Stakes & Stilettos - Michelle Rowen [82]
I eyed him warily. “Since when have you become Mr. Touchy-Feely?”
“Ever since my last relationship ended. I’m all needy now. Humor me.”
I glanced at Thierry, shook my head, and gave George a hug.
“I brought you a change of clothes,” he told me. “I thought the new black jeans and smiley-face tank top would be a nice look. Put a positive fashion spin on this whole situation.”
I clung to him. “Thank you.”
George patted my back. “Feeling better?”
“Not really.”
“Why not?”
I swallowed hard and dug my fingers into his shoulder blades. “In about five seconds I’m going to bite you. And I won’t be able to control it. I suggest you step away.”
He released me as if I had just sprouted sharp spikes.
I was breathing hard and the hunger welled within me like a living, breathing thing. I knew my eyes had gone from normal to black in no time flat because I saw the world differently. Like a predator looking for her next meal. And the predator saw two worthy candidates to munch on at the moment.
“I need blood and I need it right now,” I managed, even though I could barely speak past the fangs.
And I got the blood. From a keg. As much as I needed, which was good, because as sickening as it was to admit it, I needed a lot.
Not a good or safe way to feel right after one has just woken up…
Undead and unfed.
Chapter 15
I thought Claire would have her fiancé with her when she arrived. Even though humans weren’t allowed in Haven, I was sure that Thierry would make an exception this one time. But instead she brought a small dog, which looked more like a mangy mutt than any specific breed, on a harness leash.
He also wore a muzzle.
I nodded at the dog. “Is he friendly?”
She glanced at the dog. The dog glanced up at her. “Too friendly sometimes. Especially when checking out cute waitresses in Red Lobster.”
“What’s his name?”
“Reggie.”
I frowned. “Isn’t that your fiancé’s name, too?”
Reggie growled at that.
Claire looked down at him sharply. “I swear, if you try to say anything right now you will be in even bigger trouble than you already are, mister. I’m mad at you.”
The growl turned into a whimper that sounded vaguely like, “Ah ruvv yu, caaar.”
She looked up at me. “Actually, this is my fiancé. When he’s been bad I use a transformation spell to turn him into an animal as punishment. He’s been a rat, a weasel, a ferret”—she frowned—“are ferrets and weasels the same thing? Anyhow, he’s been a snake, a small, hairy pig, and now a dog.”
I blinked and waited for her to tell me she was just kidding, but she looked at me with complete sincerity.
Ten weeks ago I didn’t believe in any of this stuff: vampires, witches, demons, you name it. Now, Claire was saying that she had used her knowledge of witchcraft to turn the man she planned to marry into a dog as a penalty for looking at other women?
Not my business. I had my own issues to deal with at the moment.
I looked down at Reggie. He looked up at me and wagged his tail.
O-kay.
Thierry had closed the club. It would not be open to the general vampire public tonight. Which was a good thing, since we needed the space and privacy.
Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, would be the last night Haven opened for regular business with its current staff. After that, the new owners would move their people in. They’d probably even change the décor. Out with the old, and in with the new. I figured that the regular customers would keep on coming here despite the fact Thierry didn’t own it anymore. Other than Haven, there was only one other vamp club in Toronto at the moment that I knew of. Four others had either shut down or been burned to the ground after the recent hunter blitz.
Butch stood guard near the door. I wasn’t sure if it was to keep other people out or to keep me in. He wasn’t currently speaking to me after my tossing him around Thierry’s office last night like a bodyguard-shaped Beanie Baby, despite a sincere apology to him earlier. In fact, he wasn’t even making eye contact with me anymore, not even to give me the evil eye.
But not because he was pissed. I think