A Perfect Blood

wearing only a suit. And a pistol. And a really big grudge that Dr. Cordova was here.
    The stairway was painted cement block, and the round pipe railings on either side were cold as I followed Ivy belowground, the air becoming chill and stale as we descended. Another man waited at the bottom. This one was an I.S. cop, which surprised me until I remembered living vampires could see in the dark better than the best night goggles. It was a joint effort in the truest sense of the word, which made me feel good.
    The man respectfully inclined his head at Nina before gesturing Glenn closer. Apparently word of top I.S. brass possessing DMV workers got around. “There’s an air shaft not on the plans,” the living vampire said softly to Glenn, pointing behind him into the dark. “It vents out into the parking lot. They, however, are over there.” He pointed in the other direction to a hazy light showing the low ceiling, and my teeth clenched.
    Glenn nodded, and we crept farther into the dark. I wasn’t used to having this much vanguard on my runs, but there was no such thing as being too careful when it came to black magic and HAPA. My pulse quickened at the growing light, and we slowed. The area downstairs appeared bigger than the area upstairs, a mere eight feet above our heads with thick pylons holding up the ceiling. It looked as if they’d stored huge tooling machines down here at one time, but the space was mostly empty now. My heart hammered when I heard a feminine voice call out, but it wasn’t in anger or surprise. It was them.
    We stopped at a thick ceiling support where another I.S. officer waited. His small pistol was holstered, but the look in his black eyes said he was ready for anything. “There,” he said as he pointed, and I leaned around him to look. My mouth went dry, and I felt for my splat guns.
    The suspects had hung milky plastic sheets from the ceiling to the floor to make an indistinct thirty-by-thirty room. Fuzzy shadows moved in the bright light behind it. It looked as if the plastic was two layers thick to help retain heat. I could hear the soft droning of a machine, and the easy talk of two people who hadn’t a care in the world—and it pissed me off.
    Glenn pulled back into the shadow, and we clustered around him. He glanced at his watch, grimacing. “We have two minutes before they come in the far end through the elevator shaft on the other side. How many people are there?”
    “Two males,” the I.S. guy said, glancing first to Nina, and then Glenn. “Three females, one in a modified dog cage. We can’t tell if she’s conscious, but we’re getting good aura impressions from her. We might be in time for this one.”
    God, I hoped so. I thought it odd that vampires preyed on people and yet had a huge drive to protect, but that’s the way it was.
    Glenn checked his watch again, and I wiped my hands off on my leather pants. Ivy retied her hair back out of the way. Nina cracked her knuckles and took off her coat.
    Ivy stared at her. “You’re not coming any farther,” she said flatly. “I’ll watch Rachel.”
    Nina stiffened. Silent, she handed her coat to the I.S. officer and commandeered his pistol.
    “You don’t have the practice resisting your instincts in a high-stress environment,” Ivy said, her voice low but intent. “Felix, listen to me. You will lose control. ”
    “You overstep yourself, girl.”
    Nina/Felix’s voice was angry, tight, and threatening, and I edged back. Glenn was getting huffy, but the I.S. officer had retreated, too, his eyes going dark as he read the emotions flowing between the two vampires, one dead for at least a hundred years, and the other living, but the epitome of vampiric lust, desire, and restraint all rolled up into my roommate.
    “With all due respect,” Ivy said, not backing down an inch, “you’ve been out of the field too long, and the child you’re in has no experience at all . Stay here. Otherwise, I’ll be watching you so you don’t kill your host and you’ll be more of a hindrance than a help. You’re more of a liability than Rachel.”
    Glenn’s frown deepened, and he turned his back on the room glowing with light and warmth just a few yards away. “If your presence is going to jeopardize a safe acquisition, you will remain here. Sir.”
    Yeah, like that was going to happen.
    Nina sighted along the pistol at nothing. “I’m older than all of you together. I have control.”
    “Your host doesn’t,” Ivy