“Hmm, I’m betting Faith wasn’t happy about that.” Ryan pursed his lips. “What about the whole integration thing. Do we put it on hold?”
Piers thought for a second. “If we didn’t know about this organization, the chances are that it’s deep under and not many people do. Christian has contacts in the government and military; he can start asking around, see if we can find out anything about them. In the meantime, I suggest Ryan and Ash continue with their meetings. But Ryan, you don’t go alone, and Ash—if anything happens, you get him out of there. I don’t want any spook hunters getting hold of him.”
“So I’m his goddamn babysitter now am I?”
“Yeah. Guard him with your life.”
Ash glanced across at Ryan who had a somewhat alarmed expression on his face. Obviously, he didn’t like the idea of being babysat by a demon, but really, he should appreciate the honor. Ash had never lost anybody he didn’t actually want dead.
“So what do we do about Faith?” Ash asked.
“Faith?”
“Ryan’s ex-partner.”
“We don’t do anything about her,” Ryan said. He turned to Piers. “I sort of offered her a job here if she wants one.”
“You did?” Piers sounded amused more than anything. “Glad to see you’re making yourself at home.”
“Well, you did say you wanted to recruit more humans and Faith is good.”
“Well that would solve the problem. In the meantime, we need to keep an eye on her.”
“I’ll do that,” Ash said.
Ryan frowned, then shrugged. “She’s a big girl—she can take care of herself. Besides, you’re hardly her type and I’d like to be around when she tells you to take a hike.”
“Ryan,” Roz said. “You are aware that Ash goes by a few other names?”
“He does? So?”
“Er...Prince of Darkness, Lord of the Abyss”—she paused for effect—“Demon of Lust.”
“Lust? Shit what does that mean?”
“It means he’s had a lot of experience.”
Ash grinned as he remembered some of it had been with Roz.
“Get that slimy grin off your face,” Piers growled as if he knew exactly what Ash was thinking. Ash gazed at Roz and licked his lips to wind the vampire up.
Roz ignored the look. “All I’m suggesting is that if she’s your friend maybe you’d prefer me or Tara to keep an eye on her. We can call her up, say you thought she might want to hear more about the job.”
“That might be an idea, anyway,” Piers said. “If we could get her on our side, she might be an in to this organization.”
“Yeah, but before you meet Faith, you might want to cover up those love bites on your neck,” Ryan said. “She’s investigating a case where the victim was exsanguinated and she’s not stupid.” He glanced across at Ash. “I think Ash should contact her as well. She’s more of man’s woman, and he might get closer.”
“Why? I thought I wasn’t her type.”
“You’re not, but I saw the way she looked at you last night. And while you might show her a good time, it will only ever be sex. And that’s not going to kill her.” A flash of alarm crossed his face. “Is it? You don’t do some weird demony shit, do you?”
Ash chuckled. Yeah, there was a whole load of weird demony shit he could do—some of it she might even enjoy. But he wouldn’t. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“And besides,” Ryan continued. “I still think she’ll tell you to piss off. She’s got way too much taste to fall for a demon.”
…
Faith sat back and rubbed her forehead. A vague headache had been nagging at her brain for a couple of hours now. She didn’t think it was anything serious, probably just the result of spending the afternoon deep underground staring at a computer screen.
She’d spent the last two hours reading the level-two file on Christian Roth, which in no way convinced her that Christian Roth was anything other than he seemed, an extremely successful businessman.
Apparently, he was born in the sixties but all his records had been destroyed in a fire. He’d first appeared just over twenty years ago, had bought the building that now housed CR International, and almost overnight, the business had boomed. But that didn’t mean he was a fucking vampire. It probably did mean that he was dodgy or at least paying kickbacks to someone. But if he was, there was no evidence of it.
“CR Investigations,” the section of the company Ryan worked for, did everything from investigative work, to setting up security systems, to providing a private army to anyone who might need one. No hint of anything illegal.
Someone came up beside her. Peering over her shoulder, she found the colonel standing at her back. For some reason, he made her skin crawl. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t like it.
“This is a load of crap,” she muttered. “There’s nothing weird about this guy, except he’s very good at what he does.”
“You don’t find it strange that he has never been seen out in the daytime?”
“Oh yeah, right, because if he did, he’d go up in a puff of smoke. That’s definitely proof. Not.”