“You’re planning on leaving the country, are you?”
“The tickets have been bought for three months. Amy and me, that’s my best friend, not that you care, we’ve been planning it for ages. I was thinking about canceling, but now I think that it’s the best idea ever to get out of this city.”
“Perhaps you should invite Quinn to accompany you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You seem quite obsessed with that little tidbit of information, huh?
That I and Quinn are together. Well, can you blame me? He’s so incredibly hot. And dangerous. And sexy. What girl could resist?”
The corner of his mouth raised into a slight resemblance of a smile. “My, my, he sounds like quite a catch.”
“He is,” I said. “And, hey, to top it all off, he’s not suicidal or married.”
His jaw tightened.
I saw George approach to my left. “Sarah, sorry to interrupt, but you have a phone call.”
“I do? I mean, of course I do. Yes, I will be right there. Thanks, George.” I turned back to Thierry. “Well, I think I’ve said all I came here to say, and a dash extra. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an important phone call to take.”
I turned away.
“Sarah,” Thierry said, and I turned back.
“What?”
Our eyes met and I felt the fight go out of me. He stared at me for a long moment.
“Nothing. Take your phone call.”
I walked blindly to the bar while working on reducing the big lump in my throat. The phone was off the hook, and I picked it up and held it to my ear.
“Hello?” I noticed my voice was a little funny.
“Sarah?” Amy said. “Is that you? Your voice sounds a little funny.”
We were always on the same wavelength, Amy and me. Well, almost always.
“Yeah, it’s me. Where are you?”
“I left. Sorry I didn’t say anything to you first.”
I sighed. “It was Barry, wasn’t it? He is such a little prick. Did he insult you?”
“No, nothing like that.” She giggled. “He’s with me right now.”
“You’re with Barry? The little freak from the front?”
“Don’t be mean.” Her voice was stern. “I’m so glad you introduced us.”
“I didn’t introduce you. Don’t blame me.”
“Blame you? I want to thank you! I thought Peter was wonderful, but Barry is spectacular.”
“Spectacular? Are we talking about the same guy? The Napoleon Bonaparte of Toronto?
Did he drug you, or something?”
“Sarah,” she scolded. “You need to learn to look past the external. You’re so superficial.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Superficial Sarah.”
“You know, I never believed in love at first sight before, but, Sarah, he’s got such beautiful eyes. I could die.”
“You’re making me feel sick to my stomach. Where are you?”
“Never mind about that. I’m having a good time, and I just didn’t want you to worry about me.”
I simply didn’t have enough time or energy to worry about Amy. I had so many of my own problems that I was thinking about alphabetizing them. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure, anything.”
“Can you give Barry a message for me?”
“Mmm-hmm. Let me grab a pen.”
“You don’t need a pen for this. Just tell him that if he hurts you in any way, I’m going to kill him, varnish him, and stick him on my parents’ front lawn. He’d make a fantastic garden gnome.”
“I’m not going to tell him that! You’re horrible.”
“Love you, too. Have fun.”
“I’ll call you. Maybe we can go out on another double date.”
I paused. “I think I’d rather throw myself on a bed of sharp chopsticks.”
“Oooh, great idea. We’ll have Chinese food next time.”
I hung up the phone. The lump in my throat had relocated to my stomach. Maybe I should rethink my choice of best friends. Anyone who would be romantically interested in Barry had to have some serious mental issues. And it wasn’t just the fact he was short. He was just so… so Barry. That was some serious ick factor at any height. I figured I’d just go home. No reason to stick around the club any longer. I’d said all I wanted to. Come to think of it, I’d said a lot more than I’d wanted to. Not that any of it mattered.
I saw a flash of long, wavy, dark hair out of the corner of my eye. It was Veronique, and she was making the rounds, stopping at the tables to do the schmooze thing. I didn’t want her to spot me. She must have just arrived, since I hadn’t seen her until now. She was sort of hard to miss. I moved to the far side of the bar and into the hallway that ended at Thierry’s office. She hadn’t spotted me, and I breathed a slow sigh of relief. Maybe I’d just duck out the back door. No reason I had to go out the same way I came in. Just then, I heard a loud crash. I almost didn’t hear it over the music. The band hadn’t stopped playing since I’d gotten there. Right now, they were doing a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”—only with a female singer and a jazz feel. I wondered fleetingly if the band members were also vampires. Had to be. There was no way Thierry would hire them if they weren’t. The sound came from Thierry’s office. I moved toward it, straining to hear anything else. What did he say was going on in there? A private matter of some kind?
My eyes widened as I heard someone yelling indiscernible words and then another crash. My hand found the door handle and I turned it. I put my hand flat on the door to push it open slowly. You know what they say about curiosity killing the cat? Well, I was hoping that curiosity didn’t keep any wooden stakes on hand.
I recognized one of the men immediately. It was Dan, the lawyer, the one who’d saved me from Quinn and then turned him into a vampire. There were also three other men in the room. Two I’d never seen before, but when they moved out of the way, I recognized the third. It was Melanie’s new boyfriend. I think his name was Eugene, the apprentice vampire hunter. He was tied to a chair in the middle of the room and he stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. His glasses were broken and hanging off his face.
Dan turned to me as I opened the door, and his expression lit up. “Sarah.” His voice was warm and friendly. “So good to see you again. Guys, this is Sarah.”