Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(6)

I breathed a sigh of relief. That was one problem taken care of. The Council had no idea Daniel had been finding latent vampires and bringing them over by himself. When Daniel wasn’t around, Justin had taken a leadership position. He would make sure everyone stayed in tonight. If strange vampires had turned up partying at Ether, it might have given away our game.

My other problem was Michael himself. Michael was blood oathed to Daniel. He’d taken a vow to protect Daniel and everything that belonged to him. Michael took that promise very seriously. He would consider protecting me a big part of that bargain. I’d noticed in the past that Michael had some trouble with his temper. He had no companion and was still considered young for a vampire. If Marini pulled the same shit on me he had in the past, Michael might explode.

I needed to get rid of Michael.

I looked back at Nim and winked. She nodded, letting me know she would go along with anything I had in mind. I didn’t think she would have a big problem doing this favor for me.

There was enough distance between us and Marini that I could at least speak somewhat freely. The club was loud so as long as I acted friendly, I could talk to him. “Have you been ordered to stay close to Marini all night?”

“He merely requested that I accompany him to the club and then fetch you,” the vampire replied. “I don’t know what else he wants from me. Obviously he’s not expecting me to act as his security. He brought Ivan and the boys for that.”

Michael started to lead us through the club. I could see the big, burly Russian from my vantage point. He was enormous and stuck out like a sore thumb in his dark suit and those ridiculous sunglasses. Someone had been showing Ivan too many movies. Other than Ivan, I counted four vamps, though I didn’t recognize them. They were pure muscle from the looks of them. And then I heard Neil gasp slightly as vampire number five gracefully leapt over the sofa and took his place next to Marini.

Chad Thomas looked like a rock star. He was so different from the rest of the clean-cut, conformist vampires. In my experience, vampires tend to be uniform in their appearance and the way they act. There’s something about their training that teaches them to follow the crowd. Even Daniel had been a very typical vampire after he’d come home from the Council. I realized now that his conformity had been a part of his defense against the people who tortured him.

Chad looked so different that I worried his individuality was cause for concern.

“He didn’t come home,” Neil said softly, looking at his lover.

Chad should have been allowed to return to the territory of his choice after his year’s training with the Council was finished. When we returned from Faery, the first thing Neil did was go looking for his boyfriend. Chad’s house in the country was empty and there’d been no explanation why he was still out of town. I didn’t like the fact that our spy seemed so awfully chummy with our worst enemy.

Now I had the added problem of Neil mooning over his lover. Neil is my best friend and the most loyal person I’ve ever met. He would lay down his life for me, but he doesn’t lie well.

I stopped in front of the bar. “Neil, I need you to go back upstairs and wait for me in the penthouse.” Neil stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind. “You can’t be serious. There’s a ton of vamps over there. You can’t expect me to let you walk in there alone.”

“And you’re going to do what?” I wasn’t trying to be a bitch, but I needed to point out some weaknesses in our current situation. Neil hadn’t had vampire blood in over a year. While he was still strong, he wasn’t going to be able to take out one old vamp, much less four or five. “Sweetie, I love you, but you’re outnumbered.”

Neil glanced back toward the relative safety of Dev’s office. “I’ll go force Daniel to get up.”

I shook my head. “Danny’s down for the count and so is Dev. I’ve got to handle Marini myself, and that’s going to be a hell of a lot easier if I don’t have to worry about you.”

“Why the hell would you worry about me?”

Sighing inwardly, I handled Neil the best way I knew how. I wasn’t going to point out how weak he was. That would only make him feel like crap and put him in a place where he might try to prove me wrong. I had one option. “Neil, what happens when Marini starts asking questions? What happens when he asks what we’ve been up to lately?”

His face fell. He knew he wasn’t a good liar. He also knew how dangerous that little imperfection was in our current situation. “God, Z, let me go get Lee.”

I shook my head. My personal bodyguard was an even worse risk. He’d wanted to get his hands on Marini for a long time. I doubted Lee would sit back and let me handle the vampire. “Neil, you either trust me or you don’t.”

“Fine. I’ll be in the penthouse. Call me if you need me.” Neil turned and stalked off, but I saw him talk to the bouncer at the stairs and knew he was telling security to keep an eye out for me.

One down and two to go. I nodded to Michael that I was ready to continue. He stepped up the stairs that led to the VIP room of the club. It resembled a very plush living room with leather couches, plasma televisions, and a dedicated bar and waitstaff, though I was sure they wouldn’t be making much off bottle service this evening.

Marini stood up. The Frenchman was tall and well built. Like most vampires, he was incredibly attractive. He had dark hair that was slicked back and his skin was like fine porcelain, though it didn’t make him look even vaguely feminine. There was nothing about the head of the Council that didn’t scream dominant male. His eyes were dark, and they heated up with satisfaction as Michael led me to him. His lips quirked up, and he raised an eyebrow at my state of dress. He’d never seen me less than perfect. I could only hope he found casual Zoey unattractive.