Bit the Jackpot (17 page)

The man laughed and moved his hand farther up her thigh. "I'm not surprised." He turned to Cara. "You can leave now and go visit your friend Dawn. Kelsey and I have some catching up to do."

Over her undead body. "I'm not leaving without Kelsey."

He iooked amused. "Alright, fine. I have another appointment anyway. I'll leave. I'm very accommodating."

Somehow that's not the word Cara would have used to describe him.

Letting go of Kelsey's leg, he stood up. "I would never hurt Kelsey, you know." He moved in closer to Cara until his arm brushed hers and his dark, empty eyes locked with hers. Behind the cigarette odor, Cara caught a hint of the same sickly sweet smell the other vamp had. She stood still, determined not to show her fear, to not move away from him.

"You, on the other hand, are a different story."

Then he was gone and Cara released a whoosh of air. "Who the hell is that, Kelsey?"

Kelsey just stood up with a shrug and straightened the bottom of her dress. "That's Kyle."

"Bait," Seamus said with a grimace. "That's what your friend Dawn was. He wanted you there for some reason."

They were sitting in the back of the club, at the very table where Seamus had sat that first night with Kelsey, when he had watched Cara dancing behind the screen. Like that night, he ordered drinks for everyone at the table to assuage suspicion and to keep the waitress from losing out on tips. Three dancers were on the stage doing some routine with feather boas and nothing else.

"I don't understand, Seamus." Cara rubbed her eyes, looking tired and worried. She had just gotten off the phone with her friend's boyfriend. He had said that Dawn was asleep, having been given a blood transfusion and painkillers, and he had suggested she wait until the morning to visit.

Seamus hadn't seen Dawn's condition, but it sounded like she'd been bled too heavily by the vampire Cara had encountered.

"Why would anyone want me?" Cara asked.

"I don't know." Seamus kept thinking back to that night…
get Fox and his girlfriend
. At the time he'd assumed they meant Kelsey, but maybe they had meant Cara. But why? Who had a reason to kill him?

"Let's dance," Kelsey said suddenly to the bodyguard, grabbing his hand and pulling at him.

He looked horrified and shot a confused look at Seamus. "Mr. Fox?"

But Seamus decided it would be better if Kelsey weren't at the table when he told Cara about the night Alexis had found Kelsey, so he just smiled. "Go on and have a little fun, Daniel. Dance with Kelsey. I'll keep an eye on things."

That should be ample punishment for Daniel for taking Cara and Kelsey to the club in the first place.

Daniel dragged his feet, but Kelsey tugged and pulled until she had him out on the dance floor. It didn't block anyone's view of the nude dancers on stage, but was a free forum to bump and grind and imitate the dancers in whatever way club-goers might choose. Currently there were two sultry women dancing. Daniel stood like a stone statue, but Kelsey threw her arms around his neck and wiggled up and down the length of his brawny body.

Seamus almost felt like laughing.

"What's wrong with Kelsey?" Cara asked, watching her with the bodyguard. "What happened to her? She's like… I don't know."

"Missing a few cards in her deck?"

She nodded.

"Well, Kelsey was never exactly a genius. She was always a bit ditzy, but sweet. And a party girl. Always dancing and drinking and picking up men in the casino. Then after the presidential debate in early September, Alexis went up to Ethan's suite and found Kelsey drained of blood. The vampire who did it was still there and he stabbed Alexis, almost killing her. Ethan turned Alexis, and I gave Kelsey my blood and brought her back to life. Since then, she's been different." He watched her run her palms over Daniel's chest while her hips rocked against him. She wasn't smiling. "She doesn't laugh anymore. She's afraid to be alone. She seems more scattered than ever."

"She knows the guy, Seamus." Cara leaned closer to him. "I didn't want to say anything in front of her, but she knows him and he knows her. He seems almost… fond of her. And she calls him Kyle."

"Fond of her?" Seamus closed his eyes. Pictured that night Cara had been killed. Saw the thin man, the young vampire, saw how he had invited Kelsey to follow him and how she had, without hesitation.

"What does he look like? Is he thin, dressed well, dark hair, has sort of a quiet confidence?"

"Yes." Cara shifted in her chair restlessly, leaning in his direction. "Do you know him?"

Seamus shook his head. He took Cara's hand in his, wanting to touch her, to reassure himself she was alright. Safe. "No, but he was there the night we met. He was in the alley, and while I was dealing with the other two, he calmly told Kelsey to come with him and she did."

"So she knew him already. I tried to ask her how she knew him, but she didn't really answer in any way that made sense."

"But he knows her, and he knew who I was, and he knew who you were tonight."

"Did she ever have any weird experiences before? Date a guy she was afraid of?"

"Wait a minute." Seamus sat straight up, squeezing Cara's hand as a thought came to him. "Wait a goddamn minute. Kelsey is the one who knew the guy who shot Ethan in the casino six weeks ago. She's the one who took him upstairs, then she left him alone up there because she read his mind and didn't like what she saw. Said he was dark and that he was going to kill Ethan. Ethan went up to investigate since she'd left the poor guy in a vampire glamour, but he was out of it by then, and he shot Ethan. He wasn't a vampire, though. We have it on tape. You can't see Kelsey, but you can see him." Seamus thought he'd recognize him if he was the same guy who'd been in the alley, but it would be nice to have a second set of eyes confirming all three were the same man. "If you saw him on tape, would you recognize him?"

"I think so." Cara looked out over the dance floor. "But why doesn't she remember? It's like when she was drained of blood, they took the memory with it."

"I don't know, Cara." Seamus studied Kelsey on the dance floor, moving sensually in that purple dress, her dark hair down her back. "I don't understand Kelsey's role in any of this."

The dancers moved their boas, used them as lassos on one another so the four were flush up against each other like naked book-ends. Seamus watched absently, the lights moving from pink to blue to pink again.

"Cara, is Jodi Madsen here tonight?" Maybe it was time to see what Jodi might have to say about her niece Brittany Baldizzi and who her biological father might be.

"I'm sure she's in the back. She's usually here on the weekends. I can go get her."

Cara stood up. She was watching the dancers on stage, too. She had a deep frown on her face. "Is that what I look like, Seamus? When I'm dancing?"

Seamus couldn't read the expression on her face. This smacked of a trap. Any way he answered would be wrong, he was guessing. So he shook his head, determined not to trip himself up. "Absolutely not. You look way better than that."

"Well, I should hope so," she said, frown deepening. "They look sort of… ridiculous."

Oh, damn. He pulled her down onto his lap. She perched there stiffly but didn't pull away. "Trust me, Cara, you look amazing when you dance. In three hundred years you are the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

Eyes still on the foursome gyrating with the boas and each other, she said, "I thought you were three hundred and seventy. So there was a prettier woman in the first seventy years? Was she a dancer, too?"

Somehow he'd fallen in a hole anyway. "No, that's not what I meant. I was rounding down. Cara, in three hundred and seventy-one years you are the most beautiful woman I've ever known." Prettier than Marie, even, and she had been a stunning petite French beauty. Not that he was going to mention Marie.

She turned back to him. Looked at him, curious, studying. "What are we, Seamus? To each other? Is this the way it is for other vampires when they're turned? Do they feel for the vampire who turned them what I feel?"

"What do you feel, Cara?" Seamus felt the taut muscle of her backside and thighs against him, and he felt a strange, growing tingling sensation inside his chest. He also felt like he was dangling over the edge of a very high cliff, like the Cliffs of Moher, and he had no vampire flying skills. He was going to fall, and smack hard, if he didn't watch his step.

"I like you," she said softly. "That's what I feel." She kissed his forehead, her lips warm, then stood up. "I'll go get Jodi for you."

Seamus watched her walk away, her body a gorgeous work of art, all soft curves and contrasts. Her hair moved across her lacy lavender top, the black edges cut bluntly, long shaggy bangs framing her face when she glanced back at him over her shoulder, giving him a small, tense smile.

So she liked him. That should be good. But he suddenly felt like he'd just been delivered an "I'm glad we're friends" speech. And he was pretty damn positive he didn't want to be just friends.

So if he didn't want to be just friends, what did he want when it came to Cara?

He had no idea.

Not a fucking clue.

"Ethan, did you ever check into that vampire slayers Internet loop?" Alexis paced back and forth in her husband's office, feeling frustrated and anxious.

"No." Ethan shrugged nonchalantly, though Alexis could tell he was braced for her response. He always held his hand out like a barrier when he was sure she was going to protest. "I'm sure that group who e-mailed you is just a bunch of thrill seekers. They don't really fancy themselves vampire slayers."

"How do you know?" Alexis opened the balcony door and stepped out into the rapidly disappearing night. Another hour, the sun would be up, and she'd be in bed for the day. There would be no one to watch over Brittany, make sure she was safe. Alexis scanned her eyes over the Vegas Strip, worried. She'd gotten the invitation to join the vampire slayers group, then was promptly kicked out the minute she'd been turned. Like they'd known.

Ethan came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. "What's the matter, Alex?"

She wasn't sure exactly. "Something is going on. People want you and Seamus dead. Why? What haven't you told me?"

"I've told you everything," he said softly, his lips running over the tip of her ear. "I don't know why someone wants me dead. The guy we're holding isn't talking."

"Something is wrong. You know I'm not a worrier normally, but I just feel like something bad is going to happen." Alexis shivered.

Ethan gave a soft snort of laughter. "Actually, when it comes to the people you care about, you worry constantly. Before you only had to worry about Brittany, now you have to worry about me, too. But I promise, I will be fine. After nine hundred years, I've learned to defend myself fairly well."

Sometimes it still creeped Alexis out to think that her husband was as old as dirt, but he had a point. He hadn't lived that long by being stupid. "Maybe we should take a vacation… take Brittany and get out of Vegas for a few weeks."

Even as she said it, she knew he'd never agree to it. Not with the election looming.

"The timing is wrong, love. I can't leave now. Besides, security is best here in my own casino."

That wasn't very reassuring. "Then how is it you managed to get shot?" Just the memory made her uncomfortable. Made her glance right and left, even though they couldn't possibly be at risk from anything other than rain out on their thirty-second-floor balcony. Or a vampire.

"That was unfortunate. I was distracted and overconfident. I won't be caught off guard again."

The hardness in his voice made her feel a little better. He was taking this seriously.

"And I won't let anyone harm you or Brittany. I have a guard watching Brittany twenty-four/seven. He should already be in place."

"Thank you." Alexis held on to his hands as he wrapped his arms around her middle. She leaned against his chest. "How did you meet Kelsey? You both told me it was in New York in the sixties, but I mean specifically."

"I went to a party at an artist's loft and saw Kelsey. I knew she was a vampire immediately. And it was also clear she was doing a steady diet of drugs. I put her in rehab and gave her a job. I don't think she ever knew who turned her vampire—too much LSD running through her."

That probably explained a lot. "I think Kelsey is a sweetheart, I really do, but I also think maybe she lost a few brain cells too many during the sixties. Then a few more when she was drained of blood six weeks ago. She says the weirdest things sometimes. Tonight in the casino she asked me if I've ever been to the Venetian. She said she heard the blood is better there, but that she won't go there because that's where they took her. When I asked her what she meant, she wouldn't answer."

Ethan stiffened. "Donatelli lives at the Venetian." Alexis jerked around, started. Her husband's face was filled with fury. "Ethan? You mean… oh, shit."

Cara had never really liked Jodi. She thought she was a bit crass, but then Cara could readily admit she was a prude. Now, however, she decided she'd been right all along.

Jodi sat guzzling down a scotch and leering at Seamus. He appeared oblivious to the sultry looks and the cleavage, but it still irritated Cara.

"I remember you," Jodi said to Seamus. "You were at Alexis's wedding. I'm sure you noticed me. I was the one who was ignored by the bride. My own niece, the ungrateful little bitch, didn't even invite me. I had to invite myself."

"So you don't keep in touch with Alexis and Brittany?"

"No." Jodi tossed back what was left of her drink. "They don't want anything to do with me. They both think they're too good to associate with their aunt, the ex-stripper. But they're no better than me. They're just dishonest about it. I mean, come on, what did Alexis do to get that rich guy to marry her? That requires some oral skill, and I don't mean conversation."

Cara couldn't help but curl her lip in distaste. Unfortunately, Jodi saw her do it.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you, Cara? Some people look at a stripper and they think whore. I mean, when you first met Seamus, it wasn't like he thought to himself, hey, there's a smart girl. I bet we could have some interesting talks over wine."