One Bite Stand

by Nina Bangs

  “Will do.” Then he turned and walked away. Time to make a plan to stop Fenrir. He had six days before the universe went boom.

  No pressure.

  Chapter Nine

  Anger warred with Daria’s common sense. Sparkle had better hope Daria didn’t win the bet any time soon. She thought a broken nail was a big deal? Ha. Sparkle wouldn’t believe what Kal’s magic could do to her I’m-so-sexy face. She might want to start shopping for designer paper bags right now.

  “You’re still mad.” Sparkle stated the obvious. “You shouldn’t be. We’re a lot alike.”

  “We’re nothing alike.” Daria walked toward her room while Sparkle trailed behind. “I have to get dressed so I can return Declan’s coat.”

  Daria unlocked her door, slipped inside, and tried to close it again fast. Not fast enough. Sparkle scooted inside just before Daria slammed it shut.

  “Of course we are. We’re both devious. I bet you put lusting fingers all over Declan after we settled up last night, didn’t you?”

  “No.” Daria flung open the closet door and tried to pick something unflattering from Sparkle’s wardrobe choices. Nothing looked like it would make a harpy fashion statement, so she just grabbed the first thing she touched.

  “Oh, and we’re both amazing liars.” Sparkle bent down to retrieve a pair of shoes. “I think your other shoes are still on the porch. These will be wonderful with that outfit.”

  “The heels are too high.”

  “They’re Alberta Ferretti satin and leather stilettos. Appreciate them for the works of art they are. They’re sexy and they’ll make your legs look gorgeous.”

  Daria wanted to beat Sparkle over the head with her “works of art,” but she still needed the job. Mumbling a comment on Sparkle’s parentage, she pulled open a dresser drawer, chose panties and a bra, then walked toward the bathroom with the clothes. “Any hope you’ll leave while I’m dressing?”

  “Why would I do that? We still have to settle up tonight’s bet.” She might be mourning Ganymede, but that didn’t stop Sparkle from being the biggest pain she could be.

  “Right.” Daria took a quick shower. She would’ve tried to outwait Sparkle, but she still had a job to do downstairs. Once she’d put on her dress, she took a deep breath and left the bathroom.

  Sparkle was still there, but she was not alone. Another woman had joined her. “Love the dress. Short, chiffon, halter top, and sensually understated.”

  The other woman nodded her agreement.

  “Great.” If she was brusque enough, maybe she could get back to work faster. Reluctantly, Daria slipped into the shoes.

  “Too bad you have to take it right back off. I made a quick call while you were in the shower and almost cried with joy when Roxanne said she was available. Here, you can put these on after Roxanne colors, cuts, and blow-dries your hair.” She handed Daria a pair of earrings. “And don’t worry about not doing your job. I spoke to Ganymede. Someone’s filling in.”

  The earrings dangled from Daria’s nerveless fingers. “Color? Cut?”

  “And blow-dry. Roxanne is a succubus. She instinctively knows what to do with a woman’s hair to achieve maximum sexual impact. People make appointments years in advance so she can work her magic on their hair. Lucky for you, I was able to call in a favor.” Sparkle glowed.

  Daria could actually feel the cloud of impending doom forming over her head. “But a harpy never has good hair.”

  “This harpy will.” Sparkle was all grim determination. “And don’t think you can ugly it up after we leave. You have to keep it looking like Roxanne fixes it until you go back to Tartarus. Oh, and you can’t cover it up either.” She smiled. “That’s where you made your mistake last night. You left me a loophole.”

  In panic mode, Daria visualized and then abandoned scores of escape scenarios—take harpy form and fling herself out the window, take harpy form and fling Sparkle out the window, take harpy form and beat Roxanne and Sparkle senseless with her wings.

  But in the end, Daria caved because she couldn’t think of an escape plan that didn’t leave death and destruction in her wake. Ganymede would fire her, and she’d be kicked out of the Woo Woo Inn, leaving Eris to choose anyone she wanted as her victim. Leaving Eris to choose Declan as her victim.

  And just before the horror began, Daria had a moment of perfect clarity. When she thought about getting kicked out, her first concern was for Declan and not her test score.

  Two hours later, Daria had pretty much decided that Roxanne was her ticket to a passing score. Hades would grovel at Daria’s feet to get the succubus as his chief torturer.

  “There. Your hair is now a hunk magnet. Strange men will walk up to you in Wal-Mart and run their fingers through it. Want to take a look?” Roxanne was sweating from her efforts, but triumphant.

  “No.” Daria was definite about that. She, who couldn’t pass a mirror without looking at herself, who would go out of her way to peer into any kind of reflective surface, did not want to see what disaster Roxanne had created.

  Roxanne turned to Sparkle. Sparkle shrugged. “What can I say? Harpies are tough to work with. You did an incredible job, sister. Someday Daria will thank you.”

  “Not in this life.” Daria got up, grabbed her clothes, and headed for the bathroom again.

  “But I’m not done with her. I could help with her face. I think there’s good bone structure under all the scary stuff.” Roxanne took a step toward Daria.

  Daria turned and bared her teeth at the succubus. “You. Will. Not. Touch. Me. Again.” She went into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

  When she came out, Roxanne was gone. Sparkle was sitting in a chair, one long leg crossed over the other. She swung it back and forth as she studied Daria. “When I win tomorrow night, we’ll do something with your face.”

  “You won’t win.” No matter how much she wanted Declan, she couldn’t give Sparkle power over her last remaining bastion of ugliness, her face.

  Sparkle smiled, and for once it was just a smile. “You know, if you want something, you might have to give something up to get it.”

  “And your point is?”

  “Declan wants you. A lot. Enough that he’s lost that I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-anything expression he had last year.” Sparkle held her bandaged finger up to the light and the tiny rubies glittered. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime guy. Think about all your tomorrows. Without him. How many centuries before you get tired of being Hades’s gofer and start thinking about what you threw away?”

  “Wow, you’re good.” Daria was in awe of Sparkle’s power. The troublemaker could sense a weakness and exploit it while lying through her shiny, white teeth. “Let’s get one thing straight. Declan wants to have sex with me. That’s it. What would I do with someone like him?”

  Sparkle lowered her lids and slid the tip of her tongue across her full bottom lip. “Oh, you do need my help, sister.”

  Daria had to get out of this room. Now. Even recognizing the game Sparkle was playing, Daria couldn’t stop the graphic images forming in her mind.

  The test. She had to focus on the test. Passing it was her ticket to the only life she wanted. Would ever want. And as she headed for the door, she tried to ignore the taunting inner voice whispering that real harpies didn’t run away. But as she was leaving, something occurred to Daria. She looked back at Sparkle. “What will you give up to get what you want?” Then she shut the door before Sparkle could comment.

  Harpies were violent beings. Daria had never reached the level of viciousness Mom and Aunt Ocypete seemed to achieve naturally. But right now, Daria was feeling pretty mean.

  She’d have to find Declan and clue him in to the new rules. He absolutely couldn’t tempt her. Temptation included but wasn’t limited to smiling at her, exposing large areas of bare skin in her presence, speaking in a sexy voice, looking at her…, Hmm, this could be a problem. But first, she’d expend some negative energy. When she’d thrown Eris to the ground, she’d caug
ht a glimpse of Walt taking pictures of the fight. Ganymede had wiped memories of the incident from all human minds, but everyone seemed to have forgotten about Walt’s camera. She hadn’t. Time to visit her favorite debunker. Stopping at his door, she knocked. She hoped he wasn’t still downstairs.

  Walt opened his door after the second knock. He stared at her from wide shocked eyes. Yep, he’d discovered what he had.

  “We need to talk, Walt.” She tried to sound calm and in control, but she was afraid some of her leftover anger was seeping into her voice.

  “I came up to go through the photos I’ve taken since I got here. There’re pictures on my camera. You, someone else, and a bunch of wolves. Only you aren’t you. You’re a…” He swallowed hard. “I don’t remember taking those pictures.”

  Maybe she should get Declan to handle this. He could do what he’d done before. But then she looked past Walt.

  The debunker had his laptop set up on the coffee table. His camera rested next to it along with the cable to download his pictures. Once they were on his laptop, it would take only a few clicks to e-mail them somewhere else. Once they were gone, no one at the Woo Woo Inn could get them back. If she left now, she’d just bet those photos would be in cyberspace by the time Declan knocked on Walt’s door. If they weren’t already.

  Okay, it was up to her. Too bad she didn’t have Delcan’s talent for wiping memories. She’d have to find another way to delete the pictures and keep Walt from blabbing.

  Not giving Walt a chance to close the door in her face, she stepped past him into the room and then shut the door behind her. “I want you to delete those pictures, Walt. They’re fake. We staged them to put some excitement into everyone’s night. But they’re sort of embarrassing to me. I mean, what would my mom say if she saw them?” She tried for a nervous giggle.

  It came out more like a growl. Oops. Guess she’d spooked Walt, because he rushed over to his camera and stood protectively in front of it.

  “I don’t think they’re fake. I’ve got a feeling about them.” For a moment he looked surprised those words had come out of his mouth. “Someone must’ve messed with my mind, though, because I don’t remember any of this stuff. But my camera doesn’t lie.” He shook his head as if he could shake loose the missing memories.

  Daria’s rage was building. Not at Walt particularly, but at every crappy thing that had happened since she’d walked through the Woo Woo Inn’s doors. He was going to give her a hard time.

  “Oh, come on, Walt. Don’t tell me you think I’m a—”

  “Harpy. You’re a freaking harpy in the pictures.” His hands shook, but he didn’t move away from his camera. “And there’re no wolves around here.”

  She saw the exact moment he figured out that if there weren’t wolves near the Woo Woo Inn, then the ones in the pictures must be—

  “They’re werewolves.” He rubbed a shaking hand over his shiny head. “Those pictures are worth a fortune. I can send them to a lab and have them authenticated, prove they weren’t done on Photoshop. Hey, maybe I’ll get my own show on the Sci-Fi Channel.” For a moment he forgot to be afraid as the possibilities multiplied in his imagination.

  Okay, no more Ms. Nice Harpy. Her anger exploded. This man was not going to spread pictures of her everywhere. She would not end up on You Tube where a bunch of idiots could make snarky comments about her. And he was not going to ruin her career. The judge would give her a big, fat zero if this got out.

  “You like to debunk things? Well, debunk this.” She’d had lots of practice stripping fast. Within seconds her clothes were off, and she became harpy.

  Walt made strangled noises and reached for something to keep him upright. He collapsed onto the couch.

  Her change completed, she dominated the room. She spread her huge wings for maximum terror effect and walked across to the camera.

  When Walt looked like he might gather enough courage to make a dash for the door, she flapped her wings, knocking over lamps and assorted furniture.

  She picked up the camera and carefully deleted the pictures. “There. All gone. Oh, and when you go home, feel free to tell everyone you saw a real harpy.” Daria leaned toward him. “And if I see you taking any more pictures of things you shouldn’t, I’ll catch you alone somewhere and cart you off to the underworld. There’s nowhere you can run where I won’t find you.”

  Then she quickly returned to human form and pulled on her clothes. Walt watched her with slack-jawed disbelief.

  Daria waved at him. “Later.” Then she left.

  She hummed to herself as she headed down the stairs in search of Declan. Scaring someone like Walt made her. feel all gooey and happy inside. Too bad the judge wasn’t around to see it.

  Even finding Katie the cook taking her place at the registration desk couldn’t kill her high. She grinned at Katie. Katie glared back at her.

  It was only when she passed the first mirror that she remembered about her hair.

  ———

  Declan sat at the kitchen table watching Ganymede working his way though a whole cherry pie. Amazing. He expected the cat to pop like an over inflated balloon.

  The cook and Ganymede had worked out a compromise. Katie had set up a card table in the kitchen for when the cat wanted to eat there. The kitchen witch could take it down when she was doing her thing. “Why aren’t you out guarding the church?”

  “Got bored and hungry. This Fenrir guy wouldn’t talk to me. All the guests are back inside anyway. And Sparkle won’t bring my snacks out to me anymore”

  “Ah, the missing snack.” Declan watched, fascinated, as the cat plowed through crust and filling, shoving the pie tin a little closer to the edge of the table with each bite. “Why don’t you eat on the floor? It would be easier.” He didn’t give a damn where Ganymede ate, but he needed a little small talk before diving into the heavy stuff.

  “I don’t like eating off the floor. I’m in cat form. I’m not a cat. Do you eat off the floor when you’re in bat form?”

  Nice to be able to do mind messaging when your mouth was stuffed with pie. “I don’t take bat form.”

  “Too bad. I always thought the vampire bat thing was kinda cool” Ganymede’s whole face was buried in the pie. “Bats eat bugs, don’t they? Guess that’s not so cool”

  Fine, small talk done. “Fenrir’s gaining power every day. He’s going to join forces with Loki at summer solstice. I don’t think I can stop him alone.”

  That admission hurt. He’d always been solitary, and he’d always been powerful enough to take care of himself. For just a moment, he thought of Daria’s comments about family. He should think of the whole Mackenzie vampire clan as his family, but he’d never been close to any of them. And once he became part of the council, most clan members steered clear of him. The council was not a beloved governing body.

  “You asking for my help, bloodsucker?” Ganymede thought that possibility was worth pulling his face from the pie. His fur and whiskers were covered with cherry filling. He sat up and began washing his face with one gray paw.

  “Yeah, I guess I am.”

  Ganymede’s amber eyes glowed with anticipation. “Have a plan yet?”

  “None that would work. When I came here to find whoever had killed the council members, I wasn’t expecting to come across anyone this powerful.”

  “Why does he want you?”

  Declan shrugged. “I’m his son, so I guess he plans to use that blood tie somehow. Hope he takes disappointment well. I won’t be cooperating any time soon.”

  “The two of you both showing up here still seems like a strange coincidence”

  “Which means it’s not coincidence. Loki the trickster is a powerful Norse god. The rest of the gods might’ve trapped him, but I wouldn’t discount his ability to do some long-range planning.”

  “You never had any contact with either of them?” “Not until now.” Declan shoved aside childhood memories.

  He’d had hope then. His mother’s people were Viki
ngs. He was Viking. And Viking fathers went away in their boats. But they came home again to their sons and daughters. His never had. Considering what Fenrir was, he’d been lucky. Declan drew the hard shell of his childhood disappointments around him.

  Family had been important to him once, but nine hundred years stretched memories thin. He’d lost track of his own children. Sure, he’d tried to find them. And sure, it still hurt once in a while. Had they ever searched for him? Declan refused to go down that path.

  “So how do we kill the monster? I figure if this Fenrir doesn’t join Loki, the prophecy won’t be fulfilled and the earth will keep on turning.” Ganymede reverted to regular speech now that his mouth wasn’t full and his face was clean.

  “Can anyone join this planning session?” Daria paused in the doorway before walking over to the table and pulling out a chair.

  Her hair. The change had Sparkle written all over it. Daria’s hair was barely shoulder-length now. It was warm brown with blond highlights, and tousled in a way that was totally sexy. He bet she hated it. Declan watched her sit, but words deserted him. They seemed to do that a lot when she was around.

  “I just came from Walt’s room. Everyone forgot about the pictures he took of my little dustup with Eris. He looked like he was about to download them onto his laptop. Once that happened, he was only a click away from sending them to the world. I had to take direct action.”

  “Is he still alive? A body could hurt business.” Ganymede was a bottom-line kind of guy.

  “He’s alive. I don’t think he’ll be taking any more pictures around here. But he’ll probably be hunting up Sparkle to give her a hard time.” Her narrowed eyes said Sparkle deserved all the hard times Daria could send her way.

  Silence. If Ganymede mentioned Daria’s hair, he was one crazy cat.

  “Hair’s looking great, babe.”

  Declan winced.

  Daria looked at Ganymede with death in her eyes. “Leave it alone, cat.”

  “Yeah, okay. I mean, I’ve seen lots better. Come to think of it, that style is pretty crappy on you.” Ganymede turned panicky eyes to Declan.