“Which means what?” Raphael asked, urging her along. Maxime loved her work. It was what made her so good at it, that and a truly brilliant mind. But she would go on a bit if not nudged in the right direction.

“It means no one can access the information stored here from outside the compound, or even from outside this room. It also means,” she hurried on, “the database on our vampires, including names and addresses, could not be accessed by anyone who did not have authorization to enter here.”

“Or someone who got into this room, whether authorized or not,” Cyn qualified.

Maxime stared at Cyn blankly for a few seconds, as if trying to compute what she’d just heard. “Correct,” she said finally. “But the security here—”

“Is not infallible, Max. No one’s is,” Cyn interrupted.

Maxime frowned. “Theoretically, that’s true.”

“You’ve checked for unauthorized access, of course,” Raphael said, bringing them back to the purpose of their briefing.

“Yes, my lord. There has been none. No one not authorized entered this room. I have digital video if you would like to see it, archived for the last year, which covers virtually the entire period this compound has been functional.”

“Do you have a record of who accessed the database, even if they were authorized?” Cyn asked.

“Of course. And I’ve checked it, as well. But I’m running a deeper scan now. It is possible, again theoretically, for a highly skilled operator, to cover his or her tracks. But not completely. If someone has illegally invaded this system, I will know within twenty-four hours. However, at this time, I would say there has been no breach of security. Your leak is somewhere else. I have the data, my lord—”

Raphael shook his head as Maxime spun back to her computer station, retrieved a thick stack of papers covered with data and spun around again, offering them to him. “No, thank you, Maxime. I trust your skills completely.”

Maxime gave Cyn a triumphant look that had Cyn turning to meet his eyes with an expression of supreme annoyance. Raphael winked at her and stood. “We’ll leave you to it, Maxime. Advise Duncan the moment you have anything new.”

The stairs up from the basement security center left them on the first floor in a back hallway of the main building. As they headed toward the great room once again, Raphael turned to Duncan.

“Make sure Sophia is ready. And find out what you can about her history with Colin Murphy. I suspect the answer will lie in his background, not hers.”

“He’s a former SEAL,” Cyn said, turning around and walking slowly backwards. “His records will be hard to come by.”

“We’ll see,” Duncan said with a grin.

Cyn shook her head, smiling at Raphael’s lieutenant. “Are there no secrets—”

“My lord.”

Cyn spun around at the familiar voice, staring at Elke who was waiting for them at the end of the hallway. She was dressed in the typical uniform of his security forces, her pale hair and even paler skin a sharp contrast to the dark charcoal suit.

“Elke?” Cyn said in obvious surprise. “When did you get in?”

“Who knows?” the female vampire said, obviously disgruntled. “I only know the sun was shining, which means I wasn’t.”

Cyn shot Raphael a suspicious glance over her shoulder, clearly anticipating the reason for Elke’s sudden appearance. “Well,” Cyn said to Elke. “Welcome to Seattle. Have fun.” She strode away quickly without looking back.

Elke watched her go, before turning to Raphael with a puzzled expression. “Was I not supposed to be here, my lord? Duncan said—”

“You are where you belong, Elke. Duncan, find Sophia and get someone started on tracing her history with Colin Murphy. I’ll return shortly.”

Raphael strode across the great room and down the corridor, stopping the elevator doors from closing when he was still several steps away. It took only a small exertion of his will, holding them back until he entered. He released the doors and they closed immediately. Cyn was leaning against the far wall, both hands behind her. She waited until the elevator was moving before saying quietly, “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“No, you don’t,” he agreed.

She frowned in confusion. “But Elke—”

The doors opened on their darkened suite, the vault door standing open for the night. Raphael gestured for Cyn to go ahead of him. She did so, but not without a distrustful, sideways glance as she passed in front of him.

“So why send for Elke specifically?” she asked, stopping halfway across the room to confront him.

“I asked Duncan to reinforce the security on the compound with some of our own people. Not that I don’t trust Wei Chen or his guards, but mine are better.”

“So, Elke’s just part of that?”

Raphael closed the distance between them, brushing her body with his and cupping her face in both hands. He whispered a kiss against her forehead, her eyes, traced the soft fullness of her lips with his tongue before claiming her mouth with a long, slow kiss. She responded automatically, lifting herself onto her toes to meet him, her arms sliding beneath his jacket and curling around his back.

He gave up her mouth reluctantly, swirling his tongue over her lips and dropping several gentle, swift kisses on her mouth. “I love you, my Cyn.”

Her eyes were bright with emotion when they met his. “I love you, too. You know that.”

“I do.”

She blinked, suddenly recognizing she should be worried. “But?”

He smiled to reassure her. “No but, lubimaya.”

“Don’t lubimaya me, you sneaky bastard. I know a ‘but’ when I hear one.”

Raphael laughed. “I told you, I’ve decided you’re right.”

“About what?” she demanded.

“About your need to move about more freely while we uncover whoever’s behind these murders. I brought you here, after all, not just because I wanted you with me—”

Cyn scoffed noisily and he smiled.

“I would miss you, my Cyn,” he chided.

“Uh huh. Go on.”

“I also brought you with me to make use of your investigative skills. Skills which you cannot employ fully if you’re pinned to my side all night and day.”

She was listening to every word, clearly trying to find the catch. And there was a catch, Raphael knew. He just hadn’t gotten to it yet.

“On the other hand—” he began.

“I knew it.”

“—because your safety is far more important to me than your investigative skills—”

“I am not going to hide out here in the basement while you and everyone else get to—”

“I’ve brought in the appropriate personnel,” Raphael continued, talking over her protest, “to serve as your bodyguards.”

She stared at him open-mouthed. “Fuck that! That’s the real reason Elke’s here, isn’t it? You lied to me. She is my babysitter.”

“She is one of your bodyguards, just as Juro and the others are mine. You’re the one who insists I need protecting. Surely one could argue the same of you?”

“It’s not the same. You’re the damn vampire lord! Everyone wants to take you out. No one up here even knows who I am. They—”

“Of course they do.” Raphael’s temper finally snapped. “Three minutes after you walked down that poor excuse for a main street, every soul in this misbegotten village knew exactly who you were and what you were doing here. You’re being unreasonable.”

“I’m being unreasonable? Fine. Elke can sit and watch me read all fucking night long, then. I’ll just wait until the sun comes up and then go about my business. Unless you’re planning on chaining me to your bed every morning, too?”

Raphael fought for patience. If any of his vampires had spoken to him thus, they’d have been groveling on the floor by now, begging for their foolish lives. But, as she pointed out to him over and over again, Cyn was not one of his vampires. And the last thing he wanted was to see her hurt. Which was why they were having this damn argument in the first place.

“I would not require anything so crude as chains to keep you here if I chose,” he said at last. “However, when you leave the compound in daylight, a human guard will accompany you.”

“No.”

“Yes, my Cyn.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I can.”

“Fine. You go ahead, assign your little watchdog. I’ll just ditch him,” she retorted childishly.

“Oh, no, lubimaya. I know you far too well to trust your cooperation. If you ditch your assigned guard, there will be a price.”

“I’m terrified,” she drawled.

Raphael gave her a slow, satisfied smile. She saw it and gasped softly. “What?” she breathed.

“There will be a price, my Cyn, but you will not be the one to pay it. Your human bodyguard will. And I think we both know the price I would exact for a failure of this nature.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Of course, I can.”

“There are rules, Raphael. You can’t just—”

“Ah, but, my Cyn, I am Vampire. I don’t follow your rules.”

She glared at him, hearing her earlier words thrown back at her. “Fine,” she snapped, ripping off her jacket and starting on her shoulder harness. “Have fun in Vancouver. I’m not going.”

“I didn’t think you would,” he said mildly. “Should you decide to go out later this evening, Elke will be waiting for you upstairs.”

He pulled her toward him as she slipped out of her shoulder holster, drawing her in for an entirely different sort of kiss, this one hard and proprietary. She kissed him back, giving as good as she got, and finally bit his lower lip until he laughed and stepped away. He watched her lick his blood from her mouth, seeing the flush it brought to her cheeks, and felt his groin grow heavy in response.