Bled Dry (Vegas Vampires #3)(52)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Jesus Christ!” Alexis went pale. “Corbin, the reason we wanted to talk to you is because Gwenna came here to warn us that Donatelli is back in Vegas. And he knows about the baby. We think Ringo told him.”

Corbin went very, very still. He tried to squelch the anger, the fear, the self-recrimination, so he could think rationally. “Then it is very possible that Donatelli has Brittany right now, no?”

Alexis nodded, than took off for the bedroom. “I’m going to wake Gwenna. She can read Donatelli’s thoughts.”

It would be an interesting move, for Donatelli to take Brittany. He obviously could not know he was her father. And if his other information was accurate, he would know that the baby wasn’t due for months. So why would he take her? It struck Corbin as bold and aggressive, not adjectives he’d normally associate with Donatelli.

Alexis came back into the room with Gwenna, who was a pale wisp of a woman, shadows under her blue eyes, silvery blond hair uncombed. “She’s with him. I can hear quite clearly his curiosity, his impatience. Something is bothering him. He’s worried someone else is being too rough with her and he is debating how much he can interfere.”

“Mon Dieu.” If Donatelli thought someone else was being rough, Brittany was in serious trouble. “Who is with them?”

“I don’t know.” Gwenna shook her head. “I’m sorry. And I don’t know where they are either.”

“Do you think he would go back to the Venetian?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s worth a try,” Alexis said, her mouth closed tightly, lips a pale white line.

Corbin was about to ask for a weapon when the front door opened and Ethan came in with Seamus Fox and Kelsey, the errant secretary.

She was crying, her blood tears streaming down her pale face. She came right over to him. “Ringo’s using drugs again, I know it. He went to Donatelli.”

“I’m sorry,” Corbin said automatically, patting her back when she launched herself into his arms. He looked over her shoulder for help, no clue what to do with her. The others were in a serious discussion, heads bent.

A thought occurred to him and he pulled back to look at Kelsey. “Where is Donatelli? Do you know?”

Kelsey gave a sniffle and wiped at her tears. “I think he’s at the Bellagio. With the Russian guy. That’s where Ringo picked up his payment.”

“The Russian guy? Chechikov?” Corbin was stunned. The man he had given access to all his research, including the potential for cloning, was working with Donatelli?

“Yes, that was his name.” Kelsey nodded, her lip curling up. “And his mortal wife, who looks like a slut if I ever saw one. A supermodel slut.”

“His wife?” Corbin turned to Ethan and Seamus. “Did you know Chechikov is in town?”

“Unfortunately, yes. He’s here to run for president. Though I had no idea he was hiding a mortal wife up his sleeve, the tricky bastard.”

“President?” Corbin ran his fingers through his hair, unable to comprehend how idiotic he had been. “That wife is the least of our worries. If he is with Donatelli, then they have Brittany. It is Gregor that Donatelli worries will hurt Brittany.” Corbin clenched his fists. “You know his reputation. He would not hesitate to hurt her. And I am very sorry to say that it is Chechikov who has been funding my research all these years. I give him biannual reports on my progress. With the right research team, he has the framework in place to reconstruct my antidote, at least to a point. Without my latest series of controls, though, it will take years. Unless he steals my most recent data.”

His head was pounding. He just couldn’t let that research fall into the wrong hands. Chechikov had played him for a fool. He intended to take the research, take the office of the presidency, and clone vampires. So he would have total control. Corbin was not about to let that happen, nor was he going to let any harm befall Brittany or his child.

“I need to go find Brittany. Can someone go to my lab in my apartment and start destroying my files? I cannot let Chechikov or Donatelli find my research.”

“I don’t have the technical skills for that,” Ethan said. “But I’ll go with you to find Brittany.”

“I can destroy files,” Seamus offered, stepping forward. “Just tell me what you want saved.”

“Put everything on a ThumbDrive. There is one sitting on the desk. Then destroy everything on all three computers. Obliterate it. So no one can retrieve anything. Put all the paper files through the shredder.” It was painful to say that, but he knew it was necessary. He had created the means to do the very opposite of what he had intended. It was his responsibility to destroy it.

He wanted the ThumbDrive, though. The files would give him the ability to re-create his vaccine. Giving up that choice he had created, the chance to be mortal again, wasn’t an option he was comfortable with. Not yet, not when he knew he had the cure. And he might need the genetic database with regard to their child.

“Just give me your apartment keys and I’m on the way,” Seamus said, hand held out. “Kelsey, I’ll drop you off at your place in case Ringo comes home.”

Corbin gave him the keys. “Merci. Now I am going to get the mother of my child and I will kill anyone who has harmed her. Does anyone have a sword I can borrow?”

“I do,” Alexis said.

Why didn’t that surprise him?

“Oh, Christ,” Ethan replied. “You had to ask her that?”

“I’ll take it.” Corbin was skilled with a sword thanks to boarding school. He would relish sticking someone today, given his current mood.

Brittany had been in the chair for twelve hours. She knew because there was a platinum clock on the wall opposite her that showed how excruciatingly long she had been held captive. It had been an hour since she had woken up from Donatelli’s little mind sleep, and while they had let her use the bathroom, Gregor had also smacked her twice, shaken her, and, most recently, bitten her wrist and snacked on her blood.

He was trying to terrify her and it was working. She was pee-her-pants afraid, though at least her bladder was empty. Calling for help in her head didn’t seem to be effective, because no one was answering, and given that a guard had actually stood in the doorway of the bathroom while she had used it, she didn’t see how she could possibly escape. At this point, she figured Gregor could rape her, maim her, whatever, and she would live. But she was scared that somehow in his psycho mind games he was going to inadvertently hurt the baby. She could tolerate anything done to her, but she was going to go ballistic if anything happened to her child.