“Wait—let me try to understand this. Brain’s not working so well at the moment since all the blood has travelled to my dick. So I’m not getting laid?” Gareth asked in confusion. He was standing in the doorway connecting our rooms in nothing but his glorious birthday suit with one of my favorite parts of him standing up at attention.

Yanking the curtain from the rod at the window, I covered up his undisputable beauty. The room was already destroyed—what would a downed drapery matter? I was well aware that Claudia was gay, but this Vampyre was mine, and I didn’t want anyone seeing him naked but me.

“We have a guest,” I told him trying not to laugh at the disappointment on his face.

Honestly? I felt the same way, but we were getting closer to making sure we had a future together. It was painful, but I could wait for the sex—or making love—part. I hoped.

Glancing over my shoulder, he spotted Claudia. She’d politely turned her head. Gareth growled low in his throat and his fangs dropped. Putting my hand on his chest, I stopped him from his unnecessary need to defend me. It was strange and bizarre to have someone who wanted to have my back in all matters, but it kind of rocked at the same time. However, I had this one under control.

“She’s with us now,” I said quietly.

I was very aware Claudia could hear everything. Vampyre hearing was bionic no matter how quietly we spoke.

“Are you okay?” Gareth’s eyes searched mine for a telltale sign that I might be in pain or upset.

Nodding and wanting to jump his sexy bones, I ran my fingers lightly over his muscled bare chest. “Put some clothes on and come back. We have plans to make, my love.”

“Again,” he demanded as his eyes went a brilliant green. “Say that again.”

“My love,” I repeated with a giggle and a shove, sending him falling happily back into his suite.

“Be back in a sec.”

“Venus.” Claudia stood and moved toward the door. “Let me give you privacy. I can go to my room and we can strategize later.”

“No.” I stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. “I’m quite sure Vlad knows your room number. Was he specific as to when the next time would be?”

She paled—which was difficult for a Vamp—and sat back down on the blood stained couch. Worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, she white knuckled the edge of the couch.

“No. He wasn’t specific.”

“You’ll stay here—with me,” I said. I felt fine about it—good actually. Nowhere near as good as being naked with Gareth would have felt, but protecting her from Vlad was right.

“You’re sure?” she asked. “I understand what I must represent to you. You don’t have to protect me. I can be strong when I have to.”

“You’re not strong enough to take on Vlad by yourself. I’m not strong enough to do that either. Gareth might have a chance, but he’s still under the influence of the curse. We need to do this as a team or we’re screwed.”

“Your man is ill? He looks… um, quite healthy,” she said with a laugh.

I grinned and laughed in agreement. “Looks can be deceiving. Gareth made a little deal with the Devil. We have several more days to accomplish our mission.”

“Or?”

“Or he dies and I’ll no longer want to live in this world,” I told her truthfully. “I’ve only just found him. He’s an ass, but he’s my ass. I need him to live so we can mate and he can make his idiocy up to me.”

“So you haven’t mated yet?” she asked.

“He won’t. He knows he may die soon and won’t bring me with him.”

“I understand that.” Claudia nodded thoughtfully and placed a few pillows over the worst of the bloodstains. “He loves you too much.”

“It doesn’t matter. If he bites it, I’ll follow him. His logic is off, but we need to focus on the mission and the rest might be moot.”

“And the plan you and Gareth have come up with?” she asked.

“Call me Dickie,” Gareth announced as he reentered the suite and took in the blood-stained couch with a raised brow. Without any embarrassment, he took me into his arms and kissed me till my head spun. We were going to have to find a closet or something. My need for him was becoming seriously debilitating.

“Umm, that was nice,” I said with a grin—somewhat embarrassed that was had an audience, but too giddy to care.

“There’s more where that came from,” he said, pulling on one of my errant curls. “Anyway,” he said acknowledging Claudia and morphing from the man in love to the Vamp in charge on a dime. “As I said, call me Dickie. Won’t do to have Vlad know who I am—could put a crimp in the festivities.”

“But what if he sees you?” she asked what seemed like a logical question.

“You trust her?” Gareth asked, unconcerned that Claudia was present.

“I do.”

He crossed the room with his power literally vibrating off of him. His badass Vampyre mode made my damn knees weak. He was every bit the Royal Prince and then some—and he was mine.

“What do you see when you look at me,” he asked.

“Is this a trick question?” Claudia’s eyes bounced with uncertainty from me to Gareth and then back to me. She cowered a bit, but kept her head high.

“No. Describe how he appears to you,” I said.

“Blond hair, brown eyes, about six foot four—very handsome—very powerful,” she said hesitantly. “Why? Am I not seeing him correctly?”

“Yes and no,” I replied. Gareth could share the rest of the story if he felt compelled. Not my place.

“That’s sufficient,” he said, still watching Claudia with narrowed eyes.

“Gareth, short version of a long story — I don’t want to take her life anymore,” I told him.

His eyes shot to mine. If we were mated I could communicate with him telepathically, but we weren’t mated… yet.

“You’re sure?” His gaze bored into mine, looking for a sign that I was playing a game.

Clearly he found none and nodded slowly.

“I’m very sure. Claudia is willing to help us trap the bastard. He almost killed her tonight.”

“He’s in the hotel?” Gareth demanded. His fangs dropped and his body went taut.

Looking to the frightened woman on the couch, I indicated she should speak. Gareth clearly made her uncomfortable… or maybe all men did. Although Gareth could be very frightening when need be.

“No, he’s not staying here. I was driven to a large home about a half hour south of here.”

“By Vlad?” Gareth questioned, casually backing away from Claudia due to sensing the fear she felt in his presence.

Shaking her head no, she went on cautiously. “It was a Vampyre, but not him. The windows on the sedan were heavily tinted and I couldn’t see where we were going. My sense of direction is good and I knew it was south, but that’s all I can tell you about where I was.”

“What about the ride back?” Gareth asked.

“I was in the trunk for the ride back,” Claudia replied tonelessly. “Don’t think they wanted blood on the upholstery.”

That put a slight pause in the conversation.

“He’s a sick fuck,” Gareth muttered.

“Couldn’t agree more.” Claudia shuddered then wrapped her arms protectively around herself.

“Can you describe the house?” I asked, knowing it was a needle in a haystack since there was no other solid information.

“Large—manor like. No other homes I could see around it. It was very well manicured and had a moat, believe it or not,” she described with a disgusted shake of her head.

“Interesting,” Gareth said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find a castle with a moat in Oklahoma.”

He pulled out his phone and began typing away.

“So do you actually have a plan?” Claudia asked a very fine question.

“No, but we’re outstanding at winging it,” I told her to her look of surprise. “Tiara said the pageant director made you go with Vlad. Is this right?”

Claudia nodded and let her head fall to her chest. “Yes. I owe her money. She promised to erase the debt if I entertained the Vampyre.”

“Um… you mean have sex with him?” I asked bluntly.

“Sunny said sex wasn’t part of the deal, but clearly Vlad wasn’t informed of the finer intricacies of the contract.”

“He raped you?” Gareth demanded in a clipped and furious tone.

“He tried,” Claudia admitted, her eyes welling up. “I fought him and he seemed to enjoy it. However, he won the fight and told me that next time he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Anything else you can tell us?” I asked, sitting down next to her and putting my arm around her shoulder for comfort. “Do you think Sunny the pageant director is involved with this?”

Placing her hand over mine, she gave me a small grateful smile. “Doubtful. She’s all about the money. He must have paid handsomely for her to forgive my ten thousand dollar debt. However, there was one odd thing,” she said. “He kept calling me Juliette.”

Bingo.

“I have a plan—kind of,” I said aloud as I formed it in my head. “You will take a stage name. He’ll be back or we’ll go to him. Do you have it in you to seduce him?”

Claudia paled and then nodded yes. Her body trembled and I realized what she’d thought I’d just asked of her. The fact that she agreed without question made her lack of self worth very clear.

“You will not have to go through with it,” I promised quickly. “We’ll just need him focused on you until Gareth and I can take his arms and legs. Damn it, we need silver.”

“Have it,” Gareth said with a feral smile that turned me on. “A hundred feet of triple reinforced inch round silver. And start calling me Dickie—can’t be slipping up in public.”

“So what do we do now?” Claudia asked, giving us a look that conveyed how crazy she thought we were.

She was right, but I owned my crazy. I didn’t even trust people who weren’t at least a little bit crazy. Now of course Martha and Jane tipped the scale at batshit crazy, but I was beginning to be okay with that too. As long as there was underlying good with the insanity, it was fine with me.

“I believe there’s an orientation meeting in an hour,” I said checking my watch and realizing the night was gone and morning had arrived. “We go and act as if we’re here to be in the pageant.”

“And what’s my stage name?” she asked.

“Juliette,” Gareth said, taking the words from my mouth. “You will be Juliette. It will fuck with his head and we need all the extra weapons we can find.

“Juliette it is,” Claudia said with her first real smile I’d seen since Gareth arrived. “Is she a real person? Do you know her?”

“Yep and yep. We’ll fill you in as we go,” I said, rifling through my suitcase looking for something to loan Claudia to wear. She was shorter and smaller in the bust.

“Do you think it’s safe to go to my room and change?” Claudia asked.

I didn’t know, but I was taking no chances. “Gar… I mean Dickie, will you get Claudia’s stuff and bring it here?”

Again he raised his eyebrow and titled his head. “She’ll stay with you?”

“Actually, I was thinking she could stay in my room and I could stay with you.”

The Vampyre was gone so fast I didn’t even see him leave the suite.

“That guy has it bad,” Claudia said with huge smile.

I shook my head and gave her an answering grin. “And I have it even worse.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes till we had to leave and we were gathering our little army in my destroyed suite. Thankfully Vamps didn’t need to sleep regularly because Claudia, Gareth and I didn’t get a minute of shuteye last night.

“You still have green goop on your face,” I commented eyeing Martha with amusement.

A little green goop could be excused. At least she’d changed from her alarming nightclothes into her Prada suit. The Ninja Turtle Nightgown would have started off the day on a more unsettling foot.

“Fucking stuff won’t come off,” she grumbled. “Thank God I stole it and didn’t pay for the crap.”

Rolling my eyes, I tried not to groan. Served her right for having sticky fingers. The old bags had plenty of money, but seemed to enjoy the thrill of illegally lifting items. They’d apparently procured all the Christmas gifts they’d bought for Samuel through felonious means. Astrid’d had a fit.

“That Vampyre Beauty Network is bullshit,” Jane chimed in with a disgusted grunt.

“You’re correct there. Never buy or steal products from that network,” Claudia informed her knowingly.

My foe-turned-friendly-acquaintance had changed into a gorgeous blue Chanel sheath. No one would ever know the shape she’d been in only hours ago.

“You tried that crap?” Martha asked, still scrubbing at her face.

“No, I used to own the network—left when hostile investors came in and insisted on subpar products,” she replied.

Claudia was full of surprises. However, if she owned a Network why was she borrowing money from Sunny?

“I’m impressed you owned a network,” I said, slipping into the Jimmy Choo stilettos that Astrid had expertly packed for me. Alice and Olivia on top and Jimmy Choo on the bottom. I was lookin’ good and ready to kick some ass.

“Well, I had to make a living since we are notoriously long lived,” she said easily and went to help the old coots remove the remnants of the facemasks gone wrong.

“Aren’t you supported by your House?” I watched her expertly and gently peel the green flakes from Martha and Jane’s skin.

Vampyre Houses were safe havens for the undead. Everyone was generously salaried and taken care of. It was necessary when we lived secret lives in public.

“Don’t have a House,” Claudia replied with a shrug and a small smile. “Never found one where I was comfortable.”

“Cause you’re a muff diver?” Martha asked in all seriousness, unaware of how truly hideously inappropriate she was.

What the hell did I expect? She’d stapled an afro to her head to impress me…

“Well, um… that’s one way to put it,” Claudia said with a bemused chuckle. “Does your House have a problem with your sexuality?” she asked Martha.

“It’s the goddamned suit,” she shouted. “I’m not a rug muncher. I mean, I have no problem with lesbos at all, or sissy boys for that matter. I enjoy ogling a nice rack as much as every heterosexual gal does. I don’t get why everyone thinks I hump women.”

“Wait one dang minute, does humping women mean I’m a dyke?” Jane asked, concerned.

“I’m done,” I said sternly. “You two are so horrifyingly politically incorrect I can’t believe you’re still alive. I’m this close to putting both of you out of our misery—for real. Claudia is a lesbian—not a muff muncher.”

“Muff diver,” Jane corrected me.

The look I shot her made her drop and crawl for cover. “How about this? You try very, very hard not to be offensive, and I’ll let you lose the blazer of the suit.”

“No can do, Boss Mamma,” Martha said. “I’m wearing a dickie with pasties underneath this ass ugly jacket. Don’t think that sexy look is gonna fly here.”

Speechless. The mental image alone was nightmare inducing, but the fact that I had to hear her utter the words dickie and pasty in one sentence was enough to make me behead them.

“Okay then,” Claudia said pleasantly while trying not to laugh. “Keep the blazer on. I’m sorry I mistook your sexual orientation. Won’t happen again.”

“Better not, missy,” Jane admonished. “Just ̓cause I think Bette Midler is hot and Barbra Streisand has biteable hooters and I wouldn’t mind locking lips with Cher… none of that means I bat for your team.”

“Got it.” Claudia turned away and had a coughing fit to hide her laughter.

Hell, even I was laughing. And again, I was mystified how Martha and Jane were still alive. Maybe they grew on everyone like a fungus.

“Are we ready?” Gareth asked, entering the suite sporting an Armani suit minus the tie with his shirt open at the neck.

It took everything I had not to fly across the room and tackle his sexy ass to the floor. All my girlie parts tingled and my stomach flip-flopped. His expression when he took in my outfit, my shoes, my hair, and finally my obscene amount of cleavage made the tingling ramp up. Holy Hell we really were going to need to find a closet or something. Our sexual tension was so intense I was certain everyone could feel it.

“You guys wanna screw real quick?” Jane asked as she picked up a satchel full of God only knew what.

“No,” I said at the same time Gareth shouted, “Yes!”

Letting my chin drop to my chest to mask my ridiculous delight, I groaned. “We can’t be late. I don’t want any excess attention called to us.”

“Venus is correct, sadly,” Gareth said, turning his back to all to covertly rearrange his massive erection. “I’ll be with you in a moment. My… um, zipper is stuck.”

“That’s a good one, Prince Dickie,” Martha cackled and immediately zipped it when Gareth gave her a withering look.

“I thought…” Claudia started and then paused.

“You thought what?” I asked tucking a dagger into the elastic of my garter. I wanted my sword, but it might look a little conspicuous.

“I thought he might be a royal. I recognized the name Gareth.”

“You thought right,” I told her. “But please don’t treat him as such. It will blow our cover.”

“I’m just Dickie the blond haired, brown eyed, blue balled Vamp this week,” he said in a pained voice as he turned back around.

He hadn’t solved his problem at all, but everyone—even Martha and Jane—were polite or smart enough not to comment on his tented pants.

“All right, let’s get the shitshow on the road,” I said, slipping a few throwing stars into my smart little purse.

“We got some bad guys to kill,” Jane crowed, doing a little jig that looked more like a seizure than a dance.

“Trap, not kill,” Gareth reminded her. “And you will not be involved in that part. Clear?”

“As mud,” Martha bitched. “We never get to do the fun shit.”

“I wouldn’t call dealing with a deranged, psychotic monster fun,” Claudia said, checking her bag for her weapons. “Oh, and I don’t want Tiara involved in this. This is not her fight.”

“Got it,” I said as Gareth gave me a curious glance. “She won’t know a thing.”

“She means too much to me,” Claudia added quietly as she made her way to the door.

Her plea made perfect sense to me. If I could leave Gareth out of this, I would— in a heartbeat, and I was certain from the way he was staring at me, he felt the same.

Too bad, so sad. If we wanted a future together we were going to have to fight for it together.

And we would.