Chapter 15
Tiffany arrived at the clinic around five fifteen with David. His company was a plus tonight. Her security swiper got them into the building which presently felt eerily quiet, so dark and dismal. The atmosphere creeped her out and even during the light of day it held an ominous tone now. Death had claimed way too many lives here, her human one included. It could never be a happy place for expectant parents and staff until this demon of death was exorcised.
She made her way to Christian’s office first, knocked on the door but there was no answer so she opened it and peeked inside. Empty and dark. Next, she pulled her cell out of the back pocket of her jeans and texted him while scenting for him, which worked quicker than the text. Her nose told her he was in a room just down the hall. Chelsie's body guard, Tyler, equally as buff as David, and also partial to dark, sharp tailored suits, stood outside the closed door.
Christian either read her text or scented her. He walked out just as she opened her mouth to ask Tyler if the doctors were still interviewing Chelsie.
Christian’s expression was both curious and pleased. “Tiffany? What are you doing here, Darlin’?”
“I hope I’m not disturbing your interview with Chelsie.”
He offered a reassuring smile. “No. Noah and Asa had a few more questions for her, but she should be out any minute.”
“I’m not here for Chelsie. I’m here for you.”
He quirked a brow. “Oh?”
Obviously, he didn’t expect that answer. He appeared perplexed. “I brought you dinner.” She smiled and held up a plastic Olive Garden bag. “Chicken Scampi. I had a feeling you might not have had much of an opportunity to eat today. You’ll have to nuke it though. It’s probably cold.” The offering surprised him based on the way his beautiful gold eyes lit up with both delight and hunger.
“That was very sweet of you, Baby, but I’m afraid I don’t have time right now. I have a meeting in about ten minutes, but I’ll definitely get to it later. Thank you.” He looked at the sack and inhaled with appreciation.
“I know. I heard you and Nathan setting the time when you were holotiming with him this morning. As you know, Dominic has a great audio/video system in mind that may be able to track this person down, which sounds very interesting. Any chance I could sit in on this meeting?”
He frowned. “Asa and Noah won’t like it. They were none too happy I drug Nathan and Dominic into this mess, but they understood the necessity.” He glanced at Tyler. “I know Nathan’s men are discreet but I’m not happy about the growing number of people discovering our issues here.”
She chewed on her lower lip, disappointed, but she understood where he was coming from. “Neither am I, but honestly, Christian how could this have been avoided? You had no choice but to be honest with me and my family about how I nearly died. You know how Nathan is. When he feels someone in the family is in danger he brings in the goons en mass.” She glanced at the two present. Lord only knew how many more he had waiting in the wings. Her younger siblings and the other kids would be flying in this weekend with Jazerra, their nanny for the Memorial Day Celebration. He’d probably have more security guards on hand than any given day at the White House.
Christian rolled his eyes. “I know.”
“Also know no one in our family would dare jeopardize this investigation or your practice. Am I not now a part of it?”
He huffed then took her hand. “Of course you are. Alright, you’re in. Besides, I know you’d end up wheedling the information out of me at some point.” He flashed a teasing smile.
“Thanks.” She squeezed his hand.
He glanced behind her at David with a curious expression. “Your body guard I presume?”
“Yes. Christian, this is David Townsend. David, this is Dr. Christian La Mond. He’s my dude.”
David extended his hand to Christian. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. La Mond.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Christian shook his hand then faced her with a big grin. “So, I’m your dude, huh? Officially?”
She inhaled deeply and made a little groaning sound for the upcoming confession. “For certain. I’ve been doing some hard thinking about this life mate thing and what you said this morning. I’m willing to see where things lead. I care about you, Christian. I always have. But nothing could have come of those feelings before all this happened to me. Blake told me about interspecies marriages, but that sort of deal wouldn’t have been fair to either of us. Anyway, I meant what I said. I never wanted to turn. But here I am. A full-fledged vampire. So, I guess that fact finally opens a door for us.”
He glanced down, his expression a bit guilty. “I suppose it does. Tiffany I have to be honest with you. The fact I knew you were my life mate played a big hand in my decision to turn you. Even before I knew you were my life mate I probably would have done the same. I could never imagine living in a world where there is no you.”
His sweet, honest words hit her heart like a one two punch. Her eyes began to sting with tears. She looked at the floor and blinked rapidly.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course,” she hurriedly replied. There was only one thing Tiffany hated more than crying—someone witnessing her doing it. “I have to ask you this one last time. Could I have survived that poisoning?”
He shook his head slowly, his eyes sad. “Not a chance. I will tell you one thing, though. If this had never happened to you, I would have been willing to be with you, the human you.”
Tiffany scratched her neck, pondering that possibility based on how she felt about him now. She meant what she’d said. It couldn’t have worked, but his admission spoke volumes to the depth of his desire to be with her. “Well that would have probably sucked. Guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
An awkward silence hung between them for a bit. Tiffany broke it.
“Okay. I guess it’s settled then. We’ll give us a shot. Oh, and we need to discuss the perimeters of this new relationship when we have time. I have some ground rules.”
“Oh boy.” He rolled his eyes. “Such as, short version?”
“I do what I want to do when I want to do it. No one controls me. I’m nothing like my mom domestically. I don’t cook nor do I clean up after people. You’re a total mess maker. Best be hiring more housekeepers.”
“Anything else?” Humor sparkled in his eyes.
“Well, I’m extremely opinionated, moody at times and often just a pain in the ass bitch for no reason. Oh, and I always control the scepter. Meaning the remote.”
He lost it. When he finally stopped laughing he said, “This is supposed to be news to me? I know what you’re made of Tiffany. I know who you are, all your little quirks, the sarcasm and foul language. Has it scared me off so far?”
She glanced over his shoulder and noticed David and Tyler had wandered off down the hall at some point to give them privacy. “No.”
“And nothing will.”
She nodded, believing him. “I had lunch with Chelsie today. You can thank her in part for my decision.”
“Believe me I will. What did she say?”
“Apparently, she as well as the rest of my family think we uhm…” She paused, seeking the right words. “…have a connection of some sort and that I should explore it with you.”
His expression ripened with male satisfaction, then he slid his arms around her waist. “Yeah, I think we definitely have that and more. So, let’s explore.” He leaned down and kissed her.
And a bone melting kiss it was. Everything in her went liquid as he plundered her lips. She wove her fingers around his silky ponytail and pressed her body against his, loving the sensual heat sparking between them. His unique, spicy scent fanned her hormones into a frenzy. She groaned wanting to get lost in the frenzy. In him.
How many times had she fantasied about kisses like this with Christian? His mouth taking sweet control of hers, the gentle brush of his hand against her cheek while the other, far more wicked, snaked beneath her shirt to pinch one of her lace covered nipples into a taunt, hard bud. Too many times to count for sure. This was no fantasy, but pure heaven. She groaned her approval into his mouth, eager for him to do naughtier things. Unfortunately, the door behind them opened interrupting the awesome moment.
Christian released her and backed up. Chelsie walked out, Asa behind her. They were looking at each other and laughing about something, seemingly oblivious to her and Christian’s heated moment.
She swiped a hand over her tingling mouth and glanced at Christian with quirked brows.
“Seems as if Asa likes her. She’s hired as far as I’m concerned.”
“Oh, she’ll be thrilled.”
Both Chelsie and Asa turned toward them with surprised expressions.
“What are you doing here, TJ?”
She hadn’t told Chelsie her plans to attend this meeting because she hadn’t been sure Christian would be okay with the idea. “I’m here for this meeting with Nathan and Dominic.”
Asa frowned at her. “I’m sorry Tiffany, but this meeting is for partners only.”
Christian’s response was quick and firm. “She will be a part of it.”
Asa did not look pleased, but offered no further argument. He faced Chelsie and extended his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you Dr. Peebles. We’ll be in touch with you soon. Have a pleasant evening.”
Chelsie shook his hand and thanked him. She slid Tiffany a quick ‘ouch’ look as she passed.
Ouch was an understatement. From the irritation aura Asa beamed her way, she suspected he not only didn’t want her in this meeting, but his zip code and she could hardly blame him.
She took a step toward him and tried for an apologetic expression. “Look, Asa, I’m really sorry about what happened that night and I won’t even attempt to make excuses. I just hope we can put it behind us and get along.” She gulped because he was an overwhelmingly larger man than she’d considered him to be the night she’d went crazy on him. Lucky, she hadn’t gotten a broken neck in the deal.
He frowned at her first then behind her at Christian. After a few seconds, he sighed then pinned her with a stern look. “Water under the bridge, but anything said here tonight is private, okay?”
She lifted her hands defensively. “I get that totally. Try to understand I’m as furious as you and want answers as badly as you. I was after all a victim. Quite honestly, whether I’m in this meeting or not, I’ll learn details at some point. Either Christian or Nathan will cough them up. I can be very persuasive.”
Asa sighed resolutely then frowned at Christian. “I can just imagine. But good luck with Noah.” He turned and entered the room he and Chelsie had exited.
Tiffany turned and faced him. “Noah’s going to be a jerk about this?”
“Undoubtably. Luckily a practice such as ours is a democracy and you have the majority ruling in your favor. So no worries. Come on.” He took her hand and led her inside a large conference room.
When Tiffany entered, she saw Noah seated at the end of a long rectangular wooden table, surrounded by a dozen tall-backed, black swivel captain chairs. His head was bent over some paperwork, probably Chelsie’s credentials since her interview had just wrapped up. Noah glanced up, his piercing cobalt blue eyes honed on her and filled with disdain.
Before he could fuss--and Tiffany knew he was fixing to--Christian said, “I need her in on the meeting.”
“Whatever for?” he snapped.
“She may have information that could us help. Information she doesn’t even know she has because she’s been working here since all this started. And mainly because I want her in on the meeting. Period.”
Noah pursed his lips, clearly disapproving of Christian’s decision. “It would be best to question her at another time privately, but I realize arguing her presence would be futile.” He snatched up the paperwork in front of him then stalked out of the room.
“How do you deal with him? I mean seriously. Is he always so uptight?”
“Not always, but he was born in a time and place where class differences were a huge thing. And women were—well not like you. He has no desire to change with the times. Noah is Noah and you’re going to have to accept him as is Tiffany. You may have to work closely with him one day when I eventually need you at another clinic.”
She nodded, hoping if that day ever came it would be later rather than sooner. “For you I’ll try harder with Noah. But all bets are off if he starts dissing me or women in general. Everyone has to change with the times whether they want to or not.”
“Just do your best. That’s all I ask.”
Asa who had been standing behind them during the exchange began chuckling. Both she and Christian turned and faced him.
He glanced between them, grinning. “I wouldn’t lay any bets on Noah accepting you around here, Tiffany, but for the record I’m glad you’re here. I think you’re going to be perfect for Christian.”
Tiffany wasn’t quite sure what brought him to that conclusion, but she appreciated Asa’s approval. She knew how important Asa was to Christian.
Christian grinned at him. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you love a challenge, Chris and I think Tiffany will be the biggest of your life. A good challenge though.”
Tiffany smiled a thanks. She knew she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. She liked very few people, but those she loved she’d die for. She might not always get it right with Christian, but she’d never give up on him no matter how crazy they made each other.
Christian’s phone pinged. He pulled it from the pocket of his lab coat and looked at it. “Nathan and Dominic are here. I need to go let them in.”
Tiffany nodded. Of course Nathan or Dominic could have let themselves into the building. No locked door or security system in the world could thwart the telekinetic and physic abilities of a mature vampire. Truth be told, she kind of looked forward to the day when hers kicked in. She made a mental note to quiz Christian on that subject at some point.
Once he was gone, she walked over to a roll away cart by the door which held a tray of upside down coffee cups and some sugar, Splenda and creamer packets. She sat Christian’s dinner on top. When she turned, Asa was watching her, with a contemplative expression. “Something wrong?”
Asa walked over to her and crossed his arms. “Have you really accepted him as your life mate?”
Ah. He was worried about his friend. She couldn’t blame him. All he’d viewed from her thus far had been crazy behavior. “I have.” She meant that. She’d resolved within herself to step off into new unknown territory with Christian. He was an amazing man worth the risk.
He nodded once, slowly. “Then I wish you both the best. However, if you ever screw him over, you’ll answer to me. And it will get far uglier than that night I wrangled your wild ass back into bed.”
Tiffany laughed. Respect for the man shot to the top of her admiration meter and his threat didn’t faze her in the least. She’d have given a similar speech to some guy one of her sisters was in love with. In fact, she’d been very mistrusting of Nathan in the beginning. Dominic too. “Fair enough and bring it on if I do.”
Footsteps coming down the hall stalled further exchange. She glanced toward the door. Moments later, Christian entered followed by Nathan and Dominic who as usual were dressed like the Wall Street executives they were, wearing silk ties and designer suits. Noah brought up the rear. All three doctors wore lab coats over their street clothes.
Christian made the rounds of introductions for those who hadn’t yet met, then asked everyone to be seated. He turned to Nathan and said, “I briefly filled in Noah and Asa on this security system we discussed earlier. Can you explain what you have in mind and how this could help us catch this bastard?”
“I’ll let Dominic field that question.”
Dominic picked up a briefcase he’d brought in, sitting beside his chair and laid it on the table. He opened it, extracted some papers and handed them to Nathan who in turn distributed them to everyone in the room. Tiffany flipped through the paperwork with pictures and descriptions of tiny black devices she assumed to be what Dominic had in mind to install.
“So, this system outlined for you in the handout has both state of the art audio and video capabilities. The devices are incredibly small and can be installed in HVAC vents or fire alarms and some light fixtures for instance. The audio is so sensitive it could pick up whispers. If you choose to do this, I would need to know how many rooms are in the building and other areas such as hallways you want monitored so I can order accordingly. Also, a base station will have to be set up somewhere, preferably within the building, but it can be done mobile or in any building within a two-block radius.”
Tiffany was impressed. She’d set up a few spyware systems for clients in the past, and could have easily managed this assignment with a couple of tech support guys to help with the installations. Under normal circumstances as the IT she should have headed the project, but nothing had been normal since she woke up in that hospital room five days ago.
Noah was the first to offer an objection. “This system sounds as if it could pose serious patient privacy violations. I’m not comfortable with that at all.”
“Agreed,” Asa said. “But we can field that issue. The most important one on the table is protecting lives. If this can help, I’m in.”
Christian added, “Me too. However, I agree with Noah, we can’t violate patient privacy. One of us would always need to be present in this base station. I don’t want anyone besides the three of us watching patient procedures. It wouldn’t be ethical.”
Dominic nodded. “Understandable and not a problem. Actually, I’d planned to suggest that. I’m assuming you still think a staff member responsible for what happened to these women and Tiffany?” He cast her a brief, sympathetic smile.
Christian glanced between Asa and Noah. “Yes, most likely, but we can’t narrow down one source tying all these incidents together. Before this happened to Tiffany, we thought our blood supply or vitamin booster shot might have been compromised because the mothers who tested positive for what we call the Vampire Hemolysis Syndrome or VHS all received those shots and transfusions here. After Tiffany was poisoned we realized those patients most likely ingested it. We offer beverages and snacks to our patients while they’re waiting to see one of us. We’ve always done that. Also, it’s not uncommon for patients and family members to eat in our cafeteria. Bottom line, we believe each woman ingested the poisons somewhere in this building and in the case of our vampire subjects possibly more than once. What we don’t know is if the victims were targeted specifically for some reason or if we’re looking at arbitrary mayhem. We have seven victims at this point. Six vampires. One human.” He sent a sympathetic glance Tiffany’s way.
“Are there any common threads between these victims,” Nathan asked.
Christian focused on Noah. “Can you think of anything we haven’t already discussed?”
Noah laced his fingers together on the table top. “I’m afraid not. Our last fatality was a fledgling vampire at twenty-six weeks gestation. The other five pregnant vampires were all over the age of two hundred. Then of course there is Miss Peebles who at the time was neither vampire or pregnant. It leads us to an inevitable conclusion no pattern exists in the mind of this killer with the exception of all victims were female.”
Nathan shared a troubled look between Dominic and Christian. “This is really disturbing. After a rather thorough investigation, I no longer believe the man Dominic and I have been dealing with is the mastermind behind these crimes.”
“I never have, but why do you feel that way?” Christian asked.
“We’ve discovered nothing to tie him or any associates to the V clinic and we’ve been very thorough with our investigation. It seems more likely your culprit is someone closer to home. I assume you’ve done background checks on recent employees?”
Noah answered. “Yes and they are always very extensive.”
Dominic added to Nathan’s previous comment, “I agree with Nathan. It seems more logical you have a rogue staff member completely unrelated to our man, Damien Alexander. Have you learned anymore about this drug that was given to these women?”
Christian replied, “This was a cocktail of arsenic and cyanide, poisonous to humans but not vampires. We aren’t sure why these women present a condition called hemolysis when it’s not one given to our kind. We suspect there could be a toxin or drug our testing failed to identify. We’ve shipped these patient blood samples to the Vampire Center for Disease Control for more detailed testing. Unfortunately, we’ve yet to hear back from them.”
Asa injected, “So for now all we can do is treat these women based on symptoms and what we viewed in their blood. The problem is they aren’t responding to the treatments we’ve chosen as well as we’d like. They aren’t worsening either, but to sum up, they shouldn’t be having this problem at all. We all agreed at a meeting earlier today they might respond better to vampire blood. It’s a stab in the dark, but one without risk. As you know life mates ingest each other’s blood all the time in small amounts.”
“What sort of knowledge would a person need to figure out how to do this to our kind?” Nathan asked.
Noah answered, “A sick person, obviously, but one with medical and scientific knowledge of our species. We believe a human employee responsible for infecting our patients and Miss Peebles. We all know our own history well. We have been hunted and hated by humans since we evolved from them. However, to answer your question, a person capable of figuring out a cocktail of poisons to break through the antibody barrier of our kind would need to possess the knowledge of a scientist of our kind.”
“Have you spoken with any other clinics, hospitals or doctors to see if they might have experienced similar incidents?” Nathan asked Noah.
“No. As Dr. La Mond said, we’ve sent blood samples to the VCDC, but we have no answers yet. What’s happening here might not be an isolated incident. Once they review our samples, it’s possible they could pair our problem with other hospitals and clinics suffering similar troubles, meaning a widespread attack on our kind. I find it unlikely, but one never knows.”
Tiffany couldn’t help herself, she had to jump in here with questions, which she addressed to Christian. “What does this VCDC do? And how long do you think it will take them to get back to you with something?”
“I don’t know. Soon I hope. The VCDC’s job is to find causes and cures for our diseases and in cases such as ours reasons for why these poisons have affected our patients. Testing can take time but we can’t afford to wait, which is why we took some measures of our own today. All three of us.”
Nathan crossed his arms and leaned into his chair. “Such as?”
“We enchanted our entire staff and questioned them about the incidents, the poisonings. Unfortunately, we learned absolutely nothing.”
Nathan released a ragged breath.
Noah said, “I’ve headed this investigation because Asa was absent and Christian was tending to Miss Peebles shortly after the incidents began. As far as Miss Peebles, she obviously consumed the substance here and we’re assuming the same occurred with the other women. Even under enchantment few people could remember what each of those patients ate or drank the days they were here. None had any traces of duplicity in their minds when asked if they’d administered an unordered drug or spiked drink or food.”
Nathan released a frustrated sigh and looked at her. “Tiffany, I have to ask you a hard question, Honey. Take your time and use your gut instinct which I know to be solid. Who present here the day you were poisoned might stand out to you as suspicious?”
She didn’t need time. A person came to mind instantly and had been setting off her weird meter from the day she’d met him. She swallowed hard and looked at Christian. “Sorry. It’s still Blake.”