2 Vampires, Warlocks, And Exes (4 page)

Around midnight, a tall, beautiful woman sat down in front of me. All of the men in the ba
r were definitely taking notice...and even some of the women. Her short, red dress hugged her tightly toned body. She had a light complexion, with flawless ivory skin and pale blonde hair down to her waist. She was
striking...
major supermodel material. Something was off about her though. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but she made me nervous.

“Hi,
” I said. “What can I get for you?”

She smiled. “A Blood
y Mary would be great. Extra spicy.”

She watched me carefully while I prepared her drink. I sent out my feelers, and found a lot of curiosity coming off of her, with maybe a hint of malice. Yeah, that didn’t help ease my anxiety at all. I decided I needed to figure out what her deal was. “Are you here on vacation?” I asked.

She leaned on the bar, making the Swarovski crystal reflect brightly off of the huge diamond pendant around her neck. “You could say that.” She took a sip of her drink, looked at my nametag, and pulled back with a smile.  A
fangy
smile.   “Karli, you make one helluva drink. This is the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.” She laughed. “It’s
almost
as good as the real thing.” I suddenly got a quick flash of her standing in a dark room with blood dripping from her mouth.

Damn, my imagination was going into overdrive. I shook it off. “Um, thanks.”

I tried walking away from her but she started talking again. “I can’t believe how much Vegas has changed!” she exclaimed. “I haven’t been here in almost thirty years.”

“What brings you back?” I asked.

“I’m here to see…an old friend. I heard he’s had quite a lot going for him lately and I wanted to see for myself.”

“An old boyfriend?”

She licked her fangs. “Oh, he was
much
more than that.”

Chad walked up to the bar before I could get more information.  He was clearly interested in the beautiful stranger.
Being a human-demon halfling, his irises darkened and enlarged when he was aroused. Right now, I could hardly see the whites of his eyes. 

“Hey,
Kar, can I get a Corona?”

“Chad,
” I said in acknowledgement as I grabbed a bottle from the fridge.

He gave the blonde an appreciative gaze. “Who’s your delicious friend?”

“Um, I’m sorry I didn’t get your name,” I said to her.

She stood up, returning Chad’s appreciation, and offered her hand. “Chad, is it? It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Maria.” She turned her head towards me, giving me a terribly intense look. Her
eyes sparkled with malevolence as she added, “Maria…Alexander.”

“Oh fuck
,” I said as I dropped Chad’s beer on the floor.

He leaned over the
bar. “Oh shit, Kar! You okay?”

Embarrassed, I looked away, immediately directing all of my attention to cleaning up the mess. I risked a glance at Maria and saw her giving me a satisfied smirk, clearly aware that I knew
exactly
who she was.
What the hell is going on?

“Chad,” s
he purred. “Why don’t we get out of here and go somewhere a little more private?” She pulled a crisp, one hundred dollar bill out of her purse and set it on the bar. 

Chad’s expression told me that he suddenly had a single thought on his mind, forgetting all about his beer.
“Ah, sure. My place is only about ten minutes away,” he offered.

Al
l right, I knew Chad could handle himself, but I was worried about him anyway. “Chad, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked.

He gave me a dismissive look, before backing away with Maria on his arm.
“Later, Kar. Okay?”

She made eye contact with me right before walking away, giving me a look that chilled me to my bones. “Thanks for the drink,
Karli. I’ll be back soon.”

Okay, that woman was scary.
Very, very scary.

Five
 

The last two hours of my shift were the longest hours of my life. I couldn’t get out of the bar fast enough. I needed answers and I needed them now. I drove to V
ance’s house without thinking, got out of my car, and started banging on his front door.

“Vance, open the door
,” I shouted. “I need to talk to you.” No answer. “Vance! Seriously, wake up! I need to talk to you!” I started ringing his doorbell incessantly.

He opened the door a minute later, looking all disheveled from sleep. “
Karli, what’s going on?”

I pushed past him and stormed into his house, past the foyer into the great room. I turned towards him as I said, “Vance, would you care to explain
what the fuck
is going on?”

He rubbed his face. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“What the hell am I talking about?” I shrieked. “Oh, I don’t know. How about the very important fact that your ex-wife is a vampire??”

He looked startled for a moment b
efore collecting himself. “Oh…that.”

“
‘Oh, that,’
” I repeated. “Are you kidding me? That’s all you have to say?”

He grabbed a beer out of the fridge and took a big swig. “What am I
supposed to say, Karli? So Leo finally told you. I don’t understand why you’re so upset. If anyone should be pissed, it should be me.”

“What do you mean, Leo finally told me?” I asked. “Leo didn’t tell me shit.”

He looked confused. “Well, then how did you know she was a vampire?”

“Because she came into the bar tonight, with fangs a
blazin’ to threaten me.”

He set his beer on the golden granite countertop. “Fuck.”

“Um, yeah. My sentiments exactly,” I said. “What the hell is going on, Vance?”

He grabbed my hand and led me to the couch. “
Karli, sit down. I need to know exactly what happened.”

I sat down and began recounting Maria’s visit to the bar. Relieved to get it off my chest, I leaned back into the
beige leather cushions and took a deep breath. I made the mistake of looking over towards Vance. Not only did he look super sexy with bed head and stubble, but I somehow had just noticed that he was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs with nothing else. Bronzed skin, defined pecs, sinew everywhere.
Oh God! Look away, Karli! Look away!

I quickly diverted my eyes to an extremely interesting piece of lint and said, “So, you’ve heard my side. Now it’s your turn.”

He sighed. “Karli, it’s three in the morning. Telling my side of the story would take forever. You look exhausted.  I am too. I think we should get some sleep and talk about this afterwards.”

I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Vance, I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”

He pulled me off the couch. “I didn’t say you had to leave. I said we needed sleep.” He started leading me back to
wards his bedroom.

I
dug in my heels. “Wait! No-no-no-no! What do you think you’re doing?”

He turned around.  “
Karli,
we
are going to bed.
To
sleep.
I mean it. Stop panicking. I’m not going to touch you, but I’m also not letting you out of my sight until I figure out what Maria’s agenda is. I don’t like the fact that she’s in town at all, but I especially don’t like the fact that she knows about you.” He sighed. “Look, she’s not the woman she used to be, and I don’t trust her one bit. I need to figure out what drove her back to Vegas.”

“I kn
ow what drove her back to Vegas,” I said. “She told me. It was you.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“All the more reason for you to stay. She’s unstable, jealous, and insecure. That’s not a good combination for a vampire. Especially not when the apparent target is a full-blooded fairy.”

We were in his bedroom then
. As he was climbing into his king-sized bed I asked, “So, just to be clear…you expect me to crawl into bed with you and
sleep
? That’s all?”

He patted the mattress.
“Yes, Karli. Just some good old-fashioned sleep.” He crossed his heart. “I promise I’ll be a good boy.”

*****

I woke up later that day to the smell of coffee brewing. Vance kept his promise; he didn’t make a move on me once. The mountain of pillows in between us had been really for my benefit. So
I
wouldn’t make a move on
him
. I had been awake for hours just lying there becoming hornier by the second. He smelled so good, and the sex visions wouldn’t stop. It took every bit of restraint that I had not to touch him. Or myself.

I took an ice cold shower before going into the kitchen to face him. He handed me a cup of coffee as I sat down at the breakfast bar. “So,” I said. “I want details.”

He placed an omelet in front of me. “Eat.”

I took a bite.
“Omigod. I think this is the best omelet I’ve ever had. I didn’t know you could cook.”

He smiled. “I can do a lot of things.”

Okay, point for Vance…for the cooking, I mean. “Quit dodging the subject. I want to know about Maria.”

“Maria’s a vampire
,” he said.

I glared at him.
“Duh. How and when did she become one?”

“About thirty years ago
,” he replied. “I don’t want to talk about how she got that way.”

“Why not?”
I asked.

“Because it’s bound to start an argument and I don’t feel like arguing with you right now.”

“Why would it start an argument?”

“Next question.”

I huffed. “Ugh! Why do you evade all of my questions?”

“I’m not evading
all
of your questions. Just anything relating to Maria’s transformation.”

“So, in
an attempt to avoid an argument about one subject, you start one about another?”

“You’re the on
e picking a fight here, Karli,” he said. “Not me.”
 

I crossed my arms. “Whatever.”

“Are you done?” he asked.

I dug
into my eggs and counted to twenty before I spoke again. “So what are we going to do about her?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. I made some calls earlier and found out where she’s staying. I’m thinking about confronting the problem head on.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Are you actually planning to go see her?”

He shrugged.
“Yeah.”

“Wouldn’t that be
…hard? It doesn’t seem like you two parted on the best of terms.”

“We didn’t,
” he confirmed. “But my feelings are irrelevant here. I need to find out what she knows about you and then I need to figure out the fastest way to get her out of town.”

“Should I be worried? I mean, she didn’t outright threaten me but when I read her it was pretty scary.”

“What exactly did you sense from her?” he asked. “You were pretty vague last night.”

“Violent tendencies
,” I replied. “Well, at least until Chad walked up to us.”

“Chad was there?”

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “They actually left together.”

He raised his eyebrows.
“Seriously?”

I nodded. “I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm?”
I repeated.

“Yeah,
” he said. “Hmm.”

Six
 

I finally managed to convince Vance to let me leave since Maria couldn’t venture out in the daylight. Work was pretty busy since it was Friday and thankfully my shift went by without incident. He was waiting for me as I was closing the slotted gate that border
ed the casino floor.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I couldn’t track Maria down at her hotel so I’m following you home,” he replied.

“Is that really necessary?”

“Yes, Karli, it is. We can’t be too careful until I know what her motives are.”

I sighed. “Let’s go.”

We got back to my place about twenty minutes later. I threw my keys into a little silver dish on my end table and turned towards him. “So, now what?”

He smiled lasciviously. “I don’t know
…you tell me. What should we do to keep ourselves busy?”

I rolled my eyes as I walked down the hall. “I’m taking a shower.”

“Need some help?” he called.

I slammed and locked the bathroom door in response. A
fterwards, I walked towards my bedroom with a towel wrapped around my body. I didn’t think to grab any clothes beforehand since I normally wouldn’t have to.  I wasn’t entirely surprised to find Vance making himself comfortable in my bed. Oh God, his arms were stretched out, accentuating his perfectly sculpted muscles. His chest was bare and it was begging me to touch it. I had no idea about the waist down since he was under the covers, but I found myself wanting to know
really badly
.