“In here!” He sped right through the door while I settled for pushing my way past the people in line.
“Looking for my boyfriend,” I said by way of explanation to several hostile glances. “I know he’s in here with that tramp I work with.”
That got the women on my side. They hustled me forward with a few “Go get him, honeys!” The bouncer didn’t even card me when I stepped through the doors. Guess I looked over twenty-one.
The dead guy led me to a door on the far side of the club by the bathrooms. It was locked, but I gave it a good yank and it broke open. It revealed a narrow unlit hall that I followed to another locked door. Ah, a private room complete with soundproofing. The pumping noise from the music was almost inaudible in here.
I didn’t see the ghost anymore. There was only a girl in a leather chair facing the doorway, and she clearly wasn’t in mortal danger, unless you count painting her toenails. Her eyes widened when she saw me.
“How did you get in here? This is a members-only area!”
I smiled and extended my badge, one of the many I carried. “Police, sugar. That makes me a member everywhere,” I responded, heading for the only other door behind her.
She shook her head and resumed painting her nails.
“You don’t want to go in there, but hey. Your funeral.”
With that questionable display of concern, she applied another pink coat to the toe in front of her while I opened the door.
The ghost of the young man was inside, and he gestured to an unconscious girl in a vampire’s arms. “Help her, please!”
There were about half a dozen vampires inside. None felt older than I was in undead years. On the floor were two bodies. One of them was my ghost’s, who hovered frantically near the equally young girl being snacked on. She was still alive, but not for long judging from her pulse. The vampire hadn’t even paused to look at the ghost, even though I knew the undead schmuck could see him. Me, I’d have felt awkward when the specter of someone I’d just killed was whizzing by me while I ate, but this creep seemed blasé about it. The other body was also of a young woman, and there was a third girl clinging to life on another vampire’s lap. Her eyes fluttered and then closed when I flicked my gaze to her.
“You should have listened to Brandy,” one of the vampires purred at me in a bad imitation of a sinister voice.
“Miss Pink Toenails?” I asked as I hitched up my dress.
They watched with interest as my hem climbed higher up my legs. My hiking it up wasn’t for distraction, although that was a secondary benefit. It was to access the knives I’d strapped to my legs. When they were revealed, the mood in the room shifted from hungry and lustful to wary.
“Now, you fuckers,” I said as I rolled my head around my shoulders and palmed some knives. “Let me introduce myself.”
“You forgot one.”
I was just about to fling more knives when his voice stopped me. Bones came in and cast a thorough look around at the carnage. Most of the vampires I’d dispatched with my blades, but the ones who’d killed the kids I’d torn apart with my bare hands. It was the least I could do.
“Who?”
His smile was pleasant. “The little bitch who was sneaking around for a gun, but she’s not doing that any longer.”
Must have been Brandy with the pink toenails. His benign expression didn’t fool me. Knowing him, she’d be wearing that shade in hell.
“Two of these girls are still alive. Give them blood. Yours will work faster than what I have to offer.”
Bones took the knife I handed him and sliced his palm, going to each girl and making them swallow his blood.
“Will she be okay?” the ghost asked, hovering over his girlfriend.
Gradually I heard her pulse return to a slow but steady rhythm as Bones’ blood went to work in her, offsetting her injuries. After a moment, I smiled. “Yeah. She will be now.”
He smiled back, showing that in life, he’d had dimples. God, he was so young! Then he frowned.
“They’re not all here. There were three more of those creatures. They said they’d be back.”
Probably went out to rustle up more dinner. Bastards. “I’ll get them,” I promised. “Don’t worry. It’s my job.”
He smiled again... and then started to fade at the edges, growing fainter, until there was nothing left of him.
I stared in silence. Then, “Is he gone?”
Bones knew what I meant. “I expect so. He accomplished what he wanted to, so he’s moved on. Sometimes a few stubborn people hang on long enough to do one last thing.”
And he’d trusted me to take care of that last thing for him. There might not be much I could say I was good for, but avenging people who’d had their lives stolen from them was definitely my specialty.
I headed for the door.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Bones asked.
“Grabbing Miss Pink Toenails and piling her in here with the rest of them,” I threw over my shoulder. “Then I’m going to wait until their friends come back, and kill the hell out of them.”
Bones came after me. “Sounds like fun.”