The Vampire's Surprise - Stormy Glenn Page 0,39

them. "You might want to tell them."

Louis's eyes rolled before he called out over his shoulder, "Two of you go with Dmitri. He's in charge. You'll follow his orders as if they were coming from me."

Two enforcers stepped forward. They bowed to Louis before bowing to Dmitri and then walking over to stand next to him. Louis shrugged when Dmitri glanced at them. Dmitri was actually kind of amazed that the two men had volunteered without even having to be asked. Their tribes weren't exactly enemies, but they weren't bosom buddies either.

"We're going to search the clinic and then the floors above. We're looking for anything that might tell us who took my rajaaka and our princes. If you see anything that looks out of place, no matter how trivial, let me know."

The two men nodded and then followed Dmitri into the building. Dmitri drew out his gun as he stepped through the doorway. He'd already searched most of the first floor, but there were a few rooms he'd missed.

He pointed to the ones on his left. "You guys check those rooms. I'll check the ones on this side of the hallway."

The two enforcers didn't even nod. They just moved off and started opening doors and checking inside the rooms. They didn't find anything on the first floor or the second. By the time they reached the third floor, Dmitri was starting to lose hope.

He froze halfway to the first door when he heard a scraping noise. It sounded almost like a chair scraping across a wooden floor. Dmitri held his finger to his lips then walked to the first door. He pressed his ear to the door, waiting—and hoping—to hear the noise again.

When he didn't hear anything, he moved on to the next door. Again, he pressed his ear to the hard wooden door. This time he did hear something, but it was coming from the door directly across the hall.

Dmitri pointed and then moved closer. When he pressed his ear to the door this time, he heard the scraping noise again, but it was accompanied by a small whimper. He grabbed the door handle, raised his gun, and then opened the door and stormed into the small apartment.

Two things happened at once. Someone screamed and the man tied down to the chair in the middle of the room toppled over. Dmitri's jaw dropped as he took in everything. The man in the white coat lying on the floor. The five people huddled together in the corner. The vampire coming at him with a sword.

Dmitri turned and pointed his gun. "You really don't want to do that."

When the vampire let out an enraged yell and raised the sword, Dmitri pulled the trigger. He heard another scream as the vampire started to turn black and then into a pile of ash, but he wasn't sure if it came from the vampire or one of the others in the room.

Dmitri regretted having to kill the guy, especially in front of innocent witnesses, but he'd regret losing his head even more. He tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants then bent down to right the guy tied to the chair.

"Are you okay?"

The guy just blinked at him.

Must have hit his head.

"Check out the others," Dmitri directed as he started to untie the guy in the chair. Once he was untied, Dmitri squatted down in front of him. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"

He didn't seem to have any injuries, but some things couldn't be seen. Humans were fragile creatures.

Wait.

Dmitri sniffed, then leaned closer and sniffed again. He growled when he recognized the scent he was smelling. This guy wasn't human.

Dmitri stood quickly and took a step back, resting his hand on the butt of his gun. "Who are you?"

"Nero Webster," the guy said. "Dr. Nero Webster."

Dmitri's eyebrows lifted. "You're Dr. Webster?"

"Yes." He started rubbing his wrists. There were red abrasions on his skin, telling Dmitri that not only had he been tied up for a while, but he'd been trying to get free. "Who are you?"

"A friend of Quinn's."

"Quinn?" The doctor jumped to his feet then grabbed the back of the chair when he swayed. When he looked up at Dmitri, his face had taken on a sickly gray color. "You've seen Quinn? Is he okay? Did they hurt him?"

Dmitri narrowed his eyes. "They who?"

The doctor's eyes went to the pile of ash on the floor. He pointed. "His friends."

Dmitri grabbed the guy by his shirt collar and jerked