Page 15 of Blood Stone

“She has an entrepreneurial mind. She thinks like a man — probably a result of fighting it out in the industry she’s in, and surviving. She likes to have fun and explore with big toys. That’s why she does all those hands-on research trips to wild corners of the globe and lives rough and hard for six weeks in the Gobi Desert or the Atlas Mountains while she digs up some interesting trinket or another for her next movie.” Garrett grimaced. “She also doesn’t mind slapping down men every now and again to prove her point. She has mental balls.”

Sebastian laughed softly. “I like her already.”

Nial was frowning. “These research trips of hers. That’s one of the reasons we focused on her, Garrett. The last trip she did...”

Garrett shrugged. “She’s in pre-production for some biopic about a warrior emperor. Murad. She did all the research a year or so ago.”

Nial nodded. “Somewhere in southern Turkey.”

Garrett felt the jolt almost down to his toes. “Çayönü,” he breathed. “Near Diyarbakir.”

Sebastian moved around the counter and came up next to Garrett’s side. He was taller than Garrett remembered, and looked Garrett in the eye. “Murad was an Ottoman emperor, wasn’t he?”

Garrett nodded.

Nial straightened up from his slouch against the counter. “Southern Turkey was all part of the Byzantine empire...and the Ottoman, too. It can’t be a coincidence.”

“Roman was born an Ottoman. He’s probably heard about Kate’s research,” Garrett said.

Nial crossed his arms again. “You have to find out, Garrett. Roman is a wildcard we need to neutralize if this game is to play the way we want it to.”

Garrett grimaced. “In three hundred years, I never could tame Roman in the slightest. The best I managed was to walk away and not look back.”

Sebastian’s smile was grim. “You can’t walk away this time, my friend. Your stakes are not the only ones on the table anymore.”

Garrett nearly opened his mouth to ask who else had a stake in the game beside him. Then he clamped his jaw closed, his heart pounding, as he realized the answer for himself.

Everyone’s future rode on the outcome of this. Humanandvampire. Merely the future of mankind.