“You have strayed from the point, Princess,” Ike said testily, pulling my attention back to him. “You told me in March that you would not set up a competing nest. Have you gone back on your word?”
“I said I haven’t. I’m not the nesting type.”
“Why, then, is this vampire in town?”
“He’s working on a comedy act,” Saber supplied.
Vamps and blood bunnies exchanged puzzled glances, but Donita leaned forward.
“Is he any good?”
I opened my mouth to tell the truth but reconsidered. “He’s getting there. In fact, you might want to book him for a gig here at Hot Blooded.”
“But this is not a comedy club,” Ike objected, making comedy sound both foreign and dirty.
“We’ll bill it as a special performance,” Donita said. “Trust me, the curiosity factor alone will pack the house.”
Ike still looked appalled, but Donita whipped out a business card, sparing a glance at her simple, utilitarian watch as she did.
“Francesca, talk to your guy and call me when he has an opening.”
“Donita,” Ike said with an edge of warning.
It didn’t faze her. She patted his arm.
“Ike, it’s cool. Now, we have about two hours before dawn to get this place closed down.”
Saber and I took the hint and left at four forty-five, me wedging Donita’s card into my jeans pocket. A breeze hit us outside, brisker than it had been an hour ago. Saber slung an arm around my shoulders as we walked to our cars.
“What do you think of Donita?”
“She’s sure not what I thought she’d be, but she’s telling the truth about that jewelry.”
“I’m convinced, too. Wish she’d have come clean earlier though. I would have liked putting the silver screws to Laurel.”
“What I’d like to know is how Laurel found out about Jo-Jo. There’s no way Cici told her.”
“You’re right. Jo-Jo didn’t crash the cookout until after nine o’clock, so the timing is impossible unless Cici saw Jo-Jo at WalMart.”
“He did have new duds by Sunday night.”
“I still think Ike’s had Laurel keeping tabs on you.”
“There’s a spectacularly creepy thought. Saber, why is Ike so paranoid about this nest competition business? Why doesn’t the VPA shut nests down entirely?”
“Nests bind vampires together. Gives them a sense of community and safety.”
“Huh. Like a club?”
“More or less. You might be in one now if you hadn’t been buried and out of circulation.”
I snorted. “Not likely.”
“Why not?”
“Been there, despised that. I wouldn’t feel safe in a nest if my afterlife depended on it.”
He grinned and opened my car door. “Go keep your surfing date with Neil, and imagine flying is as easy as surfing.”
SEVEN
008
All right, so maybe surfing might feel a little like flying. Neil and I sure flew through the bitchin’ waves that an offshore storm was kicking up on Monday morning.
Falling was still another matter. Taking a tumble into waves, I could handle. Concrete? Not so much. I’d last seen Neil on Saturday night after the fireworks. The ones we shot off at the beach and the ones caused by Jo-Jo’s appearance. Neil must’ve still been ticked, because he’d been terse with me during the hour we’d surfed. I didn’t expect him to stick around after we’d stowed our boards, but he did.
He leaned against the fender of my SSR, frowning as I dried off with a palm tree beach towel.
“Tell me you sent that creepy vampire packing.”
I used the towel to squeeze water out of my ponytail and prepared to fudge.
“Neil, I can’t ship Jo-Jo back to Atlanta against his will.”
“I get that, but you’re not letting him hang around the house, are you? You’re keeping him away from Mags, right?”
“It’s Maggie I need to keep away from Jo-Jo.”
He scowled. “What does that mean?”
“She insisted that we both help him with his comedy routine last night. Not for long,” I added when Neil’s fists clenched. “Maggie went to bed before midnight.”
“Are you telling me that she’s sponsoring another vamp?”
“No, I am. Sort of. And before you erupt, I doubt Jo-Jo will stay around long. He’ll work this comic thing out of his system, then he’ll move on.”
“You want to put that in writing?”
“It’s a no-brainer,” I bluffed.
“Fresca, it’s no secret it took me a while to warm up to you, but that’s in the past. I’m focused on my future with Maggie, and I don’t want her involved in vampire business.”
I tossed my towel onto the passenger seat. “Hell, Neil, I don’t want to be involved in vampire business. Haven’t I done my best to steer clear of other vamps, period?”
“Yeah, but trouble has a way of finding you.”
“Only that once, and the killer was a human,” I shot back.
“Neil, listen. Anyone can see you’re wild about Maggie.”
His eyes softened, and his gaze shifted to the ocean. “I waited half my life to find her.”
“I love her, too. The sooner you two get married and keep each other busy at night, the happier we’ll all be.”
He looked back at me. “You mean that?”
“Duh.”