Aaron Drake himself had shown up for this meeting, and Nickie noted he and Bud seemed to be a lot more than business associates.

She’d learned the network in Chattanooga is interconnected like a spider’s web. Mac and Ranger’s girlfriend, Bethany, is the best friend of the Chattanooga RTMC President’s wife. And Aaron Drake’s wife’s main bodyguard is the third male in Mac and Ranger’s four-person poly group. Bud’s daughter, Angelica, is friends with Bethany and married to the Chattanooga RTMC enforcer, and it all made Nickie think of a small town. Chattanooga’s a mid-sized city though, and all the connections were hard to keep up with.

Nickie sat between Special Agent Frank Peretti and Special Agent Maggie Chambers, while Bud sat across the table from her next to Aaron Drake and the rest of her security people.

Aaron started first, and he clicked his laptop as a little device projected images onto the wall. “Ms. Bell paid me to hire some private detectives, to see if we could find the identity or location of the men and women in question. None appear to be American citizens, but we found an arrest record in New York from twenty years ago that matches one of the men when we regress his photo back.”

He walked through his findings, and Nickie noted the FBI agents didn’t appear to have Aaron’s information.

“We believe we should follow these threads,” said Ranger, “instead of using Nicole as bait.”

“No,” said Nickie. “I’m told our people lost them because there’s only so much they can do when operating in a foreign country. If Aaron’s right — and it sounds like he might be — then they’re spread throughout Europe and the Middle East and the same thing’ll happen again. Let’s bring them here so we can take care of them once and for all.”

Nickie looked beside her to Agent Peretti. “If we do this in North Carolina, I’ll be far enough from my current base in Atlanta. North Carolina’s Castle Doctrine lets me shoot anyone who enters my residence — even a temporary one, which the cabin will be since I’ll rent it in my name. There isn’t much risk to me. I’ll set up a damned armory inside and I’ll ventilate anyone who comes in without identifying themselves as one of my team. Ya’ll will arrest them before it comes to that, but if it does, no one’s going to hurt me.”

“I’ll go as your boyfriend,” said Bud. “You won’t be in there alone.”

“No extra civilians,” Agent Peretti countered. “We’ve been through this before with her security detail. If she needs a pretend boyfriend, the FBI will supply him.”

“Frank,” said Nickie, using his first name for effect, “Ranger, Bud, and I will be in the house and we’ll pretend to be a threesome. I know how you feel about civilians but I want my people with me this time, and since I’m volunteering to be bait, I think I have the leverage to get what I want. I’ve seen a map and pictures. There are three cabins within a half-mile of each other and all three are now rented for the time we’re considering. There isn’t another residence for miles around, so we don’t have to worry about stray bullets catching an innocent.”

Nickie turned to Agent Chambers. “Mags, our little threesome will be in one cabin, and the rest of my people will be in another. You and Frank are welcome to join them. I handed them to ya’ll on a silver platter and your people lost them last time. I want my people involved this time. I’m tired of having to be under twenty-four hour guard.”

“Based on what I know of these guys, Nathan will be a better choice than Ranger for your third.” Aaron looked at Bud. “I assume you’ll be fine pretend-sharing her with Nathan if you were okay with Ranger?”

“Not thrilled, but I’ll be happy to have his skillset.”

Aaron looked back to Nickie. “I’ll get your measurements before I leave, and you’ll receive a bill for body armor soon. Nathan will bring it with him.”

“I have a vest.”

“Not this kind of vest because it isn’t available to civilians.”

“Okay. If you say I need it, make it happen. I should’ve listened to Tyler about taking someone with me to Cancun, but I was convinced no one could find Nicole Blackthorn when they only knew me as Nicole Daniels.” She sighed. “You know my budget. If we start getting close to going over I’d appreciate a heads up.”

“It’s a generous budget. We’re fine for now and I don’t foresee us going over.”

It took them an hour to work through the specifics, and another hour to negotiate who’d be where. Nicole had sat with the FBI agents to keep from giving the appearance of ‘us against them,’ but she was well aware their bosses were more interested in catching the traffickers than keeping her safe. She believed Frank and Mags would do what they could to protect her, but she didn’t trust the people over them.

* * *

Bud didn’t like leaving Nickie alone at night, but Aaron Drake had insisted on a meeting of all the supernaturals while he was in town, and he’d let Bud know Abbott would be attending.

The FBI Agents were human, and Bud wondered if Aaron was bringing Abbott in the event someone’s memory needed to be wiped. If Aaron wanted Nathan involved then they were most likely up against a powerful cat or another kind of Alpha-something.

“There are things Nicole isn’t aware of,” Abbott told the group when they’d all assembled in the soundproof basement living room of a local vampire. The place gave Bud the heeby-jeebies, but Abbott had chosen the meeting place. “The human trafficking ring has a deal with demonkind for protection in exchange for a percentage of their acquisitions.”

“Demonkind,” asked Nathan, “or the Celrau?”

“Evidence points both ways and we can’t be certain without asking questions best not asked at this juncture,” said Gavin as he stepped from the shadows.

Bud hadn’t smelled him or seen him, and he hated when vampires did that.

“However, our biggest problem is that one of my enemies of old appears to be the group leader.” Abbott looked to Bud. “Nicole has missing pieces of memory, as do the FBI agents who were with her, and even Tyler and Mac. Because of this, Gavin, Kendra, or I will be with you for any further dealings with them.”

Bud knew that not all Strigorii vampires were good, but the idea of coming against one as powerful as Abbott, and who was only interested in getting away with evil — the thought chilled him to the bone. He didn’t bother asking how or when Abbott had probed Nickie’s mind. He could fly by her condo and dip into her head and only needed a dark night so he wouldn’t be seen flying.

“That’s how the traffickers know all her identities? Their vampire got them from her head?”

“We believe so,” said Aaron.

“Game plan?” he asked.

“They have several powerful Strigorii,” said Aaron, “and a male and female lion who lead a pride. They often bring along other lions as muscle.”

“I can demobilize the lions,” said Nathan, “but they also have a pack of werehyenas. The hyenas travel with a djinn for their acquisitioning trips and appear to only be involved in that aspect, but there’s no guarantee they’ll stay out of this. Nicole’s involvement has hurt everyone’s bottom line.”

“Right. We should be prepared for all of them, because I believe the hyenas have been bound to the Strigorii Master, much the way Abbott and I can bind wolves to us.” Gavin looked to Bud. “I’ll put a marker in Nicole’s memory when I arrive outside your cabin the first night, and I’ll begin there with her revised memories when everything’s over. If you want to have some extra fun with her, she won’t remember. You’ll just have to be careful of marks you might have trouble fitting into her altered memories.”

Aaron shot him a look, but Gavin didn’t seem to care.

“Everyone will need to pull their power in,” Gavin continued. “I’ll do what I can to shield brain waves. Nathan can pull his energy in so it’s barely noticeable until he wants to broadcast it.” He looked at Bud. “Shut yours down a few seconds so I can see how well you do.”

Bud pulled his energy in and shielded it, and Gavin nodded. “That’ll do. If you ever want to tell Nicole what you are, you should come to us. The Concilio long ago took an interest in her because of the werewolves in her books, and you’ll want someone who can intercede with them on your behalf.”

“Thanks for the offer. We aren’t there yet but it’s been on my mind.”

Gavin nodded. “I believe that’s all we can plan for now. Aaron brought sensors for Mac to add to Nicole’s alarm system, so we’ll know if a Strigorii approaches.”

“How is she still alive?”

Bud knew Abbott would understand the question — how had a human become this big of a thorn in the side to a powerful Strigorii and lived.

“In part because of her own cunning, in part because of Aaron’s people’s expert protection. The mere fact the humans have all lost some memories tells us they were in a position to easily be killed, but were spared. Also, with the FBI’s involvement, more questions would’ve been raised by killing them than by wiping their memories.”

“Additionally,” said Gavin, “the Concilio’s latest rules a few years ago forbid us from taking certain actions against people with a large following on the internet as well as television and radio. Once they pulled all her pen names out of her head and realized two of them have a huge following, they’d have had to rethink their dealings with her. It used to be, you recognized the people you couldn’t mess with — actors and actresses, the talking heads on the news shows. Now, you have to doublecheck everyone because you never know what will take hold on social media and grow into something unmanageable.”

“If Nicole had written something out and then they altered her memory,” Bud looked at Abbott. “How would that work?”

“Depends upon her own strength of will. Do you have reason to believe this is the case?”

“No.”

Bud didn’t let himself tack a maybe onto that in his head. He didn’t want to give anyone in the room a reason to doubt him.