Real Vampires Have More to Love (22 page)

“Rafe, did you just lock up?” I stuck my foot in the other shoe and followed them to the living room. Nadia’s attitude had snapped me back to reality in a hurry.

“I had no choice, Glory.” Rafe acted like abandoning my shop hadn’t been a big deal. Aggravating.

“Sure, fine. But now that I’m recovered, I need to get back down there. I’m missing sales and ruining the track record we had for being open twenty-four hours.”

“Can’t you let it go for one night? Alesa might come back.” Rafe was in my space, staring worriedly at me while Nadia tapped her foot and looked like she wanted to say something. It didn’t take mind reading to know she was over the whole Rafe-and-Glory connection and ready to pull the plug on their partnership. I couldn’t let him ruin this club thing over me.

“I can’t afford to do that, Rafe. I’ll call Richard. He’s an ex-priest. He’ll know what to do about a demon. If nothing else, he’ll stay with me until the next shift comes in. You and I can talk later. How’s that?” His eyebrow went up. Okay, so we hadn’t exactly been talking when Nadia had come in. I saw my purse and dug in it for my phone. Silence. I looked up and saw Rafe staring at me. Mr. Inscrutable.

“I’ll be careful.” I pulled out my phone. “Calling Richard now.” I patted Rafe’s chest, then pushed him toward Nadia. “Go. This is important to you. I want the club to be your number-one priority until it’s opened successfully. I’m a businesswoman too, Nadia. I totally get where you’re coming from.”

“Listen to her, Rafael. Now let’s go. There are a million details, and I can’t handle them all by myself. I called your cell, and it went straight to voice mail. This is no way to run a business.” She opened the hall door and gestured for Rafe to precede her. “Are we going?”

“Yes, I guess we are. Don’t go down without Richard, Glory. I’ll be back before sunrise.” He gave me a look that was a promise of something interesting later, then walked out. Nadia’s glance actually said thanks, then she slammed the door.

“All right, then.” I picked up my phone and called Richard. Voice mail. Knowing Flo, that probably meant they were practicing for the honeymoon and she’d made him turn off his phone. I left him a message that this was urgent and involved a demon in my shop. More than a little shaky about my decision, I grabbed some supplies, stuffed them into my purse, then headed out.

The first hour was uneventful. I had a few customers, including two who had tried to come earlier and were disappointed that we’d been closed. The sales I made convinced me that I’d done the right thing reopening. When the bell rang over the door and Aggie came in, I was relieved. Reinforcements. I hoped she’d fight on my side if a demon showed up.

“I had Greg look up shower games, Glory. Tell me what you think.” Aggie plopped papers on the counter and sat on the stool in front of me. “Some of these are pretty funny.”

“Funny’s good.” I picked up a paper. “Unless you’re making me look ridiculous. ‘Stack cotton balls on your head. The person who can balance the most wins a prize.’” I crumpled the paper and dropped it in the can behind the counter. “I think not.”

Aggie grinned. “Aw, come on. Where’s your sense of humor? I can see you now, a stack of those fluffy things on your head, Miss Cottontop, while we all laugh and cheer.”

“Next.” I picked up another paper. “What’s this? ‘Kiss Flo’s ass.’ Are you nuts?”

Aggie snatched it. “You didn’t read it all. You blow up a picture of her head and draw a body. Then we each put on a ton of lipstick and a blindfold. The person whose lips end up closest to Flo’s cute little ass wins a prize. Isn’t that fun?”

“In Siren land maybe.” I grabbed the paper and tore it in quarters, dropping it in the can. Okay, maybe I wasn’t in a game-playing mood. Getting drop-kicked by a demon will do that to you.

“Fine. Be that way. I’ll pick my own games, and you’ll just have to go with the flow.” Aggie laughed. “Get it? Flo, flow?” She stared at me. “Never mind. What’s got you so bummed? You’re usually a little more upbeat than this. Is it something to do with that demon I saw come in here earlier?”

“You could say that. What do you know about demons?” I sat on the stool I kept behind the counter. Aggie was right. I was down and sinking fast. I’d even lost a sale earlier because I hadn’t smiled and faked interest in a customer’s dress choice. Now Aggie and I were alone so I could vent.

“I know they’re trouble.” She pulled another sheaf of papers out of her Louis Vuitton tote. “Games for the bachelorette party. X-rated. That should cheer you up.”

“Damn it, Aggie, I can’t think about games right now. The demon may come back anytime, and she’s hurt me once.” I pulled a vial of holy water out from under the counter, then draped the rosary around my neck. “Think this stuff will help?”

“Couldn’t hurt.” Aggie picked up the holy water. “Well, I take that back. Fake. Whoever sold it to you ripped you off. I can tell the real deal from a mile away. Gives me the heebie-jeebies. Not that I’m evil or anything, but I’ve got enough of the bad stuff in me to have a sense of things like that.”

“Well, shoot. Got it off the Internet. I had high hopes for it.” I dropped the vial in the trash can. “What about the rosary? I had it in front of me, along with a prayer book, when she was here earlier and she didn’t approach me, but she did treat me to a kind of psychic knockout punch.”

“Yeah, they don’t like touching stuff like that. But it depends on what kind of demon you’re dealing with. There’re good demons and bad. I assume you’re going at it with a bad one.” Aggie was checking her manicure like this was no big deal. I wanted to cram her stack of papers down her throat.

“Yes, definitely bad. She’s really after Rafe. Wants to have his baby, of all things.” I propped my chin on my fist. Visions of that coupling made my skin crawl.

“Ooo. Now you’ve got me interested. Sex with a demon. Tell me more.” Aggie leaned in.

“She’s Rafe’s ex. Now she claims her biological clock’s ticking, and she wants her little hellbaby to be his. Rafe’s not interested. She hit me, so maybe she’s thinking it’s because I’m in the picture. Of course that’s not it. He wouldn’t do her if she were the last female in Heaven, hell or any part in between.” I glanced at the bachelorette games. Ring toss with an inflatable penis? Oh, joy.

“He’d better be careful. She could sneak up on him. Knock him out like she did you, and then take him while he’s unconscious.” Aggie started to stuff her papers back into her tote. “Don’t ask me how, but demons can get men up when they don’t want to be there. It’s happened before. The Storm God has told us some really cool stories about it.”

“Not sure with Rafe. He’s part demon himself.”

“No frickin’ way.” Aggie stopped in mid stuff.

“I was as shocked as you are.” What was I doing spilling Rafe’s secrets to Aggie like she and I were girlfriends? “Don’t you tell anyone I told you that. Swear it, or I’ll tell the Storm God you love your shoes more than you love him.”

Aggie blinked. “Gee, Glory. Play hard ball why don’t you? Fine. I won’t tell a soul.” She crossed her heart.

I looked up when the bell over the shop door rang. Customer? No. I nudged Aggie. She turned around. We knew immediately that we had a problem on our hands.

“Well, well, well. A vampire and a Siren. I just love a twofer.” The demon glanced back, and my sign flipped on its own from Open to Closed. The dead bolt clicked shut, and we were trapped with her.

“Love this.” Aggie threw up her hands like she did when she was about to turn someone to stone.

The demon just laughed and threw up her own hands. Aggie was frozen in place. Yep, stuck on her stool like a permanent fixture. I gaped at Alesa.

“Alesa, wait a minute. Why start something when we really don’t have a problem here?” I picked up the Bible I’d brought from my apartment and rounded the counter. I didn’t have a clue what to try, but hoped my religious objects would at least keep me mobile. I glanced at Aggie. Still frozen.

“No problem? Honey, you think I can’t read your every thought? You’re into Rafe, and I bet you a thousand dollars that he’s into you. You’re just his type, so sweet, so freakin’ good.” She gagged. “I don’t know how in the hell he stands the stench of all that decency. You reek of it.”

“Forgive me, but that’s not a problem I care to fix.” And who was she to talk? The woman was giving off so many sugar fumes a human would gain five pounds just breathing in the air around her.

“You’re a vampire. You’re supposed to kill, drain people dry. Come over to the dark side with us and use your powers to do our master’s work.” Alesa had been roaming the shop, ripping a piece of silk here, smashing a fine porcelain there. I wanted to screech at her and toss my Bible at her head. She needed to see my dark side? Let her ruin one more piece of merchandise.

“Rafe and I aren’t together. I told you that. But it wouldn’t matter if we were. Rafe doesn’t want you. Why do you demean yourself by going after a man who has rejected you?” I couldn’t stand it. She was aiming for a designer dress that would bring me several hundred dollars. “Get away from there!”

“Why, Glory, am I bothering you?” Alesa plucked the dress from the rack and held it up to her. It was much too big. Would have fit me if I hadn’t decided I couldn’t afford to keep it.

“Put the dress back, Alesa.”

“Of course.” She gave it a look that stained the red wool with a smear of black oil, then slid it back onto the rack, careful to smudge it against two other expensive dresses on either side. “How’s that?”

“You bitch!” I flung myself at her, fangs down, claws out. I landed on the floor because she used a lightning-fast move to get out of the way.

She laughed and stepped on my back. “Missed me.” She dug her high heel into my spine until I heard a bone crack. “Vampires have such lame skill sets.”

I bucked and rolled away, diving under another dress rack before I sprang to my feet.

“I’m going to rip out your throat, take you down and drain every toxic ounce from your evil body.” My taunt just earned a cackle that made me back up until I hit another rack behind me.

She’d dropped the mask of beauty, and I cringed away from her hideous hawkish face. Nut brown skin stretched over her beaklike nose, with deep grooves on either side. I heard her breathing as she circled around the rack, and I leaped to the other side of the shop. Her eyes glowed bright red, and her lips peeled back in a grin that exposed rows of sharp teeth that would rip me to shreds if I let them get close.

I was definitely having second thoughts about that. Forget an attack. I saw my Bible where I’d dropped it on the floor. Would that keep her away? My rosary sure hadn’t. My back ached where she’d dug her heel into me, and I could smell my own blood and the stench of hellfire coming from her flaming eyes.

The shop door banged open, and there was a definite change in the atmosphere. Alesa’s face changed too. Her mask of beauty slipped back into place, and she smiled.

“What have we here? More help from a vampire? Another Goody Two-Shoes at that.” She flew over the dress rack and landed behind me, her hand clamping around my throat, her nails digging into my jugular. I knew then that she’d been playing with me. I’d never been any real match for her.

My vision darkened. I grabbed her arm, tearing desperately at her skin to try to relieve the pressure. Black liquid oozed from her wounds, but she didn’t give an inch.

“Let her go, demon.” Richard’s voice came from far away.

“Make me.” She ripped her nails down my throat, and my own blood poured down my chest. I had to do something, or I was going to die right here in my own shop. Through a haze of pain and terror, I lifted my feet and slammed them down onto hers, grinding my high heels into her insteps just like she’d done to my back. Her bones shattered, and she finally released my throat with a screech. Free, I lunged away from her, falling to the floor and rolling under another dress rack.

Cool water splashed my jeans as I fell. Alesa’s screams bounced off the walls as I crawled through skirts until I collapsed against the cool metal legs supporting the rack.

I reached up to my wet, torn throat. There was a terrible hole where my jugular belonged. The demon had known exactly how to kill me. I fought away the darkness and held my flesh together, praying healing thoughts. I couldn’t let evil win. Church. This Sunday. Night service.

“Glory, can you roll this way a little?” Richard calmly tried to coax me from my hiding place. Or was it a trick?

I cautiously cracked open my eyes, afraid to wiggle even a finger or she’d know I still lived. Masculine brown leather boots and dark jeans. Richard. Or was it? Demons could be so cruelly clever.

He murmured a prayer in Latin. I didn’t know Latin, but I knew Jesus and God when I heard them called on, something a demon would never dare. All right, then. I reached out my trembling hand.

Oh, Glory, when did you get so weak?
I eased toward him until he pulled me into his arms.

“Richard? Where’s the demon?” I leaned against him, not caring that I was getting his blue shirt bloody. I’d buy him a new one. Two new ones. He was my hero.

“Gone. Holy water got her.”

“Shit, that was close.” Aggie peered over his shoulder. “You look like crap on a cracker, Glory.”

“Thanks. How did you get out of that freeze?” I whispered. Whatever the demon had done to my throat hadn’t healed yet.

“Guess when Richard watered her down, it broke her spell. Never saw anything like it. Well, except in that movie
The Wizard of Oz
, when they threw the water on the bad witch. Anyway, he tossed the holy water, his was the real deal, and there she went, dissolved like Kool-Aid powder. Amazing stuff that holy water.” Aggie was clearly buzzed. She patted Richard on the back, following him as he carried me to the door.

“You did a great job, preacher man. Flo’s a lucky gal. Glory, don’t worry about your little shop here. I’ll stay till your helper arrives. Should be soon. Dawn’s only an hour away.” Aggie grabbed the shop door and pulled it open so Richard could carry me out. “Wait!”