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  CHAPTER FOUR

  Miami, FL - USA

  Bethany Anne was in her suite’s bathroom, taking a shower trying to get the feelings sloughed off from the outside. Unfortunately, her emotions didn’t go down the drain with the soap.

  TOM, are you there?

  I’m here, Bethany Anne.

  Are you OK? I felt you withdraw, I didn’t realize that your presence was so much a part of me that to be without it I would somehow feel, I don’t know, less.

  Your emotions are not something the Kurtherian are familiar with anymore. I’ve become accustomed to what you call anger and humor. A few other emotions, but the raw anguish and hurt that happened overwhelmed me. I had no experience and had to block as much of our link as I could. This emotion is so painful, why do you humans allow yourselves to feel it?

  Not all of us do. Some drown this hurt in different ways to try to overcome it. Whether they do it with drugs like alcohol or pills, sometimes medicine or activities to keep them so busy they don’t have time to deal with their feelings.

  And this works?

  No, not really. The human psyche always requires a payment. If you don’t pay up front, then it will leak out and affect your life in ways you can’t know. Either way, you will pay.

  But why not just get rid of it altogether?

  Because it is the price we pay to have love in our lives.

  What good is love? You have not had any emotion that seems worth what you just went through.

  Bethany Anne thought about that statement for a minute. Ever since TOM had ‘joined’ her back in Romania during the transformation in his craft, she had never been through a loving period.

  Unfortunately, you have never been a part of my life when I felt love. Even if I think about the moments right now and try to capture some of their essence, it would be a weak shadow of the real thing.

  Does love feel as good as the pain felt bad?

  Bethany Anne thought back to the few times in her life when she truly felt love. Including when she knew that Martin accepted her and was as proud of her as his own daughter.

  Better.

  TOM didn’t reply. Bethany Anne could feel him pull back in contemplation and go into his own shell. She left him alone to think and got out of the shower.

  The short time trying to explain the emotions helped Bethany Anne cope with her own feelings. Nothing she could do would bring Martin back.

  She walked into her large closet. It had areas for all of her clothes. Drawers for underwear and bras (not necessary anymore), racks for shirts one on top of another. A large mirror for standing in front when she was looking at her outfit and even a sit down area with lights around a mirror for makeup. On the right wall she had a setup that could hold hundreds of pair of shoes. After the comment Nathan made about Imelda Marcos, she didn’t think Nathan should ever be allowed to see her closet.

  She considered her clothes. She could dress as if it didn’t affect her. While she didn’t know it was the Forsaken behind the attack, it would be better to assume it was and be wrong than the opposite. Bethany Anne was known for dressing nicely. If someone was trying to learn more about her, then they would suspect she would continue the trend and make assumptions based on that information.

  While certainly not impossible, Martin most likely didn’t provide any information to his attackers. He would never have stood a chance against a vampire. That one was here in America was a declaration of war. Not that all of the attacks with the Forsaken in the last year hadn’t been. However; she hadn’t considered who could be controlling the Nosferatu .

  She wanted to slap her own head in frustration. She wasn’t thinking this through. Of course there was a decently high level vampire here. There wouldn’t be a way to create the Nosferatu in the first place, much less control them. She had talked with Dan and all of the Nosferatu which he had encountered had previously been Americans from whatever local area they had found them. How she hadn’t put two and two together before now shamed her. Dan must have assumed she knew.

  So, she had most likely busted up a major operation. Was she working against the main ring leader here in America or a lower level, but highly powerful vampire such as Bill?

  If she had to guess, she would think the later choice. With as many video cameras available here in the States, someone would have a picture of the vampire. Even Michael would kill one of his children for daring to implement this many attacks on his soil.

  She felt sure that all of the children knew that Carl would have found them out eventually. However; if they could suggest that one of their children had done this of their own will, Michael’s blind spot to his own children would keep them safe.

  No, she was battling a cut-out. She was fighting a lackey. Sure, a powerful lackey but still a lackey.

  She went to the pants section of her closet and quickly found the pair she was looking for. The problem with looking into her past was that the person who came out the other side of the transformation in Romania wasn’t Bethany Anne Reynolds. That woman would have grabbed her Coach purse, Christian Louboutins and a sharp, tailored power suit and jewelry and used her keen intellect to bury you in facts, figures, research and the law.

  She still had her keen intellect and all of her knowledge from the past and now from the future as well. She pulled on her leather pants, the same pair she used to take down the team in the Southeast Financial center in downtown Miami.

  No, that old Bethany Anne was gone. She might not give up her love of fashion, but it wasn’t the sort of weapons and armor it had been before. Now, it was a tactic she might use.

  She pulled on her Under Armour long sleeve ColdGear in black and then the incredibly thin protective vest made with the latest ceramic disk technology. She had learned her lesson in Romania when Petre’ had shot a hole right though her chest. She survived, but it was bitter lesson and she didn’t want to grab the nearest person and drink them like a milkshake to regenerate her flesh so fast.

  Over this, she pulled on a black button up with long sleeves which were made to not be tucked in. She grabbed a black leather jacket for Washington D.C. It was too hot right now in Miami for a coat, but it would be forty degrees cooler up in the nation’s capital. While she didn’t need coats most of the time, it was a lot easier to blend in. She did grab, however; a light jacket to help hide the shoulder holsters of a pair of .45’s she strapped on. Her new favorite addition, a knife on a sheath hung down her back where she could reach behind her and grab the handle.

  She decided a nice pair of black Puma’s would work with this outfit. Nathan happened to be a Puma fan as well and had been shopping for Ecaterina when Bethany Anne had picked up three pairs.

  She grabbed her Fossil overnight bag and added a couple of extra outfits. Her go-bag was always ready with the basics in case she had to leave quickly. Looking around one last time, she clicked off the light.

  While she couldn’t bring Martin back to the living, she could and would fuck up whoever did this to him.

  There was a knock at her suite door.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Miami, FL - USA

  Dan had parked the SUV and then went to talk with John. His team had their Go bags ready and were getting dressed in ‘city fatigues’. This was their description for their black suits and white shirts. John’s team had started wearing dark blood-red ties. Actually, Scott had started the practice and then everyone joined in.

  Dan walked over next door and then upstairs to Bethany Anne’s suite. It was quiet, so at least she wasn’t a violent person when she suffered unexpected loss. He needed to find out if she could be ready to leave within three hours. Bobcat had called and the plane was theirs. He had filed a flight plan and was just waiting for the time of departure to D.C. William had already finished his review and green lighted the plane. He said he would go over it further when they got back and Dan confirmed he had at least three days to take the plane engines apart and put them back together for what he termed, ‘a look up the �
�ol girl’s skirt’. Dan didn’t bother asking what a complete teardown was called.

  He knocked on her door.

  A few seconds later, she opened the door with a Go bag in her hand. Dressed in the same leather pants she wore when her team helped in downtown Miami, her hard eyes had turned to granite. While John had told Dan of her reaction on the kitchen floor, the woman in front of him didn’t show a hint of sadness. Dan just tipped his head and turned around.

  She followed him and he heard the door to her suite close behind him.

  As Dan came around the stairs going down to the first level, he noticed that Ecaterina was by the front door, a Go bag on the floor beside her. She had a determined look on her face. Pete was beside her with a backpack on the floor. He didn’t look like the sullen spoiled young man they had brought back from New York a few weeks ago. Pete looked at Dan coming down the stairs and then over Dan’s shoulder a second later.

  Pete’s face took on a mask of determination. He didn’t wear it like it fit very well yet. But he was obviously trying it on for size and probably was copying one of John’s.

  Dan just tipped his head to the two of them and Pete look startled and jumped to the front door and opened it. Dan walked out into the front courtyard where two of the Black SUV’s were parked. Both had all doors open with Eric and John on both sides of the SUV on the right, and Darryl and Scott on the left. The backs of both SUV’s had already been packed full of the team essentials that couldn’t be taken on commercial flights.

  Ecaterina grabbed her bag as Bethany Anne went by and started to follow her. Pete threw his backpack around his shoulders and pulled the door shut, locking it and following Ecaterina.

  Bethany Anne got in the SUV with John and Eric. Dan slid in beside her. Ecaterina and Pete got in the SUV with Darryl and Scott.

  Seconds later, both SUV’s left and the gate to the driveway closed behind them.

  Dan texted Bobcat that they would be at the airport directly.

  Washington D.C. - USA

  Officer Francisco ‘Franz’ Ferdinand was a decade long city servant in the D.C. Police. He had seen a lot of shit in those ten years. He had been part of multiple trips with very important dignitaries both commercial and political. Probably the two toughest groups of protections details on the political side were the Russians and the Israeli’s. The Russian presidents team was obviously military and probably chewed nails and shit bullets. The other was the Israeli delegation. The Israeli delegation security was so smooth it was downright scary. You would see those guys on the other side of the room one minute, and right behind you suggesting you look at an area of interest the next. They both gave him the heebie-jeebies for different reasons.

  He had been about to clock out for the day when the request for a single police escort had come in for a VIP from Florida. He wanted the overtime, so he called dispatch and he was able to get the gig.

  He hadn’t been given much in the way of details, but when he got to the private landing strip there were two SUV’s already lined up waiting. Both looked armored to him. He waited on his Kawasaki Police Interceptor. It was a little cold out without any buildings to protect him from the wind but he would take the cold over being stuck in traffic in a car.

  About fifteen minutes later, a Gulfstream G550 touched down so smoothly he could hardly see any smoke off of the tires. It taxied right over to them and slowed to a stop. Franz could see the pilot hitting a few switches in the cockpit, but didn’t look like he was going to shut down the plane. Probably going to take it to a hanger, he figured.

  The door cracked open and the stairs came down.

  The first person down the ramp was huge. He had to be at almost half a foot over six feet and just as round at the chest. He was obviously military at some level but he moved like a trained martial artist. That was surprising considering his size. The man behind him was also big and while the first guy was looking to the right, the second was carefully watching the left.

  Shit, these guys are expecting trouble right here. Franz quickly looked around him, half expecting to see some assholes in military fatigues jump up and start waving AK’s around spraying bullets at everyone.

  When he turned back to look at the plane, two more of these guys were descending the ladder. One was a big, badass black man that couldn’t have been back from overseas too long ago. He still had that look Franz had seen on those who were still active. The last guy, white and significantly shorter from the first one had damned arms bigger than Franz’s legs. Who the hell were these people?

  The men checked out both SUV’s and two had pulled out those little mirrors on telescopic sticks and checked under the cars as well. Finally they nodded to the lead and he just talked to the air. Franz couldn’t see any mic on him at all. He certainly hadn’t touched anything that he could see to hit send.

  Some motion caught his attention and a beautiful woman with an overnight bag started coming down the stairs. She looked a little exotic, maybe Russian? Geez, he would have jumped to be on her protection detail in a second. He wondered if she was maybe a family member to someone foreign to get this welcoming party?

  Another person started coming down the ramp and Franz completely forgot to close his mouth. This second woman made even the first one seem a little plain. She was obviously not happy about something, but Franz was ready to fix whatever it was to see her smile, if only once.

  He thought the first one was smooth but this lady walked on air. She didn’t look to the left or to the right but just came down the stairs and went to the first SUV where the big guy had the door open for her. He closed it when she got in and he got in the front passenger seat himself. There were two more guys who got off after the two women but Franz couldn’t even focus on them. They all got in the SUV’s and the first driver hit his horn just a tap to let Franz know they were ready.

  None of these people looked like you would want to meet them in a dark alley. He was pretty sure these guys could take the Russians and the Israeli’s. Probably at the same time. That lady in the black leathers looked like she could eat them all and still be hungry. Who the fuck were these people? It was above his pay grade, that was certain.

  He shook himself out of his thinking and hit his lights and alarm. Technically, he was supposed to only do the lights, but if anyone was going to give him any shit about this he would claim he was trying to speed things up so he could get home earlier.

  They left the airport heading for a building on the outer edges of the city.

  —

  The cop left them as they pulled into the building Bethany Anne had felt was home not too long ago. She had mixed feelings coming back here.

  It was night time, and Frank was going to meet them with the necessary keys and all of the legal paperwork if anyone showed up and asked questions. Frank had greased their arrival in D.C., and provided an excellent location to land and the police escort.

  She was able to get here in less than 24 hours. The tape was still up from the police investigators on both the location of the body down in the parking garage and his office door.

  The drove down into the parking garage and parked within forty feet of the taped area.

  Her team, plus Pete, got out and checked the area. Pete needed the practice and it was a good time to get him in with the crew on what should be a safe enough exercise.

  Bethany Anne rolled down the window to wait for John’s approval. It came a minute later.

  She, Ecaterina and Dan all got out of the vehicles and Bethany Anne walked over to the taped area. The blood smell was overwhelming to her. She could, however; smell the distinct odor of a vampire still here. She stepped closer and took a bigger inhalation through her nose to see if there was anything else she could smell.

  Bethany Anne, that isn’t a vampire we have encountered before.

  TOM, you’re not telling me something I don’t already know. I’ve only met two. I killed one and saved the other. Stephen wouldn’t have done this to me and frankly he was p
robably asleep anyway.

  I’m sorry, I wasn’t very clear. What I mean is that this is from a different line of vampires.

  You can smell a vampire’s family relationships?

  Well, not exactly. I could tell that Petre’ and Stephen were related, but until I could use your senses I couldn’t be sure I could tell a completely different line. Now I am. If you smell any other vampire I can probably tell if they are related in some fashion.

  Out-fucking-standing. Good to know.

  Bethany Anne stood up and walked over to where the elevators would be around the corner. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t used it hundreds of times before.

  “Hold Up, Bethany Anne!” John was jogging over to her.

  She turned to look at him, impatience in her eyes.

  He looked down at her, “I get it, you feel safe coming here. You’ve done it a million times. I’m sure Martin felt safe going to his car that night. Don’t let familiarity breed complacency.”

  Shit, he was right. She dipped her head in acknowledgement and John waved Eric to go to the elevators first. It dinged and opened. Eric and Scott jumped on and then John waved Pete to join them.

  Pete looked surprised but hustled to get in just as the doors closed. She figured those guys had to be tight in there.

  A couple of minutes later, Bethany Anne’s toes were tapping on the ground. Stupid Puma’s didn’t make as much noise as her high heels would have, she thought.

  The elevator was coming back down and the door opened. There were two people on the elevator and she only recognized one, Pete.

  The other was an old man. He came out of the elevator and held out his hand, a sad smile on his face. “Bethany Anne, I’m sorry that I had to be the one to inform you that Martin was killed. I wish these weren’t the circumstances to cause us to meet.”

  Bethany Anne held her hand out to Frank Kurns. The elusive man she had started thinking of as ‘Charlie’ in Charlie’s Angels. She guessed she couldn’t think that anymore since she had now seen his face.