Luther's Return (Scanguards Vampires Book 10) (25 page)

“Most likely. That’s why he feels safe enough to tell us when it’ll happen. Almost as if the ticking clock adds to his excitement. He gets off on that, on knowing that we’re counting down the minutes and are no closer to finding him. It’s a game for him.”

“Well, we’re not gonna play his game.”

Katie swiveled in her chair when she heard Luther’s voice. He and Samson had reentered the room together and now approached.

Samson addressed the assembled, “Luther has an idea.” He stepped aside and gave the floor to Luther.

Somewhat surprised at Samson’s gracious gesture, Katie leaned forward in her chair, eager to hear what Luther had to say.

“Mendoza mistook Isabelle, not only because she changed roles with Katie, but because the two wore the same type of outfit and hairdo. They looked like sisters, if not twins. I think we can use this fact to our advantage. We’ll give him what he wants. But he won’t get Katie. He’ll get somebody who looks like her.”

“And that’s not delivering an innocent to him?” Zane scoffed. “Hypocrite!”

“Not when the person we’re dressing up as Katie is a vampire and knows how to defend herself.”

Instinctively Katie’s gaze shot to Yvette. “Not Yvette,” she blurted. She couldn’t let her sister-in-law put herself in danger for her. If anything happened, Haven would never forgive her for it. Nor would Cooper or Lydia.

Luther glanced at her, giving her a quick smile. “No, Yvette is too tall. And she doesn’t have your curves.” He gave an apologetic nod in Yvette’s direction. “No offense, Yvette.”

Luther was right, Yvette had a great figure, but she wasn’t curvy or big-breasted, though her long dark hair matched Katie’s.

“None taken. Though—” She smiled warmly at Katie. “—you know, honey, I’d do it in a heartbeat if I knew it would succeed.”

Katie mouthed a silent
Thank you
to her sister-in-law.

“But we have another vampire female in mind,” Samson interjected.

“Doesn’t matter who it is,” Amaury interrupted, standing up. “Haven’t you forgotten one tiny detail?” He pointed at Katie. “Katie is human. We must assume that Forrester knows that. He won’t make the same mistake as Mendoza. Anybody who knows that Katie used to be Hollywood star Kimberly Fairfax would also know that she can’t possibly be a vampire. As her stalker, he’d know that. So even if we manage to make another woman look like Katie’s twin, as soon as she gets close enough, he’ll recognize by her aura that the person we’re trying to exchange is a vampire. And the whole thing blows up in our faces.”

“Amaury’s right,” Gabriel agreed. “When that happens, who knows how he’ll react. What if he hurts Isabelle to lash out?”

Everybody started speaking at once, throwing out the pros and cons of such a move. Katie could barely concentrate on any one person’s opinion. She had to agree with the skeptics of the plan. They couldn’t trick a vampire, not by sending a vampire instead of her.

“It’s not gonna work,” she murmured to herself, wringing her shaking hands. “I’ll have to do it.” She looked up and pressed her hands onto the table, ready to rise and put an end to the fruitless discussion.

A wolf whistle next to her stopped her dead in her tracks. It ended all conversations in the room instantly. All eyes were now on Wesley.

“Now that I’ve got your attention, would you all like me to give you the solution to this problem?”

“Go ahead, Wes,” Samson encouraged him.

“There’s a little known spell that can temporarily shroud a vampire’s aura so that no other preternatural creature can see it, making the vampire appear human. It doesn’t last long. And it doesn’t change anything in terms of the vampire’s abilities.”

The vampires in the room exchanged doubtful looks.

“You sure it works, Wes?” Blake asked.

“You’ve got my word.”

“Good enough for me,” Blake agreed.

“How long will the spell last?” Samson asked.

Wes pulled up one shoulder. “Half an hour to an hour. Hard to tell. But if I get a few volunteers, I can test it out before the exchange.” He looked around the table. “So?”

Suddenly everybody avoided Wesley’s gaze.

“Oh come on, people!” he growled. “It doesn’t hurt! What are you: vampires or a bunch of sissies?”

“Try it out on me,” Samson offered.

“Me too,” Haven said.

Wes nodded. “Then we’re all set.” He turned to Samson. “And who’s going to play Katie’s role?”

There was a knock at the door. Samson went to open it.

A beautiful curvy woman stood there, long dark hair falling over her shoulders, long dark lashes framing her grey eyes. “I came as quickly as I could,” she said in a soft British accent.

“Come in, Roxanne.” Samson ushered her inside and closed the door behind her. Then he turned to the people in the room. “Most of you already know Roxanne. She started with us shortly after we opened Mission HQ. First in our V-Lounge, but she joined our bodyguard training program ten years ago, and has been working on various assignments since. I think she’s perfect for this.”

Katie noticed how Luther ran his eyes over Roxanne’s body, not in a lecherous, lusting way, but in the kind of way a discerning buyer did when examining a product he wanted to purchase. Then his eyes darted back to Katie to compare.

“And the eyes?” Luther asked.

“Colored contact lenses, nothing easier than that,” Samson said quickly.

Katie walked up to her. “Have they told you what they want you to do?”

Roxanne nodded. “Samson explained briefly when he called me.”

Katie turned to the Scanguards boss. “Have you given her a choice about this?” She didn’t want anybody to be forced into this. It was a dangerous undertaking.

She felt Roxanne’s hand on her shoulder. “I volunteered.”

Katie nodded slowly, relieved on one hand, scared on the other.

“Don’t worry. I’m trained for this.” She bent closer to Katie, and lowered her voice. “I’m better than most of the guys in this room. Just don’t tell them. It’ll only ruffle their feathers, then they’ll start taking their dicks out to prove who’s got a bigger one.” She chuckled softly. “Boys.”

Involuntarily, Katie had to smile. “Thank you, Roxanne.”

“Well, let’s get this show on the road then,” Roxanne said out loud. “Who’s going to help me slip into Katie’s role?”

Wes grinned from one ear to the other. “Oh, that would be me.” And by the looks of it, he would see to it personally that every detail about Roxanne’s appearance was perfect.

“Well, well, the witch. Guess it’s my lucky day,” Roxanne answered dryly.

39

Luther looked over his shoulder and peered into the dark, while Katie unlocked the front door to her house. As suggested by Blake, he’d parked the car in front of the house instead of the garage so that anybody watching them would see him and Katie enter the house.

He couldn’t see anybody, but it didn’t mean they were alone. While the man walking his dog was clearly human and minding his own business, there were plenty of places a vampire could hide without being seen. Buena Vista Park across the street from Katie’s Victorian home was located on one of the many small hills in San Francisco. It provided many such places among its heavily wooded terrain and the many view points along the path that wound its way up to the top where visitors were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the city.

When Katie pushed the door open and flipped the light switch upon entering, Luther turned his back on the park and followed her inside. He closed and locked the door behind her.

“Switch on the lights in the living room,” he instructed. “Make sure you can be seen in front of the windows, before you pull the curtains shut.”

“I understand.”

Luther was almost certain that Forrester was watching the house. It was therefore of vital importance that he only saw Katie and Luther enter and later exit the house together.

Katie walked into the well-lit living room with the tall bay windows, crossing in front of them slowly, before pulling the curtains closed. She did the same with the curtains on the next window, until all curtains in the room were drawn.

Luther followed her into the dining room, where he helped her close the curtains. Within minutes, all curtains on the first floor were drawn and nobody from the street could look into the house anymore.

The blinds on the upper floor had already been closed.

“Ready?” Luther asked, exchanging a look with Katie.

“Ready,” she answered.

He opened the door to the garage. “Wesley, we’re ready for you.”

Katie’s brother appeared on the stairs a moment later, Roxanne on his heels. “We’re here.”

“Did anybody see you?” Luther asked, stepping aside to let the two enter the foyer.

“We went through the gardens in the back. We entered through a tradesmen entrance of one of the houses on the street parallel to here. Nobody saw us, but if anybody did, they wouldn’t have been able to figure out where we were heading. The gardens are so overgrown we had plenty of cover. We’re safe.”

Luther nodded, satisfied with Wesley’s explanation. He looked at Roxanne. “Thank you for doing this. I know the risk you’re taking.”

“It’ll be my pleasure. I love kicking guys in the nuts.” She tossed a sideways glance at Wes.

“Ouch,” Wes commented, mock flinching. “Wouldn’t want to be on your bad side.”

“Well, then we understand each other, don’t we?”

Luther turned away, not wanting to know what undercurrent was flowing between the vampire female and the witch. None of his business.

“Shall we start getting you ready?” Katie asked from beside him.

“Lead the way,” Roxanne said.

Katie headed for the stairs and Roxanne followed her. When Wesley made a motion to head in the same direction, Roxanne pivoted and slammed her palm onto his chest, stopping him.

“We won’t need you for this part,” she said sweetly, but firmly.

“Uh.”

Roxanne narrowed her eyes.

“Wes, why don’t you come into the living room with me?” Luther asked, intent on diffusing the situation.

“Sure.” Wes smiled just as sweetly at Roxanne as she had smiled at him. “Call me if you need help with a zipper or something.”

“Wes, really?” Katie asked from the stairs, a twinge of annoyance in her voice.

Her brother only shrugged, then turned and marched into the living room. Luther waited until the two women had disappeared upstairs before he followed Wesley.

“Quite a stunner, that Roxanne, huh?” Wes asked.

“You do know that I can’t answer that, right?”

“Because you’re with my sister?”

“Something like that.” Luther let himself sink into the sofa cushions.

“So what’s gonna happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean between you and my sister.”

“You’re gonna have to ask her that,” Luther deflected.

“You said at HQ you came back to atone. What happens afterward?”

“I’ll be leaving. I never intended to stay.”

“And Katie, does she know?”

“I never lied to her about my intentions.”

“And she’s okay with that?”

It was a question Luther had asked himself, but didn’t have an answer to. Was Katie truly okay with their arrangement? Had she really accepted that he would be gone soon, never to return?

“And how about you, then?” Wes continued. “Are you okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because of the way you look at her.”

Luther scoffed. “Listen, Wes, I like you. So why don’t you quit while you’re ahead?”

“Just like I thought.” Wes pivoted and walked to the fireplace, looking into the ashes. “She’s been alone for far too long. I worry about her sometimes. It’s not like she can date a normal guy. Her life revolves around her family and Scanguards. It’s not something you can easily bring an outsider into. She needs somebody who knows what this life is like. And as a witch without powers she needs protection.”

“Your sister is capable of taking care of herself.”

Even as he said it, Luther knew he wanted to be the one to protect her. But there were issues he couldn’t simply pretend to overlook. Katie deserved somebody who could fully commit to her, and given his past, he couldn’t make such a commitment. It would only end in heartache. And he didn’t want to hurt Katie like he’d hurt Vivian. He liked Katie. No, that wasn’t even the right word. He cared about her more than he thought was possible in such a short time. He wanted her to find happiness. But he didn’t believe that she could find it with him.

“So this is it then. You swoop into her life, break her heart, and then just disappear again,” Wes said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“I didn’t break her heart, Wesley.”
Not yet, anyway
, he added in his mind. But if he stayed, he would. Because then Katie would grow attached to him and he to her. Already now their physical connection was so strong Luther had a hard time imagining ever wanting to be with anybody else. If he let this go on, he would fall so deeply under her spell that he would never be able to extricate himself from it.

Wesley grunted.

Luther tossed him an annoyed look. “This conversation is over.”

Wesley didn’t reply. Instead he paced in front of the windows, brooding. Luther decided to change the subject, because the witch had gotten too close, whirled up too many thoughts Luther had tried to push back.

“Have you heard back from Samson and Haven yet on how long their vampire aura is staying cloaked?”

Wes looked back at him. “Blake called a little earlier. It lasted about forty-five minutes with Samson, and about forty with Haven. Since Haven is heavier than Samson, I’m thinking size is a factor. Roxanne weighs much less than both of them, so the spell might last even up to an hour. Won’t know for sure, and I don’t want to test it out on her until it’s time.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t have any data to tell me whether performing multiple spells within a short time frame might result in a loss of their effectiveness. I’d rather not test it out right now.”

“I’m surprised you have such powers at all,” Luther said, shoving a hand through his hair. “Katie told me your mother robbed you of all of your witch powers.”