Fanged & Fabulous ib-2

by Мишель Роуэн

  “Now get the hell out of my way.”

  Thierry didn’t budge. “Or what?”

  Quinn smiled. “Get out of my way or I’llmake you get out of my way.”

  I moved closer to them. “Come on, guys. Break it up. There’s really no need for this.”

  “Sarah, stay back,” Thierry advised.

  Quinn shoved Thierry back a few feet. “Get out of my way.”

  Thierry cocked his head to one side. “No.”

  Quinn cracked his knuckles. “Oh, I haveso been waiting for this.”

  “As have I.”

  Quinn’s fist connected with Thierry’s jaw, snapping his head back. Thierry reached up and touched the corner of his mouth, then looked at the blood on his fingertips, before his gaze locked with Quinn’s again.

  “Do that again.”

  “With pleasure.”

  Quinn hit the other side of his jaw.

  “Quinn, stop it!” I shouted.

  I had to put a stop to this. Quinn was looking for any excuse to wipe the floor with Thierry. I didn’t want anybody to get hurt.

  “You know,” Quinn said. “I find that since becoming a vampire, my strength has definitely increased. So you better watch yourself if you don’t want to get seriously injured.”

  “I have been a vampire for much, much longer than you, hunter.” Thierry licked his lips. “My injuries heal remarkably fast now.”

  “Fascinating.” Quinn’s fist came in for a third strike. Thierry caught it in midair, just before it made contact again.

  “And after so many years—” Thierry grabbed Quinn’s T-shirt “—can you imagine how strong I am?”

  With a flick, he launched Quinn across the club to crash into a table, breaking it on contact.

  My eyes widened. This was all happening too fast. Too fast. What was I supposed to do?

  Frozen in place, I glanced at Thierry, but he didn’t look at me. His attention was focused on the ex-hunter, who slowly got to his feet with a furious expression on his face and rushed the older vamp.

  Thierry let Quinn punch him in the stomach, but he didn’t make any sound, his face didn’t reflect any pain. But when Thierry’s fist connected with Quinn’s left cheekbone, the blow was enough to knock him back and across the bar top and into the lined-up bottles of liquor, which shattered and flew in all directions. When Quinn emerged from behind the bar, he looked mad enough to spit.

  Or kill.

  He grabbed a chair from off the top of a nearby table and broke it over his knee, producing a crude, but sharp wooden stake.

  “I think the world would be better off without you in it.” Quinn’s words were slightly slurred.

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Thierry replied.

  Quinn ran at Thierry with a yell that reminded me of men racing across the battlefield to meet the enemy.

  Thierry was still, so still, that for a moment I thought that he was going to let Quinn stake him without trying to defend himself.

  “Thierry! No!” I screamed.

  His attention flicked to me for the briefest second and our eyes met. Then he turned back to the charging

  Quinn and brought his hands up, moving so fast I could barely see him trip Quinn, snatching the stake out of his hand. Quinn fell to the floor, and in a flash, Thierry was on top of him, pinning him down, one hand clutched around his neck, the other with the stake pressed to his chest. Quinn grabbed at Thierry’s wrist,

  but the look on his face was pure panic. And defeat.

  “Kill me,” Quinn managed. “Go ahead, asshole! Do it!”

  There was a sheer sheen of sweat on Thierry’s forehead. I approached, my entire body shaking and my mind reeling from what I’d just witnessed.

  Thierry could see me out of the corner of his eye. “I would ask you what I should do with your hunter here, Sarah, but I have a feeling I already know what you’d say.”

  “Let him go,” I said quietly. “Please.”

  “That’s what I thought you’d say.” He looked up at me, his eyes filled with the raw emotion that he’d been trying to hide. But it was still muted. Still controlled. “He would have killed me without a moment’s hesitation.”

  “I know.”

  His gaze trailed to the bite marks on my neck and his expression grew pained. “I’m sorry about last night.” His voice broke on the words.

  “I know that, too. Let him go.”

  His grip on Quinn’s neck tightened as he glared down at him. “Do not mess with me again.” He let him go and stood up in one fluid motion and threw the makeshift stake away to the side where it clattered against the floor.

  Then with a last look at me, Thierry turned away and left the club, slamming the door behind him.

  I fell to my knees beside Quinn. “Are you okay?”

  He touched his neck where Thierry’s grip had left red marks behind. “Do you seenow ?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  He coughed, then slowly got to his feet. “That he’s a goddamned monster?”

  My frown deepened. “Why, because he managed to kick your ass?”

  He snorted. “He didn’t kick my ass.”

  “Shall we watch the slow-motion replay on that?”

  He closed his eyes and let out a long shaky breath. “Well, maybe I was having an off day.”

  “You shouldn’t have provoked him.” I gingerly touched his cheekbone, which bore a cut from his introduction to twenty broken bottles. He caught my hand and kissed it.

  “I will take an ass-kicking any day of the week if it proves to you that what I’m telling you about him is absolutely true.”

  I pulled my hand away from him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He carefully sat up, wincing as he did so, then slowly got to his feet. “I need a drink.”

  “Help yourself.”

  He slowly walked behind the bar and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He cracked it open and took a long gulp from it.

  I watched him warily. “Now continue. What were you saying?”

  He wearily leaned against the bar top. “That everything I’ve told you about Thierry just got proven. You saw it for yourself.”

  “What I saw was two little boys getting into a scrap over hurt feelings.”

  “That guy doesn’t have any feelings.”

  “He does.”

  “Yeah? Could have fooled me.” He laughed wryly. “Like I said before, I’m willing to wait for you,

  Sarah, but I’m just not all that happy about it.”

  I stood up. “So you think that I should leave Thierry.”

  He shrugged, then winced at the movement. “Duh.”

  I glanced off in the direction that Thierry had gone. “Tell me why I should.”

  “I think I’ve given you many valid reasons, but okay.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I originally didn’t come back to Toronto just to see you again, but I’m here now. I think I might be a little bit in love with you. That’s why you should leave him.”

  I swallowed hard. “You don’t mean it, but I appreciate the thought.”

  He shook his head. “Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?”

  I tried to choose my words carefully. “I love you, too.”

  A smile sprang to life on his super-serious face.

  I held up my hand. “Not so fast. I think you’re great, Quinn. I really do. And I do think you’re sincere in wanting to change and be a better person now that you’ve seen the other side of things and remorseful for what happened when you were a hunter.”

  He nodded. “All that and a bag of chips.”

  I looked at him. A little beaten up but still really gorgeous. Any girl would be lucky to have Quinn say those words to her. He was a wonderful man. And he’d just succeeded in making things crystal clear to me.

  “The problem is that you’ve morphed that remorseful feeling into this torch you’re holding for me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  �
�I think that I’m the only person on earth who told you the truth from the first moment we met. I was real with you. Then I tried to help you when all you wanted to do was kill me. And you think that’s true love.”

  “It is.”

  I shook my head. “No, Quinn. That’s not love. That’s gratitude.”

  His expression hardened. “No, that’s not true.”

  “I helped ease you into your crappy new life as a vampire. And you’ve convinced yourself that there’s more between us than there actually is.”

  “Sarah, just listen to me—”

  “Just because you believe something is true, doesn’t necessarily mean it is. Like thinking Thierry had anything to do with these murders. It’s not true. If you just stand back and look at things objectively,

  you’d see it. The world is not as black and white as you’d like to think.”

  “It is true. It’s all true. I love you.”

  I reached across the bar to touch his arm. “And I love you. But not the way you want me to. I want only the best for you. And it’s not me.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “I’m sorry.” My throat hurt. I felt tears burning my eyes.

  He swallowed hard. “But when I kissed you, you kissed me back.”

  “I know.”

  “That meant nothing to you?”

  “It meant that I’m confused. I’m trying to figure things out. It might take me a long time before I finally do.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  I shook my head. “Please don’t.”

  He looked away. “Then I guess we’re done here.”

  “I guess so. I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  I reached up to touch his injured face again, but he pulled away from me, and with glistening eyes and a hurt expression he stormed out of the club without another word.

  I was left alone. Again. Wondering if I should have just kept my mouth shut but knowing that would have been impossible.

  Chapter 13

  Ididn’t stick around the club for much longer after that. I cleaned up the place a bit, moved the broken furniture off to the side. Picked up the broken glass without injuring myself this time. Go me. I got Lenny and Janie to drive me to Thierry’s townhome, but he wasn’t there. No sign of Gideon Chase all day. Maybe he wasn’t as interested in the Slayer of Slayers as Nicolai had been led to believe. Or maybe the news was already spreading that I was nobody to be afraid of.

  I decided to think about it tomorrow. Then, feeling like a big pile of crap who’d just destroyed everything she cared about in the world, I had them drop me back off at George’s place to mope and feel sorry for myself. Well,our place. I guess. It would only be a matter of time before he started charging me rent. Which, since I was broke, would probably end badly. I didn’t want to think about what had just happened. Quinn probably hated me now. I didn’t even want to know what Thierry thought about the situation. I wanted to put it all out of my mind. Was that possible? Unlikely, but here’s hoping.

  I didn’t have a key, so I knocked on the door. After a moment it swung open and Amy looked out at me with red-rimmed eyes.

  “My marriage is over,” she announced. “Want to get really, really drunk?”

  I took a deep breath. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She held the door open and I brushed past her. Barkley came bounding over to me and I let him jump up and lick my face. If he really was a werewolf I was going to kick his butt someday, but if he was just a dog, it was a nice way to be greeted after a lousy day.

  George emerged from the kitchen. “We’re eating ice cream. Amy brought it over.”

  She nodded. “I did. Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. Want some?”

  I shook my head. “Remember I’m the one who can’t eat solid food anymore? But thanks for rubbing it in.”

  She promptly burst into tears. “I’m sorry! I forgot!” She grabbed me and hugged me hard to sob against my shoulder. I patted her back.

  “It’s okay. So what’s going on? Did you leave Barry?”

  After a moment, she pulled away. “I know you’ve had a terrible week and I hate to unload on you like I have been. But yes. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m gone. I confronted him about my suspicions but he didn’t say anything to make me think he’s not cheating. In fact, I think the other woman was there this afternoon.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think that?”

  “Because he wouldn’t let me go into the den. He has it barricaded. She was probably hiding in there like a cheap, hiding whore.”

  Or more likely it was all of the birthday party paraphernalia he was trying to hide. I didn’t know why

  Barry insisted on throwing Amy a surprise birthday party. It was a nice idea and all, but now that she was all freaking out about thinking he was cheating on her, wouldn’t this be a good opportunity to come clean? Maybe have a nice regular birthday party without the surprise, and therefore without the accusations of infidelity?

  Then again, I was not exactly the right person to ask about her views on infidelity, or for that matter,

  surprises, so I was staying clear of this.

  Besides, after our exchange earlier, I think if I let the proverbial cat out of the bag, Barry might stake me in my sleep.

  Amy would be feeling her pain until tomorrow when it was revealed that her diminutive husband (aka

  Cranky Bastard) cared enough to throw a party for her. And then she’d be happy again. Till then, she was miserable. And since I was currently miserable—to say the very least—I figured that it was only fair.

  “I never should have married him,” she wailed.

  I frowned. “What have you done to your teeth?”

  She bared them for me. Her fangs, which she’d just developed last week, were gone.

  “What happened to your fangs?”

  “If I don’t have Barry anymore, I don’t want to be a vampire,” she said very seriously.

  I glanced over at George, then back at her. “I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it’s not as easy as just making the decision that it’s not for you. It’s kind of like getting a tattoo. Or a sex change.”

  “I know. But I don’t want a constant reminder of what I am . . . what Barry is . . . so George gave me his dentist’s number, and she managed to fit me in this afternoon. She specializes in fang reduction and porcelain veneers.” She reached up and touched her teeth. “I feel normal again.”

  “Well, if that’s all it takes.”

  “A hundred bucks. She says I have to come back every other month for fang reduction maintenance.

  Plus, apparently I have a couple of cavities. Which sucks.” She started to cry again.

  “So it’s your big day tomorrow, isn’t it?” I said, then looked over at George making the cut sign against his throat like “say no more.” I guess he was in on Barry’s big birthday surprise, too.

  She sniffed. “Yeah. Happy stupid birthday to me.”

  “I still haven’t bought your gift yet. Any suggestions?”

  “The last two months of my life back.”

  I scratched the top of Barkley’s head. His tail thwacked happily against the floor. “I’m already on the waiting list for that one. Other than that.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe some cheap jewelry. I know you’re on a budget. Plus, with what happened to your apartment, you have way more important things to think about than getting me a gift.”

  Understatement. Definitely. Just thinking about it made me cringe.

  “More important? Me? Never. Now, I believe you said something about getting severely drunk?”

  George came fully into the living room. “We’re going out tonight to a club. I’m not working—hallelujah

  —Amy needs some cheering up. You . . . ” he paused as he looked me up and down, “You look like you’ve seen better days.”

  I gave him a look, but then realized he was telling the truth.

  Hi
s expression became more serious. “By the way, we were going to discuss your little love bite there?

  You were asleep last night when I got back. Still asleep when I left this morning. Maybe I should have been concerned, but I did have things to do.”

  I touched my neck and wished for the hundredth time today that I was wearing a scarf. “Nothing to discuss. The matter has been dealt with.”

  He looked unconvinced. “If you say so.”

  “So where are we going? And please don’t tell me Haven, because I’ve seen enough of that place for one immortal lifetime.”

  George made a gagging sound. “No. I’m sick to death of vamp clubs. We’re going to a human club. A new dance club in Queen’s Quay called the Liar’s Club. The plan is to dance like fools and drink ourselves stupid.”

  I sighed. “If only alcohol could do it anymore.”

  George grinned. “Well you’re in luck. Because I managed to score a little contraband.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He disappeared into the kitchen and emerged with a small silver flask. “This is like gold, but I’m willing to share with my two favorite girls. Since they’re not here, you two will have to do.”

  “Very funny. What is that?”

  “It’s called Moonshine. But it’s not like regular homemade booze. It’s . . . very special. And it works on vampires just like hard liquor works on humans.”

  I eyed the silver flask. “Moonshine, huh? Where did you get it?”

  “If I told you I’d have to kill you. But then I’d have to get in line, wouldn’t I? So are you in?”

  I sighed and thought about it for a moment. Hunters of the world focused on finding me and killing me in a spectacular fashion. The leader of all hunters allegedly on his way to Toronto to have me all to himself before he refocused his attentions on hunting down Thierry. And I was planning on heading out for a night on the town of drinking and dancing?

  Sounded like a plan. Bring it on.

  Later that night I found myself in the dark, noisy interior of the Liar’s Club. It was ten o’clock and I had spent a good chunk of time getting dressed in my new outfit, a short silver skirt and a flowy white blouse that rivaled last night’s black dress for its plunging neckline. I wore enough makeup to make me look like a streetwalker. That is, if everyone around me, both women and some of the men, weren’t wearing a similar amount. Amy had helped me apply it. Without my shard I’d been relying on pressed powder and lip gloss to see me through. Otherwise I might end up poking my eye out with a mascara wand.