The Undead Next Door las-4

by Kerrelyn Sparks

  "That's good. But I was referring to what your daughter said. You look very pretty."

  Heather waved a hand in dismissal. "Bethany turns everything into a romance. Even her stuffed animals are married to each other. She has me perform the ceremony. Today I married a male Chihuahua to a lady gorilla."

  Fidelia chuckled as she settled on the couch with her purse. "That dog is barking up the wrong tree."

  Jean-Luc rested his sword next to the wingback chair. "My friend Roman always says that with love, anything is possible."

  "Si, like double homicide." Fidelia patted her purse.

  Heather snorted. "Or child custody battles."

  Jean-Luc gave her a wry look. "Have you lost all faith in love?"

  She looked away, her cheeks pink. "No. There's always hope. Shall we get started?"

  "Very well." He placed Lui's sword and cane on the coffee table in front of Fidelia.

  She took the cane into her lap. Closing her eyes, she ran her fingers up and down the polished wood. Heather sat quietly beside her. Jean-Luc settled in the wingback chair and waited.

  "It is a dark place," Fidelia whispered.

  That was hardly surprising. All vampires needed a dark place for their daily death-sleep.

  "A cellar," Fidelia continued. "Made of stone. No windows." She shook her head. "It's too dark. I can't see anything."

  "Can you tell how far away it is?" Jean-Luc asked.

  "Not far, but not too close. Not in town, I think." Fidelia inhaled sharply. "He senses me." Her eyes opened wide, and she shoved the cane onto the table. "This was a mistake. I–I think he may be psychic."

  Lui would have a vampire's psychic abilities, but that wasn't something Jean-Luc could admit to.

  Fidelia gave him a worried look. "He sensed me. I could feel it. He was cold, so cold." She shuddered.

  "It's all right." Heather rubbed the older woman's back. "It's over now."

  Fidelia shook her head. "I was trying to trace his location. I think he was doing the same to me."

  Jean-Luc winced. Zut, he should have taken Fidelia somewhere else to do this.

  Heather's face paled. "He's hunting us."

  "Heather, I must ask you again to move to my place," Jean-Luc said. "It is only a matter of time before Lui figures out who you are and where you live."

  "We'll just have to find him before he finds us. If we knew more about him, it might help." Her eyes narrowed. "Who is he exactly?"

  Jean-Luc sat back. "I wish I knew. If I knew his real name, I would have hunted him down and killed him many years ago."

  "You would…commit murder?"

  "I would do anything to protect those I love."

  Fidelia nodded approvingly. "You are good man, Juan."

  He glanced at Heather, wondering if she agreed. She looked puzzled.

  "You said many years ago," she murmured. "How old are you?"

  Merde. There was no way to answer this.

  "I'm twenty-six," she announced. "And you?"

  He shifted in his chair. "I am older than you."

  "How much?"

  "I was twenty-eight when…" He rubbed his forehead. "I was three when my mother died…"

  "I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" Her eyes warmed with sympathy. "Emotional wounds take the longest to heal."

  "Yes." He heard a car pulling up in the driveway. He stood, grabbing his sword. "We have company."

  Heather jumped to her feet. "It couldn't be Louie, could it? Not this fast."

  "I'll be ready for him." Fidelia dug in her purse.

  "I don't think it's Lui." Jean-Luc doubted his arch nemesis used cars very often. Even so, he strode into the foyer with his sword. He heard a car door slam outside, then heavy footsteps pound up the steps to the front porch.

  Heather arrived at the front door just as a fist knocked hard enough to shake the door's panes of leaded glass. Jean-Luc stayed close by her side.

  "I can see him!" a male voice shouted. "You've got that boyfriend spending the night again, don't you?"

  "Oh no, it's Cody," Heather groaned. "Thelma must have seen you arrive, and she called his mother."

  Jean-Luc peered through the door window. The man on the porch was large and flushed with alcohol-rich blood.

  "I can see you, you asshole!" Cody yelled. "You want to screw my ex, go ahead, but lay one finger on my daughter and I'll—"

  "Stop it!" Heather hissed as she unlocked the door.

  "You shouldn't let him in," Jean-Luc whispered.

  "Oh please, let him in," Fidelia drawled. She stood by the stairs, waving her Glock in the air.

  "Make my day."

  "Fidelia, put the gun away," Heather ordered. She opened the door. "How dare you—"

  Cody barged into the foyer and glowered at Jean-Luc. "Who the hell are you?"

  Jean-Luc glared back. "I do not answer to you."

  "Jean—" Heather started, but her ex interrupted.

  "John? So you're bringing your johns home?" Cody turned to Jean-Luc. "You keep leaving your car parked out front. Now everyone in town knows you're screwing my wife!"

  "Ex-wife." Jean-Luc narrowed his eyes. "You are the fool who let her go."

  "Enough." Heather stepped between them. "Cody, lower your voice before Bethany hears you. You're drunk, and you have no right to spy on me or pass judgment."

  He sneered at her. "I do, too. My daughter's living here, and I can sue for full custody now that everyone knows you're a slut."

  "I am not. And I will never let you take her from me."

  Cody snorted. "Watch me."

  Two hundred years ago, Jean-Luc would have simply skewered the bastard and tossed his body into a river, but the modern world tended to frown upon that solution. He assaulted the man with a psychic wave. You are a cockroach.

  In his inebriated state, Cody had no resistance at all to vampire mind control. He fell to the floor and scurried around the foyer on all fours.

  With a squeal, Heather jumped back. "Cody, what is your problem?"

  "I am a cockroach," he muttered in a squeaky voice.

  "Hmm, about time you figured that one out," Fidelia stepped back as he brushed against her long skirt.

  Cody attempted to go up the stairs, but tipped over and landed on his back. He squirmed, arms and legs flailing.

  "Cut it out, Cody," Heather demanded. "Get out of here before you scare Bethany."

  "What's going on?" Emma descended the stairs, looking askance at Cody's wriggling body.

  Fidelia chuckled. "Let's get a can of bug spray."

  "Raid!" Cody flipped onto all fours and scuttled out the front door.

  You will return to normal at sunrise, Jean-Luc ordered.

  "Yes, Master." Cody tumbled down the porch stairs.

  "Good Lord, the man's gone crazy." Heather shut the door and locked it.

  "That was interesting." Emma gave Jean-Luc a pointed look. She'd probably heard his psychic commands.

  He wondered briefly if Lui had heard him, but he doubted he'd said enough for Lui to trace.

  "Is Bethany all right?" Heather rushed up the stairs.

  "Ooh wee, I need a drink." Fidelia waddled toward the kitchen, still holding her Glock. "I need a beer, that's what I need. You want a beer, Juan, Emma?"

  "No thank you." He wandered back into the living room and rested his sword against the wingback chair.

  Emma leaned against the entrance, smiling. "A cockroach?"

  He smiled back. "The man deserved it."

  She nodded. "I'll go back upstairs." She paused, then added, "I think you've made quite an impression on Bethany. The toy mum who lives in the dollhouse has a new boyfriend named John. He's a G.I. Joe doll who looks like he could beat the crap out of the Ken living in the closet."

  "Really?" Jean-Luc's heart squeezed in his chest. Could he actually be welcomed into this family?

  He'd always wanted to be part of a family. His father had died when he was six, three years after his mother had passed away in childbirth
. Roman and Angus were the closest he'd ever come to having real brothers.

  He gazed about the living room and realized how truly lonely he'd been over the centuries.

  Heather appealed to him in many ways, but her family, Bethany and Fidelia, were touching his heart, too. How different his life could be if he had true companionship and love filling each night. Such a life made all his previous centuries seem empty and meaningless.

  But could they accept him as he was? Could Heather love him?

  "I'm so sorry you had to witness that scene with my ex," Heather said as she entered the room. He turned to face her. Zut, he'd been so deep in thought, he hadn't realized that Emma had left and Heather had returned. He needed to stay more vigilant than that. "I didn't mind."

  Heather sighed. "I don't know what got into Cody."

  "Is Bethany all right?"

  "Yes. Thank goodness." Heather flopped down on the couch. "She was watching a DVD with the volume turned up, so she didn't hear anything."

  "That's good." Jean-Luc sat beside her. Instantly, he heard her heartbeat speed up. A good sign.

  She glanced shyly at him. "Where did Fidelia go?"

  "To the kitchen for a beer."

  "I wish she wouldn't drink and handle those guns at the same time."

  He extended an arm along the back of the couch. "The guns have trigger locks."

  "You bet. It was the one requirement I made before she could move in here."

  "You've lived in this area all your life, correct?"

  She sighed. "Yes. I always wanted to travel, but it never happened."

  He made a mental note that he needed to take her to all the places she wanted to see. "Can you think of anyplace that matches Fidelia's description? A place on the outskirts of town. Most probably abandoned."

  "With a stone cellar?" She tilted her head, considering. "The state park has an old stone building built during the Depression."

  "I'll check it out." He could leave Emma here with the women and take Robby with him.

  "I'll come with you."

  He blinked. "No. Absolutely not. It's too dangerous."

  "I'm already in danger. I fought Louie before and I did well. And I know where the park is."

  "I can look up the park's location on the Internet."

  Her chin lifted. "I'm going. I'm not cowering here in fear. I'm at war with fear, remember?"

  "There's a difference between courage and bad judg—" He paused when his superior hearing detected a sound outside. "Someone is approaching your front porch."

  He jumped silently to his feet and grabbed his sword.

  Heather stood and whispered, "Should I get my shotgun?"

  "No." He hoped Lui was outside. He would destroy the bastard and…But what if he made a fatal error and lost? Lui would simply walk into the house and slaughter Heather. "Yes, get your gun.

  Tell Emma, and wait inside. If he comes in, aim for his chest."

  "If he comes in, then you would be…" She squeezed his arm. "Be careful."

  The concern in her eyes was genuine. Mon Dieu, she did care for him.

  He touched her cheek. "Go."

  Her eyes glazed over with a dreamy look, then she blinked. "Right." She ran to the stairs. The carpet muffled the sounds of her sandals as she dashed up the steps.

  "What's up?" Fidelia sauntered from the kitchen, holding a half-empty beer bottle. She glanced at Heather's disappearing form. "You chased her off again?"

  Jean-Luc lifted a finger to his lips, then pointed outside.

  Fidelia's brown eyes widened. "I left my German muchacho in the kitchen. I'll be right back."

  "I don't want you outside. It could be dangerous." Jean-Luc groaned when Fidelia scurried into the kitchen. He'd better act fast before the women in the house charged to the rescue. He smiled to himself. No wonder he liked them so much.

  Silently he unlocked the door, then yanked it open.

  CHAPTER 8

  Jean-Luc leaped onto the front porch, aiming his foil at the trespasser.

  A blond woman yelped and stumbled back. Her stiletto heel caught between two wooden planks, and she crashed onto the porch. "Shit!"

  She looked familiar. "Who are you?" he demanded. She was mortal, but that didn't mean she was safe. Lui enjoyed using vampire mind control to coerce mortals into performing his assassinations.

  "Damn." The woman rubbed her bony ankle. "I'd better be able to walk a runway." She glared at him. "You crazy imbecile! You scared me to death with that sword!"

  He recognized her now. Sasha Saladine, the model Alberto had hired. Obviously she had no idea who he was.

  Still sprawled on the porch, she pulled off her shoes and examined the rhinestone-studded heels. "I swear, if my shoes are damaged, I'm suing your ass. These were four hundred bucks, you know. I only buy the best."

  Already he missed Heather. When she challenged him, he liked it. She was witty and fun. This woman was simply annoying. While she continued to berate him with her shrill voice, he scanned the yard for any sign of movement.

  "You gonna stand there all night like an idiot or help me up?" She looked around the porch. "This is Heather's house, isn't it? This is where she lived in high school."

  She glanced over her shoulder at his car. "Shit. She told me she didn't have a boyfriend." She gave him a wary look. "What are you doing with a freakin' sword?"

  "You prefer a gun?" Fidelia shoved past Jean-Luc, holding a beer in one hand and her Glock in the other.

  "Oh my God!" Sasha jumped to her feet and raised her hands. "Don't shoot. I thought this was Heather's house."

  "Fidelia, be careful!" Heather rushed out onto the porch, her shotgun in her hands.

  Sasha gasped. "And I thought New York was dangerous."

  Jean-Luc groaned inwardly. "Heather, didn't I tell you to stay inside?"

  Heather ignored him and turned to the blond model. "Sasha? What are you doing here?"

  "I'm about to get shot or skewered, I don't know which."

  "Well, make up your mind. I don't have all night." Fidelia set her beer on the porch and removed a set of keys from her skirt pocket. She fumbled with the key, trying to release the trigger lock on her pistol.

  "Don't do that," Heather warned her. "You've had too much to drink."

  Fidelia snorted. "I'm not drunk. I'm in complete control." She tore off the trigger lock.

  Bang! The gun fired, ripping into a nearby oak tree.

  The women screamed. Jean-Luc winced.

  A squirrel plummeted from the tree and landed in the yard with a thud.

  Fidelia shrugged. "I meant to do that. Damned rodent's been gnawing on the house. And stealing all the nuts from our pecan tree."

  Heather planted her hands on her hips. "Haven't I told you a million times to keep the locks on?"

  Fidelia hung her head, looking properly remorseful. "I'll be more careful." She switched on the safety, then shot Jean-Luc a pointed look. "I know how to deal with a scumbag with nuts."

  His mouth twitched. "I'll take that under advisement."

  At that moment, Emma burst onto the porch, a stake in her hand. "Is he here?"

  "No," Jean-Luc answered. "False alarm."

  Emma looked around. "But I heard a gunshot."

  "Yes." Jean-Luc motioned toward the front yard. "We suffered a casualty."

  Emma's eyes widened. "We were attacked by a squirrel?"

  "Damned right," Fidelia said. "And I took care of it."

  "Oh my God, Heather," Sasha whispered. "You're dealing drugs?"

  "What?" Heather turned to her. "No!"

  "Oh." Sasha looked disappointed. "Then what's the deal with all the weapons?"

  Heather sighed. "I can explain. Later."

  "Since everything's fine, I'll go back to my post." Emma slanted Jean-Luc an amused glance as she headed back into the foyer. "And you thought you'd be bored in Texas."

  He nodded. Life had become much more interesting lately.

  "I've had enough excitement for o
ne day," Fidelia announced and waddled after Emma. "I'm taking a long hot bath and going to bed."

  "Good night." Heather set her shotgun down on the porch. "Great. Now I get to deal with the squirrel."

  "There is nothing to deal with," Jean-Luc assured her. "The squirrel is dead."

  "I can't leave it lying there. Bethany will see it, and she thinks it's SpongeBob's friend Sandy."

  Jean-Luc had no idea what she was talking about. "I could bury it. Even say the Last Rites." He knew them by heart after hearing Roman perform them more than a hundred times for their fallen comrades during the Great Vampire War.

  Heather's pretty mouth tilted up at the corners. "I didn't realize our squirrel was Catholic."

  Was she laughing at him? "If you rather I didn't—"

  "No, please. I want you to." She gifted him with a brilliant smile. "I think you're very sweet."

  His heart expanded. Mon Dieu, a man could grow addicted to this feeling. "You have a shovel?"

  "Yes, in the garage." She motioned to her left.

  He hurried down the porch steps and took a left turn toward the driveway. He kept his sword with him, just in case Lui was hiding in the shadows. Or the garage.

  Sasha Saladine watched him as he passed by, then hissed at Heather. "You big liar! You told me you didn't have a boyfriend."

  "He's not my boyfriend," Heather whispered.

  Jean-Luc continued to pick up their conversation as he strode toward the detached garage.

  "Where on earth did you find him?" Sasha whispered.

  "I met him last night at the grand opening."

  "You're kidding! That handsome hunk was there? Damn, I screwed the wrong guy."

  "Sasha!"

  "Have you slept with him yet?"

  "Of course not," Heather huffed. "I just met him yesterday."

  Her indignation made Jean-Luc smile. He paused at the garage's side door to hear more.

  "If you don't want him, I'll take him," Sasha continued. "Alberto was kinda disappointing. But he did promise me more turns on the runway. So, what do you say?"

  "Uh, congratulations?"

  "No, I'm talking about the hunky guy with the sword. Can I make a move on him or not? Do you want him?"

  He strained to hear a response.

  "Jean!" Heather called. "Is the door locked?"