Be Still My Vampire Heart
By Kerrelyn Sparks
Avon
Copyright © 2007
Kerrelyn Sparks
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-06-111844-9
Chapter One
After four hundred and ninety-three years of teleporting
from one place to another, Angus MacKay still felt an
urge to peek under his kilt to ensure everything had
arrived in fine working condition. There were some areas
where a man, vampire or not, would hate to find himself
shortchanged. He resisted, though, since he wasn't
alone. He'd just materialized in Roman Draganesti's
office at Romatech Industries, and the former monk was
sitting behind his desk, watching him calmly.
Angus swung his claymore off his back. "All right, old
friend, who can I kill for ye tonight?"
Roman chuckled. "Always ready for action. Thank God you
never change."
Angus winced inwardly. He'd only been kidding. "Ye ...
do want me to kill someone?"
"Hopefully not. I think a good scare will be enough."
"Ah." From the corner of his eye, Angus saw the door
open. "You couldna have Connor do the scaring? He's a
verra frightful-looking man."
"I heard that." Connor entered the room, carrying a
folder.
Grinning, Angus took a seat and lay the sheath
containing his favorite claymore across his lap. "So
what's the problem?"
"The slayer is at it again. A vampire was murdered last
night in Central Park," Roman explained. "A Russian
Malcontent."
"Och, that's good." Angus nodded. One less Malcontent to
worry about. Those bloody vampires refused to modernize
and drink the synthetic blood manufactured at Romatech.
"No, it's bad," Roman countered. "Katya Miniskaya just
called and accused us of the murder."
At the sound of her name, Angus's grip tightened around
the leather sheath. He kept his face blank. "I'm
surprised she's still coven master."
Connor sat in the chair next to Angus. "She's vicious
enough for it. I heard some of the Russian men
complained about having a female master, and they dinna
live through the night."
"Aye, she can be verra vicious." Angus felt Roman's
sympathetic gaze on him and looked away. The monk knew
too much. Fortunately, any transgressions he'd confessed
to his old friend were held in strictest confidence.
"Katya's threatening us," Connor continued. "If anyone
else in her coven is slain, she'll declare war on us."
"Bugger," Angus muttered. "So who is the slayer? He may
be causing trouble, but he deserves a medal." He looked
at his employee.
Connor snorted. "I dinna do it, and neither did my men.
Ye pay us to protect Roman, his wife, his home, and his
business, and there's only three of us for the job. We
doona have time to wander about Central Park."
Angus nodded. As owner of MacKay Security and
Investigation, he provided protection for a number of
important coven masters like Roman. He'd recently
reassigned five of Connor's men. "I'm sorry to leave ye
shorthanded, but I need every available man in the
field. 'Tis imperative we locate Casimir before he ..."
Angus didn't want to say the words. Hell, he didn't even
want to think them. For three hundred years, they'd
believed the world's most evil vampire was dead, only to
discover he was still lurking about and still intent on
murder and destruction.
"Any luck finding him?" Roman asked.
"Nay. Nothing but false leads." Angus drummed his
fingers on the leather sheath in his lap. "So do ye have
any idea who the slayer is? Could he be the same one who
killed a few Malcontents last summer?"
"We believe so." Roman sat forward, leaning on his
elbows. "Connor thinks he's working for the CIA."
Angus blinked. "A
mortal killing vampires? 'Tis highly
unlikely."
"We think it's one of the Stake-Out team." Connor tapped
the folder he was carrying. Written in bold letters
across the front was
Stake-Out Team.
There was an awkward pause, since they all knew the
leader of the Stake-Out team was Roman's mortal
father-in-law.
Angus cleared his throat. "Ye think Shanna's father is
the slayer? No offense to yer wife, Roman, but I wouldna
mind scaring the shit out of Sean Whelan."
Roman sighed. "He is a ... nuisance."
Angus agreed, though he would have used more colorful
language. "How many did the slayer kill last summer?"
"Three," Connor answered.
Angus narrowed his eyes. "Why did he stop for a while,
then start killing again?"
"Since the beginning of March, two mortals have been
killed in Central Park, their throats slashed," Roman
explained.
"To cover up bite marks," Angus concluded. It was an old
vampire trick. "So the Malcontents started this, and the
slayer is exacting revenge."
"Yes," Roman agreed. "After those mortals were murdered,
I threatened to run Katya and her coven out of the
country. So it's logical for her to assume we're the
ones retaliating."
"Aye. No one would ever believe a mortal capable of
killing a vampire." Angus frowned. This was lousy
timing. He didn't have time to go hunting for some
mortal slayer, not when Casimir was growing his army by
transforming criminals and murderers into vampires. The
evil vampires needed to be stopped before they
outnumbered the good Vamps and another war erupted. No
doubt that was exactly why the Malcontents were stirring
up trouble at this time. They wanted to distract Angus
and his employees from their true purpose.
"Hi, guys!" The door swung open, and Gregori strode
inside. "What's up?" His grin faded as he studied
everyone's faces. "Sheesh, you look like you've been to
a funeral. What happened, MacKay? Did you get a run in
your fancy knee socks?"
"They're called hose," Angus grumbled.
Gregori snorted. "Oh, that's manly. Wait, I know what
happened. You put your kilt on backwards and when you
sat down, ouch! Your little sword-shaped kilt pin poked
you in the ass."
Angus arched an eyebrow at Gregori, then glanced at
Connor. "How can it be that ye havena killed this one?"
Gregori blinked. "Excuse me?"
Roman chuckled as he fumbled in a desk drawer. "Play
nice while I'm gone."
"Ye're leaving?" Angus asked.
"I'm going to Shanna's doctor appointment with her." He
set a bottle of reddish-amber liquid onto the desk. It
boasted a shiny gold label that said
Blissky. "This is
for you, Angus. We start selling it next week."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Be Still My Vampire Heart
by Kerrelyn Sparks
Copyright © 2007 by Kerrelyn Sparks.
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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