"That wasn't Portuguese," Bastien said at once.
"Well, hell, Bastien, I know that. It was Portuguese the first time."
An exasperated sound came down the line and then Thomas heard Etienne say something in the background.
"What did he say?" Thomas asked with a frown.
"He said apologize and just keep apologizing. It's the only way to handle a woman," Bastien told him, and then added, "It works with Terri."
"Apologize," Thomas muttered, taking the phone away and moving it back to the door in case Inez responded in Portuguese again.
"Inez? I'm sorry I bit you," he said with sincere regret, and then inspiration made him add, "Bastien made me do it."
"What?" Inez screeched, and the word was echoed by Bastien on the phone.
"Well, you did," Thomas pointed out, placing the phone back to his ear. "You told me to bite her. I didn't want to do it but you were going on and on about flying while hungry. I never would have bit her otherwise. You made me."
Thomas heard Bastien curse on the phone, but he was already moving the phone back to the door. Inez had started ranting again in Portuguese. It ended with English again, this time it was, "I work for the devil!"
"Yes, well, you should try being his cousin," Thomas muttered. Inez must have heard him. She was suddenly terribly quiet. Bastien wasn't, however, Thomas could hear him squawking away over the phone, his voice not dissimilar to the squeaky voice of a mouse in a cartoon at that distance. Sighing, he placed the phone back to his ear.
"What did she say in Portuguese?" he asked, cutting off Bastien.
"She said you're a soulless vampire, a blood-sucking fiend, and she has a cross and knows how to use it," Bastien translated dryly. "Look, I'm going to hand you over to Etienne and use my cell to call the office there in London and have someone sent over to wipe her memory."
"No! Don't do that!" Thomas said sharply. He didn't know why, but the idea of another immortal messing with Inez's brain made him cringe. Taking a breath, he said, "Look, just give me a minute. I can fix this. There's no need to wipe her memory."
He didn't give Bastien the chance to argue the point, but lowered the phone and stepped closer to the door. "Look, Inez, I'm sorry I bit you. I really am, and I really didn't want to. Like I said, Bastien insisted on it. I shouldn't have given in, but...It didn't hurt, did it?"
Inez scowled, her suspicious gaze fixed on the bathroom door. In truth, the bite hadn't hurt. It had even been pleasurable...at least until she'd seen his fangs and realized what he'd done. That thought made her frown. He'd had a reflection. Vampires weren't supposed to have one. Maybe he was just a freak and the fangs were glued on. That made more sense than that he might be a vampire. A freak was better than a vampire, wasn't it? She pondered the matter, but really wasn't sure which would be worse.
"What are you?" she asked suddenly. "Some sort of gothfreak vampire wannabe?"
"No, I-" His voice died briefly and then she heard him muttering, "No, Bastien. I don't want you to have her memory wiped. Just give me a minute here."
Inez frowned in the silence that followed, wondering what he meant by having her memory wiped. While she wasn't sure what it was, it didn't sound like something she wanted either.
"No," Thomas repeated on the other side of the door. "She's my damned lifemate, Bastien, and you aren't having her wiped."
Inez's eyebrows rose. She was his damned lifemate? What did that mean? Was she literally damned now that he'd bit her? Frowning, she turned to peer in the mirror at the marks on her neck. Was she a vampire now too? She didn't feel soulless and dead. And she did still have a reflection. What-
"Another five minutes isn't going to make much difference," Thomas snapped on the other side of the door. "You're the one who said she was the best damned employee you've ever had. She's smart and sensible. I can make her see sense. Instead of calling Wyatt and ordering him to come here and wipe her, call the damned airport and book a seat for her on the plane to Amsterdam."
Inez frowned at the mention of Wyatt. He was the president of UK development for Argent, the British division of Argeneau Enterprises. He was her boss. She had always liked the man, but now recalled that he too had an allergy to sunlight. In fact, most of the upper echelon of executives did, she realized.
Dear God, she worked in a nest of vampires! How could she have worked with them all so long and not realized?
She was realizing now, of course, and noticing other oddities; like the fact that few of the upper echelon of the company ate food or drank alcohol or even tea or coffee. They were all friendly, and nice, intelligent people, but didn't do the usual social things like going out for drinks together after landing a big contract, or attending the Christmas parties and other celebrations the underlings at the company held. In fact, only the day workers attended such functions, she realized with dismay.
"Yes, we can still make the flight to Amsterdam," Thomas insisted on the other side of the door. "Just let me talk to the woman without you interrupting me."
Inez couldn't hear Bastien's response, but supposed he must have agreed when Thomas cleared his throat and said close to the door, "Look, Inez, I got a hold of someone who was able to track Aunt Marguerite's cell phone. It turns out she isn't here at all. She's in Amsterdam, so I have to fly over there. In fact, I'm booked on a flight for six-fifty and I have to leave soon to catch it."
"Okay. You go ahead," she suggested and heard him sigh on the other side of the door.
"I can't until we fix this."
"There's nothing to fix. I'm fine," Inez lied glibly. "You go on and fly to Amsterdam."
"I can't. I want to explain everything to you so that you won't be afraid or freaked out anymore," he said quietly.
"I'm not freaked out," she lied again.
"Right," he said dryly.
"Okay, maybe I'm a little freaked out, but I'll be fine," Inez assured him and then held her breath, praying he'd just go away and leave her alone. She'd slip out and call the police...No, she couldn't do that, they'd think she was mad. Maybe she should go to her church. Surely the church knew about the evil living in the bosom of London?
"Inez, I can't just go away."
She closed her eyes at his unhappy words, and then opened them again and suggested, "Okay, so explain."
"I can't do that either. Not right this minute anyway, it would take too long and we have to catch that flight to Amsterdam."
"We?" she echoed with alarm.
"Yes. Won't you please come out of there and fly to Amsterdam with me so that I can explain matters to you? I promise not to bite you again."
Inez didn't say anything, but she was shaking her head with certainty. There was no way she was going anywhere with the man. He'd bit her, for cripes sake. Asking her to accompany him was like asking her to get in the back of a van with a rabid dog. How stupid did he think she was?
"Inez? You were here all day and were perfectly safe. If I'd wanted to harm you, I could have done so first thing this morning when we were alone in the suite, but I didn't, did I? Instead I drew you a bath and ordered you a breakfast, and-"
"And then you bit me," Inez snapped, interrupting him before his words could remind her of the kinder feelings she'd had for him earlier in the day. And she had most definitely had kinder feelings all day for the man. She had luxuriated in her bubble bath, thinking what a wonderful, thoughtful, sweet man Thomas Argeneau was. She'd eaten her breakfast, every bite giving her fonder and fonder thoughts of the man. And the tea? The first sip of the golden nectar had nearly convinced her Thomas was a God among men.
After her bath, Inez had gone out, looked down at his sleeping face and noticed just how handsome and sweet he looked in sleep. She'd wanted to touch his soft, dark hair and brush it away from his chiseled features softened in sleep. She hadn't, but she also hadn't had the heart to wake him, and had set up shop in the suite's bedroom to avoid disturbing him as she made the calls, first arranging for the car to be brought into the city from the warehouse, then calling hotel after hotel, and then car rental agency after car rental agency, stopping only to walk out and moon over the pretty man asleep on the sofa and ponder how wonderful it would be to have a handsome, thoughtful man such as he in her life.
Every time she'd been placed on hold as she made her calls, Inez had found herself sitting there, fantasizing about what it would be like to have a man like him to come home to at the end of a long hard workday. She'd imagined him greeting her at the door with a kiss, the smells of scrumptious cooking drifting to her as he kissed her hello, his hands moving over her body, stripping away her clothes and then caressing every inch of skin revealed...
Oh, yes, Inez had woven a lovely little fantasy in her mind and had been happy when he'd woken up and come to join her...right up until he bit her.
"I won't hurt you," Thomas said solemnly through the door. "I could have broken down this door if I wanted, but I haven't, have I? I don't want to hurt or frighten you, Inez. Once we leave this suite, you'll be surrounded by people in the hotel, the taxi driver in the car, the people at the airport and on the plane, and you'll have your own room at the hotel. You only have to see me in public where you feel safe so I can explain everything. Surely you're curious to know about us?"
Inez scowled at the door, cursing herself for being tempted by the promise of an explanation.
"Please," he said quietly, and then added, "You've worked for Bastien for...how long now?"
"Eight years," she admitted reluctantly.
"Right. Eight years. And he says you're one of the best employees he's ever had. He wouldn't let anyone hurt you."
"You just told me not five minutes ago that he told you to bite me," she pointed out dryly.
"Yes, but he didn't think it would hurt you, or that you'd even remember it. I was supposed to wipe it from your memory."
She snorted at that.
"Look, Inez. If you don't come with me and let me explain things, he's going to send over someone to clean up this mess."
Inez frowned at the door. "Clean up this mess?"
"Yes. He'll send an immortal to come here and remove this incident from your memory."
"Like you were supposed to do?" she asked dryly.
"Yes."
She ignored the fear that quivered through her at the thought and said, "You couldn't do it. What makes you think anyone else could?"
"I'll explain that too, but we really don't have time right this minute. I have to head to the airport. So make up your mind. Do we wait here for someone to come remove this whole incident from your memory, or do you come with me, memory intact and perfectly safe?"
Inez hesitated, considering her alternatives, and then Thomas added, "If they remove your memory, they'll probably remove the memory of everything from the day you were promoted on. You'll go back to being whatever you were before being promoted to vice president."
"What?" she squawked with dismay. While Inez wasn't completely sure she wanted the job anymore, she wasn't sure she wanted to give it up either. This whole working for and with a nest of vampires rather sullied things. But Inez had worked for Argeneau Enterprises for eight years and enjoyed her greatest triumphs there. She'd also worked long and hard for that promotion. She'd neglected her own social life, forsaking dates for work and pouring all her energy and time into it, building a career and climbing the corporate ladder to her vice presidency. She'd worked too damned hard and given up too much to let anyone take it away.
"That's the only alternative," Thomas explained. "Either you come with me to Amsterdam and allow me to explain things, or we wait here for Wyatt to come wipe everything from your memory."
"But just the memory of the bite," she protested. "He wouldn't-"
"He'll wipe everything from the last few months," Thomas responded firmly. "Bastien was supposed to explain about our people to you when you were promoted. In fact, you shouldn't have been promoted without it. You were sent to New York to be told about us. If you'd been able to accept it and agreed to keep the secret, you would have been promoted. If you hadn't, what he'd told you would have been wiped from your memory and you wouldn't ever have been promoted.
"Unfortunately," he added dryly, "Bastien was a bit distracted at the time. He'd just met his lifemate and there was a lot going on. He promoted you, but sent you back to England without doing the rest of it. Wyatt was supposed to keep you from any jobs or information that might give us away until Bastien could fly to England and take care of you. If you can't accept us and our explanations, Wyatt will wipe everything from your memory, including your promotion."
Thomas let that sink in and then said, "So what is it going to be? Are you going to fly to Amsterdam with me and allow me to explain? Or do we wait for Wyatt, let him wipe your memory and return you to whatever job you had before the promotion?" He waited a beat, and then added, "At least until they find another job for you and remove you from the company altogether."
Inez didn't have to think long. Her career had become her life. She wouldn't give it up easily. In fact, they'd have to take the key to the vice president's office from her dead, clutching fingers before she'd give it up. Still, she hesitated, her eyes on the doorknob, but her fingers refusing to reach for it.
Finally, she raised her hand to her throat. A golden cross hung from a fine gold chain around her neck. It had been blessed by the pope during a trip to Italy. It should have double power, but had been tucked inside her blouse when Thomas had bit her. Now, she pulled it out and held it up before her like a shield with her left hand as she unlocked the door and tugged it open with her right.
"Back up, Nosferatu!" Inez snapped, covering her fear with anger as she glared at Thomas. Much to her relief, he backed up at once.
