A Vampire Bundle

by Alexandra Ivy

  “Hey, so Janine says we can stay at her place,” Sara said as she flipped the phone shut, walking back over to resume a similar crouched posture as mine on her seat. Guess she was afraid of having Roachzilla crush her foot, too. “However, she doesn’t want to have to play hostess and said we’re on our own as far as food and entertainment. I don’t know about you guys, but that’s fine with me.”

  Arnold and I nodded, rising to pick up our things. I watched in fascination as Arnold closed his hands over the mouse and it once again disappeared to parts unknown. He wasn’t wearing long sleeves, so there really was no other explanation than magic for why it wasn’t there when he moved his hands off the table. While it raised his creepy factor a few points, it was admittedly kind of cool to see him do some real magic.

  When he saw me watching, he grinned and gave me one word in explanation. “Conjuration.”

  Whatever that means.

  Chapter 32

  Janine was waiting on the wide marble steps in front of her building when we pulled up, and she did not look happy to see us. A shorter, skinnier, more nervous version of Sara, her blue-as-the-summer-sky eyes never quite managed to meet anyone else’s, and her hands never stopped fluttering over something, smoothing the bright golden strands of her hair or fussing with her clothes, fingering a piece of jewelry, that sort of thing. She was very pretty and scared of her own shadow.

  If looks could kill, the one she shot to Sara when she saw Arnold with us would’ve turned her into a crispy critter. Though I hadn’t been paying much attention to their arguing on the phone, I figured out easily enough that Sara had left out the small detail that we’d be bringing someone else with us.

  After we introduced Arnold, we followed Janine up the steps. Arnold was polite enough not to remark on the fact that Janine was visibly reluctant to shake his hand and carefully kept as much distance between them as possible. We passed through the automatic glass doors, which slid open with a soft hiss to grant us entrance, and into the elegant foyer of the apartment building.

  Unlike Sara, Janine chose to live in one of the pieces of property her parents had left to them on their death. The apartment was very close to Central Park, and while it was far from a penthouse suite, being on the first floor, there was no doubt that it was very costly to stay here. The foyer was quiet, decorated in gold leaf and marble pillars with a few tasteful pieces of artwork. The soft burble of water trickling over the fountain in the center of the room masked the hiss and crackle of static of the security guard’s radio.

  Despite the serious atmosphere of the lobby, it was reassuring having the security guy there, even if it was highly unlikely anyone would think to look for me or Sara here. The guard didn’t do much more than crack a thin, polite smile and give a short wave to Janine, passing a curious look over the rest of us filing behind her.

  “Make yourselves at home, guys,” Janine said as she unlocked her front door. Rather than stick around to give the guided tour, she tossed her keys on a delicate end table next to the door and promptly headed toward her bedroom, not looking back. “I’ve still got some work to do, so if you want to watch a movie and order in pizza or Chinese or something, there are menus in the drawer next to the fridge.”

  “Thanks, spaz,” Sara said, not without a touch of affection. “I owe you one.”

  Janine flashed a quick half-smile before disappearing into the back. Arnold folded his arms and checked out the living room, one brow arching in surprise at the size of the place and the obviously expensive furnishings.

  Sara and I tossed our duffels and purses on one of the oversized couches. I settled into one and flipped on the big screen, channel surfing while Sara went to the kitchen to order some food. Arnold went to the bookcases and started examining the titles, brushing his fingertips along the spines as he read them.

  “So,” Arnold asked me, keeping his voice fairly low, “what’s with Janine? She doesn’t seem so bad.”

  I smirked, turning up the volume on the tube just a little to make sure she wouldn’t overhear. “She’s not. Yet. Once you’re around her a little, you’ll see. She ran out of here like her ass was on fire because we brought you with us.”

  “Why? Am I that scary?” He turned with a grin, looking about as dangerous as a kitten.

  I smiled back and shook my head. “She has trouble dealing with new people and new situations. She’s never talked about it to me, and Sara’s never told me anything, but I suspect it may have to do with her parents’ sudden death or maybe something else bad happened to her in her past. She’s been that way as long as I’ve known her, almost five years. It’s nothing personal, don’t worry about it.”

  He frowned, looking speculatively off in the direction Janine had gone. Hmm. Was he interested, or just covering his bases?

  Sara came in a moment later with a grab bag of menus, and every one blessedly delivered, even at that late hour. We all threw some cash on the table and decided on Italian, ordering far too much food for the three of us.

  We fell on the food when it arrived, a marathon of old Japanese monster movies playing in the background. Then, in a blissful, carbohydrate-induced stupor, we spent the rest of the evening watching downtown Tokyo get destroyed over and over again.

  Janine must have turned the TV off, cleared the food off the coffee table, and thrown blankets on us sometime during the night. We’d fallen asleep on the couch, all sprawled against each other. When I woke up, Sara had her legs in Arnold’s lap, and my head was on her shoulder. One of my legs dangled over the arm of the couch, the other tucked up until my knee was almost against my chest.

  My back screamed a protest when I got up, and I groaned when one or two of the stakes jabbed me in the ribs as I twisted up to a sitting position. Arnold was already awake, but unmoving, blinking blearily at me as I sat up.

  “G’mornin’,” he managed to say, sounding like he needed coffee almost as badly as I did. “Sleep well?”

  “Sort of. A bit cramped up, though. We must have been exhausted to crash out here.”

  I stood with a stretch and a yawn. The belt didn’t feel quite so snug this morning despite the heavy meal, and I tentatively pulled at the buckle. It worked! I yanked it off, immeasurably relieved now that it was daylight and I could remove the silly thing.

  “I’m going to shower and get dressed, I’ll be out in a little bit,” I said, grabbing my duffel and heading toward a bathroom.

  He nodded, closing his eyes and tilting his head back against the couch. He looked pretty wiped out. I figured I’d do the nice thing and make breakfast for everyone, including our absent hostess, once I was ready to face the day.

  Peeling off the body armor I’d slept in was no easy feat. It felt like a contortionist act just to get the shirt off. Once I did, I almost wished I’d just left it on.

  Beneath the shirt I was a mass of bruises. None of them really hurt too badly, but overall it looked like I’d had a ton of bricks dropped on me. The ones at my neck were the only ones that were painful, sending little sparks of agony through my shoulder when I gingerly pressed a fingertip to them. Wincing, I cut that out soon enough, and with a sigh started up the shower, not having to wait long for the water to be almost hotter than I could stand.

  As I washed my hair and scrubbed myself off, I reflected on what had come of having a full-out physical fight with a vamp. On the bright side, I was alive. On the brighter side, I still had all my bodily fluids. I could deal with some bruises if it meant survival. Still, I could see little indentations inside the bruises around my collarbone where Royce must have come pretty close to actually breaking the skin even through the body armor. There were impressions of fingerprints in black and blue on my arm, and sickly greenish-yellow spots around my legs and butt from when I’d fallen and, no doubt, from when I’d flipped the vampire onto his back.

  All in all, not too shabby. I’d come out on top, if a bit worse for wear.

  Oh, well. So no bikinis for a few weeks. It was spring anyway—I’
d live.

  Chapter 33

  Later, feeling clean and refreshed, the three of us were walking down the street in search of good bialys and coffee. Janine had recommended a bakery a few blocks from the apartment. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought I’d need a turtleneck when I’d packed my emergency bag of clothes, and kept flipping my jacket collar up in a vain attempt to hide the bruises around my neck. Janine had fluttered around a little when she saw the discolorations, her concern actually making me feel kind of bad and awkward. Especially since she was obviously afraid but too well mannered to ask outright if we’d dragged some of that trouble back to her place and just hadn’t told her about it.

  Sara and Arnold had politely declined to say anything, but I felt their eyes slide over to my neck every few minutes. Finally sick of the scrutiny, I tried arranging my hair so the fiery curls might hide the marks. Mostly they just ended up flying into my face and getting caught in my mouth when I tried to talk.

  “How could you?” I heard a bitter, growling voice behind us and whirled, surprised. “How could you have signed for him but not for me? You lying little slut!”

  “Chaz!” I exclaimed, taking an involuntary step back as he jumped out of a car stopped in the middle of the street with a snarl on his lips and fists clenched at his sides. He ignored the irate honks and curses from other drivers as another two guys got out of the car after him. More Weres from the looks of them. Great. “What are you talking about?”

  He pointed accusingly at my neck. “Look at you! You let him bite you already, didn’t you? You never went out of town, you went straight to him.”

  He was coming closer, his packmates following hot on his heels and seeming to get hopped up on the scent of anger and fear thick on the air.

  “Chaz, what the fuck? She doesn’t belong to you, back off!” Sara, arms folded, glared up at him. Was she crazy? None of us had weapons and tonight was the full moon. You don’t get in the way of an angry Were-anything during the full moon!

  “Shut up, he wasn’t talking to you,” one of the others told her. I saw part of the pack tattoo visible under his short-sleeved T-shirt, the spear and sun for the Sunstriker pack. His eyes were a feral ice blue, the glittering gaze of a wolf on the hunt staring back at Sara from under a sweep of artfully emo dyed black bangs. The rest of his hair was short, except for the strands arranged to fall across his brow and hide one of his eyes.

  Looking at the third Were grinning savagely at Chaz’s side, also tattooed and wearing a more nondescript T-shirt and loose-fitting jeans with practically half his boxers sticking out of the top, I suddenly realized how right that cab driver from the other day had been. The Sunstrikers really were just a bunch of posers. Bullies, yes, but posers nonetheless.

  My attention was abruptly brought back to Chaz, who was looking more than a little miffed. Was that a hint of fang showing in that snarl? “He hurt you, didn’t he? I’ll kill him!”

  “Chaz, for God’s sake, calm down!” I backed away as he advanced toward me and Arnold tugged on Sara’s arm, pulling her back with us. “It’s not as bad as it looks, and you don’t need to do anything. Just stop a minute, will you?” Finally he listened and stopped trying to close the distance between us. I stopped when he did, and Sara and Arnold moved behind me to get my back. Or hide behind me. Whatever.

  Chaz’s companions stopped, too, looking to him for direction. I guessed Chaz must be the pack leader or something. I’d never really bothered to ask him anything about it after I’d screamed bloody murder for him to trot his hairy ass out of my living room and stay out of my life. To this day I still don’t know why the neighbors never called the cops. I sure was loud enough for them to have heard me.

  “Listen,” I said, finding a little of that old anger burning deep down, fanning into flames at the sheer gall of him, accosting me on the street like a jealous boyfriend. “You and I are done, finished, over. You burned your bridges with me when you hid what you were, you insufferable ass. Then, bringing your goons with you to try to scare me and my friends? Who the hell do you think you are? I’ve got I don’t know how many people after my ass trying to kill me in the last few days, and you think this show of bravado is going to win my affection? I broke up with you because you lied to me, and you hid things from me, and you were a dick, not because you’re a Were! Get over yourself!”

  Everyone was staring at me; I even saw a touch of awe on Sara’s face. Chaz was speechless, opening and closing his mouth as he started to say something and then thought better of it. He looked both chagrined and angry, wavering in between as though he wanted to be offended but wasn’t sure if he should be. I folded my arms across my chest (no holsters to jab me in the ribs this time) and tapped my foot, waiting for him to spit out a reply or rebuttal.

  He slowly lowered his head, spreading his hands and deflating somewhat as the anger was finally overtaken by his embarrassment. “Shia, I’m sorry. It’s just, I know how you feel about Others and the thought of a vamp’s hands on you makes me mad enough to lose my head.” He sighed and stood up straighter, resuming that effortlessly strong, body-builder’s pose he knew I liked so much. Playing me like a fiddle, that’s what he was doing. Of course, knowing that didn’t make it any easier to resist those gym-made washboard abs or sad puppy dog eyes. “Will you at least let me help you? Give me a chance to show you I’m not that bad?”

  I glanced back and forth between Sara and Arnold, wondering what they thought. Both of them had stony expressions, looking about as moved as a pair of boulders. I fidgeted, trying to think rationally but already knowing the battle was lost. True, the holder might be able to make him turn on me, but what if they didn’t know about him? Arnold had said the holder was weak willed. Maybe that meant I could still count on Chaz, since the holder wouldn’t be able to control him and Royce at the same time.

  Chaz didn’t have that strained look about him that Royce had when he was being forced into doing something he didn’t want to. His gaze was clear, and his voice sounded exactly the same as I remembered it, with no hint of poisoned honey sweetness to it. He would’ve attacked me already if that was his intent. And what he’d said at my parents’ place was true: he’d never hurt me, and I don’t think he really ever meant to scare me like he did. I could admit to myself now that I had overreacted a little when I saw him shift. He’d been putting trust in me to accept him as he was, all of him, and I’d given him the boot. How I’d reacted—that I’d been a bigoted, racist moron—did not sit well. Having now seen firsthand that vampires and Weres and magi had feelings to hurt, just like me, I suddenly felt like the bad guy for having thrown him out instead of the other way around.

  The past couple of days had well and truly skewed my once plainly black-and-white views on Others. Maybe Chaz really wasn’t the Big Bad Wolf. After all, if I’d been in his place, I probably would’ve hesitated to tell me I was a Were, too. Grimacing, remembering my reaction and some of the unthinking things I had said in the past about Others, I could see why I might have neglected to ever say anything about it. He was braver and maybe stupider for showing himself to me than I had previously given him credit for.

  Not to mention I didn’t like the idea of him possibly going Rambo on me and trying to take down Royce on his own. I’d much rather keep an eye on him.

  I figured I could risk giving him one more chance. I threw up my hands and tried to keep my voice as brisk as it had been, rather than letting any sheepish note creep into it. “Fine, whatever. But leave the Three Stooges behind.” I pointed to the two dorks at his side and the driver who was idling at the curb.

  One of the Weres growled softly at that, showing a little bit of upper and lower fang. They weren’t too pronounced, as he wasn’t shifted, but it was more than enough to make all three of us non-Weres take a quick step back. Chaz casually smacked emo-boy in the chest with a closed fist, sending him stumbling back with a yelp. “Done.”

  The other Weres shook their heads, exchanging the universal well-that’s-the-boss-f
or-ya-what-can-you-do look before shuffling off to their car. I overheard one of them say something about “alpha my ass” to the others, though they silenced themselves quick enough when Chaz gave them a menacing look and a growl from deep in his chest. The hairs on the back of my neck rose at the sound, nothing that should come out of a human throat, and the other Weres continued on their way a little more speedily. Chaz turned back to us with an expectant look, all innocence, as if he hadn’t just acted completely inhuman a moment ago.

  A bit nonplussed, I gestured for everyone to follow me. I took a quick look around my ex to make sure that the other Weres weren’t coming back. The tall, skinny one who Chaz had smacked threw a black look at me over his shoulder. Annoyed, I flipped him off before turning on my heel and continuing down the street, figuring it would do me a world of good to at least act like I was a bigger badass than the werewolf at my heels. One thing I’d noticed over the last couple of days was that every Other I’d dealt with so far, even Arnold, stopped treating me like a pushover when I acted sure of myself. Because of that, I kept my head high and didn’t look back, acting like I expected everyone else to follow, including my ass-kissing ex.

  Despite the cool façade, I still had doubts and worries. The moon was going to be full after dark. How the heck was I going to keep Chaz from killing Royce tonight?

  Chapter 34

  Sara and Arnold were not pleased with my decision. I wasn’t too happy about it either, but that wasn’t going to change anything. My mind was made up as far as Chaz was concerned. His help could prove invaluable to us later.

  “So, I came up with a theory this morning,” I said to Sara as we walked along looking for the bakery.

  She arched a brow, glancing over at me before returning her gaze to the sidewalk. Arnold and Chaz were both watching me with interest. “Do tell.”