by Jana Denardo
“Sorry, we’re Chiaroscuro, looking for a rogue,” Siobhan said.
The strange vampire sucked in a deep breath. “I’m not! I swear. I’ve never done anything bad like that. I was just here on vacation and thought this club would be a good place to get a nip.”
“She’s one of you,” Siobhan said wryly.
He wrinkled his nose, in no mood. “You did something. We got a call about you.”
She spread her hands. “Nothing, I promise you!”
“Hey, what are you doing?” The bartender poked her head out the emergency door. “That’s not her. She just went that way. She’s wearing a shirt with flames in rhinestones.”
“Damn it.” Arrigo wheeled around, racing for the street.
“Sorry about this. Have fun in Vegas,” Siobhan called to the other vampire. She paced Arrigo. “Cooler head this time.”
He grunted at her, pouring on the speed. He passed the blonde the bartender pointed to, trying to head her off. Sure enough, she had rhinestones on her shirt. She might be blonde with fangs, but she was also entirely human. Arrigo stopped running, spewing invectives in Latin, Italian and a few other languages. He held up his hands, backing off at her frightened look. She hurried off.
“Normal,” he grunted at Siobhan.
“Well, at least you didn’t manhandle her.” Siobhan shrugged, ignoring his foul language. “I guess that’s cooler.”
Shooting her a death glare, Arrigo stalked back to the club. “I have to square this with Ashley.”
Ashley would be relieved that the patron wasn’t the killer who had attacked at the club before and probably less thrilled about him setting off the alarms. Arrigo hoped the rest of the night went better.
LUC RUBBED his eyes, feeling the grit in them from too-long hours and not enough sleep. He should have gone straight to bed, but he was wired. Henri and his idiot friends had rode his ass all night. Worse, he’d dreamed of Arrigo the previous night, one of the most erotic dreams of his life. Now he was paranoid he talked in his sleep and his family would hear him.
Hoping if he were truly exhausted, he’d fall into a dreamless sleep, Luc decided to kill more time to help ensure exhaustion. He hiked down the nearly empty street to Delilah’s Diner. He lucked out. Lily worked the tables. Her mom must have been watching the kids. Luc felt a little sorry for her. Having to work all night sucked, but she would sleep when her kids were at school so maybe it worked out good.
Lily smiled, seeing him come in. Luc wondered as he took a seat at one of the tables if she’d smile so bright if she knew what he’d let Arrigo do to him in the store room of the Alibi. He frowned. No sense in thinking that way since he planned to tell no one.
Hell, he struggled with the idea of calling Arrigo to ask more about that crazy ex of his, but really he simply wanted to hear Arrigo’s deep voice again. What were the chances a crazy ex would think to look in a dive bar for a gay guy as her replacement? Women didn’t frighten him. Unless she was armed, he figured there wasn’t much she could do to him. Of course, didn’t crazy exes usually come armed? Maybe he’d seen too many cop shows. Luc worried if he did go talk to Arrigo about his ex, he’d end up having sex with him. He didn’t know why that scared him. Okay, that was a total lie. Luc knew exactly why.
“Hi, sweetie, you look as tired as I feel. Need a menu?” Lily tucked her blonde hair back into the sloppy tail she wore it in.
“Nah, I’ll just have a piece of pie. What do you have today?” He knew the pie most likely came from Marie Callender’s or something, but it still tasted pretty good. “And yeah, it was a rough night. There was another brawl.”
Lily frowned. “Luc, you need to find a better place to work. Even here would be better.”
“I’d mess up the orders.”
She laughed. “If you say so. We have apple and cherry. We had chocolate silk, but I think we’re out.”
“Cherry’s my favorite anyhow. That’ll be good, and a glass of water. I’d like coffee, but I do need to sleep at some point.”
“Coming right up.”
Before Lily returned with his pie, the door’s bell rang twice. The first time a couple of men who had the air of having been on night shift for years, pale and red-eyed, dragged in. They sat at the counter, seeming at home there. The other was a brunette woman, very pretty with a beauty mark on one cheek and wild purple framed glasses. Luc had never seen her in the diner before. She looked more like a tourist who’d taken a wrong turn and ended up on the bad side of town. She didn’t seem worried, though, so maybe she worked at one of the bars around there. The stranger smiled at him and took a seat by the window. Could she be the ex Arrigo warned him about? There seemed to be something familiar about her. No, he was being crazy-crazy.
“Here you go, Luc.” Lily slid the pie in front of him. “Who knew this place would suddenly get hopping? I’ll be back in a few.”
“Merci, Lily.”
The pie was sweet on the tongue. As he ate, Luc realized the brunette was eyeing him. He shifted on the cracked vinyl seat of his booth, trying to get comfortable. Maybe he’d been wrong about her working at a bar. She might be a prostitute, but she looked too pretty and well fed for that. Could just be starting out or be higher rent, though why would she be there if she were? If she was watching him in hopes of making money, she’d be out of luck. Luc never had money to pay for it even if he wanted to. The little money he had, he was saving for something stupid that he couldn’t even believe he’d waste his money on. Maybe his money worries would end once he passed his GED, if he could pass it.
After taking coffee and another slice of pie to the woman, Lily headed back to his table. She glanced around before sitting down across from him. “You think you’ve had a rough night. Let me tell you, the ghost is acting up tonight.”
Luc chuckled. “Do you really believe in ghosts?”
“You don’t? Aren’t you from New Orleans? I heard it’s all kinds of haunted.” Lily pouted at him.
“Yeah.” Luc shrugged, noticing the brunette watching him as she ate her pie. “I’m not sure what I believe.” That was so true about everything, ghosts, his own abilities to pass the GED, his very sexuality.
“I believe.” Lily bobbed her head. “Cups went flying back there today, and half a carton of eggs hit the floor.” She gestured wildly to show the cups flight. “You can smell her perfume in the ladies’ room. It’s an old scent, you know, like a granny would wear to remind her of when she was young.”
“Have you seen her?” Luc figured there might be logical explanations for the stuff, but he didn’t want to hurt Lily’s feelings. Besides, he did kinda believe in ghosts. He gave his cross a superstitious rub, just in case the ghost got any ideas.
“No, but you can feel her sometimes.” Lily shuddered. “We’ve had a ghost hunter in here.” She slapped the worn table. “We’re going to be in his book! You remember him. He’s very handsome.”
Luc perked up at the mention of a ghost hunter. He took another bite of pie before asking, “Yeah, Arrigo?”
“Oh, yeah. He has these smoky dark eyes and long dark hair. Normally I don’t like guys with long hair, but it works on him. He’s always so nice when he’s here.” Lily sighed happily.
“He seemed like a nice guy when I met him here,” Luc said, a bit cagey. His sudden urge to not share Arrigo shocked him. “He’s been by the Alibi a couple of times too.” Luc could swear the woman by the window leaned in, listening. Maybe she was one of those people-watcher types.
“Is the Alibi haunted?”
“Only by crappy people.” He snorted. “I wondered how Arrigo ever found the place. Guess it makes sense, since we’re just up the block from you.”
“He’s been here a couple times. He wants to maybe shut us down in the wee hours and record in here. I think my boss’s asking price might be a little high since that hasn’t happened yet. I hope he comes back with more questions.”
“Who knows? Sounds like he’s serious about this.” Luc smiled. He
still couldn’t quite wrap his head around the idea the near-stranger he’d let give him a blowjob hunted ghosts for a living. Could you get rich doing that? Maybe. People did have TV shows about it, so what did Luc know anyhow?
“He seems to be. It’ll be fun to be in a book. It might increase business.” Lily smiled. “I hope I’m on the good shifts if it does.”
“Here’s hoping.”
“Lily, order up,” a voice called from the back.
She slid out of the seat and went to get what Luc guessed would be dinner for the two men at the counter. The woman at the window stood up, looking like she might come over to him. Suddenly the door opened, and Henri stalked in.
“There you are. You didn’t answer your phone, peeshwank,” his brother bellowed, making everyone look.
Luc felt his face go red. He tugged the old flip phone out of his pocket. “It’s dead like it is half the time. What do you want?”
“You need to get back to the Alibi.”
“Why? It is burning down?” Luc could only hope. “I’m done for the night.”
“There’s money missing from the till.”
Luc scowled. “And Da thinks I stole it?”
“Risner is talking to us all. Get down there before I drag your ass there.” Henri took a menacing step forward.
He grimaced. Risner, Da’s friend, owned the bar, and he got stubborn when he thought he was right about something. “Fine.” Luc stood and fished out his wallet. He slapped some money down on the table and waved at Lily. “I have to run. Money’s on the table. I’ll see you, Lily.”
“Bye, Luc.”
He followed his brother. This would teach him not to go straight home. His life sucked.
Chapter Sixteen
ELENI WIPED her mouth as she let herself out of the bookstore. Her eye hurt where the bitch hit her. She hated when dinner fought back. After George told her he’d seen a dustup with Arrigo at the Scarlet Kiss the night before, Eleni rethought going to either the diner or the Alibi. Arrigo seemed on high alert where his closest friends were concerned. It was time to hit where he wasn’t paying as close of attention. To that end, she’d hidden in Between the Covers bookstore, waiting to find that book-wielding bitch. The staff should have been more diligent in checking it out when they closed. Killing Arrigo’s bookseller friend hadn’t been planned. Eleni’d lost control when the bitch slammed a thick book right across her nose.
A death probably sent her message to Arrigo better anyhow. Eleni thought she should head home. There would be time to kill more of his friends later; more enjoyable if she picked them off one by one.
Eleni called George. “Decant the white wine for me and run a bath. I’ll be home soon.” Eleni considered sending a picture of the bookstore to the number she’d gotten from his business card with the note “guess who’s next.” She glanced down the street to the cut-rate motels. The heart of Fremont Street was several blocks from where she stood. She thought about going there instead of home, but she’d have to call George back in that case. No, she was better off at home, and she could send the note to Arrigo tomorrow so as not to give him all day to be looking for his friend’s killer while she slept. As she slipped the phone in her pocket, Eleni spotted a bit more blood on the back of her hand.
She licked it off, smiling. The bitch had been tasty.
DAYBREAK FORCED Arrigo to dig out his sunglasses. He had spent the last night watching the Alibi and the diner with no hints of Eleni or her Renfield. He’d gotten some sleep, but Pearce, his friend from Shifty’s, had found a local witch who was willing to help keep an eye out so their little quartet could be less sleep deprived. Of course that meant him losing his own sleep to meet with her and set her up watching over Taabu. He still hadn’t had the opportunity to find where Luc lived, because he hadn’t had the chance to talk to Luc and the day before he and Siobhan had been dealing with the false alarm at the Kiss.
Three steps before Arrigo got to the parking garage, his phone rang. He dragged it out of his pocket, surprised when he saw Shani’s name on the display. His heartbeat raced loud enough for vampiric ears—keyed to the sound of life—to hear. Had someone gotten past Siobhan and hurt Taabu again?
“Hello, Shani? Has something happened to Taabu?”
“Not that I’m aware of. This is a business call. Can my partner and I come talk to you at your place?”
“I’m not home.” His mind turned over the possibilities. Could Eleni have gotten to Luc after he and Hanako left? It could be one of his other friends, had to be if Shani was calling him, or at least a case that resembled what happened to Taabu. “Did the business get broken into?”
“No. Can you come to the station, or should we meet you once you get home?”
“The station.” He didn’t want to return there, but what could he do? Arrigo preferred as few humans as possible know where he holed up, if one could describe a luxury penthouse suite as “holing up.” Shani did know, but no need to drag her partner into it. Besides, he wasn’t blind to how wealth could irritate some people, make them more unreasonable. He didn’t know Shani’s partner, or if he had those sorts of issues. Arrigo didn’t plan on finding out. “Did someone else get attacked?”
“I would prefer we talk about it at the station.”
The degree to which she was hedging told Arrigo all he needed to know. “Shani….”
“Yes, and that’s all I’m going to say.”
Arrigo clenched his jaw. His phone creaked ominously, and he relaxed his fist before he crushed it. “I’ll be there within the half hour, depending on traffic.”
Shani agreed, and he hung up. Arrigo looked back over his shoulder just in case someone was watching him. Eleni was going to pay for this.
She seemed to sense that thought because his phone buzzed an alert. He didn’t know the number. He checked and found a picture of Taabu’s house and one of Between the Covers bookstore, along with a text reading, Guess who’s next?
He’d tear her head off and piss in her ashes.
ARRIGO WONDERED if all interrogation rooms looked the same as he walked through the door. It smelled the same as the last two he’d been in. Stale sweat and old coffee undercut the sour scent of cigarettes. The coffee theme continued with the coloring of the cracked plastic furniture and tabletop.
Sitting down on the shoddy little table, Arrigo asked, “Who was hurt this time?”
Leaning her backside against the table, Shani pushed a photo at him. “Do you know her?”
He stared at a photo of a dead woman. His heart sank. Poor Rebecca. “That’s Rebecca Lewis. She worked at Between the Covers, the bookstore. We were friendly there, but we weren’t actual friends. It’s not like we hung out anywhere else. Why did you think to even call me about this, Shani?” Arrigo glanced at her sidelong. He knew why, but thought it might be better to play dumb. “Does it have something to do with what happened to Taabu?”
Shani’s partner, Jesus Gonzales, was a fireplug of a man who looked eminently capable of pulling a criminal’s arms off. “You tell us,” Gonzales grumbled, leaning against the wall. He nodded at Shani.
She passed him something in a sealed evidence bag. Arrigo spread the plastic flat and read the note inside. “Hello, Arrigo. She’s not the last to suffer.” Eleni had to be getting off on taunting him. It wasn’t the smart thing to do. Arrigo clenched his jaw, willing his blood teeth to stay put. The predator desperately wanted out of its cage, but this was hardly the time. He’d gotten a similar message on the way to the station along with more pictures, of Lily, Luc, Pearce, and several more of his acquaintances, in addition to that first text. He’d already forwarded them to Siobhan.
“This isn’t all she’s sent.” He didn’t want Shani messing with his phone. He’d already deleted the stuff Eleni had sent, but it might be recoverable, and he’d probably be in a shitload of trouble if it was. On the other hand, he didn’t want the new threat to Taabu to go unreported. The last call on his phone was to Siobhan, telling her to light a
fire under Craig’s ass to get them some help. If Craig still denied them, he’d go over the man’s head. Vegas was impossible for just one or two people to cover. The patrons of the Crypt-Kicker might be Supernaturals, but that didn’t mean they were willing and able to help fight rogues.
Arrigo pulled up the picture he had selected to keep only because Shani needed to know. “As soon as I hung up with you, I was sent this. I don’t know this number, but the picture is obviously Taabu’s house.”
“Did she send you anything else?” Shani snatched his phone away. “Damn, is this today? Is she there now?”
“I don’t know. I called Taabu, but she didn’t see anyone outside. Michael, you remember him, went over to keep an eye on your sister. Siobhan is home, and Hanako is at a hotel, but she might join Michael at Taabu’s.”
“Do you think your friends are in danger?” Gonzales asked.
Arrigo considered that because a normal person would think it over, then slowly shook his head. “Siobhan’s staying at the Veer. The security is pretty high. I’d wanted Taabu to stay in my guest room, but she said no. Michael and Hanako are fellow ghost hunters that Eleni wouldn’t know,” he said, giving the lie they’d worked out earlier. “They should be safe enough. Are you going to keep my phone?”
“We need to investigate this,” Shani replied, moving to hand his phone off to Jesus.
“Wouldn’t it make sense for me to keep the phone? If she’s going to send me taunts, it might be better if I played along. I don’t know if I can get her to talk because that would give away the game, but wouldn’t the images and threats she sends help? Besides, that’s my business cell, not my personal one.”
Shani nodded. “It could. Let me and Jesus talk that over. We still need the phone to check that number. We might be able to get it back to you quickly if we think your idea would fly.”
Arrigo gritted his teeth, thinking about Rebecca. “Okay, just let me forward calls from this phone to my private one. I wish I knew why she killed Rebecca. We weren’t really friends, like I said. She was someone I talked to in the store, nothing more.”