Richard leaned against the counter talking to Derek. I clutched a bottle of Fangtastic I ’d pulled from the fridge back there, hoping that would explain the flush I was sure still brightened my face.
A customer picked through my selection of fur jackets. I ignored the men for the moment, my inner saleswoman on high alert. I spent a few minutes helping the woman pick out a muskrat stroller with curly lamb cuffs. Richard paced the store, obviously impatient.
“Here. Let my associate Derek write you up.” I smiled and nodded, sending Derek a mental message that he could have the commission if he’d give me a few minutes in the back room with Richard.
“Sure, Glory. Richard says you have business to discuss. I’ll hold down the fort until Lacy comes in if you want to go upstairs.”
Did I? Want to go upstairs? I could either go upstairs or drag Richard to the back where, one whiff, and he’d know exactly what I’d been up to back there. Richard’s hand on my elbow and Richard’s set face made me decide the scene might go better upstairs where I could put a couch between us if I needed to.
I glanced at the clock. Only an hour and a half until dawn. Where did the time go? I guess I’d spent more time in the back room than I thought. But time flies . . .
“Thanks, Derek. Upstairs it is. See you tomorrow night.” I grabbed my purse from Derek’s outstretched hand.
“Leave the dogs here.” Richard’s nostrils flared.
Uh-oh. He’d already smelled sex on me. I’m sure Derek had told him I was on the phone with Blade. Well, so what? Rich and I were friends. Blade and I . . ? More than friends and for a long, long, long time.
“That’s fine with me.”
Valdez growled but didn’t say anything since the customer was still standing there.
“Thanks, Derek, see you.” I patted each frustrated dog on the head as I swept out of the door Richard held open. He put his hand on my back and steered me to the apartment entry where I punched in the security code. He was being awfully quiet. Jealous? I didn’t have a problem with that. Once we got inside, I turned on some lamps and hit the remote for the CD player. Norah Jones. Slow and sexy. I glanced at Richard and hit stop. He was not in the mood.
“You’ve been with Blade.”
“Talking to him on the phone. So what?” I headed for the kitchen. I didn’t want any more Fangtastic, but needed something to do with my hands. I opened the fridge. “You want one? I can heat it if you prefer it that way.”
He shook his head. “I know you and Blade have been together. But you’re not together. Not physically or otherwise. Not exclusively. Am I right?”
I gave up on the drink thing and went back into the living room to sit on the couch. Hey, a man was actually talking about relationships. I was riveted. I patted the seat beside me. “You’re right. My connection to Blade is complicated. ”
“So explain it.” He sat close, too close, his thigh brushing mine. Now he could really smell sex on me and I could tell it had an effect on him. Well, I knew just what to say to deflate any notion he had that he might be allowed to take up where Blade had left off.
“Instead, I need you to tell me what you know about the EVs.”
You had to give Richard credit. Except for the tightening of his jaw, you’d never know I’d sucker punched him.
“What do you know about the EVs?” His blue eyes were the color of an ice flow and just as warm. Yikes.
“I know that they sent someone after me.” Richard grabbed my hand and I couldn’t bite back a squeal at the pain. “Hey, careful.”
“Sorry.” He instantly eased his grip. “You want to tell me what you mean?”
So I did. I told him the whole Greg Kaplan, EV thing. When I got to the part where Greg claimed Flo was involved with them, Richard shot to his feet. I’d suspected he still had feelings for my roomie. Now I knew he did.
“Florence wouldn’t sleep with an EV. I’ve told her how they are. What they’ve done.” He paced the small room, making a circle around the couch and coffee table. I glanced longingly at the CD player. Maybe Norah could diffuse the tension that was coming off Richard in waves. He gave me a hard look. Maybe not.
“Clue me in, Richard. You’ve got to admit Flo’s not afraid of anyone or anything.” The couch shook when Richard dropped down on it next to me again. “And I’m pretty sure she’s enjoying the perks, like the Vamp Viagra.”
“Stupid female.” He shot me a look. “Sorry, that was unbelievably insensitive.” He tried for a smile but failed. “What I meant to say was exasperating bitch.”
“Oh, much better.” I put my hand on his hard thigh. He was really upset and I had to like that about him. Flo had dumped him badly and not looked back. But he still cared what happened to her. “What do you know about the EVs? She warned me not to tell you I’d even heard of them.”
“That’s because she knows I’ve been following their activities for decades, no, make that centuries. ” Richard ran his hand through his platinum hair. When I’d first met him, it had been practically a buzz cut. Now it had grown out and I itched to touch the silky strands. On that hilltop . . . He gave me a hot look. I was either going to have to block my thoughts or accept that he was going to read me. I sent him a mental message to cut me a break and leave my mind the hell alone. He leaned back then slung his arm around me.
“Okay, okay. No more mind reading. But I do care about Florence. As a friend. The EVs are ruthless bastards, always hunting for new power sources.” Richard squeezed my shoulders gently and I felt myself sway toward him. Nope. Not going to do it. I wanted to hear this.
“Flo said she could check my power level and that I had a ton of it. How does that work? Can they suck the power from someone and use it to make things?” And does the whole power draining operation hurt? I kept that one to myself. Richard didn’t need to hear me whine. Besides, I didn’t plan to let an EV within sucking distance.
“The EVs are the reason I came to Austin in the first place. Their unique ability is that they can convert power into other things. Drugs. In the right hands, this could be a good thing, a way to perform miracles.” Richard let go of me and jumped to his feet again. The way he said miracles reminded me about the whole former priest thing.
“But they’re the wrong hands?”
Richard’s fists opened and closed against his strong thighs. Righteous warrior, former crusader, you didn ’t want to mess with him. I could easily picture him crushing the life out of some bad actor.
“They couldn’t be more wrong. The EVs have taken this ability and perverted it. They take advantage of an immortal ’s boredom, his”—he glanced at me—“or her desire for excitement, something different.”
“Like being immortal and vampire isn’t enough. There has to be more than the same old, same old.” I got it. But I didn’t see a drug as the answer. There were always new places to go, people to meet. Of course all the drifting got old too. I could vouch for that. Since settling in Austin I felt like I’d finally found a home. I’d hate like hell to leave here.
“I followed the EVs here from Buenos Aires. I want to put them out of business permanently. ” He had a fierce look. I didn’t doubt that if anyone could bring the EVs down it was Richard.
“I don’t see how you could do that alone.”
“I wasn’t alone there. I had allies. And here I was waiting until I knew more about their current setup before involving the locals.”
Richard glanced at me again and shook his head. “Not you, Glory. Some of the older, stronger vampires.”
“But it’s me they want, Richard.” I bit back a snarky comment. Of course he hadn’t considered me in forming his vampire militia. What could a clothes-obsessed vamp with a shifting phobia do for him?
“I’d never use you as bait, Glory. But it will be difficult to get to them. The EVs in Argentina were well guarded. I ’m sure they will be here too. I’ve been searching for their stronghold, but haven’t found it yet. Apparently the power supply in Argentina was running low. And then there was a coup, I guess you’d call it. They have a new leader and he decided to change location.”
“A coup? Damian said they were like a cult. I assumed they had some kind of charismatic leader. ” It never failed to amaze me what I didn’t know. I’d sure had enough years to learn just about everything. But then the EVs were apparently a secret society. A well-kept secret.
“The EVs’ secrets are held by what they call the Demoness, Honoria, the spirit of a Roman princess who was married to Attila the Hun. She’s the source of their power and speaks to the current leader. If a leader doesn’t keep his followers in line or please her, Honoria devours him, literally.”
I shuddered. Devouring female demons. Of course any woman married to Attila the Hun might actually enjoy snacking on hapless men. And Flo was involved with these creeps? “Makes you wonder what the old leader did, doesn’t it?”
“There have been rumors . . .” Richard shook his head, like he’d exhausted his knowledge or didn’t want to waste any more time on the subject with me. “But I wasn’t surprised that the group moved to Texas. Even down there, we heard that Austin is a paranormal playground.”
“Yeah. They even print up T-shirts that say ‘Keep Austin Weird.’ ” Okay, so I had one. Pink and very cute, though a little tight since I’d dried it on hot. “I don’t think the chamber of commerce realizes just how weird Austin really is though.”
“The EVs know. They have spies like Greg Kaplan, fools who will work for their drugs, finding power sources for them. ”
Richard stalked to the kitchen, pulled out a Fangtastic and twisted off the top. He took two deep gulps and his face turned pink. I was so not noticing how cute he looked with that slight flush, not to mention the late night beard, as pale as his hair, that hugged his strong jaw.