Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

there were plenty of humans at this shindig. Hard to hide from a roomful of vamps when you were the only one with a pulse.
     
    She sighed, ready to play Nancy Drew, and then she began threading her way through the crowd, asking a question here, making a comment there, and generally trying to look as much like a nosy, intrusive reporter as possible.
     
    Alexios had only two worries: one, that he would be too far away to protect Grace if danger came, and two, that he wouldn‟t find the Vampire‟s Bane before Rhys‟s glamour wore off and Vonos realized who he was. The last thing Alexios needed was for Anubisa to come after him again.
     
    The pain in his hands finally alerted him that he‟d clenched his fists together so tightly that they were aching. He forced himself to relax and, smiling and nodding at one and all, began searching for a doorway, alcove, or other possible entrance to a treasure room.
     
    The usual rich folk and hangers-on were at this party, but not until Alexios turned a corner behind the dessert table did he meet a real thug.
     
    “You tell me why you‟re trespassing back here, no?” The Russian accent, the thug-like expression. Prevacek.
     
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    “I got lost on the way to the bathroom, man,” Alexios confided quietly. “Have had to pee forever but this old woman with orange hair didn‟t want to let me get away. Peter Parker, reporter. Orlando Sun Times .” He stuck out his hand with a friendly grin and hoped the old Russian mobster had never watched Spidey movies.
     
    “Yes, yes, do not bother me now,” the vamp muttered, lurking in front of a plain wooden door. “Am very busy and important. You move along.”
     
    “Yeah, sure. Bathroom?”
     
    Prevacek pointed off toward the back of the hall. “That way. You go now.”
     
    As Alexios moved off, he saw a sleek, well-fed-looking human approach Prevacek.
    Instead of pushing him away as he‟d done with Alexios, though, Prevacek pasted a smile full of teeth on his face and, looking quickly in both directions, pulled the human through the door, shutting it firmly behind him.
     
    A touch at his elbow nearly had Alexios whirling around to attack, but Grace‟s voice murmured in his ear. “Ease down, big boy. What did you find?”
     
    “Found Prevacek, but he was awfully eager to get rid of me. He found somebody he liked more, though—a human man who reeked of money.”
     
    Her brows drew together in a frown. “Was that monkey-looking guy Prevacek? Because that was Snyder, the real estate mogul who took over from Fuller, who went through that door with him.”
     
    “So the plot thickens,” Rhys said, appearing from nowhere, again. “This Fuller had a nasty habit of chopping down forests to create parking lots and shopping malls. He was on our list, and now that he‟s dead, Snyder will be watched. Especially now that he‟s shown up here in very nasty company.”
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    “You have a list?” Alexios wanted to hear this. “Who else is on it?”
     
    “Well, the lovely Grace could be on it, naked, if she‟d ever regain her sanity and dump you,” the Fae said so smoothly it made Alexios a little nauseous.
     
    He shot a glance at Grace and was pleased to see she was having the same reaction.
     
    “You want me, naked, on the same list that had slime-ball Carson Fuller on it?”
     
    Alexios grinned at the sound of the acid in her tone, but they didn‟t have time for this.
    “Focus, you two. Garanwyn, I‟ll kick your ass for you later. For now, we need to find that treasure room.”
     
    “It‟s almost certainly in the central panic room the architect designed, but we‟ll have to get through double default doors to get to it,” Rhys said.
     
    “And you know this how?”
     
    “The architect and I had a little chat.” The Fae grinned, a wicked leer on his face.
     
    “I just bet you did,” Grace said, rolling her eyes. “Was she a blonde or brunette?”
     
    “Redhead,” the Fae said. “A lovely, natural redhead, which is so rare these days—”
     
    “Focus,” Grace growled at him. “Why do I find it so interesting that Vonos is coming out of the door clear over there across the room from where his goon disappeared to with the real estate guy?”
     
    “Plausible deniability?” Alexios suggested. “He‟s out here in plain sight while somebody else eats the guests?”
    Atlantis