“Wait. I want to hear about the voodoo.” Aggie appeared dressed in loose gray jogging pants and a sweatshirt with the University of Texas logo on it that made her look twice as big as she really was. The shoes were neon pink and had obviously been donated because they matched nothing, certainly not the burnt orange UT logo.
“I’ll tell you. After the run.” Flo looked at me for permission. “Just a little?”
“Sure, why not? Ian’s already getting an earful so why not Aggie too?” I shrugged. “We’re using Ian’s lab to see if Jerry was drugged last night. Just keep the woman’s name a secret for now. Okay, Flo?”
“Got it. Come on, Aggie. Move your butt.” She dragged a griping Aggie toward the door and down the stairs. Then up again. Then down. By the third time, I just laughed and headed up toward the roof, Aggie’s colorful curses ringing in my ears.
Once on the flat rooftop, I gazed up at the clear night sky. The stars were beautiful and it was cold and crisp. I took a deep breath and caught a whiff of something really bad. Dead. Worse than dead, coming from the alley. I glanced down and saw two figures lurking near the Dumpster in back of the shop. I had to check it out so I shifted into bird form and landed on the light pole above them.
The smell was almost unbearably strong this close, so I quit breathing. The two were dressed in business suits. The woman had on what had once been a high-quality pants outfit in navy. The blouse under the jacket had dirt stains. And a trip to the edge of the Dumpster showed me why. I could see her face or the ruin of it, and her matted hair. Zombie. The walking dead.
Her partner was a man, older, but dressed much as she was in what had been an expensive suit. His gray hair was cut close but grass stained. And I could see that his eyes were vacant and staring. What the hell? While I watched, Mel came out of the shadows at the end of the alley.
“You are to stay here and wait. If she comes out, take her down. Do you understand?” She stared at first the woman, then the man.
Their grunts must have satisfied her because she smiled and stalked off down the alley. I sat there, trying to decide whether to pursue her or just to fly to Jerry’s. Zombies. How were they supposed to take me down? By killing me with their smell? A worker came out of the back door of Mugs and Muffins and one of the zombies moaned and started forward. The woman shrieked and dropped her garbage bag, running back inside.
Okay, this was going to be a problem and not just for me. Diana Marchand, the owner of Mugs and Muffins and a fellow vampire, peeked outside her back door and gagged.
“What the ever lovin’ hell is this? I’m gonna have to do some serious mind erasin’ tonight.” She stared at the zombies, almost as if she was waiting for them to make a move, and one did start to shuffle forward again, raising its arms. “You’d better not come after me or my people, you creeps. I’ve got a blowtorch inside that will turn you into ashes before you can say, ‘Hello, Lucifer.’” That stopped the man in his tracks. Diana looked around. “Glory? Are you around, hon? You in trouble with demons and such again? ’Cause you’re the only one I know hereabouts who gets into these kinds of jams.”
I chirped, then sent her a mental message to look up. I waved my wings then sent a second message to meet me out front. She nodded and headed back inside. It didn’t take me long to fly to the end of the alley and shift then walk to the front of our shops, which are next door to each other.
“What the devil is goin’ on, Glory?” Diana was waiting for me, hands on her hips. “I had to calm Louisa down then convince her she’d seen a homeless couple doin’ the nasty by the Dumpster.”
I gave her a quick summary of my situation. “I don’t know how long they’re going to be camped out there. I’m the target, but it looks like they’re too far gone to recognize me versus anyone else. You have any experience with, uh”—I glanced around, there were mortals nearby on the sidewalk—“these things?”
“I hate to say it, but yes. I’ve seen them a time or two. That’s how I knew about the blowtorch. Guess you heard my threat. Actually, it’s just a little acetylene thing I use to brown meringues, but they don’t know that. Those creatures can’t handle fire. It’s the only sure way of taking them out.” Diana grabbed my arm and steered me into my shop.
“Good to know.” I had visions of a zombie roast, the stench would be unbearable. I sure didn’t want it behind my shop.
“You warn your people to stay out of that alley. I’m pretty sure they won’t know the difference between one woman and another. Either that or you and I can go torch those suckers right now. You got a broomstick and newspaper handy?”
“Uh, not on me.” I had a new admiration for this delicate southern flower. “But I’ll definitely give the staff a heads-up. Thanks, Diana.” I smiled. “Sorry about this. I’m working on ending the threat. Will let you know when it’s safe to resume normal activities.”
“Make it fast. My store produces a lot of garbage. We need the Dumpster back there.” She tapped her foot. “Though they’re after you, so I guess they won’t be there during the day. Fine. All garbage will go out in daylight from now on. Tell your staff the same. The Dumpster’s emptied in the mornings anyway.” She smiled and gave me a hug. “Good luck with this. Fight for your man. That’s my motto.”
We parted on those words, with me having to take a few minutes to warn Megan and my other clerk before I slipped over to the park across the street. There I was finally able to relax and shift again. I settled just feet from Jerry’s walkway and changed into human form. Then I inhaled again. Was there evil on the wind? I heard footsteps and turned quickly, ready for fight or flight. What I saw didn’t reassure me.
Seven
Jerry’s face was grim. “What are you doing out here alone? Don’t you know how dangerous Mel can be?”
“Jerry!” I ran into his arms and held on to him. “How are you feeling?”
He pushed me away. “Like shit. Come inside.” He hustled me into the house then locked the door behind us. “Cait! Gloriana’s here.” He practically shoved me toward the kitchen. Cait sat at the bar with a glass of synthetic in front of her.
“Hi, Cait.” I hurried over to give her a hug and a questioning look. “Everything okay?”
“Sure, if you can stand being around sourpuss here.”
“That’s enough, Caitie.” Jerry stomped into the living room and collapsed onto the leather couch. “If I’m not all smiles, who can blame me? I think I’m losing my mind. Not exactly cause for celebration.”
I grabbed a bottle of synthetic out of the fridge and carried it into the living room. I was boycotting the couch, visions of Jer’s daughter and a couple of guys playing a scene straight out of a “Shades” novel there forever seared on my brain. So I sat in a chair across from Jerry and twisted off the cap. I took a swallow while Cait sat next to her brother and patted his knee.
“This is nothing like what happened in Scotland. You recognized Glory. You can drive a car, work the TV remote, hell, even troll the Internet looking up your symptoms. Does that sound like amnesia to you, Jeremiah?” Cait exchanged glances with me.
“Yeah. When I can’t remember hours last night.” He stared at me. “I know Bart is blaming a drug, but how’d Mel manage to drug me? She never offers me a synthetic. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to drink her blood.”
“I don’t know, Jer. This voodoo thing is way over my head.” I caved and skirted his coffee table to claim a spot on his lap. He looked so lost. “But maybe her drug can be passed on by touch, like the substance on that knife you were stabbed with when you got amnesia in Scotland.” Boy, did I hate bringing that up. My own mother had orchestrated the fiasco. But it was a viable option and couldn’t be ignored.
“You’re right, Gloriana.” Jerry pulled me against him. “All right then. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into her room. Maybe that’s when she transferred some kind of drug to my skin.”
“And you don’t remember anything that happened after that?”
Jerry dropped his head to the back of the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. “Not a bloody thing.” He sat up, his eyes hard. “But I know what was in my heart. I was there to tell her, Gloriana, to leave you the hell alone. That I loved you, only you. That I would never touch her again, no matter what she did. No matter what games she played.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Sometimes, when she’d cut herself, the smell of her blood . . . You know how I am about mortal blood. But I made it clear. I was done. I wasn’t drinking from her again.”
“I bet she didn’t take that well.” Cait leaned forward. “This woman used to be your mistress, Jeremiah? How in hell did you get involved with a voodoo priestess in the first place?”
“She’s also a motivational speaker, Caitie. When I met her, it wasn’t obvious what else she was into. By the time I realized . . .” He looked at me. “No excuses, but I think she did something. She’s into spells. I had to have her blood. It became an addiction that I had to fight my way out of. It was one reason I moved to Austin. Not the main one. Gloriana drew me here of course.”
“Of course.” I jumped off of his lap, twisting away from his hold. I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of Jerry with Mel. The intimacies they’d shared. I fell back onto the chair, a gulf between us much wider than his chrome and glass coffee table. “I wish you’d never gone near her last night.”
“You see how you hurt her?” Cait slapped his thigh. “Damn it, Jeremiah. Next time send a text message to the bitch. Obviously you can’t get close to that Mel woman without complications.”
“You’re right. And I hope to God nothing happened during those hours I’ve lost. But I was sure I could handle her last night, Gloriana. I certainly wasn’t there to drink from her. Your blood is like home to me.” Jerry’s gaze burned as he stared at me, willing me to believe him. “After centuries, it is the one source that means the most to me. Yet I can be near you, Gloriana, and not feel consumed by the need to feed from you. Not like it was with Mel.”