"I don"t need the details, Jerry." Oh, who was I kidding? I wanted to know every excruciating one. Was this payback? For how I"d hurt him with my affair with Rafe? I jumped up, wanting to run out of the room but my ankle gave way. He grabbed my shoulders to steady me.
"I"m not trying to hurt you. I have to warn you. Sit down, Gloriana." He pushed me down into the chair and carefully adjusted the ice pack on my ankle again. "Listen to me. This is important or I wouldn"t bother you with it."
"Warn me?" I put two and two together. "Does she have anything to do with, um, magic or evil? I just had the weirdest experience outside. I had to dematerialize to get to your front door."
"What?" He looked like I"d dropped a house on him. Then a knife suddenly appeared in his hand. "Did she hurt you? Is that what happened to your ankle? Outside you say?" He didn"t wait for answers, just ran out of the room before I could stop him.
I started to go after him. And what? Watch some mystery woman work her magic on Jerry? Was he under a spell? Could I shift the blame for their affair to her and let him off the hook? Wouldn"t that be nice? Was she beautiful? Of course she was. And he was a man with needs. I knew that. While I waited I let my mind run on an endless loop of what to do or not to do. Then Jerry"s front door slammed and he bounded up the stairs.
"No sign of her except that smell...Did you get a whiff of her magic?" He slipped his knife back into his boot. "Is that how you hurt your ankle, Gloriana? Did you two have a confrontation? I"ll kill her if she hurt you."
"A confrontation. You could say that, though I never saw her." I couldn"t hide my relief that he was back and obviously more concerned with me than that other woman. "She tried to keep me out of here, Jerry. I think it"s pretty clear she wants you for herself. And she"s evil. I know evil when I smell it. You know that."
"What did she say? Melisandra is a voodoo priestess. Yes, she"s mortal but more than just that. She"s dangerous, Gloriana." He knelt in front of me, seriously worried. I liked that look on him.
"Jerry, I have powers. I can handle her." I took his hands. "Not saying it was fun dealing with that s.h.i.t again. It kind of knocked me for a loop so I stumbled, twisted my ankle. It"ll heal. But I guess I know now how you felt when things happened between Rafe and me."
"Jealousy bites, doesn"t it? I can"t believe she"s already here. I tried to erase her memory of our time together, like I"d do with an ordinary mortal. No dice." Jerry sat on the arm of the chair next to me. "I don"t blame my infatuation with her on one of her spells. I know better. It was her blood, Gloriana. It was almost addictive. It was as if I drew power from it." His eyes lost focus for a moment, like just remembering it got him high.
"Do I really need to hear this, Jerry?" I dropped his hand.
"Yes, you do." He was up and pacing again. "She knew I was vampire and got off to it. She was comfortable in the paranormal world. Too comfortable. It made me uneasy. I knew I had to end the relationship so I stopped drinking her blood. It was a relief to know I could give it up. I told myself that when word of your move to Texas came it was a sign. I needed to get away from Mel completely, make a clean break and get my relationship with you back on track if I could. So I put my hotel there into good hands and took off. I didn"t know that she would take it so hard."
"You did say good-bye, didn"t you?" I could see how this woman might feel like he owed her after giving Jerry her blood night after night and maybe imagining a future with him. Then he took off to parts unknown to be with me. No wonder she hated me.
"Of course. I told her I had a commitment somewhere else but didn"t name the place. As an extra precaution I decided to change my name. Problem was, I couldn"t sell my hotel then, the market wasn"t right. I guess you"ve noticed I"ve had problems with the management there ever since I moved here." He glanced at his laptop. "I"m still worried about it."
"Yes, you"ve made quite a few trips there. To straighten things out or to see her?" I gripped the arms of the chair to keep from launching myself at him. Had he been having an affair all this time? And then put a guilt trip on me for being unfaithful?
"I didn"t intend to ever go back. I"m pretty sure all my troubles at the hotel have been caused by Mel. She can use her voodoo powers to make things happen-accidents, illnesses among the staff, even an infestation of vermin. It"s been a nightmare. I"d have to go back and then she would show up, smelling the way she does." He looked at me, his eyes dark with a familiar hunger. "It"s the blood, Gloriana. It calls to me. I"d like to blame it on a voodoo spell but I"m afraid it"s just my d.a.m.ned vampire nature taking over." He looked away and I took that as an admission that blood wasn"t all he got from the woman.
"Well, s.h.i.t. What am I supposed to do with this, Jerry?" I couldn"t sit still another minute. I glanced down and saw that I had ripped lines in the chair"s leather. Tough.
"Please, let me finish. This last trip she threatened you. Said my manager had told her my girlfriend had given him his orders while I was in Scotland. That really steamed her. She has some way of seeing things, like that d.a.m.ned sorcerer did. Said you"d been unfaithful to me and that you didn"t deserve me. If I didn"t come back to her, she"d make sure I had no choice to make." He reached for me.
"No, keep talking." I wasn"t about to let him touch me then.
He ran his fingers through his hair. "I wasn"t going to be threatened into a relationship. I told her that I was done with her even if you weren"t in the picture. But she kept on, messing with my business, making her threats. I figured it was just wild talk, a woman scorned, you know. I wanted to kill her." He had a knife in his hand again and I knew he meant what he said. "But she has protection." He met my gaze. "I know, not very nice of me, wanting to kill a woman. She"s evil, Gloriana. Like you said."
"She must be a servant of the dark arts." I believed him. That he wanted to be done with her.
He put the knife away. "This is serious. Now that she"s here, be careful, Gloriana. She"s capable of just about anything." He dropped to his knees in front of me. "I"m so sorry to have brought this to you."
I ran my hands through his hair. How could I condemn him? I"d brought pretty bad things to him. The latest had been amnesia and a spell that had almost boiled his brain.
"It"s okay, Jerry. We"ve both made mistakes. And I"ve faced a lot worse than some witch who smells like a kitchen mistake." I faced where she probably still lurked, trying to listen in with her voodoo magic, and shot the finger. "Bring it on, b.i.t.c.h."
Jerry pulled me to my feet and slipped his arms around me. "Tough talk. You don"t know her. Yes, I think you can handle just about anything. But can you handle the fact that I betrayed you?" He rested his cheek on my hair.
I just stood there for a minute. Betrayal. Oh, I so did not want to go there. I could rationalize his slip with a voodoo priestess. It had started before our reunion in Texas and of course she didn"t want to let him go. If we were keeping score, I was way ahead in the infidelity department. I decided then and there that I wasn"t going to tell him about my slip with Ray. We had enough hurt feelings between us. Bringing up Ray now would do nothing but damage our relationship and ease my conscience. It would be selfish of me to unload on Jerry now.
Luckily he"d a.s.sumed his lover"s vision of my slip had been about the Rafe incident. I was leaving it at that. I slid my arms around his waist.
"She"s brought this fight to Austin. First thing you need to do is convince her that you would never ever be with her again no matter what she tries. Is that the way you feel? Can you be around her and resist her blood now?" I touched his cheek and stared into his eyes.
"Of course. She was a bad chapter in my life that I"m ready to close the book on. You"re my future, Gloriana. I"ll do whatever it takes to keep us together." He didn"t look away and opened his mind to me so that I could see his truth. I felt ashamed that I couldn"t do the same. "I love you, Gloriana. I don"t want to lose you. Just take this seriously. Melisandra is powerful. I"ve seen her power at work and it"s scary as h.e.l.l."
I smiled and leaned against him. To h.e.l.l with guilt. As far as I was concerned, we were even. And if I was his future, he was mine.
"I"ve got news for you, Jerry. I"m scary as h.e.l.l too."
"Oh, really." He picked me up, holding me close as he strode to the bedroom. "Lucky for you, I like a challenge." When he tossed me on the bed, we both were smiling.
"I"m not giving you up, Jerry. Whatever she tries, she"s not running me off." I reached for him, more than ready to forget everyone but him.
"Stubborn and scary too. What more could I ask for in a woman?" He came down on top of me, his body fitting perfectly against mine, just as it always did. "Guess we were meant to be, Gloriana. Now I think we"ve talked enough, don"t you?"
My answer was to kiss him. Meant to be. I heard thunder and the bed actually shuddered beneath us. Of course we were. I inhaled his scent, dear, mine. No one was going to come between us. No one.
Read on for a special preview of
Gerry Bartlett"s next novel
Real Vampires Know Size Matters Available December 2013 from Berkley Books!
We"d been invaded.
You can do this. Suck it up. Attack. Use your powers. Instead I leaped up on the sweater table, shaking and screaming along with the mortals in the shop. No. Get down, Gloriana St. Clair, and face the enemy.
Weapons, I needed weapons, and I sure as h.e.l.l wasn"t using my fangs this time. I glanced around. The two women perched on the chair next to the dressing room were no help. Their shrieks could have broken gla.s.s. Three more women crouched on the counter in front of the cash register. More mortals, totally useless, though one swung an umbrella at the horde of invaders. Impressive compared to me.
I tossed a sweater at one. Stupid. Didn"t even slow it down. I was a failure. A wimp. I couldn"t quit shaking and couldn"t force myself to get off the table. If a G.o.d from Olympus attacked, I"d be right in his face, toe-to-toe. Or another vamp. Bring him on. But whoever had planned this invasion had found my weakness. I thought I heard one right there, on the table, and moaned, horrified.
Mice! Dozens of them. Even Achilles had his heel thing. Glory St. Clair has hers. I don"t like anything that"s creepy or crawly. Now my reputation and the business I"d built from nothing were in shreds along with my pride. Would you shop where you saw mice? I"d have joined the stampede for the door myself if there"d been time.
My clerk Lacy, a were-cat, was in Kitty Heaven, running around like a starving woman at an all-you-can-eat buffet. She whipped past me with a smile on her face, making sounds too gross to think about.
"Oh, G.o.d, there"s another one!" The brave soul on the counter with the vintage umbrella slashed at the floor, knocking a mouse toward the door. That got the logjam there cleared with a chorus of screams.
I heard a smack near my feet. "Lacy, what the h.e.l.l are you doing?" I gagged and realized I was going to have to whammy every mortal in the place.
"Glory, relax. I"ve got this under control." She held up a brown bag that rustled ominously. "There must be dozens of them. I wonder who sent them. An early birthday present from Mom?" She scrambled after a dark shadow that streaked across the floor. "Naw. She knows a stunt like this could get me fired." She glanced at me.
"She"d be right." I didn"t want to know what had made that streak on her cheek. Lacy was a natural beauty, red hair, porcelain skin. She dressed in the vintage clothes we sold here and looked like a model in them. Tonight the seventies bell-bottoms and tie-dyed tee were taking a beating.
"Well, not Mom. These are feeders. For snakes, that sort of thing. Someone brought them in here. Planted them. There goes another one." She dove and disappeared under a dress rack.
I heard a crash and a mannequin bit the dust. The women who"d been balanced on the chair had made a run for the door but were tangled up in a dress display.
"My G.o.d! My G.o.d! Get it off of me!" Loud sobs then the sounds of my mannequin being used as a sledgehammer.
Obviously I had to suck it up or we"d have ma.s.s hysteria on our hands.
"Ladies, please, calm down." At least I wore boots as I jumped in front of them, staring into first a pair of brown eyes, then blue. I had them mesmerized in a second. "You are fine, the store is fine. There are no mice, just a little game we"re playing with discount coupons." I shivered as a mouse ran by and I kicked it toward Lacy. "Here"s a twenty-five-percent-off coupon for your next visit. We"re closing for some minor repairs. Mugs and m.u.f.fins next door has great coffee if you want to wait. We"ll reopen in about thirty minutes." I s.n.a.t.c.hed coupons from behind the counter then tugged them both to the door, dodging even more mice. Planted. I had a feeling I knew who"d done it.
I got those two out then went back for the three hugging their knees near the register. Ignoring Lacy"s crows of triumph as she claimed more victims, I got the last customers whammied and out of the shop, coupons in hand. Finally, I hopped on the counter myself and waited for Lacy to finish.
"Whew. That was amazing. I bagged at least three dozen." Lacy grinned, her mouth smudged with something I didn"t want to think about. "Whoever pulled this stunt must have cleaned out a pet supply store." She stapled the wiggling bag closed then pulled out a wet wipe from the container under the counter and cleaned off her hands and face. Lacy glanced at me. "You okay?"
"Not really." I sighed. "Had your dinner break?"
"Um, yeah. Sorry about that. I got a little carried away. I need to clean up the floor too." She laughed. "Hey, I"m a predator. Think how you"d act if someone came in and offered you that negative blood type you love."
"I get it." I swallowed, not sure I wasn"t going to hurl. "Thanks. You saved the shop."
"No problem. But I can sniff out a mouse a mile away." She wiggled her nose. "They weren"t here yesterday. I wonder who..."
The phone rang before I could answer her. "Vintage Vamp"s Emporium, the best store on Austin"s Sixth Street."
"Really? Is it? I heard it just closed." The female voice was full of satisfaction. "Mice infestation. Disgusting."
"Who is this?" I jumped off the counter, pretty sure I already knew.
"Is this the owner? Gloriana St. Clair?"
"Yes. And is this the woman who thinks she can win Jeremiah Campbell back? Mel?"
"How did you like my little gift?" There was a throaty chuckle. "Did you scream? Of course you did."
I bit my lip, refusing to answer. Had she been in here? Seen me make a fool of myself? d.a.m.n it, if I"d known...What could I have done differently? Dematerialized and d.a.m.n the consequences.
"Give him up, Gloriana. Or I will run you out of business. Leave town and leave him to me. It"s the smart play." The line went dead.
I stared at the receiver, tempted to throw the cordless across the room. "Are you kidding me?"
"What?" Lacy had a mop in her hand. "Who was it?"
"A woman Jerry used to be with." I carefully set the phone back where it belonged. Killing it wouldn"t help. It was the woman I wanted to tear into pieces. "Clean up and I"ll reopen. I"m not going to let that b.i.t.c.h ruin my business."
"It"ll take a minute." Lacy didn"t move. "Tell me about this woman. Mr. Blade has an old flame? What"s going on? She sent in the mice?" She dipped the mop into a bucket of sudsy water that reeked of pine cleaner.
"She wants Jerry back and thinks running me out of business and out of town will do it. This was just her latest trick. I"m surprised she didn"t use magic." I quit breathing. I hated that pine smell. "She"s a voodoo priestess, Lacy. Have you seen anyone in here who looks like she might be into that?"
"Voodoo? Don"t know. How do they look? Would she be wearing a caftan and a turban, have a scary vibe? Carry around a bottle of Love Potion Number Nine?" Lacy shook her head and began mopping. "That would be too easy, Glo."
"You"re right. All I know is that Jerry says she"s beautiful"-I made a face-"with dark skin, black hair and unusual gray green eyes."
"Bet you loved that description." Lacy shook her head. "You know her name? I"ll watch for her credit card."
"Good idea. Melisandra Du Monde." I sighed. "Of course she"s beautiful. I need more info on her. I"m calling Jer right now. This mouse thing is just her latest in the war on Glory."
"Latest? What else has she done?"
"There have been a few accidents." I headed over to turn on the ceiling fans to air the place out and dry the floors faster. "I realize now that they were her work. Remember I told you that big shelf in the back room fell on me?"
"You think that was voodoo?" Lacy"s eyes widened. "c.r.a.p. Maybe we should get out the holy water again."
I smiled. "Couldn"t hurt. But that loaded shelf sure did. It weighed a ton and went over for no reason that I could see. Luckily I have good reflexes and dove under the table back there to avoid the worst of it." I had actually broken my arm but it had healed with a good night"s sleep and lots of synthetic blood.
"That woman"s crazy if she thinks you"ll just give up your business after a few setbacks. We"ve gone through plenty before, even been firebombed. But we reopened, better than ever. And you and Mr. Blade have gone through a lot. Yet you two have been together for hundreds of years." Lacy finished and headed back to the storeroom. "I"d better take my to-go bag and scoot. Shift"s over. Will you be okay until the night crew gets here?"
"Sure. I expect Megan in a little while. Please get that bag out of here. Are you sure all the mice are gone?" I righted the mannequin and straightened her dress.
Lacy sniffed. "All clear. Open the doors. We"re good to go. And be careful. If she really wants Mr. Blade back, she"ll go for you harder next time."
"I"d like to see her try. A mortal? Bring it on." I headed for the door, surprised that most of the customers had stuck around. But we were close to Halloween and my shop had great vintage clothing and costumes. I flipped the lock.
"Come in, everyone. We"re having a sale. All furs, twenty percent off." That got a reaction, especially since we were having a cold spell. The crowd surged inside. I couldn"t believe I had actually laughed about the crazy woman who"d sworn to get Jeremy Blade back as her lover. A voodoo priestess? Okay, maybe I could buy that. Though I"d never actually seen her, I"d smelled the evil spirits around her.
But I could deal with evil. I"d even fought Lucifer and won. You"d think a mortal would be easy compared to him. Right? Wrong. First, Luc and I were both fairly reasonable people. Who knew? But the angel of darkness actually admired my s.p.u.n.k. Melisandra didn"t admire anything about me. She just wanted me gone. In her warped worldview, I was an annoying speed b.u.mp on her fast track to bliss with Jerry.
Obviously she thought that once I was out of the way, he would realize she was the one for him. She"d tuned out when he"d told her to take a hike. He had even changed his address and name to get away from her. Mel wanted Jerry and would do anything to get him, even if it meant chaining him in a mausoleum somewhere until he felt the love. I shuddered just thinking about it.
Of course, picturing Jerry as a victim was ridiculous. My guy was strong, an ancient vampire. But I was more than a little aggravated that he"d hooked up with a voodoo queen in the first place. What had he been thinking? More accurately, what had he been thinking with? Men.
I wasn"t about to quit seeing Jerry. Jeremiah Campbell, aka Jeremy Blade, and I had been through way too much lately for me to call a halt while Mel moved in on him. Instead, I was going to show her just how not scared I was after her little trick.
"Gloriana, you"ve got that look again. What are you thinking?" Jerry arrived less than an hour later. We were going to our favorite club for a little dancing, even meeting friends there. Did you expect us to keep a low profile? That would feel too much like giving in to the wicked witch.
"That I"ve got to do something about Mel." I told him about the mouse invasion.
"I"m sorry." He put his arm around me. "What can I do? I"ve tried to talk to her but my seeking her out makes her happy, no matter the reason for it."
"You sure you"ve made it clear you"re done?" I could read his mind and he knew it. But I didn"t even try. We had to trust each other now. I"d come to terms with the fact that this was the man I wanted to be with forever. Not an easy decision. But this complication from his past was ruining what should have been a special time for us. I knew I"d made some big mistakes with my choice of hookups in the past, but a wacko like this?
"I said, "Go away, I don"t want you." Is that clear enough?" He held on to my shoulders, his eyes meeting mine.
"Ouch. Now you"re making me feel sorry for the b.i.t.c.h." I sighed and leaned against him. "No wonder she"s acting out."