Phil winced. "That could be a problem."
Phineas's gaze drifted back to LaToya, and his brown eyes widened with a look of awe. He squared his shoulders. "Nothing will stop me." He stepped forward.
When his shoe crunched on glass, Phil pulled him back. "Wait a minute." He motioned to a waiter to clean up the mess.
Phineas stiffened suddenly and grasped Phil's arm. "Did you see that? She looked at me!"
Phil glanced at the dance floor, and sure enough, LaToya was checking Phineas out.
"I'm in love," Phineas whispered.
That was fast. Phil suppressed a grin. "What about your date with Lisa?"
"Who?"
"Lisa. The blonde...or brunette. They're both Vamps like you. LaToya's mortal." Even though a lot of male Vamps were falling for mortal women, Phil knew the guys deeply regretted the fact that they would have to turn their wives at some point, or lose them to the ravages of time.
Phineas sighed. "LaToya is La-One. La-angel."
"All right, Pepe LePew, but you haven't actually met her yet."
Phineas stepped back as two waiters approached with a dustpan, pail, and mop. "I'll meet her now." He popped a Vampos into his mouth, then stuffed the roll of mints into his trouser pocket. "I need to act cool, man. Turn up the mojo. Impress her with my savoir faire and debonairness."
He unbuttoned his tuxedo jacket to reveal a bright red cummerbund. "The Love Doctor is in the house. Come on, bro. You can be my assistant. Make me sound good."
"I'll do my best." Phil accompanied the young black Vamp to the dance floor.
Phineas had one hand pressed to his cummerbund and was suddenly walking like John Wayne.
"What are you doing?" Phil whispered.
"This is my pimp walk. The ladies can't resist it."
"Are you sure that's the right approach to take with a police officer?"
"Oh yeah." Phineas smirked. "It's working, bro. She can't take her eyes off me."
"I'm not sure that's a good thing," Phil muttered.
The music stopped, and Jack spotted them. "Phil, Phineas, how are you? Have you met Lara's friend, LaToya?"
Phil shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you. And may I introduce Phineas McKinney, a valued member of the MacKay Security and Investigation team."
"And head of the special Malcontent Terrorist Task Force, but I can't discuss that." Phineas waved a dismissive hand. "Top secret stuff, you know."
Jack gave him a wry look. "That is a well kept secret."
LaToya frowned. "Are you for real?"
"Of course." Phineas took LaToya's hand. "Don't worry, sweetness. I won't frighten you with the gruesome details of my missions as super spy, code name Dr. Phang."
"Fang?" LaToya jerked her hand away and leaned close to Jack. "He's a vampire?"
"He's a good Vamp," Jack whispered. "Like me."
"The jury's still out on that," LaToya muttered.
Jack sighed. "And he has excellent hearing."
LaToya turned back to Phineas and huffed when she caught him ogling her. "Don't go looking at my neck, sucker."
"He drinks synthetic blood like the rest of us," Jack said.
Phineas executed a gallant bow. "I could drink in your majestic beauty for an eternity."
"You're not drinking anything from me," LaToya said, then turned back to Jack. "I saw those holes on Lara's neck when she came back from that undercover mission. I didn't realize what it meant at the time, but if you ever do that again - "
"It couldn't be helped," Jack interrupted. "I was posing as a Malcontent, so I had to act like one."
"I'm just warning you." LaToya waved a finger at him. "If I see any more bite marks on my friend, I'm coming after you like a gator on a dead chicken. And you - " She turned to Phineas. "Don't think you can pull any of that super mojo on me. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another dead carcass trussed up in a fancy tuxedo."
"I'm the Love Doctor, sweetness. I've got the cure."
"You're a dead doctor. I don't care how handsome you are. I'm not interested!" LaToya marched off.
Jack winced. "Sorry, old boy. She's a bit sensitive about vampires at the moment."
Phil patted Phineas on the back. "Maybe she'll come around in time."
Phineas smiled slowly. "She said I was handsome. Did you hear that?" He smoothed back his short hair. "Dr. Phang strikes again. The chase is on."
"You should take it slow," Phil warned him, but the Love Doctor took off, following LaToya.
Phil sighed. He couldn't even take his own advice. Now that he knew Vanda was genuinely attracted to him, he was pursuing her as fast as he could. He congratulated Jack, then hurried off to the conference room to make sure Father Andrew was ready.
And then, somehow, he needed to get Vanda there for the meeting.
As it turned out, Vanda didn't need to get in line to meet Jack's fiancée. After she and Maggie retrieved two more glasses of Bubbly Blood, they returned to the corner behind the mortal refreshment table and found Lara there.
Lara filled them in on the wedding plans, then Maggie shared her family photos and described the ranch in Texas. Vanda sat, sipping her Bubbly Blood, while she waited for Phil to return. Not that she was in any hurry to see him. She was still peeved about his snooping around in her past.
Constantine came back, wanting more cookies, so Maggie distracted him with photos of her ranch.
"Can I go?" Tino asked. "I want to ride a horse."
"I would love for you to visit." Maggie gave him a hug. "I'll ask your mom about it."
Lara filled a plate with boiled shrimp, then drizzled some hot sauce on top. "So tell me, Vanda, what do you do for a living?"
"I run a - " She glanced at the little boy. "A dance club."
"Can I go?" Tino asked.
"No," Vanda and Maggie both answered quickly.
"But I like to dance." Tino skipped over to the table to snatch a cookie.
"It's just for adults," Maggie explained, then her eyes widened. "Lara, it would be the perfect place for a bachelorette party."
Lara's eyebrows shot up. "It's that kind of place?"
"Exactly," Vanda replied. "But with male Vamps doing the...dancing."
"I want to dance," Tino said.
Lara sighed. "It sounds interesting, but I don't know if we can get my maid of honor to agree. She's a little - "
"I told you to stay away from me!" A loud voice interrupted Lara. "You come after me again, and I'll sucker punch you into next week. You got that?" A young black woman in a red dress strode into the corner area. "Lara, that Blackula dude is stalking me."
"Who, Phineas?" Lara waved at the young Vamp, motioning for him to stay back. She lowered her voice. "LaToya, he's a nice guy. I think he looks like Denzel."
LaToya crossed her arms with a huff. "A dead Denzel."
"He was one of the Vamps who rescued me from Apollo's compound," Lara continued. "He helped rescue all the girls. He's brave and loyal - "
"I don't care," LaToya grumbled. "He's still one of them. I don't know how you can stand to be around them."
Lara winced. "LaToya, this is Constantine, Maggie, and Vanda."
LaToya smiled at them. "Hey there." She patted Tino on his head. "Aren't you a cutie? Did you come here with your mommy?" She glanced again at Maggie and Vanda as if she were trying to figure out which one of them was the mom.
"Yes," Tino said. "Do you want a cookie?"
"Don't mind if I do." LaToya grabbed a plate and circled the refreshment table, helping herself. "Thank God I found the place where all the normal people are hanging out."
Vanda set her empty glass on the floor underneath her chair. "So what do you have against Vamps?"
"Oh, the usual." LaToya popped a grape into her mouth. "They're dead and slimy, probably stink during the day - "
"That's not nice." Constantine frowned as he grabbed the last cookie.
"LaToya, cool it," Lara whispered. "I'm in love with a Vamp."
"I know." LaToya grimaced as she tossed shrimp on her plate. "And now you want to quit the police force and work for that stupid vampire company."
"MacKay Security and Investigation," Lara said. "I can work alongside Jack."
"I like Jack." Tino stood close to the table, watching the women argue.
"Whatever." LaToya drizzled hot sauce on her shrimp. "All I know is, I came to New York to be a police officer with you, and now you're quitting. I might as well go home. At least there I wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of creepy vampires."
"Where is your home?" Maggie asked.
"New Orleans." LaToya stuffed a shrimp in her mouth.
Maggie covered her mouth to hide her grin, but Vanda wasn't that polite.
She snickered. "No Vamps in New Orleans?"
"Dammit." LaToya set her plate down. "There's no escaping those monsters."
"They're not monsters," Tino grumbled.
"You're right, sweetie." Lara tousled the little boy's curls. "They're real people. And they have real feelings." She gave LaToya a stern look. "You're hurting Phineas's feelings. He doesn't deserve that."
"All right. I'll let Blackula know just how sorry I am." LaToya walked off.
Lara watched her go, then turned back to Vanda and Maggie with a confused look. "That seemed a little too easy. She's usually more stubborn than that."
"Maybe she's had a change of heart." Maggie stood up to survey the crowd. "Where is she?"
"There." Lara pointed to a bar. "She just picked up a Vamp drink."
"Maybe she's taking it to Phineas," Maggie suggested. "It would be a nice gesture."
Vanda walked over to the refreshment table for a closer look. "I don't think she's giving him a peace offering. The hot sauce is gone."
"The red stuff?" Tino asked. "I saw her take it."
Lara gasped. "I've got to stop her." She ran after her roommate.
"We should warn Phineas." Maggie searched the crowd. "Do you see him?"
Vanda scanned the room, then looked down when something tugged at her skirt.
Constantine clenched her skirt in his fist, his eyes wide with worry. "Is something bad going to happen? Why doesn't that lady like Phineas?"
"She just doesn't know him," Vanda explained. "Once she gets to know him, I'm sure she'll like him."
"I see him." Maggie pointed at the dance floor. "He's over there by the band."
Vanda quickly poured a cup of punch and pressed it into the little boy's hands. "Can you take this to your mom? She gets very thirsty."
"Okay." Tino headed back to the dance floor, carefully holding the cup of punch.
Maggie gave Vanda an appraising look. "You really are good with children."
Vanda shrugged. "Come on, let's get to Phineas before LaToya does."
She and Maggie skirted the table, but came to an abrupt halt when Corky Courrant made a grand entrance into the banquet hall. Her cameraman followed, the camera perched on his shoulder as he recorded the scene.
"Oh great," Vanda muttered. "Who invited her?"
"She reports on all the big parties." Maggie pulled Vanda behind a potted plant. "If she sees you, she'll start screeching at you."
"So? I'm not afraid." Vanda moved back into view.
Maggie pulled her back. "She'll try to provoke you into a fight. She wants everyone to think you're violent."
"I am violent." Vanda stepped out.
"You don't want to start a scene." Maggie tugged on her arm. "It would ruin Lara's engagement party."
Vanda spotted LaToya on the dance floor, handing Phineas a drink. "Looks like someone else is going to ruin it first."
Meanwhile, she didn't have to worry about Corky seeing her. A group of well-dressed Vamps had gathered around the reporter, no doubt hoping they would appear on her next show.
"Don't crowd me," Corky hissed at them. She wore a glittery black dress with a low bodice that displayed her augmented bosom. The shimmering black skirt hit just below her knees.
Vanda recalled that one of the brassieres she'd sabotaged was black. And she'd altered some black underwear, too. She gave Maggie a sly grin. "Corky might be giving a bigger exposé than she planned."
Maggie frowned. "What do you mean?"
Corky posed in front of the camera and spoke into a microphone, her voice drowning out the low roar of others. "This is Corky Courrant, reporting for Live with the Undead. Tonight, I'm attending the posh engagement party of Giacomo di Venezia, known as Jack to his close friends, like moi. Recently, some rumors have surfaced. I know the truth, of course, so I will confirm that Jack is actually the son of that famous libertine, Giacomo Casanova."
Corky assumed a tragic face. "I'm afraid the other rumors are true, as well. It grieves me to tell you this, but Jack is, indeed, illegitimate. And not only is he a bastard, but he's fallen for a common mortal. Once again, a rich and eligible male has brought shame upon Vamp society by marrying far beneath himself."
