“Miguel.” A hand touched the back of his head. “Now, get up and give me a proper greeting.”

There was laughter in his Sire’s voice, and Miguel jumped to his feet with a grin, reaching out to take the proffered hand, feeling himself pulled into a quick embrace.

“Duncan,” Miguel said. “It’s so very good to see you.”

* * *

“Victor?” Duncan asked, as they strode directly to the BMW Miguel had left idling on the far side of the hangar.

“He’s at the house, hosting a small dinner party.”

“With humans?”

“Always. The only vamps he keeps around are his four guards.”

“The humans will have to be dealt with, then.”

“Not a problem, my lord,” Miguel said as he dropped into the driver’s seat of the sumptuous vehicle. “Louis and I can handle it.”

“Where is Louis?” Duncan asked, closing the passenger side door with a muted thump.

“Waiting outside the house, keeping an eye on things.”

“You anticipate trouble?”

“No, but tonight’s too important to leave to chance.”

Miguel drove out of the hangar and made a sharp right turn toward the access road. Duncan saw the doors of the hangar begin to close behind them almost immediately.

“How was your journey, my lord?” Miguel asked.

“Uneventful. Raphael sends his regards.”

“I’m honored.”

“So,” Duncan said, settling in for the drive back to the city. “What do I need to know about Victor’s setup tonight?”

“Same as always. He has his four vampire guards, two in his presence, two on guard elsewhere inside the house. They’re complacent in the routine, and the two not with Victor personally usually sit in a room near the front door, watching TV or playing video games. I’ve never seen them leave the house unless Victor’s with them. Exterior security, including the gate, is handled by humans around the clock, and they’re never permitted inside the residence. There’s a guest house that’s set up as a barracks if the human guards want it, but most of them have homes of their own and go there at the end of their shift. The estate is walled, with the only gate locked down during the day. At night, the human guards pretty much limit their duties to guarding the gate, with only the occasional perimeter patrol.”

An accident had snarled traffic on the Beltway, and Miguel zipped across several lanes, utilizing the lightning fast reflexes granted by his vampire blood. Duncan grinned. “Still a terrible driver, I see.”

“Not true, my lord. The accident was already there.”

Duncan laughed, but sobered immediately. “What about Victor’s guests?”

“It’s a small dinner party, just Victor and three humans—a couple of legislators and a K Street scumbag with lots of money to hand out. All males, which is par for the course with Victor. As far as I know, he has no plans to bring in any women tonight, but even if he did, it wouldn’t be until much later.”

“Prostitutes?”

“I don’t think so. Not most of them, anyway. There’s no shortage of women in this city who will party with a man if he’s got enough power. And power is what matters here. Money goes hand in hand, but power means access, and that’s everyone’s number one prize.”

“Very well. You and Louis handle the human gate guards. I’ll take care of Victor’s two vampires at the front door. That needs to be done quickly and carefully so he doesn’t sense anything amiss too soon. Once we reach the dining room, I’ll deal with the human dinner guests. I want them out of the way. After that, Victor has to be mine, but we can play it by ear when it comes to taking down his remaining two vampires. You need to be ready to deal with them.”

“My lord, we can wash the human gate guards’ memories after Victor is taken care of. Let Louis and me deal with the vamp guards at the door, while you—”

Duncan turned to look at Miguel, keeping his voice even, but frosting it with the slightest touch of his power. “I want the humans secured first, Miguel. I can handle Victor and his guards, if necessary.”

“Yes, my lord.”

They turned off the Beltway, zipping down streets one after the other, all of them nearly empty late on a Tuesday night. Duncan had studied maps of the neighborhood, but it wasn’t the same as being here. He’d also memorized floor plans of the vampires’ official residence in the city. Some humans referred to the house as the vampire embassy, which was a good enough, if inaccurate, description.

The residence itself was a big 19th century colonial that in pictures reminded Duncan of the great mansions of his youth in the Deep South. He could only hope this particular house had enjoyed significant renovation since its construction a hundred years ago. If not, it would soon. He had no intention of living with cranky plumbing or nonexistent air conditioning.

Fortunately, the residence sat on an unusually large parcel of land adjacent to the embassy district. With two full acres backed by Rock Creek, a wall surrounding the entire property and only a single gate, the estate should have been nearly impregnable. But it wasn’t. There were holes in the house’s security that one could literally drive a truck through. And that, too, would change once Duncan took over.

Because the vampire embassy was about to get a new ambassador. They just didn’t know it yet.

Chapter Three

Miguel called Louis on his cell to let him know they were coming in. When they made the final turn, Louis was waiting in the middle of the street, his pale eyes gleaming nearly white in the headlights. He grinned when he saw them and stepped to the side so that Miguel could pull up next to him.

“Sire,” Louis said as he climbed into the back seat. “Thank you for letting me be a part of this.”

Duncan turned around enough to hold out his hand. Louis took it carefully at first, then gripped it tightly when Duncan did the same. Duncan could feel the calluses on Louis’s palm and fingers from the weights he’d lifted most of his life, even before Duncan had turned him.

“It’s good to see you, Louis. As I told Miguel, the two of you will take care of the humans at the gate, while I deal with the vampire guards just inside the residence. And once we get into dining room, I want the humans out of there. I can hold off Victor.”

“My lord, all four of Victor’s guards will be inside the house with him.”

“I’m aware of that,” Duncan said. He held back a smile as he remembered all the times he’d been overly protective of Raphael—and how much it had irritated the Western Vampire Lord.

“It’s the house in the cul-de-sac, my lord,” Miguel said, his voice tight with anticipation as they drew closer to the estate.

Duncan turned to get his first in-person view of the residence. It didn’t look like a fortified embassy. With cherry trees peeking over the top of a too-short perimeter wall and two chimneys puffing white smoke into the cold air, it looked more like a place where Mom and Dad were raising their 2.5 children and letting the dogs run in the yard. Assuming Mom and Dad had a whole lot of money and enough paranoia to build a wall around their home, even a short one.

“Time to rock and roll,” Louis whispered, and Duncan smiled grimly.

They rolled up to the wrought-iron gate, and Miguel dropped his side window with a faint buzz of sound. Frosty air rushed in, and Duncan smelled the creek which ran behind the house, along with a faint hint of snow. All of that disappeared beneath the overwhelming scent of human as the guard bent into the window to check them out.

Miguel had been on the premises once before, ostensibly to offer his services when he’d first moved here from California and set up a security business in Virginia. “Miguel Martinez,” he told the guard. “Lord Victor is expecting us.”

The human opened his mouth to say something, probably to protest that he wasn’t aware of Lord Victor expecting anyone, but then his eyes glazed over and he blinked slowly. He smiled and nodded, waving them in.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for,” Louis murmured from the back seat.

Miguel nearly choked on a laugh as the guard stepped back into the shed and triggered the gate mechanism.

“Enough, gentlemen,” Duncan said quietly. He understood their excitement. His own blood was thundering with anticipation. But this was a dangerous thing they were about to do, and he didn’t want them to fool themselves into thinking otherwise.

“Forgive me, my lord,” Louis breathed.

Duncan nodded, but his attention was already on the big, white house, his power reaching out to lightly touch the vampires inside. All but Victor. The others wouldn’t notice his touch, but Victor might.

“Very lax security,” he commented mostly to himself. “Two vampires together inside, near the front door.” He frowned. There was a buzz of something, some underlying power that confused him. He wanted to explore it further, but there was no time, and it was too weak and unfocused to represent a danger to his plans for the evening. It would have to wait.

“Miguel,” he said, “you and Louis take out the remaining human guards gently. Check the barracks, as well. I don’t want anyone raising an alarm, but there’s no reason to hurt them either. Then join me inside. We’ll take the dining room together.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Duncan opened the car door while Miguel was still braking. He sped up the brick steps two at a time, sending a tight needle of power ahead of him to burn out the electronic lock on the front door. The security bolts released with a solid thunk and the door swung open. Duncan stepped inside, his eyes doing a fast sweep of the area while the two vampires on guard were still dragging their attention from the big screen TV to stare at him in surprise. He didn’t wait for them to recover their wits. He reached out with his power and seized their hearts, squeezing until they dropped to the floor. They weren’t dead. Victor was corrupt, but he wasn’t weak. As the Sire of these two vampires, and especially at such close proximity, he would certainly feel it if they died, and he’d know something was wrong. So Duncan let them live for now. But when Victor died, these two vampires would die right along with him, most likely drained dry by Victor himself in a bid to survive Duncan’s challenge.