Real Vampires Know Size Matters

“Oh, yeah? I guess your commitment to keep vampires a secret doesn’t count. Since you never wanted to go there in the first place.”

“You got that right.” She held my gaze, obviously deadly serious.

“And you’ll just let your singing career go down in flames?”

“I don’t believe it will. It’s a bluff by the label. There’s no such thing as bad publicity. Wait and see. I’ll attract new fans. Pick up some Goth bodyguards to go along with the new image. I’ve got it all worked out.” She smiled up at Danny before aiming a defiant look at me. “Screw your fake rehab.”

I fumed for a minute. Clueless newbie. But the set of her jaw convinced me she wasn’t budging. Finally I thought of something.

“Trust me that this isn’t the right time for your, um, coming out. Maybe later.” Like never. “When you’re more used to our ways, you can consider alternatives, not be so impulsive.” I at least had her attention.

“You’re right. I would have liked to have been on national television. At least TMZ. Showing off the fangs loses its punch on radio.” Sienna laughed.

Oh, boy, did I want to smack some sense into her. Instead I plowed ahead with my diversion tactic.

“There you go. Now, the Halloween gig gives me an idea of how we can at least put this one fire out. To delay things.” I caught Rafe’s eye. He obviously wanted a private word with Danny. “I need to teach you something first. Danny, I believe Rafe needs to speak to you outside.” I sent Rafe a mental message to be sure to let Danny know that he’d dropped the ball with Sienna. She wasn’t out of the woods by any means, especially if what I had in mind didn’t work.

“What are you going to teach me?” Sienna stood and paced the floor. By the time I’d outlined my plan, she was excited. “This is perfect! Even my publicist will love it.”

“We’ll see. Now, you sure you can do it?”

“I think so. Call in the guys and let me practice.” She grinned.

“Shifters aren’t as easy as mortals, Sienna. But you can try.”

When Danny and Rafe came back inside, both of them were pretty grim. There’d obviously been a scuffle. Danny had a scrape under one eye.

“We’re all set. You figure out what to do?” Rafe still wasn’t smiling and kept flexing his right hand.

“I hope so. Danny, would you look at Sienna?” I was anxious to see if my fledgling could carry this off.

“Sure. Honey, I need to apologize. I let you down. Rafe explained the danger I’ve put you—” He stopped. “What the hell are you doing? Trying to mesmerize me?” He pulled her to him. “Sweetheart, that’s never going to happen.”

“Damn it. Then this plan won’t work.” She turned to me. “Glory, you’re going to have to come along. I keep getting distracted. I was thinking about how serious Danny looked instead of the whole whammy thing. I know once we get there I’ll be nervous too. I won’t be able to concentrate.”

“I was afraid of that, and we don’t have time to find anyone else for you to practice on.” I glanced at my watch. “Call the deejay and find out if he can see you tonight. We have to do this now. On top of everything else, you know Ray is probably throwing fits, don’t you? Because you didn’t show up for rehearsal.”

“Let him.” She brushed Danny’s cheek with a fingertip. “Baby, are you all right? Rafe didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“I can take care of myself, Sin. Rafe pointed out that I should have done a better job of watching you. Letting you shoot off your mouth last night wasn’t smart. It’s on me. From now on, you’ve got to let me take the lead and you should talk over your plans with me first. I do have years of experience in this world.” He pulled her to him.

“So I’ve found out. Lots of experience in everything.” She sighed then ran her fingertip down his chest. “I’m sorry too. I got you in trouble, didn’t I? But I’m still not convinced outing vampires isn’t a good idea.” She stared at me. “I mean it, Glory. You may have talked me down this time, but I’m coming out someday. Wait and see.”

“Sienna . . .” I was beginning to think I should mesmerize her and see if I could change her whole attitude. Would it work? Probably not. To paraphrase what Jerry had said, you could make someone forget breaking a particular rule, but not that they loved breaking rules in general. Damn it.

“I’m not talking about this anymore. Ray’s called so many times that I turned off my phone.” She pulled it out of her purse. “Oh. I’ve got three missed calls from a Damian Sabatini. Who’s that, Glory? Do you know him?”

“You bet I do. He’s the head of the vampire council. Call him back. You’ll see that I’m not exaggerating your problems if you persist in trying to make the vampire thing public.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She stared down at her phone.

“No, you can’t ignore him. Hand me that phone.” I hit the button to call Damian back. “Damian? It’s Glory. I’m mentoring Sienna Star.”

“Well, you’re doing a piss-poor job, I must say. What the hell is going on, Gloriana?”

“I guess you read the tabloids?”

“Of course not. But I’ve received plenty of irate calls and been directed to a YouTube audiotape. Your fledgling is out of control. What are you doing about it, signorina? Eh?” His Italian accent was coming out, a sure sign of agitation.

“It’s under control. She’s recanting. But maybe you should hear her say that.” I passed the phone back to Sienna.

“Hello.” She listened to what had to be a long speech about the importance of vampire secrecy. “Yes, sir. I’m going back on the radio tonight.” Another long pause. “Yes. I’ll call Marvin now. He’s the deejay. I’m sure he’ll be all over this. It’s a scoop he can’t resist.” Tears in her eyes. “No, sir. I don’t want that.” Her eyes widened. “No! I don’t!” She hit the end button with a shaky fingertip. “Wow!”

“What did he say?” I knew Damian had a temper but he must have pulled out some big threats to make her go pale and turn her face into Danny’s chest.

“Never mind. I’m going to call. Give me a minute.” She took a breath then began scrolling through her contact list.

Rafe pulled me outside. “What’s the plan?”

“Wait and see. You’re not going to want to miss this if we can pull it off.”

Sienna and Danny met us on the porch. “Let’s go. Marvin’s eager to talk. This whole kerfuffle has given him great ratings. I think it’s going to work, Glory. It has to work.” Sienna ran down the stairs.

“The radio station is on I-35, Rafe. You want to drive?” Danny ran after Sienna.

“Guess I’d better.” Rafe shrugged as we followed them. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Glo. Putting that loose cannon on the radio again.”

“I hope so too.” By the time we arrived at the station, Sienna and I had worked out her spiel. We were met at the door by the night manager and ushered into the booth during a commercial break.

“Didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Sienna.” The deejay was a middle-aged man who’d obviously been in the business quite a while. “Here to add to that rant last night? Let me see those fangs again.”

I leaned forward and looked into his eyes. “You never saw any fangs, Marvin. Sienna doesn’t do drugs anymore. You and Sienna were playing a little trick on your listeners, but especially on the tabloids. It was to promote her Halloween gig. Do you understand?” He nodded, definitely mesmerized.

Sienna’s mouth was open. “You make it look so easy.”

“You’ll get the hang of it.” I noticed Rafe and Danny had just brought the technician back to the control room since the commercial break was about over. The men had been our necessary distraction during this part of the process. “Okay, Marvin, looks like you’re on with Sienna Star.”

“Welcome back to Marvin at Midnight, America. Have I got a surprise for you. Guess who’s with me here in the booth again? It’s the lovely Sienna Star. Yes, you heard me. She’s here and she’s just as sober as she was last night. Yes, I said it. Stone-cold sober.” Marvin laughed. “Shall we let them in on the joke, Sienna?”

“Sure, Marvin. Did you see the headlines today? I don’t know about you, but those tabloids make me crazy. How many alien babies have I had this month?”

“Right. And there was that time you and Israel Caine supposedly got married in Tahiti.”

“Exactly. I’ve never been to Tahiti and I sure haven’t married Ray. Though we make some great music together.” Sienna chuckled. “How about that vampire joke? They jumped on that fast enough. Like I’d have fangs. And ruin these pearly whites?”

“No kidding. I can’t believe the tabloids fell for it.”

“Hook, line and blood bag. You and I know it was all to promote the fantastic gig Israel Caine and I have coming up here in Austin on Halloween night at Club N-V. Two shows, one at midnight. And for a special treat, my pal here, Gloriana St. Clair, will be making her singing debut.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a microphone. “Say hi to the folks, Glory.”

I stammered out something, suddenly tongue-tied.

“A new rocker, Sienna?” Marvin looked me over with interest. “I have to tell the crowd out there that she’s a blond bombshell. A real looker.”

“You’re making her blush, Marvin.” Sienna laughed. “Glory has a retro style fans will love. Think Michael Bublé only in a miniskirt. Totally hot.” She went on to talk about her upcoming album. I relaxed back in my chair, glad to be done.

Rafe winked at me through the glass and I figured Sienna had redeemed herself. Now I had to get us all back to the club and settle things with Ray. I bet he was unhappy that we’d never called him back. A glance at my phone let me know he’d tried to get me a half dozen times. I was late for our rehearsal too.