"Raymond Whitelaw."
"Raymond, tell me what the vampire looked like."
Ray touched his throat. "Vampire. Yes. Tall."
"Man or woman?"
"Man. Strong."
A tall man. Swell, that only fit about twenty vamps in the Austin area that I knew of.
"Hair color?"
"Light. Pretty hair. Like snow."
Now we were getting somewhere. A white haired vamp. I'd known a few and they were certainly easy to spot. But I hadn't met one here in Austin.
"You remember anything else about him, Raymond?" I kept my voice steady and calm. Ray just kept holding his empty bottle.
"Think hard."
"He prayed." Ray shook his head. "Weird. Called God and Jesus. Vampires like Satan. I like Satan." I felt rage boil up in me and it was all I could do not to rip Ray's throat out and toss him into a dumpster somewhere. Vamps do have a primitive side, I admit it. And when we're riled… Don't make a vamp mad, that's what I'm saying. I paced the store until I'd cooled down enough to speak. Satan worshiper. Excuse me, but just because I live forever and can drink blood doesn't mean I'm a raving demon from hell. I was raised in a very religious household. Scary religious. And you don't just get over that. When I fell for an actor, my folks considered me a lost cause. After years of soul searching, I'm pretty sure I answer to a higher power, not a lower one.
I took Ray's water bottle and held his hand. He'd unbuttoned his coat and I could see a student ID clipped to his belt. What was he studying? Dumbass 101?
"Raymond, you're going to go home now. You're not going to remember anything about this night. But you are going to remember that vampires are good and kind. Vampires are God-fearing creatures, not demons from hell. Do you hear me, Raymond?"
Ray nodded.
"And, Raymond," I couldn't resist, more my parents' child than I'd ever admitted to them. "You will love God, not Satan. Satan is bad. God loves you. And," okay, I had my own agenda, "He hates black lipstick." Ray nodded. "God loves me. Hates black lipstick." He rubbed his mouth on his black coat sleeve. He looked a fool with black smears on his face and I couldn't care less.
"Yes. Good man." I pulled him to his feet and led him to the door. I looked through the glass and saw Damian standing there. I threw the dead bolts and opened the door.
"Who's this?" My suave sophisticated seducer looked ready to tear the man's head off. So Damian had his own primitive streak. Good to know.
"Tell you in a minute." I led Raymond to the curb. "Where's your car, Raymond?"
"Don't have one. Rode the bus."
I glanced at my watch. "Oh, hell, the buses aren't going to be running this time of night. Will you take him home, Damian?" The vamp-mobile was sitting at the curb, the motor still running.
"I'll take him home if you'll come with us."
I looked up and down the street. No potential customers on the sidewalk, though the coffee bar next door had a few customers taking advantage of the Wi-Fi connections.
My first night and I had to close. Well, maybe I didn't have to. But I was tired, my feet ached and Damian had ridden to my rescue without question. If he wanted my company, I wasn't going to argue. Damian loaded Ray into the backseat. I locked up, stuck my keys in my pocket and settled in while Ray told Damian his address.
"He's still in a daze. I had to put him under."
"I can see that. What happened?"
I told him as he drove through the nearly deserted streets. Ten minutes later, we pulled up in front of a ratty looking rooming house for students. Damian dragged Ray out of the car, looked into his eyes, ordered him to go to bed and sleep until morning, then let him go.
"A white haired vampire. I have known a few, but none of them would have pulled a stunt like this. And none of them are in Austin that I know of." Damian looked at me, his admiration right there for me to see. "You handled this very well."
"Thank you." I basked in his approval but didn't need it. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Successful shop, calm in a crisis and with a handsome vamp at my beck and call. I wouldn't have had to call him at all if I'd thought about it. Damned wimpy female mind-set. I'd worked really hard to cure myself, but slipped occasionally. Like tonight. I started to apologize for bothering him, when Damian put a finger over my lips.
"Don't say it. I'm happy to help you. And we're sticking together, remember? The man was in no shape to drive even if he'd had a car."
True. So maybe I wasn't such a wimp. Damian wore a black shirt tonight. Silky again. Not that I planned to touch it.
"We'd better spread the word that a white-haired vamp is risking all of us. He has to be stopped." Maybe my shop name hadn't been such a great idea. Ray had come straight to me looking for a vampire. Not exactly blending.
"Quit worrying, Gloriana. The vampire community here is tight. We'll find him and straighten him out." Damian frowned and put the car in gear. "If he wants to stay in Austin, he's got to play by our rules."
"Good." I felt a little better. New place, new friends. You never knew what you were getting into when you relocated. The Austin vamps seemed to have it together.
"I don't know what to make of the praying. Most vampires are afraid God has turned his back on them." Damian smiled and touched my cheek. "Not you and me, of course. How could God not love us?"
His smile was charming and I couldn't argue with his logic.
"Thank you, Damian. I hope I didn't interrupt anything tonight."
"Not anything important. Busy night?"
"Yes. Wonderfully busy. We're a hit." I kicked off my shoes and wiggled my toes. "It's hard work though. And I'm not sure I'll do enough business between now and dawn to justify staying open twenty-four hours."
"Time will tell. Give it a while for word to spread. Your shop is interesting. And there are many night creatures looking for a place to shop. Not just vampires, but mortals who work a night shift." He turned a corner and headed up a hill.
"Thank you. And you're right. There are lots of night owls, mortal and otherwise. I'm impatient, I guess. Always did like instant gratification."
Damian's eyes lit up. "My philosophy exactly. How would you handle a detour before I take you back to the store?"
"Detour?" I looked down to where he held my hand. Boy, he was smooth. Instant gratification. Was it my imagination or did everything he said or did seem to be about sex? Not that I was complaining. He turned up the winding street on Castle Hill.
"I think it's time I show you my coffin."
I laughed and brushed at my hair blowing in the cool night air. "You've just reinvented the come-on." He grinned as he pulled into the curved driveway and parked in front of the heavy wooden front door. "Is it working? Will you come on?"
He was out of the car and opening my door before I could decide. The last time I'd been here, Blade and I had made love. Blade had sent red roses tonight.
"Are you trying to kill this?" Damian pulled me out of the car and looked down at me. Of course he'd read my mind. He toyed with the tab on my zipper. It was low enough to show an inch of cleavage, thanks to Emmie Lou.
"There is no this. And I haven't killed anything in centuries." I glanced at the castle. Grand stone entry flanked by gargoyles. "I'm not staying long, but I would like to see this coffin I've heard about."
"It's a start." Damian pulled me toward the door.
"Wait! My shoes."
"You won't need them." He swung me up and into his arms.
"Are you crazy? I'm no featherweight, Damian."
He strode easily up the steps, reminding me that he had vamp strength. So did I, but for now I was content to relax and let him show off.
"You weigh nothing, less than a feather."
I hugged his neck. This was fun. I felt like a bride being carried over the threshold as he juggled me to open the front door. Hold it. Not a wedding night. Just looking at his bed, er, coffin.
"You have a really cool place." Which was certainly true if you were into castles. Which I was, as long as they had modern conveniences and were within minutes of a shopping mall like this one was.
"You'll have to come back some night and take the full tour when you have more time. I know you're anxious to get back to your shop."
Giving himself an out if I called a halt to things? Good. He saved his pride and I had an unwimpy excuse for rushing out of here if things got too intense.
"The shop. Yes, I'm anxious." I felt his arms cradling me and smiled. Were we really having this conversation while he held me like this? "But not too anxious."
"Excellent." Damian grinned and headed up the wide stone staircase. "Come to my coffin, pretty one." He growled and showed his fangs.
He played up the vamp thing like this was all a game. Which it had to be. It had been six weeks, but Damian knew I'd been remembering my last visit here. With Blade. A man would have to be a fool to compete with Jeremy Blade.
"I don't just compete, I win, Gloriana." He kicked open a door at the end of a long hall. I'd let that comment go for now. Damian the mind reader would soon realize that I wasn't the prize in a vamp tug-of-war. Forget games. Hello, coffin. Funeral directors would have wept at its beauty. Mahogany. Brass fittings. King-sized.
"That is the most amazing bed I've ever seen." The bed slash coffin dominated the large room. A fat mattress covered with white satin sheets gleamed in the candlelight from sconces set in niches about the room. At least six pillows were propped up against the headboard and a wine, or should I say blood, red velvet comforter was folded neatly across the foot of the bed. Damian strode into the room. "Here's the best part." He dropped me, no, threw me onto the bed. I sank into sheer, unadulterated soft-as-a-cloud bliss.
