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Authors: Gerry Bartlett

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BOOK: Real Vampires Don't Wear Size Six

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“Business is booming. Even DJ nights like this one. We’ve got live acts lined up for every weekend for the next few months too.” Rafe found us a table near the dance floor.

“Good to hear.” I realized my toe was tapping. I did love to dance. I looked around and saw Trey had pulled Penny out on the floor. She was shaking her head and he was showing her some smooth moves.

“Trey’s a nice guy. She could do a lot worse.” Rafe slid his hand up to my shoulder.

“She’s really confused right now. I have to keep a close eye on her because she has a sister . . .” I couldn’t concentrate with Rafe’s finger trailing up to my ear. “Rafe, stop it.”

“Let’s dance then.” He pulled me onto the floor, and as if he’d willed it, the music changed to a slow song and the lights dimmed.

I looked up at him accusingly but he just grinned and shook his head, then pulled me close, his warm chest firmly against mine. It felt too damned good. And he danced too damned well. I gave in after I checked to make sure Penny was still on the dance floor. She was, with a dreamy look on her face. Hmm. Well, I’d make sure she went home with
me
. I leaned against Rafe, enjoying his heat and his own smooth moves.

“Jerry left town tonight,” I murmured as I laid my head against his shoulder.

“Is that an invitation?” He ran his hand up my back, then down, but not so far that I felt compelled to stop him.

“No, just a heads-up. He’s still upset with me, us, for what happened last time he left.” I had my thumbs in Rafe’s belt, my fingertips in his back pocket. His butt was a work of art I could visualize only too well.

“Yeah, I bet he is. It would take me a century to get over something like that. If ever.” Rafe growled and nipped my ear. “So are you two taking a break?”

“I guess we are.” I sighed. “Don’t do that, Rafe, it drives me crazy.”

“That’s the plan.” He licked the spot he’d bitten.

“I’ve got Penny in the spare bedroom now and she’s only one reason I’m not going to be playing games in mine.” I slid my hands up Rafe’s back. The music was coming to an end and so was this conversation.

“And the other?” Rafe stopped dancing and pushed me back so he could look in my eyes.

“I have to be loyal to Jerry this time. I won’t play him false again.” I sighed.

“Sounds like you’re doing penance instead of acting on your true feelings, Glo.” Rafe ran his thumb over my cheek. “Keep me posted on how it goes. I’ll be here.”

“Uh, Glory, thought you might like to know.” Trey was suddenly right next to us as the lights flashed and the music sped up.

“What, Trey?” I tore my gaze away from Rafe’s and the urge to pull that thumb into my mouth.

“Penny said she was going to the ladies’ room but she headed outside instead.”

Four

“
You’re
kidding me. She took a hike? How long ago was this?” I ran toward the door, Rafe right beside me. My fault. I’d let myself get distracted and hadn’t kept an eye on her. Even going to the ladies’ room had the potential to be dangerous. I should have warned Trey . . . Hindsight. Which wasn’t worth my time.

“What’s the problem, Glory?” Rafe stopped me with his hand on my shoulder.

“She has a twin sister. Hasn’t told her yet and thinks the thing to do is to turn her.” I glanced at a couple of mortals who were just leaving the club. “You know what I mean.”

“She’s just five minutes ahead of you. Maybe I can track her for you.” Trey frowned. “I’m sorry. You should have told me you didn’t want her to leave without you. I would have stopped her.”

“No, it wasn’t your job to ride herd on her, Trey.” I sighed. “I need her sister’s address. That’s where I’ll find her. At this time of night, Jenny will probably be asleep and Penny will have to wake her up to tell her. What a shock that will be.” I turned to Rafe. “Can we use the computer in your office?”

“Sure, let’s go.” Rafe turned to Trey. “You’re off the hook. But if you want to help, stay for closing because I’m going with Glory. Nadia’s off tonight so it’s on you.” He tossed Trey a large key ring.

“Wow. Thanks, boss. I’ll do it right. I promise.” Trey’s eyes gleamed like this was a big deal. And it probably was with bar receipts and all the other responsibilities that go with closing a club of this size.

I glanced at Rafe. As usual it was Rafe to the rescue. His partner, Nadia, hated that he did these kinds of things for me. I started to say something but he was already in his office in front of his laptop.

“Her name?”

“Jennifer Patterson, student at the university.”

“She’s staying in her sorority house. Does that sound right?”

“Yes, that’s her.”

“Okay, got it. I know where this is. Let’s go.” He jumped up and I was on his heels as we headed outside and around back.

We shifted into birds and in minutes were behind a large white house that was dark except for a light in one downstairs room. Penny stood outside the back door, her shoulders slumped. I nodded at Rafe and shifted by myself, landing next to my fledgling.

“Going somewhere?” I dropped my hand onto her shoulder. She turned to look at me, tears running down her face. “No. I can’t do it.” She leaned against me and I put my arm around her. “What the hell am I doing here at almost two in the morning on a Monday night?”

I led her away from the house before we woke up someone. Rafe had shifted and stood waiting for us on the sidewalk.

“You’re a night creature now, Penny. This is prime time for you.” I squeezed her shoulders. “I’m sorry, I know this is a rough thing to face.” I looked at Rafe.

He pulled out a cell phone and made a call. “Come on, Penny, Glory and I’ll show you how beautiful this time of night can be.”

Penny looked at him, her face wet. “Beautiful? Nothing looks beautiful to me. Don’t you get it? I’ve lost everything I ever cared about. My family, my career, you name it, I can’t do it anymore.” She pulled away from me. “You can’t distract me with some freaky trick.”

“Freaky trick?” Rafe glanced at me. “Let me clue you in, little girl. Those freaky tricks can save your immortal life. Am I right, Glory?”

“Yes. Took me long enough, but I learned that lesson.” I shook my head. “I know you’re angry and frustrated, Penny. But you haven’t lost your career or your family. Not yet, anyway. We’ll figure out a way for you to stay in touch with them.”

“Sure you will. Until it’s obvious that I’m not aging and they are. Then what am I supposed to do? Just disappear? How would
that
make them feel?” Penny looked around, wild-eyed, like she wanted to scream or maybe hit somebody.

“We need to move out. Here comes our ride.” Rafe nodded as a black SUV pulled up. A shifter got out, left the motor running, then walked away with a nod. “Let’s go.”

“Where are you taking me?” Penny dug in her heels when I pulled her toward the car.

“What difference does it make?” I wasn’t about to let her get away from me again. “Get in the freakin’ car, Penny.” A light had come on in an upstairs room in the house. “Now.” I shoved her into the backseat, hopped in the front passenger side, and Rafe hit the gas pedal. We were out of there just as the back porch light came on.

Penny looked back. “Guess they heard the noise. Damn it, I can’t do anything right.”

“Spare us the pity party.” Rafe drove and I didn’t bother to ask where we were going. “Glory, I hope the council is paying you for this mentoring responsibility.”

“They should. I’ll check with Damian.” I smiled back at Penny. “Come on, vamp girl, lighten up. You’re going to have to learn to deal with your new reality and there are some cool perks. Trust me on that.”

“Yeah, right. Trust you. Like vampires are so trustworthy. I’m the undead proof of that.” Penny kept staring back toward the sorority house.

I decided to let that one go. She needed time. I got that.

Penny finally turned around to frown at me. “So far this ‘new reality’ sucks and I don’t understand half of it. I was offered a teaching assistant’s job for the fall. Forget that now. Not unless they gave me all night classes.” She slumped in her seat.

“Sounds like a drag. Grading papers, trying to make bored college kids pay attention to someone younger than they are.” I reached back to pat her hand. “You dodged a bullet.”

“I wasn’t seriously considering it.” She shrugged. “I prefer research. And grant work can be done anytime, anywhere. I have a few irons in the fire.” Her mouth trembled. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to have the choice.”

“Quit whining.” Rafe was obviously all for tough love as he pulled into a deserted area on top of a hill.

I recognized the place. He’d gone ballistic here once when I’d let him know our relationship was going back to being friends without benefits. There was still a charred stump as evidence. Hmm. I gave him an inquiring look but all I got back was a bland smile.

“So what are we doing here?” Penny finally sat up straight and looked out the window.

“I’m going to teach you to shape-shift.” Rafe opened his car door. “I had to work with Glory to get her comfortable with it, so I figured I’d help with this part of your education. What do you say, Glory?”

“Sure, go for it. You need to learn this, Penny.” I got out of the car and waited while Penny climbed out.

“You’re serious. You’re really going to make me turn into something else. What? A bat?” She looked down at her green blouse. “Will we have to strip off? No way, no how. I’m not comfortable with that.”

I laughed. “Luckily, we can do it wearing what we have on, even down to our shoes. Believe me, if I had to go skinny shifting, I’d never have made it a habit.”

Rafe winked at me. “Not saying it isn’t more comfortable that way, though. And fun if you’re doing it with the right person.”

“Okay, Rafe, let’s just get on with it.” I turned to Penny. “Shifting is good for defense. It can help you escape when you’re in a tight spot.”

Penny frowned. “What am I going to be defending myself from? I can take down a frat boy now with my handy-dandy new fangs.” She gave us a demo with a snarl. “And I seem stronger too. I’m not one to go to a gym, but my punch had some power behind it tonight.”

“You hit someone?” Rafe looked from Penny to me. “What’s been going on?”

“I’ll tell you later.” I smiled at him. “Now, Penny, let’s pretend you’re surrounded and outnumbered by people brandishing stakes. We can be killed with a wooden stake to the heart. That part of the vamp mythology is true.”

“Gross.” Penny looked around, searching the shadows. “You mean there are people out there who know vampires exist and hunt them?”

“A few. Luckily most of society doesn’t believe them. Writes vamp hunters off as crazy.” Rafe smiled. “Or considers the stories about you guys pure fiction.”

“Obviously it’s not.” Penny sighed. “This is almost too much to take in.”

“You can handle it.” I patted her shoulder. “You have to. Now back to defense.” I stepped back and looked around, pretending I was surrounded. “Vamp hunters everywhere, but they’re mere mortals. Too many to fight, but you can escape. What do you do?”

“Shape-shift?” Penny looked interested. “But forget flying. Not my thing.”

“Why not? You need to move in a hurry. Flying is a good way to escape and I prefer doing it as a bird. Though you can become a bat if you don’t mind being a cliché.” I studied the sky. It was a clear night with a sliver of a moon. “This is a perfect night to practice. No wind.”

“I told you. Forget flying. Can’t I shift into other animals and just scare the hell out of them? How about a panther?” Penny also glanced at the sky, but not appreciatively.

“You can shift into whatever you want, but what’s wrong with flying?” I got close to her. “You afraid of heights?”

“I’m acrophobic, okay? Deal with it.” Penny’s chin lifted. “I don’t do airplanes or roofs and I’m sure not going to do, uh, birds or bats. Trust me, if I hadn’t been scared, I’d have jumped out of my bedroom window earlier tonight and gone to see Jenny then. I actually opened it and tried to take the leap, then chickened out.”

“Give me a break.” It had never occurred to me that she might have gone out her window.

“You give me one. No flying.” Penny had a mulish look and I figured arguing was futile.

“Now that’s a problem.” I glanced at Rafe. “Got to be honest with you. Once I got past my own reluctance, flying out of trouble saved my butt a time or two.”

“She’s right, Penny.” Rafe and I exchanged looks full of memories. “Something like a panther might scare away a predator, but it’s also a pretty big target. You could try sneaking away. Become something tiny. Like an ant or cockroach.” He frowned. “Of course you can get stomped or kicked. Right, Glory?”

I shuddered; Penny too. “Ancient history, Rafe.” I’d done the roach thing and had an unhappy ending. Literally.

“I’d much rather work the fear factor.” Penny had obviously been thinking this over. “Panther, lion, cheetah. Obviously I’m partial to cats.”

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