Real Vampires Get Lucky (18 page)

Richard followed the ladies with his usual sardonic look. I never could read his mind but it really wasn't necessary. Shopping wasn't his thing, but he would do anything for Florence. As I said, she's
really
good at the kiss-and-make-up part. While I admired the turquoise earrings Flo had picked out for me, Etienne hurried to take Lucky's packages. And wouldn't you know he broke into rapid Italian with both Lucky and Flo? God, I hate linguists. I could see Derek struggling to help three customers at once. Forget Etienne. I had a business to run. I sent Richard a mental message to see if he could herd the crew upstairs and out of my way.

When I finally got a break from ringing up sales-love the holidays-Valdez was the only one left of the paranormal bunch.

"You mean Etienne left with the rest of them?" I said this to Derek since Valdez was being petted by a Goth who was waiting for his girlfriend to come out of the dressing room.

"Afraid so. I guess he really didn't want to work here."

"Then I'll be damned if he'll sleep here." I made sure I said that loud enough for Valdez to hear. Pals or not, I was not going to be taken advantage of. I may be little and cute. Okay, maybe not so little, but I'm no pushover. Derek nudged me. "Those guys are back again."

I checked out the two men lurking by the vampire mural. Leroy and Earl, if I remembered correctly. "May I help you find something, gentlemen?"

"Lookin' for my daughter." The first one, dressed in a red plaid wool shirt and khakis, scanned the room. "Hangs out with one of those Goth freaks." He didn't seem to care if the man with Valdez heard him.

I forced a smile. "We're a pretty small shop. You want me to look in the dressing room for her? What's her name?"

"Becky. Forget it. I already called her name. She ain't here. Come on, Earl."

Earl tipped his Oakley cap. "Thank you, ma'am. Kid's out past curfew. Sorry to bother you." This earned him a shove toward the door.

"Oookay." I headed to the dressing room. "If you're in there, Becky, you can come out now."

"Thanks." A flushed teenager scurried out. "Sorry. My dad. Well. Just sorry." She grabbed the Goth, who had put his hair into three neat spikes of green, yellow and purple. Those, along with his various piercings and silver dangles, made him into his own personal Mardi Gras float. Hey, I'd spent several decades in New Orleans. Let the good times roll.

"I can't believe he didn't recognize you, Neil." She tossed a black velvet skirt on the counter. "He just sees
through
my boyfriend. Forget the fact that Neil is an honor student who is a computer
genius
." She snuggled up against him as she counted out the exact change for her purchase to Derek. "Babysitting money. And Daddy is wrong. I still have fifteen minutes until I have to be home. Mom gave me extra time because I had this babysitting gig tonight and Neil picked me up." She made a face. "I love that y'all are open late. Bye now." She and Neil left after a final pat for Valdez.

"Nice kid. Jerk parent." I looked around and realized we were alone again. I still hadn't made it upstairs to the shower I was longing for.

"Oh, Glory, I forgot to tell you. A package came for you today. Will said he ordered you a little something. A peace offering. It's in the back room." Derek sat on the stool we kept behind the counter. "It's actually pretty quiet right now. Why don't you go back and see what it is? He seemed pretty excited about it. He came in right after I got here to see if it had arrived."

"He knows Jerry's really mad at him. I bet he hopes I can talk Jerry into helping him out financially. Fat chance." I gestured and Valdez came trotting up to me. "I'll take Valdez with me in case this thing explodes or something crawls out of it."

"Thanks, Blondie."
Valdez rolled his eyes.

Sure enough, there was a FedEx package on the big table in the back room. Heavy, or it would have been if I'd been a mere mortal. When I saw the return address, I couldn't wait to rip it open. Bloodthirsty. From Transylvania. Oh, my God! Will had sprung for a case of AB negative, my absolute favorite of all blood types, but it was expensive. I wondered for a nanosecond how Will could afford it, but cracked open a bottle anyway.

I treated it like a fine wine. First a sniff. Mmm. The aroma. Heady. Full-bodied. Sorry if I'm grossing you out, but this is my thing. Now for the first tiny sip. Ahhh. Smooth going down. Delicious. I sat and savored the taste, trying hard not to guzzle it. I checked for an invoice and finally found a catalog. The prices were much more reasonable than I'd expected, and I remembered that I had a discount coupon upstairs on my computer. Wow. Bells tinkled and I got up to go into the shop again. Richard and Flo.

"Where are Lucky, Brittany and Etienne?"

Flo and Richard looked at each other and grinned. "Next door."

"Mugs and Muffins?" Unusual, but maybe Brittany wanted something to eat.

"Nope." Richard was merrier than I'd seen him in a long time. "The Tatt-ler."

"Why?"

Flo giggled. "Lucky wants a tattoo to go with her new Goth look."

"And no one thought to tell her . . ."

"And spoil the surprise? I like Lucky's shoes, but she is not so nice sometimes. To you. To Brittany. Maybe she needs to learn a lesson." Flo strolled over to the mural and pretended to study it. "Glory, I once 'studied' "-she gave me a wink-"with El Greco. Why don't we do a wall with a tribute to him?"

Richard growled and grabbed Flo's hand, hauling her to the door. "I have heard quite enough about your former lovers, Florence. Artists. I'm sick of them. Did I ever tell you about the time I worked in the Vatican catacombs? I learned many secrets there. How would like for me to whisper a few in your . . . ear?"

"Ricardo, you intrigue me." Flo gave me a finger wave as she let him pull her out of the shop. Derek grinned while he straightened a pile of vintage jeans. "Aren't you going to run over to the Tatt-ler and tell Lucky about vampires and tattoos?"

I sighed and moved to help him. "Maybe later. You know, I never did get to shower and change clothes. Things are quiet now." Maybe too quiet. No customers. Not that that was cause for alarm. We always had lulls between one and two in the morning. "Is it okay if I go upstairs and take Valdez with me?"

"Sure. What about Lucky?"

"Etienne was so eager to take her on. Let him handle her and her tattoo."

"Good news, Glory."
Valdez dropped his leash at my feet, obviously ready for a walk before we went upstairs.
"I can hear
them talking next door. Brittany booked them a hotel room. I guess they're going to try to handle their own security from
now on. And if you're serious about kicking Steve, I mean Etienne, out, he's already talking his way into staying with
them."

"That
is
good news." I opened the door, Valdez doing his usual reconnaissance before I was allowed outside. He did his thing in the park across the street while I thought about popping into the Tatt-ler and cluing Lucky in about vampires and tattoos in case Etienne didn't. But, remember, Valdez isn't the only one with supersonic hearing.

I could see movement behind the plateglass windows and neon signs and hear Lucky talking to Brittany about which tattoo she wanted. Her father hated tattoos so she was starting with something she could keep covered. The whole vampire thing was shock enough for dear old dad this week.

She really liked the giant fiery dragon. But her butt just wasn't big enough. Now if she had a fat ass like Glory . . . Giggle. Giggle. Too bad. She'd just have to settle for the baby dragon instead.

Hmm. Have fun, Lucky. Hope that needle's dull, dull, dull.

Valdez and I headed upstairs.

Eleven

"Glory, we're going to be staying at a hotel near the Irwin Center where they have concerts. Brittany checked it out. A lot of musicians stay there and she says she can arrange for the staff to leave us alone during the day and clean at night."

"That's fine, Lucky. I'm glad you've got it all worked out." Lucky, along with her crew, had limped into the shop a few minutes after four. I'd decided that if she really wanted Etienne to be her guide to all things vampire then so be it. I did have a few concerns though and pulled Lucky into the back room and closed the door.

"Oh, great. Now that we're alone, let me show you my awesome tat."

Before I could say hell, no, Lucky had her skirt up. Her thong was skimpy enough to give me a good look at the snarling baby dragon on her left butt cheek.

"Cute. Nice butt too. Lipo?" I couldn't resist. Hey, she'd admitted she had her plastic surgeon on speed dial.

"Oh, sure. And they both hurt like hell despite all claims to the contrary." Lucky sighed. I looked at my coveted Bloodthirsty and came to a reluctant decision. "You need to feed and I don't want you drinking from mortals."

"But that's what vampires do!" Lucky sat on the edge of the table, then hopped right back up again.

"You can drink a blood substitute like I do." I grabbed a bottle. "This is a new one. Try it, it's really very good."

"No, thanks, really." Lucky smiled. "I know you're on a budget. And you've been very generous already. Daddy's had his assistant doing research on this feeding thing. Remember, we work with paranormals, lots of them vampires. She found out what the best products are and has arranged to have some delivered to the hotel tonight."

"Wow." Which was all I could manage to say. Money talks. So do connections.

"Oh, it gets better. The good stuff is being hand carried by some of Daddy's goons. Seems he feels Brittany needs help." Lucky made a face.

"You keep talking about goons. Are these more paranormals? Like the clown demons?"

"No, just Daddy's muscle. Retired boxers, football players who've taken one too many hits to the head." Lucky grinned. "I have to admit some of them are pretty cute, just not too swift. They'll give Etienne and Brittany a break."

"You've really hired Etienne? After knowing him for about five minutes?"

"Brittany and Valdez apparently have known him for centuries. I figure they're serving as references. And Daddy's assistant checked up on him, of course. He's about as trustworthy as
they
are." Lucky put her hand on my shoulder. "I know you feel responsible for me, Glory. Because you made me and all. But, face it. You look about twelve and I've been around the block more than once."

"My looks have nothing to do with it and you know it. I'm over four hundred years old." Nice compliment though. I stored it away to savor later.

"Etienne is older than you are. Says he is anyway. And he's a good-looking guy. Can you blame me for wanting
him
to show me how to sink my teeth into vampire ways instead of you?" Lucky winked. "And I really don't let another woman order me around, ever. Not even my own mother. In an Italian family, or at least
my
Italian family, Daddy calls the shots. Mama shops, tells the servants what to serve for dinner and looks pretty when Daddy comes home. Period."

"Gee, that sounds like a laugh riot for her. I'm surprised Daddy let you work for him."

"Mama didn't give him a son. So I set out to prove I could fill the void." Lucky smiled sadly. "I've got a cousin Carlo, who still thinks he's going to get the nod when Daddy decides to retire. This immortality thing just might give me an edge if I play my cards right."

I waited for the relief I should have felt at having Lucky off my back. But if I didn't have her around, then how was I going to find her killer? I had a million reasons to want to follow up on that.

"You know, Lucky, I might be able to help you with your collections. If you could clear some more of those debts in the Austin area, that would really impress your father."

"You're right. You have that list of the people who owe us. Any of the names ring a bell?" Greg. But I really didn't want to send Lucky out to the EV compound. Whether she wanted me to feel responsible for her or not, I wasn't about to throw her to
those
wolves.

"Glory, Lucky, you've got to come out here and see this."
Even through the closed door, we could hear Valdez laughing.

"I guess we'd better go see." I was glad I didn't have to decide about Greg yet. Sure, I hated him, but he could also be useful, maybe find some of the other names on Lucky's list.

Lucky opened the door and we both stared at the two women standing behind Will Kilpatrick. Will had a harried look as he hurried up to me.

"Glory, did you get my gift?"

"Yes, thank you, Will. First bottle was absolutely delicious."

"Knock. Knock."

"Knock. Knock."

"Aren't you going to answer them, Will?" Lucky looked past Will and smiled at the blonde on his right. The brunette on his left gave the blonde an elbow when she smiled back. Apparently this was serious business.

"Knock. Knock."

"Knock. Knock."

"Who's there?" A female customer decided to answer.

Will turned and gave her a charming smile. "Sorry, darlin', but they'll only answer to me. It's a joke, you see. Sent by someone"-he looked at Lucky-"who really hates me and is punishing me."

"Knock. Knock."

"Knock. Knock."

"You really should answer, Will. If you don't, things can get pretty ugly." Lucky linked arms with Brittany and Etienne. "Then again, don't answer. Refusal-to-answer scenarios are fun to watch, if not to participate in."

"Knock. Knock."

"Knock. Knock."

The volume was increasing. The female customer covered her ears and decided she had had enough. She left the shop without buying anything.

"Okay, that does it. Will, get out and take your knockers with you." I slapped a hand over my mouth. Etienne and Valdez laughed until they cried. Valdez actually rolled on the floor, his tail thumping the wood floor.

"Knock. Knock." Blond knocker grabbed a yellow throw pillow and bopped Will over the head in perfect time.

"Knock. Knock." Brunette knocker reached for a bronze statue, and Will caved, covering his head.

"Who's there?" he screamed from behind the counter.

"Wire." Brunette.