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“I see. So you haven’t run away and joined the Earthborn Brethren? Or Freedom’s Angels? Or one of the numerous other hate groups?” If they weren’t part of the movement against the Fae, I might be able to reason him off his high horse. I turned on my glamour. Hel , I’d use every trick in the book to protect Chrysandra and my bar.
Viper blinked again. “Um . . . no. What’s that got to do with anything?”
I let out a long breath, for effect, and a loud one. “How many times do the cops come by and harass your group? How often do you guys get thrown in jail just for hanging around the wrong side of town? After al , aren’t all bikers troublemakers and lawbreakers?”
He stared at me for a moment and I saw the knife waver. I was making an inroad. I crossed my arms and stared him down, wil ing him to lower the knife. As he slowly acceded—he was easy enough to take on once I’d gotten his attention—I leaped lightly off the bar and walked toward him, holding out my hand.
“Put the knife in my hand, slowly, hilt first.”
“Viper, what are you doing, man?” One of his buddies started forward, but I gave him a look and motioned toward Derrick with my head. “Move and he blows you out of the water, dude. And Humpty won’t even be able to find al of the pieces, let alone put himself together again.”
He froze, and Viper slowly handed over the knife. I examined it. Nice blade. “Now the sheath.”
He obeyed, and I strapped it to my belt, then slid the bowie knife in and snapped it shut. “Good boy.”
Chrysandra lithely stepped out of the way, and I put my finger on Viper’s chest. “Snap out of it.
Now.”
As he blinked and saw me standing there, wearing his knife, with Derrick aiming for his chest, Viper sucked in a deep breath. “Oh shit.”
“Oh shit is right.” I smacked him across the face. Hard. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, dude? You want to help out in the investigation, you don’t do it that way, you idiot.”
Frowning now, he cocked his head. “Are you looking for the kil er?”
“Hel yes! He’s giving a bad name to al vamps. Just look: I put a gate on my bar and I never had to think about it before. And you come in here, bent on kil ing me? You think we don’t want him caught for al the trouble he’s causing? You’re al jacked up the wrong way, bro.”
Viper blushed again and stared at his feet, looking for al the world like a giant teddy bear. “I’m sorry, Menol y. I didn’t think . . .”
“No. You didn’t. You reacted instead, and that’s usual y a bad idea. In this case, you were lucky.
Do you real y think that I couldn’t stop you from hurting my waitress? And if you’d tried, I would have ripped your throat out. You got it? You don’t bother me or mine. You leave the vampire hunting to me, and you make sure word gets through to your eager-beaver brethren before some idiot gets himself fanged to death. Because I’m more patient than most vampires. Got it?”
He nodded, thoroughly shamed. “I’m sorry . . .”
“Apologize to my waitress, and to Derrick. Poor man’s finger’s had to keep the trigger from sending a nice little blast into your gut for so long I bet he has a cramp. Then get the hel out of my bar and go do something useful. Make sure the Toys for Tots motorcycle ride goes smoothly, or something helpful like that.”
As Viper hastened to obey, and his fol owers took note and fol owed his example, I strode toward the back and grabbed a spare set of clothes. I’d take a shower upstairs. I found Erin cleaning one of the guest rooms. She did a quick drop to the knee, then back up again.
“Just getting the dust. Tavah said that there has been some interest in booking the rooms. She told me word’s getting around.”
“Erin.” I wasn’t sure how to break the news but knew I’d better before she heard it from somebody else. “Let’s sit down for a moment. I’ve got something to tel you, and it’s not pleasant.”
She dropped the cloth on the desk and promptly sat on the bed. I smiled at her obedience, but decided I’d work on severing the cords as soon as possible. It was time to wean her. I wanted her to be able to think on her own in case anything happened to me.
I sat beside her and took one of her hands. Vampires weren’t a touchy-feely group, but I thought this news would go down better sugar-coated. Erin might not have been in love with Sassy, but she liked her.
“I went to see Sassy . . .” I let the words drift.
Erin blinked and shifted in her seat. “Do I have to go back?”
“No. No, you don’t. In fact, you can’t. Janet died while I was there.”
She dropped her head and a tear trickled down one cheek. I squeezed her hand. “Janet was always nice to me. She stood as a buffer when Sassy got too eager. Janet held Sassy back from her predator nature until a few months ago. But when her brain tumor started catching up with her, she couldn’t muster enough strength to help Sassy keep herself in check. Janet took to her bed over a month ago, and I knew it wasn’t going to be long.”
“At least I managed to keep her from turning Janet. I was with her at the end, and she went peaceful y. But Sassy was feeding on her. Did you know that?”
“No,” Erin said, and I heard the ring of truth in her voice. She couldn’t lie to me, not at this point in her development. “I didn’t know, or I would have cal ed you sooner.” She paused, then looked up at me. “You kil ed Sassy, didn’t you?”
