by Devon, Cat
“One last chance. Let the cupcake maker go,” Nick said as he had earlier.
Wait a second, Daniella thought. Is that all she was to Nick? The cupcake maker? Nothing more? Not soul mate? Not love of my life and afterlife? Miles had just called Nick her lover yet Nick called her the cupcake maker. Not even my cupcake maker.
Not that she should be worried about stuff like that when she had a knife held to her throat. Nick had said yesterday and today were the Days of the Dead. She sure hoped she didn’t end up that way. Dead.
“Cat got your tongue, sweetheart?” Miles mocked her, toying with her as he shifted the knife, nearly cutting her but not drawing blood.
“Why are you doing this?” she gasped. “You’re rich. You don’t need more blood.”
“How astute of you,” Miles said. “Now, now, keep your distance, gentlemen,” he warned Pat and Bruce as they joined Nick.
“Is this another example of your love of making trouble?” Pat demanded. “Like the time you instigated the Chicago Fire? Or the crash on Wall Street? You can’t increase your powers—”
“I know the hybrid druid has already mated with St. George,” Miles said.
“Then you know my powers have increased,” Nick said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Miles said. “You’re no match for me.”
“We outnumber you,” Pat said. “Where are Lois and Andy?”
“They’re in the tunnels. I ordered Andy to decapitate Lois. I had no further use for her. Don’t go fainting on me,” Miles warned Daniella. “I might slit your throat by accident.” Ruthlessly tightening his hold on her, he continued. “Discovering I could compel Lois was a lucky fluke. Mind control usually doesn’t work on vampires. But it worked on her. I could sense that when I saw her working at the bakery on your surveillance cameras, which I hacked into. Maybe it was the fact that she knew me when she was still human. We met in a speakeasy and shared a drink or two. It doesn’t matter. She served her purpose.”
Daniella felt tears coming to her eyes. Lois deserved better.
“Mating with the cupcake-making hybrid may have increased your powers, St. George. But it’s only temporary,” Miles said. “Because you’re no longer immortal. Oh, you’ll live longer than most humans, but from now on you will grow old at the same pace she does. I’ll bet you didn’t know that when you agreed to shag her, did you?”
Daniella remembered Lois’s accusation that Nick had only had sex with her in order to ramp up his vamp skills.
“It doesn’t matter,” Nick growled.
“It doesn’t matter because you’ve fallen for this hybrid, haven’t you, St. George? You’re wrong when you said this isn’t about blood,” Miles told Daniella. “And don’t even think about it,” he warned Nick. “Yes, you’re superfast, but so am I and I can kill her before you get to me. Now, where was I … oh yes. This is about blood. About family.”
“We’ve done nothing to hurt your clan,” Pat said.
“I’m not talking about my vamp clan. I mean my human family. In Venice. When I was Milo Panetti.”
Daniella saw recognition hit Nick’s glowing eyes.
“That’s right, St. George. I was a human cousin of the clan you destroyed in Venice over a hundred years ago. I wasn’t a vampire at the time; I became one just to get you. But the thing was, I had to wait until the right time for my vamp vengeance.” Miles paused a second before adding, “You like this cupcake maker, don’t you, St. George? You like her a lot. You fell for her big-time.”
She shuddered as Miles licked her cheek.
“If you try to suck my blood, it will kill you,” she said.
“I have no intention of sucking your blood. Instead I’m going to slit your throat and make Nick watch. Just like he had to watch his last love Magdalene being tossed onto the bonfire she deserved after disobeying orders.”
“Take me instead,” Nick said, his voice tortured and harsh. “Let her go and take me.”
“That wouldn’t make you suffer. And I really want to make you suffer.” As Nick moved toward him, Miles warned, “Stay back!” He took a few steps, pulling Daniella with him, until his back was against the wall. “I don’t appreciate you pushing me against the wall of your pitiful establishment. I mean, a talking fish?” He tilted his head toward the decoration on its wooden base. “Come on. Very bad taste.”
As if on cue, the fish started singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” before falling to the floor and shattering. A large shard of wood from its base bounced up into Daniella’s hand. Without even thinking, she immediately lifted it over her shoulder and jammed it into Miles’s chest with all her might.
Chapter Twenty-three
An instant later Miles disintegrated, his clothing falling to the floor in a pile. The clatter of the knife hitting the floor echoed in the deathly silent bar.
Nick rushed forward and tugged her into his arms. “Are you okay?”
“Wha … at happened?” Daniella stuttered. “I was just trying to stake him, not to…”
“Make him go up in dust?”
Pat surveyed the destroyed plaque. “The base is oak.”
Daniella didn’t get the connection. But then she wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at the moment. “So?”
“So remember how druids once locked up vampires in the hollows of ancient oak trees? The combination of angry druid and oak is apparently still deadly for a vampire,” Pat said.
“It’s like in The Wizard of Oz, when they throw water on the witch. They changed that in the play Wicked,” she said. “I’m in shock and I’m babbling.” She looked at the pile of dust and clothing on the floor. It freaked her out to think a few moments ago that had been a person. Well, not a person per se. A vampire. An evil vampire. “You don’t think he somehow got away, do you?”
“No, you’re safe now,” Nick said.
“Am I? What about the rest of his clan? The Gold Coast vamps? Won’t they come after me now that I’ve disintegrated their leader?”
“Normally they might,” Pat inserted. “But Miles was no longer their leader. Neville just texted me that Miles had been recalled through a vote of their council. It’s a very rare occurrence, but they didn’t approve of his actions or his instigating this war with us. They didn’t need blood; they have their own blood bank franchise they’ve just started.”
“Now that the dust has settled…” As everyone groaned, Bruce said, “What? Too soon? So I’m guessing it’s also too soon to say that the last laugh about a vampire and a druid walking into a bar would be on Miles?” He eyed the designer men’s clothing on the floor. “Do you think that suit of his can be saved? It’s an Armani.” He paused. “No, you’re right. It probably has bad karma and should be burned.”
Pat held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “I didn’t say a word.”
“You didn’t have to,” Bruce said. “I saw the expression on your face.”
“What about me?” Tanya demanded as she sauntered into the room. “I could use some thanks here. I’m the one who fought off Lois to go get help. But does anyone express their appreciation for my efforts? Noooo.” Putting her hands on her hips, she stared at them all. “Well?”
“I appreciate your help,” Daniella said.
“I should hope so. I’ll bet I surprised you, huh, sticking up for you the way I did?”
Daniella nodded.
“Lois sure surprised me,” Tanya said. “Have you figured out what was going on with her? I mean, I know she was obeying Miles the Mustache’s orders. I just don’t know why.”
“He said he compelled her,” Pat said.
Tanya frowned. “But she’s a vamp. We can’t be compelled.”
“She was a vamp,” Pat said.
“Poor Lois.” Daniella, still held in Nick’s arms, shivered. She’d considered Lois to be a friend as well as an employee. She remembered bonding with her the very first time they’d met, when Lois had mocked Nick.
“To misquote Mark Twain, the report of Lois’s deat
h was an exaggeration,” Doc Boomer announced as he walked into the bar with Lois and Andy.
Daniella couldn’t help it. She cringed back. Sure, she’d just annihilated a very powerful vampire all by herself with nothing but a hunk of oak—but that didn’t mean she thought of herself as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After all, she was in love with a vampire.
Whoa, where had that thought come from? Was it the fact that being in Nick’s arms made her feel she had found her place in the world? Or that him whispering “You’re safe” in her ear made her feel so secure?
“I’m so sorry, Daniella,” Lois said. “I didn’t want to do what I did but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Miles looked into my eyes and ordered me to obey. Perhaps he was able to compel me because I was infatuated with him when I was still human. I was turned into a vampire within an hour after my last encounter with him. Not that Miles was my sire. I was turned by the bartender at the speakeasy.”
“I’ve heard that if a human has unrequited love for a vamp shortly before she is turned by another vamp, she will remain vulnerable to the object of her feelings even after the transformation,” Doc Boomer said. “It sounds complicated, I know, but then we are dealing with vampire lore here.”
“The Mustache said he ordered Andy to behead you.” Nick’s voice was hard and edged with suspicion as he stared at Lois.
Lois nodded. “That’s true. But Andy disobeyed.”
“Why?” Nick barked the question. Daniella could feel the tension in his body. He was ready to face trouble at a nanosecond’s notice.
“Because we had a vamp vow,” Lois said. “I saved his life when Doc Boomer wanted to behead him that time Andy came to Vamptown the night before Halloween. That’s when Andy vowed that he would save my life.”
“Only if I was present and only if it was within the next twenty years,” Andy qualified nervously. “Is it true? Did the druid whack my sire? Did he really bite the dust?”
“He is the dust.” Pat pointed to the pile of fine particles on the floor.
Andy looked at Daniella with respect before telling Nick, “She’s got some powerful mojo going on, dude.”
Nick gave him a steely glare that made Andy duck behind Lois before realizing what he was doing and returning to his original stance.
“We’re glad you’re not dead, Lois,” Bruce told her. “I’m glad Andy didn’t behead you. I thought maybe he was influenced by the Happy Days marathon on cable TV last night and the fact that you look like Mrs. C’s twin sister,” Bruce said. “I thought perhaps that’s why he didn’t decapitate you.”
“A vampire would never allow himself to be influenced in such a stupidly emotional way,” Andy stated. “Besides, I like the Fonz better.”
“Really? I had no idea you rolled that way,” Bruce said.
“I don’t roll that way,” Andy said.
Lois stepped forward. “I don’t know how to express my regret. I realize that my actions will require you to banish me from Vamptown … or even worse.”
Staring at the other vampires in the bar, Daniella had to speak up. “You are not going to kill her! Not after Andy saved her.”
“We can’t trust her,” Pat said regretfully. “If one vampire could compel her, another might be able to as well.”
“But Doc explained that,” Daniella said.
Pat shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Can’t you do a mind meld with her or something to make her immune to compelling?” Daniella said.
“You’re getting us confused with Spock on Star Trek,” Bruce said. “We don’t do mind melds.”
Daniella refused to give up that easily. “There must be something you can do.”
“Do not get her upset,” Bruce said, eyeing Daniella warily. “Remember what she did to Miles with that chunk of wood. There are still pieces of the plaque on the floor along with little iddy biddy pieces of Miles.”
“Why are you trying to save me?” Lois asked Daniella.
“Yeah,” Tanya said. “Why are you trying to save her? Because she said she’s sorry and that’s supposed to make it all okay?”
“She was forced against her will to do the things she did,” Daniella said.
Nick turned Daniella to face him. “That doesn’t make a difference.”
“Well, it should,” she said.
“There is one thing we could try,” Pat said slowly. “It hasn’t been done in centuries.”
“What is it?”
“Have the druid forgive her,” Pat said.
“How would that prevent some other power-hungry vamp from compelling Lois?” Nick said. “I know what Doc said, but he also said it’s only vamp lore that that was how Miles got to her.”
“Forgiving would make Lois a distant part of the druid clan and therefore immune to any vampire compelling. That’s vamp law, not lore.”
“What about Andy?” Lois said. “And even if you do forgive me, Daniella, looking at me would still bring back terrible memories.”
“You tried to make me feel better by talking about the Prohibition when I was so terrified of the dark,” Daniella said.
“And then I tried to make you drink blood from Miles. So even if I am forgiven, I think it’s best if I leave Vamptown. I have vamp friends in Seattle. Andy and I could go there. He’s not as immune to the sun, so Seattle would be a good location,” Lois said.
“Are we all in agreement then?” Daniella said. “I forgive Lois, and she’s immune to any future vamp compelling her—and she can move on to Seattle.”
Nick nodded.
“Okay then, how exactly do I do this?” Daniella asked.
“Lois has to kneel before you,” Pat said.
She did.
“Daniella, you must put your hand on top of her head and tell her you forgive her,” Pat continued.
“That’s all I say?” Daniella asked. “No special words or spell or anything?”
“You’re part druid, not part witch. Let’s keep it simple, okay?”
“I like simple,” Daniella said. “As long as it works. Which hand?”
“Right hand.”
Daniella did so. “I forgive you, Lois.”
Lois shuddered and collapsed to the floor.
Daniella stared at her in horror. “Oh my God! I’ve killed another vampire!”
Pat knelt beside Lois. “She’s fine. Her reaction is an indication it worked.”
“You could have warned us about that,” Daniella said.
“And risk the chance that Lois might fake her reaction? No, it had to be done this way.” He helped Lois to her feet.
It was now official, Daniella decided. Her nerves were totally shot. That fact was reinforced by how startled she was at the arrival of someone new.
“It’s okay,” Nick told her. “It’s just Neville. He’s one of us.”
He looked more like a computer nerd than a vampire, but Daniella was learning you couldn’t tell who was a vampire by their appearance.
“Nick, you showed up on infrared and none of the other vamps did. You know what that means, don’t you?” Neville said.
“What does it mean?” Daniella demanded, afraid that by forgiving Lois she’d somehow injured Nick.
“I believe Daniella and I need some time alone to discuss matters,” Nick said with that touch of British formality she found so sexy. “We’ll be in my office and don’t want to be disturbed.”
“Or watched on camera,” Daniella warned them.
Nick held the door open for her as he ushered her into the small room at the back of the bar. The only thing on the wall was a large framed watercolor of an English manor house and the surrounding countryside.
Noticing her interest, Nick said, “That’s Marchmore, my family’s estate in Gloucestershire. It’s a tourist hotel now.”
“Lois told me you lied about being adopted.”
“I did,” he acknowledged. “I was trying to get you to confide in me about your adoption. I thought if it was something we had in comm
on, then you’d be more likely to talk to me about it. I wasn’t adopted, but I was born on my father’s estate of Marchmore. That much is true.”
“Did he ever know you became a vampire?”
Nick shook his head. “I was officially listed as dead. My father had a heart attack when he heard the news and my older brother took over the estate. There was no going back. It wouldn’t have done any good.” He paused. “Do you forgive me for lying to you?”
She didn’t have to take a moment to think about it. After all, the guy had just saved her. Okay, technically, she’d sort of saved herself by jamming that wood into Miles. But hearing Nick’s voice down in the tunnel had given her the strength to do that and not turn into a mass of quivering jelly early on in the ordeal. In the grand scheme of things, his lie about being adopted wasn’t that bad. “Yes, I forgive you. Just don’t lie to me again and don’t ask me to put my hands on your head and make the pronouncement. I don’t want you falling over on the floor the way Lois did.”
“That was generous of you to forgive her and let her go.”
“Would you all really have killed her?”
He shrugged. “It’s the vampire way.”
“There’s a lot I still don’t understand about the vampire way. For example, what did that guy with the geeky glasses mean when he said he could see you on infrared?”
“It means I’m no longer one hundred percent vampire. I still have my powers but I have other traits. I can eat food.”
“So Miles was right about you no longer being immortal?”
“Miles’s reasons for coming after you were to get to me,” Nick said. “Getting involved with me put your life at risk.”
“Getting involved with me put your afterlife at risk.” Her breath caught, and it took her a moment to shake off the threat of tears. “You won’t live forever anymore. You’ll grow old. Not at the normal human rate, granted. At a slower pace.”
“At the same slower pace you’ll grow old.”
“Is that okay with you?” she asked unsteadily.
