"We'll be right out. Who's here, Brit?"
"Florence, Richard and Damian. Said they wanted to get here early. Ray's with them in the living room. Sienna and Nathan are down there too." Brit said something quietly. "Valdez is antsy. Wants you both out here where he can keep an eye on you."
"Fine. We're getting dressed now." Jerry rolled out of bed and offered his hand to help me up. Then he held me for a moment.
"This is it, then. No matter what happens, Gloriana, promise me you'll not go outside to face that damned Siren."
"I can't promise that, Jerry. She has control over me. I'm surprised she hasn't called me out already tonight." I kissed him then slipped into my underwear that I'd rinsed out the night before. It was dry and gave me a semblance of respectability under my Tshirt and shorts. My own clothes were too damp and dirty to even consider wearing. Not exactly how I wanted to look when I met Casanova. Though it would sure do the trick as far as getting him outside. He'd take one look and hit the skies.
I ran a brush I found in a drawer through my hair and wished for my purse and some makeup. I hoped Flo had some things I could borrow once I got downstairs.
"Okay, let's go." I saw that Jerry had dressed in the borrowed clothes he'd worn the night before. Ray's clothes. Black T-shirt, snug jeans that were an inch too short. He still looked all male and all mine. I could barely keep my hands off him. It was going to be a long night. Oh, God. Or a very short one. I blocked my thoughts. No sense in sharing my misery with Jerry. I knew he was already worried enough. I did have to issue another warning though.
"Jerry, I have to act as Ray's fiancee tonight. Are you going to be able to handle that?"
"What choice do I have?" He frowned and pulled on his own shoes, which must have dried.
"Thanks." I sat in his lap and gave him a hug, barefoot because my own shoes were showing an unfortunate tendency to fall apart. I was a lot like my shoes when I thought of all the things that could go wrong tonight. "I know this isn't easy. Just knowing you're here for me gives me courage. If Simon comes"I got up.
"Relax, Glory. I know what to do. How to guard my thoughts. Richard and I had a talk." Jerry opened the bedroom door and we almost tripped over Valdez and a brown overnight bag. "What's this?"
"Brittany sent Glory some makeup and a few other things. Girl stuff. Blade, one of Nathan's shirts is hanging on the doorknob. He's bigger than Caine so it might fit you better." Valdez stood and stretched. "You guys hurry. We need to get downstairs."
I grabbed the bag and rushed into the bathroom. Bless Brittany. Not only makeup, but a cute low-cut burgundy top and a black short skirt made of a miracle stretchy material that managed to go around me. Miracle since I was a lot shorter and wider than the statuesque Brittany. When I finally emerged from the bathroom, I felt much better able to face what was to come. Maybe Casanova would even hit on me. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
Jerry looked better too in Nate's white shirt over his jeans. I reached up and unbuttoned a button.
"You want me to take it off?" Jerry grinned. "Valdez wants us to hurry."
"No, I just wanted to see more of your chest. You don't want to look stuffy, do you? Compared to a rock star and Lily's edgy friends?"
Jerry grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. "Am I stuffy?" He ran his hand down my back to the edge of my short skirt.
"Sorry I can't get a tattoo or a piercing for you, but I can take you back in the bedroom and give you a demo"
"Hello, audience here." Valdez bumped against us. "You two need to move on down the hall. No, wait. Sienna's down there. Maybe Glory should go down first, Blade a few minutes later. Since Glory's supposed to have slept with Caine."
"If Sienna says something, I'll just say I ran into Blade in the hall. Now listen, both of you." I jumped in front of them and gave them a this-is-serious look. "No one kills Ray tonight no matter what he does." That got their attention.
"What the hell does that mean?" Jerry put his hand on my shoulder.
"Just that it's his house. I'm his quote-unquote fiancee, and he's going to want to rub it in your face, Jerry." I reached up and patted his cheek. "Especially after the way you beat the hell out of him at the EV headquarters."
"Wish I could have seen it." Valdez wagged his tail.
"I should have ripped out his throat." Jerry got a fierce look I recognized.
"Then I never would have forgiven you." I stepped away from him and marched on down the hall.
"All right, Gloriana. I'll show restraint tonight." Jerry was right behind me. "Valdez and I will both show restraint tonight. Toward Caine anyway. Now I know what will make you feel better." Jerry slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me to a stop. He pressed his lips to my throat. "We need to feed. Caine's friend Nathan is your favorite type." I pulled away and saw Jerry's smile. "You didn't!"
"What? I had to take care of myself. When you were hanging on my back, monkey girl, you nearly tore my ears off. Nathan was available." Jerry leaned against the banister. "I'm sure he's fully restored by now, and he doesn't remember a thing. Valdez said he's downstairs."
"No way. I've had enough of drinking from mortals. I'm going back on the synthetics. Hunting's dangerous and then you never know what else you might pick up in a mortal's blood." I grabbed Jerry's arm. "And leave Ray's friends alone. Ray has a fridge stocked with premium synthetics. All brands and types. It's in his bar area. I'll tell you where we hide the key."
"It's kept locked?" Jerry grinned. "Why?"
"His band members think it must be an exotic drug and want to try it." I grabbed his arm when we got to the bottom of the stairs.
"I mean it, Jerry. While we're here, mortals are off-limits."
"Now surely that doesn't apply to us, Gloriana." Dracula and crew strolled in through the front door accompanied by a frowning Lily. Their black capes were wet, but apparently waterproof. They hung them on a hall tree next to the door where the capes dripped on the tile floor. The men wore black suits, black shirts and black ties. Lily had chosen to wear red, which looked stunning with her dark hair and pale skin.
She gripped a black evening bag that matched Louboutin heels that made my mouth water.
"Lily, you look gorgeous!" I looked down at my borrowed outfit and bare feet. "We got caught in the storm."
"You look fine, Glory." Lily forced a smile. "Drac, you heard our hostess. Synthetics tonight. Please don't embarrass me."
"Darling. Have I ever?" Drac put his arm around her and laughed. "No, don't answer that. Do I see a piano? Boys, let's get the great Israel Caine to sing with us."
"They sing?" I noticed Jerry and Lily staring at each other.
"Oh, yes. Like the angels they resemble. Just wait. They can be the life or death"Lily grimaced"of a party." She opened her purse. "This came while we slept today." She held out a certified envelope. "Guess it's our DNA test results."
"You want to open it?" Jerry didn't reach for it.
"Sure." She started to rip open the envelope, then stopped. "Either way, it's been great getting to know you better, Jeremiah. You were Dad's best friend. He thought a lot of you. Now I know why." She took a breath then pulled out the paper and unfolded it. She stared at it for a moment, then handed it to Jerry.
I was about to scream with curiosity. Finally, Jerry handed the paper to me and took Lily in his arms. The print blurred in front of me, but I could tell that at the ripe old age of five hundred plus, Angus Jeremiah Campbell III was now a proud papa. Wow.
"This is awesome!" I pounded Jerry on the back, then took a turn at hugging Lily. "At least I hope you think it's awesome, Lily."
"Yes, I have a father again." Lily wiped her wet cheeks. "We'll have to talk later. I hear Drac getting started in there. And he's not singing. Is there a mortal in the house?"
"At least two that I know of." I glanced toward the living room. Great. Sienna and Nathan had both joined the group gathered around the piano. This was not good. Of course Sienna didn't see it that way. She was hip deep in hot guys. Damian was an Italian stud and she already knew Drac, Luke and Benny. Nathan was seriously hot in a mortal, not exactly superhero way. Of course there was always Ray, brilliant, talented Ray, who was watching me from across the room. I kept a careful distance between myself and Jerry and gave my fiance a dazzling smile, acting already.
"We need to get those two mortals upstairs and out of sight before the real action starts." Jerry glanced at the French doors that led to the deck and the usually spectacular view of the lake. Tonight all we could see was driving rain and lightning that lit up the sky at regular intervals accompanied by booming thunder. I guess a day crew had struggled to bring in patio furniture, because the only things blowing around outside were leaves and the occasional tree limb. We stepped into the living room just as thunder boomed loud enough to rattle the French doors.
Flo rushed up and pulled me away from Jerry. "You are supposed to be promised to Israel, my friend, so is not nice to walk in with another man and a flush that says you have just been well loved."
"Flo!" I looked to make sure Sienna hadn't heard her. Not likely. She was at the piano. And then there had been that thunder. As for Drac, Lily and crew Well, they knew I'd spent the night before at Jerry's and in their crowd apparently musical beds were fairly common. I doubted they gave my bed hopping a second thought.
"Am I wrong?" Flo grinned. "Of course not. Israel's sending mental death threats to Jeremiah. Your lover is strutting around like he's cock of the walk." She giggled. "Why does that sound dirty?"
