He reclipped the money and slid it back into his pocket. "If you insist."
I felt a quick pang of regret but stifled it. It was the right decision. I wasn't a kept woman.
And it's not as though we were married and half of Thierry's bucks immediately became mine.
No, the position of "Thierry's wife" had already been filled by a gorgeous seven-hundred-
year-old French vampire named Veronique.
She wasn't in the country at the moment.
Not that she minded our relationship. In fact, strangely enough, she encouraged it. They'd been married "in name only" now for over a century. Apparently divorcing somebody you'd been hitched to for six hundred years wasn't something you could do by simply hiring a lawyer and signing some paperwork.
Didn't bother me.
Much.
Okay, it bothered me a lot, but I tried not to dwell.
"Stay close to Heather," Thierry said. "And promise to return here as soon as this interview is over."
"I promise."
It sounded bossy, but he was just being careful. When my reputation first became known
I'd had a couple of bodyguards assigned to guard my body. I now had just one. A big brute of a guy appropriately named Butch. He was also a vampire, which definitely helped.
My last bodyguards had been human. One of them had also tried to kill me, but that was another story.
However, Butch had recently requested a few personal days for unknown reasons, which I would assume were personal. This meant that I was currently bodyguard-free, so it was vital that I be with somebody trustworthy at all times.
Frankly, it felt as if I was constantly being babysat, but if it kept me breathing I would tolerate it for as long as I had to. The reputation would fade away and the hunters would move on to something more interesting sooner or later. I hoped it would be sooner.
Lately things had cooled off considerably on the hunter front. I'd been informed there was some kind of vampire-hunter convention going on down in Las Vegas right now that the hunters were flocking to like wooden-stake-carrying birds flying south for the winter.
Remind me to stay away from Vegas at the moment. Only a crazy vamp with a serious death wish would show his or her face down there with all of those hunters lurking about.
"Then I wish you the very best of luck with your interview." Thierry leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. Our relationship had definitely improved lately. Sure, he tended toward the strong silent type, and he did have a bit of a… dark side. To put it extremely mildly.
But kissing me in public was a definite sign that things were better than ever.
After another kiss and a whisper in my ear to be careful, he left the main club area to return to his office to deal with last-minute paperwork regarding the ownership transfer.
Exciting stuff. Yawn.
"Ready?" Heather asked.
I nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."
The new bartender had already signed in, so Heather and I left the club and headed the short distance to the café, a little place called the French Connection. It specialized in overpriced cappuccinos and pastries. Since my vampire stomach couldn't handle solid food now that I was on a purely liquid diet, I ordered a coffee. Black.
Heather's boyfriend, Josh, sat at a small table in the corner. He was cute, somewhere in his twenties, and had dark shaggy hair and liquid brown eyes. I liked him immediately.
He got up and embraced Heather, kissing her hard on the lips, and then shook my hand very firmly.
"Sarah, it's such a pleasure to finally get the chance to meet you." He settled back down into his chair. The café was empty except for the three of us, and the cashier behind the counter was busy organizing the display of scones and muffins and croissants into perfect high-caloried lines.
"You, too," I said. "Heather's been raving about how great you are. And thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk to you."
"No, I should be thanking you for agreeing to consider my offer." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of bills. "Consider this a small sign of my appreciation. It's a four-hundred-dollar advance on your first paycheck."
I blinked. Wow, this was getting off to a fantastic start.
"Maybe we should skip the interview and I can start right away," I joked.
He smiled and glanced at Heather, who squeezed his hand. "I do have some questions.
Important ones."
Would it be rude if I shoved the cash into my pocket right away? Probably. "Shoot. My life is an open book."
"How long ago, precisely, were you sired as a vampire?"
I frowned. "That's kind of a strange question for a job interview, isn't it?"
He shook his head and laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is, sort of."
Heather laughed, too, and reached across the table to pat my hand reassuringly. "Josh is just trying to get to know you. Besides, the company does cater to vampire clientele."
"Oh." I relaxed a bit. "Well, okay. It was exactly ten weeks ago yesterday."
"Ten weeks." He nodded. "And you've adjusted well?"
"As well as can be expected, I guess."
"I think you've done very well."
"I try." I took a sip of my coffee, cringing a bit at how bitter it tasted. I reached over to grab a few packets of sugar, tore them open, and stirred them into the dark depths.
"And since you were sired, do you notice having any special abilities now?"
I thought about that. "Well… I'd say that my senses have increased a bit, but nothing too crazy. Like my hearing's improved. And I can smell really well. Seeing in the dark is a little clearer. Do you mean things like that?"
He nodded. "That's helpful. And do you have any prophetic dreams?"
"Prophetic dreams?"