Ian greeted us at the door. “Your Siren sister didn’t show up today, according to my guards. Know anything about that?”
“She’s not my sister. And I’m not Aggie’s keeper either. I don’t know what she did today.” I walked in, Rafe close behind me.
“Do I have to call the vampire council and tell them she’s in breach of our contract?” Ian closed the door. “They can throw her in the clink.”
“The coffin, you mean.” I set my tote on Ian’s massive glass coffee table. “She probably didn’t show because she’s starting a new job that pays enough to get you off her back. Guess she decided to quit here and send you a check every week. She should have notified you though.”
“That’s not how our agreement works.” Ian stalked over to his bar and poured a drink. It was a synthetic blood with alcohol. “Want one?” He ignored Rafe. He had always treated my bodyguard like a piece of furniture, and nothing had changed.
“Sure. Why not? Rafe? I’m sure Ian has something without blood.” I was determined to nip this elitist attitude in the bud.
“Scotch if you have it.” Rafe grinned, happy to goad Ian into treating him as a guest.
“Why the hell not?” Ian pulled out a bottle of good Scot’s whiskey. “Seems the servants are determined to take over these days.”
“Pour us all some of that, Ian. I learned in Scotland that vamps can drink it straight. As long as we don’t get carried away. You’re working with Bart O’Connor. He told me you two hit it off. He’s done experiments to prove a little can’t hurt us.” I smiled, happy to teach Ian something for a change.
“Yes. Sharp guy. He didn’t mention this. Good to know.” Ian filled three glasses, bringing one of them to me. “Down the hatch.” He clinked his glass against mine. Apparently Rafe was supposed to pick up his own from the bar. He didn’t hesitate.
“Cheers.” Rafe sipped. “Excellent.”
“Yes, it’s from my family’s distillery. I just didn’t think I could enjoy it again. Thanks, Gloriana.” Ian took a drink, a look of satisfaction on his handsome face. “Well, now. I guess I owe you some help with this potion. Show me that book.”
“You can look at it from there but I’m not about to give it to you. I’ve copied the page you’ll need. You won’t believe all the ingredients in this potion. Really weird ones too. I started a search on the Internet but finally gave up. They aren’t things you’ll find in a supermarket.” I pulled the book out of my tote and held it up. “The recipe we need was marked with a slip of paper.” I handed him the copy.
“This is ridiculous. Let me see the book, Gloriana. What do you think I’ll do? Steal it?” Ian snatched the copy but stayed close.
“I don’t know, Ian. Wouldn’t put it past you.” I stuffed the book back in my tote. “If you aren’t up to this, say so. I heard there are a few Energy Vampires setting up shop out at the old site. Maybe I can connect with them.”
Ian frowned and glanced at the recipe in his hand. “No, you don’t want them to get hold of something like this. You’d never see it again.” He sat in a leather chair and gestured for us to sit. “I’ll play by your silly rules. I have to admit you intrigued me with your phone call and here it is. Periplaneta americana.” He grinned and looked up at me. “Hate to burst your bubble, Gloriana, but that’s the common cockroach. You probably have one or two on hand yourself.”
“No! Gross.” I leaned forward. “I should have looked that up. I’d had such a hard time with the other stuff that I quit before I got to that. Anything else common there?”
“Well, Old Man’s Beard is commonly referred to as tree moss. That’s easy enough to find around here.” Ian gestured to the French doors that led to his deck. It had a view of the lake and the woods surrounding it. “And I’d assume Mother Nature’s Tears to be rainwater.”
“Can’t believe I didn’t put that together.” I felt like smacking my forehead. “But Ian, there are some exotic insects there too. I did find those on the Net.”
“Yes, I see. I’ll have to check with my suppliers. I can have the bugs here tomorrow night if they are in stock.” He stood. “Come to my lab and let me see if I have everything else. You sure this keeps people away? It could be quite handy. Like a bug zapper for people.” He looked distracted as he strode down the hall.
“Only without frying them.” I hurried after him.
Rafe wasn’t letting me out of his sight. “Be careful, Glory. Remember what this guy has done in the past.” He nodded to a guard stationed next to the lab door.
“I know. He’s out for himself. Always. But if you’ve got something he wants, you’re golden. Right now, he’s interested in me because I have Olympian powers.” I smiled at Rafe before I followed Ian. “Don’t worry, I’m always alert around him.”“Son of a bitch!”
Rafe and I glanced at each other then ran into the lab.
“Sir? Has there been an intrusion?” The guard shouldered us aside, his gun out while he did a sweep of the room. He hurried to Ian’s side.
“You told me no one had been here today.” Ian’s face was flushed. Obviously the fact that he was holding two broken beakers in his bleeding hands had done that. The smell of his blood dripping to the floor brought my fangs down and probably flushed my face too.
“What happened, Ian?” I fought my fangs back where they belonged.
“Thompson, why don’t you tell us?” Ian threw the beakers to the tile floor where they shattered. “What the hell happened here?”
“I, I don’t know, sir. She said she’d left something undone here. Just stayed a minute.” Thompson backed toward the door when Ian snarled.
“She. I don’t have to guess who she is. Were you fucking Aggie, Thompson? Is that how she persuaded you to let her into my lab? You and she both know this room is off-limits. To everyone!” Ian’s eyes bulged, a vein throbbed in his forehead and we all stepped back this time. I’d never seen him so out of control. I pressed against Rafe in case Ian forgot we weren’t the enemy.
“No, no, sir. She came in just this once. She needed to clean up a spill, she said. Claimed you’d texted her about it. One last order before she quit.” Thompson gasped when Ian grabbed his throat and threw him against the wall.
“You know I can read your stupid shifter mind, don’t you?” Ian thumped the man’s head against the wall, making a hole in the Sheetrock. “Idiot! She played you. I hope that blow job was worth it. You’ve just lost your job and are a heartbeat away from losing your life.”
“Ian, calm down!” I tried to go to him but Rafe held me back. “What happened here that set you off?”
“Stay out of this, Glory.” Ian didn’t spare me a glance. “Obviously you have shit for brains, man, but hear me. If I find one single thing missing, you’re dead. Do you understand?”
“Sir! I swear. She’s a mortal and was only in here for a minute. What could she take? She didn’t have on enough to hide anything.” He choked, Ian’s fist in his mouth.
“Out of my sight!” Ian threw him toward the door. “Don’t stop until you’re out of the state, the country. If I see you again, you’re a dead man.” Ian paced the length of the room, picking up containers and sniffing them then flinging them to the tile floor.
“Damn it to hell!” Ian ranted as he went up and down each aisle, throwing things like a wild man. The room had hardly been disturbed before. Soon it was a complete disaster and reeking of strange and very unpleasant odors.
“Ian! Tell us. What happened? What did Aggie do?” I didn’t dare approach him. He finally stopped in front of a glass-fronted case filled with notebooks and glass bottles. It was locked. He sighed when he realized the lock hadn’t been broken.
“That bitch contaminated every experiment I had going. Bleach. She poured common household bleach into everything.” He swept his arm across a table full of test tubes in metal holders. They all crashed to the floor. The smell was so overpowering I quit breathing altogether. “You realize how much work that represented? How much money?” His voice rose and trembled. I swear, if he’d been a woman, he would’ve been sobbing. Instead, he hit the metal tabletop until his fist bled.
“Aggie hated him this much?” Rafe whispered.
“Of course she did. That cursed Siren. She knew just how to pay me back for making her work for once in her useless life. Thank God I keep my computer locked in my office or she’d have dumped bleach on it too.” Ian kicked over a table. It slid into another one and started a chain reaction. “Ellis, Desmond, Cox! Get the fuck in here!”
Three men ran into the room. Why they hadn’t already come when the crashes started I couldn’t imagine. Unless they were used to Ian’s temper fits and had instructions to ignore loud noises until called. Whatever. They focused on Ian, who still looked totally out of his mind.
“Sir?” Ellis took the lead. “What do you need?”
“First, get a crew and have this room completely emptied and scrubbed down. I want everything replaced. Brand-new equipment. By tomorrow night. I’ll have to start all my experiments over again. No one is to touch this cabinet.” He pointed to the locked one behind him. “I expect you to oversee this personally. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir. Do you have a list of what you need?” Ellis whispered to the other two men and they started carrying out the tables.
“It will be in your e-mail by the end of the night.” Ian strode over to me. “I’m sorry, Gloriana. I’ll work on your potion tomorrow night. I swear it. It will be a good distraction from this.” He swept his arm toward the chaos he’d created. “Now I need to go.”