by Devon, Cat
“He’s not usually this bad,” the older woman said.
“So I bring out the worst in him,” Daniella said. “Good to know.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
Daniella shrugged. “Sometimes people just don’t get along. It happens.”
“I was actually trying to be nice to you,” Nick had the nerve to say.
She turned back to him. “Really?”
He nodded.
“Well, you stink at it. You’re no good at all at being nice to me. But that’s okay. You may not have the communication skills needed to get along with people. They offer classes for that, you know,” she added.
“I don’t need classes,” he growled.
Daniella shrugged. She realized she did that a lot around him, but there was nothing she could do about it. The motion made her feel better. It was as if she were shaking off any influence he might have on her. “I’m just saying.”
“I communicate just fine.”
“You communicate your disapproval just fine,” she agreed. “It’s the nice part that you definitely need help with. You seem to be lacking in that area.”
“I am not lacking in anything,” he said.
“You don’t have to get all insulted.”
“I’m not insulted.”
“Then why are you growling?” Daniella said.
“You would drive a saint crazy.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” she said. “You, on the other hand, would definitely be a challenge to a saint. Not that I’m a saint by any stretch of the imagination. Look, all this anger probably isn’t good for your blood pressure. Perhaps you should look into some anger-management classes while checking out those communication classes.”
“I told you, I don’t need classes.”
“Because you’re already perfect. I know you obviously think that but it’s not really true.” Daniella turned back to Lois. “We’ll talk later. I’m going to stop at Tanya’s Tanning next.”
She moved toward the exit, stepping around Nick. She could feel his heated glare on her back as she exited the dental clinic and headed down the sidewalk to the tanning salon.
She could also feel him following her. Damn, the man moved fast. He was standing in front of her a second later.
She refused to be impressed or intimidated. Instead, she tapped her foot impatiently. “What now?”
“I want to apologize if I’ve offended you,” Nick said.
Her eyes widened in surprise. That was the last thing she expected him to say. “You don’t seem like the kind of man who apologizes much.”
“I don’t,” he readily admitted. “But I came off strong and—”
“Bossy?” she inserted.
“I’ve never met anyone like you before,” he said quietly.
It was the first time she’d heard him use that tone of voice, and she had to admit it got to her. For the first time since meeting him, she was speechless. She studied him carefully, trying to read his thoughts by his facial expression or his eyes. She didn’t detect any mockery there. He seemed genuinely baffled by her.
“I’ve never met anyone exactly like you, either,” she said.
“Finally, something we have in common,” he said.
“So why don’t you like me?”
“I never said I didn’t like you.”
“Right,” she scoffed.
“Maybe if I knew you better…,” he said.
“You’d like me more?” she finished for him. “I suppose that’s possible.”
“And maybe you’d like me more.”
She volleyed his words back at him. “I never said I didn’t like you.”
“Touché.”
She’d never had a guy say touché to her before. Surprisingly, she liked it. His smile was pretty stunning as well. It consisted of a slight lifting of those fierce lips of his.
“Do you want me to introduce you to Tanya?” he offered.
“I’m sure you must have other things to do…”
“I insist.” He ushered her into the tanning salon.
No drills here but Daniella couldn’t help noticing that all three of the establishments she’d visited so far had displayed a definite lack of clients. Business was not brisk—and that didn’t bode well for her shop.
Maybe it was just a slow time of the day. She didn’t feel comfortable asking why each place was so empty. That would be rude.
Being rude didn’t seem to bother Tanya, however, as she glared at Daniella. “What do you want?”
Okay, maybe that was the reason for the lack of business in the tanning salon. Tanya had a definite attitude problem. Or maybe she just had low blood sugar. The young woman didn’t look like she’d eaten recently. She had that super-skinny look that the fashion magazines made so popular these days. It wasn’t a look that Daniella would ever achieve in this lifetime.
Daniella was the first to admit her own body had curves. She had thighs. She had breasts. Thighs, breasts … okay, now she was getting a mental photo of the drive-thru menu at KFC. Her stomach growled.
Tanya turned her attention to Nick, moving forward to curl her fingers possessively around his arm. “I’m glad to see you.”
“This is Daniella Delaney,” Nick said. “She’s opening a cupcake shop down the street.”
“Cupcakes?” Tanya shuddered in horror. “They’re poison!”
“I never use poison in my recipes,” Daniella said drily.
“Do you use sugar and butter?” Tanya demanded.
Daniella nodded.
“Poison.” Tanya shuddered.
Daniella was getting ticked off. It was one thing to insult her; it was another thing entirely to insult her cupcakes. Still, she tried to be professional about it all and stay calm. “I have some sugar-free cupcakes as well.”
“You’re killing people!” Tanya shouted.
“Tanning beds harm more people than cupcakes do,” Daniella retorted.
Things went downhill from there and ended with Tanya kicking Daniella out of her salon. Not literally, of course, although she did look tough enough to do some damage with those spiky heels of hers. Tanya’s tanned body was slim, but there was some muscle there as well. And she looked angry enough to be dangerous.
Daniella was angry, too. She was angry that Nick just stood there like a dummy while Tanya unloaded her vitriol on Daniella, yelling something about the salon focusing on spray tans instead of tanning beds.
At this point, Daniella really didn’t care. She only knew that Tanya was not worthy of her cupcakes, although eating one might make her disposition a little sweeter.
In Daniella’s world, cupcakes represented comfort. In Tanya’s world, cupcakes clearly represented dangerous calories.
As for Nick, who knew what his world was? Daniella didn’t care. She left him to deal with Tanya’s tantrum and made her departure, turning at the last minute to add, “Have a nice day.”
Daniella raced out before Tanya could throw a bottle of self-tanning solution at her.
* * *
“To the Vamp Cave,” Nick said. The voice-recognition-activated security system immediately opened a hidden entrance in Nick’s small office in the back of the All Nighter Bar and Grill. The building and many others on the block were connected by underground tunnels dating back to Prohibition in the 1920s, when bootleggers used them to bring in illegal alcohol. The maze-like layout was hard to follow if you didn’t know where you were going.
Nick always knew where he was going. Being nice to Daniella today hadn’t gone as well as he’d planned, so he decided to try another tack. He entered an underground room filled with the latest cutting-edge computer equipment and flat screens displaying, among other things, neighborhood surveillance camera footage.
Chicago had more surveillance cameras than any other American city. The city’s security was top-notch but no match for vamp super-nerd Neville Rickerbacher, who could hack any firewall without breaking a sweat. Now that Neville was a vampire, he c
ould do it all at super speeds mere humans couldn’t hope to rival.
“I need you to do a background check,” Nick told him.
“I’m one step ahead of you,” Neville told him, pointing to the large screen in front of him. “Daniella Delaney, right?”
Nick nodded.
“Here’s the factual stuff. Date of birth, education, that sort of thing.”
Nick quickly looked it over. “I already know that info.”
Neville changed screens. “Here’s her financial stuff. Her business plan looks good to me.”
That meant a lot coming from Neville, who played the stock market and had for decades. He’d been turned in the 1980s when his own stockbroker, Howard Hanes, had bitten him after referring to Howard as a greedy bloodsucker. Since then, Neville and his elite team made the money that kept Vamptown going.
“She’s never had any run-ins with the police or with the IRS,” Neville said. “Drives a—”
“—pink Vespa she called Shirley,” Nick said. “Yeah, I already know that.”
“I didn’t know she named her scooter.” He rapidly typed in this info. Neville pointed to one of the surveillance screens before calling it up on his own display. “She wears a pink helmet while driving.”
“It’s her favorite color,” Nick said. Seeing Neville’s curious look, he added, “I talked to her brother.”
“I have to tell you there’s a lot of chatter about the fact that Daniella appears to be immune to vamp mind compulsion.”
Nick swore under his breath.
“There’s no way to keep something like that quiet,” Neville said. “You weren’t the only vamp to try mind compulsion on her. Nobody was successful.”
“Put the word out to keep that on the down-low,” Nick said.
“Okay, but it may already be too late. With social networking and tweets, news gets out really fast. And not just in Vamptown.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning other vamps are taking notice and are curious,” Neville said. “It’s only a matter of time before some of them coming sniffing around. I may be able to buy us some time by spinning it—saying the story is an urban legend.”
“Do it.”
Neville’s fingers flew over the keys. “Done. But I don’t think the vamp community is going to buy it.”
“Did you find anything in her background to indicate why she’s immune?”
“Not yet.”
“She may have some ESP talent.”
“Duly noted.”
“Keep digging,” Nick said.
“Sure.”
“I tried being nice to her today. It didn’t go well,” Nick admitted.
Neville blinked at him. “I’m not good with dissecting relationship dynamics.”
Nick knew that. The fact that he’d confided in Neville showed how badly Daniella had thrown him. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “I’ve never had trouble being nice to a female before.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“She isn’t that special,” Nick said. “I mean, aside from the mind compulsion immunity. She’s not that pretty.”
“Agreed. She’s no supermodel.”
“But there’s something about her,” Nick said.
“She’s smart.” Neville called up her educational records. “Great SAT scores. Graduated with honors.”
“I’ve dealt with smart women before and never had any trouble with them.” Nick’s irritation came through in his voice.
“So it’s not her education. I don’t see any indication that she’s been involved with anything metaphysical. By the way, I hacked her laptop when she was using the Wi-Fi at Starbucks this morning and checked her recent online orders. She bought a popular book.”
“About what?”
“It’s a baker’s memoir. She also ordered a cupcake bracelet from Amazon. Then she emailed her website person about tweaks to the site, saying she wasn’t happy with it yet.”
“Keep monitoring her.”
“She’s had no contact with any other vamps outside of Vamptown. No computer contact with any in Vamptown, either. She seems to like face-to-face meetings.”
“She asked Lois to work for her,” Nick said.
Neville’s face reflected his surprise. “Lois from Doc Boomer’s office?”
Nick nodded.
“What did Lois say?”
“She’s considering doing it,” Nick said.
“That might be a good idea,” Neville said. “To have one of us working there, I mean.”
“You’re right.”
“Lois is pretty discreet. No one would guess she’s a vamp.”
“Maybe I’m going about this backward,” Nick said. “Maybe I should just use mind compulsion on her father. He supplied the building for her.”
“He did. But he also drew up an airtight contract. I looked it over when I was pulling her information. And you know that he’s gone on a monthlong cruise in the South Pacific, right?”
“I forgot about that,” Nick muttered.
“Forgetting isn’t something you usually do,” Neville noted.
Nick glared at him. “I’m aware of that.”
Neville leaned back in his chair as if trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and Nick.
“How did you find out about the contract between Daniella and her dad?” Nick said. “I didn’t know it was a matter of public record.”
“That doesn’t stop me. I have my ways.”
“Right.” Nick had his ways as well, some of which were clearly rusty. Charming Daniella had proved to be more challenging than he’d expected, but he wasn’t about to give up now. The clock was running. As Neville pointed out, it was only a matter of time now before other vampires came sniffing around.
* * *
Daniella refused to be discouraged that no one in the neighborhood was willing to sample the cupcakes she’d brought along as she went door-to-door and introduced herself to the business owners today. Some, like Pat from Pat’s Tats, she’d known since she was a kid.
And yes, there were some new faces like Tanya from Tanya’s Tanning Salon, who obviously never ate sweets to keep her super-skinny figure going. Clearly, Daniella’s meeting with Tanya hadn’t gone well. Daniella was willing to consider the possibility that perhaps it was partly her fault. Gorgeous women tended to intimidate her a little. Especially gorgeous stuck-up bitchy women. Nice gorgeous women were just fine.
Remembering the condescending you’re nobody look Tanya gave her made Daniella feel irritated all over again.
But come on. The woman ran a tanning salon. She was hardly America’s Next Top Model.
Okay, so she did look like a supermodel.
Nick liked Tanya. Daniella had been stunned by the smile he’d flashed at the other woman. He’d never smiled that way at her.
Maybe he reserved those for women with perfect features and sun-kissed blond hair.
Daniella really shouldn’t be wasting her time even thinking about either Tanya or Nick. She needed to focus on the cinnamon frosting she was trying to perfect. To add crimson fondant leaves or not? That was the question.
She was totally focused on achieving culinary excellence when she heard a noise coming from the alleyway outside. No doubt it was Nick, coming to give her a hard time again.
Wiping the frosting from her hands with a nearby kitchen towel, she quickly untied her baker’s apron and headed for the back door.
Chapter Five
Nick was holed up in his tiny office when the feeling hit him. Daniella is in danger. The realization crashed into him with the force of a cannon. All his vamp senses were immediately on high alert.
Neville’s call came an instant later. “The cameras outside the bakery have gone black.”
“I’m already on my way.”
Nick used his vamp super speed to get to Heavenly Cupcakes in less time than it took a human to blink an eye. His sense of smell led him to the back alley, where he found Daniella surro
unded by a motley trio of vampires. They weren’t locals.
He could tell that they’d each tried their mind compulsion on Daniella and that it hadn’t worked.
“If you need help, there’s a homeless shelter three blocks away,” Daniella was telling them.
“We came for you,” the tallest one said.
“You can’t have her,” Nick said. “Step away from the cupcake maker.”
Instead of obeying his order, the tall one made a grab for Daniella.
“Big mistake,” Nick growled. He had to rein in his fury or he’d go full vamp in front of Daniella. He could sense the others were on the verge of doing so as well. He had to get her away from the scene.
“Let me go!” Daniella shouted before removing a small can from her cargo pants pocket and spraying the tall one with pepper spray. While the deterrent didn’t have the same powerful effect that it did on humans, it was enough to make the tall one release her.
“Get inside,” Nick ordered her. “And lock the door.” The outsider vamps wouldn’t be able to follow her in without an invitation.
“I’m calling the cops,” she warned them before racing indoors.
Nick waited until she was inside before turning his back to the shop so she couldn’t see his transformation. He could already feel his fangs emerging. The alley was dark enough that the three others stood in the shadows. The darkness increased as Nick knocked out the nearest streetlight with the force of one look.
“You boys don’t belong here,” Nick said. “Leave now.”
“We’ve heard about you,” the tall one said. “The tough Nick St. George. But the odds are against you tonight.”
Nick had been in enough fights in his lifetime and certainly in his afterlife that he didn’t look forward to them. But he’d never been one to walk away from a battle, and he wasn’t about to start now. He might be outnumbered but he wasn’t going to be outsmarted.
Neither he nor the trio of vamps was afraid to die. Being immortal did that to you. But there was nothing pleasant about getting your face bashed in or your arms and legs broken. Sure, they all had the power to heal quickly. But the process was not fun.