"If you want to wear any of my things, Lucky, you'd better find your own boyfriends." Flo sat next to Richard on the couch and put a proprietary hand on his muscular thigh.
"No worries." Lucky held up her hands in surrender, but she was still obviously checking Jerry out.
"Glory, did you order more Fangtastic? We're almost out." Flo glanced at Lucky. "With a guest here, it will go fast. Unless we go out-"
"Maybe I'll order that new brand. I got an e-mail with a coupon for it. Will was raving about it the other day." William Kilpatrick had been an auxiliary guard dog for me recently. But constant shifting into his more human vampire form had made keeping him on impossible. Sue me. A guard dog is one thing, but when you can picture him as a hunky male, things get a little too freaky. Jerry had paid him off, but Will was still in town, looking for more work.
"Will? That's not Will Kilpatrick, is it?" Lucky tore her gaze from Blade's biceps and actually focused on me.
"Why do you want to know?" This couldn't be good. I knew Will had a thing for gambling. We had that in common. But while I'd kicked my habit with a twelve-step program, Will never even admitted he had a problem.
"He's one of the clients I came to Austin to find." Lucky jumped up. "You think he could have attacked me? With a debt the size of his, I figure he's suspect number one."
"Will wouldn't-" I wasn't sure what exactly to tell Lucky. The look in her eyes said slash now, ask questions later. Pain in the butt or not, I liked Will. And I had to sympathize on the gambling issue. It's a sickness. Valdez pushed his head under my hand. I smiled down at him. He's gotten really good at sensing my moods, and right now I was seriously conflicted.
"So it is him. Do you know where to find him?"
"He's probably across the hall, with Lacy. She's his newest lover." Flo obviously didn't care if Will got ripped a new one. He'd ignored her in favor of hitting on Lacy. Of course Flo hadn't exactly been herself when Will had come to town. Will and I aren't the only vampires with addictions.
"Lacy Devereau?" Lucky was on her feet. "She's the were-cat I met last night." She picked up her purse, realized it was now mine and dropped it with a thump. "Damn it, Glory, where did you put my knives?"
"You think Lacy set you up for Will?" I was nose to nose with Lucky now. "Lacy wouldn't do that. She works for me. She's not a killer. In fact, a vampire attacked her in the shop last night. A customer scared him off or she'd be victim number two." Hmm. Lacy was an immortal. Could she be drained dry? Or turned vampire? I had no idea and didn't want to find out.
"Did she recognize her attacker?" Jerry was on his feet, his hand on my arm. "Could he have been after you, Gloriana?"
"I don't know. Lacy said she thought he was an EV. Apparently Derek's been showing off the pictures he took out at their compound." I covered Jerry's hand with mine and squeezed. "Simon swore-"
"That he wouldn't hurt you or your friends. Not that he wouldn't try to drive you out of business."
"He would too, Glory." Flo was on my other side. "That bastard." She turned to Lucky. "Simon Destiny calls himself King of the Energy Vampires. Pah! He's nothing but a demon's servant." Flo straightened her shoulders. "We should go out there again. I've heard the demon he serves is terrified of spiders. We get a bunch of tarantulas and-"
"Whoa, Spidey. I, for one, don't want to anger a demon. But I've got to be able to run my business without my clerks being scared off, or worse."
"Kings? Demons? I don't know who or what the hell you're talking about and I don't care." Lucky looked like she was ready to kickbox someone to hell and back. "I bet Will attacked me. You have any idea how much he owes my family?" Lucky charged into the kitchen. I heard drawers slamming and knew exactly what she was doing. Sure enough, she came out with a wicked-looking steak knife in each hand.
"I'm impressed that you're obviously ambidextrous, but you're not going to need those here." I used a vamp move to snatch them out of her hands.
"Son of a . . ." Lucky looked around the room but nobody offered to help. We all knew and liked Lacy. And as for Will? His sister had been married to Jerry's best friend. Jerry had known the Kilpatricks forever. It would take proof out the wazoo before he'd lift a finger against Will.
"If you'll calm down and promise to behave, I'll call Lacy and Will over here and we'll find out the truth." I stared into Lucky's eyes until she stalked over to a chair and sat down.
Valdez snorted and she gave him the evil eye.
"Are you laughing at me, dog breath?" She crossed her legs and pretended to aim a kick in his direction. "I'm the one who almost died. And the last person I saw before the attack might be right across the hall. If that bitch set me up . . ."
"You're wrong." I threw open the door and walked across the hall to knock on Lacy's door. First though, I sent a mental message to Richard and Jerry to stop Lucky if she lunged in Lacy's direction."Hi, Glory. What's up?" Lacy was dressed in skinny jeans and a tank top. You'd never know to look at her that she's were-cat. Not that I should think in stereotypes of course. I mean, look at me. I sure don't fit in with the pale, thin and brooding vampires you see in the movies. Instead I look, um, healthy. Like I never missed a meal, or a snack or . . . you get the picture.
"How are you doing, Lacy? Is your mother still here?"
"No, thank God. I convinced her I'm okay, but she's on the warpath. At least she didn't run into Will last night. You heard how she feels about vampires. If she knew I was letting one sleep over . . ."
"Is Will here?"
"Sure, you need him for something?"
"Can you both come over to my place for a minute? It's important." I kept Lacy from seeing inside my apartment. If she had set up Lucky . . . No, I couldn't think that. She was my good friend as well as an employee who would be hell to replace. I pay a decent commission, but clerking in a vintage-clothing store isn't exactly the fast track to big bucks. Employee turnover is a bitch.
"Sure, give us a minute and we'll be right over." Lacy looked back over her shoulder. "Will's putting a roast in the oven." Yep, Will cooks, even trained in Paris at the Cordon Bleu, night classes. He's a born vampire, not "made" like me or Lucky. Born vamps can eat and drink and even procreate if the planets are aligned or something. They also consider themselves superior to us made types. And for good reason. I sniffed and smelled garlic. No, it's not a vamp repellant like some legends claim. It just smelled delicious. Which is pure torture to a noneating vampire like me.
"What's up, Glory?" Lacy smiled tentatively. "You need to hire Will again?" She lowered her voice. "Which would be great. He really needs the money."
"We'll discuss things when you both get over here."
"Fine." Lacy turned and I hustled back into my own place.
"They're coming." Lucky and Jerry had settled at the kitchen table with a couple of bottles of Fangtastic. How cozy. "No one is going off half-cocked. Right, Lucky?"
Lucky looked up from her study of a knife that had probably come out of Jerry's ankle holster. "Blade says you can find out the truth with some kind of mind control. Prove Will and Lacy didn't conspire to take me out and I'll drop it." She handed the knife back to Jerry.
I'll be damned if she didn't brush her fingertips across his wrist. And he smiled, like he wouldn't mind letting those fingers take a tour of his more interesting places. I thought about giving Lucky a new do-something short and spicy because I'd ripped half her expensive hair out by the roots. Then Jerry winked at me. Maybe I'd jerk his lovely locks out too. Though, damn him, he'd probably still look good enough to . . . never mind.
The hall door opened.
"Allow me." Richard was in front of Will before I could say "Wait for me, Batman." Flo did the same thing to Lacy. We'd caught them off guard. Because they hadn't had time to block or look away. Instead they were both under the whammy, staring slack jawed and vacant eyed and at our mercy.
"You guys make quite a tag team." Lucky walked over to where Will and Lacy stood like zombies. Well, not exactly like zombies, because, trust me, once you've seen and smelled a real one you'll never-Okay, I needed to focus. Lucky waved her hand in front of their eyes. "Un-freakin'-believable. Now what happens?"
"Now I ask them questions and they have to tell the truth. No choice. This is what I call the whammy." I gently shoved Richard and Flo aside and got in Will's face. "Will, did you try to kill Lucky Carver night before last?" He got a puzzled look on his face. "Who? I didn't try to kill anyone. I shape-shifted into cat form and Lacy and I got it on that way. Man, was the fur flying!"
I put my fingers over his lips. Too much information and the visual had veered into yuck territory.
"Lacy, did you meet Lucky Carver in our alley?"
"Yes, I owed her family money. I paid her off, including all that damned interest, then hooked up with Will." She smiled. "He is the most incredible-"
Now I had to cover her lips. "Did you see anyone else when you were meeting with Lucky? A vampire in the alley?"
"Didn't see one. Smelled one, but figured I wasn't the only client Lucky was meeting. Her bodyguard was there, a badass shifter who kept giving me the evil eye. Me, I couldn't wait to get out of there. Will had promised-"
"Okay, I get it. Now shut up." I turned to Lucky, who was breathing down my neck.
"That was incredible. You've got to teach me how to do that." She turned to Jerry. "Or maybe you could."
"It's easier with mortals. Weres and vamps can block you if they know what you're trying to do. That's why we ambushed them. And you've got to make eye contact." Jerry looked at Richard. "I suppose it's possible the same vampire who attacked Lucky went after Lacy the next night. Maybe he or she thought Lacy saw something."