Real Vampires Have More to Love (18 page)

“Thanks a lot, Nadia. I got my licks in.” Rafe headed into the kitchen. “Here, Glory, drink one of Nadia’s power drinks. I figure you need it.”

“I do.” I smiled at a frowning Nadia. “Sorry we disappeared on you. It was an emergency. Let Rafe heal, and he’ll be all yours again.”

“Are you sure about that?” Nadia sat on the couch and crossed her long legs. “He seems to be very . . . attached to you. I bet he got hurt riding to your rescue.”

“I can rescue myself, thanks. And—”

“I can talk for myself.” Rafe sat beside Nadia on the couch, an opened package of Twinkies in his hand. He crammed one into his mouth and chewed, closing his eyes for a moment.

“So talk. What are you eating?” Nadia hadn’t quit frowning.

“It’s comfort food. Look at me. I was stomped, Tasered and generally beaten like a junkyard dog.” He winked at me. “And I don’t do dog duty anymore.”

“Not funny, Rafael. We had papers that needed signing. Work you should have supervised. And you disappeared for most of the night. What am I to think? Are you serious about this club, or do you want to go back to guarding your lady friend here?” Nadia took a deep drink of her synthetic, and we could see her fangs.

I twisted the top off a bottle and chugged some myself. God, but I needed that. The drug Simon had given me had worn off, but I was exhausted from all that flying. And the stress!

“I’m into the club thing. This was a loose end. Something I should have handled while I still worked here. I owed it to Glory to follow up.” Rafe bit into another Twinkie, then got up. “I need a beer. Glory, if you’re going for a shower, you’d better hurry. It’s too close to dawn.”

“Yes, right.” I walked over to the hall and stopped at the bathroom door. “I’m really sorry, Nadia. Rafe’s all yours. I promise I won’t distract him again.”

“That’s not your call.” Rafe stood in the kitchen doorway and took a pull on his beer. “Nadia, I have some loyalty here. Deal with it. If that ruins our arrangement, I’ll let you buy me out, or we can just cancel the whole thing.”

“No, I understand loyalty. I prize it.” Nadia drained her glass and set it on the coffee table. “And I have good news. Israel Caine’s manager called me. We’re coming to terms.” She smiled. “Thanks to Glory. So I forgive you both this time.”

“Ray’s going to do it?” I couldn’t believe it.

“For a very steep price. His manager said he was doing it as a favor to you, Glory. I owe you.” She got up and stretched, a tall and elegant woman all in red this night. Her dark hair gleamed, and her lipstick matched her two-piece outfit perfectly. She was beautiful, and I knew she was on her way to Rafe’s bedroom. They were just friends, and once dawn hit, there’d be no “hokeypokey,” but until then . . . ? I couldn’t blame Rafe if he decided to let her ease some of his pain.

“I’m going to fry up a steak, rare.” Rafe grinned. “For some reason I’ve got a craving. I’ll see you ladies when you wake up tonight. And, Nadia?” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I
am
sorry. I never should have flaked out on you like that without some kind of explanation. Won’t happen again.”

I left them talking and heard Rafe promise to spend some daylight hours at the club. I grabbed my robe, then shut the bathroom door. I stood under the hot water and scrubbed every inch of my body. If only I could wash away the memory of what had happened at the EV compound. Westwood alive. Ridiculous. And then Rafe’s kiss. Oh, wow. Even wounded, he knew how to make me feel things and forget for a few moments where we’d been. Trapped by Simon. Damn the EV king and his plotting. I’d get him for that if it was the last thing I did.

 

When I woke up that evening, I realized I’d never listened to Jerry’s voice mail.

“Gloriana, I’ve called you three times. I know you have caller ID, so why aren’t you picking up? We need to talk. I have some ideas about how to handle this jam you’re in. I even came to your shop, but you apparently took off without informing your staff. I thought you were serious about your business, so perhaps you’re merely avoiding
me
. You must know I intend to help you. Call me. Immediately.”

Had to love the logic there. Sure, Jerry, it’s all about you. But I wasn’t going to tell him about Westwood. Best case, Jerry would try to take over, and we’d have a vampire war with my friends as casualties. I told myself that he meant well with this protective thing, but the way he issued orders . . . I put that problem on the back burner. Obviously I needed to come up with a story that would satisfy my bossy lover.

First, I had to make sure the Westwood children had declared a cease fire. I found a phone book, but the Westwoods weren’t listed. A few minutes on the Internet got me what I needed.

“Westwood.”

“David Westwood?” I really hated that last name.

“Yes, who’s this?”

“Glory St. Clair. I want to talk to you about your father.”

“Yeah, well, my lawyers have advised me not to contact you.” He sounded sullen and not a bit happy.

“
I
contacted
you
. To try to clear up this crazy misunderstanding.” I gathered my thoughts. “Have you talked to your sister since she visited my shop yesterday?”

“Yes. Hate to say it, but my dad was obviously nuts toward the end. Have you seen that Web site he put up? Must be early Alzheimer’s.”

“So the will that demanded you stalk a supposed vampire?”

“My lawyers are all over it. Dad was even leaving money to this stupid vampire-hunting organization he started. Ridiculous. Vivi and I agree on this.”

“Good.” I had to like the idea of Westwood arriving home and his kids throwing him straight into an asylum.

“Yeah, well, you can relax. Vivi and I aren’t going vamp hunting again. Guess we went a little nuts ourselves. Should have checked with the lawyers sooner. Sorry if we scared you.”

An apology. Did I smell a potential lawsuit? Oh, if only I were a simple mortal with a grudge. Sigh.

“Your sister traumatized me with that crossbow, you know. And then you showed up with an army at my back door. Scared away my customers.” I sniffled. “I should probably get my own lawyer, press some charges.” More sniffs. This was fun.

“Now, Ms. St. Clair. Feel our pain. We’ve just lost our father. And to make matters worse, we don’t have a body to bury.” David sighed. “It’ll take years to settle this thing and have Dad declared legally dead. Even if you won a lawsuit, you wouldn’t be able to collect anything.”

“Tied up? That’s tough. I’m sure you and your sister don’t deserve to wait for your rightful inheritance.” I oozed concern.

“Exactly! I’m glad you understand. You see, one of Dad’s bodyguards swears you were with my father that last night. I even saw a video, though it was pretty poor quality. It looked like you and Dad facing off.”

“I was in the woods that night, near the lake and with some friends. We were camping out, partying if you know what I mean. Is that where he was?”

“My buds and I used to do that when I was in college.” David chuckled. “Smoked some weed. Whatever. And Dad? The bodyguards said he was chasing some vampire. Claimed it was you. Not sure of the exact location.”

“Well, now you’re really convincing me he was crazy. I mean, you’ve seen me. I run a business. I don’t have fangs. Come on, David, do you really think I’m a vampire?” I laughed.

“I’m sorry. It sounds really insane, doesn’t it? But that video ...”

“I can’t imagine what you’ve got, but you said it was at night, right?”

“Sure. And on a cell phone. Quality was the pits. Can’t see much. But it sure looks like Dad and a woman and his stupid crossbow. The guards swear it was.”

“Well, maybe you should do a background check on those dudes. See what they might have been smoking, you know?” I sighed. “All I know is I did meet him once. He came into my shop and claimed I was one of those demon vampires. ’Cause of the name of the place, I guess. Scared me to death waving around a stake of all things. You need someone to testify he was nuts, I’m there.”

“Good to know.” David sighed again. “But where the hell are his remains?”

Gee, get all choked up about your dead father, why don’t you?

“Like I told your sister, I’ll try to help you with that. Maybe he followed me out there that night. I told you he thought I was a vampire. Maybe some of my friends who were with me saw something. If you offered a reward ...” Did David know Austin had had one of the worst storms in its history that night? Perfect for a camping trip. But then his dear old dad had been hunting in that torrential rain too.

“Yeah, sure. Pass the word. Big bucks for absolute proof Dad’s gone.”

“I’m on it.” I heard a knock on my door. Nadia was in the bathroom, and Rafe had been gone when I got up. “I’ll do my best to help you. For the reward, of course.”

“Listen, I do apologize. For before. Vivi and I both went a little nuts at first.” David actually laughed. “Billions will do that to ya. But we’re on the same page now. Fifty-fifty split. All we need is a body, and we’re good to go.”

I felt a chill. Papa Westwood was a first-class creep, but his children were colder than . . . Not my problem. “Okay, then. If I find out anything, I’ll give you a call.”

“Great. If we don’t come up with a body though, enough reliable witnesses who can testify they saw him die might do the trick. Would you be willing to say you saw Dad take his last breath?”

Another, stronger knock, a sniff, and I knew it was Jerry outside.

“Sorry, but that wouldn’t be true, David. Please accept my sympathy for your loss.” I couldn’t resist that parting shot as I slammed the phone shut and ran to the door.

“Gloriana, I could hear you on the phone. Were you talking to young Westwood?” Jerry dropped a kiss on my mouth, then strode inside, full of purpose and obviously ready to take charge.

“Yes, I told him we were working on finding his father’s body. He’s through vampire hunting.”

“That’s good.” Jerry smiled and pulled me into his arms. “I was worried about you. Where the hell were you last night?”

“Um, Rafe and I went out to the woods where I shot Westwood and tried to find the body. No luck and no signal on my cell phone.” I kept my mind blocked from Jerry’s probing.

“You should have called me to go with you. The shifter has his own life now, as you’ve reminded me. I guess he was good protection, though. At least you didn’t go out there alone.” Jerry looked down and saw the bottle of Nadia’s good stuff I’d started on. “What’s this?”

“New brew. Rafe’s new business partner Nadia Komisky is staying here. She bought it.” I decided to let Jerry’s attitude go. Protect me? Hell, who’d arranged for Rafe and me to leave the EV compound? I was practically Superwoman. I picked up the bottle and offered it to him. “Try it.”

“No, thanks. I fed on the way here.” Jerry still drank from mortals and knew I disapproved. No doubt he’d whammied some poor sap who’d gone too close to an alley, taken just enough to quench his thirst, then wiped the donor’s memory and sent him on his way.

“You can search those woods if you want to. I promised Nadia I’d leave Rafe out of this from now on. He’s got enough to do with their new club.”

“Yes, he does.” Nadia walked into the room, this night elegant in a long silver top and black leggings. Her hair was pulled back from her face, highlighting her cheekbones. I’d seen my cheekbones once, for about five minutes. I loved that top but figured it wouldn’t look half as cute in extra large.

“Nadia, Jeremy Blade. Jerry, this is Nadia, Rafe’s partner.” I finished introductions, then watched Jerry’s reaction. His smile was genuine as he took her hand and bowed over it like he was meeting the queen. Damn.

“It’s a pleasure. We’ve met before. In Kiev. It’s been a century or more, and the country was in turmoil so you may not remember. I was Jeremiah Campbell then.”

“Yes, it’s coming back to me now. I rarely forget a handsome man. What a small world this is.” Nadia clasped his hands and kissed both his cheeks. Didn’t mean a thing; it was a European greeting. I swallowed a jealous growl and stepped between them to break up the action.

“Ray’s going to sing at their club opening.” I figured mentioning a man Jerry had been insanely jealous of would get his attention back on me.

“No kidding. Israel Caine agreed to do Valdez a favor?” Jerry raised an eyebrow. “Or was it a personal favor for you?”

“A little of both.” I smiled at Nadia. “He’s charging them a paw and a tail for the performance.”

“It’ll be worth it. With a headliner like that opening our club, it’ll be an instant success.” Nadia slinked toward the door, slipped her long, narrow feet into silver ballet flats, then picked up a black leather handbag large enough to hold a laptop. “I’ve got to go. So much to do before then. Nice to see you again, Jeremiah. You must come to our opening.” She nodded to me. “Both of you. I’ll save you a special table. Glory has been kind enough to let me stay here.”

“Yes, well, I think Rafe’s lined up a house for you. Maybe tonight. You’ll be so much more comfortable there than bunking with Rafe.” I said this with a smile. Jerry tried to be discreet, but I saw the way he studied her body. We’d been monogamous for a while now. Maybe that was hard for him. I had my own problems with monogamy. Why hadn’t it occurred to me that Jerry did too?

“Yes, I’ve been imposing.” Nadia opened the hall door.

“I didn’t mean . . . You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. Really.”

“I appreciate that, Glory, but you’re right.” She gave my tiny living room a quick glance that said it all. “I need more space. I’ll let you know what my plans are. Good night.”

“Imagine meeting her again after all these years.” Jerry sat on the couch. “She’s Rafe’s partner? And sleeping with him. Bet that’s an interesting story.”

“She uses his bed during the day. They’re just friends.” I needed to shut up on that subject before Jerry thought I was a little too concerned about Rafe’s love life. “Don’t know how they met. But Rafe used to work for her.” I didn’t share the dance thing. Jerry would deride that. Let him assume Rafe had done the bodyguard gig for her too.