Sophia Read online

  “Colin,” she said again, meeting his furious gaze. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry?” he growled. “Sorry, Sophie? Is that the best you can do?”

  “What do you want—”

  “I thought you were dead,” he ground out.

  “I know. It was necessary.”

  “Necessary? What was fucking necessary about it? It’s not like I put any demands on you. We weren’t married. Hell, for all I know I wasn’t even the only guy you were doing—”

  “Colin,” she protested, letting her pain show, even though she knew she had no right.

  “Then why, Sophie? I went through hell, thinking I’d left you there to die. I’d like to know why.”

  “Because I’m a vampire! Don’t you understand? What was I supposed to say?”

  “How about the truth?”

  “You make it sound so simple. What would you have said, Colin? What would you have done if I’d told you all those years ago that I was Vampire?”

  “I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

  “It was impossible, what we had. Human and vampire. It would never have worked.”

  “It doesn’t seem to stop your friend Raphael in there.”

  Sophia laughed bitterly. “He’s not my friend. He’s . . . Ai Jesus, he’s the most powerful vampire I’ve ever met. If he wanted you dead, your heart would be nothing but pulp in his fist before you ever saw him move. Don’t take him lightly, Colin. Or his mate either.”

  “Thanks for the advice.”

  He sidestepped her and started to leave, but Sophia put herself in front of him once more. “Colin.”

  He stared at her impatiently.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  He didn’t let her finish. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll see you around, Sophia.”

  Sophia watched him walk away and knew it was the right thing to do. Again. She’d survived this long by not caring about anyone, a lesson learned from Lucien. They were two of a kind, she and her Sire. Dancing their way through life, never caring too much about anyone or anything, no strings to bind them, no untidy emotions to tug at their hearts and hold them in any one place for too long.

  Colin was the only one who’d ever tempted her, with his deep voice and warm hands, his big body wrapped around her against the night’s chill. He was a warrior born. It was in his bones and blood, every instinct he had drove him to protect those he cared about. And he’d cared about her. He’d loved her. And she’d loved him back. She’d gone to that café to save him. And she’d lost him instead.

  She rubbed her hands up and down arms gone suddenly cold and sighed, turning back toward the main building. That long ago night was history, where it belonged. She had problems enough with Lucien and his infernal games. And apparently she was going back to Vancouver tonight. Raphael had decided it would be, and so it would. He didn’t need her to cross the border, but her presence would give him the appearance of propriety. Lucien might still be alive, but he’d pretty much ceded control of his territory to her for the duration. If she invited Raphael across the border, it would serve well enough. And who was there to protest it, in any event? Not Lucien, curse his black soul.

  She shivered again and hurried up the stairs, telling herself it was the damp night air making her feel so cold. It had nothing to do with the ice around her heart. Ice that had begun to crack the moment she’d seen Colin Murphy again.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Raphael and his people followed Loren through a nondescript metal door and down an unadorned stairway, with its flat painted walls and ordinary metal pipe handrail. The compound had an extensive basement which included the vampires’ sleeping quarters, but this particular stairway had only one destination, and that was a state-of-the-art computer room, which was also the heart and soul of the security network. Raphael kept Cyn just ahead of him, with Juro between her and Loren. Duncan was behind him, just over his left shoulder, as always. The rest of his security team remained upstairs.

  Maxime, his computer specialist and the vampire who had designed this particular system, had arrived from L.A. earlier and begun her assessment immediately, searching for possible breaches. Raphael wanted a minimal audience for this particular briefing, just in case.

  Loren reached the bottom of the stairs and turned right down a truncated hallway. “This way, my lord,” he directed.

  Not that Raphael needed direction. There was nowhere else to go down here. He touched Cyn’s shoulder, more for the sake of touching her than for guidance. She would be very unhappy with him again later. He’d put plans into motion to ensure her safety and he doubted she’d go along with it easily. But he wasn’t going to change his mind, and he would not apologize for wanting her safe.

  Ahead of him, Loren entered a nine digit code and pressed his thumb against a biometric scanner. The locking device buzzed loudly and opened with the thunk of retracting bolts. Maxime was already there, her spiky blond head bent, as always, over a keyboard, her gaze riveted to the lines of computer code rolling down the screen in front of her.

  “Maxime,” Raphael said.

  She finished whatever she was typing and spun around with a somewhat dazed look, blinking rapidly before managing an awkward smile. “Pardon, my lord. I was—”

  Raphael shook his head. “What have you discovered?” He pulled out a chair from the long table running the length of the room and offered it to Cyn, before seating himself on the one next to it.

  Maxime grabbed a pad of paper covered with notes and rolled her chair up to the table backwards, spinning it around at the last moment to face them. “My lord. A primer on the nature of this system first, if I may?”

  Raphael nodded his permission.

  “This—” she indicated the banks of computers, monitors and security video displays around her, “—is the heart of the compound. Its main function is security, but to that end, it controls every aspect of the environmental system, from lights to air quality. Every lock on every door or window can be monitored from here, as well as the various stations on the perimeter. With a single key stroke, the entire compound can be locked down if desired. It is, and this is vital, my lord, a closed system. There is no, and I mean absolutely no, contact with the outside world. No Internet access, no outgoing line of any kind. There is a separate server, maintained in a separate office, which provides Internet access for the residents here, but there is nothing else on that server. All information of a sensitive nature, and that is defined in the broadest terms, is stored here in this room.”

  “Which means what?” Raphael asked, urging her along. Maxime loved her work. It was what made her so good at it, that and a truly brilliant mind. But she would go on a bit if not nudged in the right direction.

  “It means no one can access the information stored here from outside the compound, or even from outside this room. It also means,” she hurried on, “the database on our vampires, including names and addresses, could not be accessed by anyone who did not have authorization to enter here.”

  “Or someone who got into this room, whether authorized or not,” Cyn qualified.

  Maxime stared at Cyn blankly for a few seconds, as if trying to compute what she’d just heard. “Correct,” she said finally. “But the security here—”

  “Is not infallible, Max. No one’s is,” Cyn interrupted.

  Maxime frowned. “Theoretically, that’s true.”

  “You’ve checked for unauthorized access, of course,” Raphael said, bringing them back to the purpose of their briefing.

  “Yes, my lord. There has been none. No one not authorized entered this room. I have digital video if you would like to see it, archived for the last year, which covers virtually the entire period this compound has been functional.”

  “Do you have a record of who accessed the database, even if they were authorized?” Cyn asked.

  “Of course. And I’ve checked it, as well. But I’m running a deeper scan now. It is possible, again theoretically, for a highly ski
lled operator, to cover his or her tracks. But not completely. If someone has illegally invaded this system, I will know within twenty-four hours. However, at this time, I would say there has been no breach of security. Your leak is somewhere else. I have the data, my lord—”

  Raphael shook his head as Maxime spun back to her computer station, retrieved a thick stack of papers covered with data and spun around again, offering them to him. “No, thank you, Maxime. I trust your skills completely.”

  Maxime gave Cyn a triumphant look that had Cyn turning to meet his eyes with an expression of supreme annoyance. Raphael winked at her and stood. “We’ll leave you to it, Maxime. Advise Duncan the moment you have anything new.”

  The stairs up from the basement security center left them on the first floor in a back hallway of the main building. As they headed toward the great room once again, Raphael turned to Duncan.

  “Make sure Sophia is ready. And find out what you can about her history with Colin Murphy. I suspect the answer will lie in his background, not hers.”

  “He’s a former SEAL,” Cyn said, turning around and walking slowly backwards. “His records will be hard to come by.”

  “We’ll see,” Duncan said with a grin.

  Cyn shook her head, smiling at Raphael’s lieutenant. “Are there no secrets—”

  “My lord.”

  Cyn spun around at the familiar voice, staring at Elke who was waiting for them at the end of the hallway. She was dressed in the typical uniform of his security forces, her pale hair and even paler skin a sharp contrast to the dark charcoal suit.

  “Elke?” Cyn said in obvious surprise. “When did you get in?”

  “Who knows?” the female vampire said, obviously disgruntled. “I only know the sun was shining, which means I wasn’t.”

  Cyn shot Raphael a suspicious glance over her shoulder, clearly anticipating the reason for Elke’s sudden appearance. “Well,” Cyn said to Elke. “Welcome to Seattle. Have fun.” She strode away quickly without looking back.

  Elke watched her go, before turning to Raphael with a puzzled expression. “Was I not supposed to be here, my lord? Duncan said—”

  “You are where you belong, Elke. Duncan, find Sophia and get someone started on tracing her history with Colin Murphy. I’ll return shortly.”

  Raphael strode across the great room and down the corridor, stopping the elevator doors from closing when he was still several steps away. It took only a small exertion of his will, holding them back until he entered. He released the doors and they closed immediately. Cyn was leaning against the far wall, both hands behind her. She waited until the elevator was moving before saying quietly, “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  “No, you don’t,” he agreed.

  She frowned in confusion. “But Elke—”

  The doors opened on their darkened suite, the vault door standing open for the night. Raphael gestured for Cyn to go ahead of him. She did so, but not without a distrustful, sideways glance as she passed in front of him.

  “So why send for Elke specifically?” she asked, stopping halfway across the room to confront him.

  “I asked Duncan to reinforce the security on the compound with some of our own people. Not that I don’t trust Wei Chen or his guards, but mine are better.”

  “So, Elke’s just part of that?”

  Raphael closed the distance between them, brushing her body with his and cupping her face in both hands. He whispered a kiss against her forehead, her eyes, traced the soft fullness of her lips with his tongue before claiming her mouth with a long, slow kiss. She responded automatically, lifting herself onto her toes to meet him, her arms sliding beneath his jacket and curling around his back.

  He gave up her mouth reluctantly, swirling his tongue over her lips and dropping several gentle, swift kisses on her mouth. “I love you, my Cyn.”

  Her eyes were bright with emotion when they met his. “I love you, too. You know that.”

  “I do.”

  She blinked, suddenly recognizing she should be worried. “But?”

  He smiled to reassure her. “No but, lubimaya.”

  “Don’t lubimaya me, you sneaky bastard. I know a ‘but’ when I hear one.”

  Raphael laughed. “I told you, I’ve decided you’re right.”

  “About what?” she demanded.

  “About your need to move about more freely while we uncover whoever’s behind these murders. I brought you here, after all, not just because I wanted you with me—”

  Cyn scoffed noisily and he smiled.

  “I would miss you, my Cyn,” he chided.

  “Uh huh. Go on.”

  “I also brought you with me to make use of your investigative skills. Skills which you cannot employ fully if you’re pinned to my side all night and day.”

  She was listening to every word, clearly trying to find the catch. And there was a catch, Raphael knew. He just hadn’t gotten to it yet.

  “On the other hand—” he began.

  “I knew it.”

  “—because your safety is far more important to me than your investigative skills—”

  “I am not going to hide out here in the basement while you and everyone else get to—”

  “I’ve brought in the appropriate personnel,” Raphael continued, talking over her protest, “to serve as your bodyguards.”

  She stared at him open-mouthed. “Fuck that! That’s the real reason Elke’s here, isn’t it? You lied to me. She is my babysitter.”

  “She is one of your bodyguards, just as Juro and the others are mine. You’re the one who insists I need protecting. Surely one could argue the same of you?”

  “It’s not the same. You’re the damn vampire lord! Everyone wants to take you out. No one up here even knows who I am. They—”

  “Of course they do.” Raphael’s temper finally snapped. “Three minutes after you walked down that poor excuse for a main street, every soul in this misbegotten village knew exactly who you were and what you were doing here. You’re being unreasonable.”

  “I’m being unreasonable? Fine. Elke can sit and watch me read all fucking night long, then. I’ll just wait until the sun comes up and then go about my business. Unless you’re planning on chaining me to your bed every morning, too?”

  Raphael fought for patience. If any of his vampires had spoken to him thus, they’d have been groveling on the floor by now, begging for their foolish lives. But, as she pointed out to him over and over again, Cyn was not one of his vampires. And the last thing he wanted was to see her hurt. Which was why they were having this damn argument in the first place.

  “I would not require anything so crude as chains to keep you here if I chose,” he said at last. “However, when you leave the compound in daylight, a human guard will accompany you.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, my Cyn.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “I can.”

  “Fine. You go ahead, assign your little watchdog. I’ll just ditch him,” she retorted childishly.

  “Oh, no, lubimaya. I know you far too well to trust your cooperation. If you ditch your assigned guard, there will be a price.”

  “I’m terrified,” she drawled.

  Raphael gave her a slow, satisfied smile. She saw it and gasped softly. “What?” she breathed.

  “There will be a price, my Cyn, but you will not be the one to pay it. Your human bodyguard will. And I think we both know the price I would exact for a failure of this nature.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Of course, I can.”

  “There are rules, Raphael. You can’t just—”

  “Ah, but, my Cyn, I am Vampire. I don’t follow your rules.”

  She glared at him, hearing her earlier words thrown back at her. “Fine,” she snapped, ripping off her jacket and starting on her shoulder harness. “Have fun in Vancouver. I’m not going.”

  “I didn’t think you would,” he said mildly. “Should you decide to go out later t
his evening, Elke will be waiting for you upstairs.”

  He pulled her toward him as she slipped out of her shoulder holster, drawing her in for an entirely different sort of kiss, this one hard and proprietary. She kissed him back, giving as good as she got, and finally bit his lower lip until he laughed and stepped away. He watched her lick his blood from her mouth, seeing the flush it brought to her cheeks, and felt his groin grow heavy in response.

  He met her gaze, which was half angry and half aroused. “Be safe, lubimaya,” he said and left her there, not looking back until he was inside the elevator and the doors were almost closed. He met her eyes at the last moment and saw her lips move almost silently.