"Rough night?"
"Not at all." He smiled his famous guaranteed-to-seduce-you smile and winked. "In fact, it just got even better. Looking good, Glory." He took another swig from the bottle. "You here to kiss me at midnight?" Would you believe it? I felt myself flush like a grade-school groupie. "No, I'm here to keep you from doing something stupid." I gestured at the bottle. "That working for you, Ray?"
"Hell, no." He held up the bottle. "It tastes the same, but I'm not even feeling a buzz. What's that about?" Ray might not be feeling a buzz, but I sure was. Inside, someone had put on one of his love songs. There were some groans, but then the lights dimmed and I could see people pairing off, slow dancing to the seductive tune. Good distraction from talk of midnight boat rides. While Ray sang with the kind of passion that made a woman turn to liquid right where it counts, the men obviously figured it was time for some indoor sport.
The last time we'd been alone together, Ray had even made some moves toward me. If I weren't involved with Jerry Well, Israel Caine was and is temptation wrapped in a delicious package.
I deliberately blocked out all sexy soundsthoughts, whateverand focused on the problem at hand. Ray was still making serious inroads on that bottle. He was my responsibility.
"Listen, Ray. You want a buzz?" I glanced over my shoulder, but with the glass doors closed and a general lack of attention from inside, I was sure no one could hear me. "Bite one of your mortal buds in there." That got Ray's attention. I make no secret of the fact that I'm strictly a synthetic-blood drinker. No biting mortals for me.
"What the hell?"
"I mean it. You'll get the buzz. But I have to warn you: If you suck down enough blood from a drunk, you'll have a hell of a hangover later. Booze is like poison to you now. And that really wicked hangover will last days, maybe weeks. You've got obligations after the first of the year, don't you? Can you afford to feel like death warmed over for that long?" Ray looked away from me to stare at the water again. "Yeah, obligations. Always. People depending on me. Fans wanting a piece of me. And now that I'm a freakin' vampire, I have to do it all at night." He barked out a laugh. "Man, welcome to my pisspoor pity party, Gloriana St. Clair."
"You're entitled. Lucky played a damned dirty trick on you." Lucky. A vampire who'd turned Ray in her own little revenge drama, then dumped him on me. I looked at Ray's perfect profile. At the long, dark hair that drifted over his shoulders. His white silk shirt blew in the slight wind off the lake and showed off his buff bod. He was tall and lean in worn jeans, his feet bare. Long, narrow feet. My heart thumped, and I reminded myself I was supposed to be immune. Because of Jerry. Of course I was.
"You know, I always denied I had a drinking problem, but I was really thinking about checking myself into rehab before this happened." Ray set the bottle on the wooden rail, grimaced, then tipped it over. We both watched it tumble down until it hit the rocks below and shattered into dozens of pieces.
"I'm sorry, Ray." And not a bit surprised. I devoured anything the tabloids printed about Ray. His drinking had been a hot topic.
"Didn't you promise me a boat ride once?" Yeah, I was a sucker for a sob story. Besides, Ray wasn't drunk. And I figured it wouldn't hurt to offer him a distraction.
"You want to go? Seriously?" He smiled, suddenly looking alive again, as if the pity party had never happened.
"If you meant it when you said you weren't even feeling the buzz."
"Yeah. Let me prove it. Believe me, I've been through the drill dozens of times. You can ask my lawyer." Ray walked a straight line, then did the fingers to the nose thing. "Want me to count too?"
"No, I believe you. Valdez says you have an elevator down to the boat dock."
"It's right over here. Let's ditch the bodyguards. Just you and me. Are you up for it? Or don't you think we'll be safe?" He grinned, probably expecting me to be my usual cautious self.
"I can swim, sort of. You can swim." I'd seen the butt shot of him skinny-dipping in Star Snoops. "What kind of trouble can we get into out in the middle of a lake late at night?" Would you like a list? Sometimes I can be such an idiot.
Chapter Two
"Nice boat, Ray," I shouted as we roared across the lake. Leave it to rock star Israel Caine to have one of those lethal-looking speedboats. It was a sexy red with white leather seats and noisy as hell. Bet his neighbors loved his late-night rides. Me, not so much.
"Not cold, are you?" Ray grinned and turned the wheel so we were heading away from the lights of several houses clustered along the shore.
"What do you take me for? A wimp? Or do you just want me to come closer?" Vampires don't get cold. A nice perk along with immortality, something to do with our metabolism. I watched the wind press Ray's silk shirt against him, a good distraction from the way the boat was hitting the water. I gripped the chrome rail before I was tossed overboard. "My hair's going to be wild."
"Watch it, Wonder Woman, you're bending the hand rail." Ray throttled back the engine until we were practically coasting in the darkness. "Closer is good. And I like my women wild." He reached over and brushed some curls from my face. "But I think you know that."
"Yeah. I read the fanzines and the blogs." I tried for a careless shrug. Tough when his fingers lingered near my left ear. "Since we've become an item, I can't seem to help myself." Long story. Pretending to be Ray's flavor of the month had explained my involvement in his life while I tried to teach him what he needed to know as a new vampire. Since I could stand to lose a few pounds, especially in the hip area, I'm a novelty in rock-star world. The tabloids had started a
"Glory watch" and chubby women everywhere had clasped me to their well-endowed bosoms. Several blogs were dedicated to me too. Yeah, to not so little old me. Cool, huh?
"They'll move on as soon as another drunk star plows a Bentley into a tree. Don't get too hung up on the hype." Ray's hand slid off my cheek and he peered into the darkness. "Did you hear something?"
Besides the pounding of my heart and my inner slut screaming at me to jump Ray's way too sexy bones? I shook my head. Damn. He'd decided to hold on to the chrome steering wheel instead of me.
"Listen, Glory. I think someone's calling for help." He pointed in front of us. "What the hell's that?" I jerked my brain into drive and looked around. A strange light shimmered and floated a few feet above the water just yards away. I'm not easily spooked and unless the mother ship appeared in front of us, I was more interested in Ray right now than fog and reflections.
"Spirits maybe. I've heard there are sacred Indian burial grounds on the shore of Lake Travis." I'm down with spirits. Two ghosts call my shop home. "Hippie Hollow's along here too. Customers say it was a popular area for skinny-dipping back in the sixties." Was I hinting? Hmm. When Ray didn't ask for directions, I shut up and listened. I'll be damned. I did hear a faint plaintive cry for help.
"Cut the engine, Ray. You're right. I do hear someone."
Ray turned off the engine and we both listened intently Except for the slap of the water against the hull, it was eerily silent.
"He lp. Pleeeease help meee." The voice was high -pitched and singsongy.
I slapped my hands over my bleeding ears, then sucked it up and looked around the lake, trying to pinpoint the direction the voice had originated from. It seemed to have no relation to the floating light that had drifted away like a phosphorescent cloud. I glanced at Ray.
"Can you tell where it's coming from?" I whispered, in case the person called out again. How creepy to be stranded in this vast lake. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm strictly a land lover. Water just isn't my element. I can swim enough to stay afloat, barely. But Lake Travis is huge, miles across and filled with all sorts of wiggly, slimy, creepy, well, things that a vampire should just shrug off, but I never could. What can I say? Inside I'm still a girly girl who jumps on chairs when a cockroach scurries across the kitchen floor. Go figure.
"Not a clue. See anything?" Ray leaned forward when the voice sang out again, louder this time.
"Heeelp. What are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?" This last was a screech. Ray and I winced and both pointed at the same time. The voice was definitely coming from our right. But if this person was in the water and in real trouble, she was in need of an attitude adjustment. The screech had been female and in bitch mode. I should know. I've come up against more than a few bitches in my four hundred plus years and could give this one a run for her money if it came to a bitch-off. Yeah, I'm a girly girl with attitude when it's called for.
"Hold on, honey. We're on our way." Ray cranked the engine and turned the wheel toward the voice. We chugged slowly through the water. He had a searchlight on the bow and nodded to me to aim it ahead of us. I figured we'd see someone in a lifejacket, or maybe in a boat with engine trouble. I was hoping for the boat. The water was really cold, though for New Year's Eve, Austin was almost balmy at forty degrees. Got to love Texas winters. A mortal wouldn't though, not tonight. They'd be in serious danger of hypothermia.
I scanned the water ahead of us with the searchlight. What Ray and I saw floating in front of us made us both gasp. When the engine went dead, we couldn't even speak. Because we were paralyzed. Yep. Frozen stiff. And not from the cold. Talk about a freak-out. I couldn't move so much as my little finger. And, believe me, I concentrated until I thought my brain would burst.
"God, what a night. A twofer." The creature climbed into the boat, making it rock and sloshing us both with cold water. Not that we could complain. We were statues. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
"Sorry I had to trick you like that, sweeties, but that's what I do. I'm a Siren. You know, the kind that makes ships wreck, makes sailors steer into the rocks, like that." The beast actually giggled.