Nikos gave me a single nod. An eloquent “go on”, for him.

“Well, think about it. The favor I did involved a very high-tech company. How does that square with pin-fed forms and tinfoil hats? I think-”

A big warm hand suddenly covered my mouth. “Shh.” Nikos cocked his head at the front door.

Concentrating, I heard voices approaching. Boys, from the snickers.

Feet trundled up the hallway. “What’re we going to do to the old weirdo this time? Hey, I know. Let’s show him our fangs.”

“Nothing’ll top the look on his face that first time we delivered his stupid boxes. You have to invite us in over the threshold, bleh. I nearly peed my pants laughing.”

I sucked in a breath.

“The loon. I thought he’d have apoplexy when he realized he’d met real vampires and nobody’d believe him.”

“Although he tastes pretty good. For a nut job.”

Grim-faced, Nikos caught my eye and nodded. Vampires, just a little creepy and not very subtle. This explained how Aylmer found out.

Faster than I could follow, Nikos was at the door, throwing it open. He collared the two vampires, young men by the thin, hungry look of them, and dragged them in, slamming the door shut with a kick.

“Hey man, what do you think-”

“Stop it, you can’t-”

Nikos shut them up by shaking them hard. He eyed their uniforms, the eMailnXpress logos matching the boxes. “Foot soldiers,” he spat. “Who runs you?”

“Our boss?” one of them squeaked. “You can’t tell Klaus. He’d kill us!”

Nikos and I exchanged a glance. He tossed the young vampires sprawling to the floor. “Fine. But if I ever hear of you ‘tasting’ again-” His death glare finished the sentence more eloquently than words.

The boys scrambled to their feet, threw open the door and dashed out.

Nikos watched them escape. “Idiots.”

“Kids. But if you really think Aylmer ’s okay, maybe we should put finding him on hold and get to Times Square. We know whatever Klaus has planned will happen there.”

“Not yet. We need better intelligence.”

Ever the general. “Well, freight bills won’t tell us anything.” The kids had dropped a couple boxes when Nikos yanked them inside, and I went to pick them up. “And since Aylmer isn’t here, who else can we ask? I can’t think he confided in anyone besides me. He didn’t have any friends.”

Nikos followed me to the door. “Maybe a neighbor.”

“Don’t think so.” We stared at the closed 7A across the hallway. “Although his neighbor must have heard Harold and Kumar too. I wonder what he thought of it.” I picked up a box, brought it inside.

Nikos brought in the other and shut the door behind him. “A knot has two ends. Tell me about Bujný a Zvuk Magie.”

“Besides their being headquartered in Eastern Europe, I don’t know that much. My job was to get Aylmer -or somebody-clearance to be their representative here. Or maybe it was as a subcontractor. We communicated in a mix of Czech, German and English and I wasn’t always sure of the nuances. It was very frustrating.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Bujný a Zvuk Magie means Light and Sound Magic.”

“I wish I’d had you then. You speak a bunch of different languages, don’t you? Well, in a couple thousand years, you’d have to. You’d have cut that red tape like sharp shears.” I slumped down on a pile of boxes. “I feel totally useless. Why couldn’t Nixie be here instead? She’d have done a much better job.”

“You feel inadequate? Why?” He frowned. “You’re smart, capable and sexy as hell. Why don’t you know that?”

“But it’s sound. Nixie’s the musician. Or tactical, then my brother Colin would help. Or-”

“No. Your disturbance-it’s more. Personal.” He knelt before me, looked deep into my eyes. “Your family?”

How did he figure that out? I jerked one shoulder. “Maybe. My mom, dad, sister and brother became internationally important people. I didn’t even find a job in my field.” The only time I got close to using my art degree was arranging table decorations for the mayor’s cheeseball-and-blood-sausage shindigs. “But it’s no big. I cope.”

“Your mother and father belittle you? Your brother or sister?”

“No.” I looked away. “Mom and dad didn’t live to see what a flop I am. And my sibs are nothing but supportive.” It came out more bitterly than I meant.

“Twyla.” Nikos cupped my face in both hands, made me look at him. “There’s nothing wrong with your potential.”

How nice if that were true. Maybe it even was. Of course then I was squandering that potential, an even bigger issue. I started to tug away but his iron hands stopped me. He said, “But sometimes living up to that potential needs the right circumstances. Being ready is just as good. Just as important. When the crisis comes, you’ll see.”

“But I don’t know that, do I? I don’t know how I’ll act in a crisis, if I’ll be up to it. I can guess, but you yourself said that’s not knowing.”

Nikos released me, saying simply, “I have faith.”

I jumped to my feet, started pacing. “Take this crisis. What good am I? A compulsion device that works by sound waves. I don’t even have the potential to solve that puzzle. I couldn’t tell a whole note from an octave. What the hell is an octave anyway?”

“It’s from ‘say’ to ‘see’ in the first line of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.”

I ran the song in my head. Felt the notes with my throat. “Ouch. That’s a leap.”

“Yes.”

“But see what I mean? Here’s a crisis and circumstances or fate or whatever has put one of the least appropriate people for the job in the hot seat. What if ‘circumstances’ never come together for me? What if I’m just a dud?”

“Twyla, love. We need to go back to my hotel.”

I stopped pacing. “Pity sex?”

He smiled. “No. I must retrieve my patrol blade. And I think you’ll help me figure this out, but only when your thoughts aren’t blocked.”

Wow, over a dozen words, a veritable novel for the reserved Nikos. “Blocked by what?”

“By a belief that everyone has more to contribute than you.” He guided me out. “A mistaken belief.”

I checked the shadows of the building for Klaus but saw nothing. As we slid into the limo, I said, “A Spartan general, out unarmed? You must feel naked.”

“I have my public blade.”

“Whatever that means.”

In his hotel room, seeing the xiphos and kopis laid side by side on his dresser, I was smacked in the face with exactly what that meant. Twelve extra inches of cold steel. I swallowed. “Guess you’re serious.”

Nikos pressed a button on the shorter one, the xiphos. The double-edged leaf-like blade retracted almost magically. He picked up the longer one, started to rub the edges with a stone. His muscles worked steadily as he honed the wickedly curved blade. “The only way to stop Klaus is to cut off his head.” He paused. “Twyla. You have the heart of a warrior. But I don’t want you to watch that.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not into overachievement.”

He just shook his head and slid the kopis sword into its sheath in a quick, practiced motion. Setting it next to the switchblade xiphos, he turned the full force of his attention on me. “Come to bed.”

“I thought you said no pity sex.”

“More an exercise in confidence building.”

“Oh, that. The mayor has us do yearly team-building exercises. I’d rather have-what are you doing?”

He glided toward the closet, shimmering into mist as he moved. His clothes dropped to the floor. He re-formed while still moving, misting out of his clothes as easily as a man shrugs off a robe. Casually, naturally, as if he did this every night.

Hmm. Maybe he did.

And what was revealed-frickin’ yum. Forget Michelangelo’s sculptures. No mere artist could capture the stunning glide of lithe muscle under skin, the contrast of jet hair against ochre flesh, the gleam of intent in sable bedroom eyes as he grabbed some ties out of the closet and flowed to the bed.