“I gave her my lucky numbers. And she bought quick picks with the rest. I say we have a pretty good shot.” Will nudged Lacy’s knees. “Come on, pretty lady. Agree to a split and I’ll make it worth your while.” I swear if a dog could leer, Will was doing it with a wiggle of his furry eyebrows.
“What makes you think I’d be interested, dog boy?” Lacy grinned at me. “What do you say, Glory? Is the fur face here worth half a jackpot?”
“See for yourself, lass.” Will was suddenly in human form, naked, of course, and too close to Lacy.
“Will! You know that’s against the rules.” I looked, of course. A fine looking male body is always a treat, even if it is a Kilpatrick male.
Flo’s arm dropped off my shoulders. “Dio mio. You are in excellent shape, William.”
“Of course I am. That’s why Blade asked me to do this gig.”
“Blade is doing you a favor, asshole. Get back in dog form before I tell him to dock your pay.” Valdez looked like he was itching to take a chunk out of Will’s well-toned ass.
“Yeah, you’d be a bloody snitch, now, wouldn’t you?” Will strutted around the room, not the least bit self-conscious while three women looked him over. I tossed him a throw pillow.
“Cover yourself. Valdez is right. You’re supposed to stay in dog form for the duration.”
“Just giving Lacy here a preview of things to come.” Will grinned and held the pillow over his impressive package. “And if we win together, Lacy my love, there’s a little boutique hotel in Paris that has a rooftop hot tub. You and me and the Eiffel Tower in the background, baby.” He dropped to his knees in front of Lacy. She was flushed and no longer smiling. “What do you say, lass?
Fifty-fifty?”
“Half of nothing is nothing.” Flo had lost interest since Lacy was getting the male attention. “You won’t win.”
“I agree. Fifty-fifty.” Lacy reached out to touch Will’s handsome face, like to check if she was really seeing what she was seeing. Then Will was back in dog form. “God, but you’re fast at that. It takes me a full minute to shift.”
“I got the knack, baby. Wait until Paris. You’ll see what else I’ve got the knack for.” Will trotted up to me, a grin on his furry face. “As for Blade, his little paycheck won’t matter if I hit the jackpot.”
Valdez was by my side, his leash in his mouth. “Will’s lying low, Glory. Gambling debts. Like someone else we know, he’s got a serious problem. We need to take him to a GA meeting.”
“Yeah, I figured that out.” Gamblers Anonymous. I’d spent a lot of time in those meetings. I hadn’t even checked them out since I’d arrived in Austin, but talk of winning the lottery reminded me of the lure of easy money. Not that money had ever come easy to me.
I clipped on the leash, then grabbed another one for Will. “Behave, Will. Lacy, you want to go to church with us?”
Lacy was still a little bemused. I wasn’t sure if it was Will’s shifting speed or his human form that had her that way. “No, thanks, I’m staying home and catching some things. I mean catching up.”
“Hey, cat girl, you do what you got to do to survive. Right, Valdez?” Will looked at Flo. “And, Florence, if Paris doesn’t work out, I’ve got a line on a villa on Capri that you and I could check out together.”
Flo looked thoughtful. “I love Capri.”
“Would you women snap out of it? The guy’s a loser, in debt to some serious muscle, and shedding fur on your clothes.”
Valdez chuffed and bumped against me. “Glory, tell me you’re not falling for Prince Charming here.”
“No way.” Blame it on VV hangover, but Will’s naked body was burned into my brain. A hot tub in Paris, a villa in Capri. He did have interesting ideas. “I say Will needs an intervention and a twelve-step program. And I should know.”
Twenty-One
The entrance to the church was crowded as always. Flo and I nodded to acquaintances, sniffed out a few fellow vampires, then settled into seats near the back. I have an unfortunate habit of levitating when I get into singing along with the choir. It’s like Heaven is calling me. I rise, literally. A female vampire about CiCi’s age sat next to me. She’d helped me before when I’d had liftoff during a song. She was English, wore pretty hats and expensive suits, and smelled vaguely familiar and not just in a vampire way. I pondered the smell during the first songs, then forgot all about it.
Flo and I dig this church because of the message. Happiness, making the most of life, the fact that God loves you no matter what you might have done in the past. The hunky charismatic Pastor John seemed to look right at us even from the big screen TVs placed around the huge sanctuary. He exhorted us to look forward, not back, for the source of satisfaction in our life. Good idea. Back was not so great.
I glanced at Flo and wondered what her forward looked like. The preacher asked us to bow our heads and try to focus on what we really wanted in our future. I closed my eyes and saw a successful shop, good friends and Blade. Richard drifted in there too. Probably because we’d seen so much of each other the night before. He did have an incredible body and—
The woman next to me gave me a sharp elbow in the ribs. Oh, yeah, one of those damned, excuse me, darned mind reading vampires. She sent me a mental message to remember where I was. Church. Not the place for thoughts of hot male bodies and—
Oops. Another elbow. Flo looked over at me and grinned. She hadn’t missed the byplay. She met the woman’s eyes, lost her smile, but nodded. Like maybe she really did know her. I tried to read elbow lady’s mind, but had no luck. The music started again and I was off and running. I fought the urge to fly up toward the ceiling and had to concentrate to stay down and inconspicuous. The service was over and we were shaking hands with those around us when elbow lady finally spoke.
“Gloriana, I’m Sarah Mainwaring.” She smiled. “I believe you know my son.”
“You’re Richard’s mother?” My mouth dropped open. Wow. If Richard had been a crusader and this was his mother . . .
“A lady never reveals her age, right, Florence?” Sarah smiled at Flo who wasn’t looking all that thrilled.
“Signora.” Flo bobbed her head and made a move like she was ready to leave.
“Wait! I’m surprised I haven’t seen you at some of the vampire meetings, Mrs. Mainwaring. Or with Richard.”
“Please call me Sarah, Gloriana. I’m afraid my son and I don’t always agree on things.” Sarah gave Flo a look, like maybe his fling with the Italian bombshell had been one of those not agreeing issues. “We usually go our separate ways.” She gestured, her hands graceful. “You don’t see him here, for example. I think he’s worried I’ve become a heretic. We were Catholics so very long ago.”
“Weren’t we all.” Flo muttered, putting her hand on my elbow. “We left Glory’s dogs outside, Sarah. See you around. ”
“Please come by my shop sometime.” When I’d first seen this lady, I’d felt drawn to her. Like CiCi, she was a motherly type, one of the few female vampires not still twentysomething. I know, I’m hopeless thinking I could have a mother figure in my life, but Sarah was English, from the feather in her black felt hat, to the tips of her sensible leather pumps. She reminded me of my roots.
“Thank you, Gloriana. You’re most gracious.” Sarah held out her hand and I took it. Whoa. What kind of trick was this? I felt the zing from my palm to my toes as Sarah probed my mind, digging in my dark corners like a miner looking for gold. I was afraid all she’d find was bat guano. I threw up a block, but it crashed against a brick wall. Finally I managed to wrench my hand from hers. I breathed a sigh of relief when the connection was broken.
“That was intense. Next time you drive your back hoe into my brain, try asking permission.”
“Then I’d never learn anything interesting, Gloriana.” Sarah ignored Flo and focused on me.
“Did you see what you were looking for?” Behind me, Flo said something under her breath about nosy bitches.
“What I found, was that you don’t know your own heart, my dear. I saw Jeremiah Campbell.” I gaped at her and she smiled.
“Oh, yes, I know him and his parents.”
“Lucky you.” Now it was my turn to mutter nasties.
“I like to think so. But my son is not so lucky. He has a habit of becoming attached to unavailable women.” She lasered a look at Flo that could have melted steel. “I hope you’ll think long and hard before you lead him to believe you could have real feelings for him.”
“They’ve had one date, Sarah. I hardly think you need to jump in and do the ‘mommie dearest’ thing yet.” Obviously Flo had been on the receiving end of that treatment.
Sarah just smiled. “Richard never allows my interference. And in your case, Florence, dear, it was hardly necessary. He saw through your tricks soon enough.”
I stepped between Flo and Sarah and prayed for some kind of distraction. It came in the form of my dog, one of them anyway. Will, trailing his leash, staggered into the sanctuary, an absolute no-no, and fell at my feet.
“Will! What happened? Are you hurt?” I dropped to my knees and put my arm around him. Then I sniffed. “You’ve been drinking!”
“Fine Scotch whiskey, lassie.” Will licked my cheek, then rested his head on his paws. “My lucky day.”
“Where’s Valdez?” I jumped up and looked around. No sign of him.
“Gone. Told me left a message. On cell phone. Don’t know how. Dumb dog.” Will snorted, then fell into a stupor. I dug in my purse and found my phone. I’d turned it off in church of course. Now I switched it on and saw I had a message.
“Blade’s called me off, Glory. Guess he’s decided Mara does it for him and you can take care of yourself. Sorry to stick you with Will, but he’s paid till the end of the month. I figure I’m due some vacation time and I’m more than ready to be out of this dog body. See ya.”