CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

V incent stared out at the Geneva skyline from his hotel room and cursed.

The call he’d received from Brayden had been one he wouldn’t forget for the rest of his life. Over the past thirty minutes, he’d gone through the whole spectrum of emotions. Fury, shock, surprise, disgust, and horror. And one he was not familiar with—powerlessness.

It was nearly the worst-case scenario for a king.

His vampires were being researched on like rats in a lab. None of them had much information, which was torture in itself. Now they waited for Russo to return Sofia, where they could learn more.

Thank fuck he had sent her in as a spy. Without this knowledge, God knows how many more would be caught and tested on. But this was just the beginning. They had to find out much more before they acted so they could ensure they closed the loop. If it was happening in other parts of the world, he wanted to know. And he wanted to know every single fucking living being involved.

And they would all die.

Vincent let out a long breath. He needed to calm down. He was about to step into one of the most important meetings of his life. If he arrived in a state of rage, it would achieve nothing. For all he knew, these people were not involved at all. But the fact they were on a US army base was odd indeed.

He had to ask questions. Gain information. Give them the opportunity to answer, and then trust his instincts.

“Sir?” Marcus asked from behind him.

The poor vampire had overheard the conversation and was in shock himself. As one of the four senior lieutenant commanders, he and the prince kept very little from them. They were all key to the protection of the royals and all their business, which included anything to do with the rebellion.

“Just a few more minutes, then we will go.” He turned. “Do you need a moment?”

Not a question he would normally ask of his highly trained security, but they had time, and learning your fellow vampires were lying immobile while being used for scientific research was fucking disturbing. Plus, he needed Marcus to have a clear head when they left the room.

Marcus shook his head. “No. Thank you, sir, but I’m ready when you are.”

He’d expected the answer but wouldn’t have judged him if he had wanted to punch a wall or two.

Hell, he was pleased Craig was in the field doing what he did best. If the enormous vampire had been stuck in the room with him here, he’d be like a goddamn caged animal; which wouldn’t be far from the truth.

“Okay, let’s go.”

They drove the short distance to the UN building. Three vampires from the black team exited the front vehicle, along with the two riding with them. Once they did a quick check of the surroundings, they opened his door while Marcus flanked him.

“Mr. Moretti,” a human male said in greeting as they walked to the steps. “Please follow me.” He led them inside.

“Our team will be joining the rest of your security this evening,” Marcus told the man.

“Of course,” he replied, not fazed at all by the request.

Everyone was being on their best behavior, and so they fucking should, Vincent thought. If any of them had anything to do with his vampires lying on slabs, being treated like nothing more than rats in a lab, he was going for the jugular.

Literally.

He felt his fangs extend, and considered leaving them there as he walked into the room, but the less predator part of him chastised him. It would serve nobody to start with intimidation. He needed information and knowledge, and scaring them wouldn’t achieve that.

Two soldiers in full dress uniform opened a set of double doors, and they walked through. Behind him, he heard Marcus directing his team without moving an inch away.

The doors closed.

“Vincent, welcome,” a powerful voice said. James C. Adler, the current POTUS, took a step toward him and outstretched his hand.

“ Ciao , James,” he greeted, shaking it and giving him a brief smile.

“Good to see you again,” the president said.

“And you. Unfortunately, I have had some very disturbing news in the past hour.” He looked up at the other members in the room and then back at James. “So I’m afraid I’m not in the mood for small talk. We should get started.”

“What’s happened?” James demanded, as any male of his powerful standing would.

“No. I want to say this only once and observe everyone’s reaction,” Vincent replied as he stepped further into the room.

He wasn’t intimated by the man’s authority or position. He had every bit as much power as the American man, if not more. He was a damn predator, and they would all be wise to remember that in the coming weeks, months, and years. Hell, centuries.

The vampire species was going nowhere.

Vincent knew nearly half the people in the room and was introduced to the others. This was not a meeting of the UN, but of those leading unique task forces that usually dealt with alien, supernatural, or alternative risks to human safety around the world.

Many of the largest countries were represented. Some he knew well. The Italian president, Diego Lombardo, who had held his position for several years. The British prime minister, Jeromy Smithers, who was newly appointed but from a very influential family in the UK, and they had attended many events together over the years. And lastly, South Korea’s Chung Lee, who he’d met a few times.

Today was different. Now they knew him as the vampire king, not just the eldest brother of the Moretti family, a wealthy and influential family around the world. Now he was a leader, just as they were. And he was one of their aliens.

So he was one of them, but they saw him as different. Dangerous.

And they were right. He was.

But it was his job to blur those lines as much as possible to keep the peace between their two species, a difficult job when he wanted to rip them all up by the scruffs of their five-hundred-dollar shirts and demand to know if they were involved with the kidnapping of his vampires.

After several handshakes as he ignored the highly trained soldiers from multiple nations lining the room and the poorly disguised nervous glances—because he got it, he was a vampire, and it must have been hella scary for them—he indicated they sit.

They took their seats around a long boardroom table. In front of them were notepads, pens, and a plaque with their names on them. Marcus stood behind him, along with two other vampires.

“Let me start by addressing the elephant in the room.” Vincent smiled. “You are in no danger from me or my men. Males, as we call them. Unless you move to harm us.”

He watched the tension in the room rise.

“Please, gentlemen.” He frowned at them. “Is that not the same instruction you have given every single soldier around this room?” When he saw the truth of that sink in, he continued. “I’m simply stating none of you have anything to fear from me or the three men behind me. The fact we are vampires does not change anything.”

A few nods.

“Let me be clearer. We are predators. Stronger and faster than you in substantial ways. If I wanted, you would all be dead right now.” As they started to protest, he held up his hand. “Which is not my desire and never will be. Me sitting in this chair is proof of that. We wish to continue to coexist, as we have done so for thousands of years, with the human race.”

Sure, Vincent knew he could have been a little bit more diplomatic, but he wasn’t in the mood after the news he’d received. His father and his father before him had groomed him for this day. Of course, times changed, but what never did was human nature. He had to show his dominance, but also his willingness to work with them.

James Adler took the lead.

“Clearly, this is a shock for us all. Many of us have known you and Brayden for a very long time,” he said. “Vincent, while you’ve been aware of the two species all your lives, we have not. Naturally, we are fearful.” James left a pause. “We all agree the mass population cannot know about the vampire race until we have answers to our questions. We have concerns, as is to be expected.”

Vincent nodded his head in response. He did understand. Fear blossomed where information was missing.

A few others added similar thoughts worded differently. A sense of wanting to work together and live peacefully. A great sentiment. Achieving it would be a whole other story.

“Herein lies the problem, gentlemen,” Vincent said as the room settled. “We are happy to share information about our species and what we are capable of, but there is no way it won’t cause alarm.”

Carefully blank faces looked back at him.

“We are predators. We are faster and stronger than you; than any animal on the planet. We drink blood and eat food. We also have additional abilities such as telepathy and teleportation.”

Collars began to be tugged and brows rubbed.

“You are conditioned to believing you are the most powerful species on earth. You are not, nor have you ever been.”

“You’re not selling this well, Vincent.” James laughed.

He leaned back in his chair, shrugging. “The thing is, James, it’s the truth. History is not kind to any of you. Whenever anything has come along to threaten your hold on power, what have you done?”

When the room filled with murmurs of disagreement and raised voices, he held up his hand. Fear of his species worked to quiet the room.

“Cage it or kill it,” he answered his own question, rage filling his eyes. “That’s what you’ve done. And I am telling you here today, you will do NEITHER to my vampires.”

He sat back as they threw their arguments at him, knowing it was all complete bullshit.

“There needs to be rules set in place before we eventually do a combined joint release of our existence to mankind. It will take some engineering, but there must be rules.”

“ Grazie , Vincent,” Diego said. “We are in agreement, but you need to understand our curiosity and need to understand more.”

He narrowed his eyes at the man. “What more is there to understand, Diego?”

He shrugged as only an Italian could and tapped his pen on the notepad in front of him. Vincent had never trusted the guy, if he was honest. Vincent would give him a bit more time before he was diving into his mind. He wasn’t going to share they could read minds for two reasons: vampires rarely used the ability invasively; it just wasn’t in their nature, and two: it would freak them all the fuck out.

It was the one thing he and Brayden had agreed they would hold back from humans. In fact, it was a skill some humans were developing themselves, only they were tagged with the crazy hat.

“How do we know you’re telling us the truth? It is only fair, should we continue to let you live in society, that we get the opportunity to learn about your kind and study you.”

His jaw tightened as he fought to stop himself from flying across the table.

“I think what Diego is trying to say,” Jeromy interjected in his smooth British accent. “Is we need to work together to learn more about you over time.”

James nodded. “Covertly. And in the meantime, we shut down any conversation about vampires online.”

Diego scoffed. “Impossible. You know it.”

“Don’t lie, Diego. You control your media just as much as any of us. You have teams with AI and fake accounts disrupting conversations and shifting believes. We all need to ramp this up,” James growled.

Vincent knew he had to work with these humans to ensure a future for his vampires. It was in all their best interests to make this work. He wanted to be optimistic, but in the face of what he had learned today, it was difficult.

“Let me get one thing straight before we continue. Humans do not own this planet. You are not the dominant species. Vampires are not seeking permission to live among you. It is not yours to give. We exist. We always have. Now it is both our responsibilities to live harmoniously together.” The room went deathly quiet.

Vincent lifted his glass of water to his lips and took a long drink, giving them all a moment to reflect on his words.

“We will continue to live our lives, just as you do. Loving our females, procreating, contributing via our jobs, having fun with our friends, and staring up at the damn sky,” he spoke up. “We are not human, but we share many similarities.”

“And it is that we need to share to break down the fear. You must understand this, Vincent,” Chung said. The guy was always quiet and discerning. “We must eliminate the fear which is natural to our kind, I admit this, to ensure a peaceful future for us all. I hope my team can be a contribution to this operation.”

Vincent nodded. “I do. But we will not be lab rats.”

“Of course not,” Chung said.

Vincent frowned and picked up the pen in front of him. “I’ll admit, I am highly displeased presently. Tonight, my team discovered a lab which is holding dozens of vampires who have recently gone missing. They are being experimented on.”

The room filled with gasps and murmurs as Vincent’s stomach turned. Still, he focused on their faces, looking for the truth of who could be involved.

“Who is responsible? This was not a directive from the United States,” James growled.

“I am pleased to hear that because they are being held on Camp Darby in Tuscany,” he replied.

Diego jumped to his feet. “On my soil. You blame my government?”

Vincent growled.

“Sit the fuck down, Lombardo!” He pointed at the Italian, who was glaring at him furiously. “If anyone should be angry, it’s me. Those are my vampires being tortured as we speak. So. Sit. The. Fuck. Down.”

“Who’s responsible for this?” Jeromy asked, looking around the table while Diego grumbled away in Italian, writing notes on his pad.

That’s exactly what Vincent wanted to know. The table erupted into debate, and he sat listening. He had already sensed it was no one in the room, but he went against his nature and delved into their minds to find out any additional information. The lives of those vampires, and potentially many more, were on the line, so the intrusion was justified in his mind.

Anything, Your Majesty?

No. You? he responded, giving Marcus permission to do as he had done.

Perhaps the Italian. He’s hiding something. I cannot reach past his fury.

Hmm.

“Enough,” James spoke up, holding up his hand. “Vincent, how do you want to address this? As commander in chief, that base is under my command, so I can shut it down immediately, but I feel there is more to this.”

And that was why he was president.

“Yes. A long-time rebel of the vampire race, Stefano Russo, is involved. We need to uncover the bigger operation before we just shut down this branch. It could go much deeper.”

The president nodded. “Likely.”

He wasn’t going to give them any more details than that. Especially not about this mystery device. Anything that gave humans power over them was unwise to share. He would have his team work tirelessly to eradicate it.

“Let us know how you want to proceed, and we will provide whatever assistance you require.”

A good step in the right direction. He thanked the president.

For the next few hours, they discussed and debated how they would work together in what they were now calling Operation Daylight , because somebody thought that was hilarious.

He glanced around at the fifteen men seated around the table.

“So, aside from those of us in the room, who else formally knows about our existence?”

“The vice president and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff,” James said, the last being the highest-ranking military officer the United States held. Which made sense, as all of Vincent’s top-ranking teams would have been informed if he were in the man’s shoes. The other world leaders mirrored the US president.

“I want their names tabled so we can keep track of who has knowledge, and I want a global agreement that this group and all the information herein discussed will be treated no differently than Roswell. You’ve kept that a fucking tight secret for long enough.”

James simply grinned.

“I rest my case.” Vincent laughed, standing. “I will be in touch about Camp Darby. If we act without advising you in advance, you have my apologies, but I am sure you can understand the seriousness of this situation. We will endeavor to ensure no humans are unduly harmed.”

As Diego and James tried to persuade him from doing so, he turned to Marcus. “Let’s go.”

“Moretti!” Diego called. “You must return our people to us. You cannot change the laws on this planet.”

Vincent shook his head. “You haven’t listened to a damn word, have you?” He sighed. “Any humans will be returned. You have my word.”

That vampires were being treated like animals and the Italian leader appeared to not give a damn infuriated him. He turned and marched out of the building with his team in tow, calling Brayden on the way.

“What do we know?”

“ Nothing more yet. Get your ass home ,” Brayden said.

Vincent ended the call and stared out the window as the lights of Geneva passed him by. It was a beautiful city, but one he was unable to appreciate as his mind filled with the revolting images of vampires on beds in a lab.

It would be Brayden and Craig’s decision how they proceeded with the operation. He wasn’t about to make that call and promise the humans anything. He would honor his promise to return any humans should they live, but he would do nothing to jeopardize any innocent lives, human or otherwise.

Until they knew more about Russo’s operation, he had more questions than answers right now.

“You heard the prince. Let’s get home.”

“Yes, sir.”