Stakes & Stilettos ib-4

by Мишель Роуэн

  He nodded and then released me completely to pace his office with his hands firmly clasped behind his back. "Now there is the matter of the Red Devil. I think it's a good idea if we draw him out of his hiding place and demand to know who he is and what his intentions are."

  "Ever consider that he's just trying to help?"

  "Help? I doubt that."

  "Why? He did save my life once. He also tried to give me some good advice about the magic nightwalker object. He said that I'd come in contact with one recently. I'm wracking my brain trying to remember any nondescript piece of jewelry I've seen lately—"

  I blinked.

  Wait a minute.

  No, it couldn't be.

  Three weeks ago I'd come in contact with an odd piece of jewelry. Yes, indeedy I had. It was a plain gold chain. Pretty ugly, actually.

  In a nutshell, I'd been handed this piece of crap and told to hide it from the bad guys. The bad guys at the time were my bodyguards. The necklace ended up turning my stuck-in-

  werewolf-form pet dog back into a human when he came in contact with it. But who knows? Maybe that had only been a well-timed coincidence.

  Ah, Barkley. I missed that biscuit-eating mutt.

  I knew that necklace had something weird about it. But could it be possible that was what the Red Devil had been talking about?

  And if so, how the hell did he even know I had it? Nobody knew. I hadn't even told

  Thierry.

  "What is it?" Thierry asked.

  "Maybe nothing, but there's one way to find out." I made a beeline to the door, but before opening it I glanced over my shoulder. "Am I allowed out, officer?"

  He raised an eyebrow. "If you promise not to go running off in search of danger."

  "Wouldn't dream of it."

  He came to my side as I opened the door. "Stay close."

  "But not too close."

  "No, not too close." Our eyes met and held. "Much too tempting."

  Damn, I had it bad for him. Sure he was a stick-in-the-mud about some stuff, he was sometimes cranky and easily annoyed, and he came with a ton of baggage, but he was also generous, caring, protective, and so incredibly sexy. Plus he wanted to be with me despite the fact that I was a mess and a half and had an unfortunate habit of running off headlong into danger.

  I'd never been so in love with anyone in my life. It was a little scary.

  No, actually it was a lot scary.

  I'd figure a way out of this curse. I would. I wasn't going to let it get in the way of my being with Thierry. Not after everything we'd already been through. And if the witch wouldn't come to me, I was going to track her down and go to her.

  But that was after I got my Plan B.

  I'd given the necklace in question to Amy for her birthday. Doing this served two purposes. First, I knew she would hate it and hide it safely away in her jewelry cabinet where it would never see the light of day again. Second, I'd forgotten to buy her another present in time for her party.

  I remember her reaction when she pulled it out of the gift bag, past the secondhand tissue paper.

  Her eyes had widened at the glint of gold, and then narrowed with disappointment that it wasn't something good. "What the fu—?" She stopped, blinked, and looked at me. "Uh, I mean, what a fu-uu-abulous gift! Thank you, Sarah! I love it!"

  And, just as I'd predicted, she hadn't worn it once. Perfect. It was safe and sound and locked away. I felt the oddest sense of certainty come over me. I didn't know how the Red

  Devil knew about it, and I didn't really care. If it did what he said it did, then I wanted that hunk of junk back. I would wear it proudly as I emerged into the daylight again. It had only been a day but I already felt starved for sunshine and was probably pastier looking than normal. I might even go get a spray tan to celebrate everything working out okay when this was all over.

  "Amy!" I walked straight toward her. She eyed me warily.

  "Um, yeah?"

  I grabbed her arm and felt her flinch as I pulled her off to the side and out of earshot of everyone else. "I need to ask you a question."

  "No, I don't want you to bite me."

  I blinked. "I wasn't going to ask you that."

  She crossed her arms protectively in front of her. "I mean, I know we're friends. Best friends. And I know you're probably looking at my neck and thinking about how delicious it must be. But that doesn't mean that I want to experiment with you. I'm not into that, Sarah. I don't feel comfortable taking our friendship there."

  "What in the hell are you talking about?"

  She looked confused. "Barry told me that you're dangerous and I should stay away from you as much as possible, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to be afraid of you, but the things he's told me about nightwalkers…" She grimaced. "They're like sex-crazed mosquitoes who don't care who they seduce to get what they want."

  Okay, that was an image.

  "I'm not sex-crazed or a mosquito. And even if I was, trust me, you're not my type."

  She appeared to relax a bit. "Really?"

  "Really."

  Then she frowned. "Why not? Is it the pink hair? Because I have an appointment booked to go blond again."

  I cleared my throat. "Look, this is going to sound odd to you, but do you remember that birthday present I gave you? The gold chain?"

  "Of course I remember." She appeared to stifle a shudder.

  "I can't go into the major details right now, but I need it back for a little while. Maybe we can pop over to your house and grab it."

  "You need it?" She looked confused. "But you gave it to me as a present."

  I looked over my shoulder to see Butch still glowering at me. The sound system was playing Sinatra's "Lady is a Tramp."

  "I know, it sounds bizarre," I said. "Just humor me, please. I know you never wear it, so I can't imagine you would mind my borrowing it for a little bit. And I wouldn't ask if it wasn't excruciatingly, vitally important."

  "Excruciatingly?" she repeated weakly.

  I frowned. "What's the problem?"

  "Is there any way another gold chain will do? I have a few you can borrow. Most are a little more wearable than that one." She paused and then added. "Not that I don't appreciate the thought, of course."

  "I know you hated it. It's okay. And I promise to replace it with a much better belated birthday gift. But I need that one in particular."

  "Oh, dear."

  "Oh, dear what?"

  She began to wring her hands, and she met my eyes with what looked like… guilt! "I… I actually don't have it anymore."

  "Excuse me?"

  She twisted a finger through her short pink hair. "I'm so sorry. I know this is the absolute worst thing, but… but I knew I was never going to wear it. I put it in my jewelry box and every time I opened it up it was just staling up at me giving me the evil eye."

  "A necklace doesn't have eyes."

  "It felt like it did. I never in a million years thought that you would want it back, and if you had asked me in a couple of months or years why I never wore it I was going to tell you that I lost it."

  "What did you do with the necklace, Amy?" I asked tightly.

  "Well, one day I was at home vacuuming and the TV was on in the other room and I heard a commercial. It was this guy talking about…" She stopped and her bottom lip quivered.

  "Talking about what?" I prompted her.

  "Talking about selling your used and unwanted jewelry. For cash." She covered her face with her hands. "Oh, I am so ashamed."

  "You sold the necklace?" I managed, not believing my own ears. "You sold it? I gave it to you as a gift!"

  "I wasn't going to wear it." She touched her ear. "And I was able to buy these earrings with the money the guy gave me. It was only the day before yesterday."

  I felt the blood drain from my face. On the one hand I was furious that she would sell a present I gave her, even though it was admittedly not really a present at all. On the other hand… those were some really cute earrings
.

  She hadn't known. Hell, I hadn't known that I might need that necklace again. Actually I didn't even know right now that it was even the object in question that would help me.

  All I had was my gut instinct. And my gut was telling me that I needed that gold chain and

  I needed it as soon as possible.

  I put a hand on her shoulder. "Where did you sell it?"

  "It's a place called Sell Your Gold for Cash."

  "Sounds classy."

  "It's really not bad. A little cluttered."

  "How much did you get for it?"

  "Fifty bucks."

  I nodded. My potential chance at a normal life had been pawned to some sleazy used jewelry shop for fifty bucks. Great.

  "Vampire or human owned?" I asked.

  She thought about it. "I'm pretty sure the guy was human."

  Thierry approached us and I told him what was going on. He shook his head. "I know the owner of this store—his wife is a regular customer here at Haven—but it's too late right now. They would be closed. It's nearly midnight."

  "Well, as much as I'd love to wait until the stores open tomorrow morning, I'd prefer not to be fried by the sun when I stroll down the sidewalk."

  "I will investigate the problem myself, then."

  I shook my head. "No, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be all contrary here, but I need to go now. I need to get the necklace now. I can't wait."

  Thierry studied me for a moment and then glanced at Amy. "You are sure this is the correct place?"

  She nodded and fluttered her eyelashes. "Uh-huh."

  He stood in silence for a while longer, his expression unreadable. "George will come with us. He has a talent we may require if I'm unable to contact the owner personally."

  I raised my eyebrows. "I didn't know an affinity for tight leather pants would come in handy in a situation like this."

  "George is very adept at picking locks."

  This was news. "You learn something new every day. Do I want to know how he came to learn this?"

  Thierry regarded me and a small amount of amusement slid behind his gaze. "We all have pasts and hidden talents, Sarah. I'm sure you do as well."

  "I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue," Amy said, her gaze slowly moving over

  Thierry's body. "Does that count?"

  I hit her in the shoulder. Hard. "Not in this case."

  She rubbed her arm and pouted. "Ouchie."

  After Thierry made a quick and mysterious phone call, and without telling anyone else where we were going, the four of us piled into Thierry's Audi, just returned from its extended stay in the Abottsville Motor Inn parking lot—he'd paid a couple of the employees to drive it over—and we left for a midnight pawn-shop run to retrieve my Plan B.

  Chapter 14

  Sell Your Gold for Cash was a quick ten-minute drive from Haven, close to Front and

  Jarvis, and closed for the day, which, since it was after midnight when we arrived, was not unexpected.

  George seemed excited at the prospect of a late-night break-and-enter, which I wasn't sure was a good thing.

  "I'm excited," he stated, as he pulled out a pouch from his manbag that looked like a manicure set. He unzipped it to show that it contained several long metal rods of varying widths.

  "What's up with that?" I asked him. "I had no idea you could do something like this."

  "Well, it's not exactly the sort of thing one discusses with just anyone. But since I know you, I suppose I can come clean. In the fifties, I was a world-renowned cat burglar."

  I was shocked. "You were?"

  He blinked. "Well, okay, assistant to a world-renowned cat burglar. Dammit, I can't lie very well. I answered the phones and gathered together bail money when necessary. But he taught me a lot." Another blink. "Pierre now lives in Tahiti and collects Cabana boys.

  But whatever. Bygones. I'm over it."

  I felt like comforting him, but I was too stressed. I wanted to get the necklace and to get the hell out of there. "Let's get started."

  "That actually won't be necessary after all, George," Thierry said, and he leaned past me and pressed a buzzer on the side of the door.

  "What are you doing?" I asked.

  "I was able to reach the owner by telephone. He agreed to open the store for us."

  After a minute, the lights flickered on inside the store and somebody approached the door.

  George pouted. "Why am I even here?"

  "I'm sorry, George," Thierry said. "Perhaps another time."

  He tucked the lock-picking kit back into his manbag. "I am incredibly disappointed.

  Though the sensation is extremely familiar lately."

  It was a man dressed in a brightly colored bathrobe, and he looked extremely sleepy. He had a puffy face, squinty eyes that he rubbed at the sudden brightness of the lighting, and a hairline so receded it was practically in the next room. He blinked a couple of times as he gazed through the door at us. Then he unlocked the door and swung it open.

  I suddenly recognized him from his TV commercials. His name was Hans Christie and he had a great onscreen personality that made me want to gather up all my jewelry, such as it is, and bring it to him.

  His expression at the moment was not a friendly one.

  "Come in," he growled. I could hear his thick New York accent. "Let's make this quick.

  You woke me from a very pleasant dream. My wife will owe me for this."

  "Your wife is a very good customer at my club," Thierry said. "If she had sired you, I would have been pleased to welcome you any time at my club, but unfortunately nonvampiric members of society aren't permitted in Haven. I'm sure you understand the security risks involved."

  The man grunted. "The last thing I want to be is a bloodsucker. My wife's nightly excursions are her own business."

  "You're human and your wife is a vampire?" Amy asked.

  "That's right. Married for forty years now." I thought of my cousin Missy and her husband. "I've always wondered how that works out. When one refuses to be turned. It must be difficult. Have you never considered it before? The chance to be immortal?"

  Hans snorted. "Immortal? Life is difficult enough knowing I have seventy or eighty years to suffer through, let alone imagining hundreds of years. No, I never wanted an open-

  ended existence."

  "But your relationship is solid?"

  "We're going through a divorce right now." I raised my eyebrows. "I'm sorry to hear that."

  "Don't be. It was a mistake. Humans and vampires shouldn't become involved with each other. Besides, one in two regular marriages end in divorce. Do you know the percentage of human-vampire marriages that end in divorce?"

  I shook my head.

  "A hell of a lot more!" he said, and then cleared his throat. "I apologize. I don't mean to seem agitated, but this whole divorce is grating on my very last nerve."

  "We appreciate you taking the time to open your shop so late," Thierry said. "Especially given your relationship issues with your wife."

  I tried to see past him into the shop, wanting to scan the place as soon as I could, but the man was large and he blocked the entrance.

  "Speaking of wives," Hans said, "How is Veronique? I only met her once in passing, but she has stuck in my memory as one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

  "Veronique is fine," Thierry replied.

  Hans shook his head. "If I was married to a stunning woman like that I might have considered becoming a vampire. My wife may look thirty, but it's an ugly thirty."

  "I will pass along the compliment to Veronique."

  He glanced at me. "So you're the problem, eh?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "The reason I had to open up my shop. You're the problem."

  Yeah, that sounded about right. Veronique was the stunning beauty and I was the problem. Nothing new there. That was the least of my troubles right now.

  Thierry touched my arm. "Sarah is looking for a gold chain that was sold here b
y accident.

  We wish to retrieve it."

  "It was me," Amy admitted. "I was in the day before yesterday with it." Her shoulders hunched. "I am so ashamed."

  Hans eyed her. "I think I remember you. How could I forget that hair color? You said you wanted to get rid of it for any price."

  Amy glanced at me and shrugged. "Again, so sorry."

  "I'll pay you for it" I told Hans. "Can you please get it for me?"

  He pulled a pair of round-rimmed glasses out of the pocket of his robe and put them on, pushing them into place on the bridge of his nose. I felt as if he was studying me at the end of a microscope. "I'll look."

  I waited, feeling on edge and jittery, as he wandered over to the main counter, a glass cabinet filled with all sorts of jewelry. Around the rest of the store were other objects, not only jewelry. I thought he would look through the merchandise itself, but instead he consulted a list on a clipboard.

  He looked at Amy. "You were in the day before yesterday, you say?"

  "That's right."

  His finger traced the line of the page. "Yes, I see. Here you are." He flipped forward a couple of pages, tilted his head to one side. "Hmm."

  I glanced at Thierry and tried not to allow my current state of anxiety to show on my face.

  "What do you mean 'hmm'?" I asked. Had he found it?

  "Just a moment." He took a key, opened the cabinet, and pulled out a few chains. "Come here, miss."

  I did as he asked and I was looking at the necklaces that he laid out on top of the counter on top of a black piece of velvet.

  I frowned. "What about them?"

  "Will any of these do?" he asked.

  "Will any of these do?" I repeated. "No, they won't. I need the one that Amy brought in."

  "According to my records, it was a simple gold chain. As are these. Any of these would make a fine replacement."

  "We don't wish to find a replacement," Thierry said, and I felt his hand on my back. "We require the original."

  "Well, I'm sorry, but that's not possible."

  "If price is the object," Thierry continued, "We are willing to pay any price to get it."

  Hans shook his head. "A generous offer, but not the point, I'm afraid. The chain you are looking for was sold earlier today. I didn't remember until I looked at the ledger."