"I could cut out your heart. No vampire can survive that."
I glanced at the pillow next to me. "Where's Blade?" I'd managed to say that pretty well. Like I wasn't inches away from death.
"Downstairs on the phone with our Westwood snitch." She smiled and nicked the sheet off of me. "I will never understand your appeal to him. You are…" She made a face. "Fat."
I saw myself behind her. And my fat ass was out of reach. I laughed, high on my power and the look of utter bafflement on Mara's face. I saw the stiletto on the floor, but her grip tightened and it didn't move out of her hand. Can you say power struggle?
"You weren't really going to kill me, were you?" I pulled on my new bra and skirt. God knows where my thong had landed. "Blade would be… vexed." I'd never liked Mara. She'd been a Campbell favorite, the noble daughter of a neighboring clan. How does an English actress stack up next to that? Like a rust bucket next to a Ferrari.
"No, I wouldn't kill you." She tossed the knife on the bed. "I'll leave that to Westwood."
"Gee, thanks." I found my T-shirt and was about to slip it over my head.
"Wait! That's your Kevlar, isn't it?" Mara stepped closer. She had the knife again, clever girl. "How about a little test?" The bitch put the blade against the fabric and pushed.
"Mara! Stop that!" Blade grabbed her wrist and the knife landed on the carpet.
"Relax, Jeremiah. I was only playing." Mara put her hand over his and smiled up at him. She wore low-riding skinny black jeans and a T-shirt that hugged her breasts and left a nice strip of bare skin showing at her narrow waist. Everything about her was better than me. Outside, inside. I hated her. Hated myself. Hated Blade for returning her smile.
I jerked the shapeless T-shirt over my head. "I need to go home now. Shall I call a cab?" I plucked my cell phone from my purse.
"I'll take you home." Blade picked up the knife and hid it… somewhere in one of his lightning fast moves. "Mara, I'll see you later."
I headed down the stairs. I threw up a block to keep Blade from reading my mind. I'd been a damned fool once again. Mara was living here and obviously eyeing Blade as a MacTavish replacement. What man wouldn't choose her over me? My head hurt and my heart ached. I sure didn't need Blade's pity. I had enough of my own to wallow in.
Chapter Sixteen
Blade dropped me off, inclined to follow me upstairs until his cell phone rang. Business. I waved good-bye, blew him an air kiss to show that Mara's bitchy possessiveness hadn't gotten to me. No sirree.
I unlocked the apartment door and Valdez trotted up to me.
"Thanks for the night off. Flo took me out with her." He followed me into the kitchen.
I popped open a Bloody Merry.
"I could eat."
"Flo didn't feed you? Where is she?" The apartment was silent.
"I'm not supposed to say." Valdez plopped his bottom on the linoleum and watched me dump Cocoa Puffs into his bowl. I topped it with milk and held it just out of reach.
"Excuse me? Whose dog are you, anyway?" I knew he could do one of his tricks and get to the cereal, but I also knew he shouldn't be allowed to keep secrets from me.
"You got me. She's with Richard Mainwaring."
"Oh, my God!" I slapped the bowl on the floor, splashing milk everywhere. "How could you let her go with him?"
"He's okay." Valdez was busy licking up the spilt milk before diving mouth first into his bowl.
"He's not okay. He could be staking other vamps with crosses, for crying out loud." This was bad. Had Blade left yet? I looked out the window but his car was gone.
"He's not staking other vamps. He said so and Flo and I believed him. I have a b.s. detector, you know. The guy was telling the truth."
"I thought she went out with Kenneth Collins." I walked down the hall and flung open Flo's bedroom door. The usual chaos associated with her decisions about what to wear. But the bed was made and that told the tale.
"She did. But that ended early. So we went out looking for Mainwaring. And found him."
"Where are they?"
"His place. Flo dropped me off here and went with him. He's a tough dude. No one will get by him. She musta spent the day with him too." Valdez had cleaned out the bowl. "Seconds?"
"No. I'm so glad you and 'Ricardo' bonded. I can't believe you let Flo leave with him." I watched Valdez rub his face clean on the living room rug.
"You think anyone can stop Flo from doing what she wants?" He gave me a long suffering look. "Both of you females are stubborn as hell."
Was I going to stand here trading insults with my dog? I stormed off into my bedroom. Valdez was just another macho male in a furry body. Had Mainwaring done some kind of whammy on both Flo and my dog to get them to accept his story so completely? And if he wasn't the religious psycho staking vamps, then who was? I showered the smell of sex off my body, taking a minute to reminisce about the pleasure Blade had given me and three minutes to seethe about that bitch Mara before worry about Flo took the upper hand.
I pulled a hot pink fifties circle skirt and white twin set with pearl buttons out of my closet and stepped into the loafers that went with it. I dragged my hair into a ponytail and tied a white scarf around it. Now I looked like a teenager. Which made me feel marginally better. Mara had been close to thirty when she'd turned vampire and I'd been a young looking twenty-four. Yeah, I was bitter. Right now, if Mara and I had a bitch-off, I'd win, hands down.
"Come on, you worthless hound." I threw my stuff into a cute fifties Lucite box purse which I would never sell and unlocked the door. "We're going down to the shop."
Ryan was working the evening shift. At least nights were getting longer as the season changed. Which is a really good thing in the vamp world. Not that Texas seasons seemed dramatically different from each other. But the nights were cooler and my sweater felt good. So did the hours stretching out ahead of me.
I stuck my worry about Flo onto my mental to-do list and plastered a smile on my face as I entered the shop. Ryan looked up from straightening a stack of sweaters. And, yes, that stack was shrinking every day. My business was booming and I had good help.
"How'd it go today?" I stuck my purse in the storeroom and picked up a pile of receipts.
"Sold that leisure suit to Tony Crapetta. He said you told him he could have a family discount?" Ryan squinted at me through his thick glasses. He'd stuck with the Gatsby look, this pin-striped suit a dark brown.
"Sure. Twenty percent." I tapped in some numbers in the calculator next to the register. "You've got a nice commission coming this week."
"I know." Ryan gestured around the shop. "I tried to call you about the discount, but your cell phone must have been off. So I just gave it to him. I hope that was okay."
Cell phone off. Yes, I'd turned it off at Blade's, after I'd called home. Lacy knew enough not to try to reach me during the day, but we hadn't made a big deal out of that to Ryan.
Of course common sense should tell him I had to sleep most of the day if I worked all night.
I looked at him and focused, trying to read his mind. Flo was right. White noise. Weird.
I wondered if Lacy could read his mind. Maybe not. And that would be part of his appeal. No random thoughts interfering during sex like "Check out those thighs" or "Will this woman ever come?" The worst? "Why won't she just blow me so I can go home and catch the end of the game?" Been there, done that. Another reason I usually swear off mind reading.
"You don't have to call me about discounts. I have the price I paid for each item in the inventory list in the computer. The program Derek set up for me. Just look up what I paid, use your best judgment. I like to get at least double what I paid to cover costs." And wasn't that computer technology the coolest thing? I looked around and saw some empty spaces crying out for new merchandise.
I hoped Miranda would come by with her latest finds from the weekend estate sales. Austin has lots of old homes, old families and great sales to hear Miranda tell it. I got a little wistful f
or a moment, but that was useless. I'd never be able to check them out for myself. Estate sales didn't go on at night. Period.
"Something wrong?" Ryan was still squinting at me. "You're quiet."
"I'm okay. Do you need new glasses? You look like you're straining your eyes." I reached for the glasses and Ryan jumped back, out of reach.
"No! I mean, I've got really bad eyes. Can't see worth a damn without the glasses and not much better with them." He adjusted the frames and looked down at Valdez who was studying him intently. "What's up with the dog? I don't think he likes me."
"Valdez is probably jealous. He knows you're with Lacy. And he really likes her." I grinned at Valdez's snarl. "Of course that's conjecture. He's just a dumb dog." Valdez turned and trotted to sit by the front door, obviously miffed. Too bad. He'd let Flo go off with a dangerous man. I hated to, but I was going to call Damian as soon as Ryan left. Someone had to check on Flo.
"You can leave now, if you want to. I've got it covered."
"There's a customer in the dressing room." Ryan glanced back at the curtained area. "I'll wait until she gets out. Commission, you know."
"Hey, head out. I'll make sure you get the credit." I put my hand on his sleeve and he jumped. Gee, he was really uptight. Surely he didn't have a clue that I was anything but a night owl, did he? But weird people came in the shop all the time. Shape-shifter friends of Lacy's. Vampires who wanted to sell their old clothes.
I was going to play this by ear, but I might have to let Ryan in on my little secret if he was going to keep working here. Of course that might send him screaming for his life. My real problem was that I didn't know Ryan that well. I'd hired him on Lacy's say-so and she'd known him about five minutes at the time. So far all the books balanced, and the son of the SuitMasters mogul wouldn't need to steal anyway.
Ryan had been thinking over my offer. "Thanks. I'll go home and change. I'm supposed to meet Lacy here later. Tell her I'll be back by nine. So we can go out to dinner."
"Will do." Out to dinner. What a concept. I watched him leave, giving Valdez a wide berth. The curtain moved and a woman stepped out of the dressing room. "That looks great on you!" I smiled and got involved in a discussion of the mini versus maxi skirt debate. The woman had great legs. We went with the miniskirt and Ryan got his commission.
An hour zoomed by, with customers, a vampire with an armload of clothes and Miranda all stopping by. I had a good assortment of stock to tag and inventory and was alone in the shop doing just that when Lacy came in.
"Yoo-hoo! Ryan, love dumpling, are you back there?" Lacy sauntered into the back room. "Oh, Glory. Hi." She turned red. "Where's Ryan?"
"I let love dumpling off early." I glanced at the clock. "He went home to change and will be back in a few minutes."
Lacy picked up a fifties sundress. "Cute stuff. Miranda?"
"Yes. I think I'll keep the summer stock back here until spring. I got in a great fur coat a while ago." I held it out. "Chinchilla. Feel."
"Mmm. Soft. I had a chinchilla once." Lacy smiled, her canines gleaming in the light. I had a feeling she wasn't talking about a coat.
"Let me ask you something. About Ryan."
"He's working out, isn't he? I know he's enjoying it here." Lacy grabbed a pink lace teddy. "Mine. He'll love this."
"Can you read his mind?" I leaned against the table.
"I don't know. Well, no, when he has on his glasses. And I refuse to try when he's got them off." Lacy got a dreamy look. "I can't tell you how many lovers I've lost because of the whole mind-reading crap. Some thoughts just kill the mood, you know? There's a lot to be said for mystery."
"I agree. Blade never lets me read his mind. Not unless he's got a message for me." I had a feeling I was getting my own dreamy look. "Never mind that. Ryan is mortal, isn't he?"
"Of course he is." Lacy held the teddy up to her, then tossed it down. "Too big." She found a black one and checked the tag. "This will work."
"Earth to Lacy. This is serious, Lacy. Why can't we read Ryan's mind? Any thoughts?"
"Well, he wears those thick glasses, everywhere but in bed. I usually look in a mortal's eyes to read minds. The windows to the soul, you know." She shook her head. "Don't ask me to read his mind in bed, Glory. Even though he says he's blind as a bat, I don't want to go there."
"Have you showered with him? Surely he'd take the glasses off to shower."
"No, we haven't done the shower thing yet." She bit her lip. "Tonight. I'll get him in there tonight and see if I can read his mind, if you really think it's necessary. What are you worried about, Glory?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'm getting paranoid. But with so many people out to get us, I'm entitled. I'd just feel more comfortable if you could read Ryan's mind, make sure he doesn't have a clue about who or what we really are."
"I've thought about telling him the truth." Lacy really had it bad. She was swaying to the ballad on the radio, the teddy clutched to her breast.
"Snap out of it, Lacy. Most mortals can't handle the truth."
"You're right." Good-bye dreamy look, hello worry.
I felt low for bringing her down. Maybe Valdez was right. I was a downer.
"Enjoy Ryan while you can. If you decide we can trust him, we will." I patted her shoulder. "Can you make someone immortal?"
"Werecats are born, not made. So when I mate with a mortal, I'm setting myself up for eventual loss." Lacy sighed.
"Blade or Damian could turn him for you. If you thought he'd want to be vampire."
"Really?" Lacy lit up. "So we could be together forever?"
"Just a thought. I haven't asked them, but even Flo can turn mortals. Not me. I don't do that." I heard the bells tinkle on the front door. "It's a personal thing."
"Right." Lacy put the teddy in her purse. "Take this out of my pay, will you? That's Ryan. I'd know his smell anywhere. See you later." She headed out into the shop, stopping in the doorway. "And, Glory, I'll let you know what I find out."
"Thanks. And consider the teddy a gift. Enjoy." I smiled. Young love. It had been so long since I'd felt that first flush of infatuation. Way too long. But I'd had an incredible night with Blade. Infatuation wasn't nearly as great as the real deal. Oops.
If I wasn't careful, I was going to end up in a threesome with Mara and Blade. Not going to happen. Mara had to go—I didn't care where—before I'd fall into bed with Blade again.
I picked up my cell phone and hit the speed dial for Damian. Voice mail. I left a message that I needed to talk to him and hung up.
The door opened and bells tinkled. Vampire. A woman I recognized from the wake for Margie walked in carrying a pile of clothes. Wheeling and dealing kept me busy for the next hour. I was alone when the door opened again and Damian came in.
He was grinning of course. Like I'd called him asking for more sex, the real thing this time.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Damian, but this is about Flo." I threw up a block. Maybe I was getting used to pain, but it wasn't as much of an effort as it had once been.
"My sister is in trouble." Damian lost his smile. "What's happened?"
"I don't know that she's in trouble, but she and Valdez tracked down Richard Mainwaring last night." I glanced at Valdez. When Damian had crossed the threshold, the dog had jumped up and looked ready to take a chunk out of my visitor at the slightest provocation.
"Did she kill him?" Damian's fangs shot out and I shivered. Whoa, this man could go from charming seducer to homicidal vamp in less time than it took me to blink.
"No. He's not our guy." Valdez bared his teeth. "Flo and I believed him."
"You believed him." Damian looked down and snarled. "My sister who thinks with her"—he said an Italian word that probably meant a female body part—"and a dumb mutt believed him."
"You want to take on this dumb mutt, asshole?" Valdez morphed into his attack mode and I stepped back.
"Stop it!" I said bravely from behind the counter. "A customer could come in."
"So we'
ll erase some memory." Damian and Valdez had locked eyes and it looked like neither one was giving an inch.
"Valdez, I forbid you to attack Damian." My dog knew the rules. He couldn't disobey a direct order from me. No matter what. He glared at me, almost willing me to change my mind. I shook my head.
"Can you tell us where you saw Mainwaring? Where Damian might look for Flo?"
Valdez sat and scratched his ear. "Maybe."
"Damn it, let me rip out his throat, Glory. You will be well rid of this mangy beast."
Valdez just wagged his tail, obviously not concerned. Hey, I was concerned enough for both of us.
"Tell him, Valdez. Where do you think Flo and Mainwaring went?"
"He's got a garage apartment on Lamar Street. Yellow with brown trim. It's on a corner."
"Address?" I put on my sternest look. "Damian is not going to drive up and down Lamar, which my customers tell me is one of the longest streets in Austin, looking for brown and yellow houses."
"You got that right." Damian looked like he really wanted to kick my dog.
"Don't even think about hurting this dog, Damian. I mean it." I stepped between them.
"Sixteen twelve Lamar." Valdez pushed his head under my hand. I swear he was grinning at Damian. Like he'd won or something. Jerk.
"North or South?" In Austin that made a difference.
"South. Satisfied?" Valdez scratched his ear. "When you gonna pick up some more flea shampoo?"
Damian spun on his heel and headed for the door.
"Let me know what you find out," I said to his back. He nodded and disappeared into the night.
"You could have been more helpful."
"I told you. Mainwaring's okay. If I were you, I'd worry more about Sabatini."
Food for thought. But now the evening stretched out endlessly. The hours crept past, especially the ones when no customers showed up to distract me. At one point I popped over to Diana's to get a Bloody Merry. Diana wasn't there. So I paid and returned to my lonely post.
The bells on the door tinkled and I looked up eagerly. Blade and Mara.
Full-Figured Vampire 1 - Real Vampires Have Curves Page 20