Mind Sweeper (7 page)

Dalton continued. “Misha, can you research demons who have the ability to stop someone’s heart? Jean Luc, would you check with your other vampire contacts to see if they have heard anything about a vampire going missing?”

I interjected. “Why was the vamp’s head taken?

“Good question.” Dalton addressed the group. “Would the head be a trophy?”

“Supes don’t normally play the psychological games humans do,” Doc Miller said. “And before you ask, they wouldn’t eat it, either.”

Dalton grimaced. “Thanks Doc. Can you call someone on the team as soon as you have positive ID?”

“Sure can. Misha, why don’t you show Joe the storage area? There are plenty of interesting things for him to look at. I’m going to spend a couple of minutes checking Kyle over.”

The guys filed out and I walked back to her. “I’m fine, I swear.”

“What’s the deal with you and Lieutenant Beautiful Eyes?”

“Nothing.”

“I’m getting some strong vibes from him.”

“I’m sure you are, Doc. I’m surprised the corpses don’t sit up and ask you out on a date.”

She glared at me. “I don’t mean vibes toward me, idiot. I mean vibes toward you.”

I shook my head a little too emphatically. “Your powers are misfiring. Nothing’s going on between us.”

“Why do humans overanalyze everything?”

“Have you been talking to Misha?”

“No. Why?”

Dalton poked his head back in the room. “Kyle, are you ready to go?”

Since when had Dalton become the leader of the band of merry males?
Operation Dalton Has to Go
was back in play. It was one thing to put up with an overprotective vampire and a demon, both trying to boss you around. It was another to have
Mr.-Joe-Blow-Normal
think he could step in and play leader. There were too many males in the lifeboat, and one of them needed to go over the side.

Chapter 6

Driving back to the office, the tires squealed as Jean Luc took the corner of Lakeside and Ontario on two wheels while Misha hollered “yee-haw,” and quoted lines from
The Dukes of Hazard
.

I closed my eyes and took some deep, cleansing breaths. Soon I was on a tropical beach, the fragrance of cocoa butter wafting through the air. A tanned, swim trunk-clad waiter slowly walked toward me carrying a Mai Tai. I ran my eyes up his magnificently toned legs to his six pack abs and paused, taking in his muscles as they flexed. I continued my perusal up his strong arms and shoulders until I came face to face…with Dalton and his haunting turquoise eyes.

I jerked awake and blinked. Jean Luc screeched to a halt in the office garage. Misha glanced over from the seat beside me and smirked. “I thought I might need to carry you into the office.”

From the front passenger seat, Dalton watched the two of us in the rear view mirror. His eyes narrowed slightly when Misha made his comment. Maybe Misha wasn’t off base about Dalton’s jealousy. A new plan to get rid of Dalton started to germinate. But I had to tread carefully.

In the reception area, Dolly sat filing her fingernails to points. I didn’t bother asking her why. Dolly wasn’t the sharing type. I didn’t even know what animal she could shift into. It was considered rude to ask a shifter what their animal side was, and Dolly had never opened up to me about it. I had often wondered, but eventually decided speculating about it was more fun in the long run.

Misha excused himself to run research on his computers, and Jean Luc left to place calls to his “vampire network” as I liked to call them, to see if any were missing. Which left Dalton and me alone in the back office.

I walked over to the coffee pot and poured a cup of thick-as-mud coffee—damn Jean Luc—and sat down on the couch. Awkward silence permeated the office. Dalton was the first to cave.

“Did Doc say you’re okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe you came back too soon. You don’t normally fall asleep in the car do you?”

“I
normally
don’t have someone waking me up every hour on the hour. I didn’t get much sleep.”

He wandered over to the counter and reached for the coffee pot. I stifled the urge to warn him. If I couldn’t convince him to leave, maybe Jean Luc’s coffee would. Before he was able to take a sip, his cell phone rang. He checked the screen.

“It’s Doc Miller.”

That was fast. How in the hell did she even have his number? I blatantly listened in on the conversation. His part at least.

“Doc…great, thanks. I’ll let the rest of the team know. Right.” He laughed. “Thanks.” He hung up the phone. “Doc ID’d the vampire. His name is Charles Hampton. I’m going to get Jean Luc and Misha and we can start digging into his past.”

I nodded. “I’m going to make a fresh pot of coffee.”

Ten minutes later the four of us sat around the table. Misha typed away on his laptop. Jean Luc had not recognized the vamp’s name, so he must have been new to the area.

Misha leaned forward, chewing his lip intently while he hammered away on the keyboard. After a few more seconds, he clapped his hands and sat back. “Got him.”

Always low on patience, I piped up. “Don’t keep us in suspense, Misha.”

“According to what I could find, until a few months ago Hampton was based out of Chicago. It states here he was an antiquities dealer. He supposedly imported artifacts from Africa and Asia to the States and sold them for a pretty penny.”

I rolled my eyes and Dalton spoke up, “I take it you don’t buy the story?”

“Do you?” I countered. “What did you find about him in our database?”

A couple of clicks later, Misha continued. He moved the laptop so we could see the picture. “He was relatively young. He was turned only fifty years ago by Sebastian.”

Jean Luc tensed. Far more emotion than he normally showed. It was the equivalent of one of my temper tantrums.

Dalton asked, “Who’s Sebastian?”

I glanced at Jean Luc, who motioned for me to explain. “He’s a founding vampire. There are only a few vamps allowed to turn humans. Sebastian is one of them and, unfortunately, the vast majority of vamps he sires are bad news, in their human lives and their vamp lives.”

Dalton spoke to Jean Luc, “What do you think Hampton was up to?”

“He could have been dealing in stolen merchandise, money laundering, or anything else illegal.”

“Next steps?” Dalton asked the group.

It was amazing how quickly Dalton had taken on the de facto leader role. Why were Misha and Jean Luc not bristling? Had living for centuries lowered their testosterone levels? Well, I could take charge with the best of them.

“Misha, do you have an address for Hampton?”

“Yep, he had one of those refurbished downtown lofts.”

“You stay here and keep digging into his past. In the meantime, Jean Luc and I will go check out his place.”

Dalton cleared his throat. “I think I’ll tag along with the two of you, if you don’t mind.”

I smiled. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Hampton’s loft building was upscale. He must have been into something major to afford it. This wasn’t going to be an easy break and enter.

We walked into a lobby with sleek, blue leather couches, an abstract brown and blue wool rug, and large potted plants scattered strategically around the space. Light jazz played softly from hidden speakers. The lofts were definitely out of my price range.

However, the opulence did not hide the Fort Knox vibe. A security pad next to the elevators taunted us. We had little chance of getting upstairs on our own. I pointed to the small gold sign above a door in the lobby that read Thomas White, Apartment Manager. I smirked at Jean Luc. “You ready to go upstairs to visit our friend Mr. Hampton?”

Jean Luc flashed a quick grin, his fangs just peeking out. “Ready when you are.”

Dalton’s eyebrows furrowed, but I wouldn’t enlighten him now. He would see what was what in a minute.

I knocked on the door and an older man answered. He reminded me of an English butler with his white hair, mustache and dark suit.

“May I help you?”

I smiled at him. “Mr. White?”

“Yes.”

“We’re guests of Mr. Hampton. He left instructions to let us into his apartment.”

The man shook his head slightly. “I haven’t spoken to Mr. Hampton in a couple of days. I don’t remember that.”

I went to work. I created a memory, using the photo Misha had showed me of Hampton, and pictured him standing in this very doorway instructing Thomas to let us into the apartment when we arrived. Holding that image for a few moments, I waited till warmth bubbled along my forehead. It was time to insert the image into the manager’s brain. His energy pattern was fluttering softly and I weaved the memories around his current thoughts.

“I’m sorry, but unless Mr. Hampton is here I can’t…” The man’s eyes widened and he smiled as recognition hit. “Wait, I do remember Mr. Hampton telling me you were coming. I apologize. I will escort you upstairs at once.”

I wanted to watch Dalton’s reaction, but I needed to concentrate until we got upstairs to make sure the memory solidified.

We headed up the elevator and were in the apartment lickety-split. When Thomas left us alone, I faced an astonished Dalton.

“How?”

“I’ll explain later.”

We went to work. The loft had large windows with a panoramic view of the city. The main living area was an open floor plan, kitchen, dining and living areas all in one. There was also a small office area in one corner of the room. I headed straight for that. Misha had instructed me to download as much information as I could onto the flash drives he had given me. So I went to work.

Meanwhile, Dalton and Jean Luc scoured the rest of the room, rifling through everything. I was downloading files on the first stick when a hand touched my shoulder and I jumped. “Jesus, give a girl some warning next time.”

Dalton held up his hands. “Sorry. Will you be okay up here? Jean Luc and I are going to check the rest of the loft.”

“As soon as my heart starts again, I should be fine.”

He nodded and disappeared down the hallway.

The files continued to download, and I didn’t bother taking the time to open them. Misha would sort through everything back at the office. After a couple more minutes, the flash drive registered as full and I pulled it out and put the second one into the USB port.

The longer I sat there waiting for the computer to do its thing, the more anxious I became. For a second, when the loft doorknob rattled, I thought I was imagining it. But when the door swung open, I grabbed the first flash drive and stuffed it down my shirt. I didn’t have time to pull the second one out of the computer. I stood and spun around, my heart thumping like a jackhammer.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Four men crossed the threshold, three of them scowling menacingly while they cased the room. The man who had spoken stood in the middle of the group. He was smaller than the others, but they still deferred to him.

He was dressed in a ridiculously expensive gray suit and shoes. His blond hair was wavy, and he had the greenest eyes I had ever seen, eyes that would have been gorgeous if there had been even a spark of humanity in them.

This had to be Sebastian.

“Jean…” Before I could get his name out, Jean Luc appeared in a flash, standing between me and the vamps. A few seconds later, Dalton came running from the back.

Sebastian stepped forward. “Jean Luc. It has been a long time.”

“Yes, it has.”

“What brings you here?”

Dalton interrupted the conversation. “Who are you?”

I cringed.
Stupid, stupid
.

Jean Luc hissed at Dalton. “Mind your tongue, boy. I keep you around for pleasure. Do not make me regret my decision.”

I held my breath, praying Dalton wasn’t dumb enough to talk back.

After a second, Dalton lowered his eyes. “Sorry, sir.”

Sebastian laughed. “He’s feisty, Jean Luc. I can see why you like him. Could I interest you in a trade?” He raised his hand and casually gestured toward his entourage.

“Thank you for the offer, but, besides his obvious attributes, his connections help with our cause.”

“Yes. We mustn’t let humans know too much. So why are you in Charles’s apartment?”

“You are aware that he died,” Jean Luc stated.

“Of course. He was relatively young, so the severing of his energy was not too hard on me.”

“He was killed in a public venue.”

“The Erie Bar?” Sebastian asked.

“Yes,” Jean Luc answered. “Would you have any idea why he was killed?”

He shrugged. “He was a petty thief with delusions of grandeur. I warned him on multiple occasions that he needed to take things slowly. But children often have minds of their own.”

I swallowed the bile in my throat. Talk about delusions of grandeur. When Sebastian turned toward me as if he could read my thoughts, I lowered my eyes.
Shit.

“Look up at me, pet.”