Real Vampires Don't Diet

"Admirable, I'm sure." Simon cocked his head. "Wonderful music, but then I'd expect no less in the house of Israel Caine."

"Thank you, Simon." Ray nodded. "Come meet some of our guests. Glory, you need to put up the pets. Drac and his friends are going to drain them dry if we're not careful."

"Sorry, darling." But I saw that I might be too late. Nathan had set his tray on the coffee table and had been cornered by Lily. She was talking to him and giving him looks that could only be described as hungry. Of course she'd promised to lay off mortals here, but Nate's rare blood type was a powerful draw and the fact that she was a beautiful woman didn't make Nathan look exactly reluctant either. So much for putting him on alert.

Sienna sat beside Luke at the piano and they were singing a duet. The music was wonderful and amazing considering Luke never looked at the keyboard, only at Sienna's pale neck where she had a small tattoo of a golden key. Oh, yeah. Talk about an invitation. Trying to get either Sienna or Nate out of the room was going to take artillery fire or one of West wood's arrow barrages.

Just then I heard a croaking sound from outside. Aggie's Siren's song. Oh, boy. Now the party was really getting started.

Chapter Nineteen

"I think there's something out there." Sienna pointed at the French doors.

Now if those weren't words to freeze me in my tracks. I glanced at Simon. This was it. Could I get him to go outside and check?

"Gloriana, why would I want to go out in that weather when I just got in out of it?" Damn, I'd forgotten the mind blocking trick. "You're the most powerful person here, Simon. If it's something dangerous, I figure you're the one best able to handle it." I saw that everyone in the room was moving toward the doors, though my friends were smart enough to realize that this was probably what we'd been planning for. Flo and Richard made room for Drac and Benny at the glass, while Damian practically pushed Greg Kaplan toward the door. I was frantically counting the tiles on the floor near my feet when the door opened.

"It's Will!" I was the only one who ran forward to help the vampire as he staggered inside. Everyone else jumped back when rain blew inside. Damian finally wrestled the door shut for me.

"Who's Will?" Drac brushed raindrops off his suit and nodded at Benny who went back to the piano and started playing again.

"He's one of my bodyguards." Ray grabbed Will's arm and helped me drag him toward the hall. "What the hell were you doing outside, man? I never told you to patrol the grounds in this weather." Ray waved at the startled guests. "We'll be right back. Please help yourselves to drinks. Thanks, Ben, for playing. Maybe Sienna and I will sing in a few minutes." This last got everyone back to talking and dancing. Even Simon smiled and introduced himself to Dracula. Ray and I managed to get Will into a downstairs study where he collapsed on a couch. He wore the same ripped jeans and Tshirt he'd had on when Aggie had captured him days before.

"How did you get away from Aggie?" I ran to the bar and returned with a couple of bottles of synthetic. Will gulped one down, then sighed and looked at Ray, then me.

"Bad news. She sent me here with a message. You got an hour to get Casanova and two others here or she's calling the three of us to her." Will shuddered. "I didn't think she'd do it. I've gotten to know her, and she's not that bad if you look past the creepy exterior."

I put my hand to his head. "Are you sick? Crazy? She just sent you in with a death threat."

"Yeah, yeah, but you see this weather? That's her boss going nuts. The woman's got problems. Achelous is way more powerful than anything I've ever seen before. Aggie's in big-time trouble because she dealt with Circe."

"So why don't we call her bluff? Maybe the boss will pull Aggie out of here and she won't be able to give Circe anything." Ray looked back toward the living room. "Frankly, I don't think anyone in there is willingly going outside in this weather. If Aggie can't lure them out with her singing"

"She tried. Didn't you hear her earlier?" Will grimaced, pulled off his wet T-shirt and wiped his face. "She's lost her voice. She can still draw the three of us to her, but that's about all the power she's got left unless someone flies right over the lake. The Storm God zapped her a good one when he saw what she looked like. He takes pride in his beautiful Sirens. Then when he heard it was because she'd been dealing with Circe Man, he really flipped out. He hates the goddess."

"Why does he hate her? Did you see him? What's the story?"

"Yeah, I saw him. Yelling at Aggie. He's a big dude. Looks like a statue straight out of one of those museums." Will grabbed another bottle of synthetic and took a swallow. "Man, I'm weak. I just could not drink from Aggie. She smelled sorta human, but fishy too." Will made a face. "She offered, believe it or not."

"Come on, Will. Did you find out anything that could help us?" I wanted to shake him when he took another drink.

"Don't know if it'll help, but Achy and Circe used to be an item back in the day. Not clear who did the dumping, but it was an ugly breakup. Then the goddess started throwing lightning bolts and thunder around, getting on Achy's turf. That really pissed him off. Now she's messing with one of his Sirens. The dude's gone ballistic." The house shook with an especially loud boom of thunder to prove the point.

I had an idea. "You think he's stronger than Circe? Maybe if someone talked to him, he could help us get off the hook."

"Are you nuts?" Ray jumped in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders. "You're not going outside and that's final."

"Did I say I was going outside?" I looked at him until he released me. Just in time. Jerry appeared in the doorway, summoned by Valdez no doubt. You didn't think they'd let me out of their sight for long, did you?

"For once, Caine and I agree on something. You sure as hell aren't setting one foot outside." Jerry nodded at Ray. "Your guests are restless. I think you'd better sing, Caine, and keep Ms. Star next to you or she's going to end up with someone's fangs in her neck."

Ray just stood there, not exactly inclined to jump to Jerry's command.

"What about Simon? Is there a chance we can get him near enough to the doors to push him out?" I realized how stupid that sounded the minute the words left my mouth. No one pushed Simon Destiny anywhere.

"I'm going to my room to shower and change. I'll be right down and maybe we can figure out something. I wouldn't lay odds on who's stronger out there." Will stood and stretched. "One good thing. Aggie's so busy juggling the god and the goddess, I think we really got more than the hour. And if she was listening in right now, I figure we'd be getting hit with some serious pain. Either of you feeling it?" Will glanced at us.

Ray and I looked at each other. Not a twinge. It was a freakin' miracle.

"Me either. Okay then. We've still got time. Hours before dawn. I know Aggie's impatient, throwing out ultimatums, but I don't think she'll follow through." He smiled. "Hey, what can I say? I've been working my mojo on her. The lady's crazy about me." He winked and headed for the stairs.

"I so don't want that picture in my head." I looked at Ray.

"No kidding. Will's lost his freakin' mind." Ray shook his head.

"Makes you wonder whose mojo was working, Will's or the slime sister's?" Valdez bumped Ray over so he could stand in front of me. "You stay away from her, Blondie."

"I hear you." I looked at Valdez, Ray, then Jerry. "All of you. Now we'd better get back out there. Ray, you can sing and I can keep the synthetic coming." I walked up to Jerry. "You'd better remind your daughter of her promise. Lily was looking at Nathan like he was one of the last Cheetos in the bag."

"I noticed." Jerry shrugged. "I'm afraid she's got a lot of her mother in her."

"Yep, Mara's daughter would tend to be all about 'me first,' wouldn't she? You'll have to go some to rein that in." I smiled. "You can do it." I jumped when Ray slid his arm around my waist.

"Let's go, Glory. We have guests."

"Oh, right. Later, Jerry." I hoped my smile took the sting out of the way I let Ray hold on to me. We headed out to the living room just in time to hear a double volley of thunder that made the electric lights flicker and then go out. Most of us had vamp vision, but I found some matches and lit candles around the room so Nate and Sienna could see. It did add some charm to the setting when Ray sat at the piano, pulling Sienna down beside him. They sang their hit song just like they'd been practicing it. A love song. Even heartless Simon seemed moved. Not that I could really concentrate on what everyone was doing or feeling. I was easing my way around the room and out to the kitchen. I wanted to get to Aggie. There had to be a way to settle this without sending the good guys, including me, to hell. I picked up a long hooded slicker from the utility room and shrugged into it then struggled to open the back door against the wind and rain. I immediately heard Aggie's Siren song, if you could call the pathetic croaking a song. The sound was pretty weak, but I felt the pull. It was wasted on me because she was who I was headed for anyway. Was this stupid? I didn't think so. Circe wasn't interested in a female sacrifice. And Aggie had just let Will go. I saw this last as a sign that the Siren really wanted to wiggle out of making the wrong choice.

"Aggie, where are you?" I held on to the railing and took the stairs down to the dock below. Sure enough, Aggie was huddled under the overhang, trying unsuccessfully to stay out of the blowing rain.

"I'm here. Are you the only one coming? Damn, this is a disaster." She laid her snout on the deck, a pink tear trickling down her scaly cheek.

"Where's your boss? I'd like to talk to the Storm God." ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">