“Ray’s initiation into the club is a recent thing, Chip.” I toyed with my glass but didn’t drink. Damn this diet. But my dress was cutting into my middle already.
“Oh, I know that. I do my homework, Gloriana. I believe that’s your favorite, um, flavor. AB negative? You should try it.” Chip touched my hand and I shivered. “Or are you still dieting?”
I set the glass down without tasting it. “You know a lot about me, Chip.”
“Of course I do. No vampire enters my territory without being vetted.” He turned to Ray. “I must say I was surprised you and Gloriana went out to see MacDonald so soon after arriving.”
“Didn’t realize we had to get permission. Oh, got to piss. Do I have to raise my hand?” Ray looked like he was spoiling for a fight.
One of Chip’s men put his hand on Ray’s shoulder and Ray winced.
Chip laughed. “Point taken.” He leaned forward and I could see Ray doing his best not to show the slightest reaction to the implied threat as Chip invaded his space.
Sorry, but we could all feel Ray’s fear. New vampire. Not a chance he could mask his feelings that well. I gave in and sipped the synthetic. God, it tasted great and gave me a jolt of courage I needed.
“Listen to me, Ray. I get that you want to see daylight. Hell, we all do.” Chip looked down at his own hand, a nice tan that had to have come from a spray. In fact, Chip could have fit right in with Ian’s surfer dudes. “We’re investigating MacDonald’s claims. The Council here is on top of the situation. You’d be wise to wait for our findings. You don’t want to go off half-cocked, do you? And wind up toasted?”
“What the hell do you care what I do?” Ray wasn’t going to back down. Dumbass.
I wanted to reach out to him. Do something. But Chip was between us and in Ray’s face. And it was clear the man was giving Ray a chance to learn a lesson. I just hoped to hell Ray paid attention. I tried to send Ray a mental message but he wasn’t receiving, totally focused on the man in front of him. Which was the first smart thing Ray’d done since we’d entered the bar.
“I care, Ray, because I own you. Ask your buddy Nathan Burke. He made you a sweet deal. A long-term deal. With more money than you can ever spend. Or at least it was until you became immortal. Don’t throw that chance away.” Chip picked up his glass and took a healthy swallow. “Forget this. Bring me the redhead. I’m going upstairs with her.”
He nodded and one of his muscle men “helped” Ray out of the booth.
“Nobody owns me, Chip. I can buy my way out of your damned contract. There are other record companies.” Ray held out his hand and I slid from the other side of the booth.
“Don’t be an idiot, Ray. Who else is going to understand your special needs? Your weird recording and appearance schedule, for instance. When you can only go out after dark. And did I complain when you couldn’t do all those promos on the talk shows?” Chip laughed and leaned back. “Hell, no. Because we’re brothers in this fraternity. I also understand that in a few years you’re going to have a little problem, bro.”
“Oh, yeah? What? My voice will be golden forever.” Ray picked up his goblet of synthetic, took a swallow, then slammed the glass on the table. I moved close to him and grabbed his hand. He had a wild look in his eyes and I worried he’d try something we’d both regret.
“Right. Sure, the voice will sing as sweet, but, Ray, you won’t age. How long can you stay in the public eye and not have that noticed? Hair plugs and face-lifts can explain away only so much.” Chip chuckled. “So you’ll have to disappear. And maybe reemerge after a few decades with a new look and start a new career as somebody else. You may not get to sing in public at all the next go-round.” He turned to the man in the glasses and said something in a foreign language. I had no idea which one.
“Ask Eric here. We started out together centuries ago in the Balkans. We’ve been everything from Dutch to Russians to whatever. Doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs.” He and Eric laughed. “Okay, the Indian thing was too much of a stretch to try. The last twenty years it’s been L.A. and the music biz. That’s got about another twenty years of shelf life, then it’s on to something else and I’m a new person. Chip is no more.” Chip smiled at me. “Smart vampires live forever. The others . . . ? Gloriana can tell you, we reinvent ourselves. Over and over and over again. Am I right, lady?”
“Ray knows that, Chip.” I made myself smile too, though I didn’t like Chip’s attitude.
“Sure. Next life I’ll grow a beard and run charters down in the islands.”
“Night charters?” Chip didn’t bother to hide his amusement.
I saw the truth hit Ray hard. Just one more nail in his vampire coffin. He’d had one after another since that night he’d been turned. His grip tightened until I had to bump him with my hip to remind him to ease up. He dropped my hand and leaned both fists on the table.
Chip’s bodyguards quickly moved in but Chip held up a hand and they stopped just short of jerking Ray up and slamming him against a wall or tearing him apart. Violence fairly shimmered in the air and I wanted to run the hell out of there. I laid my hand on Ray’s back and sent him frantic mental messages of caution.
“Thanks for laying it all out there, Chip. Makes it easier for me to make a decision about my future.” Ray smiled tightly.
Chip drained his glass. “You’ve been given a fantastic opportunity, Ray. I hope you have the balls to see this gig through.” He turned to me. “Gloriana, you’re his mentor. I think it’s time you showed Ray some of the wonders of being vampire. And, lady, if you don’t know what they are, I feel for you. I really do.” He gestured and I knew we were free to go.
“Come on, Ray. Don’t we have another party to hit?” I grabbed his arm when I was afraid Ray was about to take a parting shot.
“Just a minute, Glory. Now that I’ve got Chip here one-on-one and we’re frat brothers, so to speak, I have a question for him.” Ray gestured at the banner on the wall behind the booth. “What’s with all the initials? What does M.A.S. and O.B.G. stand for? No one knows or will tell, anyway. Drives Nate and me crazy. Now that I’m one of your Masters of the Night,” Ray said mockingly, “maybe you’ll let me in on the secret.”
“Ray! Chip doesn’t have to tell you that.” Especially since Ray hadn’t exactly been Chip’s buddy for the last few minutes.
“Relax, Gloriana. My vampire friends know and enjoy the irony. M.A.S. stands for Music At Stake, Ray.” Chip nodded and one of his men pulled a small and lethal-looking stake out of his jacket pocket. “We’re always vulnerable, aren’t we?” He laughed. “Put it away, Danny. You’re making our guests nervous.”
Ray didn’t acknowledge the truth of that, just shrugged. “Okay, so what about O.B.G. Sounds? That’s my label.”
“Yes. The one I use for my rockers.” Chip winked at me. “I spent the sixties in England. Did some producing with Paul and the Fab Four before it was time to head to L.A. So O.B.G. is for Only Bloody Great Sounds. You’re damned lucky I thought you were worth keeping under contract, Israel Caine. The way you were headed, the vampire deal and going on the wagon saved your career, my man.”
“Yeah, got it.” Ray nodded, clearly finally ready to get out of there.
“And don’t put down the Masters of the Night thing. If you stick around L.A., you’ll find there are some serious perks that go along with membership.” Chip leaned back, his smile full of fang. “Does your buddy Nate know you’re vampire?” He shook his head. “Of course he does. Rookies. Be careful who you let in on our secret, Ray. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way a long time ago. Now, run along, enjoy the party and think about what I said. You have an amazing talent, man. And an opportunity to live forever. Don’t blow it.” He turned when the beautiful redhead approached his table. “Ah, dinner is served.”
Two hours later we were back at the hotel. Neither of us had been much in a party mood after the confrontation with Chip. We’d put in a token appearance at a big bash at a hotel ballroom for the Grammy nominees. There had been so many famous people there I’d gotten whiplash from gawking. Now we headed up to the suite. I’d called Flo from the limo and she was meeting me there to help me decide which dress to wear on the green carpet tomorrow night. I couldn’t really get excited about it. Not with Ray in a funk.
“You’re awfully quiet, Ray.” I leaned against the elevator wall to take the pressure off my aching feet.
“I’m going to wake up Nate and ask him about my contract.”
“It’s pretty late.” The doors opened and I pushed myself up and out to head down the hall.
“Tough.” Ray pulled out the key card and opened the door when we got there. “I need some answers.”
Valdez sat in front of the TV, his paw on the remote. He was fast, but not fast enough.
“Pay-per-view mud wrestling?” I looked at Ray.
“You’re reimbursing me for that, asshole.” Ray stalked over to Nathan’s door.
“He’s got company. She’s noisy. That’s why I had the TV on.”
“Tough shit.” Ray pounded on the door. “Nate, I need to talk to you. Now.”
After a tense two minutes, Nate opened the door a crack. “Not a good time, bro.”
Ray grabbed Nate’s arm and jerked his best friend into the living room. His naked best friend.
“Ray!” I turned my back. Oh, boy. Nate’s hours in the gym had sure paid off. There was a mirror across the room and I realized I still had an excellent view.
Ray glanced at me and handed Nate a throw pillow. “Cover yourself. Glory’s getting off to this.”
“Am not.” I couldn’t hide my grin, though, as I sat on the couch and kicked off my shoes.
“What the hell is this about?” Nate looked longingly back at his dark bedroom, then closed the door. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
“Too damned bad.” Ray frowned. “I met Chip Rollins tonight. We discussed my contract.”
“Oh, yeah?” Nate picked up another pillow and covered his nicely toned tush.
“Yeah. Seems Chip
owns
me. His word. Why the hell would you make a deal like that for me, Nate?” Ray paced the floor. “And, news flash, Chip is a vampire.”
“The hell you say.” Nate fumbled his pillows for a breathless moment, then regained control. “No freakin’ way.”
“Ray!” I couldn’t believe he’d just ignored Chip’s warning. And if he didn’t think Chip would read Nate’s mind the next time they met, he was crazy. Ray had just put Nate in incredible danger. I didn’t say anything else, though. One crisis at a time.
“I’m not Chip’s property, Glory. Nate knows what I know.” He frowned and shook his head. “But obviously that doesn’t go both ways, does it, Nate?”
“I did the best I could for you, Ray.” Nate dropped the back end pillow to put his hand on Ray’s shoulder. “I was up against a wall. Your drinking was getting out of hand and everyone in the music business had heard the rumors. Sales were flat on your last album and reviewers called the work sloppy. The only hit to come out of the thing was the duet with Sienna Star, and that’s because the woman’s a perfectionist and you know it. That’s why we’re here at the Grammys this year.”
Ray jerked away from Nate and strode over to the open doors at the balcony. “No one said anything to me about all this.”
“Not that you remember anyway.” Nate glanced back at me, then followed him to the doorway. “Ray, there
were
no other offers. You want to make records and, without a major label backing you, there’s no distribution. Chip’s got that all locked up. You have to work with him.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“No, man, this is good news. Don’t you see? The Chipster will understand your condition. Am I right, Glory?” Nate looked to me to back him up.
I got up and walked to Ray’s other side. “That’s what Chip said, Ray.”
“Yeah, right before he started issuing orders and making threats.”
“Now, Ray, I don’t think he exactly ordered you not to deal with MacDonald.” Though I wished he had.
“He threatened you? And who’s MacDonald?” Nate looked at me, then Ray.
“Never mind. Go back to your playmate. Screw your brains out.” Ray frowned at me. “At least one of us is getting some. Aw, fuck it!” In a flash, he changed and flew off the balcony in bat form.
“Ray!” I screamed. “I’ve got to go after him.”
“The hell you say.”
Valdez jumped in front of me.
“Not a chance.”
“He can’t go out alone in that mood. He might do something crazy.” I wiped at my wet cheeks. Stupid to cry for Ray. He was going to have to get over his disappointments. But if he was going out to MacDonald’s, I was going with him.
“You’re not going. Is Flo coming here?”
Valdez bumped me back from the balcony railing.
“Yes, but what difference does that make? It’ll be too late to follow Ray then. I have to go now or I’ll lose his scent.”
“Aw, shit. Stay here. Do
not
leave.”
And in a blur, Valdez shifted into a bat and flew off the balcony in the same direction Ray had taken.
“Wow. What was that about?” Nate gave up on modesty and gripped the railing to squint into the dark.
Good luck trying to see either Ray or Valdez. I had excellent vamp night vision and it was obvious to me that they were long out of sight. I just hoped Valdez caught up with Ray. I sighed and walked back to the couch.
“Ray wants to see daylight again. This vampire named MacDonald claims he has a magic formula that can make that possible. I’m afraid that’s where Ray’s going. To buy some of those drugs.” I slumped in my seat and put my feet on the coffee table.
“That sounds dangerous.” Nate was back in pillow mode and easing toward his bedroom. “You won’t let Ray do anything stupid, will you, Glory?”
“I’m trying my best, Nate, but he’s a man. Men do what they want. Am I right?” Just then I heard a woman speak Nate’s name from the bedroom. “Go, your booty call is getting anxious. Oh, and I’m expecting company. So would you keep it down? I’d hate for Flo to be embarrassed.” I said that with a straight face.