"Come to my castle, Blade. I have something for you to wear. As Gloriana wants, we must call a truce between us." Damian gave me an admiring look. If he just hadn't been such a jackass last night. Nope. Couldn't even think about that.
"Jerry, Damian is willing to be civilized, are you?" I touched his hand and waited until he finally loosened his grip on that sword with his other hand.
"Aye. Civilized. But we can meet here."
"The castle. You need clothes and I have cash there to give Tony. He'll want some money up front to help us. Westwood shot at Florence. I'll pay anything to get that bastard." Damian unlocked the door. "Go get Crapetta, Diana. Tell him I'll make it worth his while."
"Yeah, money talks with Tony." Diana smiled at me. "You're really opening?"
"Why not?" I flipped over the sign. "I've got my guard dog and hopefully customers will swarm around me. Westwood can probably buy himself out of a lot, but I bet he doesn't want to get the law on his back." I looked outside, but everything seemed fairly normal for this time of night. A good thing since my tough talk was just that. Talk. God, Westwood had been here. Close enough to take my picture. And what was he going to do with that? Somehow I didn't think he was into scrapbooking.
"See? No sign of Westwood with his bow and arrow."
It was quiet. Too quiet. I glanced at Derek and he jumped up to turn on the radio, an oldies station. Elvis sang "Heartbreak Hotel." It figured.
"I'm open. Go. Plan. Let me know what you decide." I actually batted my eyelashes at both men. "I'm so glad I've got such big strong men to take care of me."
Derek snorted, turning it into a cough when both Damian and Blade gave him a dirty look.
"I'll stay here with her. When Freddy gets here, I'll send him to the castle. He can help you guys plan." Derek stood next to me.
"Glory's right. Westwood could have already taken us out here if that was his game. Leaving the card ramps things up a notch. He's done the ambush gig, maybe he wants his 'prey'"—Derek shuddered—"to know it's being hunted."
"You're creeping me out, Derek." I squeezed his arm and felt it trembling. "I, for one, am not 'prey.' I say we hunt the hunter." If I kept saying the right things, maybe I could stave off the major meltdown I had coming to me. At least until I was alone in my bedroom with the covers over my head and my dog between me and the bad guys. I lifted my chin and gave the group my Glory-the-brave glare.
"Hunt the hunter. I like that." Damian smiled at me. "Our new motto."
"And if Westwood wants the chase, he'll get one. We're going to work on defense too." More tough talk. I was on a roll. Blade moved closer, tuned in as always to my distress.
"It's not going to be easy. He's got that hunter mentality, Glory, and unlimited resources. Checking surveillance tapes, we saw that he'd been in the casino with his equipment at least five times before he took his shot. He stalked us and waited until we were outside. Mac was caught off guard and didn't have time to shape-shift." He touched my shoulder until I looked up at him. "You know that's how Florence saved herself last night."
"I know. I'll try. Really." Didn't Yoda in Star Wars say there is no try? But doing absolutely stymies me. I'd think what I wanted to be, just like Blade had tried to teach me. But then I'd feel just the beginning of some kind of change and freeze. I don't want to change. It creeps me out. But I can't deny that it's a vamp's best defense mechanism. Di was back with a man in tow and quickly introduced everyone Tony didn't already know. I don't know what I expected, but Tony Crapetta wasn't it. He was a small man draped in gold chains, a large cross visible on his hairy chest where he'd left his pale blue nylon shirt unbuttoned way too low.
His eyes lit up when he saw my zoot suits. "I didn't know you had men's clothes in here. You got any leisure suits? Saturday Night Fever, baby." He tapped his chest. "Disco King."
"Gee, sorry, Tony. Not yet. But we'll keep our eyes open. Check back with us." Derek didn't laugh but I could tell he was thinking the Disco King thing was a stretch. More like "Disco Duck."
"I didn't bring you over here to shop, Tony, darlin'." Diana nipped the sign to Closed again. "Glory, you and I are going to be in on this. I told the people next door to get free refills. You'll reopen in thirty minutes."
"You will be in on it, lass. But Sabatini's right. We'll need some things from the castle." Jerry walked up to Tony and looked him over. "We expect discretion, Crapetta."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Blade." Tony fingered his cross. "Mr. Sabatini here can tell you I don't flap my yap." He was wide-eyed, but forged ahead. "Miss Diana tells me you've got a job for me."
"Right." Damian pulled Tony out the door. "Let's go to my house. I'll lay everything out for you there." Diana made a sound of protest as Blade, Damian and Tony climbed into the vamp-mobile.
"Let them go, Diana. I've got an idea." I waited until the car pulled away from the curb. "Let's go back to the coffee shop." Diana crossed her arms. "Fine. But if you think I'm playing the little woman while they—"
"Give me a minute. We may be little." Okay, maybe not so little. "And we may be women, but we can come up with our own plan, don't you think?"
Valdez was right on my heels.
"I'll stay here, Glory. Freddy will be here any minute." Derek stuck his head out the door and looked around. Diana grabbed my arm. "The dog can't go inside, Glory. The health department would shut me down before you could say scat."
" I go where she goes, Blondie."
"Gee, I thought I was Blondie." I patted his furry head. "We won't go outside until you check things out. Then you can watch me through the window. You won't miss a thing." I squatted down and looked him in the eye. "And thanks for not ratting Damian out to Blade. About that thing last night."
Valdez showed his teeth. " I'd like to bite that creep where it would hurt the most if you know what I mean. But we got more serious worries now. You seem to handle Sabatini pretty well by yourself."
"Thanks." I stood and saw Diana gaping at Valdez. When i he "talks," anyone around can hear him too. "It's complicated."
"Yeah. I imagine so. But if he decides to bite Damian you .know where, I want a front row seat." I laughed. "You're going to have to tell me what happened between you two some day." Diana grimaced. "What can I say? The man's incapable of sticking with any woman for very long. But he's a lot of fun if you're not looking for more."
"Mr. Right Now, not Mr. Right."
"You got it." Diana sighed. "I'm over Damian, I've moved on and I'm seeing someone else."
"Good." I pulled open the door. Valdez finished checking the surrounding area. When he sat down, I figured we had the all clear. And Freddy was pulling up in my, I mean Blade's, Mercedes convertible. Jerry's just evil enough to leave my dream car here with Freddy to torment me. I was not caving in, even though my Suburban was currently DOA in the alley behind our building. Transmission problems. I looked around the shop. I'd have to sell a hell of a lot of clothes to bring that vehicle back to life.
Di and I slipped from my shop to hers. Mugs and Muffins was small but spotless. Great smells. Coffee. Muffins. And she sold Bloody Merry. Big freakin' deal. Did I mention the muffins? Three tables were occupied by what looked like students with laptops. I checked them out. One woman who wore vintage cat's-eye glasses was staring at her computer and biting her lip. A computer geek if ever I saw one.
"Excuse me." I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped.
"Oh, hi. You own the shop next door. I love your stuff."
"Great glasses. I'd like to carry things like that."
"Estate sale. I'm an addict."
"Hmmm." I had another idea, but first things first. "You studying computer science at school?" The woman laughed. "No, I'm teaching it. I know, I know. I look young. But I'm old enough." She looked past me. "That your dog? I love dogs."
I saw Valdez staring a hole in the glass. "He's okay." He glared at me. "Give him a muffin and he'll be your friend for life."
"Good to know." Diana came closer. "I hope we're not interrupting you."
"No. I'd just decided to pack it in. Why?"
"Well, I, we, have a technology question. Would you mind coming over to my shop with me?" I saw her uncertainty. Maybe a little incentive. "If you help Us, I'll let you have any item in the store for fifty percent off."
"Cool! My name's Miranda Anderson, by the way."
"I'm Glory St. Clair and this is Diana Marchand who owns this coffee shop."
"Sure. I recognize her too." Miranda smiled. "Give me a sec to shut down my computer." She looked up as Diana set a cup next to her.
"Free refills tonight, Miranda. Take it next door with you." Diana smiled and tapped her fist against mine as Miranda stuffed her laptop into a book bag. "Girl power, Glory."
"Exactly." Di, Miranda and I went back to my shop. Derek and Freddy were talking next to the register.
"This is ridiculous. You don't need to work." Freddy saw me make a face. "Stay out of this, Glory."
"I'm not in this." I pushed Miranda and Diana ahead of me into the stockroom. I gave Valdez a mental message to guard the store, then closed the door. Diana and I exchanged looks. There were two ways to do this. One. Tell Miranda everything and then erase her memory. The drawback? What if she needed time to do research? Better to try subtlety first.
"Here's the deal, Miranda. A man has what looks like a cell phone. He points it at someone." I gestured toward Diana. "Like Di here. And he can tell if she's human or… not."
