CHAPTER FIVE

Baojia thought he had perfected patience in the previous 129 years, but his brother-in-law was trying it.

“Rory, ignoring the dead humans for the time being, this needs to be looked into for two reasons. One, it will look very bad for Ernesto if there is an out-of-control vampire draining women and leaving them for the human authorities to find. It’s sloppy. Two, it’s bad for business.”

He sat at his desk, idly tapping a pencil next to the driver’s license picture of Natalie Ellis as he spoke to Rory on the speaker phone. It was not a sufficient picture. She looked pale and unsmiling, nothing like the vibrant young woman he’d spoken to that night at the bar. Rory was huffing and puffing on the other end of the line, probably more irritated than concerned that Baojia was thrusting another task on him.

“I just don’t understand why—”

“Nine human women found out in the desert creates headlines, Rory. Headlines that might be picked up by more than local news.”

Her words from the other night rankled him. You don’t know me well enough to have an opinion about what I can and can’t do.

Oh how wrong you are, pretty human.

Baojia continued gently lecturing his brother-in-law. “National news would be the worst. The last thing that our sire’s very profitable clubs and casinos need is a drop in tourism because the national news is speculating about a serial killer in San Diego. It’s not there yet, but if this isn’t dealt with, it could be. Now…” He paused. “If you’ll ask Ernesto, I’d be happy to look into it. It’s closer to me, and the club—”

“I’ll take care of it,” Rory broke in. “I can deal with this. I don’t need your help.”

Great. Now he’d pissed off Paula’s husband, too. He was never getting back home. “Fine. I was only offering because I know you’re busy.”

“Yeah, well…” Rory sounded slightly mollified. “It’s fine. Thanks for the offer, but I’ll get some guys on it.”

“There is an earth vampire who lives outside Brawley. He goes by Tulio. He’s a bit of a hermit, but he can be helpful at times.”

“Money?”

It was always hard to tell with Tulio. The immortal was quite old and very temperamental. “Just feel him out. He doesn’t have much use for human money, but he likes favors. Often just knowing you’ll owe him one is enough. He’s highly territorial, so if there’s been an incursion near him, he won’t like it.”

“Does he recognize Ernesto?”

“As much as he recognizes anyone. Remember, he’s a hermit. He has no interest in politics. But he’s cautious, too.”

“Okay.” He heard Rory shuffling papers. “Thanks for the tip.”

“You’re welcome. And let me know if I can help.”

“I heard you called Ivan’s people.”

It was easy to forget how fast news traveled. “I had some questions for him. Nightclub business.”

“Anything to worry about?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Good,” Rory said. “None of us wants trouble with Ivan.”

“ Fo/spa

“Talk to you later.” Rory immediately hung up, which meant the phone switched over to the other call. There was a slight clicking sound, then he heard Dez’s voice.

“—don’t know how long it will take her, Matt. The traffic down there—”

“Dez?” Why was Dez calling? This couldn’t be good.

“Baojia! Natalie’s on her way to Mexico.”

“What?” His fangs dropped and he stood up at his desk, already in motion. “When? Why?”

“I don’t know! She didn’t call me, or I would have tried to talk her out of it. She’s probably pissed at me because I’m still giving her the runaround about our conversation last week.”

He shook his head. “So how do you know she’s on her way to Mexico?”

“She tweeted a picture of the border traffic. I guess she’s stuck there. It’s Friday night—you know how bad it gets around San Ysidro, even on the US side.”

“She’s stuck in traffic?” He strode toward the door and waved for the first waitress he saw. “Get Luis now,” he whispered.

“She was, but I don’t know how long—”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Do you think she’s going after Ivan?”

Baojia’s heart thumped. He had a feeling it was only a matter of time. He’d gone to her apartment, but the pile of papers scattered over her desk before had been gone, and there was no sign of her notes anywhere. He suspected she had taken them to her office or put them somewhere safer. Part of him was glad she was becoming more cautious, but the other part was just annoyed.

“I don’t know. I’ll do what I can.”

Dez sounded like she was almost in tears. “Baojia—”

“I’ll do what I can, Dez.” He waved Luis over when he saw him coming down the hall and threw a set of keys at him. “I’ll call you later.”

He immediately picked up a pencil and dialed her friend and editor’s number. He heard Kristy pick up.

“Hello?”

“Kristy.” All pretense of the polite man was gone. “This is George. Natalie’s friend from the other night.”

“Oh, hey! Wait, how did you get this number?”