Chapter 10
"Lissy?" Tony was breathing on my face and nuzzling my chin a little when I woke. That wasn't tempting or anything. Wondering if vampire lust worked the same with females as it did for the males, I reluctantly opened my eyes and blinked at him. Who wouldn't want something like that to wake up to? Gavin was more than handsome and smelled extraordinarily good on top of that, but he wasn't with me. Tony was and he was no slouch, let me tell you.
"Tony, we don't need to be in bed together," I mumbled unwillingly.
"I still have my clothes on," he defended himself and kissed me at the same time. When he was on the job, that's what he was—the job. Get him home, however, and anywhere near a bed—he was Mr. Amorous with a capital A.
"I have a question for you," I said, trying to fend him off. He was back to nuzzling.
"What's that?" he asked, kissing and nibbling my collarbone.
"Since when does the Director take a hands-on approach? I thought you were a desk jockey when I first met you. Yet here you are, out in the field getting your hands dirty."
"These hands?" Fingers were lightly pinching ni**les through my thin, stretchy pajama top, making them stand up and beg for more.
"Tony, what are you doing?" I asked. I was almost to the point of laying him flat on his back and having my way with him. Something he wouldn't lift a finger to prevent, I'm sure. His cell rang. He cursed and sat up to answer.
"We'll be there in an hour," he said after someone told him he needed to help guard the President. Well, how about that?
I drank my dinner, dressed in nearly record time, slapped the shortest wig on my head and out the door we went. A car was there already—waiting in the drive. Tony climbed into the front seat with the driver while I jumped in the back and away we drove. Traffic in D.C. is terrible. I know that for a fact, now. Tony called somebody after a while and got flashing lights and a siren to usher us to the White House. I hoped the cameras would be pointed at the Prez and not at me. Wlodek might have an aneurysm if I was shown on the network news.
We were added to the President's entourage at the last minute, Tony taking one side and placing me on the other as we walked through halls of the White House, displacing several Secret Service Agents. They had that vampire non-expression thing going on, too. We were going to the Press Corps dinner, so at least that wouldn't be boring. Tony and I loaded into the limo with the President and the First Lady and I did my best to emulate Wlodek, although it almost gave me the giggles.
Straighten up, Tony sent a warning to me.
"Director Hancock, do you have time for a short meeting tomorrow afternoon?" The President asked.
"Of course, sir," Tony said. Whether he did or not, he would now.
"Be there around two," the President said. Tony nodded. Bill would have to be his sidekick for that one; I'd be unconscious.
Tony never introduced me to the President, which was fine. I have a tendency to trip over my own tongue when meeting somebody like that, even though I'd voted for the man. I was the job, just as Tony was at the moment. He still hadn't answered my question from earlier. The previous director didn't do things like this to my knowledge. Tony was handpicked by this President to take over the office. The last Director had overstepped his bounds a little, flaunting his authority with frivolous abandon.
Nothing happened on our way to the venue; the Secret Service was everywhere when we stopped in a sheltered area at a prestigious hotel and the President was ushered inside. We walked down several long corridors until we came to the appropriate ballroom, where tables littered the floor like dozens of round, perfectly dressed snowflakes. Each table had a snowy tablecloth laid and crystal stemware with napkins and silver plus a centerpiece of cut flowers. No expense was spared, I noticed.
I was dressed like all the other Secret Service there in my dark suit and white shirt. Even my little name tag looked like theirs. Tony had a nice suit on but then he was the boss and could wear whatever he wanted. I thought of Gavin and how he'd dressed in jeans and polo shirts most of the time when I'd first met him. He'd been undercover and I hadn't even realized it. He preferred suits, generally, although he did dress casually from time to time. Since Gavin was Roman originally, jeans or slacks beat those togas or flappy leather skirts all to heck. I wasn't about to tease him about that, either. Uh-uh. No way.
Lissa, check the perimeter for me? Tony was sending mindspeech from across the room. I slipped out of the room—there was a door nearby—guarded, of course. I flitted inside the nearest ladies' room and had to wait for two women to vacate the place before turning to mist and leaving. I no longer had to bother with going underneath doors or around cracks—I could go through the door itself, turning a spot of it to temporary mist before coming out on the other side. A neat trick, actually. There would never be a comic book singing my praises, though, even if I did have some abilities that might fit a superhero character. I had too many flaws and way too many bosses. Superheroes did their own thing. I didn't have that luxury.
I combed through the hotel as well as I could, including the vents into the ballroom itself. Didn't find anything there so I ventured outside. Cars were parked there, including the President's limo, with more guards stationed around the vehicles. The guards were either under compulsion or the vampire was a mister who'd slipped beneath the limo—his feet were sticking out.
"Hi," I said, materializing beside the vampire under the car. He was busily placing an explosive. Momentarily, he stopped what he was doing and stared at me, his eyes wide. He wasn't nearly as old as the rest of Saxom's get I'd run across so far. He was fast but I was faster, removing his head for him before he even had time to hiss—his claws barely ripped into the sleeve of my dark suit. Couldn't have mattered all that much—I didn't know what lying on the pavement was doing to the backside of it anyway.
Tony, can you hear me? I asked.
What is it, Lissa? He could.
The President's limo now has an explosive on the underside of it. Another mister, Tony. He's gone now but the bomb isn't and I don't have the expertise to take care of it.
I'll send someone out right away, he answered. Get out of there.
You got it, boss, I replied and misted away.
Bill and two other Secret Service Agents came out the door then, shouting for all the guards to back away. It took five minutes for a bomb squad to arrive and they had the car jacked up in no time, working quickly and efficiently to defuse the bomb and remove it. Bill wandered off by himself so I materialized right next to him. He didn't even flinch when I suddenly appeared. Nerves of steel, I guess.