Real Vampires Live Large (12 page)

I couldn't argue, at least not without whining. I couldn't get over the nagging fear that we'd get this place back together and Westwood's fire bomber would strike again.

“Snap out of it, Glory. Damian's put in extra thick windows and hired security to do drive-bys during the day.” Flo put her hand on my shoulder. “And Jeremiah has gone after this Westwood. He'll make him pay for this.” Flo gestured at the empty racks beside her. “You'll be back in business in no time.”

“Right. I'm snapping out of it right now.” Damian's workmen had been quick about getting up new drywall and installing flooring. I'd picked out the wood laminate myself, trying for a space that shouted retro, hip, spend your cash here. But fixtures and stock were up to me. Fortunately, an army of friends had shown up ready to paint, clean, whatever I needed. Most surprising had been Flo, who'd put her manicure at risk to pick up a paint brush.

“Now all we need is some stock.” I sat on a stool next to my refurbished counter, which would hold my new cash register. The old one sat in the stock room, a lump of melted plastic that resembled a science experiment gone terribly wrong.

“Here you go.” Lacy, my day person and shape-shifting neighbor, pushed in through the door loaded down with dry cleaning bags. “These all came out pretty well. I tried to look them over before I accepted them.” She made a face. “Here's the bill. I put it on your credit card like you asked. Major bucks, I'm afraid.”

I glanced at the bill and swallowed. Since when did dry cleaning cost more than a small car? “Here, let me help you.” I grabbed some bags and began hanging up dresses and suits on the metal racks we'd salvaged by scrubbing off black soot.

“And I have more for you, Glory.” Flo hopped up from where she'd settled to do the baseboards. “I cleaned out my closet.” She smiled at Lacy. “Come upstairs and give me a hand.”

“Sure.” Lacy gave me a pinch me, I'm dreaming look behind Flo's back. I love my roomie, but she'd never once considered letting me sell any of her vast collection of shoes, purses or clothes before. She'd always insisted classics never went out of style. And she was right. I'd built a business on that fact.

“Mr. Danger here didn't even bother to look up when that door opened.”
Valdez followed me to the back room where I picked up a trash can.
“Will's not worth the cost of Alpo.”

I set the can down and began stripping plastic bags off clothes. “He's okay.” I looked around the shop. So much to do. I wished the dogs could hold a paint brush. Maybe if I tied one to Valdez's tail . . .

“Oh, no you don't. Not in the job description.”
Valdez sat with a thump.
“I was making a point here. About the slug otherwise known as Will. The point is, he's dead to the world during the day. Which is when you're most at risk.”
Valdez sat near my feet while I stuffed bags into the trash can.
“Then at night, when he should be on high alert, so maybe yours truly could get some rest, he's spending all his time trying to look up Flo's skirt or down your blouse.”

“I resent the implication, though I won't apologize for appreciating fine women, cheese doodle. And I've been by the window scanning the street for mischief makers. I saw Lacy when she was a half block away. I know you don't like cats, but the lady's on your side, you know.” Will padded up to sit on my other side. “Nice suit.”

“Chanel.” I stroked the fine wool. Believe me, if I could have sucked in my gut enough to get the zipper up, I'd have kept it.

“In Paris I had a girlfriend once who shopped at Chanel. Expensive habit. I had to dump her.”

“Yeah, right.
You
dumped
her
. And I'm a Labradoodle, not a cheese doodle.”

“Oh, puh-leeze. At least I chose to be a purebred Great Pyrenees. A dog known as a faithful friend and fierce guardian. Not a mongrel with questionable ancestors.”

“Mongrel!”
Valdez growled and moved in on Will.
“Yeah, you're fierce. Especially when you finally get up off your ass to come to the food bowl.”

“Right. Like you're not Twinkie obsessed. And what's with the jones you've got for Cheetos?”

I tuned out the ongoing saga. Between the ick factor of Will playing Peeping Tom and paint fumes, I needed air. I stepped outside and took a deep breath. The air was fresh and I instantly felt better. It was after two in the morning, thank God for all night dry cleaners, and the street was almost deserted. Mugs and Muffins, already back in business, boasted only one customer, a student type hunched over his laptop with his coffee at his elbow. His glasses weren't tinted so I figured he wasn't in the Westwood spy network. God, I was sick of being paranoid.

“Gloriana.”
Oh, hell. A pain stabbed my forehead.
“Come to me, Gloriana.”

The voice was inside my head. I had to follow it. I headed down the sidewalk toward the corner.

I threw off my sweater and reached for the buttons on my blouse.

“What the hell are you doing?”
Valdez head-butted me, knocking me on my ass.
“Glory, look at me.”

I shook my head. “What?” Damn, I was freezing. My blouse was open to the waist giving the world a nice view of my black bra, my sweater a lump on the sidewalk a few feet away.

“Get inside, Gloriana.” Will ran to the corner, barking and snarling like he meant business.

I staggered to my feet. “That voice. I swear I know it.” I grabbed my sweater and ran to the shop door. “Will. You get anything?”

“Nope. Whoever it was got away.”

Valdez pushed me inside. My brain was screaming. Even though the voice was gone, the headache seemed determined to hang on. And what was with the striptease? I buttoned my blouse and threw on my sweater again.

“I'm going to look around some more.” Will looked at Valdez. “You stay here with her.”

“Like I take orders from you.”
Valdez looked up at me.
“Sit down, Glory. Flo and Lacy should be back any minute.”

“What's going on here?” The man in the doorway provoked a bark-a-thon that made my head scream.

I collapsed on a stool and leaned my head on the counter. “Nothing.”

“Why's the door standing open?” Richard Mainwaring glared at Valdez, then Will when he came trotting inside.

“I left it open. I needed air. My head's killing me.”

“Close your eyes.”

Sue me, but I did. Because the light was killing me, not just because he
told
me to. I felt his hand on the top of my head. Had I combed my hair in the past few hours? Nope. In fact, I think there were globs of yellow paint decorating my crown. I couldn't get worked up about it. The pain!

“The vampire's been working you again. What happened? ”

“It was stupid.” I kept my head down, eyes closed. “I followed the voice. Like I was under the whammy or something. ” Richard's hand on my head had actually made the pain stop. I sat up. “And I started taking off my clothes. Like he told me to. How sick is that?”

Richard nodded toward Will. “Back outside. See if you can find this vampire who wants Glory naked.”

“On it.” Will smirked at Valdez, I swear it, then headed out the door just before Richard closed it.

“Maybe we should lock the door.”
Valdez was obviously not happy to see Will given an assignment and not him.
“We don't want that Glory-obsessed vampire in here.”

“Maybe we do.” Richard sure looked scary when he was mad.

“Like a door will keep out a vampire.” Flo shouted from outside. “Open up.”

Nine

Richard flung open the door again and stepped back. He just stared at Flo, his face grim.

“Richard.” Flo's look as she walked past him, her arms full of clothes, was equally grim.

“Why do you want to keep out vampires? They're some of our best customers.” Lacy had her hands full of shoe boxes! And purses!

No headache can stand up to my love of good accessories. I jumped up to help both of them set the things on a table.

“Some vampires are much more interested in causing trouble than in looking good.” Richard stared at Flo for a heartbeat or two. “Some vampires are interested in nothing but looking good.”

“Excuse me, but I take pride in my appearance.” Flo carefully set a pile of silk blouses on the table. “And I've done the impossible. I've kept my look fresh and up to date in spite of being more than a few centuries older than most of the present company.”

I put my hand on Flo's shoulder. She was shaking with anger, her fangs visible at the edges of her Cherries in the Snow lipstick. Her color, but so last century. I sure wasn't about to tell her that. Block, block.

“You're my role model, Flo, my guide to fashion forward thinking.” I gave Richard a go away look. “Richard's concerned about some vamp he's hunting.”

“No, Richard's concerned about Gloriana being stalked.” At least he wasn't glaring at Flo anymore. Now he was glaring at me.

“Stalked?” Flo looked at me, fangs full out. “Who would dare do that to my roomie? I'll rip his throat out. A vampire? No, his throat would heal. Where's a stake when you need one?” Flo grabbed a paint brush and eyed the wooden end. “A little dull, but with enough pressure—”

“Chill out, vamp girl, I think Richard can handle it.” Lacy had stacked the shoe boxes neatly. She leaned against the counter so her tiny tank top rode up to show a slim middle that made my jaw clench. The tall redhead had something of a crush on Richard. She was all for his piercing gaze, broody thing.

“You should all be on guard.” He turned to his former mistress. “Florence, I don't suppose you've heard voices in your head lately.”

“Voices? Like I'm crazy?” Flo was determined to hate Richard and I'd given up trying to make peace.

“No.
I've
been hearing voices, like someone is inside
my
head, trying to get me to come to them.” Okay, so maybe I was an incurable peacemaker. “You hear anything like that?”

“No, no one has done this.” Flo studied me with worried green eyes. “Do you recognize the voice? Is it Damian again?”

Flo's brother Damian had done a number or two on me with his little mind games while trying to make me another notch on his bedpost. But I'd made it pretty clear to him that I wasn't playing and I think he'd moved on. “I'd recognize his voice. This one is different. Sounds pure American. Doesn't have the cute little accent you and Damian have.”

“Cute, of course. But very little. Whoever is in your head—he's dead meat. Am I right, girlfriend?”

“Right. Now show me some shoes. I can't believe you're letting me sell them.”

“Maybe.” Flo lifted the top off one of the shoe boxes. “And maybe I need to keep these. I remember the night I bought them. In New York.” She glanced at Richard. “A generous lover and a famous musician, very famous, demanded I have only the best.” She picked up a red lizard pump and hummed a few bars of a song I recognized immediately.

“Flo, are you kidding? Was your lover—” Lacy stopped when Flo held up her hand.

“I can't say his name. We did not part well. I had to sign an”—she shuddered—“agreement.”

“Surprise. Surprise.” Richard's smile made
me
shudder.

Flo looked daggers, then turned her back on him as she stroked the shoe. “You can get a good price for these, Glory. Barely worn.” She smiled at me. “I move on. There are many more”—she glanced at Richard—“better shoes out there.”

“Hey, why bother with shoes at all? You don't need them when you spend most of your time horizontal.”

Whoa. Richard was playing the scorned lover, big time. Clearly Flo had dumped
him
. Now Flo muttered something nasty in Italian and rounded on him, hands on hips. I stepped between them, taking my life in my hands, but what's a girl to do? I needed both of them on my side and I'd just put the shop into some kind of order. Any fight between them was bound to be messy.

“Behave, please.” I rubbed my head and came away with yellow paint on my hand. How cute was that? I grabbed a rag, wiping my hands while I smiled at Richard.

“Richard, thanks for the help with my headache. I feel a thousand times better.” This did not go over big with Flo. I put my hand on her shoulder again and felt her quivering with the urge to leap over me and go for you know who's throat.

“Flo, I'm dying to see what you brought me. Let's dig in.” The door opened and Will trotted in.

“All clear outside. Whoever's after Glory has left.” He shot Valdez a smug look. “Too bad. I was fully prepared to take him out.”

Flo quit giving Richard a “go to hell” look long enough to examine me with concern. “If this happens again, do what he says. Go outside. Then we attack, all of us. An ambush.”

Lacy gave up on her seductive pose and moved closer. “Right. We'll teach this brain buster to mess with our friend.”

“Thanks. It's a thought.” I glanced at Richard. “But Richard here is the vamp enforcer. Maybe he can run down this guy. I've got too much to do to waste my time dealing with some vague threat.”

“Not so vague if he's trying to get you alone. For sex, do you think?” Flo bit her lip. She didn't like the idea of asking Richard for anything, obviously. But the former priest had a reputation for dealing with rogue vampires in a way that stopped the problems they were causing permanently.