by V. A. Dold
Richie blushed slightly. Her gratitude seemed to embarrass him. She smiled as he quickly switched the spotlight from himself to alcohol.
“How about that drink to calm your nerves. And if you’re interested, I can give you a few safety pointers. Don’t let this incident color your opinion of the Quarter. Believe it or not, muggings rarely happen around here. Violent crime is usually reserved for the seedier parts of town. Sure, pickpockets are common, but straight up mugging is very unusual.”
“Okay, I’ll take a kamikaze,” Billie said, then looked at the others for their orders.
Richie chuckled and mixed her drink. The other ladies had soda. He wondered if it was from frayed nerves or if they always ordered soft drinks.
“You said you had advice for us?” Helen asked.
“I do. With a few changes, you will be much safer than you were today.” Richie held up his hand and ticked off his suggestions as he said them. “Whenever possible, carry what you need in your pockets. If you must carry a purse, hold it in front of you, not beside you or behind you. If you choose to carry a purse, take all unnecessary items from it, and only carry what you need. Regardless of what you decide to do, make sure to leave any extra credit cards and IDs such as Social Security cards at home. And never store personal information in your cell phone.
“If you stop to eat or have a drink, keep your purse in sight at all times. After the sun goes down, stay to well-lit sidewalks and roads. And never walk alone at night. I promise that if you follow these suggestions, you’ll have a lot less trouble.”
“That doesn’t sound so difficult,” Teresa said, nodding and glancing at her friends.
“Sure, we can do those things,” Karen agreed.
*****
Four years flew by in the blink of an eye. Richie couldn’t believe the girls were already graduating. Tonight, they were coming to the bar for one final toast to best friends and a night on the town before Teresa got hitched and Billie started her master’s degree program.
A melancholy smile tugged at the corners of his lips, his heart ached. Dang, he would miss those ladies. At least Billie would be around a couple more years. He leaned against the back bar and recalled many of the memories of the time they had spent together. There weren’t many restaurants the five of them hadn’t tried. Of course, Café Du Monde was always good for a few laughs. He’d lost count of the number of times they had gone for late night Beignets and chocolate milk to soak up the alcohol they’d consumed. He closed his eyes and easily pictured the powdered sugar flying. They learned early on not to wear dark colors if they were going clubbing.
The expression on the faces of single men when he walked in with four beautiful women never got old, either. They had no idea he hadn’t dated a single one of them, but that was his secret. Let them eat their hearts out wondering.
Richie rubbed his aching chest. His heart hurt. Three of the women he considered little sisters were moving away. Earlier that morning he had helped them pack up their apartment and load their cars. Thank Goddess; Billie was staying a couple more years. He couldn’t take losing them all at once.
How much longer? He twisted his wrist to check his watch. Dang it, there was still an hour before they showed. At least the bar was busy enough to supply a distraction.
The blasted hour was finally dragging its rear end to a close. Any second and his ladies would walk through the door.
Billie’s voice broke through his downhearted thoughts. “Can I get a little service over here?”
Then he heard Helen ask, “Are you all right, Richie?”
His gaze zeroed in on his friends seated across the bar. Running around the twenty-foot behemoth would take too long. He vaulted over the dang thing and swept as many of them into his arms as he could manage.
“Hey there, big guy. Are you okay?” Teresa asked as she extracted herself from his grip.
“I never thought this day would end. I’m going to miss you gals so dang much!”
“What am I? Chopped liver?” BJ blustered. “And here I brought new friends to introduce to you.”
Richie reached around Karen and pulled Billie into a rib-cracking hug. “You have no idea how grateful I am that you’re sticking around, cher.”
“Well, all right then. You’re forgiven,” she laughed. “Since my old friends are abandoning me,” she mock scowled at Helen, Teresa, and Karen, “let me introduce my new crew. These lovely ladies are Pam Altman, Amy Olson, Jessie Clemons, and Jackie Allman.”
Richie said hello to each in turn and shook their hands.
“They’re my cohorts in crime. Pam is particularly gifted with cherry bombs. Watching her blow up a toilet is a thing of beauty.”
Richie barked out a laugh. “As long as you stay away from my bathroom with your explosives we will get along great.”
“Don’t write me off completely,” Teresa hurriedly said. “I want you at my wedding.”
Richie pulled Teresa far enough across the bar to kiss her cheek. “Screaming banshees couldn’t keep me away.”
“Good, you had me worried. It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t there.”
“Can we get this party on the road?” Billie asked as she slid from her bar stool.
“Absolutely. Let me clock out and change. I’ll only be a minute.”
Everyone began talking at once. What should they do on their last night in town?
Teresa looked left and right, taking in her best friends, a grin pulling at her lips as she pushed back from the bar. “You know, I think we should do something crazy and touristy as a goodbye to this great old city.”
“Like what?” Helen asked.
“I know what we should do,” Billie squealed. “Why don't we take a vampire tour?”
“A vampire tour? That’s stupid.” Karen frowned.
“Karen is just scared a real vampire is going to jump out and bite her,” Helen teased.
“I am not,” Karen mumbled. But they all knew she hid under the covers when they watched scary movies.
“Well, I think it’s a great idea,” Teresa said, backing up BJ’s suggestion.
“What’s a great idea?” Richie asked when he rejoined them tucking in his shirt.
“A vampire tour,” Billie answered excitedly. “We’ve been here for four years, and we’ve never taken a tour.”
“Okay, if you really want to. In my opinion, those tour guides don’t know shit, but this is just for fun, so I’m in.”
“Vampires aren’t real,” Karen said. She looked at Helen with fear in her eyes. “Right?”
“No, silly,” Helen said firmly as she grabbed her purse. “They’re just teasing you.”
Karen sighed in relief.
Richie checked the time. “It’s six p.m. I vote we buy the tour tickets, then find dinner and maybe a drink or two. We have a couple of hours to waste before the tours start for the night. A few cocktails might spice up the tour and make it more interesting.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Teresa agreed. “Where should we eat?”
“Since it’s your last hurrah, how about dinner at Irene’s. I love their Lamb à la Provence.”
“Awesome! There’s a ticket office between here and there,” Helen interjected.
“Why are we still sitting here? Let’s go,” Billie said and took Richie’s arm as she marched out the door. At the last second, she turned to Karen. “Come on, sweetie. I'll keep you safe from the scary vampires and ghosts. Who knows, we might even see a werewolf.”
Richie chuckled and nudged her. “Stop it, you big meanie. You’re getting her all worked up.”
They were one shop down from the tour office when Teresa became excited. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed and pointed at the souvenir store’s window. “Vampire fangs! We should all wear them during the tour,” she shouted and ran inside to purchase enough for everyone.
Teresa was in and out in about two minutes. Her smile lit her face like a thousand watt bulb as she waved a bag full of plastic fangs. The ladies groaned, but in
the end, they would all be sporting fangs no doubt about it.
Dinner proved to be as delicious as Richie promised. They had full stomachs and a few cocktails under their belt. It was time for the vampire tour. The cashier at the ticket office said to meet on the steps of the cathedral; so here they sat, waiting for their tour guide to appear. A few minutes later a man in a dramatic long black coat and top hat rounded the corner. That had to be him. No one else was crazy enough to wear a full-length coat in the heat wave New Orleans was suffering through. Other than their group of nine, there was a family of four and a young couple. It looked like the tour was going to be an intimate affair.
The first couple of times the tour guide stopped to talk he told stories that were more along the lines of a history lesson than anything to do with creatures bearing fangs.
“This sucks!” Billie hissed into Teresa’s ear. “We’re on a vampire tour with no vampires.”
“Yeah. I noticed.” She nodded.
Billie’s annoyance faded as she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. Damn it. She was being watched again. If it was another mugger, she was prepared to kick his ass this time. Screw that, bring it on, she was in the mood to kick a mugger’s ass tonight.
Surprisingly, this felt different. Not so much threatening or dangerous. Instead, the feeling was laced with intent and interest. What the heck?
Nonchalantly, Billie turned her head. There was no sign of the source of her discomfort. No one was paying attention to them at all.
Sure there were people on the sidewalk and street. Tons of tourists and even a couple of tarot card readers with tables along the fence that enclosed the cathedrals back yard. But not a single person was looking their way.
Billie shook her head. “I must be imagining things.”
At least that's what she told herself until she spotted a man leaning against the corner of a building across the street. Goosebumps raced across her skin. He was staring directly at her. Though she couldn’t see his eyes, she felt them on her. She doubted he was even blinking. How dangerous could he be? He was dressed in a crisp dress shirt and wore sexy sunglasses. Granted the glasses were strange since the sun was down, but they sure were smoking hot on him. She shrugged. He was probably just a businessman curious about the tour group.
From this distance, she had no idea if he was handsome or ordinary. He obviously had long hair; she’d glimpsed a ponytail when he turned to watch a pedestrian walk by. The dark sunglasses he wore obscured his eyes, and the shadow he stood in made it impossible to tell much else. In fact, given his glasses, she couldn't tell for sure where he was looking, but every goosebump on her body said he was focused on her. It made little difference. Stuffed suits weren’t her type. She preferred bad boys.
Her mind wrote him off as a threat, but her intuition screamed to keep an eye on him. She couldn’t put her finger on the issue, but there was something about him. She’d never gotten a dark and dangerous vibe off a suit before. But this guy was dripping with predatory, downright sinister energy.
She rubbed her neck uneasily, wishing he would turn his attention somewhere else.
“Is something wrong?” Richie asked.
“No. It’s nothing,” she said a little too quickly and tried to cover with a smile.
Not only did the feeling not fade, it got stronger. The man was intense, fierce, and oozed danger. But for some reason, which Billie couldn’t explain, she knew he would never hurt her. Actually, it felt like the opposite. This guy would shred anyone who threatened her. How the heck did she know that? She hadn’t even met the guy, and he unnerved her.
If she pointed the man out, there was no telling what Richie would do. He was very protective of all the girls, and this was their last night in the French Quarter as a group. So, she kept her thoughts to herself. She didn’t want a fight, or for that matter to get the cops involved.
CHAPTER TWO
Etienne crossed his arms and leaned against the rough brick of the building as he watched the strange and yet oddly fascinating woman across the street. It wasn’t that she dressed strangely; they were in the French Quarter after all. No, it was more her demeanor and her essence. He tugged at his earlobe as he tried to pin down what it was about her that caught his attention.
He followed at a distance as the tour group moved on to the next location. Surprise, surprise, another history lesson of the building they stood before and no vampire legend in sight. Teresa and Richie were in rare form, with sarcasm and snarky comments whispered back and forth. Their antics got Jessie and Jackie going. The tour guide ignored them and continued his rehearsed speech. Undoubtedly, accustomed to hecklers.
Pam, Amy, and Billie stood at the back of the group. The fans they were given before the tour waving faster than a dog’s tail as they tried to cool off.
“We’re stopping at a bar somewhere soon right?” Pam asked.
“Yeah, the guide said there would be a break at some pirate place.” Amy nodded and fanned herself a little faster.
Billie only half listened. Her radar was pinging faster than a Las Vegas slot machine hitting a jackpot. She stood still, searching with her senses. She felt the suit again, but she just couldn’t locate him.
Richie dropped back to stand with Billie and the other girls. “You guys having fun back here?”
“I guess,” Pam grumbled. “I can’t believe they get away with calling this a vampire tour.”
“I tried to tell you at the bar. These guys don’t know shit.”
Billie raised an eyebrow. “And you do?”
Richie fidgeted. He’d said too much. “Well, I’m sure I could do better than that guy. I grew up hearing a lot of stories. I could tell you some that would curl your toes.”
The girls nodded. That was a close call. He’d better have a soda at Jean Lafitte’s. His loose tongue was about to get him into trouble.
They suffered through two more tour stops, and you guessed it, there were no vampires, and it was finally time for a break.
“Thank God!” Pam said overly loud.
“I’ll catch up to you guys. I want to check something out,” Billie said to Teresa, Helen, and Karen, casually searching the street for a sign of the suit.
“You got it, cher. Come on ladies! I’m buying.” Richie grinned as he escorted the girls into the darkened interior of Jean Lafitte’s. He knew Etienne was following them. He just didn’t know why. From the way Billie was acting, she sensed him as well. As much as he was dying to see what would happen, he hustled as many people as possible inside. Billie’s friends, Pam, Amy, Jessie, and Jackie chose to stick with her on the sidewalk.
Etienne remained in the shadow cast by a brick wall covered in vines. He lifted a hand, and extended his fingers, tempted to touch the human, then closed his fist. An unexpected touch from a strange man in the shadows would send her screaming into the night. That was the polar opposite of what he wanted.
She stood with her back to him, recounting a funny story. Holy hell, her laughter triggered his fangs and caused other needs to rise as well. The reverberations of the throaty sound, vibrated through each cell of his body, stiffening parts he had neglected for far too long.
“Good evening,” a smooth, sexy voice purred from the shadows.
Billie gasped and spun around. What the heck? No one was behind her a second ago. Her eyes widened as she took in the hottest man she’d ever laid eyes on. She didn’t know where to look first as she checked him out from head to toe. And there was a heck of a lot to check out.
He was tall, like get a crick in your neck looking up at him tall. Standing at least six feet three, he towered over her vertically challenged height. Wisps of long wavy black hair had escaped from his ponytail, and he wore expensive tailored black slacks with a crisp starched white shirt. His clothing would have looked odd on any other man with hair so long. But the combination on this sex god was sheer perfection.
When he took a step toward her, her gaze shot to his. She wondered what his eyes looked l
ike behind the dark sunglasses he wore. Suddenly unsteady, she grabbed Jackie’s arm to catch her balance before she fell headlong into Mr. Sexiness.
He felt her shock and was surprised by her reaction. Ordinarily, his glasses tempered the magnetic pull of his gaze. He had better dial it back a bit before he scared her off completely.
He could also tell his acute scrutiny made her edgy. But then, he made everyone edgy. The effect he had on others was precisely why he worked hard to cultivate a warm, happy go lucky attitude for the most part. A small grin tugged at his lips as he considered what some would say about him having a happy go lucky anything, much less an attitude.
Normally, he was very careful to avoid eye contact unless he previously prepared his expression and dialed back the vibes a vampire as old as he naturally exuded. This woman threw him off balance more than he cared to admit.
But he couldn’t take his eyes off the lush beauty, which left one option. With a massive effort, he curbed his vampiric sex appeal. It wasn’t easy when he wanted to pounce on her like a leopard on a gazelle.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Etienne Delacour.” He bowed and held his breath.
Billie narrowed her eyes, searching and sensing. If this were a trick, she’d know it. She sensed nothing but the honest desire to know her. She weighed her options as she considered his outstretched hand. A gorgeous man wants to get to know me? Hell’s yes. She could get down with that. She hoped he could handle what she and her friends were undoubtedly about to dish out.
Billie grasped his hand and gave it a shake. “Nice to finally meet you, Etie. I’m Billie. Do you always follow women in the dark?”
Her crass nickname rang in his ears and yet oddly aroused him. “No, not typically. In truth, it is usually I who runs from women as they chase me.” He grinned brightly at her and then the ladies attending her. “I, of course, am terrified and afraid for my life.”
“Sure you are.” Billie snorted. “I can imagine your terrified screams as you run for your life.”
Etienne held onto her delicate soft hand for a moment longer than was proper. Finally, he had no choice, but to release her.