“Help with what?”
“The manager from the Riot, you know, where I did open mike night? Well, he called to ask if I could do a benefit this coming Saturday.”
“In five days?”
“One of the acts they booked had to cancel, and I feel like I owe the guy, you know?”
“I know, but how can I help?”
“Would you book a hotel room for me? Something on the island or right downtown? I’ll need the room for two nights, Friday and Saturday, but with a check-in time of about five o’clock on Saturday morning.”
“That’s it? You just want me to book a room?”
“Well, and if you could, pick me up at the St. Augustine airport. Vince is letting me take the private jet back, and we land about four. I hate to ask you, really, but Vince has me so busy, I’m writing new material all the time. Vince’s wife told me to hire a personal assistant, but how am I supposed to find someone fast who wants to work for a vampire? Never mind one who understands my sleep schedule.”
Bells went off in my head: Donita.
“Princess Ci? You there?”
Okay, so now was not the time to bring up my scathingly brilliant idea, but I’d tell him soon. After I talked to Donita, if Jo-Jo didn’t tumble to the idea himself.
“I’m here, and I’ll make the reservation. And, Jo-Jo, break a leg on Leno.”
Saber snapped the phone shut, crossed his arms, and gave me his stern look.
“Don’t you think it’s a lot too soon to mention Donita to Jo-Jo?”
“You read my mind?”
“Your expression, and I don’t want you to call Jo-Jo back.”
“Come on, it’s a perfect solution. He needs help, she wants a big change, and she can do the job. Win-win.”
“Humph. Isn’t August thirteenth your anniversary?”
He was right. It would be a whole year since Maggie unearthed me and set me free.
“It is, and the thirteenth is in two days.”
“Did you have plans to celebrate?”
“Not unless I celebrate with you.”
“Hell, yeah, we’re gonna celebrate. We’ll TiVo Jo-Jo.” He cupped the back of my head with his right hand and brushed his lips over mine.
“Now what were you going to do with my bod?”
024
Triton came to me in a dream.
I stood at his mind door, deciding whether to knock. The door cracked to show a thin, glowing line, then blew wide open. I was sucked into a blinding light, falling through space and splashing into an azure sea awash in foam. Triton flashed the wide smile I knew from his boyhood. “Remember this?”
I wiped water from my eyes and found us bobbing in the water beyond the breakers as if we were body surfing, waiting for a wave. Then he took my hand and dragged me to the ocean floor where a treasure chest was wedged into a coral bed.
“Open it,” he mouthed.
I did, but it was empty.
“Look deeper.”
I caught the top and side of the rough box and leaned inside. A tiny golden dot suddenly appeared where there had been only a void. As if in slow motion, the dot floated higher.
“Catch it,” he commanded, but when I reached in, my hand plunged into a cold, oily mass that crawled over my skin. When I opened my mouth to cry out to Triton, the black ooze dove into my mouth and down my throat, thickening until I couldn’t breathe.
I jerked awake to find my face buried in the pillow. Duh. No wonder I was smothering. It was a dream, just a dream. Still, it was almost dawn before my heartbeat slowed to its normal rate, and I dared to shut my eyes.
Tuesday afternoon, I awoke almost an hour earlier than usual, and with a bad-dream hangover. Or maybe it was a slept-beforedaylight, broke-my-routine hangover, but I’d been exhausted. From Ike’s murder to learning of Saber’s past, the emotions of the last day and a half had me feeling like I’d Hoover-sucked my own aura.
The sound of keyboard keys periodically clacking got me moving. Poor Saber, typing one-handed. I brushed my teeth, wondering how good his healing powers were and if the cast was already for show more than stabilizing the broken wrist. But since only a handful of people must have known about his rapid healing, he had to leave the cast on for now. By the time I’d washed my face and scraped my hair into a ponytail with the stretched out scrunchie I’d been using for two days, I felt better. And worse. I needed a new scrunchie, not to mention a change of clothes. The jeans and top I’d worn for two days were ripe, and I don’t even sweat. And, damn. I was supposed to be watching Maggie’s doorstep for cabinet hardware on back order, and watering her plants.
I stopped in the office doorway, intending to tell Saber I needed to make a run home. He looked up and grinned.
“Hey, good news. I got a coded e-mail from Candy, and she’s got a team together.”
“That’s great. When are they hitting Vlad?”
“Maybe tonight, but probably not until Thursday. They’re planning strategy while they unravel some red tape.”
“Are you still bummed about not being there?”
He shrugged. “Not much. I got a call from Jackie, my Realtor. She wants to show the condo tonight and several times every day this week. Think you can help me speed shop for all that stuff she wants me to get?”
The Triton-dream hangover vanished. I had a mission, and I could pick up a change of clothes while we were shopping. In the next two hours we hit Tuesday Morning in Ormond Beach, a Target, and a Wal-Mart. I’d decided against buying clothes since we were on a tight deadline, but I did check off all the items on the staging list.
“What do you say to going back to St. Augustine tonight?”
“Fine by me, but don’t you want to be around in case Laurel and Marco cause problems?”
“If they do, the damage will be done before I can get there. Wherever there may be. With Jackie showing the condo this week, it’d be easier to be gone.”
“Good point.” Yippee. Fresh clothing and my own shampoo.
“If you want, I can stay at Neil’s place. I’ve got the key, and he won’t mind.”
“He might not, but I would. Bring your laptop, and set up Operation Vlad at my place.”
“Done.”
“Purely out of curiosity, why did you decide to buy a condo instead of a house?”
“You mean somewhere more remote in case vamps—or back then, weres—came after me?”
I nodded.
“I thought about it, but I didn’t want to fool with maintaining a house and yard.” He looked over and grinned. “Plus, I knew the resale value on the condo would be damn good.”
“Now you’re ready to take on the upkeep of a house?”
He reached over the console to take my hand. “I’m ready.”
By five that afternoon, we had accessorized Saber’s place to HGTV perfection. Aside from adding colorful vases, throw pillows, and art, we’d assembled a bistro set. We also packed Saber’s sensitive files and books with titles like
The Vampire Slayer
Handbook
. Okay, so that wasn’t a real title, but those books came off the shelf, and the Starbloods came out of the fridge. Wouldn’t do for a potential buyer to see
that
.
Once we’d finished staging, we spit-shined the condo to a show-ready gloss. Saber threw a week’s worth of clothes and toiletries together, and we headed out.
Saber had just shut the tail door on the SUV when I heard a plaintive mewling echo in the concrete parking garage.
“You hear that?” I asked Saber.
“Yes, but it doesn’t sound like Pandora, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“But what if it is? Help me look, would you? She’s been gone over twenty-four hours now. She might be hurt.”
“Cesca, I’m telling you, Pandora can take care of herself. If there’s another cat down here, it probably belongs to one of the owners.”
“I know, and I won’t take it home. Promise. I just need to be sure.”
I heard him mutter, “Famous last words,” before I began calling. Two
Here, kitty kitties
later, a little ball of pure white fur edged from behind the rear tire of a Jaguar and tottered toward me.
“Awww, hello, little one.”
I ignored Saber’s “Here we go,” and scooped up the kitten. She fit in one hand, and when huge crystal blue eyes blinked at me, my heart turned over.
“Oh, Saber, she’s so tiny and skinny.” I gently petted the top of her head.
“We need to leave her here so the owner can find her.”
“But what if the owner doesn’t find her in time? Or is out of town? Or what if she’s a stray?”
“What if Pandora thinks she’s dinner?”
“Oh. Hadn’t thought of that. You’re right.”
I carried the kitten, now purring in my cupped hands, to the alcove by the staircase, rubbed my cheek against her downy fur, and set her down on the cement.
“Okay,” I said, “let’s roll.”
Saber did. He rolled those sexy cobalt eyes at me, and then stomped toward a door marked Storage. He fumbled with a key and disappeared inside. A couple of thuds later, he came out with a medium-sized cardboard box, and relocked the door.
“Here.” He thrust the box at me, opened the rear door of the SUV, and handed me a towel. “Get her settled while I leave a note for the office.”
I snagged the back strap of his sling. “Saber, if you’re allergic, or you really don’t want me to take her, I won’t.”
He gave me a rueful grin. “You think I can leave her now that I found her?”
In a flash of warmth, I knew he wasn’t talking about just the kitten.
“Uh, no?”
“Uh, no is right.” He pulled me in for a quick kiss. “Go take care of Snowball, so we can hit the road.”
Snowball?
I didn’t say it. I never brought it up, not in the hour it took to get back to St. Augustine. Not when we stopped to get Saber a fastfood burger. Not even when Saber stopped at Wal-Mart to buy kitten food, a litter box, and toys. Nope, I never one single time mentioned that he had named the kitten before we ever had her in the car.
Must’ve been our night for felines, because Pandora, in her house cat form, perched on the tiki bar on my patio.
“Pandora, geez, where have you been? I’ve been worried.” Saber stood next to me, and Pandora stretched to look into the box at Snowball.
“She’s not a snack,” Saber said, shifting the box away.
Pandora huffed, than turned her amber eyes to me.
Your home is secure.
“Thanks, but what about picking up the vampire trail?”
They flew west and south. I lost the scent in a few hours.
Saber cocked a brow.
“She said,” I translated as I unlocked the door, “that they went west and south, and she lost them after a few hours.”
“Could be anywhere by now. Here.” He shifted Snowball’s box to me. “I’ll get the other things from the car while you talk to Pandora.”
I nodded, pushed the door open, and put Snowball’s box on the coffee table before I hit the code to turn off the alarm. Pandora padded in behind me, pausing to sniff each room in general, then stretching up to sniff Snowball again.
“Uh, Pandora, it’s just a plain kitten.”
She will sense spirits for you.
“Okay, good to know. Do you have anything else to report about the vamps? Did you tell Triton about the trouble? Is that where you’ve been all this time?”
She swung her head around.
Triton will speak to you. Listen. I will keep watch.
With that, she trotted out my open door.
Triton would speak to me, huh? He’d better, and he’d darn well better speak to me clearly, not through another dream. I was so over these veiled messages.
Saber and I settled Snowball and organized Saber’s command central space in the kitchen. Laptop on the table, VPA files in their storage box stowed underneath.
I checked Maggie’s Victorian wraparound porch for the cabinet hardware. No delivery yet, so I watered her plants which, thankfully, were still thriving. On the way back to my cottage, I turned on my vamp hearing to see if the Listers were home yet. Silence. Good.
Saber got to work on entering digitized log information of Laurel’s movements into a GPS charting software program. The printouts would not only time stamp everywhere Laurel had been but would also plot the times her tracker had been working and when it hadn’t.
I remembered to make the hotel reservation for Jo-Jo, and since I’d sadly neglected my art institute classes, I booted up my own computer.
When Saber went to bed, I played with Snowball until I wore her out again. Then it was time to knock on Triton’s mind door. If nothing else, I’d tell him to stay out of my dreams.
I’d missed the cushy embrace of my leather couch and took a moment to get comfy. With the charm in my left hand, the static quickly morphed into the sound of waves breaking on a shore. Triton’s mind door appeared in my third eye, already cracked as if he knew I was coming.
“Do you know what’s been happening?”
I know.
“A vampire named Ray mentioned a madness in the senior vampires. And a darkness. Is that what you’re hiding from?”
The darkness is the Void. It consumes powers, and its victims descend into madness.
I blinked. I was finally getting real answers instead of double talk?
“Why does this void thing eat vamp powers?”
It devours the power of all who are Other. Vampires, faeries, the elves.
“Wait. Faeries and elves are real?”
Francesca.
“Don’t take that long-suffering tone with me. I get it. Void thing is hungry and shape-shifters are on the menu, too.”
Yes. We must destroy it.
“Well, of course we must. You get me the destroyer handbook, and I’ll jump right on it.”
In my mind’s eye, Triton shook his head.
The Void is not a joke.
“I’m not laughing. I’m trying to understand. Don’t you give this thing more power by fearing it?”
It feeds regardless. You must help me.
“How? From behind the scenes, like the way you held land in trust for me? Wanna talk about that?”
You know, then.
“I know. How much do I owe you for back taxes? You might as well tell me, because you know I won’t be in debt.”
What you owe can be paid when we meet.
“There you go with nonanswers again.”
I must go, but be ready to act when it’s time.
The door slammed shut. Damn it.