I finally got a hold on my clutch. The thing felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. As James jabbered on, I went to work on getting it open. My fingers felt fat and numb, and I couldn’t get a good grip on the zipper.
A wave of nausea fluttered through my insides, and I swallowed it down. I needed those damn mints! In my haste to get to them, my hand flew out wildly, knocking over my glass. Wine pooled on the table’s center, spilling lazily over the side.
I startled myself by breaking into hysterical giggles. Knocking over an eighty-dollar glass of wine wasn’t even close to being funny, especially since some of it had splattered on my—Dignitary’s, technically—expensive suede stilettos. A couple vampire hipsters sitting nearby shot me disdainful scowls.Ew, look at that vulgar human! So drunk! Who broughtherhere?
“I’m so sorry, James! I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m not feeling so—” I hiccupped loudly. My mouth watered and my insides churned. I threw a hand over my mouth, dropping my handbag under the table.
James, recognizing the human signal forI’m going to hurl, yanked me up by the crook of my elbow. With the swiftness of a cheetah, he whizzed us though the crowd and down the stairs, pushing me out the fire exit into blessedly cool air.
I scurried as far away from him as I could and then heaved my guts up next to a dumpster. The rankness of the alley didn’t help. Its strongest aroma was stale urine, though decomposing animal was running a close second. I heaved again, hoping vomit wasn’t splashing on my Seraphin Blythe dress. Marlena surely wouldn’t like that.
When my guts ran dry, I croaked, “I’m so sorry, James, but we may have to call it a night.” He wouldn’t expect me to continue with our date in the state that I was in. Would he?
In lieu of an answer, he grabbed my bicep, though it was more like a savage yank. I’d have a nice bruise to look forward to tomorrow. “Ouch!”
“Oh, just shut the fuck up, would you?”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “What?”
He held his hand up and opened and closed it like a chicken clucking. “Human women are all the same.Squawk-squawk-squawk!”
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle back?” I said indignantly, no longer caring if the asshole liked me or not. I’d see to it that Michael banned him from Dignitary for life, grabbing me like that.
I bent at the waist and gripped my thighs as invisible spikes stabbed my stomach. Oh no. I was going to be sick again.
“Drugging youshouldhave made this easier on both of us, but then you had to go and be disgusting.”
I gaped at James—allthreeof him. My vision had taken on a kaleidoscope effect; his form swayed and glittered before my eyes. “Youdruggedme?” Soil.That nasty, piss-tasting, pompous Soil! Iknewsomething was wrong with it.
“You know, you reallydolook like Penelope. Although, she had far more class. You think she barfed all over like this? No, she died quietly like a good girl. Like I said,class. How much longer do you think you’ll be?”
“You . . . killed Penelope?”
He chuckled. “Sometimes, I even feel bad for it. You decoys, you’re all so very pretty,” he said condescendingly with a snort. “It’s so easy with humans, it hardly seems fair. You roommate, now she was a fighter. Even still, easy as pie.”
“Liz? Why?” I said between gags.
“I thought she was you, of course. Oops. My mistake.” He shrugged. Two white spikes glimmered in the moonlight. His fangs. They were dripping with saliva. “But this time, I’ll get it right.”
James pounced just as I made a move to run. Improvising, I bent forward and made a gagging sound, pretending to vomit. He jumped back, which I knew he would, him being as vain as he was. God forbid I wreck his expensive suit.
I couldn’t have planned what happened next any better. A car rounded the corner, one of those street racing zoomers straight fromThe Fast and the Furious. It had an obnoxious neon-green paintjob and ultra-bright headlights, which must have been hell on delicate vampire eyes. James hissed as it came bearing down on us, his hands flying to his face to shield his vision.
I made a run for it. Though I was in stilettos and drugged, I thought I was making respectable distance. James undoubtedly would have caught me, had he not had to contend with the driver, who was exiting the car to confront him. I did my best to tune out the guttural moans suggestive of someone being pummeled. My money was on it not being the vampire.
I peeped over my shoulder as I neared the end of the alley. James had the driver pinned against the car. The man’s face contorted when the vamp lowered his mouth to his neck.
Worry about yourself, I thought.
I rounded the corner, my heavy feet clomping unsteadily on pavement. Thank goodness I’d knocked my wine over, because the amount James had put in there might have killed me. I was beyond loopy and sick from the few sips I’d had.
My mouth was parched and gritty as steel wool. Whatever drug James had given me was peaking. If I didn’t find a decent place to hide soon, I’d be toast. I was running past row upon row of abandoned warehouses, and wasn’t it my luck that the doors to all of them were locked! Why? I thought furiously. It’s not like people want to break in and steal lead paint off the walls!
I cried out with relief as a door finally gave way on the scariest place in the bunch, a ramshackle structure that was probably haunted by as many mold spores as ghosts. Rusty as it was, I hadn’t expected the door to surrender so easily. I lost my balance when it screeched open and stumbled backward, my elbows slicing apart as I landed hard on the ground. The door slammed shut with a bang I was sure James had heard. I sat up clumsily and moved my head side to side, trying to regain what flimsy bearings I’d had.
“Olivia! I’m coming for you, you dumb bitch!!” the vampire shouted from somewhere not too far away. “You’re only making it worse by running!”
I jumped up and hobbled towards the door, using what was left of my ebbing strength to wrench it open once again. Inside, I had to plug my nose to stop myself from vomiting.Muggy swamp combined with rotting sugar—what on earth was that revolting sickly-sweet stench? Weirder still, a strange green light shined out from underneath a tarped over doorway.
