Sucker Punch: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (First Fangs Club Book 3)

by Painter, Kristen

  Ishalan rattled it off. She plugged it in, set the amount, and hit send. “Done.”

  Still seated, he took his phone out and checked things on his end. A few seconds passed before he nodded. “It’s arrived. Thank you.”

  She looked at him a little closer. He was pale and a little listless. “Temo, go to the newsstand and get Ishalan some juice and some cookies.”

  “On it.” He left them alone, but Donna wasn’t worried about her safety with the fae any longer.

  “That is…kind of you,” Ishalan said.

  “I’m glad such a display of weakness doesn’t bother you.”

  He smiled without any malice, shifting his gaze to look at her without moving his head. “You’re the most interesting vampire I’ve ever met.”

  “Have you met many?”

  “Enough.” He finally lifted his chin. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”

  “Not until I have a reason to be.”

  Temo returned with a plastic bottle of orange juice and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. He handed them to Ishalan, who took both but ignored the cookies to drink half the bottle in one long gulp. His color returned almost instantly. Apparently, even the fae needed a little something after giving blood.

  He opened the bag of cookies and dumped half of them into his mouth. His sharp teeth must have pulverized them, because a second later he swallowed, then drank the rest of the juice. He stood and tossed the empty bottle into a nearby trash can. “You don’t like me, but you helped me.”

  “Is that a question or an observation?” Donna asked.

  He looked at Temo. “Your boss is a strange one. But I like her.”

  “So do I,” Temo answered.

  Ishalan shifted his gaze to Donna. “Will you allow me to join you for the raid?”

  “Yes.” Better to have him there with her than have him there on his own, feeling like he could do whatever he wanted without repercussions. Also, it would be incredibly helpful to have an actual guide inside the stronghold. Rixaline had only been there as a prisoner. Ishalan had been free-roaming.

  He nodded. “Thank you.”

  “You’re not desperate to come because you want to kill the king, are you?”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “Whatever would give you that idea? That would start a war.”

  Yes, it would. Cammie had already told her that. But Donna didn’t know how much she trusted Ishalan’s words. “Temo will text you the details.” She shot him a glance. “We should go.”

  Temo jerked his chin at the fae. “Later, Ish.”

  With a grunt, Ishalan turned and disappeared into thin air in about three steps.

  “Well, that’s interesting,” Donna said. “I didn’t know fae could do that.”

  “They can’t. Not all of them. It’s like how vampires sometimes develop secondary gifts after they’ve been turned for a bit. But that disappearing thing only lasts for a short while. Long enough for him to get outside, I’d say. But as party tricks go, it’s pretty good.”

  “I’d say. I wouldn’t mind being able to do that myself.”

  They headed for the car.

  “Does your friend Alvaro sell anything good to eat in that bodega? I’m hungry all of a sudden.”

  Temo grinned. “You ever have a chimichurri burger?”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “Prepare to have your mind blown.”

  Three burgers and two beers later, Temo (who’d eaten two of the three burgers) and Donna were back in the car. Thanks to their metabolisms, the beers had no more impact than a soda, but Temo had insisted they were the best thing to drink with the spicy and very delicious burgers. He’d been right too.

  He turned the SUV toward the Wellman Towers. Even with the burgers, the whole thing had taken less than an hour. “Can I ask you something, boss?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why four vials of blood when Jerabeth only needs three?”

  “Because I could.” She laughed softly. “I just figured it might be good to have backup. And when are we going to get access to fae blood again? I mean, in a situation where we can easily collect it. Why? Do you think I pushed too much?”

  “No. I think it was very smart.” He glanced at her. “You’re pretty good with the negotiating. Not just with the money, but asking for five and all that. I gotta be honest, I thought you started too low with the money, but you really handled it. And now he knows better than to try to get over on you. I’m learning some things. I like it.”

  “I guess being married to the mob for so long wasn’t a complete waste.” The lights of the city were beautiful beyond the river.

  “Is that how your husband did business?”

  “Almost all the time. Ask for more than you want but expect less.” She snorted. “Not that Joe or Big Tony usually got less. Most people didn’t have the plums to stand up to those two.” Herself included. How she’d changed.

  “You’re going to get that same kind of reputation. But in a good way. Because you’re fair.”

  She smiled. “Thanks.”

  “I know going into that meeting with Ishalan that you were scared, but it didn’t show. You’re good at that too. Same thing when we paid the Russians a visit. I admire your ability to compartmentalize like that. Not everyone can do it. It’s the trait of a warrior.”

  His kind words filled her with pride. “I don’t know if I’m a warrior, but I just remembered what I was there for. Who I was there for. That helped me a lot. So did having you at my side. Hard things are always easier when you don’t have to face them alone.”

  “Very true.” He stopped in front of the Wellman Towers lobby doors, then reached into his jacket and retrieved the four vials to give to her. “See you upstairs in a while. I need to go gas up.”

  She took them with a nod and stuck them in her pocket. “Thanks. Be safe.”

  “Always.” He waited until she was inside before he pulled away.

  She walked to the penthouse elevator. Beside her, at the main elevator, stood a very large man. He was young and attractive, despite the amount of sweat covering him. He looked like he’d just come in from a run, based on how he was dressed. Somehow, the only smell coming off him was a hint of citrusy aftershave.

  He glanced at her, then at the elevator she was standing in front of. “You must be the new governor.”

  No alarms went off in her head, but it was odd to be recognized when she didn’t have a clue who he was. But then, most people in the building had to know a new resident had moved into the governor’s penthouse. He wasn’t a vampire, though. She knew that much. She kept her face blank. “I am.”

  “Congrats on the job.”

  “Thanks.” His elevator doors opened first, then hers arrived a second later.

  They each stepped onto their respective cars, and that was that. She arrived at the penthouse seconds later, still wondering who he was. And what kind of creature he might be, since Artemis had told her pretty much everyone who lived in the building was some variety of supernatural.

  The other thing that stuck in her head was how long it had been since she’d had any exercise. Running, especially, which had once been her go-to stress-burner.

  She walked into the penthouse, her mind working. Charlie and Rixaline were in the living room, watching a movie and eating a giant plate of very gooey nachos. Lucky was lounging next to Rixaline. The nachos seemed to be all Rixaline’s. So was the movie. Charlie had a cup of tea on the coffee table next to a half-eaten blueberry muffin the size of a softball, and she was typing away on her phone.

  Lucky meowed when he saw Donna. “Hi, big man. Still working, Charlie?”

  She looked up. “Just answering an email. Which reminds me, some flowers came for you. They’re on the kitchen counter.” She got off the couch and came around to Donna’s side. “How’d it go?”

  Donna pulled the vials out of her pocket. “Mission accomplished.”

  “Four, huh?” Charlie smiled. “Way to go, boss.”
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  “Let’s call it a backup. Or future insurance.”

  “Either way, good to have.” She took the vials. “Jerabeth’s hanging out downstairs, waiting. I’ll get these to her immediately.”

  “Good. Hopefully, she can do what she needs to do in time.”

  “She will.”

  “Who are the flowers from?”

  “I don’t know. The card is sealed.”

  “Okay, I’ll have a look in a second. There’s a gym on the second floor, right?”

  “Yes. And an indoor pool, a big Jacuzzi, a steam room, and a sauna. There’s a pair of racquetball courts too. But the pool is really great. It’s not just this big rectangle. They designed it to feel like you’re at a resort. I’m always surprised it doesn’t get used more, but most of the time you have it all to yourself.”

  Donna had been planning to hit the gym and put some serious miles on one of the treadmills, but after hearing about the pool, she changed her mind. “You know what? I’m going to check it out. A swim might do me good. I feel like I have all this nervous energy that has no place to go right now. That might be just the thing. Unless I’m needed here?”

  “We’re kind of on hold until Jerabeth works out this spell, so go enjoy! There are pool towels down there, but we have some beach towels in the hall linen closet too. Pierce is sleeping, but I could wake him up if you want company.”

  “No, let him sleep. We all need to prepare for tomorrow as best we can.”

  Donna went into the kitchen to see who’d sent her flowers. They were beautiful. White roses, pale pink hydrangeas, branches laden with red bittersweet berries, and lots of greenery. She plucked out the card and opened it. Blank.

  That was odd. Had the florist forgotten to fill it out? She looked at the name of the shop on the envelope. It was local. Maybe Charlie could call them in the morning and see if they could correct the error. She leaned in to smell one of the roses, although she didn’t really need to lean. The bouquet was huge, just begging to be inhaled.

  The flower’s perfume was incredibly strong. Interesting, too, with a spicy undertone. Maybe from the bittersweet. Her nose twitched like a sneeze was pending. She wiggled it and sniffed hard to get rid of the sensation. That seemed to do the trick.

  She left the bouquet on the counter so she’d remember to ask Charlie about calling the florist and went to her room to see what she had in the way of swimsuits. Not much, she was afraid, but there was one suit that ought to fit.

  She’d bought it a few summers back for a long girls’ weekend to the Jersey Shore. All of the mob wives had rented a big house for the getaway. It wasn’t something Donna had wanted to do. She hadn’t liked being around most of the other wives. It had always turned into a big competition over who had the most expensive purse or the best nails or the newest designer whatever.

  And then there was the husband talk. Big Tony’s wife and Donna’s sister-in-law, Lucinda, never went. Which was a blessing, but it made Donna the next most influential wife there. Really, it was a blessing and a curse. Some of the wives treated her like she held the keys to the kingdom. But others acted like it was their job to take her down a peg and remind her that their husbands could just as easily take Joe’s place.

  Wasn’t true. Joe was Lucinda’s brother, meaning Joe’s spot in the Villachi family was set in concrete. But that didn’t stop the jealousy or one-upmanship.

  Because of that, Donna had to show up on point. Joe would have had a fit if she’d done otherwise, as it would have made him look bad. Like he wasn’t doing well enough for his wife to be at her best for the trip. That meant new threads, hair and nails done, everything waxed and tightened and plucked to perfection.

  The shopping trip beforehand was exhausting enough, but then to spend four whole days and nights with those women? There wasn’t a vineyard in the world that made a strong enough wine. And on those trips, they drank enough to know.

  All that drinking led to some pretty interesting evenings. After they spent a day in the sun by the pool or on the beach, knocking back a significant amount of vino tended to exacerbate the women’s natural state beyond what the usual wine with dinner might do. The mopey ones turned sullen. The cranky ones got mean. The bubbly ones danced topless on the pool table. Or sang dreadful karaoke. Also sometimes topless.

  Inevitably, things were said, tears were shed, and fights broke out. All of it exhausting and stressful and the opposite of what a vacation should be.

  The only upsides were the new clothes and accessories. Now, she peered up at the top shelf of her closet for the boxes marked Summer Clothes. When she’d moved here, she’d sorted through most of her clothes, but a lot of the summer stuff she’d just dumped into those two boxes to be dealt with later.

  There were two boxes the suit could be in. She got the stepstool out and took them both down, then put them on her bed to dig through.

  She found the suit in question at the bottom of the second box. It seemed in good condition. What there was of it. For a one-piece, it was surprisingly low on fabric. High on gold hardware, however, in typical Versace style.

  She’d chosen Versace because if there was ever a designer who knew how to dress a mob wife, he was the one. She’d paired the strappy black suit with Versace’s Grecian slides and billowing black chiffon coverup and big straw hat trimmed in black.

  It had been an absolute winner as far as the wives were concerned. Total fail when it came to not spending every upright moment sucking in her stomach so it didn’t pooch out between the straps. Not to mention the weird tan lines all that crisscrossed fabric had left her with.

  But the pool she was headed to now was indoors, and all that mattered was that she had a suit. The upside of this suit was that it was extremely secure. Or at least it had been that first time she’d worn it. Her new vampire self was a little smaller.

  She undressed and got into the suit, which took a minute because she accidentally put her left arm through the straps that crossed over the shoulder and her right leg though an open space on the left part of the torso. Honestly, the suit needed an instruction manual.

  When she had it situated, she went to take a look in the mirror.

  Okay, the suit was still hot. She looked pretty decent in it too. Might have been better when she’d filled it out a little more, but at least now she didn’t have to suck in her stomach.

  One more perk to being a middle-aged vampire. And with the way things were going, she’d take every perk she could get.

  Chapter Eight

  Hair in a clip and dressed in her Versace suit, her bathrobe, and a pair of flip-flops, she hopped in the elevator and pressed two for the pool level. Her phone was in the pocket of the bathrobe, and she’d told Charlie not to hesitate to call.

  Donna was going to the pool to work off some stress, but if things blew up, she wanted to know. In fact, if she was needed for any reason, good or bad, she wanted to know. Burning off stress came in a distant second to anything that might move them closer to freeing Rico.

  Just thinking about him in that cell made her stomach knot and her body tense. The physical reaction was so strong she worried that being so on edge might cause her to do something stupid during the raid. One wrong move, one mistake, and things could take a desperately bad turn.

  If she was the reason for that, she’d never be able to live with herself. Just thinking about it was almost enough to make her weepy. She sniffed, surprised at how hard the new mood had hit her.

  The doors opened, and the tang of chlorine greeted her. The smell took her back to some of her early memories of childhood, back when her dad had still been around. They’d had enough money to belong to the country club then, mostly because that’s where her father did a lot of business and it was a write-off.

  But her mother had taken her and Cammie there to swim. The pool was a good babysitter, and her mother liked the appearance of going to the country club.

  Bygones. And not worth thinking about anymore. It had been ages since the m
emory had crossed her mind anyway.

  She stepped off the elevator, inhaling the warm, damp air that permeated the small lobby. To the left was the entrance to the exercise facilities. Straight ahead were men’s and women’s locker rooms, and to the right was a set of frosted glass doors with the word Pool on them in letters so large only two fit on each door.

  She pulled one open and went in. It had to be ten degrees warmer in here than the penthouse. Considering it was about to snow outside, that was a good thing.

  The floor-to-ceiling windows were steamed up, making the world outside seem farther away than usual. The lights of Manhattan, crisp and clear from the penthouse, were just blurry spots of brightness here.

  Charlie had been on target when she’d said the pool had been designed with a resort feeling. While the main pool area was big enough for swimming laps, there was also a sort of lazy-river part that wound off it, disappearing into a jungle of tropical plants, palms, and rocky grottos with gentle waterfalls. She couldn’t see it all, but the river reconnected at the other end and seemed to be driven by jets, because it definitely had a current.

  Soft spalike music accompanied by nature sounds, mostly birds chirping, or maybe they were frogs, played in the background. With the gurgling of the water, it was just the right level of white noise.

  Soft lighting around the seating areas and in the pool itself gave the entire space a soft, underwater glow. The place was spectacular.

  How was there no one else here? Once things calmed down, she could see herself spending a lot of time here. Whoever had designed this had obviously done so with the UV-sensitive paranormal in mind, because it felt like a tropical oasis.

  Her kids would love this.

  She took a towel from the stand, then walked around to the far side, where she found a chaise closer to the pool steps. She claimed it with her towel and phone, then toed off her flip-flops before going to test the water.

  No point in taking off her robe until she knew if she was actually going in.

  She swished her toes through the water and was pleasantly surprised at the temperature. Warm enough to be inviting but not a hot tub either. Props to whoever was in charge of that. No one wanted to get into a cold pool with flurries about to come down outside.