He nodded and raised the detonator. "Very well, then."
"No—" Janie raised her hand. "Just…dammit . Just don't do it."
He smirked at her and put it back in his pocket. "Just as I thought. Come with me."
They threaded their way through the crowded casino. A devil-waitress in a red sequinedminidress and black bat wings brushed past her. The dress was so short that black sequined panties could be seen as she swished across the floor on four-inchslingbacks . If Janie hadn't felt so sick and sore and bruised and worried, she'd feel positively underdressed.
They moved past the tables, and she spotted Lenny, who, not surprisingly, was still at the blackjack table. He had his cell phone to his ear.
When he spotted her, he pushed away from the table and walked directly toward her.
"Janie," he said. "I'm glad you're here. That was the Boss. Said he's been trying your cell phone for an hour and you haven't been answering. He's very…unhappy is a good word."
She glanced nervously at Malcolm, who held the detonator firmly in his right hand, thumb hovering over the trigger. "Don't you remember? It's dead."
Bad choice of words.
"Oh. Right. I've—" He shook his head. "I've been kind of out of it."
"Have you been here since the last time I saw you? How much have you lost?"
He gritted his teeth. "I was winning for a bit."
"Didn't you write an ode to not gambling once? Why didn't you memorize it?"
He sighed. "So much for my lucky streak." He glanced at Malcolm. "Who're you?"
"Oh… this?" She gave him a nervous, sideways glance. "This is Malcolm. Malcolm is an old friend of Quinn's."
Lenny presented his big mitt of a hand. "Pleased to meet you."
Malcolm ignored it. "Janie? Let's go."
Her head ached. "Listen, I'll catch up with you in a bit, okay, Lenny?"
"No, not okay. The Boss wants to see us immediately. He's on his way here right now. I'm really, really hoping that you have the Eye now. Do you?"
"Of course I do."
"Then we're golden."
Golden. That would be the color they'd be before they turned black while the Boss roasted them over his barbecue spit.
She was usually quite good at multitasking, but perhaps that was the old,nonvampiric version of her. This version just felt a dull ache in the pit of her stomach at the thought of facing her boss without the Eye.
One thing at a time.
"Great. Listen, when he gets here, try to keep him busy for a bit, okay? I… I have something I need to take care of first."
Lenny frowned. "Janie, are you all right? You look a little pale."
"I'm fine." She made sure her long hair covered the fading bite marks on her neck. They still tingled from the balm.
"But—"
"No, I don't have time right now. You can talk to him. Tell him about your poetry. I'm sure he'd love to hear some of it."
"You really think so?"
She nodded and started backing away from him as Malcolm's grip on her arm grew tighter.
"Where are you going?" Lenny asked.
"Ladies' room."
"With him?"
"I'll be back soon. Don't worry."
Lenny didn't follow. He just looked confused. She hated giving him the task of holding off the Boss, but there was no other answer.
Time had officially run out. Her hourglass had about three grains of sand left in it. She hoped those grains would count and everything would work out okay.
She hissed out a breath through her clenched teeth.Dammit , she wished she knew for sure that her sister was safe. She could only hope that she'd gotten through to Angela about how dangerous it was to stay in Vegas.
At least her sister had Barkley around to protect her like a big furry watchdog. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to her, would he?
She turned toward the slot machines.
"Oh, shit," she said out loud.
The big furry watchdog waved at her.
"Hey, Janie!" Barkley called as she and Malcolm grew closer.
Her stomach flipped over. Could this night get any worse?
"Janie," Barkley said. "I need to talk to you."
"Janie—" Malcolm's voice held a firm warning. Her eyes darted down to the detonator. One click and
Quinn was dead.
She glanced at him and then back at Barkley. "Where's Angela? Is she okay?"
"Yeah, about that." He bit his bottom lip and averted his gaze. "So remember that whole thing I was talking about her and me being soul mates, and how madly in love with her I was?"