“Nice to meet you too, Dru.” I mumble as she lets got of my hand, then pulls a pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket, and lights one up. I stand there watching even though I should be moving along by now.
She holds out the pack to me. “You want one?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No thanks.” I tell her. She nods and shoves them back in her pocket. Takes a drag of her lit smoke, still watching me with some sort of interest, and then shakes her head.
“Just my luck,” she says in a low voice to herself. “You tell Delilah she’s a lucky girl.”
My face takes on a blank expression. “Huh?”
“You’re her girlfriend, right?” she answers, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
My jaw drops. “Me – and Delilah? Oh no, that’s not, I’m not…she’s just a friend, well, more an acquaintance…” embarrassment has me rambling.
Dru laughs. “It’s okay. I get it.”
“You…do?” I ask, stupidly.
“Yeah. I do. Damn shame though.” Her eyes drop to my feet and then slowly travel upwards. Lingering on my hips and chest. If she were a man I’d be blushing uncontrollably. Who am I trying to fool? I am blushing uncontrollably. And it’s confusing, so again, I mumble. “I, um, better be going,” and then hurry on down the corridor.
“See ya,” she calls after me.
When I get to the door of the common room I pause a moment to gather myself. And just as I’m asking, what the hell was that about? The answer automatically presents itself. Dru’s a vampire. Of course, that’s why she’d shown signs of attraction, it’s all to do with my stupid blood curse.
With a sigh I open the door, and I’m immediately confronted by Delilah who demands, “What the hell took you so long?”
I frown. “Um, it’s middle of the night, and I was on the other side of town. I don’t know about you but I can hardly click my fingers and get here just like that. I had to ride the bus, by the way, which wasn’t pleasant at this time of night.”
She appears momentarily taken aback at my outburst, but quickly brushes it off. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” she says, “you’re here now. Sit down, we need to talk.”
I take a seat on the big leather couch as Delilah paces back and forth in front of me, arms folded, face deep in thought. She’s wearing a pair of fire-engine red stilettos, almost matching her curly hair, and a tight black leather mini dress. A minute passes before she says anything, and I stay silent since I’m just about ready to conk out from exhaustion. Finally, Delilah speaks. “There’s trouble coming, and I need your help.”
I eye her cautiously, before replying. “Uh-huh. Why would an all-powerful dhamphir need the help of a human pleb like me?” I ask, a little too heavy on the sarcasm. Deprive me of sleep and I’m a horror, there’s nothing I can do about it.
Delilah raises an eyebrow at my attitude but doesn’t rebuke me for it. I suppose she knows she should thread lightly if she wants me to help her.
She smirks. “Sometimes a dhamphir requires the assistance of those below her. Anyway, to get to the point, I need you to give Ethan an alibi for last night.”
“What does he need an alibi for?” I ask with suspicion.
Delilah sighs heavily, as though the weight of the world is on her shoulders and she doesn’t have time to be answering my idiotic questions. “Because,” she intones, “an attempt was made on the life of our Vampire Governor Howard Herrington last night, and every high ranking vamp in the city is under suspicion for it.”
“Why would a vampire try to kill him, isn’t he like, their leader or whatever?”
“Howard is particularly paranoid about other vampires trying to overthrow him. And I wouldn’t put it past certain individuals to try to kill him, but it certainly wasn’t Ethan. I know that for a fact. The only problem is that Ethan was alone in his house last night, therefore nobody can vouch for him.”
The idea of Ethan spending the night alone in his house touches me. He just doesn’t seem like the type to spend a night in by the television, or reading a good book. I almost laugh. Perhaps I misjudged his character. Then I remember that he’s a killer. Yeah, how could I forget?
“Um, can’t you or Lucas just lie and say you were with him, I don’t get why you need me to do it.”
Again with the heavy sigh. “That would work just fine if it weren’t for the fact that Herrington’s people already questioned all the vampires working here at the club, before telling us why they were questioning us. In ignorance of their true intentions we all told them the truth of where we were, so now there’s nobody left to say Ethan was with them. Do you understand now?”
“So get one of your human workers to give him an alibi, I’m sure Judy would jump at the chance.” I say, a little too snappy. I don’t want to get involved in this, I have enough on my plate already tonight after what Rita’s spell revealed to me. And, I’m edgy around the vamps in general right now, never mind if I had to stand in front of their Governor and tell a bare faced lie.
“You really don’t get it do you,” Delilah bursts. “
We can’t just get any old human to vouch for Ethan because Herrington will be able to compel them to tell the truth. But with you he won’t be able to do that. Of course, you’ll pretend his thrall is working on you all the same.”
Well, now I actually do get what she means, but that doesn’t mean I like it. I can imagine what will happen if Herrington questions me and then somehow spots that his compulsion isn’t working while I’m pretending that it is.