Mermaids And The Vampires Who Love Them

27. CUPID'S JEST

Suddenly, the barn door slides open, and a tall pole-thin man with bushy straw-colored hair glares at us. He's wearing jeans, a black polo shirt, and a black jacket. The guy looks like a broom. I think I glimpse a gun barely hidden beneath his jacket.

"What d'you want?" It's the Black Sea guard from the other night. I recognize his voice.

"We're here about the press event," Cupid says smoothly.

"You don't look like the party planner," the guard says in his heavy accent.

"I'm her replacement. I work for her firm," Cupid says, presenting a business card that he must've pulled out of thin air. Gods! "She's become ... indisposed."

Earlier, Cupid had explained that he'd no problem 'convincing' the real party planner to leave town suddenly. He'd bragged that all it took was one arrow as she was pumping gas. The woman fell passionately in love with the next guy she saw—an accountant from a place called Akron, Ohio. Cupid said that the last time he saw them, they were "balancing their assets and working on their bottom line." I do not understand what he's talking about, but he had a lewd grin on his face as he explained the situation.

The security guard slides his thumb over the embossed card. "Follow me."

***

It's weird to be back in this building. All I want to do is go to the merfolk and set them free. I look up at Pierce, and he squeezes my shoulder. I shouldn't be nervous; after all, this time I'm accompanied by a super-hot flying vampire poet and a god. But I will not underestimate our foe. He has gotten this far by controlling one of the most formidable mermen in the Pacific—Brack Sharkweather. I must be on my guard.

I throw out my telepathic voice in the direction of the captive merfolk. "It's Waverly. Are you guys okay?"

"We've been better," answers Fitzwilliam.

"Do you want us to break you out today?"

"No, let's proceed with the plan. But Miss Fishwater?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. The boss is not to be taken lightly. He is very powerful and astute. Be on your guard, and never allow yourself to be alone with him. Apparently, he has quite the sordid reputation with the ladies."

"Uh, thanks," I say. Now I'm totally freaked out, whereas before I was only mildly panicked.

We are ushered into a narrow office at the front of the barn with a long window overlooking the parking area.

"Bring them in, Igor," says an oily voice from the inner office. I recognize it immediately as the same one I heard on the yacht in the engine room. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. "Then wait out there. I'll call if I need you."

We walk through the doorway into the inner sanctum. It's dark and cave-like in here, and the air smells so sweet I can taste it in the back of my throat. There are no windows. There is, however, a long tank behind the desk filled with tropical fish. This is the only attempt at décor in the room.

The man behind a huge glass desk stands and looks down at us. He isn't at all what I imagined from his voice. He's tall, but also large, almost as big as my dad. He has long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, broad shoulders, and a square jaw. He has one green and one blue eye, and they seem to focus independently on things in his periphery. But it's the fact that he is extremely attractive that surprises me the most. There is a magnetism that exudes from him and buzzes through the room.

"Dirk Darkins." He holds out his hand for Cupid to shake.

The boss is named Dirk Darkins? That just screams 'I'm a violent lunatic who thrives on the suffering of others, and I practice my evil laugh in the mirror every morning before breakfasting on my favorite treat—human bones.'