Real Vampires Know Hips Happen (23 page)

“Answer him, Gloriana. Are you his sweetheart?”

“Don’t start this please.” I pulled back and wiped at my wet cheeks. True to form Rafe came up with a handkerchief and I blew my nose. “I’m not going to watch you two fight. I love both of you. You don’t remember him, Jerry, but Rafe has saved my life more than once. He’s a dear friend. Shake hands with him.”

“I’ll not.” Jerry pulled me back against him. “You need to cry, I have a shoulder for that.”

“Relax, Blade. Glory and I aren’t involved anymore. It’s all good.” Rafe shoved his hands in the pockets of his snug jeans.

I didn’t want to notice how good he looked to me in his black N-V T-shirt. How had he known I was back here? Of course, I’d driven past his club, which was right down the street. He always had a man at the door, who’d probably spotted me in the slow moving traffic. All of his employees knew me and knew Rafe would want news of my arrival.

“Blade? And what does he mean ‘anymore’? Were you lovers?” Jerry’s hand went to his back. Oh, shit. Those knives. He’d loaded up with them before he’d left home.

“I can’t deal with this now.” Nothing like refusing to answer. “Jerry has amnesia, Rafe. He doesn’t remember anything since right before he met me in London in 1604.”

“That’s convenient.” Rafe smiled. “Who masterminded that?”

“My mother. She gives bitch a whole new meaning. I’ll clue you in about that later.” I stayed between the two men. It was obvious they’d decided to be enemies again. Instinct.

“You’re a shifter.” Jerry said it like it was the worst kind of insult. It was a pretty common vampire attitude unfortunately. Vamps hired shifters to work for them but didn’t always see them as equals.

“Yes, and you were happy to hire me to protect Gloriana. I guarded her night and day for five long years. Long enough to know her very well.” Rafe smiled meaningfully. “That’s why we are so close.”

Jerry had a knife in his hands. “How close?”

“Stop it!” I put myself in front of Rafe. “You are not fighting. Rafe was in dog form when he guarded me. You insisted on it. He slept on the foot of my bed.”

Jerry laughed, a deep belly laugh that made Rafe’s face darken. I threw myself on Rafe before he could launch himself across the alley at Jerry.

“Now that’s brilliant. Gloriana fond of dogs, is she? Did she scratch you behind the ears? Rub your tummy? Play fetch?” Jerry wiped tears of glee from his eyes and put his knife away. “Come, Gloriana. I want to see this place of yours. We can handle our own luggage, Valdez.”

“Don’t you want to know why I called you Blade?” Rafe kept his hand on my shoulder when I started to reach for a suitcase.

“I suppose it’s because I love my knives and am very good with them.” Jerry lifted his jeans to show off yet another one strapped to his ankle. “Quit hiding behind my woman and I’ll show you how I can throw one that will skewer you before you can shift your dog body out of here.” He pulled a knife out of his boot, obviously ready to rumble.

“I have no need to hide behind anyone. You went by Jeremy Blade here in town.” He glanced at me. “I did some research. Seems you were the one doing some hiding. Ask him, Glory, why he had to change his name.”

Where had this come from? I looked at Jerry. Did he have a secret I didn’t know about? As it stood, he didn’t know it either. He’d shown up with the new name after one of our breaks. If he’d been hiding something, it was news to me.

“You’re talking gibberish. I’m a Campbell, proud of it.” Jerry gestured threateningly with his knife. “Glory knows who I am and is happy to be mine.”

Rafe laughed. “Keep that up and she won’t be for long. Your ancient Scot attitude doesn’t play well with the lady here. She’s not any man’s woman.” Rafe ran his hand down my arm. “Tell him, Glory.”

“Don’t confuse him, Rafe. Jerry’s still trying to figure out this new world.” I touched Rafe’s cheek. “I appreciate your standing up for me. And I want to see you, to talk. But can we table this for now? I’m doing what I need to. Work with me.”

“Playing nursemaid? I get it.” He looked over at Jerry. “You get the pity vote this time, Blade. Enjoy it while you can. Glory knows she can always count on me.” He leaned down and kissed me, a quick landing on my lips that I didn’t have time to dodge. “Later, Blondie.” Then he took off down the alley so fast that the knife Jerry threw stuck in a telephone pole instead of in his back.

“No!” I whirled around. “He’s my friend, Jerry. If you’d killed him…”

“What? You’d never forgive me? Stop taking care of me?” Jerry’s voice was tight as he pulled the knife out of the wood and examined the blade for damage. Apparently satisfied, he shoved it back in his boot. “I don’t want your pity, Gloriana.”

“You don’t have it. I love you. I want to help you. To make up for what my mother did.” I shut up, digging a hole for myself.

“Then I guess you do owe me. Tell your ‘friend’ to stay out of my sight. I don’t like the way he was pawing you. It might have been all right when he was a dog, but now that he’s on two feet, it needs to stop.” He nodded toward the back of the building. “Now let’s go.”

Did he remember the door there led to my apartment? Probably not. It was the logical place to enter.

“Fine.” I picked up my carry-on. He had the other suitcases.

“I’m fading. Guess I need to feed. You have a synthetic upstairs?” He was all business. Man to nursemaid. I wanted to slap him, hug him. Both.

“Yes, of course.” I dug out my key. Time to decide if he should take the potion my mother had given me. Could I trust it? The last thing she’d brought from Olympus had ruined him. What would this one do? Did I dare find out?

Eleven

Upstairs,
Jerry roamed my tiny two bedroom apartment while I found bottles of synthetic blood and poured them into glasses.

“This is all the room you’ve got?” He settled onto the couch. It was fairly new and I’d bought it secondhand. At least I’d had it steam cleaned and it was comfortable. Compared to Campbell Castle and Jerry’s own large house, where Lily no doubt pouted, it was a dump.

“It’s enough for me. I usually have a roommate. If the shop has a slump, it’s hard for me to make the rent on both it and this place. Luckily the business is doing pretty well now, though I need to get down there soon and take a look at the books.” I handed him the glass. “It’s cold. I can heat it if you’d like.” In Scotland they’d served everything room temperature. I kept my synthetic in the fridge, a habit left over from when I’d lived in hot Las Vegas.

He took a cautious sip. “No, this is fine.”

I put a hand on his arm before he could drink more. “Wait. We need to discuss something.” I pulled the vial from between my breasts.

“What’s that?” Jerry reached for it and held the container to the light. “Strange color.”

“Almost a neon green.” He gave me a quizzical look. “Means it looks like it could glow in the dark. Anyway, my mother gave it to me. Claims some sorcerer she knows told her it might help bring your memories back.” I sighed. “I’m afraid of it. You know what her last potion did.”

“Am I supposed to drink it?” Jerry looked excited, obviously desperate enough to try anything.

“She suggested we put it into your next meal. That would be the synthetic I just handed you.” I wanted to grab it back. “Don’t drink it! I’m scared of what it might do. The last thing she tried, the memory-loss potion, was supposed to wear off. She told me that. Because you were vampire, it didn’t. Now she’s got this. Again, you’re vampire. Who knows how you’ll react?”

“But could it be much worse than not remembering what century I’m in, Gloriana? Who
you
are?” He pulled the tiny cork out of the vial.

“You know who I am now, Jer. There are just gaps—”

“Gaps? Holy hell, woman!” He jumped up, but not before he dumped the contents of the vial into his glass. “I know what I was like when I rode a horse named Thunder, a beast who’s been dead for centuries. I call myself Jeremiah Campbell, not Jeremy Blade, a man who must have secrets, maybe shameful ones. I have to know what the hell I’ve been up to all this time.” He began to drink, fast. I watched his throat move as he downed the liquid in enormous gulps. When the glass was drained, he looked it over, I guess to make sure he hadn’t left anything, then flung it crashing into the wall, where it shattered.

“Fuck those gaps! I want my mind back and I’ll do anything, anything, to get it.” He threw open the hall door and charged out.

I heard him clattering down the stairs and decided to let him go. He was a vampire. He’d figure things out. And
where would he end up? Right back here because he didn’t know where else to turn. Unless his memories came back. I looked up and prayed it happened. Poor Jerry. And, man, would he hate that I thought of him that way. I couldn’t imagine living with such a huge blank spot in my mind. I was so going to jump on Rafe for that “research” he’d done. He had no business investigating Jerry. But what could Jer have done to make him hide things from me?

I don’t know how long I sat there, rehashing everything that had happened since that night I’d arrived in Scotland, before I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs again. Of course I knew it was Jerry. I had his scent memorized, that earthy Scot who had my blood inside him.

One look at his face and I knew the gap still remained. I walked into his arms and held him. But something was wrong. Different. It took me a moment to realize what it was. He felt warm, way too warm.

“Jerry?” I leaned back and checked his face.

“I’m all right. Or as right as I can be after getting lost and wandering around for an hour or more. Finally I had to ask strangers where Glory St. Clair might live. At last one took me to the shop downstairs. The girl working there knew me.” He ran a hand over his flushed face. “That was damned embarrassing. I didn’t have any idea who she was. She treated me like a child after she figured out what was wrong with me.”

“I’m sorry, Jer.” I touched his forehead. Fever. “How are you feeling?”

“Hot. It’s strange. I usually don’t notice the temperature and it’s cool outside. But I’m all right otherwise. Just damned stupid.” He sat on the couch. “Best give me another glass of your synthetic. Straight, no more of your ma’s magic.” He put his feet on my coffee table. I usually wouldn’t tolerate that, but didn’t have the heart to fuss at him when he looked so dejected. “Fat lot of good her first dose did.”

“It’s doing something, to raise your temperature this way.” I hurried into the kitchen to get a fresh bottle and
glass. I had cleaned up the mess he’d made. Luckily I didn’t have nice crystal or I’d be mad about his temper tantrum. When I came back, Jerry had picked up one of the magazines on my coffee table—
GQ
, because I liked to see hot guys wearing good clothes—and was thumbing through it.

It was kind of sad, really. Before, he would have already been using the remote to channel surf for sports to watch. Obviously he didn’t have a clue what the black plastic thing close to his feet did, though he and his father had watched TV together at the castle. Then I noticed wisps of smoke curling up from the pages of the magazine.

“Jerry?”

“What the hell?” He threw the magazine down to the hardwood floor and stomped out sudden flames with his boot. “Did you see that?”

“You taking up smoking again?” I handed him the glass. “I haven’t seen you with a cigarette in years.”

He just looked at me strangely. “No, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Though I wouldn’t mind a fine cigar about now. Richard mentioned on the plane that we used to enjoy a smoke together. It was good to see at least one familiar face among all those strangers.” He took a sip. “You decided to heat it this time. I think I like it better this way.” Then he exclaimed and set the glass down on the table. “You didn’t have to boil it!”

“I didn’t!” I watched it bubble. “Uh, Jerry. Hold out your hands.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t you heat the blood?” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t play with me, Gloriana. The glass was hot.”

“Not until you touched it. And that magazine. It burst into flames on its own, if you didn’t get out a lighter.” We could both see the smoke in the air. And smell it. Or at least I knew I could.

“I thought maybe I’d brushed against a candle or something.” He peered around the room as if in search of one.

“You know I don’t burn those things. Masks smells of
intruders. Bad defense. You taught me that.” Well, of course he didn’t remember that he had. I shook my head. One more gap.

“No candles.” He stood, staring at his hands like they were alien objects. “Hand me something. Anything you don’t mind losing.” He started toward my Israel Caine collection. Oh, no, he didn’t.

“Here!” I tossed him a piece of junk mail from the pile of letters and bills on my kitchen table. My employees had been collecting it for me while I was gone.

He grabbed it. We both watched, fascinated, as it began to smolder. When it flamed, I hurried to hold a metal trash can under it so Jerry could drop it inside. A high-pitched squeal meant my smoke alarm was working.

“What in God’s name?” He clamped his hands over his ears.