by Мишель Роуэн
I gave her a look. “Your compassion leaves a lot to be desired.”
“I haven’t cried over a guy since I was a kid. It was an unrequited love thing. I was madly in love with a friend of my brother’s, but he didn’t even notice me. Tears didn’t do much to change the situation. Soon after, my life got so that I couldn’t be soft. It was either toughen up or die.”
“What a beautiful story.”
“I know. Nora Roberts should be calling me any day.”
“So you’re telling me I should toughen up.”
She snorted. “When I first heard about you, Sarah, I would have predicted that you were harder than nails. I mean, the Slayer of Slayers, right? You’re avampire . You should be all . . .grrr .” She held her hands up like Nosferatu claws and snapped her teeth at me.
I blinked at her. “Right. Well, sorry to have disappointed you.”
She shrugged. “Not a disappointment as much as a surprise. You know, I like you. You seem fairly sincere.”
“I am sincere. I am the epitome of sincere.”
“You wear your emotions on your sleeve.” She shook her head. “Pretty dangerous to do that in your situation. But good for you, I guess. I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because of what I do. If I let my guard down and turn my back I’ll probably find a knife in it.” Her eyes narrowed. “My brother let his guard down and he’s dead.”
“I’m so sorry about that. Any leads on who did it?”
Her expression grew cold. “Yes. As soon as I finish up my other business, I’m going to take care of that little matter.”
I felt a chill at her words.Take care of that little matter?
After a moment she spoke again. “Is it hard being a vampire?”
I took a deep breath. “Yes, it is. But it’s hard being human, too. It’s the same thing with different rules. I mean, I still need a place to live.”
“You seem to have recovered pretty quickly considering you lost everything the other night.”
My stomach lurched just thinking about it. “I haven’t recovered, but I try to dwell on it as little as possible. It almost killed me. Who knows, maybe it did. Maybe I’m dead and heaven is exactly like my everyday life. Only worse. Or maybe this is hell.”
“Maybe you can get a nice new coffin. Lined in satin.”
I rolled my eyes. “No thank you. Besides, I’m seriously claustrophobic. I need space. I don’t know how much longer I can live with George.”
She smiled. “George is hot. He doesn’t swing both ways, does he?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Besides, I don’t think you want to get mixed up with a vampire. The drinking-blood thing is a serious turn-off.”
She grimaced. “Maybe you’re right. That is disgusting.”
“I only drink it because I have to. I needed it more when I was first turned. Now I can go a bit longer.”
“Before you turn all . . . grrr?” Nosferatu claws again.
“I get stomach cramps from hell.” I shivered at the memory. Hadn’t happened lately, but the flashback was enough to remind me how bad it could be if I didn’t watch my diet.
She studied me for a moment. “I’ve heard some rumors about dead bodies discovered lately in Toronto with puncture marks on their necks. Are you talking about a pain that would prompt you to attack a human?”
I crossed my arms. “I heard about that, too, and absolutely not. I can’t ever see myself biting anybody no matter how much pain I’m in.”
I thought about black-eyed Thierry and how he’d lost control the other night. Would that ever happen to me? It seemed so unlikely that I didn’t even want to give it a thought.
“I’ve seen the dark side,” Janie said. “I’ve seen out-of-control vamps, and there’s nothing fun or friendly about them.”
“Lucky you.”
“But you’re different. I can see that. That’s what makes things so difficult.”
“Makes what difficult?”
She shook her head. “So you’re in love with this Thierry guy, huh?”
I nodded.
“Love is an emotion for fools,” she said.
“Gee, what a lovely sentiment.”
She laughed. “Sweetie, you’re a mystery. That’s for damn sure. Listen, I know you probably don’t give a shit what my opinion is on your messed-up love life, but I’m going to give it to you anyhow.”
“Let me guess. I should forget about Thierry since he’s wrong for me and will only bring me pain? Take a number on that piece of advice.”
She shook her head. “If you’re seriously into this Thierry guy, you need to forget about what anybody else says, because who the hell cares what anybody else thinks? They’re not you. You’re the only one who knows what you want. And you’re the only one who can get it. Don’t even listen to Thierry himself, because he’s obviously just trying to protect you from him, which is probably not such a bad idea. If after all these warnings and red lights, you’re still convinced that you’re in love with this freak, then start fighting for him.”
“He doesn’t want to hear what I have to say. He always finds a way to walk away from uncomfortable discussions.”
She sighed. “Stop being such a spineless coward. If you want to fight for your man, you need to force him to listen to you. Force him to hear how much you love him. You know, silver handcuffs do work wonders on vamps. Even old ones.”
I raised my eyebrows at that. “And you’re speaking from personal experience?”
She grinned. “I’ll never tell. But I do keep a pair on me at all times just in case.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then if you don’t know, that’s your answer. It doesn’t matter. If it does matter, then you know what to do.”
“He sounded very convinced that it was over between us. He even sold the club and is planning to leave town.”
“Then it’s over.”
My throat tightened. “No.”
She shrugged. “Then fight your ass off for him.”
I looked at Janie for a moment. Did she really care one way or the other about my future happiness?
She seemed so trustworthy, seemed to be somebody I could tell absolutely anything to and she’d give me her honest opinion. Like we could become really good friends.
If we wanted to.
Just like me and Thierry. We were different. There was no debating that fact. But from the moment he entered my life, I knew that he filled that empty part of me—the part I didn’t even know was missing something. I fell head over heels for him. And even when he’d gone all thirsty vampire on me, I hadn’t stopped loving him. I wanted to help him, not run away from him. That had to count for something, didn’t it? Other than my total lack of self-preservation. I didn’t care. I wanted Thierry. Even though I now knew he wasn’t perfect.Especially now that I knew he wasn’t perfect. He was Thierry. And I loved him.
Now if only the jerk could see that.
Honestly.Men .
I smiled at Janie. She returned the expression.
“By the way,” she said, “do you know who Gideon Chase is?”
My smile flew away. “What?”
“Gideon Chase.” She pressed a finger against her earpiece, then grinned at me. “He’s the leader of the hunters. Big bucks. Apparently really hot, too. He’s in town. Might make things a little more exciting around here.”
“I am going to be sick.”
“We’ll protect you. Don’t worry. Remember, the ninja thing? Why do you look so freaked out?”
I decided to tell her everything. Well, almost everything. About Nicolai and his plan to trap Gideon when he made a move to kill me. About how I hadn’t told Thierry.
Still didn’t mention that I was wearing the necklace right at that very moment. Later. I’d give it to her later.
My mouth felt dry when I finished. “So I guess I shouldn’t go to the party. Amy will be mad, but she’ll understand. Man. I think I’m going to throw up.”
<
br /> She waved her hand. “Relax. I won’t let anything bad happen to you unless I do it myself. So just go about your regularly scheduled activities.” She grinned. “Do you trust me?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I trust you.”
Her grin widened. “Now, go about your day as you normally would. I’ll be watching. Don’t even think about the fact that you are now at constant risk of death. With any luck, you won’t even notice if Gideon tries to attack you. I’ll take him down first.”
“If you say so.”
“So let’s get you back to George’s so you can get ready for your friend’s party.”
I nodded, anxiety filling every cell of my body. As we headed for the car, I almost expected to see a swarm of hunters coming directly for me, but there was nothing but the normal swell of oblivious people on the sidewalk.
Gideon was in town to kill me. And I was putting my life in the hands of somebody I didn’t quite trust
100 percent.
I wondered what I should wear to the party.
“It’s pink.”
“Yeah, don’t you just love it?”
I stood behind Amy at Studio V, the vampire hair salon, and gazed in the shard mirror at her newly made-over reflection. She’d dyed her platinum-blond hair a vibrant shade of pink and cut it super short.
The stylist—a tall, skinny vamp with hollow cheekbones and black eyeliner—raised an eyebrow at her.
“It’sfabulous ,” he proclaimed. “Honey, you are fanged and fabulous.”
Amy grinned and pointed at her sanded-down teeth. “Well, you’re half right, Bernardo!”
“It’s pink,” I said again.
“And you can’t do it, too, this is all me.”
“Why pink?” I asked.
“Why not?”
“Do you want an alphabetical list or just off the top of my head?”
She pouted. “It’s my birthday, I can dye if I want to. This is the new me. I’m wild and free and don’t care about anyone’s opinion but my own.” She looked in the shard in front of her and blinked. “Are you saying you don’t like it? Because I can change it back.”
“No, I’m not saying that. It’s . . . different. What will Barry think?”
She rolled her eyes. “Do I care?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“He loved my blond hair.”
“And?”
“It serves him right.” She took a deep breath and looked in the shard again, at me. “I’m leaving him.”
“So you’ve been saying. And that is happening when?”
“As soon as I find another place to stay. Hey, you’re looking for a new apartment, right? We should be roommates.”
While I adored Amy and she was my best friend, there was no way I was going to room with her. A vacation is one thing, constantly being in each other’s presence without the respite of your own home is something entirely different. But she was fragile. And it was her birthday, so I wasn’t going to shoot her down when she was in such a fragile mood. She might go and get a tattoo or something.
I forced a smile. “Let’s talk about it later.”
“Cool.”
I’d made the decision to not tell her about the surprise party. It was very tempting, but I’d managed to hold my tongue. I figured as soon as she saw what Barry had done for her, she’d snap out of this melancholy, “let’s dye our hair pink,” kind of mood. It was a theory. Besides, after hearing about Barry’s backstory I was feeling a little warmer toward her diminutive husband. Just a tiny bit. No pun intended.
“So what now?” Amy asked as she paid Bernardo and made an appointment for next month to have her roots touched up.
I looked at her innocently. “What, you think I have something planned?”
“It’s my birthday.”
“Yeah, so how does it feel being one of the ancient?”
She slid her wallet back into her big black leather purse. “It feels epic. In a very small way.”
“Okay, so what do you want to do?”
She looked disappointed. “You mean you don’t have anything planned? You did that stripper thing for my last birthday.”
Ah, the memories. I took her to a club called Precious Illusions with a couple of other girls from the office. We’d drunk ourselves senseless and shoved five-dollar bills in the general G-string direction of oily musclebound men with names like Shadow, Ace, and Diego. Good times.
I shrugged. “We could go there again.”
That earned me a look of shock. “But I’m a married woman!”
“Would you make up your mind, already?”
“And you’re also spoken for, young lady. What would Thierry say if he saw you canoodling with male exotic dancers?”
“Well, first of all I don’t canoodle.” I swallowed hard. “Second, I wasn’t going to bring this up, but I may as well. Thierry and me . . . we’re over.”
“What?”
“Yeah, we had a nice heart to heart this afternoon, which he ended by breaking mine. He doesn’t think we’re right for each other.”
Half shrug. “Well . . . ”
I sighed and gave her a dirty look.
Another half shrug, other shoulder. “Like I was saying the other day—”
“I don’t want to talk about this, Amy.”
She nodded. “We should definitely go see the strippers. That’ll cheer both of us up.”
“Fine. We’ll see the strippers.” I glanced at my watch. It was six-fifteen.Showtime . Time to get Amy to her surprise party. “But first I want to stop by Haven. I have to pick something up.”
“Okay.” She turned and glanced at herself in the reflection of a shop window that didn’t reflect me. She touched her hair. “What have I done?”
“It will grow out.”
She turned to face me with tears in her eyes. “Why doesn’t Barry love me?”
“He does love you.”
She sniffed loudly, and ran her hand under her nose. “Being a vampire sucks.”
“Can you say that a little louder? I don’t think the people over by the bus stop heard you.” I paused.
“Look, Janie’s here and she’ll give us a ride.”
“I think I just want to go home. I don’t feel so good.”
I closed my eyes. I didn’t feel all that hot either. But I had to suck it up. There was a party to go to. A party that would contain Thierry.
“If you don’t feel like doing anything, that’s fine. But we have to stop by Haven.”
“Okay,” she said, wiping a last tear away. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave.”
Let the good times roll.
Chapter 17
It was dark out when I knocked on the door to Haven at six-thirty. The little window shuttered open.
“Yeah?” Angel the bouncer barked.
“It’s me.”
“Me who ?”
I took a step back so he could see me. “Um. Sarah?”
“What’s the password?”
Right, the password. An extra security feature implemented just today to help keep the club even safer,
giving it a rather Harry Potter dorm room feel.
I wished I’d paid attention earlier when George had told me what the password was. I glanced at Amy,
then back at the beady eyes of the bouncer. “Is it . . .Open Sesame ?”
“Nope.”
“How about Red Rover ?”
“Not even close.” Amusement flashed behind his gaze.
My eyes narrowed. “How about,Let us the hell in or I’ll have you fired ?”
The door swung open. “That’s the one.”
I grinned at him. “Thanks so much.”
“Enjoy yourselves.”
“Oh, we’re not staying long,” Amy said. “But thanks!”
Janie had chosen to stay outside for the time being. Lenny was still missing in action. So Amy and I moved along the hallway and I started to feel very apprehensive. What was I going to say to Thi
erry?
How could I convince him that we were supposed to be together? I wondered if anybody had a pair of those silver handcuffs Janie had mentioned on them.
“Maybe I’ll just wait out here,” Amy said when we got to the second door that led into the club itself.
“No, I’m going to buy you a birthday drink. Just a quick one.” I opened the door. It was quiet inside.
Very quiet.
“Okay.” Amy nodded and brushed past me into the club.
Five-four-three-two-one.
“SURPRISE!” A dozen vamps—most I recognized, a few I didn’t—came out of the woodwork. Not literally, because that would have been very strange. Figuratively. They swarmed around Amy giving her hugs and kisses and birthday wishes, wearing silly hats that looked very out of place on their vampire heads. George was nearby and he blew on a birthday buzzer thing, making the streamers fly out in all directions. He looked at me and rolled his eyes.
“What . . . what’s going on?” Amy asked, stunned.
“Amy, my angel,” Barry approached her. “It’s a surprise party. Happy birthday!”
“A . . . a surprise party?” she said. “For me?”
“Of course.”
She started smiling. “But why, and when . . . and how?”
“Because I love you, I’ve been planning it for weeks, and there is nohow . Just enjoy it. I’m sorry you thought I was up to no good. I wasn’t. I was just being secretive about this. I wanted you to have a birthday party you’d always remember.” He eyed her with trepidation at her reaction.
“So you’re . . . you’re not cheating on me?”
“Of course not, my silly Amy.”
She blinked back tears. “I’m so sorry.” She leaned over to hug him hard. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No you’re not. You’re beautiful. And wonderful.”
“I love you, snooky.”
“I love you too.” He kissed her, then pulled away. “What on earth have you done to your hair?”
She straightened up and tentatively touched her fuchsia locks. “Do you hate it?”
“No, it’s you. I love it.”
She smiled widely and leaned over to embrace him again. He looked over her shoulder at me and shot me a very dirty look that clearly blamed me for what she’d done to her hair. I shrugged at him. Didn’t matter. I was fighting off the big lump in my throat from their little scene. They were so different from each other, but they would work things out between them. Theywanted to.
