Sinclair actually giggled. Giggled. “Which did you like best, Detective Berry? Calm or Infinite?”
Nick stuck a finger in my husband’s face, which was a good way to get bitten. “If I didn’t hate you with every fiber of my being before, I absolutely do now.”
“Somehow,” he yawned, “I will try to recover from the remorse.”
A pretty waitress—short, good figure, gorgeous green eyes, black hair—bounced up to our table. “Good evening, Majesties! May I bring your guests a drink?”
“Hi,” I said, sticking out a hand. Startled, she shook it. “I’m Betsy. This is Nick and Jessica. She’ll have a Screwdriver, heavy on the vodka, no ice. He’ll have a Bud.”
Her hand was clammy and almost uncomfortable to touch, but I held onto my smile and she looked weirdly gratified. “Right away, my queen,” she said, and flounced off.
“That, uh, wasn’t the killer, was it?” Jessica asked.
“I have been unable to locate the killer. Or if I have, I don’t know it yet. But that will change.” Sinclair looked grim. Well, grimmer. “Of that, I can assure you.”
“So, no luck tonight?”
“I believe I just said that.”
“Told you I should have been there!” Nick said triumphantly.
“Don’t gloat, hon, it’s unbecoming,” Jessica scolded him gently. “Besides, we were needed elsewhere.”
He threw up his hands and sank back in his chair. “Shoe shopping!”
“You don’t have to say it like you’d say ‘snake milking’.”
“Given a choice,” he began, when the über-efficient waitress (I bet vampire speed came in handy when you were waiting tables) returned with drinks.
“Thanks a lot, uh—” I squinted, but she wasn’t wearing a name tag.
“Marcia.”
“Thanks, Marcia. Just charge it to our room, okay?”
“Oh, no.”
“Uh . . . will you take a traveler’s check?”
“I meant, your money is no good here, Majesty.” And she—God, this was so embarrassing—she actually went down on one knee and bowed her head to me. “You’re The One, the foretold queen, and you’ve rid us of Nostro and Marjorie in two years.
My life is yours.” She looked up, green eyes twinkling. “Or, at the very least, I can pay for your drinks.”
“Uh . . . that’ll be fine, Marcia.” I was so rattled I didn’t know what to do. Pat her on the head? Wave her away? Invite her to join us?
Luckily, Sinclair did know what to do. “Your loyalty is noted and appreciated, Marcia. Now leave us, dear.”
Quick as a snake, Marcia was on her feet and away from the table.
Hmm. Maybe I should try that.
“Just in time,” Jessica commented. “I was about to puke.”
“I didn’t know she was going to do that,” I snapped. “It was so incredibly—”
“Vampire hearing,” Sinclair said quietly.
“—nice of her that I was speechless,” I amended hastily.
Someone waved at our table, and Sinclair stood. “I’ve received some faxes from St. Paul. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you keep ditching us,” I warned him. “You’ll pay.”
His eyes gleamed, and he kissed my knuckles. “I look forward to it. Our room, half an hour?”
“Maybe,” I sniffed, pretending my thighs weren’t already tingling.
“Oh, barf,” Jessica said. “I never thought I’d wish the cancer would come back to distract me, but . . . ”
“Don’t even joke about that!”
“So, the bloodsuckers are happy because you’re the best of a bad lot, eh?” Nick asked.
“And just when I thought you were done being a dick,” I grumbled.
“Honey, I haven’t even—wait.”
“Wait, what?”
But Nick was looking across the lounge, out into the lobby, where a lone girl was wandering around. She was startling looking, with shoulder-length platinum hair and pale skin. And she was dressed in a white nightgown, in bare feet.
“Must be a kid of one of the guests.”
“Yeah, but it’s a pretty fucking dangerous place for a kid to be wandering around, don’t you think?” Nick was already getting up. “Just a sec.”
Jessica and I looked at each other. “Are we really going to let the guys have all the fun on this trip?” she asked.
Then we got up and ran after Nick.
Chapter 14
Hon? Can I talk to you for a sec?” The little girl—couldn’t have been more than ten—whirled at Nick’s voice and I saw she had huge blue eyes, eyes the color of the sky. Then she laughed and ran off.
“Wait! I need to talk to you! Where are your folks?”
All three of us ran after her because—shit!—she had run out the lobby door, out of the (relative) safety of the crowded lobby. Her white blond hair streamed after her like a bridal veil and I thought that I had never seen such a beautiful child. Real tempting pickings for the asshole bloodsucker who liked to munch kids.
We came out in time to see her disappear around the block, laughing. I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled, “We’re not playing tag, kid! We gotta talk to you!”
No response. I glanced at my human friends. “Later, gators,” I said, because I was going to do my Bionic Woman thing in a sec and they had no chance of keeping up.
But even running as fast as I could, by the time I rounded the block, the kid was nowhere to be seen.
I trudged dejectedly back to them. “That’s great. Now we get to wait for another Goddamned crime scene.”
“If she lives in the hotel, she probably knows a hundred ways to get back in. Like Eloise,” Jessica suggested. “I think she’ll be okay. She certainly gave us the slip easily enough.”
“Good point,” I said, cheering up.
“All the same, I think I’ll hang out here for a while,” Nick said. “Honey, you go up to the room and get some sleep.”
“And leave you out here in the dark by yourself?”
“Uh . . . hon, I’m a cop.”
“A human cop looking for a kid-killing vampire! Besides, the Advil worked fine. I’m not even tired.”
“Well, shit. That means I have to stay out here, too.”
Jessica and Nick both looked surprised. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Oh, like I’m really going back inside to have nasty sex with Sinclair while you two are walking around trying to prevent vamp-on-kid crime. That’d only make me the biggest jerk in the world.”
“Well—” Jessica began sweetly, but Nick cut her off.
“Seriously, Betsy. Go inside. We’ll just walk around out here for a little while and if we don’t see anything, we’ll come in. And if we do see something, we’ll call your cell.” He put a (gentle!) hand on my arm. “Really, go. It’s your honeymoon, right?”
I was completely torn. Do the right thing, and stick with my human, fragile, easily shreddable friends? Or take the olive branch Nick was so plainly offering? The pleading look on Jessica’s face made up my mind for me.
“Okay, but call me if you see or hear anything. We can jump out the window and be on the street in about three seconds.”
“Just get dressed first!” Jessica hollered at me as I went up the stairs. Jerk.
Chapter 15
Too impatient to take the elevator, I bounded up the eight flights, ran down the hallway, and jammed my key card into the slot. The door obligingly beeped, I entered, then shut the door behind me and started taking off my clothes. Sinclair was already in bed, the covers turned invitingly back. His faxes were neatly piled on the desk—hey, at least he didn’t bring them to bed. This time.