Danger Calls. Caridad Pineiro

      The journal flew across the room and hit the wall with a dull, but satisfying, thud.

      Useless. Totally useless.

      The Danvers clan had apparently been guarding some kind of secret for a long time, only this journal hadn’t provided any information on the nature of their clandestine duties or how those duties tied into Frederick Danvers’s recent experiments.

      Another lab rat had died. Just one more rat to go and there was still nothing to keep the cell strain going. Nothing to give a clue as to how to activate the frozen samples.

      It was risky to try anything else right now. Security had been tightened at the hospital and the surveillance of Melissa’s office had revealed nothing. If she had other journals, she wasn’t endangering them by bringing them to the hospital.

      Which meant she might have them at home. Only a home intrusion posed many increased risks, including injury to the inhabitants. Not that collateral damage of that kind was a problem, but if Melissa was the last Danvers with knowledge of the secret, the risk of losing her was too extreme. At least for now.

      There was one lab rat and a fresh supply of human blood to inoculate with the cell strain. Maybe this time it would take.

      Chapter 7

      “Are you sure it was a blood bag?”

      Melissa dragged a hand through her hair. “As sure as I could be without checking her knapsack.” With an exasperated sigh, she continued, “Is she like me? A keeper? It would make sense, wouldn’t it? As a nurse, she knows a lot of medical stuff. She could take care of needs like yours.”

      “Possibly.” Ryder lowered his gaze as if further considering her question.

      Diana, who was perusing the list Melissa had given her earlier, jumped in with, “Sara Martinez. It’s a common name. Anything else you can give me? Birth date? Social Security Number?”

      “We’re both Virgos. I think she was born on August 27th.”

      “Virgos, huh? That makes you headstrong and intelligent. And would it be so bad if you had fellow-keeper company?” Sebastian asked.

      Ignoring him, Melissa shot up off the sofa and paced a step or two before facing Ryder and Diana. “So is it possible? Could Sara be a keeper like me?”

      “I know there are other vampires, but I don’t know who they are or where they are.”

      Melissa examined him, trying to figure out how he could be so damn complacent about this. But she saw that while his tone sounded relaxed, he tapped his closed fist against the arm of the sofa in a nervous gesture. “How could you not know?”

      To stop the growing tension between Melissa and Ryder, Sebastian quipped, “It’s not like there’s some secret organization like VLAD, Melissa.”

      “VLAD?” She faced him, a confused look on her face.

      “Sí. Vampires, Lycanthropes And Demons. Get it? VLAD. Like the Impaler.” He made a staking motion with one hand.

      It brought a small smile to Melissa’s lips and dragged a strangled chuckle from Diana.

      “Is it possible that your father knew somehow? Maybe he figured out what Sara was up to? Confronted her about it?” Ryder asked, completely ignoring Sebastian’s attempt at humor.

      Melissa seated herself on the arm of the sofa, so close Sebastian could smell her perfume, a scent with a hint of lilacs. So close he could detect the tightness of her body as she answered, “My father was kind of old-fashioned that way. He was a doctor. She was a nurse. There was no reason for him to get to know Sara.”

      “But maybe she knew about him,” Ryder replied. “Maybe she wanted something from him.”

      “What?” Melissa pressed, her hands fluttering in the air with her distress.

      “Information she obviously didn’t get,” Sebastian supplied. Then he asked Diana, “Are we sure someone killed Melissa’s parents? There’s no room for doubt about that?”

      “None. The copies of the reports Peter Daly got for me show gross errors during the initial investigation.” She turned her attention to Melissa. “Is there anything else you can think of—”

      “Nothing, but maybe there’s more in my father’s journals. Maybe I should get started there instead of with the older ones.”

      “Not without some safeguards,” Ryder advised and looked across the small distance to Sebastian, pinning him with his gaze. “Are you ready to get started?”

      Sebastian sat up straighter and squared his shoulders, bracing himself for anything else Ryder might say. “I finished all the programming and setup this afternoon. We can scan tonight if you’d like.”

      “The sooner, the better,” Ryder confirmed.

      “I need a break and even though I’m not really hungry, I need some dinner. After that, Sebastian can get started. Once he’s done with Father’s first journal, I’ll start reviewing it to see if I can make sense of what was going on.”