Real Vampires Know Size Matters

“Believe in it? Just the evidence that I’ve seen with my own eyes that she’s got some kind of power. In Miami, I saw her stare at people until they sickened. And you and I have seen her ghosts and her zombie-like creatures. Hell, I don’t know what I believe anymore.” He kept his arm around me. “You look pale, Gloriana. Sit down and I’ll clean up this mess.”

“No, seriously, I’m just disgusted, horrified and trying to figure out what that bitch will do next. You know Mel’s determined to have you and now we’ve decided to let her think she’s got you.” I held on to him and couldn’t seem to let go. “God, Jerry. I don’t think I can stand the thought of you that close to a crazy woman.”

“She’s never going to have me, Gloriana.” He brushed the hair back from my face. “I can kill her tonight and make sure no one ever finds her body.”

“No! I won’t have that on your conscience. You’re not a stone cold killer.”

“To protect the woman I love—”

“I said no, Jer. So far she’s done nothing but a little vandalism. I’m not even going to call the police about this.”

“Perhaps you should. If she left fingerprints . . .” He let me go and walked over to the dead chickens. “Look here. She obviously wrung their necks then sliced them open and drained their blood into a goblet. She shattered the goblet when she was done. See? There’s a piece of the pedestal and the rest rolled under the dress rack. Bet the cops could get a fingerprint off the glass.”

“Forget it. The police already think this shop is strange with the vamp mural and some of the reports we’ve put in. Remember when we were firebombed? All reporting this would do is make Mel mad at me. Do we really want that?”

“No. But she picked your lock.” He’d walked over to the back door. “What happened to your security system? Cameras?”

“I couldn’t afford to keep them, Jerry. We’re rarely closed anyway. Sunday and Monday are the only times someone’s not here twenty-four hours a day.”

“False economy, Gloriana, but too late to think about that now.” He grabbed a garbage bag and began picking up chickens and dumping them in the bag like it was no big deal. I didn’t want to touch one. “I tell you this. If you won’t let me kill her, I’m making damn sure she doesn’t spend a moment out of my sight until that potion is ready. Any word on that?”

“There’s been a setback.” I told him about Ian’s breakin. “But Cait should be able to tell us more when she gets here.” I grabbed a bucket and mop. I had to get rid of every sign of Mel’s intrusion. What kind of spell had she cast? I looked over the setup she’d used. I’d get on my computer and see if I could find out anything with Google.

“What about during the day?” I stopped next to Jerry. He’d just knocked the goat into another garbage bag.

“I’ll keep Rafe watching you and I’ll hire a shifter to follow Mel. It’s the best I can do.”

“But what about you, Jerry?” I clutched his arm. “When you’re in your death sleep, she could do anything to you.”

“I know that.” He stared at the smear of blood on my counter. “Do you trust me, Gloriana?”

“Yes, but—”

“No buts. Trust me to do whatever I must to keep you safe. Mel won’t hurt me as long as she thinks I’m in love with her. I’ll mesmerize her if I can to convince her of that.”

I swallowed, the determination in the set of his jaw scaring me. “And if you can’t?”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

• • •

Two hours later I was on my way to N-V. I’d found Caitlin a costume after she and Jerry had gotten together about that potion. Ian hadn’t shared his progress with her, but she knew he was working on it. Since he wasn’t answering my calls, that would have to satisfy us. I didn’t dare call Rafe and tell him that Mel apparently still considered me a threat to her happiness. Otherwise Rafe would never have let me take the ten-minute walk to his club alone. He was at the door when I got there though.

“You okay?” He kept me from going inside. “You look upset.”

I unloaded on him. Jerry had made me promise to tell Rafe about Mel’s mess in the shop. “So Mel must have been asking her gods or whatever about her future. I guess she’s still not sure if it’s with Jerry. Or if I’m going to get him. That’s what we got when we checked the Internet. She examined goat’s entrails. Drank chicken blood too. My shop got her action so she could hurt me, I’m sure. She’s still jealous. Can you believe it?”

“Son of a bitch. I thought we’d solved at least one problem.” Rafe peered down the street. “Now we’ve got a new one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you seen Sienna tonight?” He finally moved aside to let me into the club.

“No, I didn’t think to stop by my apartment. I assumed she would have rehearsed first tonight and had already left. Why?” I stepped inside. Miguel was at what I was starting to think of as his usual bar stool and he nodded in my direction.

“Ray’s been trying to reach her. She’s not answering her cell and hasn’t shown up for rehearsal. Then there’s this.” He handed me a paper. It was a tabloid, one of the same ones that had labeled me a chubby blueberry. I hated those gossipy rags.

“What?” I didn’t want to touch it.

“Read the headline, Glory.” Rafe held it up so I couldn’t avoid seeing it.

“‘Rock star claims she’s a vampire. Drug meltdown on the air.’ What the hell?” I knew my mouth was hanging open. I closed it with a snap. “Summarize the article.”

“You’ll love it. The only thing missing is a picture of Sienna with her fangs down.” Rafe pulled me toward his office. “That’s because this all came out when your girl did a radio interview the other night.”

“She told me she had one scheduled but not that she planned to say anything like this.” I snatched the paper and read through the article. Yes, it was all there. Sienna’s claim that she’d become a vampire. She’d bragged about how strong she was and that she would live forever young. Bonus claim? She drank blood now, no more dieting. I moaned. My only hope was that everyone would think she was as crazy as a bedbug with fangs.

“I’m sure she didn’t warn you or you’d have gagged her and sat on her to keep her from doing it. It was a nationally syndicated show. Goes to hundreds of stations. There’s an audiotape on YouTube. I listened to the whole interview. You won’t believe how many downloads it’s had already. When Sienna comes clean, she doesn’t miss a trick. Apparently she even showed her fangs to the deejay. Volunteered to take him down a pint if he was interested too.”

“Oh. My. God.” I collapsed in a chair inside his office. Nate was there, his ear to his phone. When he saw us, I heard him say something about rehab before he ended his call.

“You told her.” Nate’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it then turned it off. “Sienna’s manager and agent are forwarding all inquiries to me. And, trust me, there are plenty. You heard what I just said.”

“You going along with blaming it on drugs? Sending her to rehab? Or pretending to.”

“What else can I say, Glory? That she’s telling the truth?” Nate rubbed his eyes. “I can’t imagine the fallout if this goes any further. I’m sticking with the drug story. Hoping this blows over fast.”

“She’s going to hate that. You know how proud she is of her sobriety.” My own phone vibrated in my jeans pocket. I looked at the caller ID. “Here she is. Let’s see what she has to say for herself.”

“Sienna, where are you?”

“I’m at Danny’s place. Um, did you hear what I told the deejay last night? Isn’t that amazing?” She sounded tentative, despite her brave words. I hoped that meant she was getting a clue.

“Yes, I heard about it. Saw the tabloids.” I’d managed to stay calm so far. Then I lost it. “Are you freaking nuts? We do not tell the world we exist, much less offer to drink from a mortal on national radio.” I was yelling. Okay, maybe I should stop and take a breath. Rafe and Nate just sat back and watched.

“I listened to Mel last night, Glory, just like you did. I thought about what was holding me back from being the best I could be. It’s all this secrecy. I can’t stand to sneak around. It was keeping me from reaching my potential. I have power now. Why can’t I use it to show the world what I am? Fans will love it. I’ll be breaking new ground. Can you imagine? The first vampire rock star!” She sounded excited now.

“No, that’s not going to happen. And Ray has that honor, if you want to call it that. Not you.” I said it as firmly as I could. “Listen to me. Going public isn’t in your best interests. There are powerful vampires out there who will make sure that no one believes you. They will take you out before they let you spread the word like you tried to do last night.”

“Take me out? What the hell does that mean? Don’t be ridiculous. What I did was great. People are fascinated by us. Look at the books and movies out there. Vampires are cool. And mortals don’t know what we can really do. All they know is just fantasy.” Sienna wasn’t paying attention. “I’ve come out of the closet and I’m staying out.”

“Listen to me, Sienna. I’m not kidding. People aren’t fascinated by vampires, they’re scared of them. When they see the reality of what we are, they want to kill us. Face a vampire hunter with a stake in his hand and then tell me coming out is cool.”

“No, you’re wrong. Once they see how normal we are—”

“Normal! Are you freaking kidding me? You drink blood. Have fangs. Are dead all day. Are you saying that’s normal?” I was yelling again. I tried to calm down. Counted to three. “Please. We have a small window of opportunity to fix this. We can put out that you were high. That you were tripping and made up this vampire nonsense. We’ll send you to rehab. Not really but you’ll have to lie low for a while. Until the talk dies down and some other star jumps the shark.”