"Thank you, dear. Ooo. Here comes Pastor John." The middle-aged woman put her hands to her breast. She was stylishly dressed to match her hat in a vintage Chanel suit if I wasn't mistaken. I'd have loved to slip her a business card. Wouldn't I like to dig into her closet?
I turned and caught my first glimpse of Pastor John. He was tall and handsome in an obviously well-tailored charcoal suit. His blond hair was brushed back from his high forehead, but all that was a frame for the sheer joy on his face. He seemed lit from within, smiling, waving to people in the crowd who stood and called out to him. He gestured to the band and the peppy music stopped.
"Welcome, friends of the Moonlight. We're here tonight to celebrate life, celebrate our blessings and to banish our worries." I was hooked. His joy, his message, his big hands stretching toward us as we prayed to the Creator who seemed nondenominational. Everything he said and did pulled me in until I could hardly sit still. Finally he asked us to stand and sing with him. Another upbeat song. The words scrolled across the screens and I sang.
Flo gave me a look and I piped down a little. Okay, not a singer. But I couldn't just shut up.
"Love lifted me."
"Oh, my God! Glory!" Flo yanked on my skirt and I looked down at her.
Down? I was, okay, I guess you could say I was levitating. Yep. Hovering about six inches off the floor and rising. Firm hands landed on my shoulders and I dropped like a rock.
"Uh, thanks." I shook my head and looked back.
"Behave, my dears, or don't come back." The hat lady's lips were tight, but her blue eyes twinkled. "Blend, Gloriana."
"I—" Okay, I was speechless. She knew my name. Was obviously one of us. And her English accent took me straight back to home. I blinked, suddenly homesick. Which was stupid considering how long it had been since I'd thought of myself as anything but an all-American vamp.
Flo patted my hand. "It's okay. Nobody noticed except"—she looked back and smiled—"our new friend." Everyone sat down. Song over. I was blown away. Who knew I could actually come off the ground? How cool was that? A power that I didn't know I had, but which could be tremendously useful. Useful? Hell, this was a freakin' miracle. I felt a sharp poke in my back. Of course pink hat was reading my mind. Cursing in church was a clear no-no. I remembered that much from my childhood.
A lay preacher took over the pulpit to make announcements about upcoming activities. Lots of stuff going on, all of it at night and much of it involving nature. I'd already learned that Austinites were really into protecting the environment.
"What does he mean? Sky clad?"
Flo frowned and looked around. She suddenly clutched my arm. "Hate!"
Announcements over, a soloist sang about God's love and meeting him in the great beyond. Now she had a voice. I kept my feet firmly planted, but swayed to the music.
"I feel hate, Glory."
"What?"
"Someone here is full of hate and it's coming at us."
"No." I glanced around. Everyone near us was smiling, moving to the beat of the music. "Look. Everyone's happy."
"Not everyone." Flo shuddered. "We must get out of here."
"But the service isn't over yet."
"Now, Gloriana." Flo pulled me out of the pew and toward the door. I glanced back and saw a man. White hair. Richard Mainwaring? Here? He was staring at me with a look that was all too easy to read.
"Do you see him? Richard?"
Flo looked back over her shoulder. "Ricardo? He is the one?" She shook her head sadly. "I don't like seeing him like this. He can be very… dangerous."
I glanced back at Richard. Definitely dangerous. Flo pulled me out the door. Valdez jumped up, on high alert.
"I don't know why he is hating you, Glory."
" Who's hating Glory?" Valdez looked ready to take a chunk out of someone."Calm down. Nothing's happened. And maybe he's hating you, Flo. You did break up with him." I could hear the music faintly through the closed door. Too bad. But I would be coming back here. No way was I letting a perv like Mainwaring keep me from doing what I wanted.
"Ricardo loved me. Still loves me." Flo got into the car and dug in her purse for a hanky. "But he is troubled."
"He's in church. I'd say that's a good sign." And now that I thought about it, even though he'd denied it, he had to be our praying vamp. I hope he'd learned to use discretion and his vamp powers to erase memories if he was determined to feed from mortals. Otherwise someone was going to have to pound some sense into him.
"He is ashamed to be vampire." Flo huffed. "Which is an insult to me, is it not?"
"I can relate to Richard's attitude." But I'd decided to quit being negative. "He's stuck, Florence. Like we all are. I, for one, am ready to make the best of it."
"I know. Ricardo has secrets too. Things he wouldn't share with me. But he was a wonderful lover." She glanced back at Valdez. "Very unselfish, if you know what I mean."
"Unselfish?" I suddenly had an X-rated movie in my head. "Lucky you." I started the car. "Where to now? It's early yet."
" Blade wants you two at the castle." Valdez put his face between us. " It's a meeting. He's gonna get Tony's report on what he's found out."
"Someday you're going to tell me how you and Blade communicate."
" The same way you and I do, Blondie. It's a mental thing. Just long distance." Valdez's ears pricked up. " That Mainwaring creep just came outside. He's trouble."
"I'm afraid you're right, Valdez." Flo looked at me. "Let's go to the castle." Flo was clearly still spooked after her brush with death. And I didn't blame her. The soothing quality of the church service was wearing off and I was once again one of those hated demons from hell. I got us out of the parking lot and on the way to Damian's. Fortunately Valdez gave me directions. I was still learning my way around Austin. The dog kept looking over his shoulder.
"Is someone following us?"
" I don't think so." He faced front again. " Take the next left and you'll see it." The castle was lit from top to bottom. Like for a party. Damian, in black cashmere sweater and jeans, clearly host, greeted us at the door. He was charming with a capital "C" and I had to remind myself that it was calculated down to the last smile. But he was the only one smiling. It was a pretty somber bunch gathered in Damian's living room. About twenty vampires. Fifteen men. Five women. CiCi was there. Freddy and Derek. Diana. She introduced me to the others, but their names were a blur. Except for Marguerite, a twentysomething brunette with the kind of bee-stung lips women get collagen for nowadays. Marguerite was with Kenneth Collins, one of the few black vampires I'd met. He was suave, sophisticated, and it took him about two minutes to work the fact that he'd lived in Paris for most of the twentieth century into the conversation. Flo rushed up and kissed Kenneth on both cheeks then began chattering away in French. Marguerite made a face and pulled me aside.
"Call me Margie. Kenny and I are from Atlanta, Georgia originally. You can imagine why we headed to France when we did."
"He's really handsome. I can see why you followed him."
"No, honey. You've got it backward. I made Kenny and he followed me. I've been vampire since 1843. He joined me in 1904." She kept her eyes on Flo and Kenny.
"You knew Flo in Paris?" Flo had definitely known Kenny, the way she was hanging onto him. Margie's smile was brittle. "Oh, yes. We were all pretty wild back then. Our salons were filled with mortals begging to be tasted." She lifted her glass of Bloody Merry. "This pig piss doesn't do it for me." Wow. Nothing I could say to that. Besides, I was still pretty buzzed about floating earlier. Could I float now? I looked down at my feet and tried to concentrate. Nope. I looked up and told myself to float, damn it. Nothing. Margie was watching me curiously. Of course, another mind reader. She could probably float at will. Time for a subject change.
"I like your outfit. Vintage?" She wore a long skirt similar to mine.
"Thanks. It's from my flower-child period in the sixties. I hear you own a vintage-clothing shop."
"Yep. Vintage Vamp's Emporium." I dug in my purse and pulled out one of the business cards Derek had made for me on his computer. "Come by and shop. I give fellow vamps the family discount."
"Super." She licked her full lips and glanced at Kenny again. "You have any corsets? Black or red lace? Kenny loves me in a corset."
Flo had moved closer to Kenny and they had their heads together, laughing as if at a secret joke. Margie apparently decided enough was enough. "Florence, honey, what ever happened to that handsome Spaniard you used to sleep with in Paris?" Flo turned to Margie. "Ricardo or Pablo?"
"Ricardo was English, wasn't he? The Spaniard was an artist. I had such a crush on him." Margie was obviously dealing out payback. Kenny's mouth tightened.
"Pablo Picasso. Wild times in Paris, eh, Kenny? I left Pablo when he started painting me with three breasts." She looked up at Kenny. "Do I look like I have three breasts?"
Margie looked ready to pull out some hair. I decided it was time for a distraction.
"Flo, who's that handsome man over there, the tall one with CiCi?" Flo looked and got a competitive gleam in her eyes.
"Come. I introduce you. Au revoir, Kenneth." Flo kissed Kenny good-bye, a totally unnecessary gesture since we were only going across the room. Margie's hands fisted.
"See you two later. Come by the shop." I let Flo drag me across the room. Freddy's mom kept her hand on her vampire's arm and made it obvious that she'd put her search for a new lover into high gear and Flo wasn't going to interfere. CiCi and Flo were sniping at each other when I wandered away to park myself next to Diana. "I feel like I'm at a singles' mixer." Diana nodded toward the door. "And here comes another hot guy."