“You’re sure this is the place?” Harlan asked, as he and Julius snuck up on a warehouse on the wrong side of town. “Doesn’t really look like a place a crime lord would visit.”

“And that’s exactly why we’ll find him here,” Julius replied.

“You could benefit from being a little less cryptic, you know,” Harlan sighed.

“Let’s just say I have friends in the right places, and those friends told me Theodore Greene likes to spend his Friday nights at a secret poker game, in a place no one would think to look for him. Satisfied?” Julius asked, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he peered into the night.

They were surrounded by abandoned buildings, with no heartbeats around, except for in the warehouse they were now closing in on. Harlan counted six men inside, which would pose no problem for him and Julius, now that they were prepared for the fact Greene’s men seemed to be aware of their weaknesses.

“Now was that so hard?” Harlan replied, patting his Maker on the shoulder.

They approached the warehouse, steps as quiet as ever, as the sound of several men talking amongst each other echoed into Harlan’s ears. With the element of surprise on his side this time, he was more than confident he and Julius would take care of Theo’s security in a flash, before getting Grant’s location out of the man.

They won’t even see us coming, he grinned to himself.

But just as he and Julius were nodding to each other, their game plan easy enough, another sound caught Harlan’s attention, and both men ducked out of sight. The vehicle got closer and closer, until whoever was driving it cut the engine, and flicked off the lights.

Now almost coasting along, the car came to a stop near the same warehouse Harlan and Julius had been eyeing. Since the darkness didn’t impair Harlan’s vision, it didn’t take long for him to recognize the car, and its driver.

“Fuck. It’s Ruby,” he whispered, earning a nod from Julius.

“That woman is annoyingly persistent,” Julius replied. “And either brave, or foolishly overconfident.”

“Or desperate to get justice,” Harlan commented.

I should have known she wasn’t just going to let this go.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t anticipated Ruby might carry on her own investigation after their falling out, but he had thought he at least had a head start, with Julius’ connections and all. Looked like Ruby had her own.

But he still didn’t know why she had rolled up here all on her own. What was she hoping to accomplish? She could barely hold a gun, and Theo’s friends were bound to be armed to the teeth.

I’m to blame for this. I didn’t leave her with any choices.

“Well, you better go get her before she goes storming in there and blows our whole plan,” Julius said.

Harlan was already in motion at that point, whizzing past the warehouse and grabbing onto Ruby. Wrapping a hand around her waist, he had to admit he had already come to miss her. Seeing her again was thrilling, even under these inopportune circumstances.

Covering her mouth with his hand, he sped back to the spot where he and Julius had been staking out the place. She was already kicking at him as soon as he came to a standstill, her eyes widening when she realized it was Harlan who had taken her.

For a moment, he thought he might have noticed a hint of a smile in those piercing blue eyes, but then a deep frown settled in between her brows as she glared at him.

“Sorry, but I wasn’t going to let you burst in there on your own,” Harlan said, slowly peeling his hand away from her mouth.

He still kept his arm around her though, unable to let go now that he had her close again. Harlan wanted to explain everything, to tell her how stupid he had been and that he was sorry. She should know that he would be grateful for any time she would be willing to give to him, and that he would cherish every second with his little gem, if she only forgave him.

But standing in the dark in the middle of nowhere, getting ready to crash a crime lord’s poker game, with Julius standing around, wasn’t exactly the best moment.

“I am not standing on the sidelines,” she hissed at him, keeping her voice low. “I have every right to be here, just as much as you do.”

“Can’t you just let me and Julius handle this?” Harlan sighed, already knowing the answer to that question.

“That would be a ‘hell no’, vampire man,” Ruby huffed. “Just because I’m human doesn’t mean I’m useless. I can still shoot a gun, it just takes me a little longer and I might not be as accurate as I used to be,” she reluctantly admitted, avoiding his gaze. “And I am not letting you two get Grant off with a slap on the wrist in Romania or wherever you’re planning on taking him.”

“Can we discuss this later?” Julius interjected. “And before you say ‘no’, I’d like to point out that the heartbeats of the humans inside just accelerated, and I do think that’s the sound of the safety being clicked off on multiple weapons,” he announced, looking only slightly less bored than usual.

Harlan perked up his ears for a second, confirming exactly what Julius had just said.

“Shit,” he muttered. “They must know we’re here.”

“How?” Ruby whispered, her anger sidelined for the moment as she shot a glance toward the warehouse.

Now that was the million dollar question. They were far enough from the building that no human should have been able to hear them. And the fact that the people inside had been quiet for a suspicious amount of time now couldn’t be good, either.

It’s almost as if they know we’re listening…

Julius must have thought the same thing, as he brought a finger to his lips, letting both Harlan and Ruby know they should really be shutting up right about now. And there was only one reason for that.

Goddamnit, Grant, Harlan thought, fists clenching, as an alarming realization took over his mind.

With his disregard for the rules, and the fact that he had to be repaying Theo somehow for keeping him hidden, in addition to the way the men in that warehouse had heard him and Julius coming, there was only one conclusion.

Grant has been making vampires for Big Theo.