My turn to field the questions. “We heard that you’re the ruler of some territory outside of Clyde Seabreeze’s control. If that’s the case, you may have information about who has been behind the murders and disappearances of Clyde’s people.”
Thrane’s reaction was not what I had expected. At all. His fangs extended, and his eyes blazed red as he shot to his feet, pointing an accusatory finger at me. “You’re working for that . . . that . . . usurper?”
Sara grabbed my arm so tightly, it went numb. The other vampires didn’t seem very impressed, watching us with bored expressions. Once my heart crawled out of my throat and closer to the region it belonged, I squeaked out a few words.
“We—uh . . . yes?”
As suddenly as the anger had risen, it was gone. He blinked, and his eyes were normal again, the fangs retracting as he airily waved a hand at us. “Poofty von Metrofaggen can go find someone else to play his games. I’m not interested.”
“Jimmy,” one of the girls stage-whispered, her eyes comically huge in her heart-shaped face framed by inky black curls. “Jimmy, those are humans.”
I have never seen so many vampires so intensely interested in me at the same time. Talk about unnerving. Every one of them went deathly still—and I mean deathly—as their unblinking eyes locked on to us. It was like being stared at by a room full of china dolls. Hungry china dolls that are thinking about eating your face.
As the tension in the room skyrocketed and I contemplated throwing Sara over my shoulder and making a run for it, Thrane gave a long-suffering sigh, and the tension eased out of his body. He ran his hand over his face before giving the rest of his flock pointed looks.
“Yes, they are. And they are not for you.”
The disappointment radiating from the other vampires was palpable.
“Aw, c’mon, Jimmy! We’re hungry,” one of them whined.
“You know,” I said, edging back toward the door, “I think we’re good. We’ll find someone else to interview. Thanks for your time!”
Sara and I might have bolted if there hadn’t been a vampire standing in the stairwell, barring our way out when we turned around.
At that moment, I could have kicked myself for being so stupid as to think I could waltz into some strange vampire’s den without weapons or a way out. The only person who knew we were here was Trinity, and Clyde had made it perfectly clear how he felt about Jimmy, and about Sara and me exploring parts of Los Angeles beyond the bounds of his territory. Considering Royce was across the country, our chances of being saved were next to nil.
This was not good.
The other vampire glanced at me and Sara, then to Thrane, though he sounded far too excited considering the news he had to impart. “Cheese is dead.”
Thrane looked from us up to the vampire on the stairs. “What?”
“Cheese is dead,” the other guy repeated. Was it my imagination, or did he smell a bit like barf?
“Why is Cheese dead?” Thrane demanded, stepping around me and Sara. It seemed we’d been momentarily forgotten. Considering this new vampire was distracting the others from wanting to eat us, this wasn’t altogether a bad thing.
“He got caught in the sun. Everyone was talking about it at the Sundown.”
One of the others behind us snorted. “How the hell do you get caught in the sun?”
“I don’t know; he just did. The police were sweeping him up around noon, apparently.”
“I knew it was a bad idea to let him in,” Thrane grumbled. “I swear, seventeen is like the magic number. No one that age lasts past a week.” He looked over at the most sensibly dressed of the female vampires in the room in her slacks and button-down shirt, her reddish-brown hair swept up in a ponytail and her arms akimbo. “Why did I even let a vampire named Cheese join up?”
“You thought it was funny,” the girl replied.
“Why is that funny?” Thrane wondered.
“Because you’re an asshole,” Mac muttered.
“Oh, yes. You two were going to be the best of friends. You remember why, don’t you? You get it?”
Mac rolled his eyes. “I get it.”
“’Cause it’s Mac . . .”
“Thrane. I get it.”
“A-a-a-a-and . . .”
“I get it.”
“Cheese!”
The other vampires cracked up. Mac put his head in his hands.
“Well, only one thing to do. Everyone, stand up. Sta-a-a-a-and up.” Thrane gestured at the others, pointing to each in turn. “Elly, Leewan, Megan . . . come on. Up we go.”
Everyone stood up. Even Mac, once he finished cursing Thrane out under his breath. Sara and I stood where we were, awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot.
Thrane removed his hat and held it to his chest. “We are gathered here tonight to mourn the passing of one of our own.”
“We’re gathered here to hang out,” the one he’d called Leewan mumbled.
Thrane pointed at him. “I can kill you.”
Leewan fell silent.
“Cheese was our friend,” Thrane continued. “He was our brother. Except to Janice, who wanted to boink him. Because otherwise that would be wrong.”
The girl I assumed was Janice closed her eyes, probably not in grief.
“Cheese lived a full life. It is with a heavy heart that we bid him farewell and hope that beyond this second death, he will find peace.” Thrane wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. “Good-bye, Cheese.”
“Good-bye, Cheese,” everyone murmured.
“Hey, who wants to see if they’re a cold fish or a passionate lover?” Elly called, having picked up a Cosmo in the middle of the service.
Everyone else’s hand went up. My mouth dropped open, and I’m pretty sure Sara was gaping, too.
“Mac goes first,” Elly decided.
Thrane turned back to us while most of the other vampires put their attention on Elly and her magazine.
“That was a moving speech,” the girl in the nice clothes told him.
“Why, thank you, Shannon.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Thrane.”
“So, hey,” Mac called out from across the room, “are we going to eat these people after we’re done with the questions or what?”
Many red-tinged eyes were quite suddenly, very hungrily, focused on us. Again.
Chapter 16
As cold hands settled on our shoulders, Sara made a high-pitched sound, and I jumped about a foot in the air. Thrane had moved behind us, and I could hear the edge of amusement—and hunger—in his voice. “Now, now, children. What do I always say?”
“Never without a contract, and never without consent,” the others droned. They sounded like kids in a classroom reciting some inane tidbit of trivia off of a chalkboard for their teacher.
“Very good! Next week, we’re going to rehash the ‘Your Donor is a Human, Not a Cow’ and the ‘Technically You’re Still Human, so Have Some Humanity’ talks.”
That pronouncement was met with a chorus of groans.
Thrane’s fingers tightened, and I tilted my head to look up at him, the tendons creaking in my neck with the movement.
“Now, I am sure you investigators have a great deal of investigating to do, yes?” Thrane didn’t wait for our reply. He started pushing us back in the direction of the door. “All right, then. You just go on about your business, and we’ll pretend you never came here. Out of the way, Brendan.”
Though Sara and I both stumbled some on the way, we soon got our bearings and moved under our own power again. Brendan, the vampire who had announced Cheese’s death to the rest of the group, hopped off the steps and wandered over to where Elly and the others were doing their magazine survey.