The meeting for the next night was scheduled at eight in the evening. Eve came out of her room fully dressed for work, high-heeled shoes and strappy black dress and all. Rex met her with a downcast look. There were dark rings under his eyes. He hadn't snored all day. By the looks of it, he hadn't slept either.
"I'm sorry about the noise," he said.
His phone had howled at noon, and again a few times over the course of the afternoon. It now lay in a pile of broken plastic, with the battery smashed out of it.
"Grandma has locked the silent option so I can't use it," he said apologetically, pointing at the remains of his cell phone.
"You'd better pick that up," Eve said. "My maid is working from home, as you know. You'll have to clean up your own mess."
She didn't comment on the noise. It felt pointless. But the fleeting thought passed through her head again: definitely not an alpha.
***
Christopher was waiting for them downstairs, though it was early for the meeting. He had a big grin on his face.
"I've found their hideout," he said. "Also, they sell illegal weapons, so if we can get the police there, they'll take care of the rest."
Eve congratulated him and opened her laptop. There was a report from Alexandra about the police gargoyles. They weren't allowed to do detective work, but they had been informed of the location of the hideout and had promised to find a way to be on standby close by.
"If we cause the smallest disturbance, they'll have an excuse to come in and notice the weapons," Alexandra summarized when Eve called her to congratulate her on her work. "They'll arrest everyone in the organization then and there, for possession of illegal weapons. All they need is a pretext to go in there."
Eve smiled. It seemed funny that, just like her, the police needed someone to invite them in. Even the gargoyles. But the plan was settling into place nicely.
By ten at night, everyone had been briefed on their mission. The pixies had complained aloud, the elves had exchanged glances, and the goblin had given himself far too much importance, even though he was going to stay in the van outside. Everyone had been against Eve coming along, but it was her company that was on the line. This was the corporation that she'd built from the ground up over hundreds of years. She wasn't about to let its fate in the hands of her staff without her joining them. But, until she could be invited inside the troublemakers' hideout, she would wait in the van outside, with Rex there to guard her.
***
By midnight, an inconspicuous black van was parked on a dark side-street in the heart of the human part of town.The Blood Lust Corporation logo had been hidden under a fresh coat of paint, and the van still carried the slightly dizzying smell of oil-based paint. The pixies, half intoxicated by the smell, needed some time in fresh air before they could be ready for their mission.
A police car drove past and stopped at an all-night doughnut shop further down the street. Two police officers got out of the car, one human and one gargoyle, and headed for the shop. A few minutes later, seemingly by coincidence, another police car stopped next to the first one, and another gargoyle police officer stepped out of the car.
"I'll only be a minute," he said to an annoyed human waiting behind the wheel.
Five minutes later, while the gargoyles were still chatting and munching on a second helping of doughnuts, a third police car stopped next to the other two.
Eve made an impatient gesture at Christopher, and he pushed a button on the communications panel.
"Night Mole to Eagle One, come in Eagle One," he said into his headset.
"This is Lumina, I mean Eagle One," a screeching voice answered from the headphones. "We're almost in position. Lucien wants to pull a prank on the gargoyles first."
"Negative, Eagle Two," Chris said quickly. "Do not engage friendlies. I repeat, do not engage friendlies."
Eve pulled the headset off his head and drew the mic close to her lips.
"Lucien, Lumina," she said in her sweetest whisper. "Get back on your mission this instant, or you are both fired. I want those doors open, and I want it yesterday."
Christopher looked appalled, but he didn't say anything.
"Roger that, Big Momma," Lumina screeched over the headphones. There was a loud giggle, and then static. She'd cut off communications.
"You can't actually fire them," Christopher said. "There's no one else small enough to fit in through the ventilation system.
Eve shrugged.
"The pixies don't know that," she said.
She patted Rex's head instinctively. For once, his tail, though visible, wasn't wagging. His wolf ears looked tense. He gave a short growl when her hand touched his hair, but mellowed down instantly.
"Good boy," she whispered.
***
The wait was excruciating. With the comms off, all Eve could do was pray that the pixies wouldn't get caught, or, worse, distracted. Five minutes later, there was a faint buzzing in the headphones.
"Lucien to Chris," a tiny voice said. "Lucien to Chris! We're in. We need backup."
"Have you unlocked the doors, Eagle Two?" Christopher asked, reluctant to give up the code names.
"No. It's not what we thought."
"It's not an electric lock," Lumina chimed in. "We can't zap it. It's a big metal bar. Iron!"
"Can you push it aside?" Christopher asked.
"It's iron!" Lucien shrieked, so shrilly that the goblin threw away the headset and covered his ears, his face contorted in pain.
"They can't touch iron," Eve said, getting out of the van. Then she picked up the headset and brought the mic to her lips.
"Lucien, Lumina," she said, "meet me at the entrance to the ventilation shaft. I need you to invite me in."
She'd barely taken two steps when Tina and Lola caught up with her and posted themselves in front of her.
"We can't let you in, Ma'am," Tina said.
"It's too dangerous," Lola added.
"Someone has to open that door," Eve answered. She wanted to sidestep them, or break into a run and go around them. Orcs were not fast enough to keep up with a vampire at full speed. But that wouldn't have been dignified.
"I'm your boss," Eve said firmly, "let me pass."
But the orcs just stood there, Tina with her arms crossed, Lola with her hands on her hips, shaking their heads.
"We'll go," they said. "We can bring down the door, no problem, and the police will hear the noise and come to investigate."
"It fits the plan," Christopher said from behind Eve. "It's not exactly how we'd thought it would go, but..."
"That will make too much noise," Eve said. "The humans will be waiting on the other side, with their guns pointed at you, before that door even comes down. If I can squeeze through the ventilation shaft as a bat..."
She couldn't believe that she had to explain her plan to underlings and get their approval. Tina and Lola shook their heads again before she could even finish, and she felt a warm hand grabbing her arm from behind to hold her back.
"It's too dangerous for you," Felix said, grabbing hold of her arm and trying to pull her away. "Let the girls from Facility handle the door. We need to get you out of sight. The guns these people have, they're sunlight guns. We'll be fine, but we need to get you out of range for when the light hits."