CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

V incent steepled his hands and touched the ends of his fingers to his lips as he stared at the computer screen.

He waited for a reaction from the US president.

“Dammit,” James cursed and leaned back in his chair, tossing his pen on the desk.

Vincent nodded.

“How do you want to play this?” the president asked.

“We risk more exposure if my team goes in, but I want those vampires out, and fast,” Vincent said.

Fast as in yesterday fast. They now knew this was the only location where the missing vampires were being kept and tested on. Vincent wasn’t sharing the manufacturing information about the device with any of the world leaders. His team was currently working on the intel. They had to follow that up and stop it in its tracks.

“I can send some of my team to assist, but under the guise of them being human. Of course it will need to be after sundown,” he added.

“Yeah, okay,” James agreed, rubbing the side of his head. “This is going to be tricky. The work being undertaken in that facility is top secret. It’s a joint global science lab with military protection. That’s all I can say. To hear there is testing being done on vampires without my knowledge or consent is...less than satisfactory. I promise you I knew nothing about this.”

Vincent knew he didn’t, or he would have picked it up at in Geneva.

“Diego fucking knows,” Vincent said.

“So he’s in bed with a few of these scientists?”

“Yes. And Stefano Russo, who is no longer a problem,” Vincent replied. He couldn’t wait to make that statement even more true. He just hadn’t decided who would have the honor.

James stared at him for a moment and then nodded.

“I’ll have to share this top-secret information, about your existence, with a few more people to kick off this operation. It’s likely we will use a SEAL team to extricate them.”

Vincent shrugged. “Use fucking kittens for all I care; I just want my vampires out and safe.”

James frowned. “No, SEALs are...”

“I know who they are. I’ve been alive for a long time, remember?” Vincent replied dryly. “I’m just fucking with you.”

The president let out a small laugh. “I get it; you’re pissed. So am I. Diego’s involvement is complicated. Neither of us can arrest the guy or expose him.”

Vincent raised his brows. “I can do a lot.”

“But you won’t.”

“Not this time,” he said. “We keep this between us if we do, James. I don’t want anyone in task force Daylight to know about this. I can’t have any of them believing I would allow harm to come to vampires without consequence.”

The president nodded.

“And I won’t. We will deal with Diego in other ways.”

The fact he was the Italian president made things very difficult because of his public profile. Difficult, but not impossible.

Even though he trusted President Adler, it didn’t mean the human was exempt from his prior statement. Vincent needed to ensure every influential leader in the world realized there would be consequences. It was his job as king to protect his people.

“Agreed. Let me make these calls. I’ll have a team on the ground in Italy in under twenty hours,” James said. “I will put my most trusted people in touch with your commander to partner up for the extraction.”

Vincent nodded, pressing his lips together.

James Adler was a good man and had always been true to his word as long as he’d known him. Vincent was relying on this relationship to set the standard in Operation Daylight and how they moved forward. These early days were crucial.

And this was a good first start.

After the goodbyes, Vincent closed his laptop and leaned back in his chair, letting out a long sigh.

What kind of world was he bringing his heir into, he wondered? One day, a long time from now, he or she would take over the throne. There was a strong possibility he or she would lead vampires in a world where humans knew about them. Whether they were at peace with humans relied completely on how successful he was right now and every day going forward. The responsibility lay heavily on his shoulders.

Even Brayden couldn’t understand how he was feeling. He appreciated his brother and his team, but none of them lay awake thinking hundreds of years into the future. They dealt with the here and now.

And hell, the way the human societies were imploding and destroying the planet, maybe none of them had cause to worry.

“Christ. Listen to me; what a negative nelly,” he muttered and decided to go see what the idiots— the new female vampires were up to.

They’d make him laugh or at the very least roll his eyes, both a dramatic improvement on his current mood.

There was no way he was telling anyone he secretly liked the former humans.