Real Vampires Hate Skinny Jeans (28 page)

A
couple of weeks went by. My life was actually getting back to normal. Hah! As if I knew what normal looked like. I couldn’t get a handle on my new identity for one thing. Gloriana the Siren turned vampire had to be careful even waiting on a male customer. I felt like I should wear a surgical mask so I wouldn’t spread my fatal attraction. It would have helped with my red cheeks too. I laid foundation and cover stick on with a trowel and still looked like I’d spent too long under a sunlamp.

Rafe, of course, wanted to be there for me. I had to gently remind him of his promise to move on with his life. He didn’t take it well. Which meant I tried to avoid him. No N-V for me. Translation: no social life. Fine. I wasn’t up for fun anyway. Even a cell phone commercial about dropped calls could make me weepy.

I decided my best move was to throw myself into my business. Flo had headed to Paris on schedule with Richard mad at me again. Seems I was the one who always got his wife in danger. I couldn’t blame him for his attitude and wouldn’t be surprised if he kept them over there on one pretext or another for months.

I missed having a best friend around and Penny was a poor substitute. She never had been all that interested in fashion and even let me pick out her wardrobe—something Flo would never have allowed. That shopping spree was fun for about five minutes then I had nothing else to do in my spare time. Jenny might have been a good companion for shopping and had even started hanging around the shop. But she watched me like she wanted to catch me with my fangs down. Her endless questions about the vampire lifestyle were getting on my last nerve. I was very afraid she was thinking about a pair of fangs as a college graduation present.

I rattled around in my empty apartment, rearranging furniture and overdosing on reruns of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
. I think Jenny would have been on board with joining me but her football games and sorority mixers were a conflict during Buffy.

I missed Jerry and seriously intended giving him the time he thought he needed. But it was almost impossible. I’d go from being sad and crying into my pillow to ashamed that I’d been part of this scam that had hooked him in the first place. It was a short drive from there to furious at the world, Achelous, and Jerry himself for giving up on us so easily. Finally I worked and reworked my checkbook, trying to figure out if there was any way I could get my butt to Scotland.

It was no use. Even though I knew Erin and Lacy could handle the shop for me—they were urging me to get my gloomy face out of town—I just couldn’t afford the trip. The shop did okay and the rocky economy helped my kind of store. Vintage clothing was cheaper than the brand-new mall variety unless it was designer. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the really quality stuff that often. And my overhead was steep. Prime locations like mine on Sixth Street cost plenty and I paid my help well, especially the day crew. It was critical that I trust them not to drop the ball while I was dead to the world.

So the reality was that flying overseas was an expensive proposition and not in my budget. My friends who’d flown
to Paris had shared a chartered flight. Jerry had probably shifted and taken off on his own wings—the man had no fear. Me? I had to screw up my courage to shift and fly across town. So I would have to drive or catch a plane to either Dallas or Houston for a transatlantic flight that would cross during the night and still arrive in London or Edinburgh before dawn, a scheduling nightmare.

I had a horror of falling into my death sleep on a commercial flight. Yeah, picture a puzzled flight attendant trying to deal with my “body” when we arrived at Heathrow Airport. See? Logistics were almost impossible. Not to mention I’d be paying off the credit card bills for years afterward. And what if Jerry just slammed the castle doors in my face when I got there? Oh, how pathetic could I get, chasing after a man who didn’t want me? Or at least didn’t want to want me.

Erin poked her head into the back room. “Glory? You’ve got company up front. She’s, uh, vampire and says you know her, but she’s got some serious bodyguards. You want to slide out the back door and I’ll tell her you must have already left?”

I almost welcomed the distraction from my discouraging math. I threw down my calculator. “Did she give you a name?” A woman with bodyguards. And Erin hadn’t recognized her. Must be someone from my past.

“No. She wants to surprise you. Which kind of worries me. She has a hard edge to her even though she’s wearing the most fabulous suit. And then she’s put a few high-dollar items in a stack on the counter, obviously to buy. So I didn’t dare alienate her.” Erin glanced back over her shoulder. “Guess I talk too much. Here she comes.”

“Glory!” A perfectly manicured hand shoved Erin out of the way and the door banged open wide. “When I heard someone in Austin was asking about me, I just had to come check it out personally.”

I backed up and grabbed for the nearest thing that could pass for a weapon. The calculator was a cheapie from China so it wouldn’t incite fear unless the woman had a math phobia.
I knew this one actually loved everything to do with numbers as long as they had dollar signs in front of them.

“Lucky, what are you doing here?
I
sure didn’t ask about you.” But I knew who had. Ian had stuck his Scottish nose into her business when he’d been investigating my blood. “You can go back to Europe now. In fact, didn’t your daddy forbid you to ever darken my door again?” He had. Luciana Carvarelli aka Lucky Carver had worked for her father’s loan-sharking business as a debt collector. After she’d been turned vampire in my back alley, just a few feet from where I stood now, she’d managed to alienate most of Austin’s paranormal community. Papa Carvarelli, who did good business with paranormals, had banished her to Eastern Europe as punishment.

“Daddy died a few months ago. Heart attack.” Lucky sighed, then pasted on a bright smile. So much for mourning. “I’m in charge of the business now. I can go where I damn well please. I’m at the headquarters in New York again. But I thought a little visit to my sire would be a nice vacation.”

“Vacation?” I put down the calculator. Yes, I was her sire. Not my proudest moment, though I
had
saved her life. Hindsight, I’d have been doing the world and especially Ray a favor if I’d let her bleed out when I’d found her behind my shop.

“I liked Austin when I was here.” Lucky looked around and pounced on a vintage designer scarf I hadn’t priced yet. She flipped her hair which was a rich deep mahogany this season behind her back and secured it into a low ponytail with the scarf. “Nice piece. Add it to my tab.”

“It’ll be expensive.”

She waved her hand. “As if I care. Good to see you’re still here. So many small businesses are going under these days.” She gave me the once-over then frowned. “You could do with a fashion intervention. What’s up with the black? Somebody die?”

“End-of-month laundry crisis. Not that it’s any of your concern.” I gritted my teeth. Of course she was another of
those great-looking women with a perfect figure. I seemed to be surrounded by them.

Tonight’s awful outfit had been a result of my don’t-give-a-damn attitude lately. Maybe I should check with Ian about vampire Prozac. Right. And I’d probably break out in hives or grow a third boob. Damn that Siren blood.

“Glory, where is your brain tonight? Pay attention. You need to treat yourself. You’ve got some great stock just a few feet away.” Lucky inspected a shelf of sweaters intended for a sale table. “I obviously should have come back sooner. I like your little shop.”

“I’m not that desperate for business, Lucky.”

She whirled around and glared at me, a coral cashmere sweater in her hand. “Are you saying I can’t shop here?”

“Do you have amnesia or something? Your time in Austin was a train wreck. You created chaos. And I’ll never forgive you for what you did to Israel Caine.” I stalked to the back door, unlocked it and threw it open. “Take a hike.”

“Now, Glory. Settle down. I admit I could have handled things a little more diplomatically when I was here before.” She dropped the sweater back on the shelf. “But I was a new vampire. The whole dying and waking up with fangs thing did a number on me. I was crazed.”

“Should have remembered that before you passed on the experience. And I’m not buying that excuse. Most of your bad behavior was you being you, Lucky. Don’t bother to deny it.” I wasn’t budging. I wanted her out of there. What she’d done to Ray was unforgivable.

“I had things I had to work out. As my sire you were supposed to help me deal with my new condition. I realize now I shoulda let you.” She smiled and held out her hands. “My bad judgment. I know that now. But I’m here to fix that. You owe me a certain amount of guidance, you know. To keep me from making more mistakes. I’ve asked around to other vamps I’ve met since then. You and me, we have a bond, a blood tie. I have some questions for you now and you owe me answers.” Lucky turned and spoke to the twin hulks who’d
been on high alert standing in the doorway to the shop. “Shut the door and wait outside. I’ll be okay.”

I wanted to deny it but didn’t bother as the door closed. I had a few things I wanted to say. “I gave you immortality, Lucky. Something you made damned sure I regretted. If I wanted to take that away from you, I have the power. I’m not the same woman you left here with a naked rock star in her bed.” I was snarling I was so furious.

“Yeah, I can see that. I like you better for it.” Lucky actually grinned and it was all I could do not to knock her against the wall. Why was I hesitating? I could certainly turn her into a statue and do whatever I wanted to her. But did I want to show her my power? No.

“Don’t like me, just leave.” I counted to ten, deciding letting her goad me was just playing into her hands.

“Not till I get what I want. Now calm down and talk to me like a sire should.” She walked over and brushed the seat of my lone chair. She had on a cream wool pantsuit that looked straight from Milan. The buttoned jacket was cut to showcase her figure and she obviously wore nothing underneath it except a slim gold chain that dipped into her cleavage. That scarf she’d added couldn’t have been more perfect. It had a cream, gold and red design that made her pale skin and hazel eyes glow.

“You think I’m going to dish with you? Like we’re girlfriends or something?” I finally shut the back door and paced in front of her, feeling dowdier by the minute. She set a red leather purse I’d have killed for on the floor and pulled out a small electronic tablet. She clicked it on. Right. She was planning to write down my words of wisdom.

“You owe me. You made me a vampire. We share the same blood.” She smiled serenely, showing the tips of her fangs. “And I’ve discovered, with the help of an old crone in the Trans area, that our blood is something special. At the time I blew it off, figuring it was a fairy tale—the woman owed me money. Then I get to New York and a doctor looks me up
asking about my blood too. So I’m thinking maybe there’s something to it and I should go to the source.” She pointed at me. “What’s up, Glory?”

“Why should I tell you anything? Lucky, you killed a man I care about. Ruined his life. Ray and I are close now.” I jerked that damned tablet out of her hand, then tossed it on the table behind me. “He’s been suicidal since you left. And no wonder. He was a sun worshiper and you made him lose daylight!”

“I know that!” She widened her eyes. “That’s why making him vampire was the perfect payback for what he did to me. He broke my heart.” She wasn’t smiling now and her fangs were long and lethal. She jumped to her feet. “You expect me to feel sorry for that asshole just because you’re probably banging him now? No fucking way.”

“Ray and I aren’t…” I decided my exact relationship with Ray was not something I needed to clear up. “Guess that’s my answer to you when you want info from me. Forget it.” I shoved her back down in her chair.

“Let’s leave the rock star out of this, okay?” She waited and I decided she wanted me to nod or something.

“That’s a little hard to do, Lucky. You dropped him in my lap, remember? I may be your sire, but you’re
his
. Funny, but he’s not exactly looking to you for a bonding moment, is he? At least not without a stake in his hand.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I’d consider that fair warning. Bodyguards or not, Lucky was going to have to watch her back while she was in Austin. Once Ray found out she was here…? I didn’t want to imagine the confrontation between those two.

“Yeah, well, I knew you’d take good care of him. Who could miss the pile of Israel Caine memorabilia you had in your place? What did you call it? The shrine? I knew you’d be thrilled to play vamp mommy to that bad boy. Was I right?” She actually grinned at me.

“Oh, sure. I got to be his savior while he figured out he’d never see the sun again. You remember how you felt waking
up with fangs? It was much, much worse for Ray. He didn’t even know vampires existed until he became one.” I grabbed her by the lapels of a suit that cost more than the sum total of my clothing budget for the year. “Get this straight, Lucky. It was hell pulling Ray through his transition. And he’s still not 100 percent into being a vampire. You RUINED. HIS. LIFE.”

“Tough. Shit.” She jerked my hands off her jacket and examined the cloth with a frown. “I gifted you with the man of your dreams, Glory, and don’t bother to deny it. Where’s the gratitude?”

I just shook my head. Obviously I was wasting my time trying to find this woman’s compassion.

“Just listen to my proposition. I’m not asking you to toss me a freebie. I learned at my father’s knee that you don’t get anything without paying for it.” Lucky was breathing hard so I guess I had gotten to her a little. Rookie. She didn’t remember that lung action wasn’t necessary for us.

I knew I should throw her out on her perfect ass right then and there. Instead, she must have noticed my hesitation and plowed ahead.

“Yes, I’ll pay. I remember that you were always hard up for cash. I’m sure if nothing else you’d like to update your wardrobe. That Transylvanian said I should get in touch with my sire. That you had a message for me. She was very specific. Psychic mumbo jumbo but I’ve learned to listen to it.” She put a fingernail in the middle of my stomach and shoved. “Back up before I call in my boys.”