Real Vampires Don't Wear Size Six (27 page)

“Gee, Glory, sorry to be a complication.” Penny stomped back into the living room and picked up the TV remote.

“Did you just read my mind?” I grabbed my purse and followed her.

“Of course I did. I do it all the time.” She frowned when I snatched the remote and muted the Syfy channel.

“It’s rude. You do that to some paranormals and they’ll hand you your head.” I tossed the remote on the couch.

“Well, now you tell me.” She slouched on the couch.

“Yes, now I tell you. Pay attention. The only time it’s okay to read someone’s mind is defense. You can try it during this meeting with Ian if thing’s get dicey, but he’ll have his thoughts blocked anyway. Guys like that do as a matter of course.” I stared at her. “Just like you seem to do.”

“Well, sure. I don’t want just anybody strolling through my brain.” She finally managed a smile. “It’s a jungle in there.”

“Of course. And swear to me on your mother’s life, and I do mean that literally, that you’ll stay out of Ray’s mind. Totally X-rated.” I kept my eyes on hers.

“First, cool it with the dire threats. I’ve done enough unauthorized strolls through your thoughts to know your bark’s way worse than your bite, Glory.” She ignored my snarl. “And second . . . ” Now she blushed and giggled. “Who could resist a chance to get inside Israel Caine’s head?” She grabbed my hand. “X-rated? Is there such a thing as Z?”

Now she had
me
flushing.

Penny sighed. “Wow, Glory. If you didn’t fall into that guy’s bed, you’re crazy.”

“Guess I am. Crazy enough to see Ray for what he is, a man who will never settle down with one woman for the long haul.” I leaned back, sighing myself. Oh, the memories. We’d had some really close calls, but I just never could let myself go with Ray. And my reasons had always been valid. “I was scared to love him too much because I knew he’d just break my heart.”

“I can see your point.” Penny sighed. “But what a fine time you could have short-term.”

I smiled and patted her knee. “There are guys out there who are much better bets, for both of us.” Penny was wearing black jeans I’d picked out for her. Tonight she had on a black cardigan and turquoise V-neck shell. She looked good, especially with her new haircut and simple makeup. She’d pulled out some dangly topaz earrings that matched her eyes, a gift from her parents that she never wore. I’d complimented her enough that I had a feeling she’d be wearing them a lot now. Funny how becoming a vampire had brought life to her look.

“Speaking of bets . . .” She leaned forward. “I’ve been thinking about this meeting with Ian. If he’s a genius like you say he is, he could be on his way to figuring out how to resurrect a normal life for vampires. Maybe get me some quality time with my folks before”—her voice cracked—“before it’s too late.”

“It’s a dream we’ve all had, Penny. Nothing more than that. I hate to see you get your hopes up just to be disappointed.” I sighed when she shook her head.

“With science, anything is possible. Don’t be so pessimistic, Glory.” Penny crossed her legs and bumped her knee on the new coffee table. “Damn, that thing weighs a ton.”

“Not pessimistic, realistic. But I’ve seen too many miracles in my long life to count anything out. So you can meet with Ian and see what he says.” I got up and walked carefully around the table. What had Jerry told that designer about his requirements in a coffee table? It was too big and way too heavy for this room. But it was beautiful. I arranged my latest issue of
InStyle
in the middle of it, then set the remote on top. Penny was quiet and I finally turned to her.

“I’m going down to the shop. I’ll meet you there at two thirty. Are you going to just stay here and watch the tube till then?” I could see she had a good six hours to kill. For Penny, that was plenty of time to get up to mischief.

“I’ll call the rat rescue people again, tell them it’s urgent, then I may call Trey, see if he has a break and if I could meet him at N-V for it.” Penny grabbed the remote but didn’t touch a button. “What do you think?”

“Sure, why not? But let me know if you go out. Please?” I knew that was asking a lot. “The council wants me to keep tabs on you for now. It’s important.”

“Fine. You
are
helping me.” She glanced back toward her bedroom and wrinkled her nose. “And I am kind of taking advantage here.”

“Great. That’s all I ask, that I know your schedule. Just stay out of trouble and we’ll be cool.” I picked up my purse and headed out.

Penny and Trey. Surely they could hang out without fallout.

Oh, Glory, when will you learn not to tempt fate?

Th
e shop was busy as usual for a Friday night, so it was almost midnight before I got a chance to call Jerry and let him know about the meeting with Ian. I hated to do it. He’d want to tag along and I wasn’t going to allow it. So we’d fight. I was right, of course.

“Seriously, we’ll be fine. No need for you to go with us, Jer.” I had taken this call to the back room since we were in a brief lull. Erin was handling the front.

“I don’t like you doing anything with a MacDonald when I’m not around. I’m coming over.” Jerry was in command mode.

“No, you’re not. This is important to Penny. She wants to meet Ian, scientist to scientist, and, if you’re there, it will be all about old feuds and macho posturing.” I frowned at the phone. I could practically hear Jerry seething. “Ian has no reason to hurt me. So you have no need to start up another war. Let me handle this.”

“It’s not ‘macho posturing’ if the man is a danger to you, Gloriana. The MacDonalds and the Campbells never miss a chance to hurt each other. I’ve told you that time and again. Remember the pain his diet drug caused you?”

“That was a fluke. And your feud is old news. You and Ian are ushering in a new age. A rational one.” I sank down in a chair. “Come on, Jer, relax. I’ll give you a full report when I get back. Better yet, come by the apartment and see the new furniture. I love it. We’ll be back before dawn. Use your key, let yourself in and wait for me. We can have some alone time before the sun comes up.” I picked up a black silk camisole that had come in from a shifter wanting to sell some old things. I loved it and it fit. I was going to put it on under my zebra print blouse, without a bra, and let Jerry discover it. Something to look forward to.

“You’ll call me if you need me? Where does Caine live now?”

I could tell I’d dangled the right bait and he was calming down. “No idea. I’ll call you from the car with the address. That way if I do need you, you can fly right out. How’s that?”

“It makes me feel better. Should make
you
feel better too. Don’t suppose Valdez is going along?” Jerry’s voice had hardened. He’d hated to ask that question, but actually probably hoped Rafe was doing guard duty.

“No, and I won’t ask him. It’s Friday night. A busy night at his club. He needs to stay there.” I opened the door into the shop and could see a new group of customers had just come in. “And we’re busy too. Got to go. I love you, Jerry. See you later?”

“Count on it. Take care of yourself, Gloriana. And the fledgling too.” He hung up.

I did feel that responsibility for Penny weighing heavily on me. She’d called at eleven and said she was heading over to N-V. Trey had been happy to hear from her and invited her to come listen to the band, then spend his lunch break with him at one o’clock. Penny had sounded thrilled and I sure wasn’t going to forbid her.

I had called Rafe and warned him that my fledgling was still shaky on the bloodlust thing and to let his waitstaff know to keep an eye on her around mortals. He’d have them serve her plenty of the synthetic they kept on hand for vampires, only without the alcohol. Fortunately, he’d been too busy to talk for long or he might have pried out of me my plans for later in the evening.

I didn’t need another of my overprotective males putting doubts in my mind about this meeting with Ian. I had enough of those already. Sure Ian was being great about rehabbing Ray, but he had his own reasons for wanting the rocker clean and sober. If he was going to use Ray as a guinea pig, he’d want him to be drug- and alcohol-free. Or at least that’s what Ian had told me on the phone. Worked for me as long as Ray benefited in the long run.

At least the shop was busy and I made some good sales to the Friday-night crowd. Time flew by so I was surprised when the phone rang and I noticed it was two o’clock already.

“Rafe? What’s up?” I knew this was closing time at N-V. He had to be really busy.

“Trey’s not back from his break. He left with Penny an hour ago and now he’s late. This isn’t like him, Glory. He knows I need him here for closing.” Rafe shouted at someone in the club. “Hang on.”

I could hear noise in the background as Rafe issued orders. Trey and Penny late. Surely they hadn’t . . .

“Okay, I’m back. I can’t leave but there’s a place not far from you where the shifters here like to hang out. The green belt along Town Lake. Can you go check it out? Trey’s not answering his phone. Maybe you could try Penny’s first.”

I looked around and seemed to be alone. “You don’t think the demons bothered them, do you?”

“I wouldn’t put anything past them. But they can’t do harm, just make their propositions.”

“Are you sure? Alesa didn’t abide by that rule. She attacked me when she was here. I also have a pair of ruined boots that proves they play fast and loose with the ‘do no harm’ clause. Damn it, Rafe, if they try to lure Penny to the dark side . . .” I hurried into the back room and grabbed my purse. “Where’s this place?”

“A few blocks over, the park that runs between First Street and the lake. You can’t miss it. Shift and you’ll see it from the air.” Rafe cursed. “If I could get away, I’d do it myself, but Nadia’s out of town and I have to be here.”

“I get that. I can handle this.” I stuffed my keys and a credit card in my pants pocket, then left my purse in the back room. When you shift, you really don’t want to deal with baggage.

“Thanks for calling, Rafe. I’ll let you know what I find out.” I shut off the phone, tried Penny’s number and got her voice mail. Not a good sign. I stuffed my phone into another pocket in my black jeans and hoped my blouse covered the bulges.

Damn it. The last thing I wanted to do right now was to confront a pair of demons. With luck, this was just Penny and Trey getting too friendly, too fast. I could understand that. The vampire libido and I were well acquainted. I’d already put on that cami and my bra was in the back room. Yeah, I was living on the edge, Glory-style. I’d let the girls loose for Jerry, but Ray would undoubtedly appreciate the view too.

I told Erin I was taking off and asked her to have Ray’s driver wait if I ran late. Then I headed out the back door. I was thrilled that no paparazzi were waiting to ambush me as I stepped behind the stinky Dumpster and shifted. I flew toward First Street just a few blocks away, staying close to the treetops once I saw the water. The lake here near downtown looks more like a river and they’d made a park out of the green belt on both sides of it. A small group of people clustered near the Congress Avenue Bridge, known for its bat colony. Maybe Trey had decided to show that to Penny.

I flew down for a closer look. No, I knew immediately from the smell that these were mortals and they weren’t into bathing. I flew along the water’s edge until I saw another group under some trees. Okay, now this looked promising. As I got nearer, the sugary smell hit me and I screeched.

“Guess we have company.” Spyte frowned at me as I landed and shifted.

“You bet you do. What the hell is going on here? You are supposed to leave my friends alone.” I saw Trey, frozen in place, but he blinked at me in a silent plea to get him out of there. Penny was rooted to the ground, but obviously had the use of her hands and head.

“Glory, these creeps think I’d be interested in their work. Can you believe it?” Penny growled at Caryon, who managed to look bored.

“It was worth a shot. You had such spunk the other night I figured you’d make a good harvester for us. I admired how you bit me.” He smiled at me. “And we’ve got Glory working for us now, so anything’s possible.”

“No! Glory, you’re working for them?” Penny’s eyes widened. “He’s got to be lying.”

“I’m only getting one really rotten soul for him. To save Rafe from boiling in oil or whatever nasty things they might do to him.” I stalked up to Caryon and poked him in the chest. “I told you to leave my fledgling alone.”

“And I do what you tell me to, why?” He flicked me with a look that made my skin crawl. “What are you going to do to me?”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, you know. When Alesa was stuck in me, I learned what gave her heartburn. How’d you like a Bible verse marathon? Those give these losers migraines, Penny. And they really hate the ‘G’ word.” I glanced at Penny. “You got one for him?”

“Sure. Twenty-third Psalm. The Lord is my—”