Runaway Vampire (Argeneau, #23)(70)

“Oh,” Dante murmured, and asked, “For Mary and me?”

“For Mary and I,” he corrected. “You said you did not want help shopping.”

“Why do you have a man’s razor on there then?” Dante asked. “I saw your shaving kit in the bathroom.”

“Mary thought it was yours and used the razor,” he explained. “And then she broke it to slice up her T-shirt. She also used my toothbrush thinking it was yours.”

“Oh. Sorry,” he muttered.

Francis shrugged. “It is fine. I am not afraid of getting cooties or anything. I just thought it would be nice to get her a toothbrush of her own, as well as her own razors and such.” He paused briefly and then began to write again, muttering, “A hairbrush too.”

“Dante,” Russell said, drawing his attention away from the dark-haired man busily scrawling on his notepad. Once he had Dante’s attention, he suggested, “Now that the worry of Mary’s turn is out of the way, perhaps we should discuss ways we can set up another trap for the kidnappers.”

Dante nodded slowly, and then frowned and added, “If they are still around and have not given up.”

“They are still around,” Russell assured him.

Dante stiffened at this news and glanced worriedly toward the hall Mary had disappeared down.

“Relax. I kept an eye out for them when we left the hotel for here, and there was no sign of them. However, there was a dark van following Francis and me when we went to the furniture store and back. They left when the delivery truck pulled up, but I suspect they will pop up again, and we have to decide how to deal with them.”

“Yes,” Dante agreed, but glanced toward the hall to the bathrooms again and muttered, “Mary is taking a long time.”

Francis glanced up from his list at that comment and said, “Relax. I am sure she is fine. She was just embarrassed and wanted some time alone to compose herself.”

“Hmm.” Dante scowled at him. “That is your fault. You are the one who told her about that projecting business.”

“What? I should have left her ignorant?” Francis asked dryly. “Knowledge is power, my friend. She needed to know.”

“Yes, but—” Dante paused and sat back in his seat as their waitress rushed to the table.

“Um . . . hi,” she greeted them, her expression flustered, almost panicked. “Er . . . I was out having a cigarette and I think—I mean I saw—That lady who came in with you guys? I think she’s in trouble. Some guy just carried her out the back door of the restaurant and put her in a van. She was unconscious.”

Dante was out of his seat and rushing for the door before she’d finished speaking.


Mary woke to the hum of an engine and rumble of voices and for a minute, didn’t have a clue where she was. She also couldn’t open her eyes at first, or even move, she realized, and felt panic well up within her as she tried to sort out what was happening.

“Dr. Dressler is going to be mighty pleased with this shipment,” a man said, his voice filled with what sounded like glee. “Five vampires, two of them twins, and one a new turn. He’ll give us a huge bonus for this.”

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Ernie,” another voice cautioned. “Right now we only have the woman and the one twin. We haven’t captured the rest of them yet.”

“We will,” Ernie said with certainty. “That waitress told the fangers like you paid her to, and they’re following us. Once we stop at the warehouse, they’ll rush the van to save the girl and Danny and Jackson’ll take ’em out with the darts. Easy peasy.”

Mary frowned at this news, and actually felt her mouth move. Whatever they’d shot her with must be wearing off, she thought, and opened her eyes, happy when she was able to. She opened them all the way, and then closed them to slits in an effort not to give away that she was stirring. Mary then glanced around to see that she was lying on the floor in the back of a van. She had been placed along the wall behind the driver’s seat with her head toward the front of the van and her feet toward the back.

Mary tried to tilt her head back to look at the men who were speaking, but her head didn’t move. She didn’t think it would be long before it would; her fingers already had movement again, as did her hands, although she couldn’t move them far. She seemed to be tied up or something. She could move her feet too though, and they were bound. Still, the rest of her felt like she’d been given some kind of numbing agent. Whatever the darts held was definitely wearing off quickly.

“How much do you think our bonus will be for this one?” Ernie asked, his voice excited.

“I don’t know,” the driver muttered. “All I’m thinking about is making sure those fangers don’t catch up with us before we get to the warehouse.”

“They’re still two car lengths back,” Ernie said, his voice growing a little louder and Mary stilled, her eyes closing. She was quite sure the man had turned to glance back toward her as he spoke so stayed as still as she could, practically holding her breath.

“We still have six blocks to the warehouse,” the driver said grimly.

“Yeah, but they won’t try anything on a busy street,” Ernie said, his voice returning to the quieter level, suggesting he’d turned away again.