Always the Vampire

“So? I saw ’em fly off.”


I reached for patience. “You actually saw them levitate and zoom away into the night?”

“They were there on the sidewalk, then they weren’t. Old people don’t move that fast.”

“And vamps don’t just disappear. They also don’t Turn senior citizens.”

He narrowed his eerie light blue eyes. “Why not?”

“Because there’s nothing to gain. No power, no prestige, no money.”

“That’s it. Money. Vampires could steal old codgers blind.”

“Vamps could enthrall them to do that.”

He frowned, and I could almost see the wheels thunk in his brain. How Gorman got into the Covenant, I’d never understand. Originally a search-and-destroy-vampires group, the Covenant had now scaled back to watch and report to the VPA. At least the St. Augustine branch had, and two of the Covenant members I’d met were relatively pleasant. The most pleasant thing about Gorman was that, tonight at least, he didn’t also reek of garlic.

I moved to step around him, but he blocked me.

“I’m warnin’ you, don’t bring no more of your kind into town.”

That did it. The slow fizzle of my temper flared.

“Gorman, listen up. Knock off the threats and corny lines. You don’t impress me, and you don’t scare me. I’m sorry if some vampire did you or your family wrong, but it wasn’t me, and I’m tired of taking the crap for it.”

This time I stormed past him, only to stop when I heard him say, “You’re wrong, bitch. You started it all.”

When I spun to challenge him, he’d melted into the shadows.





FIVE




I thought about Gorman’s comment for about five minutes on the way home then dismissed it. For one thing, he had shadowed me, threatened me, and generally annoyed me for months. Even his attempt to kill me with a well-aimed shot from a crossbow had angered more than frightened me. His antics were old news.

For another thing, I had bigger concerns, which came into sharp relief when I opened my cottage door. Snowball, the four-pound rescue cat, flew across the floor headed straight for me with Pandora in her twenty-pound house cat form smack on Snowball’s tail. Snowball dove under my full skirts and a beat later thudded into the wall behind me. Pandora braked at my feet, morphed to her panther size in time-lapse-photography style, and calmly lifted and licked a dinner-plate-sized paw.

Then I saw Saber from the corner of my eye. He sat at my laptop housed in the computer cabinet tucked into an alcove in my living room. A few keystrokes later, he swiveled to face me.

I huffed a breath and dropped my car keys on the entry table. “What’s going on?”

“Pandora brought a message from Triton.”

I stared. “You’re talking to the animals now?”

Pandora sat on her haunches and gave me a “you’re a moron” gaze. Snowball, now at Pandora’s side, mirrored the pose as if mimicking an adored older sibling.

“The note was in her collar,” Saber clarified as he swung back to the computer screen.

I’d never seen Pandora wear a collar, and she wasn’t sporting one now, but I let that pass.

“So what was the message?”

“Cosmil is better, but no word on when Lia will arrive.”

“Why didn’t Triton just call?”

“Maybe because he didn’t want Cosmil to overhear him on the phone.” He punched a key and swiveled back to me. “I asked him to get the names of the other Council of Ancients members.”

“Ah, you’re searching for anyone suspicious.”

“Yeah, but I’m getting less than nothing.”

“No handy-dandy COA website, huh?”

Saber and Pandora snorted in unison, and Snowball sneezed.

I ignored all three of them. “Do you know anything about astrology?”

“Why?”

“Oh, I saw Millie tonight,” I said, waving away the question and my concern. “She brought it up. I talked to Gorman, too.”

“You what?” Saber pushed out of the desk chair. “Did he have a weapon? That order of protection against him is still in force. We can lock him up for a damn-long time if you report the contact.”

I held up a hand. “No weapons and I don’t want to file a complaint. Gorman is imagining a vampire invasion again. He thinks he saw a couple of eighty-year-olds fly.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Could I make that up?”

“I can’t decide if Gorman is an idiot, a paranoid idiot, or an idiot on some seriously disturbing drugs.” He pulled me into his arms and nuzzled my neck. “Did I mention I like this dress on you?”

“I believe you said you’d like it better off me.”

His cobalt eyes darkened, and his sexy smile smoldered me to my toes.

“I do.”

The moment hung suspended until Pandora chuffed.

Time for me to go.

“Downsize so you won’t freak the neighbors,” I warned as I opened the door.

She did and slipped out. Derived of her playmate, Snowball twitched her tail and headed for the kitchen.

I batted my eyelashes and sashayed into Saber’s embrace.