The_Vampire_With_the_Dragon_Tattoo (Love at Stake #14) Page 0,2

and the rhythmic beating of waves against the cold rocky shore. One night would follow another, a hollow, desolate refrain stretching into eternity.

His friends here might pester him with painful questions, but at least they cared. He wasn't left alone with a half-empty soul.

He lifted the bottle for another drink.

"Dougal?" Angus's voice boomed down the hallway. "What are ye doing out here?"

He swallowed so fast that his eyes watered. Angus and his wife, Emma, approached him, their gazes shifting from him to the bottle of Bubbly Blood in his hand. Damn, they were going to think he was drinking on the job. Well, technically, he was.

"We've been looking for you," Emma said with an amused twinkle in her eyes.

"Aye," Angus agreed. "We need to talk." He motioned to the security office.

"I'll be there in a moment." Dougal glanced at the restroom door, his face growing warm. "I-I'm waiting for Bethany so I can escort her back to the party."

Emma smiled. "I'll take her. You two go on."

Dougal nodded and accompanied Angus to the office.

Inside, Phineas's younger brother, Freemont, was seated behind the desk, munching on a donut. He jumped to his feet and saluted with the donut still in his hand, leaving behind flakes of sugar on his brow. "Everything's cool in the building, sir. Robby did a perimeter check ten minutes ago. The grounds are clear."

"Good." Angus strode across the office, his kilt swishing about his knees. "And our guest downstairs?"

"The weird psycho dude?" Freemont gestured at the wall of security monitors opposite the desk. "He's still in stasis."

A weird psycho dude? Dougal studied the screens. The party in the ballroom was in full swing. In the hallway outside, Emma was leading Bethany back to the ballroom. The foyer was empty. Same with the cafeteria and Roman's laboratory. Laszlo was in one of the labs. He appeared to be cleaning and organizing. No activity in the parking lot and front entrance.

On the bottom row, Dougal spotted an interesting scene, and he leaned over for a better look. It was the silver room in the basement, a room designed for imprisoning vampires. A man was laid out on a stretcher, unconscious, with his arms and legs buckled down with restraints. "Who is he?"

"A more likely question is what is he?" Angus replied.

Dougal straightened. "He's no' a vampire?"

Angus shook his head. "No' exactly human, either. We have him in the silver room so none of his vampire friends can teleport in to rescue him. He has superstrength, as strong as we are. And since he's normally awake during the day, I was worried he would overpower our mortal guards. The only safe way to hold him was to put him in stasis."

"You should have seen it!" Freemont's eyes sparkled with excitement. "The psycho dude is so strong, it took three Vamps to hold him down while Abby gave him the injection."

Dougal searched his memory. He'd been out of the loop for too long, stuck in Texas. "Abby is Gregori's wife?"

"Aye. President Tucker's daughter. Luckily for us, she's a biochemist who earned her Ph.D. on stasis research." Angus patted Freemont on the back. "Ye can go to the party now."

"Cool!" Freemont headed for the door, stuffing the last of the donut in his mouth. "I think they're about to cut the cake."

When the door shut, Angus took a seat behind the desk. "I just came from a meeting with Jean-Luc and Roman."

"Aye." Dougal sat in one of the chairs facing the desk and set the bottle of Bubbly Blood on the floor next to him.

"Phineas and Austin have been in charge of security here at Romatech," Angus began. "Austin wants to continue when he's no' needed on missions, but Phineas wants to take an extended leave of absence. He's verra busy with the twins and his ranch in Wyoming. And I think he prefers the country now that he has to shift every month."

Dougal nodded. It must have been difficult for Phineas to make the transition to his new hybrid status of half vampire, half werewolf. He was fortunate to have a werewolf wife to help him adapt.

Angus leaned back in his chair. "So that leaves a position open here. I asked Robby if he was interested, but he wants to be transferred to Texas. His wife, Olivia, has family there. She wants her grandmother to help her with the bairn."

Dougal wasn't surprised. It had to be tiring for the mortal wives when their vampire husbands were dead all day and unable