“Is it wrong that I want to support Missy and Richard in their new lives together?” He squinted at me. A wide smile spread across his face. “Do you have your fangs now? Congratulations.”
I ignored that. It didn’t seem polite to notice a woman’s fangs in public. “Did Thierry send you?”
He sat down on a rustic-looking sofa and sighed heavily. “Do you honestly think I’d be in this place if he hadn’t?”
“He told me he never wants to see me again.”
“He’s a hard man to understand. But you know what they say—a hard man is good to find.” He grinned.
I was trying to be patient. I really was. “But he didn’t come. He sent you to spy on me instead.”
“He’s super busy. Another club was hit.”
“The hunters?” I raised my eyebrows.
George nodded grimly. “Normally, they only pick off the vamps in the open, but this year they’re finding our hiding spots, too. I don’t know how.”
“Thierry sent you to keep an eye on me,” I said suspiciously. “To make sure I was okay?”
“Yeah, he likes you.”
“So everyone keeps telling me. He sure has a funny way of showing it.” I took a deep, slightly shuddery breath and looked at him. “It’s been bad, really bad being here, George. I feel like my entire life is falling apart. Don’t tell Thierry, but I think he was right. I can’t pretend to be normal. Well, not as normal as I used to be, anyhow.”
“Why be normal? Normal is boring.”
I glanced up as one of Richard’s groomsmen emerged from the reception hall. He smiled at me and headed off toward the kitchen.
“He’s cute,” George said.
“Hello? Focus, George.” I frowned at him. “You didn’t happen to have a keg of blood sent here, did you?”
“No.”
“Seriously. You can tell me if you did. I just signed for it out back.”
He shook his head. “Seriously, no, I didn’t.”
I leaned back in the sofa. “Then I don’t get it. Why would they make a delivery all the way out here?”
“Probably for the groom,” George said.
I sat bolt upright. “Excusez-moi?”
“The groom. He’s one of us. Didn’t you notice his fangs?”
“I don’t inspect the mouth of every person I come across, you know. Besides, fangs are small, hardly noticeable unless you’re right up close and personal.” I shook my head so hard I felt dizzy. “No way. He’s from Abottsville, for Christ’s sake. He’s a bloody accountant.”
“And?”
“And…” I sputtered. “He’s not a vampire. No way. Not a chance.”
Just then, the groomsman reappeared dragging the silver keg behind him. He disappeared into the reception area after giving me another grin. Staring after him, I had my mouth so wide open that small children might have been tempted to throw things into it. I turned to George.
“And so are his buddies,” he said.
“No way.” I shook my head. “Richard’s not a vampire. Neither are his friends. You’re being ridiculous.”
George stood up from the sofa. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter, I guess.”
I grabbed his brown-leather-clad leg and stared up at him. “Of course it matters. This is important. Why would you think something like that, anyhow?”
“Other than the keg of blood he just rolled across the dance floor? I just know. It’s a
Spidey-sense kind of thing. Since you’ve got your fangs now, I’m surprised you don’t feel it, too.”
“Spidey-sense? No. No way.”
“Anyhow”—George rolled his eyes—“let’s move on, shall we? The boss wants me to escort you personally back to Toronto. So, let’s say, noonish tomorrow?”
I stood up, feeling tense—from my ugly purple beaded earrings to my nice silver three-inch mules. “You can’t just tell me my cousin married a vampire and then change the subject.”
“Why?”
“Because”—I flailed my arms, looking for a reason I could pinpoint—“because he’s a vampire, that’s why. Missy’s a human. Hello? And from what I’ve gone through in the past day, I can vouch for it being a mondo bad idea. Unless…” I put a hand to my mouth to stop a gasp. “Unless Missy’s a vampire, too. Is she?”
“She is so not a vampire.”
I let out a long sigh. Lucky Missy. “Then I need to tell her what she’s gotten herself into.
The wedding’s already happened, but she can always get it annulled.” I paused. “I just hope she doesn’t end up with more cats because of this.”
“Yeah, you go tell her.” George sounded as if he couldn’t care less. “And I’m going to go dance.”
We parted as soon as we walked back into the reception hall. George took over the dance floor, dragging my mother up with him for a rousing rendition of the Macarena, and I scanned the room. Before speaking to Missy, I needed to confront Richard. Find out what the hell he thought he was doing marrying my poor naive cousin. But he was nowhere to be seen. For that matter, neither were his buddies or the newly delivered keg of blood.
I spotted Missy on the dance floor with Lana and Susan. They’d sidled up to George and were flirting madly with him. They beckoned for me to join in, but I gave them the bottoms-up signal to make them think I was looking for another drink.
So, George could sense other vampires, huh? I wondered if I could do it, too, this sensing- vampires thing. I was losing my reflection earlier than normal, thanks to Thierry’s extra-caffeinated blood. My fangs had sprouted early, too. Maybe this was the same sort of deal. Worth a try, anyhow. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the music and voices around me. I breathed in deeply through my nose, then let it out slowly through my mouth and concentrated as hard as I could.
Then I opened my eyes, walked directly to the tiny coat checkroom just past the bar on the right-hand side of the reception hall, opened the door, and flicked on the light. Richard and his two buddies looked up at me in surprise. They were seated cross-legged next to a row of coats with the keg in between them. Each held a shot glass. I raised my eyebrows. Hey, my Spidey-sense worked. Who knew?
“What the hell is going on in here?” I demanded.
“Shhh.” Richard grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to the floor. Then he wheeled a rack of coats between us and the door, so we were partially hidden, and got up to flick off the light. My eyes adjusted surprisingly fast to the dimness.
“Drink?” his blond-haired buddy asked—he’d been the one George had thought was cute.