Night's Mistress (Children of The Night 5)

“Dr. Thomas Ramsden.”

Lou glanced at Mara, then back at the male. “I see. Any idea where he might be?”

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be here.”

Lou shrugged. “Do you want him dead?”

“Not now, but you may have him when I’m done with him. I’m also looking for Kyle Bowden.”

Lou glanced at Mara, then back at the vampire, careful, again, not to meet his gaze. She was dying to know exactly what kind of relationship Bowden had with Mara, and how the male vampire fit into the mix. Instead, she said, “I don’t come cheap.”

“Name your own price.”

“Six hundred a day and expenses.”

Logan nodded. “Now that you’re working for me, do you know anything I should know?”

“Perhaps. My sister works for Ramsden, or she did until a few days ago when he fired her and closed his office.”

Mara looked at Logan. Though she didn’t say anything out loud, he knew what she was thinking. Somehow, Ramsden had discovered her whereabouts. When she wasn’t home, he had taken Derek and Kyle and gone into hiding. There was no other answer that made sense.

Lou’s gaze settled on Mara’s trim figure. She had to know. “Did the baby live? Was it normal?”

“Yes.” Mara’s voice was little more than a whisper.

The look in the vampire’s eyes warned Lou not to ask any more questions about the birth or the baby.

Resting her hip on the edge of her desk, Lou said, “I’m thinking it’s probably not a coincidence that the doctor and Kyle both went missing about the same time.”

“Agreed,” Logan said.

Lou nodded. “And I think I know why he wants Kyle.”

“Because he got Mara pregnant while she was still a vampire,” Logan said impatiently. “Any idiot could figure that out.”

A flush crawled up Lou’s neck and heated her cheeks. Ignoring the jibe, she said, “I imagine there are a lot of vampires who would pay any price he asked to be able to reproduce. Of course, this is all speculation at this point.” She looked at Mara. “Is there any reason why Kyle would take off without telling you?”

Mara hesitated a moment, then said, “We haven’t been getting along very well lately.”

Lou slid a glance at the vampire, wondering if he was the cause of the rift between Mara and Kyle. Although Lou loathed vampires, she couldn’t help thinking that, Undead or not, Mara’s companion was one of the sexiest men she had ever seen. Annoyed with herself, she said, “I’ll need a number where I can reach you.”

“I’ll contact you,” the vampire said.

“Are you at least going to give me your name?”

“Sure,” he said with an easy smile. “Which one would you like?”

“Whichever one you’re using now.”

“Logan.”

“No last name?”

“We’ll be in touch,” Logan said, taking Mara’s hand in his.

Before Lou could ask any more questions, the two of them vanished from her sight.

“Wish I could do that,” Lou muttered.

Dropping down into her chair, she tapped her fingertips on the edge of her desk. There was more going on here than Logan had told her. But what? Kyle had apparently run off, maybe with another woman. Ramsden had closed his office and no one knew where he was. Was the baby also missing?

Lou slammed her hand on the desktop. Of course it was. Why else would Mara be looking for Kyle? He hadn’t run off with another woman. He had run off with the baby. But why was Mara looking for the doctor? Surely Kyle and Ramsden weren’t in this together. Or maybe they were. Stranger things had happened.

Grabbing her cell phone, Lou punched in her sister’s number.

Cindy answered on the first ring.

“Hey, Cin, you’re never going to believe who just hired us.”

Chapter Thirty-eight

Thomas Ramsden glanced at the women standing on either side of him as he stepped away from the microscope. He had contacted Pearl and Edna the day before and asked them to join him at his hideaway in an abandoned laboratory near Area 51. A witch’s clever spell, combined with his own preternatural wards, effectively cloaked the building and its occupants from both humans and supernatural creatures alike.

Ramsden had met the two elderly vampires shortly after the end of the War. Neither of them had any fondness for Mara or for the Cordova family, which was neither here nor there. What was important was their knowledge of genetics. He knew their proposed supernatural cure had failed, but that wasn’t important. Had they pursued it, they might have eventually come up with a serum to restore humanity to the vampires and the werewolves, although he doubted such a thing was possible. The women had, in fact, continued their search for a cure for a short time after the War but then, as so often happened to those who had been turned against their will, they had learned to embrace their new lifestyle and eventually abandoned their search for a way to regain their lost humanity.

No one, looking at them, would ever guess the two elderly women were vampires. Pearl was tall and angular with shoulder-length white hair. She wore designer jeans, a gaudy red silk shirt, and a pair of white leather boots. Edna was short and a trifle plump; her curly red hair was obviously dyed. She wore a green sweater and comfortable sneakers; a green patchwork skirt swirled around her ankles.

Ramsden gestured at the microscope. “Take a look and tell me what you think.”

Pearl smiled at the other woman. “After you, dear.”

Edna peered through the eyepiece for several moments, nodded once, and moved to the side so that Pearl could have a look.

“Well?” Ramsden asked impatiently.

“It seems impossible,” Pearl said, “but the proof is right there. Don’t you agree, Edna?”

Edna nodded, then looked into the microscope again. “You know, if we’d had these samples to work with during the War, I’ll bet our serum would have worked.”

“Yes, I think you’re right, dear.”

Ramsden shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would a dormant werewolf gene produce fertility in a vampire?”

“I have no idea,” Edna said, moving away from the microscope, “but there it is.”

Ramsden peered through the microscope again. “Do you think mating with a werewolf had anything to do with her reverting to mortality?”

Edna and Pearl exchanged glances, then Edna shook her head. “No. It’s our opinion that her reverting to mortality was just a result of her long existence. To my knowledge, no vampire has ever survived as long as she has. With the passage of time, she gradually overcame her aversion to sunlight. She needed to feed less often, and her need for blood waned until she was able to digest mortal food.”