That alone substantially overrode every negative.
She wanted a new life. For a while there, she’d thought she could be satisfied with the one she had. She’d been fooling herself. All it had taken was a gorgeous man teasing her with information about Gloria and Ana was willing to sacrifice everything.
So be it.
She had to see Gloria again. Just one more time. To see for herself that Gloria was okay. To apologize for hurting her. And then to say good-bye forever, if that’s what her sister still wanted.
With a sigh, Ana felt for the door handle and wrenched the door open. Before she could hesitate, she scrambled out. She heard the driver’s door open and shut, then felt a courteous hand underneath her elbow.
Despite being blindfolded, Ana walked with her arm through the driver’s, her back straight, chin up, and gait smooth, with just enough natural sway in her hips to appear relaxed but not trashy. Just in case she was being judged. She had no idea who was watching. Soon they entered a building and she felt the air-conditioned coolness wrap around her.
The driver withdrew his arm from hers. “If you’ll allow me to remove your—”
“No need. I’ll take care of it.”
As soon as she heard the voice, Ana’s body tensed. She knew that voice. Knew him. And, if she was honest with herself, he was the reason she’d stalled for time outside. She’d told herself that her physical connection to Ty on the night they’d first met hadn’t meant anything much. It’d been a one-time thing that was unlikely to happen again.
Just hearing his voice now, she knew that she’d been wrong.
He turned her on. No matter how inappropriate her reaction was, given where they were, what they were doing, or what they were talking about, she couldn’t help it. Her body responded to Ty, and even worse, her foolish heart beat faster. “Good day, ma’am,” the driver said before she heard the sound of his retreating footsteps.