"Antonio of Madrid," Lady Pamela announced.
With a crestfallen expression, Antonio accepted the orchid. "I am tho thorry."
Darcy glanced at Adam. Of all the remaining men, he alone looked sad. He wandered off to his room without looking back. The judges, host, and cameramen went to the portrait room for the final revelation of the evening. Darcy joined them.
"Two million dollars!" Cora Lee grinned. "Land sakes, our new master will be filthy rich!"
"Yes, but we must make sure he is a vampire," Princess Joanna warned.
"Oh, Darcy, do tell us that after tonight, we will be rid of all the pesky mortals," Lady Pamela begged.
"I can't say." Darcy retrieved the special flashlight from the wall safe. She handed it to Gregori and whispered in which order to reveal the men. Then, she dimmed the lights.
The women settled on the couches, their faces bright with excitement.
Gregori approached the portraits. "Tonight, you eliminated Antonio of Madrid." He flipped on the flashlight. Instantly, Antonio's white fangs appeared.
"Oh, dear." Lady Pamela winced. "I was so sure a vampire would never have a speech impediment."
"And you eliminated Nicholas from Chicago."
Gregori shone the light on Nicholas's portrait. For a tense moment, the women stared at his picture.
Nothing happened.
"Yes!" Cora Lee bounced to her feet. "He's a mortal!"
"I did it!" Lady Pamela jumped up, grinning. "I discovered one of the mortals."
The women hugged each other, laughing.
Gregori popped open a bottle of Bubbly Blood. "This calls for a celebration." He poured seven glasses full. Darcy helped him serve the judges. Then, Gregori handed her one and kept one for himself.
"Congratulations, ladies!" He raised his glass. "You are one step closer to choosing your new master. And your master is one step closer to becoming a very wealthy man."
The women laughed and clinked their glasses together. The cameramen focused on their happy faces.
"You're not drinking." Gregory looked at Darcy. "You really should, you know. The show is turning out great."
Darcy looked down at the mixture of champagne and blood in her glass, Yeah, great. She was helping the ex-harem find a new master. And she was helping them learn to make their own decisions and stand up for themselves. But it all seemed empty without Adam.
In his bedroom, Austin observed the ladies' celebration on his laptop. With his roommate Nicholas gone, his spying had become much easier.
Garrett stood behind him, watching the scene. "So, that's the game they're playing. They're trying to figure out which of us is human, so they can get rid of us."
"It sure explains why the anklet is so important."
Austin tugged at his pants leg to look at his new anklet. Maggie had brought it to him right after sunset with a warning that he had to put it on immediately.
"Yeah." Garrett rested a hand on the back of Austin's chair as he leaned forward. "What's that they're drinking?"
"Something with synthetic blood in it." Austin watched Darcy lift the glass to her mouth. She took a sip, then licked her lips. Lips he had kissed. A mouth he had explored. Shit.
He jumped to his feet so fast, the chair tipped backwards and Garrett caught it. He strode toward the window and looked out. He couldn't see much of anything in the dark, only his reflection in the glass. Darcy wouldn't even make a reflection.
Holy crap. Did everything have to remind him that he was alive and she was dead? Or worse, she was undead. Dead during the day, but walking and talking and crying real tears during the night.
She was alive just enough to torture him.
And tempt him. She was still so damned beautiful. Still so smart. Still so Darcy.
"Something wrong?" Garrett asked.
"Everything's wrong." Austin paced across the room. "This is a waste of time. We're not learning anything useful."
"I know the names of a bunch of vampires. That's more than I knew a few days ago."
"We were supposed to get friendly with them and learn about Shanna. It isn't happening." Although Austin had to admit he had certainly been friendly with one of them. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten all about Shanna when Darcy was in his arms.
"Well, it's hard to be friendly with a pack of murderous creatures," Garrett muttered.
"Oh, come on. Those women are harmless. They just want to wear pretty clothes and have someone take care of them. Sheesh, they get bent out of shape if your manners aren't impeccable."
Garrett snorted. "You're getting soft. Do you think the men are harmless, too?"
"I talked to a few of them tonight. Roberto owns an aluminum shutter company in Argentina. Otto runs a health club in Germany." Though Austin couldn't quite see a correlation between being healthy and undead.
Garrett frowned. "They probably commit crimes all the time. I bet they use mind control to steal money from people."
"Then why would they want the prize money so bad?"
"I don't know," Garrett mumbled. "But if they ran out of synthetic blood, they'd bite you in a minute."
Maybe so. Austin shook his head. But wouldn't he do the same if it was the only way to survive?
"The point is they do drink synthetic blood. So, their intent is not to harm humans. Meanwhile, the really vicious vampires are trolling Central Park for victims as we speak. And here we are, picking up hankies."
"It's our assignment."
"It's stupid! We should go to Central Park and stop innocent people from getting attacked."
"We can't leave. George is still here. We can't leave him unprotected. And you know you can't go against Sean's orders."
Austin paced back to the window. He knew Garrett was right. But he wasn't finding out anything about Shanna. All he had was a list of vampires that Sean would want to terminate. How could he put Darcy's name on it? No wonder he wanted to run away from this assignment.
"They're leaving the portrait room." Garrett switched to the camera in the foyer. "The women are going toward the kitchen. Whoa!"
"What?" Austin strode back to the desk.
"The host guy just vanished."
"He must have teleported. Probably back to his apartment."
Garrett pointed at the one figure in the foyer. "Isn't that the director?"
"Yes." Austin moved closer. Darcy was standing alone in the foyer, her hands clenched together.
She walked to the base of the staircase, then stopped. She looked at the front door, then back at the stairs.
"What's she doing?" Garrett asked.
"Trying to make up her mind." Austin's heart began to pound as Darcy mounted the stairs. What was she doing? At the landing, the staircase divided in two— one section going east, the other west.
Was she coming to the east wing to see him?
She reached the landing and hesitated once again. Holy indecision. It would be better if she went to one of the male vampires. They were her own kind.
"She's coming our way," Garrett said.
Austin's heart raced. Please, come to me. What the hell was he doing? He couldn't have a relationship with a vampire.
Garrett headed for the door. "I'd better get back to my room." He let himself out.
Austin switched the view on the monitor to the surveillance camera in the upstairs east wing hallway. He saw Garrett slip into his room. And a few minutes later, Darcy entered the hallway, headed his way.
He turned off the surveillance equipment and closed the laptop. What did she want? He'd been ugly to her in the pool house. He should dread this meeting. He should refuse to see her. But knowing she was seeking him out made him want to jump with joy.