Chapter 5
Grudgingly, Benjamin got into his car and headed to his assignment, the Preston residence in Pacific Heights, where a glitzy party was about to start.
When he’d awoken mid-morning, he’d been alone in bed. Catalina was gone. She’d snuck out without waking him, and he’d been too exhausted to even notice her freeing herself from his arms. She’d left a note. A very vague one.
Thank you for last night. I had a wonderful time. But my life is too complicated right now. Catalina.
Complicated? Whose life wasn’t complicated?
That wasn’t a reason. That was just what people said when they didn’t want to name the real reason.
Had he come on too strong? Had asking her for brunch been too much?
Or was she perhaps regretting the night altogether?
Had he pushed her into something she hadn’t really wanted?
He replayed the entire night in front of his mind’s eye, looking for anything to give him a clue as to why she’d really left without giving him a means to contact her.
He found nothing. In fact, the night had been perfect.
He’d made her climax, and she’d surrendered in his arms. Everything about her had been perfect, even her blood.
He stopped himself. He’d bitten her, though he’d done it when she’d climaxed and in such a way that she’d felt no pain and had no awareness of what he’d done.
Or was he wrong? Had she felt his bite after all and only played along because she’d been afraid of what else he’d do?
Fuck! Why hadn’t he kept himself in check? But the aroma of her blood had been so tempting, so irresistible that he hadn’t listened to his brain but to the vampire inside him. The vampire who had his own needs.
He’d always known that restraining himself when it came to the need to sink his fangs into a juicy neck, particularly during sex, was a difficult undertaking.
He wasn’t much different than his twin brother, Damian.
They were cut out of the same cloth: a high sex drive coupled with an insatiable need for blood coming straight from a human’s vein.
Luckily, his brother had found the perfect human woman for himself and was now enjoying his favorite pastime nightly: blood and sex with his blood-bonded mate.
Benjamin had always felt that it was too early for him to bind himself to one woman, but today, for a reason he didn’t want to examine any further, he felt different. The idea of one woman for the rest of his life suddenly didn’t sound that unappealing at all. In fact, it sounded downright perfect.
It didn’t feel suffocating but exciting.
It was an odd thought, he had to admit that.
If his brother knew what he was thinking right now, he would have a fit of laughter.
Damian had warned him long ago that from one day to the next, being footloose and fancy-free wouldn’t satisfy him anymore.
He hadn’t believed him, because he’d always liked variety in women, more so than his brother.
But one night with Catalina, and he was questioning his lifestyle.
Was sleeping with a different woman every week really that satisfying?
Sure, it was exciting at first, but how could he ever gain any level of intimacy in a relationship that didn’t last more than a night or two?
Perhaps he could have seen where things would have gone with Catalina.
But she hadn’t even given him a chance, clearly not interested in anything more.
And he wasn’t the kind of man who chased a woman who wasn’t interested in him.
Well, at least that had always been his motto. There were other fish in the pond. Unfortunately, the vampire inside him had just developed a taste for this particular one, Catalina.
You can find her, his inner voice claimed.
Of course he could. He wasn’t just a bodyguard at Scanguards, he also had extensive training in investigations and the tools to find pretty much anybody he was looking for at his disposal.
Perhaps, if his vampire side was still pining for Catalina after a week, he would try to find her. But now, he had to concentrate on his assignment.
The Preston mansion was a six- to seven-thousand-square-foot home stretching over three floors in Pacific Heights.
Due to its location on a steep hill, it had unobstructed views of the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island, and Alcatraz.
The first floor offered a large terrace, while smaller balconies were located on the second and third floors.
The previous day, he, Ethan, and Lydia had made a security assessment of the house and its grounds and spoken at length to the owners—and only residents—Elizabeth and James Preston.
They were in their mid-to-late fifties. Their grown children—two boys and a girl—lived out of state.
They weren’t expected to fly in for the event.
Rather, tonight’s guest list read like a phone book for the city’s elite: rich and influential men and women from the financial, cultural, and legal institutions of San Francisco and the Bay Area.
It was the same type of crowd that had season tickets to the opera and sat on charity and museum boards.
They were the exact opposite of his extended Scanguards family, where everybody tried to remain as unassuming as possible, never seeking the limelight even when they donated to worthy causes.
Finding photos of anybody from Scanguards in the papers or on social media was an oddity, and the talented IT experts Scanguards employed—his uncle Eddie being one of them—made sure those photos disappeared quickly and without a trace.
It was best this way so that nobody realized that the men and women from Scanguards didn’t age, because they were vampires and vampire hybrids.
Benjamin parked his Porsche around the corner from the mansion, where a few parking spots had been reserved for the staff.
Ethan’s car was already there, but he didn’t see Lydia’s.
He walked down the sidewalk and turned onto the cross street, where the main entrance of the corner property was located.
Lydia was in the foyer. She wore a blue cocktail dress so she could blend in with the crowd later—a request by the Prestons. Benjamin himself wore a tuxedo, since they had also insisted that he and Ethan wear something formal so they didn’t look like security.
“Hey, didn’t see your car,” Benjamin greeted her.
“Ethan gave me a ride. Parking is murder here,” she replied.
“Where is he?”
“Already keeping an eye on the side entrance that the caterers are using.”
“Good. Have you spoken to the Prestons?”
“Yep. They’re both getting ready upstairs.” She motioned to the large staircase that led to the second floor. “There were a couple of changes to the guest list.” She reached for a clipboard and handed it to him. “There were several cancellations and a few last-minute additions.”
Benjamin ran his gaze over the list and noticed the handwritten amendments. He saw that somebody’s plus-one had been crossed out, another individual guest had also cancelled, and two more couples had been added.
“Guess we didn’t get a chance to vet the additions,” Benjamin mused.
“Apparently, they are personal friends. Low security risk,” Lydia said, shrugging.
Benjamin knew many of the names on the guest list by reputation and would probably recognize some of them if he saw them.
After all, their photos were often printed in the glossy magazines, and providing security for some of the large society events in San Francisco wasn’t anything new for Scanguards.
“Alright, let’s get ready for the guests’ arrivals.”
While Lydia checked all rooms on the first floor for any issues, Benjamin went to the second and third floors to make sure nobody had infiltrated during the preparations for the party.
All rooms were empty. He didn’t enter the master bedroom, since the Prestons were inside getting dressed for the big event.
The guests began arriving an hour later.
Benjamin checked their names off the guest list while Lydia directed them onto the terrace where the catering staff already circulated with welcome drinks.
From there, they could enjoy a beautiful sunset before the temperature dropped and the party moved into the lavishly decorated salon.
There, more catering staff circulated with not only drinks but also canapés.
A pianist played jazz to entertain the guests, while the Prestons mingled, greeting everybody and smiling politely.
Benjamin was watching from the entrance to the salon, where he could also see the front door. Several of the guests hadn’t shown up yet, but hadn’t cancelled either.
Conversation fragments drifted to him from inside the salon.
“Congresswoman,” Elizabeth Preston said in her saccharine-sweet voice, “I’m so happy you could make it after all.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. After all the trouble the last few months, this is such a treat…”
“I’m so happy everything is back to normal,” Mrs. Preston confirmed.
“Darling?” James Preston interrupted. “Excuse me for barging into your conversation, Congresswoman, have you met Judge Norton?”
“Briefly,” the congresswoman said. “How do you do?”
“Nice to meet you again, Ms. Silverman,” the man replied, before his voice took on a warmer tone. “Elizabeth, you look stunning tonight.”
“Excuse us, Congresswoman,” Elizabeth replied. “Tylor, I didn’t get a chance to greet you out on the terrace. It’s so good to see you. We missed you at the regatta last month.”
“Work commitments. Sometimes, I just can’t get away. Sandra sends her regrets, but her migraine came back with a vengeance.”
“I’m sorry to hear she’s suffering so much. I still remember when she first started getting those migraines back in college. It’s terrible that the doctors still haven’t found anything that helps…”
Benjamin tuned out the mindless chatter, and his thoughts drifted back to Catalina.