The Scientific Method

  It could still happen though, couldn't it? Tonight, even.

  Stop it, she told herself. Stop borrowing trouble.

  For one thing, Graham had never done any of it in Brian's presence. With that hateful vampire intuition, he'd obviously figured out she coped better with Brian close.

  But though Butch's place was a nice-sized estate, it wasn't the maze of hallways of the Council compound or a Gathering locale. She tamped down the tight ball of apprehension in her stomach. If she could stay with Brian throughout the evening, then Graham shouldn't succeed in getting her alone.

  She could tell herself Graham was no different from any other vampire, but he gave her a sense of dread and fear she couldn't hide, and he exploited it. He was a sexual predator.

  Given that vampires were the top predator in the food chain and their servants were essentially sex slaves when they wanted to exercise their libidinous nature, it sounded laughable, but she knew she was right. Most other servants were experienced enough to please him without setting off his sadism trigger, but in those breakfast discussions, it was clear he was no one's favorite. No one else seemed to fear him as she did, though. She wished she had their fortitude.

  She set her jaw. She did, damn it. She was an accomplished scientist as well as a dedicated vampire's servant, and damn good at both jobs. She'd had a few weak instances these past couple of days, and her Master had indulged them, but it was time to prove herself worthy of that consideration, the way Jacob did with his Mistress. He didn't whine and moan about this kind of thing.

  Arriving in Butch's spacious study, her gaze swept the room. It was decorated in western colors and masculine appointments, like the vast main desk, long sofa and five large flat screens where he could mix and match simultaneous viewing options. She'd requested a couple folding tables and they were already here.

  Pushing aside her worries about the evening, she got down to work. It didn't take too long to lay out everything, but once she opened up her laptop and Brian's side by side, there was email to check and reports to download from the Alabama and Berlin facilities, as well as from the teams they had out in the field. Answering questions via video chat, compiling data, studying results and making her notes kept her busy for quite some time.

  As a result, when the sound of a cleared throat at the study door had her lifting her head and looking around, she was surprised to realize it was mid-afternoon.

  Dix Conner was standing in the doorway. The rangy, sunbaked man looked every inch a true cowboy in his dusty boots and jeans, a holstered knife at his belt and a pair of battered work gloves tucked in his waistband. His open-necked cotton shirt was stained with sweat and clung to his tough body. He smelled not unpleasantly of grass, horses and cows.

  She'd had a brief look at him last night, but here it was evident what a good match he was with Butch. Butch Dorn was tall and magnetic, a broad-shouldered big man with piercing gray eyes and a thick silk mane of dark hair, saved from prettiness by his rugged features. Though a human lost most scars when turned to a vampire, she'd noted a unique trait to Butch. Though his skin hadn't seen sun in almost three centuries, he was nearly as tanned as Dix. It was as if the sun had been stamped on him, as much a part of him as blood and bone. The Texas outdoor life suited both of them, even if Butch only experienced it at night.

  "Yolanda said you might need some food," Dix said.

  He was carrying a couple thick sandwiches and what appeared to be homemade potato chips, still warm and fragrant from the oven. "Figured I'd come share lunch with you and find out what you're going to do to the big lab rat tonight. Butch also wanted me to go over any info I can give you up front before we have to deal with that pointless waste of time known as dinner."

  "That's very kind." She gave him an appreciative smile. "I am sorry about that. Honestly, I think Brian would have been just as happy to focus on his work and have takeout."

  "Amen to that. But don't worry. I wasn't pinning this on Lord Brian." Dix waved a hand and pulled up a chair on the other side of the small table so they could both eat. "Butch knows some things you have to do when it comes to vampires, just to remind everyone of their place in the scheme of things. Vampires who get too informal and unstructured tend to start walking outside the lines. Hope I didn't offend."

  "You couldn't possibly," she said, and he grinned at her graciousness, pushing a few more chips her way.

  "Eat up. There are plenty more in the kitchen, even more than the other hands can eat, if that's possible. Yolanda must have imported all the potatoes in Ireland. You know we won't get to eat until late tonight. But I always prefer to eat two or three hours before these things, make sure digestion isn't an issue, if you get my drift."

  For a few blissful hours, she'd forgotten about dinner. Now her stomach curdled. She took only one more bite of sandwich before giving up and taking a drink of the sweet tea instead.

  "Something the matter?" Dix asked, concern creasing his weathered brow. His brown hair was spiky and short and she noticed an old scar near the hair line. Third marks didn't always lose their scars, either. Nor their inhibitions from their former life, unfortunately.

  She straightened. "No. Not at all. Are the other vampires already here?"

  "Yeah. Most arrived last night. Texas is a pretty big area, so they tend to come a day early to avoid sun exposure. You guys were the last to arrive." Dix watched her closely, eyes shrewd in a way that reminded her of Jacob.

  "It'll be okay," he said. "Butch doesn't let things get too out of hand. You've done this before, right?"

  "Yes, of course. Really, it's fine." She grimaced, looked down at the plate. "It's nothing. I've had some unpleasant dealings with Lord Graham, but nothing that we don't expect, right?"

  "Yeah, that one's an asshole."

  Her gaze snapped up at his bald statement. "I think Butch was hoping he'd have better things to do tonight," Dix continued, "but since his and Butch's territories are adjacent, and Graham's always angling for Region Master -- God help us if and when that happens -- Graham's not going to miss an opportunity to show up and prove he has the biggest dick in the room. Shame he doesn't realize there's a difference between having one and being one."

  She choked on a laugh and the sweet tea. Dix helpfully patted her back, giving her an encouraging smile as she regained composure. Bless the generous hearts of servants. Some of them could be as much a cross to bear as their Master or Mistress, but she'd had far more experience with those like Jacob and Dix.

  She could do this. She'd just stay close to Brian. And whatever happened at the dinner, Brian would be there. Even Brian wouldn't beg off of a dinner this small, especially since he was the unofficial guest of honor.

  "All right, then." She wiped her mouth with a napkin and took up her tablet. "Let's see what questions we can get done."

  SS

  Dinner was scheduled for 11pm to give Brian time to do what he needed. Butch submitted to the physical and tissue and blood sampling without complaint. When Debra drew the blood, finding a vein wasn't a problem. The bulge of muscles along his arms were vein-rich.

  "So any vampires have an irrational fear of needles?" Butch asked, his breath stirring the hair of her bent head.

  "I'm sworn to secrecy on that," she said.

  "We'll see. I don't know a woman alive who can't be bribed by Yolanda's chocolate empanadas." Butch lifted his attention to Brian. "So explain to me again why you think I'm the ideal guinea pig for your study?"

  Brian glanced at his monitor, tapped a few keys. "Because you're one of the most stable made vampires, according to your age and history," he said absently. "If we can understand the factors that contributed to that, we can make better decisions on which willing humans to turn to increase our own species. All while simultaneously working on increasing fertility rates of the born vampires."

  "Mongrels are usually the healthiest dogs," Dix noted. He was sitting on a nearby stool, rotating back and forth with the help of one booted foot.

  B
utch gave him a wry look. "With the exception of scrappy strays like you."

  "I wasn't the one letting a little sun keep me from doing a hard day's work. The cows were in a hell of a mood today. Like herding a bunch of cats. Think it must be a full moon."

  "If I threaten to disembowel him in front of you, is that a sign of instability?" Butch queried. Reaching out with his free hand, he touched the corner of Debra's mouth. "See, I made her smile. Told you I could do it, Dix."

  Her gaze lifted, but Brian was standing just behind Butch, so it was his eyes that drew her. He was studying her with an unreadable look. Then he turned back to his laptop. The machine was set up on his portable desk which could be telescoped so he could use it while standing, like now.

  "Can you tell me about the fertility results?" Butch asked. "Lady Annette showed us overlords the report, but would be nice to hear it from the horse's mouth. The scuttlebutt is that vampires and servants who are too friendly with one another are far more likely to conceive."

  The official public report had removed "deep romantic love" and replaced it with "closer relationships". The Council wasn't ready to throw the other term out there. However accurate, they felt it was too much of a paradigm change, too soon.

  "So if I care too much for Dix, I could get him knocked up?" Butch ventured.

  She tried to smother the chuckle. Butch grinned at her. "You better leave her here, Brian. She's awful pretty when she laughs."

  "Born vampires have been known to have occasional surges of disembowelment-inducing instability," Brian noted. "You might remember that."

  His tone was dry, and he didn't take his eyes from his screen as he spoke. But Debra looked his way anyhow. He wasn't usually possessive, even in a teasing vein.

  He lifted his gaze, met hers. This time his expression was far more readable, causing a pleasant flutter in her chest.

  Butch snorted. "You still didn't answer my question about Dix."

  "Get him pregnant, we'll be opening a whole other research wing," Brian returned. "And you'll need someone else to move your cows around. Restrain your fondness for him, because I expect it's far more difficult to find a good foreman than to get him pregnant. Now, back to the questions..."

  The night she'd left with Gideon and Anwyn, she'd told Brian if the worst happened, he'd merely need to find a new lab assistant. She remembered the way he'd looked at her, what he'd said.

  "You think that is all your value to me?"

  "I never assume my worth is greater than what it is."

  He was making it impossible for her to adhere to all the things he'd taught her about vampire-servant relationships.

  Sometimes what we know and believe needs to change.

  She stilled at the sensual murmur in her mind. She could feel his attention on her again, but this time she kept hers on her task, watching the overlord's blood fill the vials. At the dinner tonight, she was going to need all her shields in place. She couldn't afford to make herself too vulnerable. So she lifted a shoulder, an acknowledgment but not an answer, and focused on the work, the one thing that could never confuse her enough to risk her soul.

  SS

  It took a couple more hours for Brian to get what he needed. Dix didn't stay for the whole thing, coming and going to check in with the housekeeper on matters Butch wanted verified for the dinner, but during the times he was there, it was clear there was an exceptional rapport between the two men.

  Gathering extra data for other qualifying projects like the fertility study and vampire-servant relationships took more time than they'd scheduled, but it was worth it to corroborate what they had so far. Though the personal value of a servant was an issue most vampires didn't feel comfortable discussing, Debra had helped him develop the questions that produced indicators the vampire wouldn't directly supply. This time, such obfuscations weren't necessary. Butch cut through the subtle phrasing after no more than two questions.

  "You want to know how I feel about him," the Texas overlord said. He had an amused gleam in his eye. "Don't look surprised. We all know you born folk don't expect any better behavior out of us made rabble. Ironically that means I can be more honest about it than you, no offense intended. Dix has saved my ass more times than I can count these past decades. He's the best part of my day and night, and I'd rip the heart out of anyone who tried to take him from me. Yeah, we're vampire and servant and I love wrestling him down to his hands and knees and teaching him who's boss, but we're a team. That clear enough for your survey?"

  "Crystal," Brian said. "Given the conclusions we reached from the fertility study, it's actually a shame he isn't female."

  "Not from my perspective," Butch said. "I love a woman's cunt and pretty, high-sitting tits like your lab assistant here has, but faced with the choice between them and a man's tight ass, I'll go for him every time. Just how I'm wired."

  Debra was staring at the Texas overlord, but when Brian glanced toward her, she ducked her head, tapping on her tablet again. He suppressed his frustration. She'd been nigh inaccessible to him this evening, and he wasn't sure why she was so determined to focus on nothing but the work, not allowing her thoughts to stray left or right from it.

  He'd have tried a deeper probe of her mind, but they were on a timetable. The visiting vampires from Butch's territory had passed outside the study several times throughout the early evening, but they hadn't stepped in to speak to him. Butch had explained he'd told them Brian was doing important research, and they weren't to be interrupted.

  "Otherwise we'd never finish before dinner." The overlord winked. "I've taken pains to invite three of my more interesting and less stuffy territory vampires, so it should be more relaxed than a Council event. My chef is also better."

  Brian chuckled politely at that, half his mind caught up in the data Butch had provided them and how it meshed with the ongoing studies. Despite Butch's relationship with his servant being far more casual than the norm for an overlord, it appeared to have no negative impact on his effectiveness. Clearly comfortable with leadership and command, the man reeked alpha and Dominance in the same breath.

  The two traits weren't always interchangeable. Brian knew he himself was undeniably a Dominant, but not necessarily an alpha. As a researcher, he was more concerned about the pursuit of knowledge, and had no difficulty deferring to Lyssa and the Council for other matters, though he could aggressively assert his viewpoint when necessary.

  Mule-headed was what Lord Uthe called it, last time you argued a point with him.

  He'd opened the conscious level of his mind to Debra to trade data points. She was obviously pleased enough with that connection to allow for some humor, but he still felt that tight reserve inside her. It hadn't pleased him that she'd been gone when he woke, but she couldn't be in two places at once, and their work was important to her, too. He couldn't be an ass, adding to her stress by making her to stay with him while she had tasks pending. Even if he had noticed the nightmares disappeared when he went to sleep with her next to him.

  Lab assistant, Butch had called her. The overlords and Region Masters they met often referred to her that way. Even the Council members. At the Savannah facility, they had second marked, actual lab assistants, techs who did vital support work. But there was a distinct difference in education and status between a lab assistant and Debra. She operated the entire research facility in Savannah during daylight hours, doing analysis, review and making testing decisions, just as he did during the night.

  She was his partner, a researcher on an equal level with himself. God knows, he wouldn't have been able to tolerate anyone working with him who wasn't able to keep up, and she did more than that. She had areas where she surpassed him, seeing things intuitively that he came to by logic. It made them a very good team. Just as Butch said, right?

  "With respect, my lord," he spoke abruptly. "I have to correct you. Debra is my servant, but she isn't my lab assistant. She holds two doctorates and quite frankly has areas where she can kick my brain's ass."

>   Butch glanced his way, the shrewd gray eyes studying him. He gave a nod, his lips twisting. "My opinion of you just went up a few notches, Lord Brian."

  As for Debra, she'd come to a complete standstill. Brian suspected only his servant's normal tightly wound state was keeping her jaw from dropping. Since she was standing between Butch's knees, taking his vitals, listening to his heart and lungs, Butch picked up the stethoscope and tapped lightly, making her start. "Doctor Debra, then. My apologies, doctor."

  Brian suppressed his irritation as Debra recovered enough to give the overlord a gently admonishing look, but there was a faint smile on her face, her cheeks flushed. Butch had re-settled his hands on her hips. Women responded to that personality type, didn't they? Handsome, charismatic and intensely attentive, a male like Butch could make a woman feel like the center of the universe, even a vampire's servant.

  Dix returned then, reporting on some sundry ranch issue to Butch. It gave Brian some breathing room from his inexplicable jealousy to pay closer attention to what was happening. Though he might be having difficulty picking up anything from Debra's mind, Butch's attempts to get her to smile and relax seemed more purposeful than flirtatious, even more noticeable when Dix behaved in a similar manner toward her. He also noticed Dix watching Debra closely, with concern.

  Damn it, why was he watching another vampire-servant pairing to figure out what was going on with his own? He was done skulking around the edges. No matter if it skewed the data or delayed dinner, he dove beneath that wall around her thoughts. He was going to find out what was going on, direct from the source.

  It didn't take long for the effort to bear fruit. Butch had risen from the chair since the data collection done, and was shrugging into his shirt. Dix told Debra he'd see her at dinner, giving her hand a squeeze.

  Her mind pinged like a submarine target.

  Dinner. She was dreading dinner. And not the dread that came with enduring a social nicety. This was like she anticipated facing a firing squad.

  Brian's brow furrowed as quiet descended on the library and she moved over to her laptop to finish her own computations. For a woman who didn't expect him to be in her mind, she kept things strapped down at a surprisingly cavernous level of her consciousness. But he'd just pointed it out to Butch, hadn't he? This wasn't an average woman's brain. Her brain was a tool she exercised and honed incessantly. She could likely manipulate data in her mind, classify and file it as securely as she could on a laptop.