"What?"
He gave me a look and, yeah, I did feel that circle of safety wrap around me like a warm blanket.
"I've got your back, kid. Isn't that worth a Twinkie stop?"
I had to laugh. That voice in my head, big brown eyes and a wagging tail. "Whatever, fur face." We passed a sign. "Twenty-two miles to Twinkieville."
Safe or not, I kept checking my rearview mirror. Hunters are like rabid beasts. There's no reasoning with them. They're convinced vampires are all demons from hell who play Jack the Ripper all night and sleep in coffins all day. How wrong can they be? I prefer a pillow top mattress, Egyptian cotton sheets and Valdez curled up on the foot of the bed. I sighed and glanced at my faithful companion who kept staring alertly out the window. Blade had never liked a dog in the bedroom. Valdez or Blade? Unfortunately, right now Valdez was the only contender in the sleep with Glory contest.
Chapter Two
"Incoming. Pull over."
"You're kidding. Now?" I'd hung up on Blade. Of course he wouldn't just calmly accept that. Oh, no. He'd want a face to face. And it had taken him only, what, one hour and a Twinkie stop to fly to my side. Yep, fly. Did I mention he can shape-shift?
The black bird swooped in front of the car just as I was slowing down. I knew better than to ignore him and keep driving. Blade was relentless when he was on a quest. And his current quest was to make me do his bidding. My stomach knotted. I was not wimping out. I had plans.
I stopped the car and turned off the engine as bird became man. Okay, it's always kind of cool to watch. I could shape-shift, but I can't, if you know what I mean. A personality defect. Something about the whole now you're a bird or bat or, God forbid, even a dog, now you're a person thing freaks me out. Loss of control maybe. Or just plain fear. What if I forget how to do it and get stuck?
I glanced at Valdez. The idiot was grinning and wagging his tail as Blade popped open the driver's side door even though, of course, I'd locked it.
No one can do the vamp whammy like Blade. Before I could get a grip, I was out of the car and wrapping my arms around him. No. No. No. I shoved him away and pressed my hands over my eyes.
" Look at me, Gloriana." Blade's deep voice rumbled into my mind.
"No. Go away." Hah. How was that for willpower? If only I couldn't smell him, his totally male vampire come-and-get-me smell. I opened my eyes.
He was on his knees, rubbing Valdez's head and talking to him in a low voice. I didn't bother to tune in. Instead, I enjoyed the view. Leave it to Blade to show up in full Clan Campbell regalia, including broadsword. But he'd always had the legs for a kilt. Don't ask me how he can be a bird one minute and a fully clothed man the next. Much less how he can travel at warp speed. Just call it more vamp magic. A magic that still pulled me right to him.
"What's with the kilt? Surely you don't run a casino like that. Not exactly blending here, Jerry." He stood and faced me while Valdez trotted off into the bushes. Blade's dark hair was a little wild and it was all I could do not to reach out to brush it into place.
"Customers love it. Think it's an act. Nothing like trying to win money from a tight-fisted Scot." He moved closer, his dark eyes roaming over me. I pulled down my "Elvis lives" T-shirt and wished I'd had a chance to throw on some lipstick.
"Why are you being so stubborn?"
"It's not stubborn. I just want to live my own life. Not yours." To hell with lipstick. I lifted my chin. "You can turn into anything you want. Maybe a gorilla. Then you can thump your chest and drag me back to your tree. But the minute you turn your back, King Kong, I'm outta there."
"You try my patience, lass. You're in danger."
"So what's new? I'm, no, we're always in clanger. Hunters come and go, this one will go too."
"Westwood's different." Blade turned as Valdez loped toward the car. One nod and the dog took off again.
"Leave all this"—he swept a disdainful look over my packed Suburban and U-Haul—"shit and come with me."
"This shit is my shit." I hit him in the middle of his broad chest. Not that it did any good. I'm strong, but Blade's a rock. "Will you ever get me? I like my stuff around me. And I need my independence. If I'm going to live forever—" I shuddered. I'd stopped being grateful for that little gift a long time ago. "Then it has to be my way. Not yours."
"What's so wrong with letting me take care of ye, lass?" He put his hands on my shoulders. Oh, yeah. He thought the Scottish thing would melt me. There was a thaw going on, but this was too important to let my always interested libido take over.
"Everything."
He tried to pull me to him. I dug in my heels. He could have forced me. I knew it and so did he. Instead, he dropped his hands and stepped back.
"I am no' your enemy, Gloriana."
"Yes, you are," I whispered. Damn me for feeling ashamed when his frown hardened. I knew it hurt him when I asserted myself. It was a rejection. Again.
"Will you promise to call me if you need me?"
No soothing Scottish tones now. I felt his withdrawal as surely as if he'd morphed into bird mode and flown out of there. I couldn't help myself. I moved close to him, slipped my arms around his lean waist and rested my head on his chest. I filled my lungs with his scent and felt his breath against my hair. He slid his arms around me and just held me. So many years together, so much history. In my own warped way, I love him, okay? I just don't like him very much. Not when he's doing his "me Scottish Highlander, you little woman" thing.
"That's that then?"
"That's that." I stepped back and watched as he whirled, a blur of motion, until a raven with blue black wings shrieked his displeasure then flew up and out into the night sky.
" You ever gonna cut the guy a break?" Valdez pushed his head under my hand and I rubbed his silky ears.
"If I went with him, you'd be out of a job."
" I could live with that." He yawned and jumped into the car. " Ain't nothin' wrong with a dog's life. Eat, sleep, chase a few cats. Sounds good to me. I figure you'd still slip me a few Cheetos."
I looked up at the clear night sky filled with a thousand stars and a sliver of moon. Somewhere a dark bird flew so fast only another immortal could see it. Was I insane for rejecting Blade again? I got in and started the car. Probably. Austin. Finally. I'd taken quite a few road trips in my time, but this one had to qualify as the trip from hell. Love my old Suburban, but, especially when you're driving at night, you need reliable transportation and decent gas mileage. As soon as I start making some serious money, I'm trading this sucker in.
Lost a fan belt in Arizona. Overheated in the middle of the desert outside of Roswell. And the worst, the absolute worst, was the blowout in west Texas. You ever try to change a tire with a U-Haul and a lifetime (very, very long lifetime) worth of junk piled on top of the spare? I've got the vamp strength thing going on but it was an hour before sun up. Thank God for friendly truckers. Enough griping. I like the look of Austin. Pretty capitol building. Hills. The city's bigger than I thought it would be, and even at three a.m. there's some traffic on the freeway. I find Freddy's house without much hassle. You've got to love numbered streets. Freddy flung open the door of his two story brick bungalow as soon as I pulled up in front. "Glory! You made it."
"No thanks to this clunker." I let Valdez out and watched him mark Freddy's bushes before he bothered to check out Freddy.
"It's good to finally get here."
"Still traveling with a beast, I see." Freddy bent down and eyed Valdez. They had a quiet man to man conversation that ended when Freddy got up to give me a hug. "You look wonderful."
"So do you." Vampires do change over the years, you know. Not age, exactly. But fashions, hair, cosmetic stuff can make a difference. Freddy knew how to blend in and in this college town he'd decided to go with a graduate student look. He wore his jeans with a T-shirt that advertised of all things a Willie Nelson Fourth of July picnic. I had to smile.
"A picnic?"
"It's a local tradition. Doesn't really get going till the sun goes down. Next summer you'll have to go with me. Great music." Freddy was tall, lean and could have been the love of my life if he hadn't decided to come out of the closet a few decades ago. Just as well. He was more like Blade than either of them would ever admit. Strong, hard headed and macho, despite the sexual preference.
I sensed more vamps inside just before a familiar throaty voice bellowed a greeting.
"Gloriana, darling, give us a hug."
Us. Us as in Freddy's mother, the Countess Cecelia Hapsburg von Repsdorf. The countess had become vampire after she discovered her only son had turned. No way was she letting him live forever without her "guidance."
"CiCi." I was enveloped in a cloud of the exotic perfume the countess favored, her special blend and really quite wonderful. I sniffed and held onto her for a moment, my cheek against her soft cheek.
My own mother was a very distant memory and not a pleasant one. She'd turned her back on me and consigned me to hell just because I'd loved an actor. Not that she'd ever approved of anything I did anyway. I can't even imagine how she would have reacted if she'd ever found out I was vampire.
CiCi was the mother I wish I'd had, warm and loving instead of cold and judgmental. Okay, maybe a little judgmental. She held me away from her and looked me over.
"You look like hell, darling. What have you done to your skin? Is that a tan?" She was clearly horrified. "Own what you are, Gloriana. You should be pale, ethereal. I must give you a makeover immediately."
"Mother, let the woman sit down first, will you?" Freddy had his hand on Valdez's collar. "And say hello to her latest companion. Valdez, I assume?" He looked the question at me.
