“Exactly,” Marlena said.
“While we’re on the subject of dining, have your clients ever bitten any decoys? It isn’t racist against vampires or whatever for me to ask, is it?” For my own peace of mind, it had to be asked.
They snickered. The back of my neck prickled with embarrassment.Ithought it was a valid question.
Marlena shook her head. “There are underground blood banks that cater solely to vampires. Instead of receiving it, they’re selling it, you see. On the surface, they look like an average human business. Behind the scenes, though, they’re dealing in blood. In fact, the bar where you and Michael met is one such establishment.”
“Shwilly Pete’s?”
“Oh, Peter was an infamous buccaneer of his day,” Michal commented, as if he was discussing an accountant or schoolteacher.
“Shwilly Pete was anactual pirate?”
He nodded. “He relieved many British of their treasures.”
“And now he runs a bar in San Francisco that also doubles as a blood bank for vampires.” I couldn’t believe that I had given the statement in earnest.
I must have looked stunned, because Michael added with a shrug, “It’s the same as you going to a coffee house and ordering a Frappa-whatever off the menu. It hasn’t always been this way, of course, but vampires have evolved to keep up with the times. We can’t go around killing people. There would be repercussions.”
“Vampires do slip up occasionally. It’s rare, though. Like humans, we are not unflawed,” Marlena said.
My idea of “slipping up” was downing a whole pint of ice cream instead of the intended scoop, not draining a mortal of their blood. Quibbles to a vampire, I supposed.
“But none of our clients have ever bitten a decoy,” she added. “Not a single time in the ninety-seven years we’ve been in business.”
I still had my reservations. It sounded too packaged and perfect. “So,nobodyhas ever been hurt?”
Michael and Marlena exchanged another look, then Michael said, “I suppose there’s no point in hiding it. You’d hear it from one of the other decoys, regardless, if you decide to work for us. Theydolove to gossip.”
“At least if you hear it from us your opinion of vampires won’t be tainted by silly speculations. Some of the decoys have vivid imaginations,” Marlena added acerbically.
Iknewthere had to be a catch.
“Throughout the years, four decoys have gone missing. To clarify, none of them ever disappeared while on the job,” Michael said.
“What happened to them?”
He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. One day they were here, decoying for us regularly. The next—poof—they were gone. What breaks my heart most is that I don’t know what became of any of them.”
“When did this happen?”
“Different times. One in 1924, one in 1963, one in 1985, and then the last one.”
Did Marlena think I wouldn’t notice her omission? “And the last?”
Marlena was smooth with the answer. “Penelope went away last month.”
Last month!
“Went away?” What strange phrasing.
“I’m telling you, Olivia, it was like she evaporated from the face of the earth. Everything she owned was left inside her apartment: clothes, furniture, wallet . . . even an envelope filled with five grand in cash. Penelope worked for us for about three years. She was like a daughter,” Michael said, his eyes glistening. Marlena signed, shooting him dagger eyes.
I tried to be gentle with my enquiry. “What makes you believe vampires weren’t responsible for the disappearance?”
Marlena wasted no time answering, probably to stop Michael from spilling more tea. I was wishing she’d leave so that just Michael and I could talk openly. Fat chance of that happening. “We are talking about onlyfourdecoys in a time span of nearly a hundred years, Olivia. Certainly, human businesses have had a few employees go missing during the same amount of time.”
While she had a point, she was overlooking the fact that human businesses weren’t run by creatures who needed to drink blood to stay alive. They had their blood banks, but what if they didn’t realize their supply had been depleted? There had been times when I’d forgotten to go to the grocery store and out of ravenousness eaten the first edible things I’d come across, calling a hunk of cheese, a few gummy worms, and a handful of popcorn a meal. Was it so inconceivable that the same might happen to a vampire with a human in place of snack foods?
