Oliver's Hunger

“Yes, too empty. And it smelled clean too, as if a cleaning crew had been through there just recently. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”

“Doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“I think we should wait until Gabriel is back from New York.”

Zane narrowed his eyes. “What for?”

Oliver motioned him farther away from the car and lowered his voice, not wanting Ursula to overhear his suggestion. “He could look into her memories and tell us what she’s seen.”

“That won’t help if somebody planted false memories in her.”

“I disagree. Gabriel was able to see in Maya’s memories where they had been altered by a vampire. He would recognize it if somebody had tampered with her memories. I think we should wait.”

Zane shook his head almost instantly. “Listen, Oliver. There was nothing in there. If she really escaped from that building last night, why didn’t we find any traces of anything in there? I tell you why: because they were never there in the first place. My order stands. You can either take care of it together with Cain, or Cain will do it on his own!”

“No!” Oliver protested. He didn’t want anybody manhandling her. “I’ll do it.” And he already hated himself for it. But he couldn’t dispute their findings: the property was empty and there was no trace of any other vampires or of the girls Ursula had mentioned. She had lied to him again, and as much as he wished he were wrong, he couldn’t simply set aside the evidence.

Zane nodded, but before he could walk away, his cell phone rang.

“Yes?” he answered it with a bark.

Oliver’s sensitive hearing picked up the voice on the other end, Thomas’s.

“A couple of crazy vamps were spotted in a nightclub downtown! I need all available men! Now!”

“Shit!” Zane cursed, waved Amaury toward the Hummer, then looked to Cain, who still sat in the minivan. “Change of plans: Cain, we need you. We have a lead on those vamps going berserk.”

“Fuck!” Cain cursed as he jumped out of the van.

“If we hurry, I think we can get them this time!” Zane answered, tossing a look back at Oliver and pointing his finger at him. “You have your orders. I don’t like sending you on your own. Don’t make me regret it!”

Then he and his two colleagues jumped into the Hummer and sped off.

When Oliver looked back at Ursula, he noticed her pleading look. Her brown eyes looked like saucers, a rim of wetness around them. He shut the passenger door without a word and averted his gaze.

Oliver got into the driver’s seat and pulled the door shut. Without looking at Ursula, he turned the key in the ignition and put the car in drive. Then he turned the van around and watched how the building disappeared from the rear-view mirror when he turned at the next intersection.

He headed toward the freeway that led to the airport which was located a half hour south of San Francisco. Traffic was light.

“Please don’t do this,” she pleaded, her voice sounding choked up.

He kept his eyes on the road, afraid that he would falter if he looked at her. “I have no choice.”

Without Scanguards’ backing, he couldn’t do anything else for her. His trust in her was shaken. He’d actually believed her when she’d told him about her imprisonment, even more so when he’d seen her break after hearing the news that her parents believed her to be dead. What a fool he’d been to allow a pretty woman to cloud his judgment.

“You always have a choice,” she claimed. “You just don’t want to believe me.”

He spun his head to stare at her. “I did believe you! But you lied to me and my colleagues. You led us around by our noses.” And me by my dick, he should have added. “I’m afraid, I’m all done with believing in lies for tonight.”

“They’re not lies!” she cried out, glaring back at him.

God, how her cheeks flared with anger, and how beautiful it made her look. And her lips, so plump and inviting despite the lies that rolled over them.

Oliver trained his look back on the freeway. “I even gave you the benefit of the doubt when you didn’t want to tell me how you really escaped. I did everything to convince my colleagues to check out your claims. I stuck my neck out for you!”

“Please, don’t give up on me. There are other lives at stake. The other girls—”

“There are no other girls!” he cut her off, gripping the steering wheel more tightly. “You’ve made it all up. And I don’t even want to know anymore why.” Because he didn’t want to hear any more lies. Not out of that pretty mouth she’d kissed him with. Oh damn, why could he not forget that? Would this image haunt him forever?