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the men. “I would never have fallen in love with Gregori if he hadn’t been one of the good guys.”
    How could a vampire be good? Their very nature was parasitic. Leah crossed her arms. “How old are you?”
    “I’m just over a hundred.” Dr. Lee gave Mr. Draganesti an amused look. “You’re the old one here.”
    He shrugged. “I was born in 1461, transformed in 1492.”
    “You knew Columbus?” Leah winced. She was too frazzled. Now she was asking stupid questions.
    Mr. Draganesti smiled. “My son asked me that, too. Would you like to go the party now? You might feel better if you have something to eat.”
    “You have real food there?” Leah asked.
    “There’s a bunch of food,” Dr. Lee answered. “And a giant birthday cake. Five layers, each one a different flavor. According to Tino, the chocolate one is the best.”
    Mr. Draganesti snorted. “I’m sure he tasted each layer.”
    “Of course.” Dr. Lee grinned. “When I saw him, he had a smear of chocolate icing on his nose.”
    Leah took a deep breath. In spite of the seemingly normal cake conversation, she was still having trouble wrapping her mind around this. Vampires. Vampires with wives and children. How could that be possible? The chocolate cake sounded good, though.
    She shook her head. “Mr. Draganesti—”
    “Call me Roman.”
    She gave him a wary look. Just don’t call me dinner . “Why am I here? What do you want from me?”
    His eyebrows lifted. “Straight to the point. I like that. The truth is we find ourselves in a moral dilemma. We’ve always tried to protect mortals from bad vampires, but there’s one in China who’s giving us major grief. He goes by the name Master Han.”
    “He’s mutating mortals and using them to fight his battles,” Dr. Lee added. “We need to defeat Master Han, but we don’t want to kill the mortals.”
    “That’s big of you,” Leah muttered. “Where do I come in?”
    “The mortals have been transformed at a genetic level,” Abby explained. “Since you’re an expert in that field, we were hoping you could find a way to change them back.”
    Leah swallowed a pang of disappointment. She knew she was here on business, but for a few minutes, she had hoped that Abby wanted to be her friend. Her eyes burned. Here she was, surrounded by vampires, possibly in danger, and she was fretting over hurt feelings? How silly of her. But everyone always approached her with an agenda. They wanted her brain, her expertise, her learned opinion. No one ever saw her as a normal person to hang out with.
    “I was looking forward to working with you.” Abby regarded her sadly. “And I hoped we could get to know each other.”
    Did she really mean that? Leah stared at her. Did she know the loneliness of never fitting in?
    “We’ll understand if you refuse,” Roman said. “But please give it some thought before you decide. If you can help us, you could possibly be saving the lives of over a thousand men.”
    Over a thousand lives? That was not something she could turn away from easily. “I’ll think about it. But I need some time.”
    “Of course.” Roman nodded. “You’ve had a lot thrown at you this evening.”
    “But you’re doing great.” Dr. Lee smiled. “We can relax and enjoy the party now, okay?”
    Relax with vampires? Leah glanced at the camera. Those watchful eyes she felt—did they belong to a vampire? Had he observed her like a lab mouse trying to find its way through a maze? Unfortunately, the evening wasn’t over, and she was still in the maze. One step away from a nervous breakdown. “I’d rather be alone with Abby right now.”
    “We understand.” Roman stepped back to let her pass.
    “Come on.” Abby headed for the door. “Let’s get some of that chocolate cake.”
    “D amn, this is good.” Freemont forked a bite of cake into his mouth as he sauntered into the security office. “You guys don’t know what you’re missing.”
    “About five thousand calories,” Gregori