Part 7 (1/2)

I plopped into a chair and threw my backpack down with a bang onto the floor. ”Good evening to you too. And before we start, I'm parched. I need something to drink. Is there a c.o.ke machine on this floor?”

”No, no c.o.ke machine,” he said. He seemed to be talking through clenched teeth. ”You know, this is not a joke.”

”I didn't think it was,” I said as I shrugged out of my jacket. His scowl deepened. I rattled on. ”Do you mind if I grab that bottle of water over there? It's probably warm, but that's okay.” I got up and sauntered over to a table. I picked up the bottle with maddening slowness, twisted off the cap, and took a long swallow. I wiped my mouth off with my hand before I went back to my seat. ”That's better. So, J, what's so important it couldn't wait until tomorrow? Is this about my going to Schneibel?” I said, all wide-eyed and innocent.

”No, we expected you to contact Schneibel. It fit your profile. What we didn't expect was this.” He pulled out a snapshot and slapped it down on the table in front of me.

The photo showed me kissing Darius on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We were in quite a clinch.

I was shocked that I had been followed and didn't know it. My stomach started churning, but I kept my voice light and unconcerned. ”It's me and the guy I've been seeing. So?”

”So? So! You've been seeing Darius Bella CHI's. How long has this been going on?” J's jaw was so tight I thought he was going to splinter his molars.

”A while. What's the big deal?” I said. My anger was growing to match his.

”Don't bulls.h.i.+t me,” he bellowed. ”It had to start after you were recruited. He's an agent and you d.a.m.n well know it. He picked you up to get information from you. What did you tell him?”

”Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And how do you know he he picked picked me me up? Maybe I came on to him! We met; we had great chemistry. It's nothing to do with business. End of story.” But what J said had put words to my own suspicions. My distrust of Darius came back in full force, and yet I no longer believed J either. I felt manipulated from both sides and getting angrier by the moment. up? Maybe I came on to him! We met; we had great chemistry. It's nothing to do with business. End of story.” But what J said had put words to my own suspicions. My distrust of Darius came back in full force, and yet I no longer believed J either. I felt manipulated from both sides and getting angrier by the moment.

As if picking up on my unspoken thoughts, J said, ”'You can't believe that. We know he's been keeping Bonaventure under surveillance. His people won't talk to my people. I need to know what he's told you.”

I decided right then that I was shutting J out of what I was doing until I found out who was on mx mx side, if anybody. ”Nothing,” I said. ”He told me nothing. I told him nothing. As you can see from the photo, we weren't doing a lot of talking.” side, if anybody. ”Nothing,” I said. ”He told me nothing. I told him nothing. As you can see from the photo, we weren't doing a lot of talking.”

”Stop being a fool. He's using you. How far has this gone? Are you sleeping with him?”

I felt as if I were a criminal being interrogated. I stood up, grabbing my jacket and backpack. I had had enough, and I was leaving. ”That's none of your business,” I spit at him. I opened the door, but before I knew what was happening, J was in front of me, forcing me back into the room and slamming it shut again.

”It d.a.m.n well is my business,” he screamed right in my face, ”if he's using you to get to our target, and I'm sure he is. Answer me, d.a.m.n it. I need to know.”

This was getting out of hand, and before I got into a shoving or shouting match with J. I decided to pull back. Taking the shrillness out of my own voice, I retreated a few steps and said calmly, ”Look, we met. We kissed. We progressed from there. It was as good for him as it was for me. s.e.x is not love. Don't worry about it. Darius told me he was an agent who was keeping surveillance on Bonaventure. He's been totally up-front with me. He's got his thing, and we have ours, and there's no problem.”

J just shook his head, his anger deflating like a spent balloon. He said with disgust, ”If you've slept with him, you've already compromised the entire unit.”

My feelings were still churning, although I was using all my will to control them. I was being treated as if I was an idiot without an ounce of intelligence. Despite my efforts at calming down, I started to yell again. ”How can you say that? I told you I didn't tell him anything. And we just have a physical thing going. Good s.e.x, but nothing more. No strings attached.”

Suddenly J was like a volcano about to erupt. ”You're a woman, G.o.d d.a.m.n it. For a woman s.e.x always always has strings attached. It has strings attached. It always always means something to you. From the looks of this picture, you've already fallen for him. You cannot know what you're doing!” J was now Vesuvius in full lava flow. ”You idiot! Don't you understand? Darius isn't just 'an agent.' ” means something to you. From the looks of this picture, you've already fallen for him. You cannot know what you're doing!” J was now Vesuvius in full lava flow. ”You idiot! Don't you understand? Darius isn't just 'an agent.' ”

I was shaking with fury. I threw my jacket down on the table, my hands on my hips as I squared off in front of J. I thought this kind of s.e.xist c.r.a.p went out in the 1980s. I was about to give J a real piece of my mind when the last thing he said registered. I stopped in my tracks. ”What do you mean, Darius isn't just 'an agent'?”

J glared at me. ”Darius Bella CHI's is a loose cannon. Unpredictable. Even his handler can't control him. He has his own agenda. And d.a.m.n it all to h.e.l.l, Daphne, tell me you don't know-he's a vampire slayer!”

I felt the blood draining from my face. My hands turned to ice. The room spun. I thought I was going to pa.s.s out. Somehow I managed to keep my voice from betraying me. ”I can't believe that. Do you know that for a fact? Where's your proof?” I spit the words out.

J looked at me. He seemed to be struggling with what he was about to say. Finally he said, ”I don't have any proof. But it's more than a rumor. It's what people who are in a position to know are saying. He has a personal vendetta against vampires. We can't take the chance that it's true. You may have already endangered the whole team. He can use you to find them all. You have to stay away from him.”

My mind was racing, internally reviewing everything Darius had said and done, searching for clues I could have missed. There were red flags I should have spotted, yet a small voice inside me was warning that I just couldn't trust what J said. It was exactly what he would make up to hurt me, to get even for my transforming.

”I don't believe he is a vampire slayer. I would bet my life that he isn't. I repeat, what goes on between Darius and me is none of your G.o.dd.a.m.n business. What is your business is my meeting with Bonaventure. On the way down in the cab I wrote up a report. Here.” I reached in my backpack for a folder. I threw it on the table. ”That's exactly what I heard at Bonaventure's, what I saw, and what I did there. I'm scheduled to meet him again Monday night. The bugs are in place. What else do you want me to do?” I sat back and folded my arms across my chest.

J picked up the folder and stalled reading my report. He said, ”We've already picked up some information from your plants. Things are moving fast, I'll have instructions for you by Sunday. Don't be out of touch.” He glared at me. ”And don't see Darius Bella CHI's again,” he ordered.

My eyes flashed, and I was ready to tell him to go take a flying leap into the ocean, when, no longer yelling, he added in a gentle tone, ”It's too big a risk. I mean it, Daphne. If he finds out what you are, he won't hesitate. He'll put a stake through your heart.” I almost believed he was truly worried about me-for about a nanosecond.

”Go f.u.c.k yourself, J,” I said. I got up slowly, put on my jacket, and swung my backpack onto my shoulder. ”I'm tired. I'm going home to bed. If you need to get in touch with me in a hurry, call my cell phone like everyone else. I'm sure you have the number. But if it's turned off, it means I'm busy. Or in bed... with whomever I d.a.m.n well please.” I threw my backpack over my shoulder and walked out. I left J standing there staring after me. I don't know what he was thinking, but I bet it wasn't a pretty thought.

As for Darius, I didn't know what to believe. But I'd be watchful. The worm of doubt was already burrowing deep into the heart of the rose.

Chapter 8.

The c.o.c.ktail Party .

For our Sat.u.r.day evening out, Benny had gussied herself up to the nines. She was wearing a Betsey Johnson fuchsia number with a slit up the side that went all the way to Honolulu. She had applied glittery body makeup and added gold sparkle to her hair. The heels on her mules were so high that I didn't know how she walked. She'd put on a full-length white fox coat. She wasn't subtle, but she looked good.

Reflecting my somber mood, I wore brown leather pants and a brown jersey halter top under a Harley motorcycle jacket. I had on square-toed Frye boots and didn't do much with my hair. I looked like a brown wren next to a peac.o.c.k.

Arriving at my mother's-she lived in Searsdale despite her counterculture proclivities-Benny and I were greeted at the door by a pimply-faced girl in a miniskirt and cowboy boots. She held a martini gla.s.s containing a clear liquid garnished with olives, no ice. ”I just got these ready. Want one? Vodka martini. Or would you rather have gin?” she offered.

”Neither. No, thanks. Not for me. What about you, Benny?” I said.

”I wouldn't mind, sugar,” Benny said. ”Just to take the edge off.”

”Stoli or gin?”

”Stoli.”

”Anything in it?”

”Olives. And just rinse the gla.s.s out with vermouth, honey, if you don't mind. But I think I'd like to get my coat off first.”

”No problemo,” the girl said. ”Just leave it on the chair and I'll hang it up for you. I hope it's fake fur. You know it's cruel and inhumane to kill animals for their pelts.”

What about for their blood? I thought. What I said was, ”By the way, who are you?”

”I'm Sage Thyme. I'm in your mother's Save the Trees: Stop the Deforestation Group.”

”I didn't know the forest primeval still stood in Westchester. Logging and clear-cutting? What are they building, another mall?”

”You silly,” Sage Thyme said as she downed her drink. ”You are just like your mother said you would be. Very biting. I mean satiric. The logging's upstate in the Adirondacks. It's terrible, but I'm sure you knew that. You were just pulling my leg, weren't you? You know, you are so lucky. Your mom is really something. So much energy.” Sage gave me a puzzled look and added, ”She sort of looks younger than you.” Then she shrugged and downed the rest of her drink before saying, ”Well, she is is a vegetarian, and after all she was a teen mother in the slums. She told us all about how she was no more than a child when she had you, and how she had to claw her way out of poverty and her culturally deprived beginnings. She has such courage. What a wonderful role model for all of us!” Sage flashed me a loopy grin and went scurrying off toward the kitchen, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes. a vegetarian, and after all she was a teen mother in the slums. She told us all about how she was no more than a child when she had you, and how she had to claw her way out of poverty and her culturally deprived beginnings. She has such courage. What a wonderful role model for all of us!” Sage flashed me a loopy grin and went scurrying off toward the kitchen, and it was all I could do not to roll my eyes.

”Oh, she's a role model, all right,” I murmured to myself, ”if someone needs a mentor for making up big fat lies.” The real story was that my mother had been over six hundred years old when she had me. She lived in a doge's palace on the outskirts of Rome at the time and had already ama.s.sed enough gold and jewels to make her one of the wealthiest women in the world. The ”clawed” part might be accurate, however.

On cue, my mother sailed into the hall, dressed in an inky-black floor-length gown that had a wide leather waistband and leather lacing up the front. I thought it could double as a wedding dress for the Bride of Frankenstein. The collar of the dress draped back into a huge hood that hung down the back nearly to the floor. Around her neck she wore her peace sign. She looked positively Goth. I'm lucky she wasn't wearing a nose ring. She clapped her hands at our arrival and said in an earsplitting voice, ”Daphy, you look... you look very nice. And you've brought a friend!”