Page 2 of Benjamin and the Thief

He found Cooper in Quinn’s office. During nighttime hours, Quinn, a pure-blooded vampire, was responsible for assigning jobs to everybody who worked for Scanguards. During the daytime, one of the vampire hybrids covered for him.

Benjamin entered the office and closed the door behind him.

“Hey, Coop.”

“Hey, Bro. You’re back. How was it?”

“Piece of cake. The guy was just paranoid and definitely not in danger of being attacked or kidnapped.”

“Well, at least you got a little sunshine down in SoCal. It’s been dreary up here.”

“Nothing wrong with a bit of fog,” Benjamin replied. He motioned to the papers on the desk. “Samson said we’ve got some new contracts in. Anything good?”

Cooper smirked. “And by good you mean exciting and dangerous, right?”

Benjamin shrugged. “Anything that’s a little challenging.”

“So not the babysitting job then.” Cooper tapped on a thin file and pushed it aside. “That leaves the Preston party.”

“What’s that about?”

“Providing security for their party on Friday night. There’ll be a lot of people and even more valuables: jewelry, paintings, sculptures, and the like. It’s benefiting some charity.”

Benjamin made a grimace. “A rich people’s party? Sounds boring. Nothing is gonna happen there.”

“That’s why they’re hiring us: so that nothing does happen. After last year’s incident, they wanna be on the safe side.”

Benjamin furrowed his forehead. “What incident?”

“Didn’t you hear about that jewelry theft? It was all over the news. Some super-expensive necklace with totally rare precious stones. Worth several million dollars.”

Now he remembered.

“Oh, those Prestons! That was quite a spectacle when they got the guy.”

“Yep. That’s why they want three highly trained people for this event.”

“I guess it’s better than twiddling my thumbs. Who else is free?”

Cooper looked into the computer monitor and used the mouse to scroll.

“Ethan and Lydia. They’re in the V-Lounge, if you want to grab them and do an initial assessment. You’ve got seniority, so you’ll run point.”

Cooper handed him a thin file. “You should find everything you need in here. I’ll send a message to the Prestons to tell them whom we’ve assigned.”

“Good. I’ll get right on it.”

He left the office and made his way down to the V-Lounge on the first floor. This was the place where only vampires, vampire hybrids, and their families were allowed. The reason for this was the fact that the bar served human blood on tap—the same way other bars served beer.

It wasn’t busy, since most vampires only came to headquarters after sunset. Ethan and Lydia waved to him from a comfortable seating area, both of them with a half-full glass of blood on the coffee table in front of them.

“Welcome home.” Lydia greeted him with a smile.

She was Cooper’s older sister, although they weren’t related by blood. Lydia was adopted. She’d originally had long red hair inherited from her birth parents, but just before her twenty-first birthday she’d bleached and dyed it blond. When her body had set into its final form, it had retained the blond hair. Together with her beautiful singing voice, Lydia was stunning. Many a man had made advances, but despite the fact that she’d been with many men, she never dated anyone for long. So far, nobody had met her high standards for a blood-bonded mate.

“It’s good to be home,” Benjamin said, while he motioned to the bartender. “O-neg please.”

The bartender nodded, and Benjamin sat down opposite his two friends.