“I hope you’re right.” Rafe put his hands on my shoulders. “I’m coming up on the roof with you. I want to watch how you handle the alley.” He shook his head when I started to object. “Old habit. Let me do this. It’ll only take a few minutes. Nadia’s still working on her makeup. I’ll be back before she’s got her eyeliner on straight.”
“Don’t interfere, Rafe. I am handling this. But if you want a front-row seat, for purely entertainment value, come ahead.” I slipped out of his grasp and headed for the door.
“Cocky, aren’t you? I hope that doesn’t work against you.” Rafe grumbled as he followed me up the stairs. On the roof, the sky was clear and the stars were out. It was a beautiful night. Too bad. A little cloud cover would have helped. But then the lights were out in the alley so that was okay. Not that I needed them to see Vivien and her tough guy crouched behind my Suburban. What? Did they think I’d go back to my car that wouldn’t start?
Maybe I was feeling a little cocky, but that was way better than the depression and defeatist attitude of the night before. I’d decided to have a little fun at Viv’s expense.
“Here goes.” I glanced at Rafe. “Payback for that hurt Ms. Westwood put on me.”
“Damn it, Glory. Be careful.” Rafe was talking to the flutter of my wings, as I’d already shape-shifted into a small brown bird that could land on a wire behind my stalkers without being noticed.
I settled on the wire and got into some mind reading. Interesting. Viv was aggravated that she’d broken a nail on that crossbow the night before. I chirped with pride when she blamed her misses on what she called my supersonic speed. Her sidekick called the whole thing a pain in his ass. But a paycheck. So he’d crouch here all night as long as he was getting the big bucks. Didn’t believe in this vampire shit. No way. But something was up with the chick from the night before, standing up to them like that. He could usually intimidate women with his size. I chirped again.
Back to Viv. Now she was worried about the rustling sounds coming from the Dumpster. Didn’t blame her. I’d smelled a rat as soon as I’d landed. And roaches. Trust me, I may be a bloodsucker, but I’m as freaked out by insects and rodents as any other sensible person. Phil the exterminator and I were bosom buddies, so to speak. I flashed cleavage and got the shop checked out twice a month at half price. Of course my own phobia didn’t mean I couldn’t use Viv’s to my advantage . . .
“You believe in vampires, Sean?” Viv moved closer to Sean when there was another rustle and a squeak from the Dumpster.
“Seems like that’s a question you shoulda asked yourself before you shot at that woman last night, Ms. Westwood. My answer is hell no.” Sean just barely kept from laughing. He was thinking that it was a shame rich people were nuts, but maybe he could use it to his advantage.
“Daddy was so sure. You saw his house. It’s full of vampire stuff.” Viv grabbed Sean’s arm. “Did you hear that?”
“What?” Sean pulled out a sidearm.
“I think there are rats out here.” Viv was having a hard time concentrating on vampires. Didn’t blame her. “Anyway, if the woman wasn’t a vampire, why didn’t she call the police? I wounded her last night.”
“Lots of reasons people don’t call the police. Maybe she’s running a little something illegal out of her shop here.” Sean shrugged and put his gun away. “I don’t see anything. You ready to leave?”
“Five more minutes. I’d like to talk to this woman. See what she and Dad had going. Maybe she can tell me where Daddy is or if ”—Viv’s voice cracked—“he’s alive. Those bodyguards swore she killed him. Maybe she was after his money. Wouldn’t have to be a vampire to be a greedy bitch.”
“True enough.” Sean sighed, obviously resigned to waiting.
A roach scuttled out from under my car, and he casually smashed it with his sneaker. Viv and I both jumped and squealed. Luckily mine came out as a chirp.
Greedy bitch? Westwood had come after me. I hopped off my perch and landed behind Viv. Another shift and I was ready to show Viv how a real monster worked. Not that Sean would have considered what I had in mind such a freak-out. But Viv would go absolutely nuts. Not even a glance at Sean’s lethal size twelves could stop me. Hey, I was pissed.
I eased around beside her really nice boots, gray suede, and crawled up the sole to the edge of her jeans. Inside gave me an interesting perspective and a fragrance in a “the woman used a really expensive body lotion” kind of way. It was almost too much as I headed north. I got to the top of her boot and hit the inside of her knee.
Hey, Viv, you’ve got a visitor.
“Oh, my God!”
She jumped, and I slid a few inches down a well-waxed and toned calf. Her squeal could have shattered glass. Nice.
“Ms. Westwood? What is it?” Sean’s deep voice was hushed and worried. “You see her?”
“No! There’s something, oh, oh, crawling on me!”
I scampered up until I was in ick territory, way too close to a pair of sheer black panties, then made a circuit of her thigh, doing a little impromptu break dance that made her squeak and screech. Plenty of room for dancing since she hadn’t favored tight jeans. She hopped around, doing a pretty good high kick until she jarred me loose. I slipped down to the top of one boot and almost fell inside, hanging on to the rim with both claws or whatever the hell cockroaches call those things they grab with.
“Hush, now. Someone could hear you. I reckon if there’s something illegal goin’ on in that shop, your girl could have muscle helping her. You want them to come check this alley?” Sean’s voice was soothing, and Viv froze, proving she wasn’t as dumb as she looked. “Where is it? Point and I’ll kill the sucker.”
Uh-oh. I clung tightly to my perch. I really didn’t want to end up inside, next to Viv’s bare foot. These were obviously last year’s favorites, if you get my drift. What had seemed like fun now wasn’t.
“Don’t hit me.” Viv shook her leg. “This is stupid. I don’t feel anything now. Must have been my imagination.”
Easy for her to say. At least I was slipping down the outside of her boot now and ready to run for freedom.
“There goes your imagination, lady.” Sean sounded gleeful. Viv shrieked.
Guess she’d seen me. I put on vamp speed at the sound of Sean’s shoes behind me. Could I be one of those flying roaches? I was all set to take wing when I was hit from behind and slammed into the brick wall at the back of the shop. I fell to the pavement and lay dazed and still. I knew better than to struggle to my feet. It was dark and from the sweet smell I figured I’d landed in, oh, great, a puddle of molasses from Mugs and Muffins next door. I’d be invisible to a mortal.
“Got him, Ms. Westwood. Ready to call it a night?”
“Yes. I need to talk to my brother. This vampire thing is nuts. Daddy was, sorry to say it, a little nuts too. That will makes no sense, and I’m not doing this. We need to lawyer up and see what we can do to get the estate settled.” Viv sounded determined. “But we need to find Daddy or his, um, body. This Glory St. Clair may have killed him. She looked like the kind of woman who would go after a rich man and take advantage.” Viv sniffled. “Poor Daddy. Bet he tried to break up with her and she wouldn’t accept it.”
How did I get to be the bad guy? I wanted to shift and tear out her throat. I even tried to move my foot, but the sticky mess held me prisoner.
“Is some money missing? Maybe you need to check your daddy’s accounts.”
“Good idea, Sean. I find checks made out to this St. Clair woman, I’ll make sure you get a bonus. A very generous bonus.” Viv’s voice faded as they headed out.
I lay there, utterly miserable, and decided to console myself with a taste of my bed of pain. Because that kick hadn’t exactly been a love bump. Molasses. No, maple syrup. Mmm. Too bad I couldn’t do more than lick my wing. Mortals would have enjoyed a stack of pancakes with this stuff. I’d heard the coffee shop made killer muffins with maple syrup and brown sugar. I wallowed in self-pity, dreaming of a muffin and wondering if I should try to shift back to my vampire self. I dreaded it. I’d ruin my outfit if I went to Glory form while lying here.
“Glory, what were you thinking?” Rafe stared down at me.
I figured that didn’t deserve an answer so I closed my eyes and stayed put, silent and mortified. A cockroach covered in maple syrup. Could I be more wretched? Sure. I could lie here and be reamed out by Rafe. And I had it coming. I’d pulled a stupid, impulsive stunt and had no defense.
“Is she all right?” Nadia.
Well, if that didn’t put the icing on my shit cake. I opened my eyes and saw Rafe reaching for me.
“Don’t move, Glory, I’m going to be very careful. You don’t want to lose a foot or, uh, wing.” Damn it, he was trying not to laugh.
“Not funny, Rafe.” If my thoughts seemed a little defensive, blame it on the fact that my mouth was sealed closed except where I darted out my tongue for a last lick of that delicious syrup. Rafe didn’t say another word, just eased me out of my sticky prison.
Between Rafe’s gentle handling and Nadia’s excellent self-control—not a smile on her gorgeous face—I would have cried if I thought roaches had tear ducts.
“That woman was the enemy after you?” Nadia glanced down the alley. “We should have left Glory here a little longer and taken care of her when we had the chance, Rafael.”
“No, Glory asked us to wait and try to solve the problem another way, so that’s what we’ll do.” Rafe had me out of the mess. Now he nodded toward Nadia. “I’ve got shop keys in my left front pocket. Would you pull them out? We need the red one.”
“Of course.” Nadia grinned and took her time probing Rafe’s pocket. At one point he grunted and gave her a look that should have warned her off, but she just laughed and finally held up the set of keys. “Got them.”