I put my hand on his bare chest to give myself some space. Enough of this. I blamed all of these restless urges Ray had stirred up on Jerry.
He
should be here helping me see in the New Year properly. Then I never would have been out on the lake, met Aggie, been in this horrible Oh, hell.
"I'm fine, Ray. But speaking of suffering, go lie down. That alcohol you drank is bound to kick in soon and you're going to wish you were really dead. Trust me on this."
"You can trust
me,
Glory. Your boyfriend stood you up on New Year's Eve, Glory. Will told me he took off for Europe tonight when he could've waited one more night."
"He had something important"
"More important than
you?"
Ray shook his head, obviously mind reading big-time. "That's just wrong. You going to let him get away with that? Come on. Let's shower together. See where it goes. There's plenty of room and look what you've done to me." He pulled me against him.
Oh, yes, I'd definitely found myself a butt man. But bringing up my boyfriend had been stupid. I do love Jerry and sex to get even with someone isn't my style, though it probably was pretty common in Ray's world.
All in all, Ray making a move was a nice ego boost. I have a healthy libido and I was definitely attracted, but I also have a little loyalty-to-jerry thing going too.
I smiled and shook my head. "Sorry, Ray, but it's not happening." I gave him a gentle shove. "Now go rest while I shower."
"I won't beg." Ray held up his hands and backed up. "I'm not feeling so great, to tell you the truth." Once under the hot shower, I ignored those sexy shower heads, shampooed my hair and took stock. Tonight I'd been abandoned by my lover, collected a one-way ticket to hell and taken care of a wounded rock star. Did Glory St. Clair know how to ring in the New Year or what?
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"How is he? Valdez said Ray's not feeling so great."
"Begging me to stake him and put him out of his misery." It had been tough not saying "I told you so." But seeing Ray laid low had killed any desire I had to gloat. "He's in bad shape, Nate."
"I thought the vampire healing sleep was supposed to cure everything for you guys." Nathan Burke, Ray's best friend and manager, had arrived during the day.
"Normally, it does." I'd decided to sleep over, to be here when Ray woke up. Strictly in my capacity as mentor, of course. Good thing, since he was in agony. And I hadn't shared everything with Nate yet.
"So what's the deal here?" Nate paced around Ray's king-size bed. "I don't care if his head's about to explode. Give him an aspirin or the whole damned bottle. Get up, Ray. We've got to go over your schedule. This is important."
"Alcohol screws up our systems. Ray drank a boatload of it before I got here and stopped him." I shut the hall door. There were shouts downstairs where a football game played on the big-screen TV. Delicious smells came from the kitchen. Will was cooking chili for the crowd that apparently figured a New Years Eve party included the day and night after. "I haven't told you the worst of it."
"What?" Nate sat on the edge of the bed. "Ray? Come on, bud. It's not like you to wimp out on me." He tried to pull the sheet down but Ray held on to it and a mortal was no match for a vampire, even one in subpar condition. "Sienna's going to be here tomorrow. You still want her to stay here? Or should we arrange a hotel suite?"
No response other than a weak foot jiggle.
"He can't say anything, Nate. His voice is gone."
"What?" Nate jumped like he'd been goosed by a hot poker. "No. Can't be. That was the single most positive thing to come out of this vampire crap. That his voice would be golden forever." He ran his hand through his close cropped black hair. "Sorry, Glory, but you know blood sucking has complicated the hell out of Ray's life. Then we thought, okay, at least he doesn't have to baby his voice. Watch his throat, like that." Nate grabbed my arm. "This is temporary, right?"
"Should be. Give it a day, a week at most."
"No, no, no. Not a week. Sienna Star is here to rehearse. For their big number at the Grammys. On TV. Their duet is nominated. This is huge." Nathan jerked the sheet off Ray. Apparently stress had given him super powers. "Look at him. He should at least be wearing a T-shirt."
I looked at Ray all right. He'd come out of the shower in a towel, then dropped it to root around in a drawer for about an hour looking for a pair of blue silk boxers. That apparently took the last of his energy and he'd collapsed on the bed, unconscious again. It had been near dawn by then and I'd had a quick conference with Valdez, issued orders and crawled into bed with Ray. We slept like the dead anyway.
When he woke up this evening, Ray had felt the effects of his binge drinking the night before. His whole body had been shaking, his head splitting and he'd been violently sick and throwing up. Fortunately, he'd managed to stagger into the bathroom before
that
happened. When he'd finally collapsed on the tile floor, I'd washed his face, helped him rinse out his mouth, and then carried him back to bed. Yeah, we'd had loads of fun.
In a note, because he really couldn't squawk a single syllable, Ray had admitted he'd already polished off one whole bottle of Jack Daniel's and was on his second when Valdez and I had arrived. No wonder he was in such a bad way.
"Ray, roll over." Nate had found a black sweatshirt and tugged it over Ray's head. "I'm going to the drugstore. I'll get some throat lozenges, cough syrup. First I'll call Dr. Calvin and get a prescription. You know he'll take care of it for you, even on a holiday."
"Forget it, Nathan." I put a hand on his arm. "Mortal medicine won't help Ray now."
"Then what the hell will?" Nathan was desperate. "This is critical, Glory. The label execs set this up. Sienna's young, appeals to a different demographic than Ray." We both saw Ray fall back on the bed again. His eyes had never opened. "Not that you're old, buddy. Thirty-seven? Hell, we're both in our prime. Hah. Hah." Nate grabbed my arm and pulled me out to the hall.
"What can we do, Glory? This Grammy thing You read the tabloids. Ray's sales are still strong. Of course they are, but the duet with Sienna put us right back up where we belong. Ray has to do this gig and be great. Keep the ball rolling while we record his new album. He and Sienna need the rehearsal time. Work some of your vampire magic here. Surely there's something you can do."
"I'm not sure. I avoid alcohol for this very reason. I'm not into pain and suffering."
"Unless it's for Cheetos."
Valdez was parked near the bedroom door and had come in with Nate. Nathan looked from me to Valdez. "I don't get it. Will's a vampire and Valdez said he was drunk last night. Now he's downstairs cooking, business as usual. Hell, he's got a Scotch next to him right now. Why isn't he laid out, begging for a stake through the heart? Is it because Ray's new at this game?"
Valdez didn't wait for me to answer Nathan.
"Will's a different kind of vampire from your buddy Ray. He was born from
another vamp, not made like Ray and Glory were. Will can eat, drink and be merry in ways made vamps can't. Ask
Glory about those Cheetos sometime."
"He's right." I gave Valdez an evil smile and a mental promise to boycott Cheetos, which were also one of
his
favorite snacks. Oh, and forget Twinkies too. He slumped to the floor, his tail down. I'm sure if I bothered to read his mind, I'd get called a few names I'd rather not hear. Tough.
"Well, hell." Nate walked back into the bedroom and pulled the covers up to Ray's chin again. "Now what?"
"I'm thinking." I sat on the foot of the bed. "There might be something another vampire could do for Ray, to dilute the effects of the alcohol. Unfortunately, if Will's still drinking, then I guess it's on me."
"So how
do
you help Ray?" Nathan had almost shredded the list in his hand. I hope he had another copy. "He's got to be able to sing by tomorrow morning. Oh, shit, I mean night. We'll have to come up with reasons why he can only rehearse at night. Maybe we'll tell Sienna the truth. She's pretty cool. Have you seen her video for 'Nightmare'?"
"The vampires in her video were caricatures. Fake fangs, blood dripping all over the place and Sienna lying half naked in an open coffin like a virgin sacrifice." I laughed but not in amusement. "Is that how you see us, Nate?" I heard Valdez snort beside me.
"Of course not." Nathan put his hand on my shoulder. "But it shows"
"It shows Sienna's trying to jump on the paranormal trendy train. I bet she'd freak if you told her anything about Ray and what happened to him. Promise me you won't say a word to her until we discuss this, Nate. I mean it. Promise." Sienna Star. I'm admittedly a tabloid junkie and was even before I became a headlines Young, edgy, Sienna had the kind of perfect body men lusted for.
My roommate and I had every CD Ray had ever recorded.
Every DVD of his videos too. But we'd boycotted his duet with Sienna. Because, even though Nathan was right that the song had gone platinum practically overnight, we'd hated the way the young slut had been all over "our" Israel Caine. Before we'd met Ray we'd been ridiculously obsessed fangirls. What can I say? The man can
sing
and look great doing it of course.
"Fine. I won't tell Sienna Ray's secret and I'll do something to stall her. Now you concentrate on fixing Ray. Is there anything you can do, Glory?" Nathan stared down at me. Waiting for my vampire miracle cure.
I knew of only one way to
get
bad blood out of a vampire's system. I stood and stared at Ray. He was really pale and still not moving. I gestured and Nate followed me to the hall again. When the three of us were outside, I shut the door and leaned against it. A quick sniff assured me Nate was the only mortal upstairs.
"This may not work. But it's the only thing I can think of. I'm going to have to feed Ray."
"Feed? But you said he can't eat. Which is a bummer. I know he really misses Italian food and Will's chili smells delicious. Ray'd really like that." Nathan scratched his chin then did a double take when he noticed my fangs were down. "Oh, I guess you mean give him your blood. Fine. Do it. What're you waiting for?"
"I already fed Ray once. Last night." Valdez growled, but hushed when I nudged him with my foot. "It was an emergency. Like this is." I told Nate about Ray cutting his foot. "Ray healed, but he still woke up sick. And without his voice. I think, though, that the more new blood he gets, the more it will dilute the alcohol in his system."
"Like I said. Get after it."
"You get after it, mortal. Go in there and throw yourself on your buddy's fangs."
Valdez showed some teeth.
"That's not what Ray needs, Valdez. Aged vampire blood. That's what has healing power." I couldn't help it. I took a deep breath and almost sighed with pleasure. "So I'll feed Ray right after I take care of myself first. I have to power up before I let another vampire drink from me again." I put my hand on Nathan's muscular arm. The man obviously worked out. Hmm. "Nate, I hate to ask this of you, but, umm, you're AB negative, aren't you?"
"Here we go,"
Valdez muttered.
"AB neg trumps Cheetos every time."
"What?" Nathan jumped back, his eyes wide. "You want to bite me? Drink my blood?" I smiled. I knew for a fact Nate wasn't a vampire virgin. He'd had a little romantic interlude with a female vamp who'd taken him down a pint or two. I usually relied on synthetics myself, but to help Ray, I figured I needed some really high-octane stuff, and my fave is AB neg. I'd known from the first inhale that Nate was just my type.
"Surely you'd be willing to donate. For your best friend? I can put you under the whammy if you're afraid it'll hurt." The whammy makes a mortal have temporary or, if you want, permanent amnesia. Works on immortals too if you're lucky enough to catch one of them off guard.
Nate glanced at Valdez then gave me a really thorough once over. I still wore Ray's T-shirt and shorts. No underwear, of course. My thong had been snipped along with my jeans. "Don't suppose this could be made part of something a little, um, more interesting."
"Watch it, Burke. Glory's not available."
"Oh, yeah? Available or not, Nathan, I'm afraid all I'm interested in right now is a little fang action. Valdez, why don't you take a chill pill, sit your butt downstairs, and do your bodyguard thing while I enjoy drinking at Nate's personal fountain?"
"Just don't enjoy it too much."
Valdez bumped me with his butt on his way down the stairs.
"Remind me to tell Brittany how you've been sniffing around that dachshund in apartment 3C," I said to his backside.
"She's a min pin, a miniature pinscher. And you stay out of my love life."
"Same to ya, V." I turned to Nate. "Come on, Nathan. Whether you think this is interesting or not remains to be seen." I pulled Nathan toward one of the empty bedrooms. I wasn't about to do this in the room with Ray, even if he was practically unconscious. That seemed too much like a threesome.
"Wow. Thanks. And you don't need to whammy me, Glory. Ray's my best friend. I'll do whatever it takes to help him recover." Nate threw himself on a queen-size bed that had obviously seen some overnight action.
"You're a good friend. And this won't hurt. Not much, anyway."
Nate's eyes widened and he braced himself like he was about to be drilled at the dentist's office.
"Oh, relax, Nathan. I'll be gentle. I just need to be full strength when I feed Ray. So we can dilute the poison he put in his system." I sat beside him and picked up his wrist.
"Wait! You mean alcohol is poison to him now?" Nathan frowned as he watched my fangs descend even farther. "That would be good news. You know I was afraid Ray was about one drink shy of turning into an alcoholic before this vampire gig came up." I inhaled Nate's delicious scent. Hoo boy. I gave up drinking from mortals decades ago. Back when synthetics were invented. It was a conscious decision because, after centuries of having to hunt and use unsuspecting mortal donors to survive, I was kind of over it. Now, though, years of denying myself that fresh taste hit me hard. Didn't hurt that his blood type was like Godiva to me. Way too expensive in the synthetics to be more than an occasional treat.