Chapter Nine
Gregori landed close to the side entrance to Romatech. He swore silently as he dug his ID card out of his wallet. Of all the stupid things - nowhere in his strategy plans had he counted on being a damned babysitter. He swiped his ID card while Sean Whelan pivoted in a circle.
"What the hell are we doing here?" Sean demanded.
Gregori opened the door. "After you."
"We need to go to the safe house. Take me there now."
"No." Gregori strode down the hall. How the hell had this mess happened? As far as he could tell, the fate of Vamps around the world now depended on how well he could babysit the president's daughters.
"You can't tell me no." Sean followed him. "I'm in charge of this operation."
Down the hall, the door to the MacKay security office opened, and Angus and Emma MacKay stepped out.
"Did ye finish yer meeting with the president?" Angus asked.
Before Gregori could answer, Sean lunged in front of him, jabbing a thumb toward him. "This idiot's not doing as he's told. He was supposed to take us to the safe house."
Gregori glared at Sean. "Who's the idiot? You had the Secret Service pick us up there. I don't consider it safe."
"Of course it's safe," Sean insisted. "The president just made an alliance with us."
"Och, that's good news," Angus said.
Emma smiled. "Well done, guys."
Gregori shrugged. "I wouldn't bank on it yet." He still had to take the daughters out dancing. And keep them happy, or he and his friends were screwed.
"That's why we should stay in D.C.," Sean said. "We need to be close by for further negotiations."
Gregori shook his head. "We'll just teleport."
Sean gritted his teeth. "I can't teleport."
"Learn how."
"I can't!" Sean ran a hand over his buzz cut hair. "Don't you see the bind I'm in? I have to keep acting like I'm human. If they find out the truth about me, they'll fire me and I'll lose their trust."
"He has a point," Emma said. "Sean can help us more if he retains his current position."
"All the more reason for him to stay away from the safe house." Gregori turned to Sean. "What if your CIA buddies came to see you during the day and found you in your death-sleep?"
He gulped. "I - I would be in the basement. Garrett wouldn't let them down there. He would protect me."
"Garret works for the CIA," Gregori gritted out. "He'll do whatever Caprese tells him to do."
"And he knows the truth about you, aye?" Angus asked. "Did ye no' train him to hate vampires as much as ye do?"
With a grimace, Sean paced away a few steps. "It's not fair! I'm the same person I was before. I've worked for the CIA for over thirty years! Why would they think I've suddenly become a monster?"
Gregori scoffed in chorus with Angus and Emma.
Sean gave them a sheepish look. "Okay. I get it. I was a little . . . judgmental toward you guys."
"Ye were an arse, Whelan," Angus muttered.
"Fine." He scowled. "Rub it in. But how the hell am I supposed to keep my job when I'm . . . Undead?"
"It's better than being dead," Gregori told him wryly.
"If ye end up getting fired, ye can always work for me," Angus suggested.
Sean grimaced as he raked a hand over his hair. "I'll have to think about it. I'm still trying to . . . adjust."
"Have you told your wife yet?" Emma asked.
"No. She thinks I've been overseas for the last two weeks. I . . . don't know how to break the news to her."
Emma patted him on the shoulder. "Once she gets over her shock, it will all be for the best. She can see Shanna and Caitlyn again. And once she sees how adorable her grandchildren are, she'll recover soon enough."
Sean's face softened. "Those kids are really special."
Gregori exchanged a look with Angus. Those kids were a lot more special than Sean knew. "Back to the matter of the safe house - it's not really safe. Not when that asshole General Bond is claiming the world would be better off without us."
Sean snorted. "Well, you didn't help matters by threatening to snap his neck."
Angus stiffened. "What?"
Gregori winced. "It's a long story. Before we get into it, I think we should get our guys back here."
Angus nodded. "Agreed. I never did like that safe house."
Sean huffed. "I went to a lot of trouble to set that up for us. And that's where the CIA will contact us for further negotiations."
"Then Garrett can remain there and relay any messages to you," Angus said. "Like it or not, Whelan, ye're in our world now, so ye have to start doing things our way."
Five minutes later, Angus, Robby, and Phineas had teleported the shifters and everyone's luggage back to Romatech. Phil was transported back to the Dragon Nest Academy to help guard the school since most of the women and all the children were there. The remaining MacKay Security and Investigation employees filed into the conference room along with Sean Whelan and Coven Masters Roman and Zoltan.
Gregori sat at the table in the same seat he'd occupied the night before. As he gazed around the table, seeing some of his best friends - Phineas, Robby, Olivia, Howard, Angus, Emma, Zoltan, and Roman - the pressure to succeed bore down on him. Had he done well tonight or totally screwed up?
"So the president has agreed to help us?" Roman asked.
Before Gregori could answer, Sean jumped in. "Yes, he has. He ordered the director of Homeland Security to scrub the video, and the whole vampire story will be declared a hoax."
Cheerful comments reverberated around the table.
"Excellent work." Roman smiled at Gregori.
Olivia tilted her head, studying him. "You don't look very pleased, Gregori."
He shrugged. "It was like a poker game with a lot of maneuvering and bluffing going on. Even though the president agreed to get in the game with us, he has yet to show his hand. I'm not sure what he's expecting from us in return."
"But it was an excellent start," Sean insisted. "President Tucker was eager to form an alliance with us, and he seemed quite willing to trust us."
"Because he wants something," Gregori muttered.
"At least we have his support," Roman said. "What about the other men?"
Gregori took a deep breath. "The Homeland Security guy was ordered to get rid of the video, but he doesn't really trust us because I refused to give him a list of all the Vamps in the country."
Angus winced. "Nay, we canna do that."
"The CIA director wants to be our ally so he can use us as a weapon against their enemies," Gregori continued. "The secretary of defense and national security advisor are suspicious and not readily inclined to trust us. General Bond of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would prefer to wipe all the vampires off the planet. That's why I didn't think we should remain at the safe house in D.C."
A moment of silence settled in the room.
Roman sighed. "I guess it will take them a while to learn to trust us."
Gregori nodded. "I tried the safe-and-harmless routine, but they were interpreting that as weak and worthless, and they only want us around if we're useful. I had to prove we were worth saving, or they might agree with the general that it was better to just eliminate us."
"So how much did you tell them?" Zoltan asked.
"Tell them?" Sean scoffed. "He showed them. He bent an iron rod, zipped around at vampire speed, teleported, and threatened to break the general's neck."
Everyone gasped.
Gregori shot Sean an annoyed look. "It was a demonstration of strength so they would respect us." He adjusted his tie. "I believe it was an effective strategy."
"Apparently so, since you weren't arrested," Emma said. "And the president agreed to help us."
Gregori shrugged one shoulder. "He has an agenda. A humanitarian mission, he called it, that involves teleporting somewhere."
"We can do that." Angus leaned forward. "Did he say where?"
"No." Gregori fiddled with his cuff links. "But I believe it involves taking his daughter."
Angus sat back with a surprised expression.
"You mean Madison Tucker?" Olivia asked.
Gregori shook his head. "The oldest daughter. Abigail." He was met with blank looks. "She's not well-known." But she was fascinating.
A small part of him was excited about seeing her again. He wanted to know what she was up to, why she was hiding, what made her tick. And how good she would feel in his arms. He winced. She's the president's daughter, you fool. A bigger part of him knew she represented sheer disaster. If the CIA knew what kind of thoughts he was having, they'd have a hit man assigned to him in a second.
"You don't like her?" Emma asked.
He stiffened. "What?"
"You were scowling," Emma said.
"Oh." He shifted in his chair. "I'm . . . not happy with the . . . uh, situation."
"Yeah, it's a bad situation," Sean agreed. "The president asked Gregori to introduce his daughters to the vampire world. He wants to see if Abigail can get along with us."
Olivia's eyes widened. "The president wants you to take his daughters out? You mean like a date?"
Gregori gritted his teeth. "It's not a date. It's a . . . diplomatic mission."
Sean nodded. "Exactly. It's serious business. The girls will arrive in Manhattan tomorrow with a Secret Service detail."
Phineas snickered. "Can you handle two women, bro? Or do you need a little help with your date?"
Gregori jerked at his tie. "It's not a date. It's a damned babysitting job. The president made it clear. If the girls are harmed in any way, or just unhappy about how the evening goes, then the whole alliance will be canceled."
Roman stiffened. "That seems harsh."
Robby's mouth twitched. "Luckily, Gregori is an expert at keeping lassies happy."
Phineas gave him a thumbs-up. "You da man!"
"Are you guys crazy?" Sean growled. "If he lays a finger on them, we could all be screwed. I wanted to stop the president, but how could I tell him he was sending his daughters off with the most notorious womanizer in the vampire world?"
"Gee, thanks, Sean." Gregori glared at him. "Like I was planning to ravish them both." Only one. He slapped himself mentally. Don't even think it!
"Where are you taking them?" Emma asked.
"Everlasting Night. It's a vampire nightclub in SoHo that's very popular right now. I'll buy them a few drinks, let them dance a little and gawk at the Undead, then drop them off at their hotel. They'll have two Secret Service guys with them the whole time. It should be easy enough." Gregori shrugged. "It's just a stupid babysitting job."
Angus nodded. "Still, we canna afford to have something happen to the lassies while they're in yer care. Phineas, I want you to go with them."
"All right." Phineas grinned.
Sean groaned. "What are you thinking? The future of Vamps around the world depends on this, and you're subjecting those poor innocent girls to a playboy and the self-proclaimed Love Doctor?"
Phineas huffed. "Dude, I can be a perfect gentleman."
"On what planet?" Sean growled.
Angus chuckled. "I believe we can trust Gregori and Phineas to make sure the lassies are happy with their evening."
Emma smiled. "I agree. They can be very charming."
"You hear that, bro?" Phineas grinned at Gregori. "We're like Prince Charming."
"More like toads," Sean grumbled. "You'd better behave yourselves with the princesses."
Olivia leaned close to her husband and whispered, "Maybe one of them will be smart enough to recognize a prince in disguise."
"Like you did?" Robby squeezed her hand.
One of them was smart, all right, Gregori thought. Sharp and observant. She'd known he was different from the start. But she'd looked horrified when she'd learned the truth. When they shook hands, she pulled away from him so hard, she fell onto the couch.
He sighed. It was better that way. Better if she found him repulsive.
The meeting came to a close with Angus and Roman stressing the importance of his keeping the president's daughters safe and happy. He strode to his office, needing to get away from everyone. But once he got there, he found no peace. He grabbed a stress ball off his desk and squeezed it as he paced back and forth.
Memories of Abigail Tucker kept sneaking into his thoughts. He had a feeling she suspected him of messing with the little dog. She didn't trust him. And she didn't want to be alone with him. He'd noticed how fast she'd coerced her sister into going on their night out.
What kind of mission did Abigail have in mind that it had to be done in secret? What was she up to? He tossed the stress ball on his desk and turned on his laptop so he could find out more information about her.
He paused halfway into typing her name. What was he doing? Feeding an obsession with her? He needed to stop thinking about her.
He closed the laptop, pulled out his Droid, and called Maggie.
"Hi, Sweetcakes." He leaned back in his chair. "How's the commercial going?"
Maggie groaned. "It's not. Every time Simone moves, something bad happens."
"It's not my fault!" Simone's voice shrieked in the distance.
Maggie sighed. "Gordon and I have stopped for the evening. We decided to rewrite the commercial in a way that keeps Simone as stationary as possible. Can you be here tomorrow night when we shoot it?"
He grabbed the stress ball. "I wish I could, Toots, but something's come up."
"Everyone here is still upset about the Vampire Apocalypse," Maggie said. "The makeup girl keeps saying we're doomed. Can you tell me if Roman has started on the plan yet?"
He squeezed the stress ball. "It'll be all right, Maggie. I met with the president tonight."
"The president? Of the United States?"
"Yep. That's why I couldn't do the commercial."
"Sweet Mary and Joseph! What happened?"
"I'd rather not say just yet, but we're hoping the government will help us out. I'll try to stop by DVN tomorrow night after I'm done babysitting."
"Babysitting?" Maggie asked.
He gave the stress ball another squeeze. "I'm taking the president's daughters to a vampire nightclub."
Maggie laughed. "Once they see how well you can dance, they'll definitely want to help us." There was a pause, then he heard her mutter, "No, Simone, you can't go with them. You have to be here for the commercial."
Gregori winced. Simone had overheard his plans. "Talk to you later, Maggie. Thanks for helping out." He hung up, tossed the stress ball to his other hand, then called his mother. "Hey, Mom. How's everything at the school?"
"Oh, we're fine. Is it true?" his mother asked in a rushed, excited voice. "I heard you have a date!"
The stress ball exploded in his hand. "Shit."
"Excuse me? What was that noise?"
"It's nothing." He tossed the ball in the trash. "It's not a date, Mom. It's a diplomatic mission. And how the hell did you hear about it?"
"You seem a bit agitated, dear. Are you nervous about your date?"
"It's not a date!" He grabbed another stress ball. "I'm as calm as can be. I just have the fate of every Vamp in the world on my shoulders."
"Oh, well, some days are harder than others. So who is the young lady you're dating?"
"I'm not dating! I'm taking the president's daughters on a friendly little outing to prove how trustworthy I am."
His mother made a tsking noise. "I'm not sure if that Madison Tucker is the right girl for you."
"I'm not interested in her. And how did you hear about this?"
"Well, Emma called. And then Olivia called. So are you interested in the other daughter? Shall I come back to Romatech so I can meet her?"
"No. Stay away."
She huffed. "That's not very nice. I just want to meet your new girlfriend."
"I'm not dating!"
"There's no reason to raise your voice."
Gregori took a deep breath and carefully squeezed the stress ball. "I gotta go now, Mom. Important stuff to do. Talk to you later."
"Very well. Have a wonderful time on your date."
He hung up and threw the stress ball across the office. "Important stuff to do." He pulled a bottle of Blissky out his bottom desk drawer and wrenched off the top.
He took a drink and wiped his mouth. "It's not a date."
But you wish it was.
He took another long drink to drown out the foolish voice inside him.