A Taste of Love and Evil

by Barbara Monajem

  “Jack knows Titania?” Rose fought uselessly to control her fangs.

  “Knows her?” Violet cried. “He’s obsessed with her. She picked him up a year or so ago and dumped him after only a couple of days, and he’s never gotten over it. He denies it, of course, but that’s nonsense. Guys never get over a vamp.” She cocked her head at Rose. “Ooh! You want Iachimo Tallis? Good heavens, why? Oh, the money. Darling, it’s not worth it. There are plenty of other wealthy—”

  Before Rose could spit out a denial, Tony said, “Hogwash, Vi. Plenty of people get over vamps.”

  “Nobody gets over me,” Violet sputtered. “Name one guy, just one!” She stomped away, and Zelda and Tony exchanged a look.

  “I am not ego-tripping,” Violet said over her shoulder. From another room a second later, she called, “It’s the truth!”

  Tony cast his eyes heavenward. “I have parted company with many women on good terms. As for guys, Constantine dumped a vamp when he was just a kid, and if this Tallis dude has more brains than dick, he’s long since over Titania. If not, he’s unworthy of our Rose.”

  Our Rose.

  Tears prickled, but Rose found her voice. “That would explain why he’s so dead set against vamps. After Titania, how can he help but think we’re animals?”

  Violet returned, checkbook in hand, hackles up. “He said that to your face?” Suddenly, she giggled. “Not that he’s far off. I feel like an animal a lot of the time. Almost always, to tell the truth.”

  “He didn’t say it to my face. He didn’t know I could hear him.” Rose thought it through. At first, he’d been in shock—weak, trying to control himself, and finding it well-nigh impossible. No wonder he’d been sickened. Afterward…“He resisted my allure over and over again.”

  “Afraid of losing control,” Tony said. “That matters a lot to some guys.”

  “More than vamp sex?” Violet said. “Impossible. It’s because he knows it’s the only way to get Titania back. If she finds out he’s had another vamp, she’ll never touch him again.”

  Tony pursed his lips. “And that’s a problem?”

  Violet flapped a hand. “Forget him, Rose. Seeing as he’s filthy rich and Titania still dumped him, he must be a complete and total dud.”

  “No,” Rose said irritably, “he’s not a dud.” Unless he wants Titania.

  “Regardless,” Violet said, “he’s completely unreliable where Titania’s concerned. If she crooks her little finger, he’ll follow like the sheep he is.”

  “He’s not a sheep.” But if he wants Titania…

  Violet sat on the couch and opened the checkbook. “Whatever. I can’t be counted on to keep my temper if we speak another word about That Bitch.” She stabbed her pen at Rose. “I should be offended you even thought I might not pay. But I’m not. I’m completely under control.”

  “Titania said you wouldn’t pay,” Rose said. “She told Miles you were working a scam. She said you would steal the dress, refuse to pay, and demand your down payment back.”

  Allure roiled around Violet. “That Bitch!”

  Stiffly, Rose said, “I didn’t believe her, but I guess an inkling of doubt still remained, so when you said you didn’t want the gown, I blew up. I apologize.”

  Immediately, Violet subsided. “Sweet of you, darling, but completely unnecessary. Sit down, for heaven’s sake, and let’s not talk about That Bitch anymore.”

  Tony motioned to Zelda with his chin. “Coffee lesson. In the kitchen. Now.”

  Zelda scowled. “You already taught me how to make Turkish coffee. Greek, I mean. We can’t leave these two alone.”

  “It would serve them both right if they clawed each other up a little. But they won’t.” He flicked Zelda’s cheek. “Next thing you know, they’ll be comparing notes about men.”

  Zelda made a face. “Before long, I’ll be stuck doing that, too. With my mother. How sick is that?” She pointed a skinny finger at Rose before following him to the kitchen. “Keep your fangs where they belong, hear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rose said, loving Zelda’s defense of her mother, wishing she had a mother she cared to defend, wishing her own mother could have reprimanded her in just such a way. Violet was probably crazy, but they were family. Not that Rose really believed she was one of them. Family didn’t happen just like that. But at least they were her kind. She took a seat at the other end of the sofa.

  Jack. And Titania? No way in hell.

  Brisk and cheerful now, Violet said, “You’ll stay with us while you make a new costume. We have plenty of room. I’ll give you a down payment, and we can get to work right away.” The calico cat jumped onto her lap, purring. Violet caressed the cat, murmured endearments, and wrote a check for the balance due on the first gown. She appeared perfectly calm. “Let’s assume the new gown will cost the same as the first. You can adjust your invoice later if it’s more.” She wrote another check for the same amount, and gave both to Rose.

  Rose folded the checks and put them in her bag. The fabulous gown she had spent days on waited, beautiful but forlorn, to be taken down and packed away. All that work, and just for money. Although she was grateful for the payment, she needed to understand. “Violet, I have a question, but it may have to do with Titania. Will you promise not to explode?”

  “No, darling, I never make promises I can’t keep. Go on. Take a chance.”

  “You seemed a lot more stable over the Internet.”

  “Writing is so final.” Violet kissed the cat’s nose. “I think twice before hitting send.”

  Okay. “I’m happy to make another gown, but why can’t you use this one?”

  “Because Titania saw it.” Violet clutched the calico cat to her chest.

  “But you already knew that, so why have me bring it all the way here?”

  “And let That Bitch get her hands on it?” The cat struggled in Violet’s increasingly feverish grip. “Not a chance!” she spat. The cat spat back, and with an apologetic murmur Violet let it go.

  Tony bellowed from the kitchen. “Violet, is this another of your damn fool feuds?”

  “I didn’t start it,” Violet fluted. “Titania wants to one-up me for best costume at Mardi Gras. She’s been coming to Bayou Gavotte more and more often. I don’t know why she can’t stay in New Orleans. She’s on every krewe’s invitation list. Luckily, my spies found out she’d wangled an invitation to the Bayou Gavotte ball as well.”

  “And unluckily, her spies found out I was making you a gown.” Rose couldn’t keep the bitterness under wraps.

  Violet glowered. “Don’t get me started. I don’t know how she found out.”

  “She called and threatened me this morning.” Rose tried to control her fangs but realized she didn’t need to. She let the sharp tips show. “She said she’d know about it if I came over here.”

  Violet’s own fangs slotted down. Her hands balled into fists. “She has people watching my house?”

  “Maybe she was bullshitting me. No one tried to stop me. Did you tell anyone else I was making your gown?”

  Violet narrowed her eyes. “No! I kept it a strict, strict secret!”

  That didn’t mean it didn’t leak out. Violet’s dressmaker had provided a dress dummy and measurements. Violet had shipped it via UPS. Rose and Violet had spoken on the phone. They’d exchanged e-mails. But Rose wasn’t about to expose anyone else to Violet’s ire, so she merely said, “I don’t see why Titania would steal something that didn’t even fit her. She’s at least two sizes bigger than you, maybe three. She couldn’t wear it herself, and she must have known you’d just have another one made.”

  “Spite,” Violet said. “Pure spite.”

  “For spite, she’d go all the way to Chicago, sleep with an old man and tell him all sorts of lies, and then threaten me with both arrest and creative punishment? I find that hard to believe.”

  “She’d do anything to get the better of me!” Violet pronounced.

  From the kitchen, Tony said, “See what yo
ur feuds do to innocent bystanders, Vi? Time to grow up, girl.”

  “I don’t start them,” Violet said, adding under her breath, “I know, I know, it takes two.” She stuck her tongue out in the direction of the kitchen, sucked up her fangs, and closed her eyes. “Zelda, forget the coffee and light some candles. Rose, we need to meditate to get rid of our violent urges.”

  “No, we need to understand what’s going on. When Miles first showed Titania the gown, she…she practically sneered at it. I could have sworn she wasn’t thinking of taking it. She knew it wouldn’t fit her. She talked about having something similar made for a Mardi Gras ball, but—”

  “She’s such a dummy. That dress isn’t for the ball,” Violet said scornfully, abandoning the meditation pose. “It’s for the float in the parade.” Rose’s perplexity must have shown, for Violet added, “The Bayou Gavotte Mardi Gras parade. Oh, you’re a Northerner. Is this your first time? You’ll love watching the parade, and catching beads and coins and cups, but you must not, absolutely not, flash your boobs, no matter what people shout at you. We don’t want a riot spoiling the parade.”

  “Um,” Rose said, all at sea. “No problem.”

  “Now, let’s forget about That Bitch,” Violet said. “I have some fabulous ideas about the new gown. It has to be a replica of the gown of a genuine queen. I picked that one because of the serpent on the sleeve representing wisdom, which was totally appropriate to my character.”

  Tony guffawed. “Serpent of temptation, more like.”

  Violet assumed a catlike expression. “That, too. Anyway, Rose, we have a costume competition a week before Mardi Gras, and the people with the best costumes get to be Bayou Gavotte’s Mardi Gras king and queen in the parade. This year I decided to have a genuinely queenly gown for the parade, but of course I’ll wear something entirely different for the ball. Zelda, go get the kings and queens of England book and see if you can find that issue of Vogue about Marie Antoinette.”

  “Just a minute,” Rose said. “There’s more. Something changed when we got into a discussion about dancing. Usually I’m good with customers—you get all sorts, and you have to learn to be polite to idiots—but I could hardly keep my fangs in their slots when I was in the same room as Titania. Since I know more about dancing in costumes than Miles, he dragged me into the discussion.” Her own words came back to her with a jolt. Oh, hell! She paused, seeking a way to put it. “Bottom line, we said she’d need a lot of practice if she wanted to dance in that sort of gown. For most modern dancing, it simply wouldn’t work. The huge skirt makes it more regal and ceremonial.”

  Did I blurt out the wrong damn thing? Was this all my fault? Violet wasn’t jumping on her in rage yet, but she might soon be.

  “Titania stomped into the next room to make a call. Miles couldn’t hear her, but of course I did. She told someone named Gino to steal it that night, so I decided to take it myself first.”

  “For which I am eternally grateful,” Violet said. “Titania’s all bent out of shape because even if she’s invited to the ball, she can’t be elected queen. She can’t be in the parade at all! Only club owners are allowed to participate.” Violet preened. “Now, no more of Titania.”

  Rose opened her mouth to speak. Family or no family, her fault or not, she had to finish this.

  Violet put up a firm hand. “Nothing! Or I will—”

  “Listen to me!” Rose stood. “She threatened me this morning, and I think she’s on her way back here, and I don’t know what she’ll do next. I need to understand what’s going on, and I think you do, too.”

  Violet scowled. “What can possibly be so important that you have to tell me now?”

  “This,” Rose said. “She told Gino, ‘This year, I’m going to be the Bayou Gavotte queen!’”

  This time, Tony had to hold Violet for a good ten minutes before she stopped struggling. “I’m calm!” she hissed. “I’m fine,” she growled. “Let me go or I’ll never let you squeeze me again!”

  “That’s supposed to be an inducement?” Tony didn’t release her.

  “You haven’t moaned,” Zelda said. “You always moan. That’s your signal.”

  “She’s too upset to get anywhere near orgasmic,” Tony said. “Bad sign. Zelda, go find something dispensable.” Zelda hurried into the kitchen, banging cupboard doors and clattering dishes, while Tony followed with the writhing Violet. Rose took up the rear.

  Tony let Violet go, and Zelda offered her mother a chipped mixing bowl. “Break this.”

  Vi slumped. “I don’t have the energy to break anything.” A tear glistened at the corner of her eye.

  “Scream, then.” Zelda looked worried. “Let fly. Come on, Mom! This isn’t like you.”

  Violet’s eyes grew huge. “If she moves into my territory, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  Even Tony seemed unnerved. “Now, now, Vi. Calm down.”

  “I may have to kill her,” Violet whispered. She dropped into a kitchen chair.

  “Mom!” Zelda set the bowl on the table. She and Tony exchanged dismayed glances.

  Violet’s eyes flicked this way and that. “I’ve never killed anyone before. I don’t know if I can!”

  “Of course you can’t,” Zelda said. “You disapprove of violence, remember?”

  “We can’t let her muscle her way into Bayou Gavotte. She’s tormented me ever since we were in school, and now she’ll ruin everything!” A muscle twitched below Violet’s eye. “Maybe Constantine can kill her for me. Tony, do you think he would?”

  “Jesus.” Tony crossed his arms. “That boy has enough problems without his friends asking him to commit murder. You should be ashamed.”

  An emotion crossed Violet’s face, but it didn’t look much like shame.

  “You’re making something out of nothing,” Tony said. “It’s not easy to buy into one of the clubs, because nobody wants to sell. Does Titania have a ton of money?”

  “I don’t think so,” Violet said. “She inherited some after her husbands died—actually, she probably murdered all three of them—but she gambles and she’s a spendthrift, and she never does a lick of work. That’s why I was so surprised when she dumped Iachimo Tallis. He has an endless amount of money. She should have been all over him, squeezing the life out like kudzu.”

  “So there’s nothing to worry about. You need a drink.” He left the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a bottle of Johnnie Walker. Violet raised haughty eyebrows, but Tony said, “You need to calm down, and I’m not wasting the Glenfiddich Thirty Year on a hissy fit.” He filled a glass with ice, saying calmly, “Don’t look now, but I think someone’s snooping in the backyard.”

  Violet leaped to her feet, allure swirling.

  “Shit, Violet,” Tony said. “Will you never learn? Show Rose the statue. That’s a decent excuse for looking at the yard.”

  They all trooped over to the window. On a pedestal in the garden stood a statue of a near-naked vampire. “That’s my sister, Ophelia,” Violet snarled. “Where is he? I don’t see anyone!”

  “Me, neither,” Zelda said.

  “No,” Tony said, “but I heard him when I was getting the whiskey, and I saw the cat take off across the yard. Keep talking, Vi. It would help if you smiled.”

  Violet grimaced. “Ophelia’s fangs aren’t actually that big, but the sculptor worked from a photo where she was wearing fake fangs. That Bitch! If she sent someone to snoop, I’ll…I’ll…”

  “Your sister’s lovely,” Rose managed, scanning the garden.

  “He must be hiding someplace.” Calmly, Tony dolloped Johnnie Walker over the ice.

  “Maybe he went around the side of the house,” Rose said, almost positive he hadn’t.

  “I would have heard him. More likely, he’s waiting and hoping we’ll get away from the window.” Tony grinned. “And staying very, very still.”

  Damn straight. If that faint shimmer below the statue’s breasts was Jack, what was he doing here?

  Tony turned
to Violet. “Did you hear about the Threshold?”

  “I never want to hear about that disgusting place.”

  “Some guy got inside last night and took off with a girl who’d been sold to the club for a mutilation fuck scene.”

  Rose stared. “Someone was sold?”

  Tony shrugged. “It’s been known to happen. The dude also saved an underage kid who got caught trying to sneak in the back.”

  “Good for him,” said Violet. “The clubs can dispense with ‘Safe’ and ‘Sane’—even though I completely disagree with such stupidity—but ‘Consensual’ is an absolute! That place will ruin Bayou Gavotte’s reputation.”

  “The thing is,” Tony said, “not one person got a good look at the guy.”

  Go, Jack. Rose suppressed a smile.

  “Similar thing happened a couple of months ago. One of the regulars drugged an underage girl and set up a private ritual, but before they even got the knives sharpened, the participants were flat on the floor and the chick was gone. Nobody saw who did it then, either.”

  “Good,” Violet said. “Tony, go check the garden.”

  “No,” Rose said before she could stop herself. Tony gave her a look. She gathered her wits and said, “If it’s one of Titania’s spies, we don’t want her to know we’re on to him.”

  Tony gave her another look. “That’s one way to play it, if it’s not too late. Move to the living room for now—it has curtains—and I’ll sweep the house for bugs.”

  Tony stayed by the window, licking his fangs. Reluctantly, Rose went with the others.

  Chapter Fourteen

  What a stupid risk of exposure, not to mention a waste of time, all because he was hung up on Rose. Jack inched off the statue in deepest camo, snailed from shrub to shrub into and through the neighbor’s yard, and didn’t even downgrade to semicamo until he was half a block away.

  He wasn’t just hung up. He was worried about Rose. Not just worried, frightened for her, but if anyone could protect her from Titania, Tony Karaplis—who had smiled through Violet’s window, revealing that he was yet another vampire—could. Which meant Rose didn’t need him at all.