“It would seem Kira is not well-liked,” Scotty commented as they stepped onto the elevator and Beth pushed the button for the correct floor.
“Yeah, I caught those thoughts myself,” Beth murmured as she watched the panel above the door. She had sensed him poking around inside the receptionist’s mind, so wasn’t surprised by the comment. She had been a little surprised at the level of enmity the receptionist had felt toward the Russian girl, though. Something the receptionist clearly thought was shared by every single person in this building who’d had to deal with “that Russian bitch.”
“I suspect the girl will not be easy to deal with,” Scotty murmured. “Perhaps I should handle her.”
Turning, she eyed him with amusement. “Scotty, I spent most of my mortal years in a house with thirteen women . . . half of whom thought they were prima donnas. That’s probably why Mortimer sent me. I can handle this.”
“Of course.” He nodded solemnly and then actually grinned. “Should be fun.”
Beth blinked in surprise, and then glanced to Matias as he chuckled.
Shrugging, he said, “I know you, cousin. Scotty is right. This should be fun.”
The ding announcing their arrival and the sound of the doors opening forced her to turn away and start off the elevator. Beth spotted Kira’s door almost at once. It was hard to miss. There were two huge grim-faced Amazons standing guard in front of it.
“Oh man,” Donny muttered behind her. “I can’t help you with them, Beth. I can’t hit a girl.”
Stopping abruptly, she turned on the younger immortal. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. I can’t hit a girl,” he insisted. “I was raised not to hit them.”
“So . . . what?” Beth asked with disbelief. “If we come up against female rogues, you’re just going to—”
“Female rogues are different,” he said quickly. “They’re . . . well, they’re rogue. But these women are just doing their job.”
“Never fear, Donny,” Matias said sympathetically. “I will help. I will seduce them away from the door.”
Beth clucked her tongue with exasperation. “There are two of them, Matias. And they’re immortal. I can see you seducing two mortals with whatever mojo the nanos give us, but I can’t see two immortal women willing to—”
“Is fine, cousin,” Matias interrupted reassuringly. “Women love me.”
Beth frowned. “I know you think—”
She broke off and they both turned their heads to peer toward the women when two soft hisses were followed by two thuds as the bodyguards hit the floor.
“There,” Scotty said easily as he slid his dart gun back into his belt. Catching Beth’s eye, he shrugged. “Now Donny does no’ have to hit them, and Matias does no’ have to play the Latin lover. That’s a teed baw. Can we get on with this?”
Beth bit her lip to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape, and simply nodded and continued forward, saying, “Now maybe you can control the residents who saw that and make sure they don’t run screaming to their rooms and dial 911.”
“Already on it,” Scotty assured her, and she knew it was true. The half dozen young men and women spread throughout the hall had all frozen where they stood.
“Right,” she murmured. “Then, Donny and Matias, you get to keep your eyes open for any more bodyguards who might be around.”
“You think there are more?” Donny asked, sounding nervous. As he should be if he wasn’t willing to hit a woman.
“Mortimer did say Kira’s father had sent several of them,” she reminded him patiently. “There are probably one or two in the room with Kira, and others on break who could return at any moment.”
“Right,” Donny muttered. “Can I shoot them?”
That made her stop and turn on him again. “Seriously? You can’t hit them, but you can shoot them?”
“It’s a dart gun,” he pointed out defensively. “A little ouchy and they’re out. Besides, Grandma might have said never to hit girls, but she never said don’t shoot them.”
Beth heard the bark of laughter that slipped from Scotty as well as Matias’s chuckle, but held back her own amusement, and merely said dryly, “Yes, you can shoot them.”
Shaking her head, she turned on her heel to continue forward again, this time not stopping until she reached the door where the two Russian women had fallen. Stepping between them, Beth raised her hand to knock at the door, and then thought better of it and instead bent to heft one of the women over her shoulder. She then pulled out her dart gun and glanced to Matias expectantly.
Understanding at once, he eased up to the side of the door, grabbed the doorknob and turned it.
The door wasn’t locked, thank goodness. That would have completely ruined her entrance. Actually, she would have crashed into the door, looking an idiot, because the moment Matias turned the knob, she started forward, raising her gun as she went.
The room was larger than she’d expected. In fact, if Beth was to guess, she’d have said that the wall between two of the usually tiny dorm rooms had been knocked out to make one large room for the little Russian princess occupying it. It was fitted out like a loft apartment, a large bed in one corner, a kitchenette in another, a dining table in the third. A small sitting area took up the last and the rest of the space.
Beth took all that in at a glance and then focused on the three women in the room. A petite blonde and two more Amazons, one a blonde and one a brunette. She almost shot both of the larger women, but caught herself at the last moment and shot the petite blonde and the large brunette instead. She then dumped the woman she was carrying on the floor and turned toward the door, only to pause when she saw Scotty bending to grab the other bodyguard’s wrist. She could see that the people in the hall were moving again as if nothing had happened, and stepped to the side to make room for him to drag the second fallen guard inside as well, and then turned to eye Kira Sarka.
The girl stared back belligerently and then lifted her chin as she gestured to the petite blond and asked, “How did you know she was not me? Most people think Liliya is me and I am one of the bodyguards.”
“Then most people must not be looking very closely,” Beth said easily. “The bling you’re wearing has to be worth a quarter million at least, and your shoes are Jimmy Choos, while your friend there is wearing cheap knockoffs.”
“You have good eye,” Kira said with a shrug. “But I am not interested in talking. You must go.”
Beth chuckled at the order and walked over to sit at the dining table as Scotty straightened and moved to close the door. He then took up position beside it. That left Donny and Matias in the hall to keep an eye out for the return of any absent bodyguards.
Hoping the pair could handle the job, Beth turned back to the Russian and said, “To tell you the truth, Kira, I’m not interested in talking to you either. Unfortunately, that’s the job.” She arched her eyebrows. “You’ve been a very bad girl and have been feeding off mortals here in Canada.”