"Charles, where did you get this?" Wlodek looked up from his reading.
"Lissa sent it to me. She said that it was accidentally handed to her instead of the file she was supposed to get. She scanned this so she could send it to us," Charles was excited. He very seldom was allowed to delve into the intrigue as he liked to call it. "Merrill got copied on it too," Charles added.
"Call Merrill and set up a meeting tomorrow evening if he's available," Wlodek said. "And copy me on this email, young Charles."
"Of course." Charles's eyes were dancing, although he acted as dignified as he could. He knew what Xenides looked like, now. That was a coup, indeed.
* * *
"You took too much last time and it hampered her," Tony glared at Frazier as he laid out blood collection supplies. Tony carried Lissa to his bed again; he didn't want her scenting any of this. Bad enough he was doing it and betraying her in the process. He also had no desire for her fiancé to learn of it.
Frazier whined and Tony finally gave in, watching as the blood containers filled up. Frazier packed it all away in his cooler afterward and left. Tony sighed and left the house after placing Lissa in her own bed.
* * *
Thursday, May twentieth came and I woke feeling really tired again. I had no idea what was causing this, determined to ask Merrill about it as soon as I got home. Gavin called and since I wasn't doing anything dangerous at the moment, he was almost pleasant. He merely grumbled instead of shouting.
"How close did you come to that monster, Lissa?"
"Which monster?"
"Xenides." Merrill had spilled the beans, looked like.
"A few feet away, honey. As soon as the other vampire died, he turned tail and shot out of there."
"Lissa, if he had placed compulsion," Gavin didn't finish that thought.
"He didn't, honey." What would Gavin say or do if I told him that compulsion wouldn't do a thing? I had to hide that knowledge. Who knows what the Council would do if they learned they couldn't control me?
"I also heard that you stood in as Winkler's Second to fight off a challenging werewolf." I didn't know who let that cat out of the bag but if I found out, we might have a bit of a tussle.
"Honey, it wasn't a big deal."
"I also heard that you were a Packmaster. At least for a short time." He wasn't happy about that, either.
"About thirty seconds," I said. "I didn't think you'd appreciate the commute I might have to make if I kept it." I was still in my pajamas, huddled against the headboard of the bed as I spoke with Gavin. I felt so tired and honestly wanted to roll over and just go back to sleep. I'd had my meal already, but while I spoke with Gavin, I leaned over the side of the bed, pulled a partial bag of blood out of my cooler and sipped it while we talked.
"Lissa, you always make light of these things," Gavin growled a little.
"Honey, what else am I supposed to do? Be gloomy and dire over all of it? Where's the fun in that?"
"I wouldn't mind seeing your smile, Cara."
"I wouldn't mind seeing yours either, Mr. Cantankerous."
When we hung up, I remembered that he'd bought something for me while on assignment. Well, time was ticking away and I wanted to get something for him too, grumpy schmuck that he was.
Since I wasn't sure that mindspeech would work with Tony wherever he was, I called his cell instead. "What do you want, Lissa?" He sounded even grumpier than Gavin did.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm going out to do a little shopping." There was a mall nearby. I hoped to find something there.
Tony didn't want me to go. I could tell by the sound of his voice and I really didn't feel all that spiffy but I'd made up my mind to go anyway.
"Do you need to borrow a car?" Tony asked when he couldn't convince me to stay where I was.
"No." I'd gotten myself around New York. I could get around here, too.
"Then stay out of trouble." He ended the call abruptly. Tony had a lot of things on his mind. What with terrorists and all—I'd read that file. Something was going down, that's for sure. Xenides and Rahim were behind the attempts on the President and the Secretary of State and arranged the bombings in L.A. and several foreign countries. Somehow, Tony's department had learned of Xenides, probably before the Council did. Neither had shared information, and that wasn't a good thing. I wanted to kick Wlodek and Tony both, I think. What puzzled me (along with Tony and a lot of other agents and operatives) was that none of us could figure out why Xenides and Rahim had been in Atlanta, but it did explain why Tony had dragged me there weeks earlier. Several scenarios had been laid out in the file; certain businesses and officials could be targeted in Georgia but none of them really fit the classic terrorist target. There was even a pharmaceutical company listed in Atlanta, but they mostly made flu vaccines. Didn't make any sense to me.
I dressed and misted through the front door. I still had my credit card and most of my cash with me so I zoomed off toward the mall. The jewelry store inside the mall drew me and I looked at tie bars and money clips. Gavin carried a money clip; I knew that. On the nights we spent together, he'd unload his pockets and the money clip always made the same clunk when he tossed it on the dresser.
"Is it possible to get it engraved tonight?" I asked the sales clerk. She was a nicely dressed woman in her forties that wore a brand of expensive perfume. It was all right—she hadn't bathed in it.
"I think we can do that," she nodded, "as long as it isn't too complicated."
"Just three initials," I said, and pointed to the gold and diamond money clip I wanted. She pulled it out and while it was being engraved, I looked at some fancy letter openers.
"That one is a replica of a Roman sword," the saleswoman indicated one that had caught my interest.
"I want that," I said. She pulled it out and let me look at it first, then boxed it up for me. Merrill was always playing with his letter opener. I'd take this to him. I paid with cash, causing the woman's eyes to widen a little; the total was more than twenty-two hundred dollars.
I bought Greg and Franklin gift cards from the bookstore. They both liked to read and this would allow them to buy online as well. I purchased a computer game for Charles. That wore me out and I had my doubts about making it back to Tony's place, but I did. I had even more blood when I arrived and then went to bed. I slept right past dawn and didn't wake until the evening of the twenty-first. I drank my dinner first thing and then with nothing else to do, I stripped the sheets off my bed to wash. Tony had a small laundry room—mostly I'd used it to wash my jeans, t-shirts and underwear. My special agent outfits had to be dry cleaned. Since I was washing sheets, I decided to pull Tony's off, too. Who knew when he'd washed them last?