"Lover At Last" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ward, J.R.)

Bending in closer to the screen, Assail replayed the approach, zooming in to identify facial features, if possibleтАФand it was not. The head was covered with a knit mask, with cutouts only for the eyes, nose, and mouth. With the parka and ski pants on as well, the man was covered in his entirety.

Sitting back, Assail smiled to himself, his fangs tingling in territorial response.

There were but two parties who might be interested in his business, and going by the daylight that had reigned during this recon, it was clear the curiosity was not generated by the Brotherhood: Wrath would never use humans as anything other than a last-resort food source, and no vampire could withstand that amount of sunshine without turning into a torch.

Which left someone in the human worldтАФand there was only a single man with the interest and the resources to try to track him and his whereabouts.

тАЬEnter,тАЭ he said, just before a knock sounded on his door.

As the pair of males came in, he didnтАЩt bother to look away from the computer screen. тАЬHow did you sleep?тАЭ

A familiar, deep voice answered, тАЬLike the dead.тАЭ

тАЬHow fortunate for you. Jet lag can be a bore, or so IтАЩve heard. We had a visitor this morning, by the way.тАЭ

Assail leaned to one side so his two associates could review the footage.

It was odd to have housemates, but he was going to have to get used to their presence. When he had come to the New World, it had been a solo trip, and he had intended to keep things that way for numerous reasons. Success in his chosen field, however, had mandated that he pull in some backupтАФand the only people you could even partially trust were your family.

And the pair of them offered a unique benefit.

His two cousins were a rarity in the vampire species: a set of identical twins. When fully clothed, the only way anyone could tell them apart was by a single mole behind the earlobe; other than that, from their voices and their dark, suspicious eyes to their heavily muscled bodies, they were a mirror reflection of each other.

тАЬIтАЩm going out,тАЭ Assail announced to them. тАЬIf our visitor comes again, be hospitable, will you?тАЭ

Ehric, the older one by a matter of minutes, glanced over, his face highlighted by the glow around the bed base. Such evil in that handsome combination of featuresтАФto the point that one nearly felt pity for the interloper. тАЬтАЩTwill be a pleasure, I assure you.тАЭ

тАЬKeep him alive.тАЭ

тАЬBut of course.тАЭ

тАЬThat is a finer line than you two have at times appreciated.тАЭ

тАЬTrust me.тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs not you whom I am worried about.тАЭ Assail looked at the other one. тАЬDo you understand me?тАЭ

EhricтАЩs twin remained silent, although the male did nod once.

That grudging reaction was precisely why Assail would have preferred to keep his new life simple. But it was impossible to be in more than one place at a timeтАФand this violation of privacy was proof that he couldnтАЩt do everything by himself.

тАЬYou know how to locate me,тАЭ he said, before dismissing them from his room.

Twenty minutes later, he left the house showered, dressed, and behind the wheel of his bulletproof Range Rover.

Downtown Caldwell at night was beautiful at a distance, especially as he came over the inbound bridge. It was not until he penetrated the grid system of streets that the cityтАЩs sludge became evident: the alleyways with their filthy snowdrifts and their oozing Dumpsters and their discarded, half-frozen homeless humans told the true story of the municipalityтАЩs underbelly.

His worksite, as it were.