After a delightful candlelit romp in my jetted bathtub, Saber wanted to talk real estate, a romantic subject only because he wanted to share the seventeen property listings he’d copied from the Internet. We pored over the printouts and the Sunday real estate section from the St. Augustine Record that he’d saved. As we compared features, locations, and prices, a special warmth permeated my heart and soaked into my soul. It was almost as if we were house hunting as a couple, planning a life together. We’d narrowed his list of first-see choices to twelve when he got the munchies. Since he’d learned to stock my cabinets so there would be food in the house, he helped himself. He’d just set his humongous ham sandwich, a beer, and a glass of sweet tea for me on the coffee table when my doorbell rang.
“Eat,” I said, springing up from the couch.
I swung the door open, expecting it to be Maggie checking on us. Jo-Jo stood there instead, quivering with excitement.
“Highness, consort of Highness,” he said as I stepped aside to let him in. “Are you two free tomorrow night?”
I glanced at Saber, his mouth full of sandwich. He shrugged. “What’s up tomorrow night?” I asked.
“Open mike night at the Riot,” he said, referring to a new comedy club just across the bridge on the island. “It’s from nine to ten, and sunset is at eight fourteen. I’ll go on last so I have plenty of time to get ready, but I’ve decided to do it, and, well, I’d like it if you could be there—and Miss Maggie and her gentleman, too. You know, for moral support.”
Anxiety twisted my stomach, unfamiliar and unexpected. “What about polishing your act? Didn’t you want to practice? Try out your material on us before you go public?”
Whoa, was I worried for him? Darn it, I was. Concerned he’d fall on his face and be crushed. Had Maggie felt like this when I started ghost tour guiding?
“I’m good, Highness,” he said with a smile. “Well, maybe not good, but I’ve been practicing in front of the mirror. I think I’m ready to take on an audience again.”
That’s right. He’d been a performer centuries before I’d been born. He had to know more about it than I did.
“I think we ought to go,” Saber said. “You can check out his act for the other gig you lined up for him.”
Jo-Jo’s eyes went wide. “Highness? You got a job for me?”
“Maybe,” I hedged. “It’s at a vampire bar in Daytona.”
“Wow, really? You said vampires might like my act, but I didn’t expect—Wait. Is the owner a vampire?”
“Yes. His name is Ike.”
“Ike?” Jo-Jo frowned.
“You know him?” Saber’s eyes narrowed, his sandwich abandoned for the moment.
Jo-Jo shook his head. “No, it’s just that the name sounds familiar. Like I’ve heard it somewhere. Are you sure he wants to hire me?”
“I’m sure he doesn’t,” I said, “but his mortal manager girlfriend talked him into it. Providing, well—”
“That I’m funny?” Jo-Jo bounded for the door. “Don’t worry, Princess. I won’t let you down.”
When the door shut, I plopped beside Saber.
“Did that have a ‘famous last words’ ring to it?”
“He’s grown on you, hasn’t he?”
“He’s kind of goofy, but yeah. He’s the first vampire I’ve ever liked. What about you?”
“He’s the second vampire I’ve liked.” Saber dropped a kiss on my forehead. “I trusted him to teach you to fly.”
“You know, if he’s a hit, the flying lessons may be over.”
We stared at each other a long beat.
“Nah.”
011
I called Maggie to invite her to Jo-Jo’s debut act. As soon as she repeated the invitation to Neil, I heard his “Hell, no, I don’t want to watch a vampire comic.”
Maggie prevailed simply by reminding him that if Jo-Jo were working the nightclub circuit, he wouldn’t be hanging around my place. That changed Neil’s tune.
“We’ll meet you and Saber there,” she assured me.
“And applaud like mad no matter what?”
“You got it.”
Except for a drizzle here and there, the storm had passed. Saber and I headed for Wal-Mart to track down Cici. The task didn’t prove difficult. We found her straightening up in the women’s clothing section. She did a double take when I called her name, but she smiled.
“Oh, hey, Prinsceth Thethca, Thaber,” she lisped. “You need help finding anything?”
“Actually, Cici, we have a question for you.”
“Okay,” she said, cautiously.
“Were you at Hot Blooded last Saturday night?”
She blushed. “Yeth, but not for long. I went by to thay hello to the girlth.”
“Did you,” Saber said gently, “talk to Laurel while you were there?”
“You’re joking, right? Laurel wouldn’t be caught, well, dead talking to me. Why? Did she accuth me of thomething?”
“No, no,” I reassured her. “But it would probably be a good idea to steer clear of the club.”