"Have you showered with him? Surely he'd take the glasses off to shower."
"No, we haven't done the shower thing yet." She bit her lip. "Tonight. I'll get him in there tonight and see if I can read his mind, if you really think it's necessary. What are you worried about, Glory?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'm getting paranoid. But with so many people out to get us, I'm entitled. I'd just feel more comfortable if you could read Ryan's mind, make sure he doesn't have a clue about who or what we really are."
"I've thought about telling him the truth." Lacy really had it bad. She was swaying to the ballad on the radio, the teddy clutched to her breast.
"Snap out of it, Lacy. Most mortals can't handle the truth."
"You're right." Good-bye dreamy look, hello worry.
I felt low for bringing her down. Maybe Valdez was right. I was a downer.
"Enjoy Ryan while you can. If you decide we can trust him, we will." I patted her shoulder. "Can you make someone immortal?"
"Werecats are born, not made. So when I mate with a mortal, I'm setting myself up for eventual loss." Lacy sighed.
"Blade or Damian could turn him for you. If you thought he'd want to be vampire."
"Really?" Lacy lit up. "So we could be together forever?"
"Just a thought. I haven't asked them, but even Flo can turn mortals. Not me. I don't do that." I heard the bells tinkle on the front door. "It's a personal thing."
"Right." Lacy put the teddy in her purse. "Take this out of my pay, will you? That's Ryan. I'd know his smell anywhere. See you later." She headed out into the shop, stopping in the doorway. "And, Glory, I'll let you know what I find out."
"Thanks. And consider the teddy a gift. Enjoy." I smiled. Young love. It had been so long since I'd felt that first flush of infatuation. Way too long. But I'd had an incredible night with Blade. Infatuation wasn't nearly as great as the real deal. Oops. If I wasn't careful, I was going to end up in a threesome with Mara and Blade. Not going to happen. Mara had to go—I didn't care where—before I'd fall into bed with Blade again.
I picked up my cell phone and hit the speed dial for Damian. Voice mail. I left a message that I needed to talk to him and hung up.
The door opened and bells tinkled. Vampire. A woman I recognized from the wake for Margie walked in carrying a pile of clothes. Wheeling and dealing kept me busy for the next hour. I was alone when the door opened again and Damian came in. He was grinning of course. Like I'd called him asking for more sex, the real thing this time.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Damian, but this is about Flo." I threw up a block. Maybe I was getting used to pain, but it wasn't as much of an effort as it had once been.
"My sister is in trouble." Damian lost his smile. "What's happened?"
"I don't know that she's in trouble, but she and Valdez tracked down Richard Mainwaring last night." I glanced at Valdez. When Damian had crossed the threshold, the dog had jumped up and looked ready to take a chunk out of my visitor at the slightest provocation.
"Did she kill him?" Damian's fangs shot out and I shivered. Whoa, this man could go from charming seducer to homicidal vamp in less time than it took me to blink.
"No. He's not our guy." Valdez bared his teeth. " Flo and I believed him."
"You believed him." Damian looked down and snarled. "My sister who thinks with her"—he said an Italian word that probably meant a female body part—"and a dumb mutt believed him."
" You want to take on this dumb mutt, asshole?" Valdez morphed into his attack mode and I stepped back.
"Stop it!" I said bravely from behind the counter. "A customer could come in."
"So we'll erase some memory." Damian and Valdez had locked eyes and it looked like neither one was giving an inch.
"Valdez, I forbid you to attack Damian." My dog knew the rules. He couldn't disobey a direct order from me. No matter what. He glared at me, almost willing me to change my mind. I shook my head.
"Can you tell us where you saw Mainwaring? Where Damian might look for Flo?" Valdez sat and scratched his ear. " Maybe."
"Damn it, let me rip out his throat, Glory. You will be well rid of this mangy beast." Valdez just wagged his tail, obviously not concerned. Hey, I was concerned enough for both of us.
"Tell him, Valdez. Where do you think Flo and Mainwaring went?"
"He's got a garage apartment on Lamar Street. Yellow with brown trim. It's on a corner.""Address?" I put on my sternest look. "Damian is not going to drive up and down Lamar, which my customers tell me is one of the longest streets in Austin, looking for brown and yellow houses."
"You got that right." Damian looked like he really wanted to kick my dog.
"Don't even think about hurting this dog, Damian. I mean it." I stepped between them.
" Sixteen twelve Lamar." Valdez pushed his head under my hand. I swear he was grinning at Damian. Like he'd won or something. Jerk.
"North or South?" In Austin that made a difference.
" South. Satisfied?" Valdez scratched his ear. " When you gonna pick up some more flea shampoo?" Damian spun on his heel and headed for the door.
"Let me know what you find out," I said to his back. He nodded and disappeared into the night.
"You could have been more helpful."
"I told you. Mainwaring's okay. If I were you, I'd worry more about Sabatini." Food for thought. But now the evening stretched out endlessly. The hours crept past, especially the ones when no customers showed up to distract me. At one point I popped over to Diana's to get a Bloody Merry. Diana wasn't there. So I paid and returned to my lonely post.
The bells on the door tinkled and I looked up eagerly. Blade and Mara.
Blade looked around. "Are you alone?"
"Yes, it's the slow time of night." I walked out from behind the counter. "Welcome to my shop, Mara." See? I can be gracious.
"It is… quaint." Mara strolled over to finger a fifties cocktail dress. She was still in her tight jeans but had thrown on a leather jacket against the chilly evening air. "Good quality, but why on earth would anyone buy used clothes?"
"You'd be surprised." I really liked that jacket she wore, talk about quality. "You ever want to clean out your closet, come see me. I pay a fair price."
Mara's nose went up like she'd just caught a whiff of something nasty, like my lack of class. "I donate my castoffs to a worthy cause."
"I'm glad you can afford to do that." I wasn't going to let her get to me. Of course she'd never had to work a day in her life. From privileged birth to wealthy husband. I glanced at Jerry. My own fault I hadn't snagged a rich husband of my own.
"Mara, didn't you want to say something?"
I swear Blade's stern voice had all the authority of a father chiding a naughty child. Mara's chin went up and she looked inclined to argue. Then she met Blade's gaze. Whoa. He was steamed with her. On account of me?
"Gloriana, I apologize if I frightened you earlier. With the knife." Mara made it sound like I was a wimp who couldn't handle a little joke. "You know I wasn't really going to hurt you."
"Do I? Know that?" Sure I was going to make her squirm. She didn't mean a word of what she'd just said and obviously just wanted to keep Blade happy. Did I want to keep Blade happy? Not enough to just roll over and accept this pseudoapology.
"Gloriana, Mara's truly sorry." Blade had his hand on her arm. "Aren't you? And it won't happen again. Will it?" Mara winced and it was all I could do not to happy dance. Don't you love it when the good guys come out on top?
"I understand that Jeremiah esteems you, Gloriana. And that if I want to stay with him, I must esteem you as well." Mara had her lady of the manor gig going.
I could either keep resisting and sound like the low-born chit who'd played the Globe, or try on my own dignified lady of the manor act. Oh, what the hell.
"Thank you, Mara. I accept your apology." I smiled at Blade. "Is this the only reason you came by?"
"No, we have news." Blade let Mara go and moved closer to me. "We have a man inside who's willing to help us. With West wood."
"That's great. What are you going to do? Poison Westwood?" I glanced at Mara. "Hit him from the air when he's vulnerable?"
"I'm still working out the details." Blade frowned. "Poison seems like the coward's way out." Mara smiled. "Yes, it does. We want a fight. We want to stare into Westwood's eyes when the life leaves his body."
"That may be your idea of fun, Mara, but if we can stop Westwood with something as simple as arsenic in his spaghetti, then I think we should do it. Before he kills again." I put my hand on Blade's arm. "I know you want a fight, Jerry, but think about all the people who are already on Westwood's hit list. Get this over with quickly. So we can go about our lives without looking over our shoulders constantly."
"You have a good point, Gloriana." Blade leaned down to drop a kiss on my lips. "We must go. Mara and I are meeting our man tonight. I'll let you know what happens."
"Great. Thanks." I watched them leave. And of course Mara couldn't resist sending me a hate-filled look over her shoulder. Once a bitch, always a bitch. Boy, did I need a distraction.
"Hey, Harvey, Emmie Lou. Are you hanging around tonight?" Yep, I was that desperate for company. Valdez had practically danced around Blade the whole time he'd been here, but now he snoozed by the door. He looked at me for a moment, then went back to his nap. He was used to the spirits and obviously didn't see them as a danger so he ignored them unless objects started flying around the room.