So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 8.6 Night of the Vampire pt6

Beatrice had glammered the shit out of the agent guarding the door to the parking level elevator. It had been a little freaky to watch since the agent had been decisive and firm, all business. Beatrice had squinted at him really hard, focusing all of her concentration. The agent had blinked a couple of times, really fast, like he was waking up for the first time ever and then had just given her the biggest shit-eating grin ever.

"Shoot anyone who tries to follow us," Beatrice had said, and the agent had nodded decisively.

I had followed Beatrice into the elevator. She had grinned at me, but there was a look in her eye that I had never seen before.

"You okay?" I asked. "You don't look too good."

"Let's hope I don't have to do that too often," she replied. "Glammering a vampire is much harder than it looks. It can take a lot out of a person."

"What are we running from, exactly?" I wanted to know.

"Most of the major vampire houses, like ours, have agreed to let Madame Vera look after their Old Masters as part of this trade agreement everybody's so excited about. Apparently, they're doing the transfer tonight instead of tomorrow like they're supposed to. This whole gala is a diversion to make sure nobody notices the extra security."

"So what does that have to do with us?" I asked, despite having a sense of where this conversation was heading. I was beginning to get a panic attack, the kind that leaves you laughing even though absolutely nothing is funny.

"Oh, right. You're going to love this part. See, the agents went to get the one that Harry keeps down in his doomsday vault, crusty old bastard hasn't woken up in forever, you know what I mean? Only thing is that I stole him months ago."

"Oh, we are so fucked."

Ding! The elevator doors opened, and the guard outside the door looked up in shock, surprised to see us. Beatrice moved on him fast, one hand grabbing his face and pulling him close for a moment of intense glammering. The guard relaxed and blinked. Beatrice owned him now.

"Holy shit, that's insane," I said as Beatrice gently pushed the guard back into the elevator lobby. There were locked doors on opposite walls, long, thin vertical windows above the door handle. I could see a white corridor through the right door, but couldn't quite figure out what was going on through the left door. Whatever it was, it was noisy, lots of clanking and the sounds of distant idling engines. The facing wall was concrete with a huge glass window.

"You're insane," the guard quipped at me.

"Shut up," Beatrice snapped at him, which he happily did. "How many other guards down here?"

"Marius and Samael are guarding the outside door to the garage," the guard said helpfully. "They're having us report in fifteen-minute intervals, and the next one is in about two minutes, so you can either wait, or you gotta go now. If you go that way," he pointed at the door to the left, "that's just asking for trouble. There're ten Special-Ops guards overseeing the transfer from the other houses onto the trucks, and four more agents brought down this guy a little while ago for interrogation."

"Blue tie?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"That's the one. Word is that he has an explosive device that crapped out on him. Detonator didn't work. Probably the only reason upstairs isn't a bloodbath right now." He held up a finger for us to wait as he listened to his headset.

"Did you know anything about the bomb?" I asked Beatrice, trying to chase images of exploding rich people out of my head. Blue Tie had only been two tables over from us, so I would have been one of the exploding bodies. And Sammy would have been right there too. That thought made my head feel a little light. I could feel saliva suddenly flood my mouth like I was preparing to throw up.