Real Vampires Have Curves (17 page)

“Let them go, Diana. I've got an idea.” I waited until the car pulled away from the curb. “Let's go back to the coffee shop.”

Diana crossed her arms. “Fine. But if you think I'm playing the little woman while they—”

“Give me a minute. We may be little.” Okay, maybe not so little. “And we may be women, but we can come up with our own plan, don't you think?”

Valdez was right on my heels.

“I'll stay here, Glory. Freddy will be here any minute.” Derek stuck his head out the door and looked around.

Diana grabbed my arm. “The dog can't go inside, Glory. The health department would shut me down before you could say scat.”

“Gee, I thought
I
was Blondie.” I patted his furry head. “We won't go outside until you check things out. Then you can watch me through the window. You won't miss a thing.” I squatted down and looked him in the eye. “And thanks for not ratting Damian out to Blade. About that thing last night.”

Valdez showed his teeth.
“I'd like to bite that creep where it would hurt the most if you know what I mean. But we got more serious worries now. You seem to handle Sabatini pretty well by yourself.”

“Thanks.” I stood and saw Diana gaping at Valdez. When he “talks,” anyone around can hear him too. “It's complicated.”

“Yeah. I imagine so. But if he decides to bite Damian you know where, I want a front row seat.”

I laughed. “You're going to have to tell me what happened between you two some day.”

Diana grimaced. “What can I say? The man's incapable of sticking with any woman for very long. But he's a lot of fun if you're not looking for more.”

“Mr. Right Now, not Mr. Right.”

“You got it.” Diana sighed. “I'm over Damian, I've moved on and I'm seeing someone else.”

“Good.” I pulled open the door. Valdez finished checking the surrounding area. When he sat down, I figured we had the all clear. And Freddy was pulling up in my, I mean Blade's, Mercedes convertible. Jerry's just evil enough to leave my dream car here with Freddy to torment me. I was
not
caving in, even though my Suburban was currently DOA in the alley behind our building. Transmission problems. I looked around the shop. I'd have to sell a hell of a lot of clothes to bring that vehicle back to life.

Di and I slipped from my shop to hers. Mugs and Muffins was small but spotless. Great smells. Coffee. Muffins. And she sold Bloody Merry. Big freakin' deal. Did I mention the muffins? Three tables were occupied by what looked like students with laptops. I checked them out. One woman who wore vintage cat's-eye glasses was staring at her computer and biting her lip. A computer geek if ever I saw one.

“Excuse me.” I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped.

“Oh, hi. You own the shop next door. I love your stuff.”

“Great glasses. I'd like to carry things like that.”

“Estate sale. I'm an addict.”

“Hmmm.” I had another idea, but first things first. “You studying computer science at school?”

The woman laughed. “No, I'm teaching it. I know, I know. I look young. But I'm old enough.” She looked past me. “That your dog? I love dogs.”

I saw Valdez staring a hole in the glass. “He's okay.” He glared at me. “Give him a muffin and he'll be your friend for life.”

“Good to know.” Diana came closer. “I hope we're not interrupting you.”

“No. I'd just decided to pack it in. Why?”

“Well, I, we, have a technology question. Would you mind coming over to my shop with me?” I saw her uncertainty. Maybe a little incentive. “If you help us, I'll let you have any item in the store for fifty percent off.”

“Cool! My name's Miranda Anderson, by the way.”

“I'm Glory St. Clair and this is Diana Marchand who owns this coffee shop.”

“Sure. I recognize her too.” Miranda smiled. “Give me a sec to shut down my computer.” She looked up as Diana set a cup next to her.

“Free refills tonight, Miranda. Take it next door with you.” Diana smiled and tapped her fist against mine as Miranda stuffed her laptop into a book bag. “Girl power, Glory.”

“Exactly.” Di, Miranda and I went back to my shop. Derek and Freddy were talking next to the register.

“This is ridiculous. You don't need to work.” Freddy saw me make a face. “Stay out of this, Glory.”

“I'm not in this.” I pushed Miranda and Diana ahead of me into the stockroom. I gave Valdez a mental message to guard the store, then closed the door. Diana and I exchanged looks. There were two ways to do this. One. Tell Miranda everything and then erase her memory. The drawback? What if she needed time to do research? Better to try subtlety first.

“Here's the deal, Miranda. A man has what looks like a cell phone. He points it at someone.” I gestured toward Diana. “Like Di here. And he can tell if she's human or . . . not.”

“Or not?” Miranda's eyes widened. “Like a zombie or something?”

“Theoretically, yes.” Diana smiled. “How would you do that? Tell if someone was a . . . zombie. We're thinking of writing a murder mystery. Looking for a twist.” Di winked at me. I loved the way she'd caught on.

“Cool. That's a weird application, but easy enough.” Miranda sat on the edge of the battered table I'd shoved up against one wall. “Humans. Like us.” She smiled. “Have a pretty constant body temperature. You know, approximately ninety-eight point six. Someone dead wouldn't have the same heat. Maybe no heat at all if they'd been dead a while.”

“And a cell phone could read body temp from across the room?”

“Well, not a regular cell phone. Instead it would have to be like the scopes on the guns police use on those TV cop shows. Heat seeking devices. Infrared probably. Expensive. I doubt the Austin cops have them.” She pulled out a notebook and began to jot down notes. “Cool concept. Yeah, it could be done.” She tapped her teeth with her pen.

“Night vision goggles use that kind of technology. A hunter might use those. Combined with the heat seeking scope, he could do a job on night creatures. But I can't see why anyone would go out looking for the walking dead. How creepy is that?”

Diana made a face behind Miranda's back.

“Beyond creepy. But a neat idea for our book.” I kept my smile firmly in place. “Thanks, Miranda. You want to shop now or can I write out a fifty percent off coupon you can use later?”

“That's it? That's all you want?” Miranda's eyes gleamed behind her cool glasses.

“Well, I may have an idea. You ever consider shopping at estate sales for someone else? I'm a night person. So I could use someone to find more vintage clothing for the shop during the day.”

“You mean a picker.” She grinned. “My mom owns an antique store in Galveston. I've been finding stuff for her for years.”

“So you've had experience. Better and better. If you want to do it for me instead of her.”

“No problem. She's not really into the clothes. I'd love to be your picker. And you'd pay me. Right? For shopping? Mom kind of feels like I owe her. Six years of college and still going.”

“Sure I'd pay you. But if you're a college professor—”

“Teaching assistant. Slave wages while I work on my doctorate. ” She yawned. “I'm usually a day person myself. And I'm fading fast. Give me the coupon. I'll come back another day. Or night. So we can work out the details.”

I opened the door. Valdez sat there with an accusing look. I stepped around him and grabbed a sales pad from by the register. I quickly wrote out a coupon while Miranda patted Valdez's head.

“What a sweet doggie.” She made kissing noises. “Aren't you just the cutest thing?” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a piece of muffin wrapped in a paper napkin. “You hungry?”

Valdez was too busy scarfing down what looked to be a chocolate chip laden treat to answer. Plus he knew better than to communicate with anything more than a “woof” in front of mortals.

“He's always hungry.” I handed her the coupon. “Thanks, Miranda. You were a big help and I look forward to working with you in the future. We may have more questions later.” I looked at Diana. “As we get further into the book.”

“Sure.” Miranda dug into her book bag. “Here's my card. Call me.” She slung the bag over her shoulder, cast a longing glance around the shop, then headed to the door. “I'll be back.”

“Arnold Schwarzenegger she's not. Cute glasses though.” Derek grabbed the sales book. “I just sold a zoot suit. Chaching. ” He turned to the man standing behind him.

Diana pulled me back into the stockroom and closed the door. “Now what? We can't change our body temp, Glory.” She sighed and sat on the table. “We're doomed. Westwood's a billionaire because he owns over a dozen high tech companies. What if he decides to make and sell these vamp detectors? Every hunter on earth will be on us like white on rice.”

“We need to think.” Body temperature. “I don't even know my body temperature.”

“Good point. There's an all night drug store two blocks over.” Diana jumped off the table. “I'll send my kitchen guy, my
mortal
kitchen guy, over there to pick up a thermometer. ” She put her hand on my cheek. “You're warm, sort of. Feel me.”

I touched her forehead. I remembered my mother doing that when I was little. One of the few caring gestures she'd ever made. Of course if I dared have a fever, she'd dose me with some awful potion she got from God knew where. The cure was usually a lot worse than the illness. It was a miracle children had survived at all back then. And way too many of them hadn't.

“You feel just like me, Diana. We should have felt Miranda. But when I used to feed from mortals, I remember they felt really warm.”

“Yes, their blood's almost hot. You handled Miranda just right. We didn't have to erase her memory and she'll be back if we need to ask her more questions.” Diana opened the door and we headed back into the store. “I'll let you know when I get the thermometer. We'll check the three of us, you, me, Derek, and figure out an average temp.”

“And then figure out a way to raise it.” I picked up a Sharper Image catalog Lacy had left behind the counter. “Battery operated heating pads. Do they make such a thing?”

Derek came back with a credit card. “Give me a minute with a computer and the Internet and I can find out.” He grinned. “I'm sorry I was such a wimp earlier, Glory, Diana. You ladies have inspired me. I told Freddy to go to the castle. And to get used to me working because I was going to do it whether he approved or not.”

High fives all around. Diana left and a pair of women in scrubs pushed through the door. A night shift for mortals had ended. I glanced at the clock. Just a few hours until dawn. At least we knew Westwood liked the chase. He wouldn't try to get us in our sleep. But I wondered how the men were progressing. There was nothing wrong with a two-pronged approach.

“Hey, Derek.” He was flirting with the women. He strolled over to my side.

“A guy's got to do what a guy's got to do. Am I a natural salesman or what?”

“Definitely. When you get on the Internet, check on Kevlar vests.” Did I mention I watch a lot of TV? Including cop shows. “See if they can be penetrated by a wooden arrow.”

Derek's eyes gleamed. “Will do, boss. What was I thinking? Run? Hell, we'll stay and fight. Freddy's a crack shot.”

“And Blade never misses with his knife.”

“There you go.” Derek leaned closer. “And I've heard that our Italian friends know a thing or two about poisons.”

“So we're not defenseless. And Westwood is crafty, not crazy. He sure won't make a move when we've got customers. ” A good-looking guy in boots and work shirt, who smelled like B negative, pushed open the door. Hmm. I probably wouldn't even have noticed if I'd had a Bloody Merry in my hand. But Derek's eyes lit up. I sent him a mental reminder that he would
not
use my customers for feeding. At least not while they were in the store.

I stepped into the storeroom and got a can of Bloody Merry out of the fridge. When I'd fortified myself with a deep swallow, I headed back into the shop. I looked around and finally relaxed. The thought that Westwood, the fang collecting son of a bitch, had been in my store had almost ruined it for me. But I was getting over it. We had quite a crowd for four in the morning. And wouldn't you know the radio began a Queen set with “We Are the Champions”? Valdez put his paws over his ears.

“You know,” I said patting Derek's cheek, rough with his morning beard and barely warm. He would only get cooler as we got closer to dawn. “We'll make Westwood sorry he ever started this hunt.”

Ten

"I've moped around here long enough. I'm ready to live again.” Flo made this declaration as she bounced on the foot of my bed. “Get up, Glory.”

“Forty-eight whole hours. That was fast.” I sat up and pushed my hair back. I still felt a little tired.

“Life may be long for us, but I still don't waste a minute.” She handed me a Bloody Merry. “Valdez says Westwood came to the shop the other night. Are you still freaked out?”

“Sure.” I sipped my drink and felt the familiar surge of energy. “But, like you, I'm not wasting time on it. I need to get down to the shop.”

“It's Sunday. You're closed today.”

“Yes. I forgot.” I lay back and set the can on my night-stand. “Good. Maybe Derek will have time to do that research we talked about.”