Lady & the Vamp

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C h a p t e r   3

"Hamburger, fries, Coke." Barkley finished scanning the menu and glanced up at the waitress, giving her a charming smile. "Do you still have that fantastic apple pie here?"

"Sure do, hun."

"Gimme two pieces of that. With ice cream. Please."

The waitress turned to Quinn. "And for you?"

"Coffee. Black."

"You should eat more than that. You look a little thin. And pale."

Quinn frowned. "Coffee. Black."

She raised an eyebrow disapprovingly, closed her order pad, and gave them the back of her ample frame as she went toward the kitchen.

"You do know how to charm the ladies." Barkley played with the salt shaker and glanced absently out of the window at the parking lot.

"It's a gift."

Quinn tossed the car keys on the table and leaned back into his side of the booth, letting out a long sigh. He already felt guilty about abandoning Barkley at the diner and he hadn't even done it yet. It felt like he was throwing a puppy out of the car and driving away without him. But Barkley wasn't a puppy. He could take care of himself.

Besides, he'd noticed that there was a bus stop right outside of the diner. When he left, Barkley would hop on that headed to wherever he wanted to go. Everybody would get what they want. No problem.

What would he do once he found the Eye and made his wish to be human again? It's not like he could go back to his regular life, was it? He'd learned the hard way that hunting vampires was wrong. He was one of the very few who'd had a chance to see both sides of the coin.

He'd been a hunter for ten years. In training before that, but he was twenty when he made his first kill.

He shuddered at the thought. His father had brainwashed him since he was a kid that all vamps were evil. Different from humans. Killers who needed to be stopped by any means necessary no matter how human or innocent they appeared. What he didn't fully realize was that his father was a zealot who relished the chance to wipe out anything different from himself from the face of the earth. Who had used the fears of others to strengthen his case against vampires. He'd convinced Quinn that it was a vamp who'd killed his mother when he was only six years old. But it wasn't. His mother had fallen in love with a vampire, become a vampire herself, and when his father learned of this, he'd ended them both without a moment of mercy.

Quinn's whole life since that day had been a lie.

He'd killed a lot of vamps in his time. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that some of them were truly evil. When the thirst is upon a vampire they lose their minds, and become black-eyed monsters who don't care whom they hurt to get to their next meal. Some vamps were plain evil, just as some humans were. Serial killers existed in all walks of life. But most vamps weren't evil. Just different.

He'd killed them all, figuring that their begging and pleading had been a ruse-that if he'd turned his back on them they would have ripped out his throat.

He touched his neck. The marks from the attack that turned him into a vampire two months ago were long gone. That vamp had wanted Quinn dead because he believed Quinn was responsible for slaying his wife.

Revenge was sometimes justified.

But the attack hadn't killed him. It had only changed him into the very thing he'd hunted for over a decade.

"Penny for your thoughts," Barkley said.

Quinn took in a shuddery breath. "Nothing. Just daydreaming."

"You're not very forthcoming with your emotions, you know that?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize we were doing male bonding here."

Barkley shrugged, then reached over the table to grab the car keys. "I haven't tried this in a while-"

"Tried what?"

He closed his eyes and Quinn looked at him oddly, as did the waitress as she dropped off their orders.

"I'm trying to get a read. Can't get it off you personally, but maybe something you've touched."

Quinn rolled his eyes and swirled the coffee around in his cup. "Don't pop a blood vessel trying."

Barkley's eyes shot open. "I know the real reason you're here."

Quinn froze.

"You've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon." Then he laughed and pushed the keys back across the table. "Nah. I figured I couldn't get a read, but it was worth a try."

Quinn's lips twitched into a forced smile. "Listen, you eat your feast there, and I'm going to get some directions."

"Go to it."

Quinn stood up and went over to the long counter. Another waitress, a younger one with brown hair and a big smile, came closer.

"Hi there," she said.

"Hi." He smiled back. Charm. What was that again? It used to come easily to him, but now he could probably fake it if he tried hard enough. "Listen, I'm wondering if you can help me."

She put a hand on her hip. "Sure thing. What do you need?"

She rubbed her lips together and tucked her hair back behind her left ear. She was cute and seemed to be trying to look appealing in her pink smock waitress outfit. He found it slightly endearing.

His gaze moved along the edge of her top and along her collarbone to her throat.

She'd probably bare her neck willingly to me. All I'd have to do is ask.

He shook his head, trying to cast such thoughts out. He hadn't bitten anybody yet, and he wasn't going to start now. That was a line he refused to cross. There were establishments where the average vamp could find blood on tap next to draft beer and cocktails, and that was the only way he was going to get his next meal when he needed it. Even then it made him feel wrong. He'd gone almost three full days without blood. In the beginning he needed it several times a day, but now he could go longer. He wasn't sure how long, but he wanted to wait and find out.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that held his destiny. "Do you know the quickest route to Goodlaw? It's not on this map I bought."

She nodded. "Sure. It's more of a district than an actual town, really." She lifted her arm and pointed out the window. "Take the highway there west toward Phoenix. In two hours, give or take, you'll come to Goodlaw. Don't blink or you'll miss it."

He nodded. "Great. Thanks a lot for your help."

"Anytime."

He turned away, but she touched his arm making him turn back to look at her. "And I mean anytime."

He could see her pulse through the pale skin on her neck. His mouth began to water.

He swallowed hard and shrugged off her hand. Then with a meager smile, practiced so as not to show off his fangs, turned back to rejoin Barkley who was already half done his meal.

"Your coffee's getting cold," he said with his mouth full.

Quinn looked out the window. He could see the Ford and beyond that the bus stop. He reached across the table to reclaim the keys and slid them into his pocket. Time to part ways with Barkley. The werewolf shouldn't have to spend any more time with a fledgling vampire. Way too dangerous. For both of them.

Yeah, justify abandoning a friend anyway you can, his conscience scolded.

He gritted his teeth at the thought.

"I'm going to the washroom." Quinn stood up, half expecting Barkley to automatically know what he was about to do.

He didn't even look up and instead just nodded and kept eating. "Have fun."

Goodbye Barkley, he thought.

And then he turned away to find that someone was blocking him.

"Do you think you can hold it?" the someone said. "Because we need to have a chat."

He was so surprised that he dropped back down into the booth. "What the hell-?"

Janie sat down in the booth next to Barkley. Her huge lug of a partner squeezed in beside Quinn.

"Good to see you, too," Janie said. "Don't worry. This shouldn't take long."

Quinn frowned. "Janelle-"

"I prefer to be called Janie. Be careful or I'll start calling you Michael. Or Mike. Doesn't really suit you anymore, does it?"

Quinn was in shock. The last time he'd seen Janie Parker had been a little over a week ago when she'd shot him in the chest with a garlic dart before she'd attempted to kill a woman named Sarah, a good friend of his. Before that he hadn't seen her since she was a kid and he used to hang out with her brother.

He absolutely hated the bitch.

But damn, even he had to admit that she'd grown up really nice.

She was blond, with long hair done in that way women paid a lot of money for. Three or four different shades of blond from honey to platinum. She had high cheekbones, cool blue eyes lined in smoky black, and full red lips.

At first glance, she was a total babe. But that didn't make him like her any more. Well, parts of him did, maybe. But the rest of him still couldn't stand the sight of her.

"What the hell do you want?" he growled.

"We want the Eye," she replied.

Quinn's entire body tensed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He tried not to let anything show on his face but panic twisted his gut. How did she know? Who told her?

The waitress approached. "What can I get you two?"

Janie didn't take her eyes off Quinn. "Nothing."

"Y'all can't just take up space here. You have to order something. It's the rules."

Lenny, who seemed to Quinn about the size of a cube van sitting next to him in the small booth, reached over and flipped through the menu. "I am a little hungry."

Janie sighed. "Fine. I'll have a coffee."

"Anything else?"

"No."

The waitress rolled her eyes then looked at Lenny.

Lenny glanced at Barkley. "How was the burger?"

Barkley blinked. "Greasy but worth it."

"I'll have the same as him."

The waitress retreated.

Quinn cocked his head to one side and forced a smile to his lips. "You didn't ask for separate bills."

"You're not going to be a gentleman and pick up the tab for an old friend?"

He snorted and leaned back in his seat trying to look relaxed when he felt anything but. "We were never friends, Janie."

"No, that's right. You were friends with my brother. The one you watched die."

Janie's brother Peter was a vampire hunter who enjoyed his work a little too much. Instead of feeling it was his job, it became fun to him. One night he got on the wrong side of a gun held by a vamp and he'd lost. Quinn wanted to feel bad about it, but he didn't. Peter had changed. He wasn't the same guy Quinn had sparred with as a teenager while their fathers discussed hunter politics.

Barkley shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. "Quinn, are you going to introduce me?"

Quinn was busy staring at Janie, wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this. He knew she was a trained Merc-a mercenary-who sold her skills to anyone with the biggest dollar.

"Who are you working for?"

She ignored him and instead turned to Barkley, giving him a sly smile. "I'm Janie. Janie Parker."

He raised an eyebrow in an obvious sign of approval of the pretty blonde seated next to him. "Matthew Barkley."

"I assume you're the werewolf."

He frowned. "Uh."

"Don't tell her anything," Quinn advised. "Janie, why don't the two of you leave. You're not wanted here."

"Quinn, I don't think you're taking very good care of yourself. You look kind of pale. Being a vamp getting to you? Not getting your three squares of hemoglobin a day?"

He narrowed his eyes. "So kind of you to be concerned considering the last time I saw you you shot me in the chest."

"With a tranq dart. Big deal. And you totally deserved it."

The waitress returned with Janie's coffee. She grabbed for the creamer and sugar and put in an ample amount of both. "Now, let's get back on topic. The Eye. Give it to me right now and we'll leave."

"Like I said before, I don't know what you're talking about."

She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Lenny simply sat, quiet as a large boulder, watching the proceedings. Then she looked at a confused Barkley.

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about either."

Her left cheek twitched. She was acting very cool, calm and collected, but could she be nervous?

Quinn frowned at her. "Don't you believe us?"

"Oh, I believe wolf-boy here. You? Not so much."

"Then I don't know what to say."

"How about this-" The unmistakable sound of a gun safety clicked off. "I have a gun loaded with silver bullets pointed at your travel buddy here. You hand over the Eye and I won't send him to doggy heaven."

Barkley looked down. "She's got a gun, Quinn. What the hell is going on here?"

She glanced at Quinn. "Your move, handsome."

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