Red-Headed Stepchild

Page 16

“It’s a long story.”
“Either way,” she said. “I’m afraid if you want to stay here he’ll have to stay in your room at all times.”
Oh great. One more thing for Giguhl to give me shit about.
“Fine,” I said. “Can I see the room now?”
She was looking at the cat crate with interest, her anxiety having given way to curiosity. “Follow me,” she said.
She led the way to a short hallway to the right of the living room. She went through the only door, which led to the bedroom.
“Wow, this is certainly … floral,” I said.
“If you like this you should see my room,” she said. “I just love flowers.”
That much was obvious. The place looked like a rose bush exploded. The white bedspread had a pink rose pattern that matched the drapes on the small window. The white dresser had a huge vase of yellow roses. There was even a rose wallpaper border along the ceiling.
“My room is across the living room from here, so you’ll have plenty of privacy. Plus, most nights I’m busy outside tending to the grounds.”
“Are you the landlord or something?” I asked.
“No, silly, I’m a faery, remember? Taking care of plants is kind of our thing.”
“Oh, right.”
“Anyway, I’ll let you get settled,” she said. “The bathroom is through that door. There are plenty of towels in there. Make yourself at home.”
“Hey, Vinca?”
She turned as she was about to walk through the door. “Yes, roomie?”
Every time she said that word it was like someone running fingernails down a blackboard. “Thanks for putting me up for a few days.”
Her smile lit up the garden-like room. “It’s my pleasure.” She stopped and put a hand to her forehead. She swayed and I stepped forward to help, worried she might be in pain. Then she seemed to recover completely, as if coming out of a trance. “Whoa, that was a strong one.”
“What? Are you okay?”
“Oh yes,” she waved a delicate hand through the air. “Just one of my visions.”
“Do you have visions often?” I asked, trying not to sound too freaked out.
“Sometimes. It’s a nymph thing.”
I was almost afraid to ask, but I did anyway. “What did you see?”
“I saw the two of us laughing together under a mighty oak tree. You know what that means, don’t you?” She looked at me expectantly. All I could do was shake my head. “We’re totally going to be best friends!”
I felt my eyes widen. “Great,” I said slowly and backed away a step.
She waited and smiled at me, like she was expecting more of a reaction. I hated to disappoint her, but I tended to avoid declaring my undying friendship to anyone, especially overly enthusiastic nymphs I’d just met.
“Okay, well, I really need to unpack now.”
“Okay, roomie! Just call if you need anything.”
As she shut the door, I dropped on the bed. Best friends? With a nymph? Not likely. At best, I was counting on her openness to work to my benefit as I grilled her for information about Clovis. At worst—well, at worst, I was going to have to figure out a way to put up with her perkiness. I don’t do perky.
Shaking myself from my thoughts, I got busy unpacking. I only had about four hours until sunrise and I still needed to feed.
* * *
After unpacking my few belongings and a brief argument with a severely pissed-off Giguhl, I left my room. My plan was to get directions from Vinca to the nearest vamp bar, so I could grab a pint or three.
I found her in the kitchen. When I walked in she was humming a tune while she tended to a pot of some type of herb on the windowsill. She stopped and turned to me with a smile when she saw me.
“Hi there. All settled in?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So.” She dusted dirt from her slender hands as she spoke. “I was thinking we could hang out and get to know one another.”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to be outright rude to her, especially when she looked so eager. But I desperately needed to feed.
“Err, actually, I kind of need to head out for a little while.”
Her face fell. “Oh. Where are you going?”
“I was going to see if you could direct me to one of the local vamp clubs.”
“Really?” The excitement in her voice set me on guard.
“Do you know where any are?”
“There’s a place a few blocks away that I’ve heard about. It’s supposed to be pretty cool. I’ve never been there. Or any vamp club for that matter.”
The statement hung in the air between us for a few seconds. She didn’t say it, but it was obvious she wanted to come with me.
“You wouldn’t want to come with me, would you?” Please say no.
Her eyes lit up. “I thought you’d never ask! Let me just change. I’ll just be a sec.”
She ran off toward her room before I could call her back. The last thing I needed was a nymph with sunshine coming out of her ass tagging along with me. Now I’d have to find some way to sneak away from her a little bit so I could feed. On the bright side, it might be a good opportunity for me to get some info out of her.
Five minutes later, she came back into the living room. Gone were the faded jeans and soft green sweater. Now she wore a something straight out a of strip club. The skirt landed about an inch below her girly bits and the black scrap of lace across her breasts could only be called a blouse in the loosest sense. I stared at her in shock for a moment, but she only smiled back innocently. Then I looked down at my own black leather pants and black and red mesh halter, and decided I didn’t have a lot of room to question her fashion choices.
Her cheeks were pink with excitement. “You ready?”
Ten minutes later, Vinca’s gecko-green Volkswagen beetle pulled up in front of a dance club. I slumped down in my seat as vampires near the entrance eyed the car. No self-respecting vampire would choose to ride around in that hippiemobile. Especially one with a license plate reading “FLWRPWR.”
A valet guy came forward immediately and handed Vinca a ticket as we left the car. I ignored the stares and led the way into the club.
The club itself was a soaring mass of concrete and steel. The two stories of windows rattled with the deep bass reverberating from inside. Two brawny bouncers wearing matching black T-shirts waved us in after a few salacious comments.
The din inside made my eardrums ache. The crowd seemed a mix of vamps and Gothed-up mortals. It always made me laugh that vampires usually dressed in modern clothes, while those who emulated them seemed stuck in some Goth time warp.
Vinca was nearly skipping with excitement as we approached the bar. I prayed she wouldn’t do anything to embarrass me. The bartender, a skinny guy with a shock of orange hair, leered at Vinca before asking for our orders. Given the lack of security at the place, I settled for ordering a whiskey, while Vinca asked for a Shirley Temple. When I looked at her, she smiled back as if her drink order wasn’t totally ridiculous.
“Don’t you want something with a little kick?”
She shook her head. “Faeries don’t need alcohol. Sugar is our intoxicant of choice.”
We got our drinks and wound our way through the sweaty hordes to an unoccupied booth on the other side of the club. As we walked, I noticed more males looking at my new roommate as if she was dessert. She didn’t seem to mind as she winked and smiled at them. Once we were settled, Vinca took a large gulp of her pink drink, while I watched the action out on the massive dance floor. From the corner of my eye, I saw Vinca watching me. She finally leaned into my field of vision to get my attention.
“So, Sabina, tell me everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“About you, silly. Tell me about your life.”
She waited with a patient smile while I tried to figure out how much to tell her. “There’s not much to tell, really. Up until recently I was an assassin for the Dominae, but that didn’t really work out. So here I am.”
“Oooh, an assassin! How interesting. How many beings have you killed?”
I was shocked she took the news in stride. “I’m not sure, really. A lot.”
“Interesting. And now you want to join Clovis. I guess that makes sense if you had a falling out with the Dominae.”
“I guess so. I’m not really sure about it, though.”
“Well, why not? Clovis is amazing.”
“How did you meet him?” I asked.
She shrugged and played with the little umbrella in her drink. “It’s a long story, but the short version is the city is no place for a naive young nymph fresh from the forest. I fell on some hard times and ended up getting involved in a faery porn ring.”
I choked on my drink, sputtering whiskey all over my pants. Vinca patted me on the back and handed me a napkin. Once I recovered, I said, “Faery porn?”
“Yeah. There’s a big black market for it here. And since I’m a nymph, and my kind is known for our … skills, I was a big hit for a while.” She paused to take a sip from her drink. “Anyway, Manroot, my manager, eventually moved on to a younger ingénue. I was left with no money and a bad case of crabs. Clovis heard about my problem from a friend who’d joined the Temple and offered to help me get back on my feet. The rest is history.”
“Wow,” I said. “How long ago was that?”
“Ten years next month,” she said. “Anyway, when I met Clovis, I had a vision that told me I could trust him. I don’t know where I would have ended up if Clovis hadn’t helped me. And I’m not the only one. He’s taken in dozens of vampires, mancies, and other beings since I’ve known him.”
I let the vision comment slide. “What does he ask for in return?” I wasn’t buying this touchy-feely crap. Clovis didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d help someone without a little quid pro quo.