Fanged & Fabulous ib-2 Read online

  “What are you retrieving?” I asked.

  “A necklace my boss wants. The delivery guy’s supposed to be around here somewhere.”

  “And this is supposed to help me learn self-defense how?”

  She turned to face me with a small smile. “The guy we’re meeting isn’t all that reliable. Let’s just leave it at that for now.”

  “Seems like a strange place to meet somebody.”

  “He’s a strange guy.”

  I stared at her for a moment. “Maybe I should wait outside with Lenny. I don’t feel good about this.”

  Her smile widened. “For a vampire, you’re a big fat wimp, you know that?”

  I frowned at her. I wasn’t a wimp. Well, not much.

  We turned a corner and I realized we’d been parallel to the actual theater area and had come out to the front where the box office had been once upon a time. There was a man wearing a long black coat standing next to the ticket window up ahead. We approached him, Janie walking with a confident stride.

  The lights were on, but still fairly dim. She switched off the flashlight and put it away.

  “Janelle,” he said as she approached. “I didn’t know you’d be the one sent.”

  “Long time no see,” she replied.

  The man wore a fedora pulled down low. He seemed very cloak and dagger. More cloak than dagger,

  though, I hoped.

  He nodded in my direction. “Who’s that?”

  “A friend.”

  “I don’t want to meet any of your friends, Janie.”

  “You picked the place, I brought a friend. Let’s just get this over with. Do you have it?”

  “Maybe.”

  I felt uneasy about being there so I just stood off to the side and tried to blend into the old art deco surroundings like a theatrical chameleon.

  Janie beckoned to him. “Why don’t you hand it over and we can make this nice and easy?”

  The man laughed at that. “Janie, you don’t make anything easy. I have a message for your boss.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “This is it. My last job. I’m quitting.”

  She shrugged. “It’s got nothing to do with me, but I’ll be sure to tell him. Do you have a note you want me to give him or should I just paraphrase?”

  His coat parted and he pointed a big gun at Janie’s face. “I figure your dead body should get my point across.”

  “Janie . . . ” I managed, panic immediately welling up in my chest.

  “Shut up,” Fedora-guy said. “You’re a vampire, aren’t you? I can smell it from here. Why don’t you go turn into dust somewhere?”

  I swallowed hard and took a step back. “It’s goo.”

  “Whatever. Even a vampire’s too good to hang out with Miss Parker here. She’s a liar and a cheat.

  She’ll steal your soul and then laugh all the way to her boss’s with a song in her cold, black heart.”

  Janie glanced at me and shrugged a shoulder. “My charm doesn’t win every man over.”

  The guy laughed. “Janie, you’re getting rusty. Never thought I’d get the upper hand so easily.”

  “Did you plan this?”

  “Last-minute decision.”

  “So you didn’t bring the merchandise?”

  He hesitated. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Liar. I’m willing to bet you have it on you. Somewhere. So I’ll give you one last chance. Hand it over right now or I’m going to have to kill you.”

  “Brave girl with a gun in your face. And you’re trying to make me believe that you’d let me walk out of here? I’m not that stupid.”

  Janie turned her head. “Yeah, Lenny. We’re over here.”

  Fedora-guy looked over and Janie kneed him sharply in the groin. She tried to swing around and grab him but he slipped out of her grasp and started running away, thrusting open the doors that led down to the theater and slamming them behind him.

  “Come on!” she yelled at me and took off after him.

  Was she kidding? I wasn’t following. Forget it.

  My cell phone rang. I yanked it out of my purse to see that it was Thierry’s number. My heart clenched.

  I was about to answer it just as an arm went around my neck.

  “Hey,” Fedora-guy said.

  I dropped the phone to grab at his arms. The phone hit the floor and broke. Shit. Where had he come from?

  “You don’t mind if I use you as a hostage to get the hell out of here, do you?” he asked.

  My heart thudded painfully against my ribs. “Actually, I’d really rather you didn’t.”

  He chuckled. “So what’s your story, morning glory? Hanging out with a bitch like Janie Parker? You feel too soft and cuddly for that kind of trouble.”

  “Are you calling me fat?”

  “No, just right, actually. For a vampire. I’d do you.”

  “Gee, I’m incredibly flattered. I guess you’re not aware of the whole vampire super-strength deal. I could break your arms like twigs right now if I wanted to,” I lied.

  He shifted and put the gun to my head. “And I could blow your brains out.”

  “So you’re saying you would do me. Would you like to set up a time and place? Because you’re way hot. I have a thing for dark, tortured murderers.”

  “I’m not a murderer. I just want to get the hell out of here in one piece. I never should have come here.

  She can’t have it. Not today. Not ever.”

  He grabbed my arm and began pulling me after him, farther into the shadows of the theater. He found a dirty window and broke it with kick. Sunlight streamed in and hit my face.

  He glanced at me. “I thought vampires couldn’t go out during the day.”

  I squinted out at the brightness. Good opportunity to try to save my skin. His lack of knowledge was my gain. “That’s because I’m a special vampire. Have you heard about the Slayer of Slayers?”

  He froze. “That’s you?”

  I nodded, trying to remain as calm as possible. “I’m very dangerous. I’m also a woman on the edge. So

  I would suggest you let me go before you get in any deeper than you already are.”

  “Janie and you are friends?”

  “More like acquaintances.”

  He licked his lips. “Don’t trust her. She’s no good.”

  “If you say so.”

  He frowned hard, as if he was thinking something through. “Do you believe in fate, Slayer of Slayers?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “I do. This is fate. You being here.” He let go of me and reached into his pocket with the hand that didn’t already hold the gun. He pulled out a gold chain that glinted in the sunlight and thrust it at me.

  “Take this. It’s yours. You just can’t let Janie have it.”

  “Listen, I don’t think I want anything to do with this—”

  “Take it,” he pushed it into my hand. “And hide it.”

  “What is it?”

  He smiled. “Just a necklace.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m outa here. Make sure to tell Janie—”

  “Tell Janie what?” Janie walked over to us, holding her gun steady to the level of Fedora-guy’s forehead. “Sarah, you okay?”

  After catching the stricken look on his face, I slid the necklace into my pocket before Janie could see it.

  “Fine.”

  “Drop the gun, buddy. Now. Or you’re toast.”

  The guy cocked his head to the side. “Oh, Janie, I love it when you talk like a two-bit cliched action movie bitch. I’ve missed you.”

  “With every shot so far.” She grinned, but it wasn’t friendly. “Give me the necklace.”

  He stiffened. “You’re going to shoot me one way or the other.”

  “If I don’t get the necklace, then I’m the one who’s going to be picking up my own pieces from the sidewalk. And since I’ll be dead, that will be very hard to do. Now hand it over—” she pulled the safety back on her gun wit
h a click “—or I’m going to kill you.”

  Chapter 11

  With wide eyes I watched Fedora-guy’s gun hand start to shake. I could tell Janie I had the necklace. Stop this before somebody got hurt. But there was something in the guy’s eyes when he gave it to me. Like he trusted me. And he didn’t trust her.

  “Don’t shoot him, Janie,” I said suddenly.

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because . . . you’ll regret it.”

  “I regret a lot of things.”

  “Me, too. I totally regret spilling that moccaccino on you.”

  She snorted at that. “I almost forgot about that.”

  “Those were really cool shoes.”

  “They were, weren’t they?” She lowered the gun a little.

  Suddenly Fedora-guy turned to leap through the broken window and started running away from the theater. Janie ran to the window and aimed at his back.

  After a long moment she lowered her gun. “Damn it. I can’t do it. I can’t shoot somebody in the back.”

  She looked at me. “Who’s the wimp now, right?”

  I watched his form become smaller and smaller in the distance. “Maybe he was right. Maybe he didn’t have the necklace at all.”

  “I guess we’ll never know.”

  I swallowed and pressed my lips together. “I guess not.”

  “My boss is going to kill me.” She slid the gun back into her purse and then smiled. “I definitely need a drink.”

  A drink sounded like an excellent idea. We had a drink. Actually three drinks. Alcohol didn’t affect me and Lenny was the designated driver so it didn’t really matter. I watched Janie for some clue that she was something to be afraid of. Somebody not to trust like Fedora-guy had said. But I didn’t see any reason not to trust her.

  Still, the necklace remained in my pocket. I didn’t say a word. I asked them to drop me off at Haven where I’d wait for Thierry to show up. He sometimes went there in the afternoon to take care of some paperwork. It was worth a shot. He’d called my cell phone before it broke at the theater. He obviously knew I wanted to talk to him.

  Janie and I got out of the car next to the plain-looking, unmarked entrance to Haven.

  “Sarah!” I heard a voice call to my right. I turned to see Quinn quickly moving toward me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. There was another murder last night. A vampire victim this time. A young female, dark hair, body still intact. With everything going on, I thought for a moment it was you and it scared the hell out of me.”

  I felt a chill at his words. “I’m here. I’m okay. Well, still breathing anyhow.”

  His jaw tensed. “I need to catch this bastard. But I’m at a loss. So many vamps in this city and they all keep to themselves. I might need Thierry’s contacts after all.”

  I glanced at Janie and was surprised that she looked a little stricken.

  “Um,” she said. “I guess Lenny and I will wait out here.”

  “Okay.”

  “I, uh . . . I’ll see you later.”

  Quinn glanced at her. “Sarah, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, Quinn . . . this is Janie. She’s actually one of the bodyguards I told you about yesterday.”

  “Hi.” Quinn extended his hand.

  Janie ignored it. “Yeah. Hi. Okay, so like I said, we’ll be close if you need us.” She turned away and got into the backseat of the car without another word.

  I glanced at Quinn. “She’s shy.”

  “Whatever. So you’re okay. Really?”

  “I’m surviving. Hanging out with my odd bodyguards as a walking target for the hunters. Now I guess

  I’ll be dodging a vampire serial killer too. Good times.”

  “You’re with me now. And I won’t let anything happen to you.” He frowned, then reached forward to push the hair off my neck. “What the hell is that?”

  I was seriously buying a scarf as soon as possible. When did Barry say this damn thing would heal up?

  “Barbecue-prong incident.”

  Somebody had to go for that, didn’t they?

  He held his hand to the bite marks without saying anything, his gaze growing soft and worried as he searched my face for answers. I wrapped my hand around his wrist after a moment and pulled it away, turning toward the door to Haven.

  “I’m thinking I feel like another drink.” I glanced at him. “Want to join me?”

  “A drink?”

  “Yeah.” I fished into my purse and pulled out a set of keys. “Look who just happens to have keys to Haven.”

  “Is that a good idea?”

  “Nobody will be in there for hours. Therefore, it’s an open bar.”

  He still looked disturbed about the state of my neck. “Sounds pretty damn good to me. I could use a beer.”

  I let us into the club and locked the door behind us. Flicked on a few lights.

  “Can you give me a second?” I said to him. “I have to make a call.”

  I went over to the phone and dialed Thierry’s number.

  It immediately went through to voicemail.

  “Thierry, it’s me. Looks like we’re playing phone tag. Listen, I’m at Haven right now. I’ll . . . I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  I hung up and stood there with my hand on the receiver for a few moments. I really wanted to talk to him. Make sure he was okay. Let him know that I wasn’t upset about last night but there were definitely things we needed to talk about. I still didn’t believe that he’d killed Nicolai’s wife despite all evidence to the contrary. My gut was telling me there was more to the story. But, like everything in my life, the answers would have to wait.

  I grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and walked over to Quinn, who took one from me.

  “So was that the bodyguard who said she’d teach you self-defense?” he asked.

  “It was.” I took a long sip of the beer. “Unfortunately, the day has not gone as originally planned.”

  Not by a longshot.

  I slipped a hand into my pocket to feel the gold chain. What was I supposed to do with it? What was it, anyhow? I’d put it somewhere safe for the time being. Tell Thierry about it. Whatever it was, people were willing to kill for it.

  It’s not like it had a big diamond in it, or anything. It was quite ugly. Just a thin gold chain that Mr. T probably wouldn’t even bother with. Whatever its value, it wasn’t because it was from Tiffany’s.

  “Maybe I should just stay inside and avoid anything that might inadvertently get me killed,” I mused aloud as I thought back on the experience with Fedora-guy.

  “I agree.”

  I frowned at Quinn. “Great. Everybody wants me to stay inside. Don’t get in trouble. Stay safe. Avoid living.”

  “That’s not exactly what I mean.”

  “Then what do you mean?”

  “I’m an advocate for awareness. If you’re aware of the risks, and you know how to anticipate potential danger, then you can take care of yourself. You don’t have to hide from life, you just need to approach it a bit differently.”

  “And how am I supposed to do that?”

  “I’m going to teach you a couple of moves so you can go pretty much anywhere and if anybody gives you any problems, you can kick their ass from here to kingdom come.”

  I sighed. After the day I’d had, Quinn’s offer sounded pretty good to me. And it didn’t mean anything.

  Forget the dream. Quinn and I were just good friends. I’d be stupid not to take him up on his offer. “All right, you win. Teach me. I am but a student to the master.”

  “When?”

  I shrugged. “What about right now?”

  “You’re not exactly dressed for a street-fighting lesson.”

  I looked down at my outfit. “What’s wrong with jeans and a T-shirt?”

  His gaze slowly trailed down to my feet. “I suggest you remove the shoes. The last thing I need today is a stiletto through my heart.”

  “These are ha
rdly stilettos. They are sensible and highly comfortable. But okay.” I slipped them off so I stood in bare feet on the cold, hard ceramic floor of the club.

  He kept looking at me as he drained his beer and set the bottle down on the bar top. Then he went and started moving tables out of the way to clear a portion of the floor. Finally he stood in the center of a sizable empty spot. He pushed up his sleeves.

  “Okay,” he said.

  I was still leaning against the bar. “Okay what?”

  He beckoned to me. “Attack me.”

  I walked over to him. “How do you want me to attack you?”

  “Well, first of all, would you ask your victim how he would prefer to be attacked? No, I don’t think so.

  Just try to punch me or something.” He blinked. “You might want to put your drink down first.”

  I placed the bottle down on a nearby table. “Okay, mister. So you’re looking for some pain from the

  Slayer of Slayers, are you?”

  He grinned. “Bring it.”

  He looked so smug, so sure I couldn’t do anything to hurt him that it bugged me enough to give me the gumption to approach him again. I curled my right hand into a fist and punched him in his left shoulder.

  I frowned. “You didn’t even defend yourself.”

  He laughed. “Against that? I’m not teaching self-defense against puppies today. You’re going to have to hit me harder than that.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  He laughed harder. “Don’t worry, you won’t.”

  I threw another punch and he caught it in his hand, then twisted my arm around against my back.

  “See? Easy as that,” he said into my ear.

  “But I have yet to unveil the wrath of Sarah. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  He let go of me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the wrath of Sarah. You’re way too easygoing. Even with all the trouble you’ve currently gotten yourself into. At least that’s how you appear.”

  “Appearances are highly deceiving,” I told him. “I am very stressed out right now. I just have a talent for hiding it. You obviously don’t know me very well.”

  “Oh, I think I know you better than you might think.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “Is that so?”