Free The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire by Molly Harper Page B

looked into server folders that I wasn’t supposed to—which was definitely a violation of the Council’s trust—on my first full day of work. But surely all the Council officials knew about was the stabbing.
    No, wait, that sounded bad, too.
    I squirmed in my seat as Ophelia announced dramatically, “Someone in this room abused the resources of the Council. Someone here used his or her position to steal from us. One of the people sitting in this room is a thief.”
    I relaxed ever so slightly. Of stabbing and snooping I was guilty, but I definitely wasn’t a thief. I would worry about my shaky morality scale later.
    â€œI would like to introduce you to my associate, Nikolai Dragomirov,” Ophelia continued, gesturing to Nik with a flourish. “Mr. Dragomirov is here as a consultant to help us find the thief. And trust me when I say there will be no lying to Mr. Dragomirov. He will find you out, so it would be better for you to just come forward now in hopes of a lesser chastisement.”
    Nik nodded, back to “gorgeous Russian statue man” mode. Somehow I didn’t think Ophelia’s idea of a chastisement would be a rap on the knuckles with a wooden spoon and a scolding. What exactly was this “thief” supposed to have stolen from the Council? The World Council for the Equal Treatment of the Undead had considerable resources, but I didn’t think much of the vampires’ vast worldwide fortune was being stored here in Half-Moon Hollow. Then again, this complex had about ten subfloors that we weren’t even allowed to talk about, so I supposed a Smaug-style treasure room wasn’t out of the question.
    And how exactly was Nik supposed to help ferret out the thief? Cal had mentioned that Nik was an old friend, and Cal had served as an investigator for the Council for years. Did Nik do actual police-type investigative work? Or did he have some sort of special vampire power? Was he a mind-reader, like Jane? Considering the thoughts I’d had around him, I sincerely hoped not.
    Suddenly, Nik glanced toward me, as if he could hear me thinking about him.
    My eyes went the size of a venti lid.
    Damn it.
    â€œI need Sandra Matthews, Elliot Reyes, Su Tran, and Joseph McNichol to come up to the dais, please,” Ophe­lia said.
    Slowly but surely, four Council employees made their way down the aisles to the stage. Sandra Matthews and Elliot Reyes were humans. But Su Tran and Joseph McNichol had the pallor and sharp features of the undead. McNichol, in fact, seemed paler than the usual vampire, but I supposed that could be an illusion caused by his pale blond hair and eerily gray eyes.
    All four wore the same suspicious expression and ID badges that marked them as members of the “operations” department. They were in charge of ordering supplies, processing the center’s mail, and keeping us all in creature comforts such as fresh magazines in the waiting room.
    â€œIn the past four months, someone has stolen more than nine thousand dollars in copier paper, thumbtacks, and other office supplies from this office and sold them on eBay for a deeply discounted price. Imagine our shock and disappointment when the Web site’s fraud-management unit traced the account user’s IP address back to a computer in the operations department.”
    I snorted. I couldn’t help it. All this fuss over copier paper? From the way Ophelia was carrying on, I thought someone had stolen the crown jewels. Nik eyed me and gave me the slightest shake of his head. I hid my giggles with a cough. If Nik was concerned, this was the time to engage my little-used discretion function.
    â€œAnd since all four of you have access to that computer, we decided to be egalitarian about this process.” Ophelia held up a small parcel and opened it, fishing out a large box of binder clips. “We ordered this gross of binder clips through the unscrupulous user’s