I winced. “Okay, maybe he’s just a nice guy playing Good Samaritan. But he’s not all that he seems.”
“What do you mean? Just because he happened to be in the garage right after the attack, automatically he is an evil bloodsucker?”
“Well, no, he’s not a vampire. But he
was
following me all day when I was shopping. Even bought a pair of glasses from the Sunglass Hut when I stared at him.”
Piper raised her eyebrows in question. “He bought a pair of sunglasses and that makes him trouble?”
“No, of course not. What makes him trouble is that he was everywhere I was. In the same stores.”
“Downtown has exactly two main department stores next to a small mall. You’re bound to see the same people shopping in such close quarters,” she reasoned.
“But why shop where I was shopping? Why not spread out a little and go down one of the streets? There are tons of little shops up and down that area.”
“Why didn’t you?” she countered craftily.
“Because I was meeting you and everything I wanted to look at was right there.” She shot me a knowing look and I fortified my position. “That doesn’t mean he wasn’t following me!”
“Sure, Colby, the hot guy was following you. He couldn’t possibly have his own shopping to do. It was all about you.”
“Hey, that’s not fair!”
Piper stood up and towered over me, her dark eyes flashing. “No, it’s not fair, Colby. Not to Hunter and certainly not to me. It isn’t always about you, ya know. Not everything in the world revolves around this stupid Prophesy and vampire half-bloods and the whole Undead thing. Sometimes it’s just about a nice guy being in the wrong place at the right time.”
I looked at her incredulously. “Surely you’re not that naïve.”
Piper threw up her hands and marched out of the house, throwing open the front door with gusto, practically stomping over Thomas in her rage to leave.
Thomas stepped into the House and looked at me in surprise. “Trouble in paradise?” he guessed.
“Nothing I can’t handle. I think. We were attacked by some vampires tonight.”
“You okay?” he asked, without his usual tirade about being more careful.
“Yeah, I slipped and broke my kneecap but I think it’s healed now.” I stood up and put some weight on it experimentally. There was a dull ache, but it held so I was almost good as new.
He plopped himself down in the seat Piper had just vacated and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. “You forgot to drop and roll again?”
I glared at him. Thomas, at least the Thomas
I knew
, would normally have been all over me for details about the vampires. How many? Where did they attack? What did they want? Et cetera. This guy practically falling asleep in a fluffy chair (chairs he hated, BTW) was someone I barely recognized.
First of all, he wasn’t driving me crazy with undue concern. Secondly, he looked terrible. My man was beautiful to look at. This guy was a mess. His clothes were rumpled like he’d slept in them, his hair was sticking up all over and he had dark circles under his usually clear green eyes. He obviously wasn’t sleeping well. Still.
“I took out four vampires tonight and even Piper got a piece of the action. She saved me from the last one.”
“Good to hear,” he mumbled.
My gaze narrowed. I hate being ignored. “Then this wicked-looking wizard summoned a fire-breathing dragon and it totally toasted the cars in the parking garage. I subdued it using my hypnotic gaze and chained it outside in the backyard. I’m keeping it for a pet. I’m calling it Snort.”
His lips twitched upward. “Snort is a fine name for a dragon.”
I threw my hands up in defeat. “What’s up with you?”
“I’m just tired, honey. That’s all. You remember Carl leaves for New York tomorrow, right? They have bands of rogue vampires roaming the streets at night. They need all the help they can get.” He shook his head.
I made a sympathetic clucking sound. I so didn’t care if New York City had some vampire issues. They were getting Carl, Thomas’s best friend and partner, but they weren’t getting Thomas because I needed him more.
I debated telling him the details about our encounter but he looked so tired I decided against it. There would be time later.
“Anything I can do to help?” I moved toward him and sat down on the chair’s armrest, running my fingers through his disheveled hair.
“Mmmm. That feels good. You could clear up this whole Prophesy nonsense?” he suggested unnecessarily. He knew it was my major focus morning and night. He wasn’t the only one tired of all the chaos. My house was growing by leaps and bounds with unlicensed half-bloods being created by rogues.
“Consider it done,” I assured him, massaging his temples.
“Excellent. Now that that’s settled …” He pulled me down across his lap and kissed me soundly. “So tell me about this vampire attack,” he murmured against my neck, trailing kisses everywhere he could reach.
I sighed blissfully until he nipped me, drawing blood. “Hey, you’re not horny, you’re just hungry!” I accused him, struggling to sit up. He was going for double duty.
“Can’t I be both?” he asked, all innocent.
“When did dinner and romance become the same thing, anyway?” I pouted.
He continued to nuzzle my neck and murmured, “When you emancipated half-blood vampires and were ordained by an ancient Prophesy to be the one who would bring about the end of the world as we know it. It kind of upped my workload.”
I pulled away and glared at him. “So this is my fault?”
Thomas looked confused. “When did this discussion become about fault? Or blaming anyone? I just wanted to spend some quality time with my girlfriend, doing what vampire couples do. Vampires feed, Colby.”
“Yes, I know vampires feed, Thomas. I do it myself on occasion.” I squirmed out of his lap, annoyed he was blaming me for his busy schedule and double-duty antics.
“How did this turn into a fight?” he asked, mystified by my anger. He was such a guy.
“We’re not fighting, we’re talking about my most recent attack,” I assured him woodenly.
He ground his teeth in frustration. “Fine, tell me about this attack.”
“No. I don’t want to now.”
Thomas groaned, rubbing his eyes as though to clear his head. “You’re impossible. You know that?”
“Funny, I thought I was a Happy Meal.” I stood over him, hands on hips.
“I’m going back to bed. This is obviously a bad dream.” Thomas pulled himself wearily out of the chair and headed toward the upstairs rooms.
“Just where do you think you’re going?” I demanded.
“To find another Happy Meal,” he retorted sarcastically.
“Oh, ha-ha,” I muttered once he left the room.
Why did he make me so crazy? The poor guy was just tired! Did I really have to make such a big deal over the love nip? The truth of the matter was Thomas hadn’t been acting like himself for the last month. He was always tired, never seeming to relax. He was so busy at work, I couldn’t begin to guess why he agreed to let New York borrow Carl. We had rogue vampire activity here, so why send one of our best Vampire Investigators away? I had tried to talk him out of it but he insisted it was the right thing to do.
Instead of following Thomas upstairs to apologize, I went downstairs to see what was going on. Most of the girls were watching television in the rec room when I plopped down on the carpet and leaned against the ottoman.
I sneezed violently. Once. Then again. “Okay, who snuck a cat in here?” I demanded.
Sophie looked guilty at once. Next to me, she had the world’s worse poker face. She was Ileana’s human maid and she loved stray animals.
“Soph-ie. You know I’m allergic. No cats in Psi Phi House. That’s a rule. Now where is it?” I felt like the Grinch when she scurried over to the sleeping dorm and opened the door. Sure enough, a scraggly calico emerged, meowing a pitiful hello.
It was one ugly cat. Which could mean only one thing. It belonged to Mrs. Murphy. Every neighborhood had one of those cat ladies and ours was no exception. About a block over was a lady who was a hundred and three if she was a day, and her house was filled with cats. And they were never cute. They all seemed to suffer from mange.
“You need to take it back to Mrs. Murphy,” I said, ignoring the look on Sophie’s face. She picked up the cat and it was hard to say who looked more forlorn, the calico or Sophie.
“I can’t take it back. That crazy ol’ lady accused me of stealing her cats. Said she was going to call the police on me next time.”
Sophie came straight from Ileana’s English estate and possessed the sweetest British accent. She was tough to refuse.
“She wouldn’t think you were stealing her cats if you stopped feeding the strays that wander away from there. That’s why she thinks you’re a catnapper.”
Sophie hung her head in shame, cuddling the filthy cat, which purred in response.
“So not gonna work on me,” I declared firmly. I wasn’t falling for the poor English waif and her widdle, biddy kitty act. She let out a big sigh and held out the cat to me.
“Dude, I’m not gonna take it. I
can’t
. Allergies, remember?” As though to prove a point, I let out a huge sneeze. You would think being Undead would cure me of allergies but no; if anything, it made them worse.
Sage chose just that moment to step into the basement living room. She took one look at the scene before her and tried to sneak back up the stairs.
“Sage, perfect timing,” I called to her in a falsetto voice.
“You want me to take Fluffy back to Mrs. Murphy’s house?” she accurately guessed.
“You know its name?” I asked, surprised.
“She calls all her cats Fluffy.”
Of course, in a weird way, that made total sense. She was blind as a bat and it would be much easier to call them for dinner if they had the same name.
“If you wouldn’t mind …”
“Yeah okay.” She approached Sophie and took her kitty burden. “Phew, this cat needs a bath.” Sage wrinkled her nose.
The cat, as if understanding Sage’s statement, started to squirm in her arms.
“Relax, Fluffy, you’re safe with me. I’m just the delivery girl, not the cat laundress.” They trudged upstairs.
I turned to Sophie. “Really, no more cats. I know it’s hard for you being so far from home and all, but I just can’t do cats.”
“What about a different pet? Just a little one,” she rushed to reassure me. “I’d take care of it and it wouldn’t be any trouble at all. I promise.”
I gave in. “If you keep it in your room and Ileana agrees, then it’s fine by me. But you’ll be in charge of taking care of it and stuff.”
“Oh, thank you, miss.” Sophie gave me a spontaneous hug and bounded up the stairs. Presumably to garner Ileana’s support. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about any more cats in the house. There was certainly an upside to such a decision.
Four
PIPER
I
’d promised Carl I would see him before he took off so I headed in that direction when I left Psi Phi House. But I was in a mood. I spent my free time going to self-defense class and researching Undead issues all because my best friend was a self-centered cheerleader turned vampire and the only thing that changed about her during the attack was her breathing status. She was so full of herself sometimes, it drove me nuts. I tried to shake off the mood when I got to Carl’s apartment.
“I have something for you,” he said to me after I arrived. I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
I swear, he almost blushed. It was fun teasing Carl. He was Thomas’s best friend and a dedicated Vampire Investigator. He could be so serious at times, but he also had a very dry sense of humor. He was a mixed bag.
“Ha, very funny. What I have for you is a window of opportunity. And get your mind out of the gutter, it’s not
that
kind of opportunity. You Breathers are all alike. Just one thing on your minds.”
“You big tease.” I pouted. “And don’t call me a Breather. You know how I hate that,” I added, only slightly serious. Yeah, I hated the term “Breather” since it was considered an insult by the vampire community, but Carl always used it as more of an endearment.
He ignored me and continued, “I have for you a gift of such magnitude, you will be forever in my debt.” He rubbed his hands together like a villain in the old movies.
“You’re loaning me your apartment while you’re in New York?” I perked up at the idea of using his bachelor pad as my own while he was doing a transfer assignment on the East Coast.
“I said I had a gift, not that I was delusional,” he replied dryly, effectively dampening my enthusiasm.
I plopped down on the bar stool. “Oh, fine. What is it, then?”
He walked around the bar and pulled a manila envelope out of the drawer. He slid it across the counter toward me.