Weddings From Hell

by Maggie Shayne

  Isa backed up until she was almost to the door of the living room. “Who shot me? Robert?”

  Chance’s mouth tightened. “No. But Robert pulling his gun distracted me from seeing the other two men outside who were taking aim. Apparently the Salucci brothers got tired of negotiating with Robert, and decided a drive-by shooting would be much more efficient instead.”

  “Those were the pops I heard,” Isa murmured, as if to herself. Then she gave Chance a repelled look that pierced his heart. “You’re not human.”

  This wasn’t the way he’d intended her to find out, but there was no turning back. Even though he could erase the knowledge from her if he bit her and used his power, Chance refused to manipulate her that way.

  “No. I haven’t been for a long time.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Greta came around the corner, her eyes wide at seeing Chance and Isa in her living room. Hearing the old woman’s heart start to beat irregularly, Chance hastened to reassure her.

  “It’s all right, Greta. Isabella was hurt, but I healed her.”

  “Isa, what happened?” Greta exclaimed, giving her granddaughter a hug.

  Chance saw that while Isa gripped her back, she never took her eyes off him.

  “Grandma…he’s not human. I’m not crazy and I’m not making this up, but Chance isn’t human!”

  Greta tssked. “Well, of course he’s not, dear. He’s a vampire. I wouldn’t have gotten him involved if he’d only been human. He wouldn’t have been much use then, would he?”

  Isa’s mouth dropped. She looked back and forth between Chance and Greta like she expected one of them to suddenly yell, ‘Surprise, you’re on candid camera!’

  “You knew this?” she finally managed.

  Before Greta could respond, Chance held out a hand. “I have to leave you both now. Greta, don’t open the door for anyone, and if there’s trouble, call me at once. Isabella, you know how to use a gun, yes?”

  “I, um, it’s been a long time…” she sputtered.

  “Good,” Chance interrupted. “If anyone but a trusted friend shows up here, you shoot first before you open the door. There shouldn’t be more trouble, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”

  “Done doing what?” Isa asked, taking a step toward him before stopping herself.

  Chance let his fangs slide out while vampiric green lit up his eyes. Their glow highlighted Isa’s face, and she gasped.

  “Killing the Salucci brothers,” he said, and vaulted out the window.

  Chapter 8

  Her grandmother stared at Isa, not speaking. Isa didn’t know what to say either. So many things had happened, she felt like her entire world had been pulled out from under her.

  “So,” her grandmother said at last. “You didn’t know Chance was a vampire until I told you, but you knew he wasn’t human. How’d you figure that out?”

  Isa brushed past her into the kitchen, a brittle laugh coming out of her throat. “Let’s see, I started to suspect something wasn’t right when Paul almost fainted at seeing Chance, because apparently, last night Paul blew Chance’s brains out and sank him to the bottom of the river!”

  To Isa’s surprise, her grandmother began to laugh. “Oh, I wish I’d been there to see the look on Paul’s face when Chance walked in. He must have pissed himself!”

  “That’s not the point!” Isa said harshly, which made her grandmother sober. “The point is that Chance is a vampire, for God’s sake! And it’s like you don’t even care. How did you ever get mixed up with a vampire, grandma?”

  “Sit down, Isa.”

  Her tone brooked no refusal. Her grandmother might be as frail as a cobweb physically, but there was still a strident note of command in her voice that said she was a force to be reckoned with nonetheless.

  Isa went back into the living room and sat on the couch, scowling. Her grandmother rummaged in the kitchen and then came out with two glasses. Instead of her normal tea, she poured herself a whiskey. And then poured one for Isa as well, handing it to her with a look that dared Isa to refuse it.

  “Do you know how old I am?”

  Isa blinked, not expecting that question. “Uh, of course. You’re seventy-five.”

  “Wrong,” her grandmother said flatly. “I’m a hundred and twenty-six. I was born August second, 1882, in New Orleans, not Yonkers. When my mother ran off before my sixteenth birthday, I had no way to support myself except one—prostitution.” She ignored Isa’s gasp. “I started off on the streets, but then worked my way up to a nice room on Basin Street where the high-class ‘soiled doves’ lived. Prostitution was legal in an area of New Orleans back then that the locals called The District. Later, it became known as Storyville.

  “One evening, a young man walked in and told the madam he wanted six girls for the entire night. Well, you can imagine how we laughed to ourselves at such a boast. But he paid, so we went upstairs with him.” She paused to give Isa a knowing look. “Let me tell you something about vampires. With their stamina, six women for an entire night is simply a healthy start.”

  “Grandma!” Isa interrupted, shocked beyond further words at the thought of her grandmother being a paid participant with the undead in a ménage-a-whatever seven people consisted of.

  “Oh, hush,” her grandmother said casually. “The man who came to the bordello that night was a vampire named Bones, and he was looking for permanent residents for one of his houses. He showed all of us what he was, and to the three women who panicked, he erased that knowledge with the power in his gaze. To the three of us who didn’t, he offered a new life living as his blood donors. We went with him, and he set us up in a beautiful house. Had tutors sent to teach us reading, writing, arithmetic, history, culture, anything we desired. And he gave us the most precious gift of all—the ability to stop aging, for a while at least.”

  “How?” Isa whispered, her mind reeling at everything she was hearing.

  “Blood. Vampires don’t age, one of the few things about their legend that’s correct, and if you drink blood frequently enough from a vampire, your own aging will slow as well. I lived quite happily with Bones and the other girls for over forty years until I met your grandfather. Then I fell in love, but he had a very closed mind when it came to the supernatural. I either had to choose him and turn my back on everything I’d come to take for granted, or say no to true love. I chose love, Isa, and I haven’t regretted it. Following your heart is always the right choice, no matter the circumstances.”

  Isa drained her whiskey in a gulp. Her grandmother’s lips twitched as she sipped more daintily at hers.

  “So is that how you met Chance?” Isa asked after a long silence. Then, “Good God, he’s not the same vampire you lived with, is he?”

  “Heavens, no. I only met Chance once, very briefly when Bones came to visit me after I’d married your grandfather. Then not again before two weeks ago.”

  This felt like a dream, sitting across from her grandmother discussing vampires, of all things. If Isa hadn’t seen Chance’s inhumanly glowing eyes herself—not to mention his fangs—she’d swear her grandmother was senile by relaying such a story. Still, there was nothing imaginary about a bullet hole in her stomach that wasn’t there anymore.

  “But Chance has been walking around in the daylight!” Isa suddenly exclaimed. “I thought vampires couldn’t do that?”

  “Really, dear, if you were an intelligent species that managed to hide your existence from mainstream society for thousands of years, wouldn’t it make sense to plant some red herrings along the way? You know, like fake weaknesses such as a deathly aversion to sunlight or crosses? Then, when people saw you strolling around at high noon holding your rosary beads, they’d think, ‘Well, that can’t be a vampire,’ because they believe the propaganda that’s been deliberately mixed with the legend?”

  Isa eyed her empty glass before going into the kitchen and pouring another stiff one. No one should have to process this i
nformation sober.

  “So they’re not all monsters who lie in wait to feed off the blood of the innocent?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Some of them are,” her grandmother replied with utmost seriousness. “But most of them are decent people who only feed enough to live and don’t kill their donors. Most people who’ve given blood to a vampire don’t even remember it afterward. Their gaze is very powerful, and they have the ability to manipulate both behavior and memories. But being a vampire doesn’t make them a monster, Isa. They’d have to choose that route for themselves.”

  So that was how Chance had hypnotized her before. So much for his being a freelance magician.

  “And apparently shooting a vampire and sinking him to the bottom of the river doesn’t kill one, so what does? A wooden stake through the heart?”

  “Silver through the heart. Or decapitation, but a vampire won’t hand you his or her head. Nor will one stand still and let you poke his heart with silver, either. Never try to battle against a vampire, Isa. They can kill you before you even blink.”

  Isa remembered how fast Chance had moved at the restaurant earlier. She hadn’t even really seen him, he’d only been a blur. Yes, it was easy to believe how deadly vampires could be. Fangs. Mind control. Incredible speed and strength. All of it was very frightening.

  …with their stamina, six women for an entire night is simply a healthy start…

  Isa jerked her mind out of the gutter. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t all frightening.

  “You got Chance involved because of me and Frazier,” she said at last. “I guess it makes sense. What’s scarier than a mobster, if not a creature of the night? Well, why hasn’t Chance just…eaten Robert, then? It would be no great loss to the world, in my opinion.”

  “I’m not sure myself,” her grandmother replied slowly. “At first I thought it was because he wanted to make sure Frazier was safe. Then I wondered if he was waiting for some sort of backup from Bones. You know, if Chance intended to clean Robert’s entire gang off the street, he’d get a few more mouths together to feed off them? But I spoke to Bones today, and he was very surprised to hear Chance still hadn’t wrapped things up. So I’m guessing it has to do with you.”

  “Me?” Isa burst. “What about me?”

  Her grandmother sighed. “Youth is truly wasted on the young. Come now, dear. Don’t be stupid.”

  Isa stared at her. Her grandmother stared right back, unblinking. The thought formed in Isa’s mind, hitting against wall after wall of uncertainty and anticipation.

  Could Chance have been stringing along Robert just to spend more time with her? If so, what was she going to do about that? Scream and grab lots of garlic?

  Or meet him with her hair up while wearing a low-necked gown?

  Isa shook her head to snap out of her mental meanderings. Frazier was out there somewhere, and whatever she did or didn’t feel for Chance, her brother’s safety took priority. If Chance had been deliberately slow about bringing this situation to a conclusion, then she would have to speed him along. After all, if she had a vampire on her side to use as a weapon against Robert, then she was damn well going to point and fire him at the would-be mafioso.

  “Do you think he was serious?” Isa asked at last, her gaze sliding toward the still-open window. “About killing the Salucci brothers, I mean?”

  “Oh, Isa. With how angry Chance was, in all likelihood, they’re already dead.”

  Isa looked at her grandmother and wondered how she had ever, ever thought this woman was a straight-laced Italian housewife. That cold glint in her grandmother’s eyes belonged more to a shylock than the gentle old lady who’d raised her.

  But as Isa had been reminded via a bullet cut out of her torso by a man who happened to be a vampire, looks were very deceiving.

  Chapter 9

  With everything that happened, Isa never expected to fall asleep. But after being awake all last night, drinking multiple shots of whiskey while she waited for Chance to return, and then lying down on her grandmother’s couch, she must have dozed off. A soft touch on her cheek made her eyes flutter open. Chance was kneeling next to her, the room cast in shadows. It was dusk. He’d been gone for hours.

  “The Salucci brothers?” she asked quietly.

  Chance dropped his hand from her face. “You won’t have to worry about them again.”

  There was a hard satisfaction to his voice that said Isa wasn’t the only one who wouldn’t have to worry about them. Neither would anyone else on the planet. She supposed she should be aghast that Chance had murdered them so easily, but she could only muster up the faintest feeling of…caution.

  “What about the police? I’m amazed they haven’t come by yet. With holes shot into my restaurant and my staff telling them I’d been there, I thought for sure they’d come to my grandmother’s asking about me.”

  “They won’t. I took care of them,” Chance replied.

  That did make Isa uneasy. “Um, the permanent way?”

  Chance smiled faintly. “No. The mind-altering way. After I was done with the Saluccis, I went back to your restaurant and pulled aside the lead detective there. He now believes he’s spoken to you and that you didn’t see who fired the shots. I can’t imagine Robert would say anything to contradict that, whenever he surfaces again.”

  “So Robert wasn’t hit earlier? He’s okay?”

  “For now.”

  There was that coldness to Chance’s voice again. Isa shivered. The man—no, the vampire—kneeling just a foot away from her had admittedly killed two people today, and from his tone, he wanted to up that number.

  “Robert struck you,” Chance said, as if reading her thoughts. “You think I’d let him live after that?”

  “Robert’s done much worse to a lot more people,” Isa countered. “If you’re going to kill him, kill him for them, not for me.”

  Chance shrugged. “Dead is dead, darling. I suspect those other people will care more about the end result than my motivation.”

  “I care about your motivation,” Isa said sharply.

  Green began to swirl in Chance’s blue-gray eyes. “Do you?”

  It seemed like he caressed those two words, as if they had a taste he enjoyed. Isa shivered again, but for a different reason this time.

  “Why didn’t you show up last night?” she asked, mostly because she was worried about Frazier, but also to cut the growing pull she felt toward Chance. “Was it because of what Paul did to you? I mean…did it take a while, to, ah, heal?”

  Chance must have seen her refusal in her gaze, because he stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

  “No, my head healed very quickly. That’s how it is for vampires. Why I didn’t show up was because Robert confessed he didn’t know where Frazier was. He thought I’d stolen him away, that I was someone the Salucci brothers hired to make him look incompetent. So I paid them a visit last night. An all-too-kind one, as it turned out, since I should have just killed them once I’d gotten what I needed to know out of them. Nevertheless,” Chance waved his hand curtly, “that’s been remedied.”

  He hadn’t killed the Salucci brothers last night when he could have. She wasn’t upset by that, though it had ended up almost costing Isa her life. In fact, she was relieved, because it reinforced her grandmother’s claim that vampires weren’t random killers despite their vicious legend. Chance had killed the Saluccis today out of necessity. She didn’t need him to tell her how violent a power struggle between two competing crime lords could be. She still had the evidence smeared around the hole in her shirt, in fact. If they were alive, the Saluccis would have only become more dangerous. They’d know Robert would retaliate, and anyone caught in the crosshairs would end up as collateral damage. Like she nearly had.

  “Did they know anything about Frazier?”

  “I’m sorry, no. They truly believed Robert still had him. In the gangster world, Robert holding your brother hostage to ensure you’d marry him isn’t the shameful act of cowardice it
should be, but just a strong-minded way to get a woman to behave.”

  The scorn dripping off Chance’s words echoed Isa’s own anger. All right, now she didn’t feel the slightest bit bad that they were dead. In fact, she hoped it had hurt.

  “This does complicate things, however, since the two most likely sets of suspects in Frazier’s disappearance are innocent,” Chance went on. “Is there anything about your brother you haven’t told me? Anything at all that might shed light on where he could be?”

  Isa got up as well and began to pace. “I have no idea where he is. When he called me a couple weeks ago, he just told me to play along being Robert’s fiancé and that he’d contact me again, but he hasn’t.”

  A low sound came from Chance. “You neglected to tell me that.”

  Isa swung around, shooting him an accusing glare. “Oh, don’t even! If you want to talk about withholding information, I’d say you, Mr. Vampire, are far more guilty than I am!”

  Chance inclined his head. “Touché. However, I intended to tell you about that. Remember when I said yesterday we had to talk? It wasn’t to discuss a new dish for your menu, darling.”

  “Yes, well, I don’t think artery d’jour would go over big with the locals, anyway,” Isa muttered.

  “You might be surprised. There are more of us than you realize. No doubt you’ve served several vampires in your establishment already.”

  “You’re the only person who’s sat there for two hours without eating,” Isa replied, rattled by the thought of the undead mingling among her patrons without her knowing it.

  “We can eat solid food, and we can drink liquids aside from blood. It just doesn’t nourish us, but if we’re out with humans and we’re trying to blend in…” Chance lifted his shoulder. “When in Rome, as they say.”

  It still seemed unbelievable to Isa that he wasn’t human, because he looked so normal. Well, aside from being pale, but then most people were this time of year in Philly.