“Cute,” I said to him.
“Dark Queen’s orders,” he said, with a trace of a snarky grin. He was wearing black jeans and a T-shirt and that hint of snark on his face as he clipped a security band to my wrist so I could be tracked. I didn’t argue. I had, after all, helped create all the security protocols. Once I was trackable, Derek stepped back and said, “Morning, Legs.”
And that just warmed my heart strings.Legs.Notmy queenor something else stupid.
He indicated the ballroom entrance and said, “Check out the preparations. Wrassler’s in there, nervous as a cat with nine tails. Maybe you can calm him down some more, though you were brilliant to send Deon to help. We had no idea he was a wedding planner as well as a chef.”
Deon was a wedding planner? I sent Deon? Nope. My Consort sent Deon.We trailed the delivery people to the ballroom, and I stopped in the open door. The stained glass in the overhead arches glittered, casting brilliant light across the piled up deliveries, the columns, and the ballroom floor. The stained glass wasn’t open to the sun. The “windows” were set into a dropped ceiling of arches, lights above them, to fake the appearance of sunlight in the vamp-safe room. There were rows of metal seats in two sections with a wide aisle down the middle. A woman in jeans and a tee was dressing the chairs in one-piece outfits and adding little blue bows. Another woman was directing the placement of the tables, ordering the men around like a drill sergeant. Wrassler was standing in the corner, arms hanging limply, a look of woe on his face.
I stopped next to him. “Prewedding jitters, Wrassler?”
“Huh. I got local and foreign fangheads in town for this.A passel of witches. And every cop in town wants to be here too. The liquor bar I’m good with, but the blood bar is not gonna make my bride happy.”
Music started up through the speakers, a waltz, and Gee DiMercy appeared in an alcove. I was pretty sure he hadn’t been there only a moment ago. I kept an eye on him as we talked.
I shrugged. “Tell Deon the blood bar has to be moved to the gym.”
Wrassler shot his eyes to me. “Really?”
“It’s your wedding. You’re pretty much in charge of what goes on at HQ anyway. Just make sure the visiting vamps understand that they have to be escorted back and forth to the bar—and that no means no. They do not have permission to consider this event a buffet or to roll the humans.”
“And if one of them gets out of line?”
I considered. “I like beheading vamps who get out of line. And as the Dark Queen, I don’t care if the blood shows.”
Wrassler burst out laughing and gave me a massive hug. “I love you, Janie.”
“Love you too, big guy.”
From the doorway, a voice called, “Are you trying to steal my man?”
Wrassler let me go and winked at me before limping to Jodi and giving her an even bigger hug, tight enough that she squeaked in surprise. When he let her go, she shouted to me, “Don’t you dare mess up my wedding, woman.”
“I’ll do my best to keep things perfect.” As promises went, that one pretty much sucked, but it was the best I could do.
Wrassler was right. This particular wedding combo was rife with bad possibilities. As I watched, Gee gave instructions, and Wrassler took Jodi, who was like half his size and still wearing her service weapon, in his arms. With Gee correcting hand and arm positions, and Wrassler trying so hard to obey even when his prosthetic leg gave less than perfect balance, they began to waltz.
Tears pricked under my lids. “This is so sweet. It’s going to be fabulous,” I murmured to Derek, who was still standing near me.
“Yeah. You done good, Janie. The ballroom is looking great. Homer is happier than I ever saw him.”
“Homer?” I said, watching the couple as they danced across the room, dodging the delivery men.
“Homer Perkins. Wrassler.”
I shot him a look of surprise. “Wrassler’s name is Homer?”
“Homer Perkins. Word is, he used to take all kinds of shiii... crap about it when he was a kid.” There was a soft smile on Derek’s mouth, not a smile that had ever been directed at me. “Then he got so big, and no one hassled him anymore, but he still hated his name. Dubbing him Wrassler is the best thing you ever did for him. Well. That and pushing him to go out with Jodi.”
I frowned at him. Derek was talking to me. Normal human talk. Nothing insulting or mean or snide. “I need to go to the subbasement four storage room.”
“I’ll walk with you. I can update you on security for the wedding.”
Derek was going to walk with me. Okay. Either he was going to shoot me and hide my body—there were probably bodies buried in the walls—or someone had changed places with him.Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Pod People, maybe. We got on the elevator, and the doors closed, me waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Derek slid in his card key to initiate the elevator and clasped his hands in front of him, standing with his feet shoulder width apart, like some kind of parade rest. I slouched in the corner, watching us both in the steel reflections. The elevator started down. He said, “I’ve been a jerk. I hope you will accept my apology.”
I saw myself blink. It would have been the perfect time to attack because I was pretty nonplussed. I squinted at his reflection. “You hated my guts from the first time we met. One of your people had a sniper rifle aimed at my spine.”
