Blood, Sweat and Demon Tears (The Grateful Undead series Book 3)

by Susan Stec

  "What is that?" My mother asked, pointing at the DS.

  "It's an entertainment diversion, Grandmother; relatively easy to engage. It's called Pokémon Platinum. I get to stage battles and I have six Pokémon to use. They are very colorful characters. One is a fire monster, and one is an electrical monster!"

  "Where did you get it?" Mom questioned.

  Resi chimed in, "I bought it for her, because–"

  "Never mind about the game!" I shouted at them, turning to Lily who continued to push buttons that generated pings and dings. "Lily, do you know what's in the contract?"

  "I do," Lily answered, still pushing and sliding buttons around, "but discussing it would be a useless endeavor because it is not a complete document at the moment."

  Before I could slap the kid into submission, Jeni got up and shot my mother's Italian eyes at me. "Lily, why don't you and I check out the gift shop in the lobby before Uncle Dorius gets here?"

  Lily shut the DS and pushed it into her purse. "An excellent idea, Cousin Jeni, I'm sure Aunt Susan's exasperation, along with her urge to coerce and administer my physical compliance are sure to diminish the moment I leave the room."

  "Are you in my head, young lady?" I asked.

  "No ma'am," Lily said, taking Jeni's hand and pulling her toward the door. "Your body language reflects my observations quite readily."

  ~~~~

  Chapter Thirty

  ~~~~

  Miami International Airport was packed. The lines leading to the baggage scanners were long, and painstakingly slow. Whining children, nervous adults, crotchety senior citizens, and weary tourists, weighed down by carry-ons and shopping bags, dragged their belongings toward the scanners at a snail's pace.

  From the center of one of the lines, Dorius pulled at the cuffs of his blue, silk shirt, gaudy cufflinks capturing the overhead lights. He wore tight, black jeans and pointy-toed boots; his long, black hair tied at the nape of his neck with a thick piece of leather. Deep blue eyes played over the other three immortals as he whispered, "All of you keep your mouths shut and follow orders. I want to draw the least amount of attention as possible. Do I make myself clear?"

  Zaire raised a brow while shooting a look at Betty, who was dressed in skintight leather short-shorts that hugged her heart-shaped ass like a second skin. Her leopard tube top strained with its heavy load. Black stilettos dressed out her feet and the leather straps wrapped halfway up her calves. "Yeah, good luck with that."

  Dorius hooded his eyes. "Don't start."

  Warren pulled off his ball cap and ran the back of his hand over his brow. "It's fuckin' hot in here. I feel like a bull headed for the slaughterhouse."

  A small boy standing in front of Warren tugged on his mother's shirt. "That man just said 'fuckin', Mommy."

  His mother gasped then turned angry eyes over her shoulder. "I'm sure you misheard him, sweetie."

  Warren put his hat on, setting his duffel bag at his feet. He ran a finger inside the collar of his red flannel. "Sorry ma'am, I'm just so hot."

  "You ain't never been hot," Zaire snickered.

  "Fuck you!" Warren spat.

  "See, Mommy? He said fuck, this time," the child said.

  The woman covered the boy's ears. "If you use that word one more time, I'm calling security, and you should have dressed more appropriately." The woman pulled her eyes off Warren and took in Betty. She shook her head with disgust, pulling her child against her thighs, while mumbling, "All of you should have."

  Betty dramatically threw her hand over Dorius' shoulder and wiggled red fingernails, making sure the woman got a good look at her left ring finger. "We just got married this morning." Then tilting a glance at Dorius' zipper, she added, "Big is his middle name."

  Dorius cleared his throat, locking eyes with the woman, and gestured with his chin. "The line is moving."

  The boy smiled at Betty as his mother dragged him along. "Big is my middle name too. I'm five. I go to real school next year."

  Betty laughed. "Good fer you, sugar-pie, you just keep thinkin' big, 'cause size does matter." She raised her brows and cocked her head at a slight man who was leading the woman closer to the conveyer belt, which transported the luggage toward the X-ray machine.

  The woman's jaw dropped a good two inches as her husband nudged her into the body-scanner.

  A very detailed and vivid picture of the woman's body came up on a screen in front of two guards that viewed the image; one asking the angry woman to turn around.

  "I knew it," Betty said, pointing at the screen. "Implants!" She shook her breasts with both hands. "The real thing, baby—eat yer heart out!"

  "Daddy, what are implants?"

  The woman gasped, trotting out of the scanner. She picked up her son and blurted out, "That man said the F word… twice," she pointed at Warren, "… and… and that obnoxious woman just made personal comments about my body parts!' What kind of operation are you running here?" She continued to complain as the husband pulled their son off her store-bought chest with a stern look, before stepping into the scanner.

  Dorius glared at Betty.

  Betty threw up her arms, and the tips of two areolas peeked over the tube top like rising suns. "You wanna see body parts, lady? Step over ‘ere. I'll trade ya tit fer shat, by God!" Fangs slipped and quickly retracted behind well-glossed lips.

  "She's flashing me!" the woman yelled, her eyes riveted on Betty's chest.

  Dorius yanked up Betty's tube top and pushed her behind him. "Stay!"

  "Our child is seeing this shit!" The woman protested, glaring at her husband, with both hands on her hips. "Someone should do something!"

  "She said, shit! Shoot her!" Betty yelled from behind Dorius.

  One of the guards shook a smile off his face. Another stuffed his lips between his teeth and motioned the husband out of the scanner and toward his wife. He looked thankful as he stepped out and grabbed his wife, who was still screaming obscenities over her shoulder. He summarily dragged her down the tubes toward the gates.

  "That woman has a nasty mouth," Betty said.

  Dorius sounded like waves crashing on a shoreline during hurricane season.

  "Damn, your wife is my kind of woman, boss," Zaire chuckled as she hauled her duffel onto the belt and began to empty the pockets of her jeans.

  "Too bad you don't have the right body parts," Warren mumbled.

  A security guard standing at the end of the conveyer belt tapped Zaire's arm with a gray plastic container, nodded an order, and placed the container on the counter. "Boots too."

  Zaire made small engine noises while she tossed her cell and wallet into the container. "Why the hell do I have to take off my boots?"

  Dorius cleared his throat.

  Zaire toed off her boots and slammed them into the container. The security guard guided it onto the belt and nodded at Betty with a lascivious grin. "You got any weapons, sweetheart?"

  "She is a weapon," Zaire said, stepping toward the machine that would scan her body.

  The guard at the conveyer belt barked a laugh. Two others shared a look of amusement.

  Zaire gritted her teeth and shot Dorius a look that said, "You mind push them, or I will."

  Dorius shook his head vigorously.

  A few seconds later, all four immortals stood in front of the body-scanner.

  "Is this necessary?" Dorius asked.

  "Just doin' our job. Step through the scanner, sir," said one of the men in front of the viewing screen.

  Dorius' nostrils flared. He covered his mouth and stepped into the machine.

  Betty's eyes got big and round. "Look at the size o' his…"

  "Teeth," a guard finished. "What's he got in his mouth?"

  "Step out and open wide, sir," another guard ordered.

  "That's it! I'm pushin'!" Zaire snapped, locking eyes with one of the guards. The other three immortals followed suit. The four guards working the body scanner simultaneously shook their heads.

  They were sitting comforta
bly in first class, thirty minutes later; the plane making its way down the runway, wheels lifting off the tarmac.

  Dorius leaned across the aisle and tapped Zaire on the shoulder. "Although the council does not sanction what you initiated back there, I feel it was necessary, given the situation. Your quick attention to the matter showed excellent leadership qualities, Zaire. I will see that it gets noted in your personnel file."

  Zaire opened one eye and stared at him for a human heartbeat. "What do you want?"

  Dorius sighed. "I'm sending you with Christopher and Chick in my stead, and I hope you will relay any insubordinate actions by either of them to me directly."

  Zaire put the seat back, turned her head toward the window and closed her eyes. "Yeah, sure, no problem."

  ~~~~

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ~~~~

  Mom stepped out of the hotel bathroom dressed in black Spandex shorts, a tight, black t-shirt, and running shoes. She looked way too comfortable. Tackling tonight's events in my garb was definitely not going to be comfortable. The bitch.

  She rubbed a towel over damp white curls, eyes sparkling with flickers of gold dust. "You call everyone?" she asked.

  "Yeah," I said, dropping the phone into its cradle, "they'll all be here when Dorius arrives." I really wanted to throw the phone at her. Shame it was attached to the frigging wall.

  "You tell everyone Marcus just picked them up?" She snapped out the question like a drill sergeant.

  I snapped right back, "No. I wanted them to use their imaginations. What do you think?"

  "Don't be a smartass, Susan. I'm not in the mood!" Mom shook the towel at me.

  I gritted my teeth, fangs slipping slightly. "Hey, I got a studded thong up my ass. You look all cozy in your Spandex."

  "Figlia di puttana, didn't you see the box of Carefree panty liners I left on the dresser in your room!" she hollered, tossing her arm in the air.

  "Yeah. And what the hell? You know a man designed those. Come on! You have to wear a thong shaped panty liner; you shouldn't be wearing a thong!" I shouted. "And don't you cuss at me!"

  Mom dismissed me with a wave of her hand and addressed Christopher. "Why are you so damned quiet?"

  Thumbing the undies out of the crack of my ass, I carefully sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, crossed my boot-covered thighs, and waited for Christopher to answer.

  He pulled a drained blood bag off his fangs and tossed it into a trash can by his bed. His eyes shot me a glance before he frowned at my mother. "Not looking forward to seeing Betty with Dorius, that's all. Do you blame me?"

  Mom tossed the towel on the floor by the bathroom door and put both hands on her hips. "I don't need a bunch of shit tonight—what's done is done. You can't change it, so take it like a man."

  "He could have at least called me," Christopher said. "He knew how I felt about her."

  "For Christ's sake, Christopher," Mom said, "she wasn't even a possible mate for you!"

  "So what!? I found her first!" Christopher yelled, beating pillows that were compiled behind his back. Then he leaned against the headboard, with his arms crossed over his chest. "All I wanted was to talk to her, and the bastard went an' friggin' mated with her before I ever got a chance."

  "Get over it," Mom said. "We both know who the bigger man is. Now get into your SpongeBob outfit, we got a job to do tonight. We don't have time for drama. Take it up with Dorius after the mission."

  "Hey, Chick, tell me you wouldn't kick his ass if he did the same thing to you." Christopher reached into the cooler. He was sitting on his bed as he slapped another blood bag to his fangs.

  "Tell me this is really about Betty," Mom said, "and not something else?

  "Damn right it's about something else," Christopher growled. "It's always about something else—him proving he can one up…"

  "So what? You gonna prove him right?"

  "Okay," I said, throwing up my palm in his direction, "hold it right there! You know that's bullshit this time. She's a blood mate, Christopher. And you screwed up any chance he had with both his other prospects."

  Christopher ripped the bag off his fangs, hammering it into the trash container, and yelling, "That's bullshit! I only fucked with one of them. That stripper, Angel! She was a bitch anyway. And he sent Erzsebet to Hell the first time—I just helped to get her back there when she escaped!"

  It just so happened that I was in the public restroom when Christopher offed Angel. I thought some mother was reprimanding her kid a little too harshly in the stall next to mine, so I tried to help. Christopher fanged me and left me for dead. As far as the second prospect, Erzsebet, Dorius did make a deal with a demon and sent her to Abandon, because she deliberately killed over six hundred servants back in the 1500s. She came back; we sent her to Hell again, but Christopher instigated the whole thing.

  "You didn't just fuck with Angel, Christopher," I said, "you killed her for no other reason but to satisfy your own jealousy."

  Before Christopher could put up a rebuttal, Mom found her voice. "I guess that makes you even. You killed one—Dorius snatched one. And like I said, she wasn't a possible mate for you, so act your age."

  I burst out laughing. They both looked at me. I put up a finger. "Just give me a minute," I said, trying to quell my giggles. "From what I hear," I bit my lip trying not to laugh, "you got the best of him, because…" I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Because… Betty is really working Dorius. Did you know–"

  Christopher threw a pillow at me. "Yeah? Well, you guys are gonna wish Betty was a possible mate for me when you figure out who is."

  Boy did that last statement kill the giggles. I was just about to ask him what he was talking about when Jeni and Lily walked into the room.

  Lily smiled at Christopher.

  Christopher smiled back.

  "Oh-hell-no!" My shoulders slumped.

  "What?" Christopher asked.

  Lily climbed on the bed next to Christopher. "I can feel you in my thoughts, Christopher. Why have you been trying to communicate with me all day?"

  "No way!" I yelled loud enough to be heard three rooms over.

  Christopher slowly pivoted his head in my direction. "Right? Who would've thought? At first, I figured it was a demon thing, her getting into my head. Then I started to realize I could also get into hers; and today, when I saw her, I finally realized…"

  "Why all the crap about Betty?" Mom wanted to know.

  "Because I'm pissed," Christopher said. "He should've respected me enough to at least have given me a call."

  Jeni played her eyes around the room. "What's going on?"

  Lily said, "I'm not sure, Cousin Jeni, but somehow Christopher is able to communicate with me mentally. It's quite disturbing. I've tried to sever the connection to his mental presence, but am unable. I have always been extremely successful with Father, Mother, and all of you, for that matter, but I am unable to hinder Christopher, and I have a strange urge to be in close proximity to him."

  Jeni dragged Lily off Christopher's bed, backed up until she hit wall, and hugged the child to her chest. "Can a demon actually mate with a vampire?"

  "She's her mother's daughter," Mom said. "And your grandfather was half-demon."

  Jeni had a look of horror on her face. "But Grandpa's wife was human, and surely…"

  Christopher shook his head and laughed. "What a friggin' joke, right? If only it could've been Betty. But it's there—I can feel it, so can Lily. Go figure. What the hell am I gonna do? Wait around for her to grow up? What would that change? I'd look six—she'd have tits. But still, she's only six. I mean, really six—I can't just…"

  "No, you sure as hell can't," I snapped.

  Jeni hugged Lily tighter.

  Mom said, "We could execute a nuptial agreement like they did in the old days."

  "Over my dead body." I hooded my eyes at Christopher. "My sister's gonna crap. Don't you dare bite that kid." My arm swung in Lily's direction.

  Lily looked from each
of us to the other, finally locking eyes with Christopher. "Oh, my. I believe I understand. Aunt Susan has just enlightened me. But there are so many questions one must ask oneself. Would I become a vampire? Would I stop aging? Would I retain my demon powers? Would they be more powerful if I do?"

  She tilted her head, her eyes hooded. "I know one thing. If my father finds out, he will surely, aggressively demand my return." She tilted her head the other way. "Then again, if I drink from Christopher, and he from me, if that is possible, it might keep Father from taking me back permanently. He might consider me… tainted. Perhaps this new development is what Christian humans would call a blessing in disguise."

  "Blessing, my ass!" I shouted.

  "I think we should take this to Dorius," Mom said.

  "Over my dead body," Christopher spat.

  ~~~~

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ~~~~

  Paul stepped through the door to Mom's room. Gibbie buzzed in ahead of him, and doing his hummingbird thing, the fairy hovered mid-room, eyes moving all over the place. "What's wrong? Everybody looks freaked out," he squeaked.

  Christopher immediately answered, "Same-ol'-same-ol'. Susan's got a thong up her ass, and Chick's all strung out over tonight."

  Paul looked me up and down and whistled. "I've been down on the avenue, scoping out the action, and there's a corner with your name on it."

  Gibbie cackled, "Bet you can make some big bucks in that dress."

  "Don't make me smack you two. I didn't pick this goddamned dress out." I glared at Paul. "At least I'm not going to be at the end of a leash, Fido."

  "At least I'll have fur and a tail covering my ass," Paul said with a snicker.

  "Watch the language," Jeni said, covering Lily's ears.

  I rolled my eyes even though I was glad to move the conversation off the lack of material covering my butt cheeks. "Have either of you heard from Marcus?"