Albert Manlii tilted his head as he listened from the stairwell. His heart tightened as the two humans—one the ex-boyfriend of his bloodmate, Neil—spoke in low voices as they hatched a scheme that had no hope of success, but nonetheless posed a grave danger to the vampires.

Albert stood a level down from the apartment that two senior members of the vampire faction’s security team had been monitoring. By “senior,” he meant older in vampire years—which didn’t correlate with apparent years for any but the most recently turned. Point being, their hearing was far more acute than that of junior vamps, let alone humans.

Not only could vampires who counted their age in millennia or multiple centuries rather than years hear noises from much farther away, but also the sounds were sharper…clearer. And vamps could zero in on the particular conversations they wanted to focus on. Walls as unsubstantial as those in typical apartment buildings such as this were no deterrent.

Over the course of years, the improvement in all their senses was progressive and steady, allowing them to get used to controlling and bearing the enhancements gradually. That which would drive insane those who suddenly found themselves bombarded with noises and conversations from all directions, was just a Tuesday for senior vamps.

“What’s your impression, boss?” Ivan’s utterance, from two levels up, was barely breathed, but at approximately two thousand years old, Albert heard it.

Melody, standing next to Albert, lifted a brow as she awaited his verdict.

“Have they mentioned their theory to anyone else?” Albert whispered.

“Not yet,” Melody murmured.

She didn’t emphasize the word, “yet,” but the importance was clearly implied, or they wouldn’t have summoned him for the added impact of listening for himself rather than simply informing him at the progress meeting scheduled for later that afternoon.

Months ago, Neil had run into his ex-boyfriend, Cameron, on his very first day out on his own as a recently turned vampire. He’d faltered, which wasn’t entirely unexpected under the circumstances, and let down his guard long enough for Cameron to look past all the superficial changes that had been made to overhaul the façade of Neil’s identity—including everything from his physical appearance and style choices, to a regional accent and even a signature scent—so a casual observer would indeed see him as Neil, and not Phillip, as he’d been known as a human.

“Has anything shown up on text or email between them?” Albert asked. They had the means of wiping that kind of trail, but it would be better to put an end to the risk before it went that far.

“Not yet.” Ivan echoed Melody’s reply.