Page 6 of John’s Yearning

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John grabbed his jacket, held the door open for Savannah and motioned her to walk through it ahead of him. A gentlemanly move, yes, but it also meant that he could follow her with his eyes, eyes that instantly dropped to her ass. Maybe for once he should have foregone his Southern manners, because looking at that shapely ass, those firm, round cheeks, gave him all kinds of ideas wholly inappropriate for this situation. He prided himself on being a civilized vampire, a man who kept his needs and desires firmly leashed. But just looking at Savannah as she sashayed out of his office and into the hallway, made him want to snap that leash and toss all his good intentions out the proverbial window.

Savannah suddenly turned and looked at him. Startled, he froze. Shit, had she somehow sensed that he was checking out her ass?

“Where to?”

“Uh, this way,” he said and motioned to the elevators. As he walked next to her, the silence between them felt awkward, so he asked, “Ms. Rice, I’m sure that even with Detective Donnelly’s recommendation, you considered other companies to help you with the search for your daughter. Why choose Scanguards?”

“I spoke to several of the other companies in the field, but none of them struck me as even remotely qualified.” She gave him a sideways look. “They all started the initial meeting by laying out their fee structure and per diems, expenses, and what not. I knew then that they couldn’t care less whether they found Buffy or not, as long as they could bill me a bunch of hours.”

“Hmm.” He would have had the same concern had he been treated that way.

“But when your first move was to ask me to tell you about Buffy and what had happened, I knew Scanguards was different. Detective Donnelly’s recommendation certainly helped, but I don’t rely on other people’s opinions. I form my own.”

Maybe that attitude was what Donnelly had meant by bossy and opinionated, but John considered it good instincts. Very good instincts.

“I’ll do my best not to disappoint you.”

When they arrived at the elevators, John pressed the button, and Savannah turned to him. “I didn’t have much confidence in the police to begin with. But after what you just told me about the other children, I know I can’t rely on them to find Buffy. I hate to put more pressure on you, but Scanguards is my last hope.”

Before he could respond, the elevator doors opened and Amaury, Scanguards’ founder Samson’s best friend and a high-ranking director of the company, stepped out. As always, he was casually dressed in cargo pants and a shirt that was open at the collar. His long dark hair, shorter than John’s, touched his shoulders, shoulders that were as broad as a tank. He was linebacker material for sure, though John knew Amaury had never played American football in his youth, which he’d spent in sixteenth century France.

“Hey, John,” Amaury greeted him and nodded to Savannah.

“Amaury, evening.”

“Glad I’m running into you. There’s been a small change in the schedule.”

John raised an eyebrow. Would he have to hand Savannah over to somebody else? “Yeah?”

“Damian and Benjamin requested to do their hands-on-training exercises with you starting tomorrow night. Take ‘em patrolling and find something for them to do.” Amaury grimaced. “Sorry, but I had to approve it, or they would have talked my ear off.”

John shrugged and reached for the elevator door, preventing it from shutting. “I don’t mind. Like I said to Gabriel earlier, the boys need to start pulling their weight. We need the extra pairs of hands.”

Amaury slapped him on the shoulder. “Glad you see it that way. Not everybody is keen on training the next generation.” He made a motion to walk away, then stopped and grinned. “Oh, and I told them that your word is law. They run roughshod over me, ‘cause I’m their father, but there’s no reason for you to tolerate such behavior.”

John had to chuckle involuntarily. “They’re good boys. You could have done worse.”

Amaury winked at him. “Yeah, I could have gotten Grayson as a son.” With a nod and a “Ma’am” to Savannah, he left.

John looked at Savannah and motioned to the elevator. “Shall we?”

Inside the elevator, John pressed the button for parking level two and watched the doors slide closed.

“I couldn’t help but overhear that you’re patrolling. What kind of patrolling?” Savannah asked.

“We have a contract with the city. For security services.” When she gave him a curious look, he added, “The city’s police force is too small to handle all of the city’s security needs. So they hired Scanguards to patrol certain areas at night. Make sure the city is safe.” Safe from creatures of the night. From creatures like him.

“The city seems to have lots of confidence in Scanguards.”

“We’ve been working with them for a long time.” The former mayor of San Francisco, a hybrid and a friend of Samson, had negotiated the deal. When the new mayor had taken over, he, as well as the chief of police, had been let in on the secret that vampires existed. Fortunately, they’d agreed to honor the prior mayor’s arrangement and sworn to keep the existence of vampires, witches, and other paranormal creatures secret. The deal worked well for both sides: the city was safe, and Scanguards received steady pay from the city’s treasury.

The elevator doors opened. “Go ahead, my car is parked to the left.” He followed Savannah out into the clean, well-lit garage.

“The SUV?” she asked, pointing to a blackout van, one of Scanguards’ preferred modes of transport because it shielded the vampires riding in it—including the driver—from the sun.

John shook his head, clicked his key remote, and the lights of the car next to the SUV flashed briefly.