Page 10 of Blood Mosaic

Of course, different humans had different natural shields.

“She resisted your amnis, so you used a hammer instead?” Mika grunted as he put the woman in the back of the car. “Bodies aren’t heavy—they’re just awkward to carry.”

“You’ve gotten soft,” Oleg muttered. “Too many minions jumping to do your bidding. I’m going to tell Ludmila to stop coddling you.”

Mika snorted.

The Estonian water vampire was more than an employee to Oleg. He was the spear tip of Oleg’s druzhina, the collection of his oldest friends and most trusted warriors, vampires who had been with him for centuries. They were comrades-in-arms—brothers and sisters by oath—and Oleg trusted them more than his own blood.

And Ludmila—one of the oldest members and Mika’s most trusted sniper—was about as nurturing as a wolverine.

“Fuck off.” Mika straightened and looked at Oleg. “Why did you use your influence at all? I was watching, and she agreed to your terms.”

Unfortunately, amnis didn’t work on other vampires, which was why Mika was such a pain in his ass.

“She could tell something was different about me.”

Mika lowered his voice and stepped close. “Tatyana Vorona suspected… that you are a moody bitch who needs to get laid?”

Oleg smirked and patted Mika’s cheek. “It’s good that you amuse me.” He walked to the other side of the antique Mercedes where one of Mika’s men was holding the door. “The Admiral Hotel.”

“Right away, Mr. Sokolov.”

The man closed the door after Oleg slipped inside, glancing at the unconscious human before Mika joined them in the front passenger seat.

“She’s going to be a problem,” Mika said.

“She’s going to be a solution.” Oleg examined Tatyana Vorona’s sleeping face. “She’s going to find thirty million dollars for me.”

“Thirty million,” Mika muttered. “You spent that last year on good caviar.”

“The money isn’t the point, and I don’t think that’s correct.Youlike caviar, not me.”

“Like I said,” Mika repeated, “you spent thirty million on good caviar last year.”

“I’ll probably kill you.” Oleg stretched out his legs, grateful that he had a fleet of antique vehicles to enjoy rather than the cramped, modern cars that humans used. “One of these nights I’ll probably decide to kill you.”

Vampire amnis acted like an electrical current to modern technology. That meant nothing digital and no computers. There were companies who had adapted modern technology for immortal hands, but Oleg didn’t use it. He hired humans to use technology for him, humans like Tatyana Vorona.

“Even if she can find the money, she’s going to be a problem,” Mika said. “She’s seen your face.”

“And?” He waved a hand over Tatyana’s pretty blond head. “I can make her forget me.”

“But will you?” Mika turned around and switched from Russian—which their driver spoke—to his own native Estonian. “Don’t think I missed the resemblance. She could be Luana’s sister.”

Oleg glanced at the woman. “The resemblance is only passing when she’s awake. Plus this woman was born twenty-seven years ago in a government hospital in Kerch, not to a wealthy merchant in Vienna.”

“Details.”

“Details matter.”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t notice.”

Oleg glanced at the limp woman beside him. In repose, she looked younger and the lines around her eyes had relaxed. Her hair had come loose from the neat bun at the base of her neck, and the vivid blue eyes that had captured him during their meeting were closed; light brown lashes rested against her cheeks.

“I noticed.” He looked away. Resemblance to his dead mate or not, he would use Tatyana Vorona to claw back what Zara had stolen from him, and then he would wipe her memory and let her resume her simple human life, richer by several million dollars. “Make sure she gets the money Zara owed her.”

“I’m sure Elene will take care of it.”

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