Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires 4)

I muttered a silent curse, but put on a fake smile and pushed through the door. "Hi, there."

Luc jumped up and headed for the door, then put a hand at my back. "Thank sweet Christ, Sentinel," he murmured, then smiled broadly at Allan.

"Allan, have you met our Sentinel? Merit, Allan is interviewing for the open guard position.

He's a Cadogan vamp living outside the House, and he's looking to join our little family."

That explained why I'd never seen him before.

I offered a little wave. "Nice to meet you, Allan."

But Allan had no time for niceties. "Is there really a reason to have a Sentinel in this day and age, given the state of current security technology?"

"Okay, then," Luc said, then moved Allan toward the door. "Just head right up those stairs to get back to the first floor. Thanks so much for coming in."

"When will I find out when I start?"

"Well, we're just at the beginning of our interview process, but we will absolutely let you know when we're ready to fill the position."

"I'll be on vacation in a week. I'm going to Branson. So you might not be able to reach me. But I have a sat-phone. I could take that with me."

"That is exceptional," Luc said, all but shoving him out the Ops Room door. "I'll be sure to get that information. And say hello to Andy Williams while you're down there."

Luc shut the door, then proceeded to bang his forehead against it.

"Interviews not going well?"

Forehead still pressed against the door, he glanced over. "I want to stab myself in the eye with a pencil. This kid's smart, but his head's in the wrong place, and he doesn't exactly have people skills."

"Then maybe he'd be good on the computers," I pointed out. "Even Jeff Christopher has a Warcraft fixation."

"You are ever the optimist. And I'm not busting his balls for the gaming. I may have cut my fangs in a different time, but I own every current gaming system on the U.S. market." He leaned in. "And a couple from Taipei no one knows about yet."

He shook his head. "Nah, I object to the attitude. We're asking this guy to step in front of a stake for the rest of us if necessary, and he's waxing philosophical about when it's okay to disobey orders? No, thank you. Would you trust him to do that for you?"

"Good point. And no."

"Unless a booth babe was throwing the stake," Kelley dryly threw out, her gaze still scanning the black-and-white closed-circuit security images on her computer screen.

"You hit that one on the head, Kels," Luc said.

"Now, Sentinel, what brings you downstairs, other than your hella good timing? Did Darius scare you down here?"

"Actually, I need to give you a heads-up about something. Could you give Malik a call? Ask him to come down, as well?"

Luc arched an eyebrow. "Got a bee in your bonnet?"

"Not exactly. But I might have a former Navarre Master soliciting humans outside Temple Bar."

Luc's brows lifted. "Let me get him on the phone."

Chapter Twelve

OVER THE RAINBOW

Ten minutes later - and presumably an excuse to Ethan and Darius - Malik joined us in the Ops Room. We put Lindsey, who'd been outside patrolling the grounds, on speakerphone so she could listen in.

"I'm on," Lindsey said. "Get to it, Hot Shit."

She really did love me.

"So you know the basics," I told them. "We previously saw small raves - a handful of vampires, a few people, some drinking. Now we're talking full-on parties with lots of vamps, lots of humans, and lots of potential for violence.

I didn't see the kind of violence Tate talked about while we were there - but we pulled the plug as quickly as we could. We know humans are being pretty severely glamoured, maybe helped in part by a drug being passed around.

And we think the human invites are originating from the House bars."

The room went silent, everyone exchanging looks of concern.

"Your evidence?" Malik asked.

"The phone that got the text about last night's shindig was left at Benson's, the Grey House bar.

And another human told us she found out about the party when she met a short man and a woman named Marie outside Temple Bar."

Malik's lip curled. "Someone is using our place to hit on humans."

"That appears to be the case."

There was only one word for the look in his eyes - determination. "And what's your plan?"

"Well, in a perfect world, the plan would be not pissing off the GP. But as we know, this is clearly not a perfect world."

There were general grumbles of agreement around the room.

"Darius wants us safe and sound inside Cadogan House - where, for now, he can keep an eye on us - not stirring up trouble outside the House. But there's already trouble brewing out there, and if we don't get a handle on it, things are going to go south very quickly. We can't just sit here and watch the city fall around us.

"I know I'm young," I continued, "but I also have an obligation to do the things I think are necessary to protect the House. Even if Darius doesn't approve . . . and even if Ethan doesn't know about them."

I let that implication sink in for a minute, and then dropped my voice. "I've given him a general heads-up, but I'm not giving him details, and he's not going. The less he knows - "

"The less Darius can use him as a scapegoat," Malik said.

I nodded in agreement. "Precisely. The short of it is, he gave me a thumbs-up to make the best decision I could, and I want to give you all the same courtesy. The GP is putting enough pressure on the House without me adding to it. If you want to know what I'm doing, I'll tell you. If not" - I held up my hands - "no worries. You can deny you knew anything was going on, and hopefully that will shield you from Darius if worse comes to worst."

My piece said, I glanced around the room again.

Luc kicked a booted foot onto the tabletop.

"Are you seriously asking us if we're not going to take your side against the GP? Seriously, Sentinel? I thought I taught you better than that.

We are a team - and you're a member of it."

"And you're getting better at the speechifying," Lindsey said. "I think Sullivan's going to your head. Oh, and I'm totally in."

Juliet and Kelley smiled at each other, then at me.

"We're obviously in, too," Kelley said.

"We've known Ethan a lot longer than we've known Darius. He may not be perfect, but he's concerned about the House, not just the politics."