CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A fter extricating her body from Oliver’s incredibly gorgeous one, Piper changed into a new outfit, grabbed a coffee and muffin from the store on the corner, and was on her way to meet George.

Oliver had been unhappy at her leaving, but too bad.

She had a story to tell.

Since talking to Sage her motivation had shifted. Sure, she still wanted to prove to her father she wasn’t a complete failure, but Piper had a feeling there was a link between her story and Ari Moretti.

And... Oliver.

She just wasn’t sure how.

Hopefully George’s friends were going to give her some answers today. The Uber pulled up outside an apartment building in Culver City which looked respectable enough. A young couple walked out pushing a baby buggy and began wandering down the street which relieved any remaining anxiety she had about walking into a home with four men she didn’t know.

Knowing Oliver had the address put her mind at ease, but she wouldn’t tell him that.

It was likely these guys were harmless, but it paid to be safe.

She pressed the buzzer.

“Yo.”

Okay. “Oh hey, its Piper Roberts, I—”

Buzz.

Right. Thanks.

“Fucking introverts,” she muttered.

She made her way to the fifth floor and to room 34B.

Knock, knock.

The door opened and George greeted her.

“Hey Piper, come in.”

She stepped into a typical bachelor pad which was complete with ugly lounge suite and took in the three guys with laptops on their knees.

“Eric, Jack, Tyler. This is Piper.” George introduced them all.

“Hey. Thanks for speaking with me.” She waited for an invitation to sit but it didn’t come so she lowered herself onto the arm of the beige sofa and hiked her bag off her shoulder.

Eric closed his laptop and picked up a can of Coke. “You’re from The Seattle Times ?”

She nodded.

“She’s VampGirl182 . The one commenting the other night,” Jack said, lifting his spectacles onto the top of his head. He studied her. “You don’t look like a journo.”

How did he know who she was?

“They can hack and track anything,” George said, reading her mind. He walked past her into the adjoining kitchen. “Coke. Green tea? Water?”

Green tea?

These guys looked like they lived on soda and Macca’s, not herbal tea and kale.

“Ah, I’ll have...”

“It’s lemon-flavored green tea, by the way. And I’ll have one, thanks.” Tyler arched his neck to call out.

“Make your own!” George called back.

Piper smiled.

“Just water.” She accepted the glass with a small thanks when George returned.

“So what makes you think vampires are real?” Eric asked, getting straight to the point.

Piper had thought about how to approach their questions during the ride over. She still wasn’t confident her strategy was going to be the best one, but it was all she had come up with in the short time.

“Well, we all saw the breaking news a few months ago. I’ve been curious, reading the threads and blogs, and finally convinced my editor to let me do a story.”

They all stared at her.

“Nope,” Tyler said.

“Try again,” Eric said.

Jack just shook his head.

Piper stared at them, confused.

“I told you they wouldn’t talk if you tried to bullshit them,” George said with a shake of his head. “Your account is new, Piper. Just this week.”

Fuck.

“Look I can’t tell you, okay. But my research and instincts have led me here. I’m hoping you’ll share what you know so that if vampires are real, we can tell the world.”

Jack snorted.

“Oh, they’re real, all right,” Eric said. “The question is whether you’re the right person for us to talk to.”

Piper pressed her lips together.

She needed these guys to trust her.

“What I have isn’t solid. I’m looking for evidence I can take to my editor to continue my investigation. I’m not writing some ragtime piece. This is going to be front page news around the world.”

Tyler sat back down with his green tea, and she took a closer look at him. He wasn’t your usual hoodie-clad computer nerd who hadn’t showered for three days. His board shorts, t-shirt, dirty blonde surfer hair and silvery blue eyes may have fooled some people, but she saw a hint of money. Probably a trust fund, or he made a lot online and didn’t like to show it off. Except for the expensive watch on his wrist. He lifted a Converse-clad foot onto his knee and tapped it, blowing into his drink and watched her watching him.

She looked away.

“Most of what we could tell you is already on the net,” Tyler added, drawing her eyes back to him. “No one wants to believe it. That’s the problem.”

“True that.” Eric stretched out his denim-clad legs. He wasn’t a huge guy, not like Oliver, but his Volcom t-shirt fit snug across his chest, showing he was fit and active.

Jack was a little broader but appeared to be shorter, though it was hard to tell while he was sitting down.

“I guess that’s why I’m here. I have a nose for these things, and I get the impression you have information you haven’t shared publicly.”

They all stared at her for a long moment.

“If you want us to trust you, you need to trust us back. Tell us what led you to LA and we can go from there,” Eric said.

Piper understood their mistrust. Talking to them about Sage’s diary, her sudden departure from her job, the long and mysterious holiday with Ari and her memory loss with Oliver felt like a risk. Yet, if she couldn’t gain their trust, this entire visit was a waste of time.

These guys could provide her with the type of substance that made her story an award winner and once and for all proved the existence of vampires.

Making her career.

And changing human history.

Or they were full of bullshit and had absolutely nothing. She had to decide. Sharing her sister’s information felt like another betrayal, but there was still a nagging concern in the back of her mind that Sage was being manipulated by Ari and he wasn’t to be trusted.

And the same could be said for Oliver, but the more time she spent with him, the harder it was to think clearly and subjectively.

Tyler sipped loudly on his hot tea as her eyes darted from one face to the other, deciding her next move.

She let out a sigh.

“What I’m about to share with you is very personal and confidential. It could endanger my family, my sister, and me,” Piper said firmly. “This information stays in this room.”

They all nodded.

“My sister was an employee at BioZen.”

Well, that got their attention. Not only were they glancing at one another, but they began shifting in their seats.

“Carry on,” George said, leaning forward.

“She went missing. Or rather, she went on holiday with her new boyfriend, but... this is hard to explain. I don’t think she went anywhere. I think she lied. I talked to her this morning, but while she was missing, I read her diary.”

“Never a good move,” Jack muttered and a few of the others cringed and let out a few ooh no’s.

“Anyway,” she continued. “Turns out it was a good idea. Sage, my sister—”

“Sage Roberts, aged twenty-five, lives at...” Eric read out her sister’s address from his screen and Piper glared at him.

“The hell?”

Eric shrugged. “You come into my home; I want to know who you are.”

Fucking hell, these guys weren’t messing around.

“You sure you aren’t the damn FBI or something?” She raised a brow.

“We’ve got access to far more information than those clowns.” Tyler scoffed. “Unofficially.”

Right.

“Carry on with your story.” Eric shot Tyler a look.

“So, Sage overheard people talking about vampires and how they believe they’re real. Something to do with her work. She got a promotion to work on this secret project and a few days later she leaves the office suddenly with a migraine. Sage doesn’t get migraines.”

“Yeah, this isn’t solid evidence.” Eric shook his head and stood.

“No, wait.” Piper looked up at him. He was taller than he seemed while sitting. “So I go to the address she went to that day and its enormous. It’s her boyfriend’s but no one will let me in to see her.”

“Not surprised. You sound like a stalker sister,” Eric muttered from the kitchen. She heard the microwave beep.

Piper shot him a distant scowl and Tyler’s chest wobbled in a silent laugh.

“Next thing I know, this guy takes me home and I cannot remember anything. Except over the next few days my memory starts coming back in bits and pieces. Then I start dreaming of him.”

Piper wanted to slap herself. She hated that she was sharing this with a handful of strangers but equally she wanted their trust and the information they had.

Telling them about Oliver had silenced her, though. Heck, he’d been inside her just hours ago screaming her name.

George stared at her and she saw the penny drop. His mouth fell open. “The guy from last night. He’s not your husband?”

Piper shook her head.

“Fuck me. Who are they?”

She shrugged.

“I don’t know. He’s a friend of Ari’s. Sage’s boyfriend. He’s been watching me. He’s... protecting me.”

“That old chestnut,” Tyler snorted.

George ran a hand through his hair.

Jack slowly nodded. “Okay, what else? There’s more, right?”

“While Sage was missing, I went to BioZen, and they told me she didn’t work there. A complete lie. Once I told them who I was and put some pressure on the receptionist, she let slip the head scientist has moved to Cali. So here I am. I rock up to their offices, but no one will acknowledge who he is.”

“What’s your theory?” Tyler asked.

Truth time.

“I think vampires are real. I also think my sister learned something she shouldn’t have. I think Ari and Oliver are involved, but I don’t know how,” Piper replied. “Maybe they’re protecting her. Maybe they aren’t.”

Saying it out loud made it all suddenly feel real. She knew most people would think she was crazy, but she hoped these guys wouldn’t. Something wasn’t right and even if she ended up not proving her worth to her father, if she could help Sage, this would be worth it.

But she still wanted the story.

“So what’s your fake husband doing in LA?” George asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re sleeping with him,” Tyler stated.

“What? No—”

“Yeah, you are,” George said, and her head swiveled to glare at him. “Piper, I’m a man. I know what I saw. That guy was possessive and territorial. If he’s not sleeping with you already, he will be any minute.”

Her mouth shut.

“He’s sleeping with her,” Tyler said again, nodding.

“Totally sleeping together.”

“Oh yeah, they’re fucking,” Eric said.

Piper stood.

“Fine. I’m sleeping with him. Can we please focus here?” She walked into the kitchen and dropped her glass into the sink. “He admitted he’s messing with my memory, but who has the ability to do that?”

Eric shrugged. “Honestly? Quite a few people. There’s shit in this world that would freak most people the fuck out if they knew.”

Jack nodded knowingly beside him, then stood and opened the sliding door and lit a joint. He offered it to her, and she shook her head.

“And vampires,” Tyler said.

Piper’s mouth fell open.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying vampires likely have the ability to wipe your memory. How else would they live amongst us undetected?”

Jesus.

“Do you know this for sure? What do you have?” She looked at Tyler and Eric. The latter held her gaze for a long moment, then stood and went to a PC set up on the table across the room and began powering it up. He tapped away for a moment.

She waited.

“Vampires,” he said, tilting his head in invitation for her to view his screen.

She went around behind him and leaned in. What she saw was a number of bodies lying on steel tables as if they were in a morgue. Or hospital. They just looked like people. When she went to speak, Eric zoomed in on one section of the photo.

Clear as day she could see the BioZen logo.

“Oh shit.”

More clicks and the mouse moved around, zooming onto one of the patients.

Was that a...?

“Fangs.” Eric nodded. “In case you didn’t work it out.”

Piper stood straight and stared vacantly out the glass doors, then back at the screen.

“Are they dead?”

Jack closed the door and shrugged at her. “We don’t know. That image was sent to us anonymously along with some documentation describing the experiments BioZen was undertaking. Cruel as fuck.”

“So yeah, probably,” Tyler said, confirming what she’d asked.

Holy shit.

This was huge. Not just that they had photographic and scientific evidence, but that, presumably, vampires could be controlled and killed by humans.

“Have you tracked the sender?”

Silence.

“That’s a yes.” She shook her head. “And you’re not giving up your source. I get it.”

“Actually, it’s a no. But whoever it was is pretty clever to be able to prevent fancy pants over there from following the trail,” Eric replied, nodding at Tyler.

Tyler smirked. “I’ll find him or her. Do not doubt the master.”

Jack snorted.

“Someone inside BioZen,” Piper said, more to herself. “So I’m on the right track. Damn. BioZen is experimenting on vampires. No wonder they don’t want the media sniffing about.”

Eric shook his head. “What did you think they were doing? Having them over for cups of tea?”

“Don’t be a dick, Eric.” George frowned.

Piper ignored the asshole comment. Her mind was beginning to connect the dots. Had Sage found out and refused to work for them? She knew her sister had been active in changing the policies around animal experimentation, so this wouldn’t sit right at all with her.

Still, what did Ari have to do with any of it?

“Can you look into a couple of people for me?” she asked them.

Tyler nodded and opened his laptop.

“Ari Moretti and Oliver Cambiaghi.” She had to know who they were.

“Any other details?”

“They live in Medina.” She read out the address from her phone.

“Fancy fucking address.” Tyler whistled as his fingers fled over the keyboard. His brows dropped. “You might need to give me a few hours. Jeez, yeah, these guys do not want to be found.”

Piper glanced at Eric, who was watching her.

“All right, Miss Journo. Looks like we can help each other out here,” Eric said. “We’ll be in touch tomorrow.”

She smiled. “Vampires are real.”

“Yup. Vampires are real,” Eric said. “George, you headed back to downtown?” When he nodded, Eric tilted his head back to her. “Give Piper a ride home. Make sure she gets back safe in case she was followed.”

She swallowed.

Followed?

“By whom?”

Eric stood. “Your fake husband, for one. Until we find out who these guys are, you need to be careful.”

Piper chewed the inside of her mouth. Oliver hurting her seemed the most unlikely thing in the world. He was protective and seemed to care about her.

Nothing made sense.

She’d get her answers, though. She was determined. Meanwhile, she’d accept the ride home.

PIPER’S HAIR WHIPPED around her as George drove them through the LA streets. With the top down and the palm trees around them she couldn’t help but smile.

She loved the warmer climate even though she was yet to relax enough to feel like a tourist.

“Had you seen that photo before today?” she asked.

“Yes. Mind fuck though, right?”

“Hell yes. Vampires could be just walking around us. How crazy is that?”

“Or not. Maybe they can’t go out in the daylight like in the movies.”

“Maybe.” Piper laughed.

George drove them toward Santa Monica Beach. They stopped at a set of lights and then turned to her and smirked. “Now that I know you aren’t married, you want to grab an ice cream?”

Piper took in the swaying palms and bright blue of the ocean and decided, what the heck? It wasn’t like she was married or even dating Oliver. They were just fucking. Both of them knew that.

“Sure.”

Meeting George and the guys had changed everything. Oliver was involved. She just didn’t know how. Did he work for BioZen as a type of security guy and was just trying to protect her before she got in too deep?

She thought about the conversation at the bar with Kurt and Ben about vampires. Had they been making fun of her with their answers?

Oliver had refused to answer... but then teased her body with talk of biting and fangs.

A shiver ran through her body.

She couldn’t deny her desire for him, but if he was involved with any of this, she needed to keep away from him. From all of them. God knows BioZen weren’t going to give her any information and now she knew why.

After ordering two double-scooped ice creams, they walked along the beach and George handed her one of them.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “Boy, this is nice. We have beaches in Seattle, but obviously the weather’s not this warm.”

George laughed. “Yeah, I know. I have family up there, so I visit from time to time. Cali has its pros and cons. The weather is pretty nice, though.”

“You work in corporate?” she asked, taking in his long pants and shirt open at the collar.

“Corporate sales.” He grinned at her.

Piper laughed. “You totally have that salesman vibe.” She laughed some more.

“Why doesn’t that feel like a compliment?”

Piper finished her ice cream and tossed her napkin into the nearest trash can. “It’s not a criticism. You are who you are. Just like I’m a journalist.”

Suddenly, her phone rang. She pulled it out of her bag and stared at the number. Blocked.

“I need to take this.” She apologized and swiped to answer. “Piper Roberts.”

“Piper. This is Xander Tomassi from BioZen Pharmaceuticals. I hear you’ve been making some inquiries about our organization.”

Oh, shit.