Zane's Redemption

Gabriel shook his head. “Nothing open. I could shift people around though, unless—” He scratched his head before he continued, “We just got this babysitting job in.”

“Babysitting?” Amaury echoed.

“I’ve gotta hear that,” Thomas mumbled under his breath.

“Couple of vampires, moved here about six months ago. A father with his hybrid daughter. She’s friends with G’s daughter. Goes to USF. Her father is leaving for a business trip for two to three weeks and needs us to babysit her twenty-four-seven.”

“She goes to college and needs a babysitter? Where’s her mother?” Samson asked.

“Died in a car accident six months ago.”

“But the girl is what, eighteen, nineteen?” Amaury asked, confusion pasted on his handsome features as he swept his shoulder length black hair back.

“Twenty, almost twenty-one,” Gabriel reported. “But according to her father, she’s a wild one: parties, guys, alcohol, the works. She’s acting out since her mother’s death. He fears she’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He’s very concerned about her and worried about leaving her alone. She’s liable to hurt herself.”

“So what does he want us to do?” Samson asked.

“Watch her and keep her away from any bad influence. No parties, no boys, etc. Piece of cake. I’ve put Oliver on the dayshift. It’ll be an easy job for him to take on and get his feet wet.”

Samson nodded. “I suppose I can’t keep him as my personal assistant forever. He’s got lots of potential.” Oliver, a human, had worked as his daytime assistant for over three years, almost four.

“He’ll do well. His assignment starts at daybreak.”

“Aren’t you guys overlooking something important?” Amaury interrupted.

Samson gave him a questioning look. “Oliver is well-trained. You’ve seen him in action. He’s a great bodyguard. He’s protected Delilah many times, and you know I would never provide my wife with sub-standard safety.”

“Yes, but your wife is human. This charge is a hybrid. She’s stronger than Oliver.”

Samson nodded. “I’m fully aware of that. But we can’t put a vampire on the dayshift. You know that as well as I do. And unfortunately, we don’t have a hybrid on staff. They're still too rare. It’ll have to be a human.”

“And what if she outsmarts him and uses mind control to slip away?” Amaury challenged, not letting the subject rest.

Samson ran his hand through his hair, but was saved from answering when Thomas cleared his voice.

“Samson, do I have your permission to tell them?”

Samson met Thomas’ gaze. Vampires themselves weren’t subject to mind control, in fact, it would result in a mental fight to the death if two vampires unleashed mind control on each other. However, Thomas had recently figured something out. “Go ahead, Thomas.”

“This is still in its early stages of experimentation, but Oliver and I have been working together over the last few weeks.”

“What experimentation?” Gabriel asked tightly, clearly miffed that he had not been informed.

“I’m trying to teach him how to resist mind control.”

Gabriel gasped. Amaury seemed unaffected by the revelation.

“But how?” Gabriel wanted to know.

“As you all know, mind control is my specialty. So, I’ve been trying to examine the underlying physical properties to figure out whether there’s a way for a human to be able to recognize mind control at its onset, and then break the vampire’s concentration.”

“You can’t be serious!” Gabriel jumped up. “If this works, then …”

“I know what you’re thinking, Gabriel,” Thomas said calmly, “but this will not become public knowledge. Only our most trusted humans, only the inner core, will know about it. I had the idea when Amaury told me that Nina was immune to his mind control even before they bonded.”

Amaury nodded. “And what a pain in the butt that was.”

Thomas grinned. “As if you would have it any other way.”

“You knew about this?” Gabriel asked.

Amaury shrugged. “What Nina knows, I know.”

Joking aside, I’ve had long conversations with Nina to figure out what she felt when Amaury was trying to use his powers on her. And I’m making progress with Oliver. He’s very smart and strong willed. That helps.”

“So, can he fend off mind control?” Gabriel asked impatiently.