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I blinked. The thought of putting Erin to work had never occurred to me. Most vampires I knew were content to run around without a job to impede them. “You’re serious? You wouldn’t mind working in the bar at night?”
Erin flashed me a grateful smile and her eyes lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time. “I’d love it! I miss being busy. I miss . . . being needed. With my store, my clients needed me. Now . . .”
“Sassy needs you.” I tried to make her feel better, but that opened up a whole new can of worms.
“I know Sassy needs me, but I feel like her pet.” She glanced over at me. “You think we’re in love, don’t you?”
I slowly nodded. “Sassy gave me that impression, yes.”
Erin shifted, obviously uncomfortable. “Sassy is in love with me. But . . .”
“But you’re not in love with her?” Understanding began to pound its way into my brain. Why, oh why hadn’t I talked this over with Erin before? I’d taken Sassy’s word for everything. Feeling every inch the neglectful parent, I asked, “What do you real y think of her?”
“I am grateful,” Erin said with a shrug. “She’s taken me in and makes sure I’m safe and fed and comfortable. I care about her. Maybe I could love her if we were equals, but we aren’t. She’s my foster mother. She’s a good fifteen years older than me, which wouldn’t matter if I were real y attracted to her in that way. But the whole affair gives me the creeps. I know what she wants and I don’t want to give it to her. Truth is, I’m not that interested in a relationship with anybody. I’ve got too much to learn about myself now.”
I sat there dumbfounded. Erin made perfect sense. I kept forgetting that ful -blooded humans were more prone to focusing on age than the Fae or half-Fae, or vampires who had been in the life for a long time. Because humans age so quickly, fifteen years could signify a lifetime to some people.
Leaning forward, I propped my elbows on my knees and shook my head. “I’m so sorry, Erin. I never would have left you there if I’d known about this. I should have asked you earlier how you felt.”
“I wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to displease you.” Once again, Erin flashed back to the nervous daughter.
“How’s your inner predator?” I asked, cautiously watching her.
“Hungry, but oddly enough—I don’t feel the urge to hunt. I’m thirsty, but usual y I’m just as good with the bottles of blood as I am with a host. I was a pacifist in life, you know. And somehow . . .
that seems to have rubbed off on me in death. Undeath? ” She laughed then, and I saw a little of the old Erin in the twinkle of her eyes. “I think I can control it, but I guess I should be watched a while longer to make sure.”
Completely at a loss for words, I dropped onto the bed beside her. After a moment, I shrugged.
“Okay, if you want to work, I’l put you to work. You can sleep at the bar during the day, in the safe room unless we need to use it. Nobody wil find you there. I’l teach you how to hunt so you don’t go over the edge if your instinct does flare up. I stick to the lowlifes, the scum. Or, if I have to choose an innocent, I curtail how much I drink and leave the person with very good memories and the desire for a thick steak.”
Erin grinned at me, her fangs barely showing. “Thank you. I’ve been so worried about how I was going to make it through the next year—let alone the next hundred years. I need to be busy. I’ve always worked, ever since I was eighteen. I didn’t have a chance to go to col ege and my parents kicked me out of the house, so I got a job and learned how to take care of myself. I scrimped and saved to open the Scarlet Harlot, and it about kil ed me to sel it to Tim, though I know he’l do a great job with it.”
“Why did your parents kick you out?” I’d never real y asked Erin about her background. I knew that her parents were both dead, but her sister and brother were alive. Apparently they didn’t like the thought of having a gay member of the family. Or a vampire.
“My parents were fanatics—very right-wing religious types. I wouldn’t join their church—it was more a cult than a church, actual y. So they kicked me out when I graduated from high school. I stayed with a friend until I got a job and saved up enough for a studio apartment.”
Wincing, I couldn’t help but think that in some ways, Sephreh, our father, was just as bad. He was a bigot, too, hating Tril ian, angry enough at Camil e to kick her out.
“I’m sorry it came to that. But I’m your family now. And my sisters, and Tim and Jason. We’re here for you.”
She smiled shyly. “Thank you, Mis—Menol y.”
“So here’s what I need: someone to clean the upstairs guest rooms, to keep track of inventory, to sweep and mop the floors after we close. You wil ing to do that? I’l pay you what I would pay anybody for the job.” I knew it was below Erin’s level of expertise, but it was al I could offer at the moment.
She, however, seemed thril ed. “I’d love it. Can I rent my own place again? Now that I don’t have to go back to Sassy’s?”
“No, you don’t have to go back to Sassy’s, but as far as getting your own place, I think you should live at the bar for a while. But I promise that you’l have more freedom. We’l fix up one of the guest rooms upstairs for you at night. You can watch television and read, play on the computer
—I’l buy you a laptop. And you’l sleep in the panic room.”
If we needed the safe room to hold another demon or some such creature, I could bring Erin back to the house.
She smiled, looking content. “I’m thirsty,” she said, her voice rustling.
I gazed into her eyes. Erin might think she had her predator under control, but she stil had a ways to go. But for now, there was blood in the fridge and it tasted like beef stew.
“Listen to me, Erin. I’m going to do my best to help you grow into your new life. But if you ever, ever raise a fang against my family—anyone on this property or who belongs to my family—I wil stake you. Do you understand?”
