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Shudder.
After a few hours, my eyes started to cross over the tiny text. I stood, cracking my stiff neck and stretching my arms.
I wondered if Jane had this sort of thing in her shop, Specialty Books. She had an alarming range of titles, including werewolf relationship guides, biographies of the “real” Sasquatch, and remedial books for poorly trained witches. The copies of World War Z, a treatise on surviving the zombie apocalypse, were shelved in the nonfiction section under “self-help.” When I asked whether that was a joke, she sort of chuckled nervously and didn’t answer.
The problem with Jane is that I can never tell when she’s kidding.
“This is all starting to look the same.” I moaned. “I think we’re going about this in the wrong way. I’m looking up each chemical on the ingredients list to pin down which of them could cause specific symptoms. But botanical compounds work together. It may not be a one-to-one effect.”
“What if you looked up the individual symptoms and worked from there?”
“That’s a good idea,” I replied. “Except for the part where all of my resources refer to human symptoms. I would imagine that vampires are affected differently, since you’re … um, well, there’s just no other way to put it—you’re dead.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted.
“I am your detail girl,” I said, yawning widely. “I think I know where I can get some more relevant books. I could go online, but frankly, I don’t want to trust this to some wacko running a blog out of his mama’s basement.”
Cal growled and tossed his paperwork aside. Under the cursing and muttering, I could make out “clever bastard” and “goddamn invisible.” I shrank back into the couch cushions. When he saw me moving away from him, he closed his eyes. He stretched his hand out tentatively and stroked it up my calf.
“Why don’t you go up to bed?” he said. “You’ve been up all day, and you’ve spent the last three hours staring at chemical nonsense. You must be exhausted.”
“I want to stay up and wait for Gigi. And I don’t want to leave you unattended, in case you get ideas about ambushing Ben in the driveway.”
“The damage wouldn’t be permanent!” he protested.
“You’re not used to this level of frustration, are you?”
“No,” he admitted. “I won’t say that the answers I need fall out of the sky into my lap, but I’m used to having the full resources of the Council at my disposal. I’m used to working out in the open. I’m not used to being frustrated. I’m not used to feeling weak and indebted.”
“You’re not weak.” I scoffed, nudging him gently again. He shot me a scornful look. “OK, for a vampire, you’re not in top shape. But compared with me, you’re still practically Superman … or at least Aquaman.”
“I noticed that you didn’t tell me I wasn’t indebted,” he said.
“Well, you still owe me about forty thousand dollars.”
“Ah.” He chuckled. “How could I forget?”
“I won’t let you, trust me. You’re not the only one who can track people down.”
“Why does it sound so intriguing when you say it like that?” He leered at me, leaning closer. I angled away, not quite ready for close contact yet.
Just then, the door swung open, and Gigi came barreling through, flushed and happy. When she caught sight of her sister in some sort of smoldering staring contest with our houseguest, she rolled her eyes dramatically. “Is all of this unresolved sexual tension going to become a thing with you two? Don’t make me get the hose.”
I straightened, attempting to look like the respectable adult I was supposed to be. I crossed to the front window, where I saw Ben sprinting for his car like his shoes were on fire.
Cal cleared his throat and straightened his shirt, trying to keep some semblance of respectability. “We could have this discussion, Gigi. Or we could talk about the fact that I heard Ben’s car pull into the driveway at least fifteen minutes ago.” His lips twitched. “What have you been doing all that time?”
Mouth agape, I turned to Gigi, who looked stricken.
Clearly, vampire hearing could be very helpful in parenting.
“Well, I’m suddenly very tired.” Gigi pantomimed a huge yawn and broke for the stairs. “Good night, all! Happy straddling.”
“You are really getting the hang of this whole teenager thing,” I marveled.
“It’s all about elimination by escalation.” He sighed. “You humiliate them before they can humiliate you. They seek shelter elsewhere.”
“Lao Tzu?”
