“I guess they’re not above taking advantage of a good old-fashioned tip.” Fiona smiled.
Nic seemed to relax. To Fiona, he seemed really on edge. It was probably this whole vampire-meets-warrior-for-a-cup-of-coffee-at-the-House-of-Pies thing.
“Let’s eat before we meet these actors,” Nic said. “I’m buying.”
“I vote for Mexican.”
“Sounds good to me.” Fiona nodded.
Nic held out his hand and Cho climbed up.
“You still have your purse, Fiona?”
“Of course. When we get there, just stay low.”
Ivan brought the sap down on the back of Beth’s head, and she collapsed into his arms. After loading her into the van parked in her driveway, he shut the back doors and looked around in the dark to see if anyone had seen. Satisfied, he got in and turned the key.
“She’s not hurt, is she?” Annie asked. She’d been surprised at how easy it had been to lure Beth out of the house to the driveway. Ivan’s uniform, stolen a few years ago from a delivery truck, had worked to allay any suspicions the young woman may have had about him.
“Just unconscious. Relax. I’ve done this, well, many times.” She arched a single eyebrow. Ivan cleared his throat. “She’ll wake up with a bad headache, that’s all. The hard part is over. Now we go back to the lair, secure her, and make the meeting, insurance in hand.” He reached out and touched Annie’s leg to reassure her.
“Okay.” Annie bit her lip and twisted a strand of blonde hair around her finger. So far, the plan was going smoothly, but she knew it wouldn’t take much to screw up everything. That was something she couldn’t afford, not with her sister’s life hanging by a thread.
— • —
“This time, you need to stay in the car, buddy,” Nic told the lizard. They were almost to the House of Pies.
“I know. No shirt, No shoes, No lizard. I hate that.”
“It’s not like that. We’re going to be out in the open. There isn’t much you can do once we go in.”
“Fiona, what do you think?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. Besides, I’m leaving my purse. They said no weapons, and I don’t want to give them a reason not to trust us.” She gave him a sympathetic look, took him off Nic’s shoulder, and put him on the console between the seats.
“I want to know everything about them.”
“What do you need to know, Cho? They’re vampires. End of story,” Nic grumbled.
“I’m curious about them too,” Fiona admitted.
“Look, these creatures are not nice. They’re evil. When they look at us, all they see is their next meal. I’m telling you, this is not going to go well.”
“Can’t we just hear what they have to say?”
Nic pulled the car to the side of the street, threw it into park, turned in his seat, and stared at her.
“Why do you care? This son of a bitch tried to kill you! I don’t understand why you want to listen to a damn word he has to say. How can you trust him?” Nic ranted.
Fiona looked out of the window. She licked her lips. “I haven’t forgotten, Nic. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget. But if someone, some mortal, is in trouble, we have to help.”
“She’s right, and you know it.”
“Maybe.” Nic fumed. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be planning on how to kill them, not have a goddamn cup of frigging coffee with them.”
“But we are. We promised.” Fiona crossed her arms and tucked her chin. “I keep my promises.”
“She’s got you there, Nic.”
Fiona smiled. “Besides, it’s a great opportunity to find out about them. Don’t you have questions? Haven’t you ever wondered about them?”
“No. All I need to know is how to kill them.”
She reached across and touched his hand as it clutched the steering wheel. “Aren’t you curious about your parents?”
The silence was rock solid. Nic tightened his hands on the wheel until his knuckles were bloodless.
“My parents are dead,” he ground out between his clamped teeth, barely above a whisper. A slow, deep breath lifted his chest as it strained against the weight of his memories. After prying his hand from the wheel and staring straight ahead, he put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. They drove for blocks in a deep freeze.
Cho broke the icy silence.
“The more you know, the better you can fight them.”
“I agree,” Fiona chimed in. “It’s like the inside track on an opponent. When I’m matched against someone, whether he’s bigger or not, if I know something about him, like his style or his tactics, it gives me the upper hand,”
“I’m telling you, it’s dangerous. Don’t let them fool you.” Nic shook his head.
“Fool me? You think I’m that gullible?” Her voice rose.
“Watch it, Nic. She’ll kick your ass.”
“All I’m saying is to give it a chance. You might even learn something,” Fiona snapped.
“She’s got you there. You know you hate change.”
“I don’t hate change. I’m just cautious,” Nic snapped. “And I don’t trust vampires.”
“You know, we probably scare them as much as they scare us,” Fiona said.
“I thought that was snakes.”
“It sure as hell isn’t lizards,” Nic shot back. “I seriously doubt they’re the least bit afraid of us. Do not let your guard down.” Nic hoped he’d impressed on her the danger they were in.
“I won’t.”
They reached the restaurant and parked. He and Fiona got out of the car and walked through the parking lot to the restaurant.
“Table or booth?” the hostess greeted them as they entered.
“We’re joining some people,” Nic sneered as he spat out the word “people.”
“Do you know where they are?” The hostess gave him a toothy smile.
“Yes, in the back.” Nic scanned the restaurant. It wasn’t very full, but it was midweek. “Do you see them, Fiona?”
Fiona stood on her toes to see over the light crowd of diners. She grabbed his arm and squeezed.
“Yeah, I see them. That man and the blonde facing us in the last booth on the right,” Fiona whispered to Nic.
“Got ’em. Let’s go.” Nic started toward the back of the dining room. This was the last place he wanted to be, face-to-face with vampires and without his sword. It made him feel uneasy and vulnerable. However, he had no intentions of letting any weakness, no matter how slight, show.
The vampires sat next to each other in the booth, their backs to the wall. The tables and booths around them were nearly empty. The male leaned over and said something to the female. She nodded back and bit her lip.
“They look clean,” Nic told Fiona. “But they could be carrying.” Nic knew he could have had a gun at his back just as easily as the vampire. Only, in a shoot-out, he and Fiona would be the ones dead and the vampires only briefly injured.
“Relax, Nic,” she said under her breath. Relaxing was the last thing he planned on doing.
Nic and Fiona reached the table. “Hands out, on the table,” Nic ordered in a low voice. Ivan and Annie brought their hands out and rested them on the table. The only thing they held was each other’s hand.
“Don’t trust us?” Ivan stared at Nic.
“No way in hell.” Nic shook his head.
“Go on, Fiona.”
Nic motioned for Fiona to slide into the booth and then sat down next to her. He glared at Ivan, taking him in.
The vampire looked to be in his early forties, had short, wavy brown hair, and was good-looking, with the oddest-colored eyes Nic had ever seen. He looked like a regular guy wearing a brown sweater, a worn, black leather jacket, and blue jeans. A cell phone lay on the table between the two vampires.
The female next to him, a slim blonde, was younger and beautiful, but her eyes were bloodshot and puffy as if she’d been crying a lot. For some reason, that unsettled him. He flicked his gaze back to the male.
“Hello. I’m Fiona,” Fiona said. “This is Nic.”
“Ivan, as you know, and this is Annie.” Ivan nodded toward the blonde, and then draped his arm across the back of the booth behind her in that age-old signal between men that said, “Hands off, she’s mine.”
Ivan and he stared at each other, taking each other’s measure and waiting for the other to flinch. Nic would be damned if it he'd blink first.
The waitress came over and interrupted.
“Can I take your order?” She stood there waiting, her pen and pad ready.
“Just a coffee, black, and a slice of apple pie,” Ivan said. “Annie, do you want pie too?”
“Yes. Cherry pie and a coffee, black.” She smiled at the waitress.
“I’ll take hot tea,” Fiona added.
“Pie?”
Fiona glanced at the vampires. “Do you have pecan?”
“One slice of pecan for the lady. And you?” The waitress turned to Nic.
“Nothing for me,” he told the woman.
She frowned. “No pie?”
“No. I don’t feel like eating.” He growled and then resumed his staring contest with Ivan.
The waitress checked the order, rolled her eyes, and disappeared.
“This place is known for their pies,” Ivan said, a glimmer of a smile on his lips.
“You drink coffee and eat pie?” Fiona asked.
“No, the caffeine plays hell with our digestion. And I should skip the pie. Watching my weight.” He chuckled. “But it’s best if we try to blend in.” Ivan shrugged. “Besides, they don’t serve what we drink in here.” Straight, white teeth flashed in a wicked grin. No fangs.
Nic tensed. He wasn’t planning to be this bastard’s Happy Meal.
“Do you ever eat real food?” Fiona asked.
Nic nudged her with his elbow. She gave him a look that said,
Leave me alone
.
“Well, we can handle some liquids, but our systems just aren’t set up for digesting solid food. If we do eat, most of the time we throw it up.” Ivan grimaced. “But I have to admit, there is something about the smell of a fresh-baked pie.”
“I know what you mean. Takes you back to childhood.” Fiona nodded.
“I love the smell of my mom’s chocolate chip cookies.” Annie’s gaze focused somewhere in the distance.
“So, you don’t have to go to the…” Fiona let her words trail off.
“No, one of the few good things about being this way. Since we absorb the fluids we intake directly into our bodies, there is nothing left over,” Ivan tried to explain.
“Oh,” said Annie. “I wondered about that. I’m sort of new to all this.”
Fiona smiled at her, and Annie smiled back.
Nic leaned over to Fiona and said, “Don’t smile at them. And stop talking about pies.”
Fiona rolled her eyes. “Good grief, Nic.”
“Yeah, Nic,” Ivan said. “What’s wrong with pies? Lighten up.”
“Fuck you,” Nic growled.
“Sure, we can step outside.” Ivan’s deep voice purred.
Nic tensed. “I don’t have to take this crap, Fiona.” He prepared to stand.
Annie put her hand on Ivan’s arm. “Cut it out, Ivan.”
The vampire shrugged. The staring contest ended with no clear winner declared.
Everyone fell silent when the waitress returned with a tray loaded with three white ceramic mugs, a coffee pot, a small metal pot of hot water with a tea bag steeping inside, and three slices of pie. After dropping the tray on the table, she poured the coffee, tossed some creamer on the table, delivered the pies, and then left.
“You don’t get service like this everywhere.” Ivan watched the back of the waitress and then took the mug in his hands as if he was going to drink. Nic noticed the cup never made it to Ivan’s mouth.
“I saw you the other night. You were the warm-up act,” Fiona told Annie as she poured her tea. Fiona’s pecan pie did look good, damn it, and his belly rumbled.
“Yeah.” Annie frowned and blushed. She picked up her fork and played with the pie, picking cherries out of the crust.
“I, however, didn’t see either of you,” Nic added, pointing at them.
“Right. I saw you, though,” Ivan answered. “I was busy getting the hell out of there.”
“Running away?” Nic sneered.
“Exactly. I could see it was going to be a slaughter, even before you got there. Your woman was taking care of business. When you showed up, there was no point in staying around.”
“So you left your friends and ran?” Nic pushed. He hated vampires and cowards.
“They weren’t my friends. In our world, it’s every man for himself. If the tables had been turned, they would have left me.” Ivan shrugged.
“Some were pretty green. But the others, the toga guys, I could tell they knew what they were doing,” Fiona replied as she took a bite of pie.
“Yeah, they knew dueling swords but not those short swords. Very few of us are old enough to know how to use a gladius.” Ivan gave a short laugh. “And half of them were recent converts with no fighting experience, much less using a sword. We don’t come across that kind of thing every day, despite what the movies tell you.”
“Enough small talk,” Nic interrupted. “Let’s talk about the business at hand so we can just say no and get the hell out of here. You said you have someone you want rescued.”
Annie leaned forward, “My sister…” Ivan cut her off with a touch of his hand on hers.
“It seems that Annie’s sister is caught in the middle of a power struggle between me and some others of our kind.” Nic noticed he never said “vampire.”
“And you, having no stomach for fighting, want us to do the rescue.” Nic didn’t try to hide the disgust he felt from showing in his voice.
Ivan smiled at him wolfishly. “I assure you, I like a good fight as well as the next guy. However, being outnumbered eight to one is something even I can’t stand against.”
Nic snorted. “I’ll bet.”
“But there are two of you,” Fiona said, pointing to Annie. “And aren’t you supposed to be really strong?”
“Annie doesn’t fight.” Ivan’s tone made that final. “So it’s just me. As for being strong…” he paused, “along with a lot of other traits we are supposed to have, most of that is just good P.R. Despite what the movies like to portray, we are not all martial arts experts.”
“That’s bullshit. I know for a fact you bastards are damn strong,” Nic replied.
Ivan shrugged. “I admit I lift weights now and then.” He made a fist and flexed his bicep. “If you really want to find out how strong, just let me know. We can settle it like gentlemen, with our fists.”