"Just a little reminder of who you're talking to and where we're from. This isn't a game, people. Take it seriously." Caryon waved a hand. "We'll be going now. You have a lot to think over, don't you, Glory?" Caryon ran a finger tipped in a black claw over my cheek, then simply vanished. Spyte gave us a little wave then disappeared as well.
"Son of a bitch!" Rafe jerked free and ran to me. "Are you all right?"
"I'm okay. Boots? Not so much." I fell to the ground, my toes stinging but not really hurt. Not like my boots were. They were a melted mess. Ralph Lauren black patent, found on sale, now history. I handed Penny the ruined jacket and risked singed fingers to pull down the zippers and get the boots off. Damned demons.
Rafe examined my toes, reassured himself that they were just a little pink, then stomped around the hillside. Of course it was futile. The demons were gone, the only other sign they'd ever been there the cloying scent of sugar that clung to the air, like we were downwind from a donut shop. Mortals would think that was yummy. Me? Since I couldn't eat a donut, it was nothing but more torture.
"That was strange and scary as hell." Penny sagged against me. "Uh, literally, I guess." I could feel her shaking as I hugged her and met Rafe's eyes over her head. He looked like he wanted to flame another bush. "When he threw me from one hand to the other, I almost died. Again."
"You certainly got to practice your shape-shifting. But a rat?" I pulled back and looked at her.
"We have them in the lab. It was all I could think of." Penny's hand went to her pants pocket. "Those demons blew my mind."
"Penny, give me that card." I gave her a stern look.
"No way. It's cool. A demon's card. It's going in my ‘Oops, I'm a Vampire' scrapbook." She held her hand over her pocket. "I'm not going to call him. Are you kidding me? My grandpa is a Baptist preacher. He'd have a cow and calves." Penny sighed. "Of course what would he do if he saw my fangs?"
"You won't let him. And just because you're a vampire now doesn't mean you're bound for hell. I go to church. As many Sundays as I can. Night services." I felt Rafe's arm go around me. I turned to him. "You okay?"
"Sure. I'm worried about you. Getting attention like this from Lucifer is no joke. No, they can't coerce you, but evil is their specialty. They can apply lots of pressure indirectly to get what they want. Like the hot foot just now." He leaned down to kiss my cheek. "That bitch Alesa sicced them on you as payback for playing hard to get when she was inside you. Now they'll see you as a personal challenge." Rafe's frown was so fierce Penny stepped back from him. "They'll be back. I guarantee it."
"Way to make me feel better, Rafe." We climbed into his car. Penny peppered me with questions about Alesa that I didn't want to answer as the dawn dragged at me. Rafe drove fast, anxious to check with Trey on how the closing had gone. Reality. Unfortunately, we hadn't faced the last of it.
"Jenny called me six times while I slept." Penny shoved her cell phone in my face as soon as I rolled out of bed. "I don't think I'll ever get used to just dying at dawn."
"Can I brush my teeth before I deal with you and your sister drama?" I pushed her out of the way and staggered into the bathroom.
"It's not drama. It's my life, Glory." Penny stood in the bathroom doorway.
I ignored her and grabbed my toothbrush. I squeezed toothpaste, leaned against the sink, looked up and screamed.
"Glory! What happened?" Penny grabbed my arm and turned me to face her. "The demon's back?"
Okay, Penny was real. I touched her face, clear of makeup, and patted her tangled hair. Hairdresser. Calling her first thing. Then I slowly turned toward the mirror above the sink. No, not possible.
"L-l-look. What do you see?" I pointed at the mirror.
"You trying to torment me? I already brushed my teeth and washed my face. Talk about a freak-out. Checking the mirror and nobody . . ." Penny stared at the mirror and then at me. "Oh. My. God."
"What do you see, Penny?" I held on to the sink to keep from falling to the floor.
"You-you have a reflection. How did that happen?" Penny waved her hand in front of my face but it didn't show up in the mirror, only as a brief distortion in my reflection.
Me. My reflection. Of my face. I was seeing my face for the first time, except in that computer monitor, in more than four hundred years. I leaned closer. Scary. Not that I looked old. No, I was still a dewy twenty-two, though I guess I looked older by today's standards. I'd had no access to face creams or even decent soap back in the day. My hair was wild and I brushed it back. I needed my own appointment with the shifter who cut my hair. I wouldn't mind some highlights too and, geez, my brows could stand a serious plucking.
"Glory, snap out of it." Penny shook my arm. "Has this happened before?"
"No." I dragged my eyes from the mirror. "The demons said they had an incentive for me to become a size six. I guess this is what they were talking about."
Penny stepped out of the bathroom and did a quick tour of the small apartment. "Well, there's sure no full-length mirror in here. Guess to get the whole effect you'll have to go down to your shop."
"Full effect." I glanced back at my rear. "Those bastards. They want to torture me. Want me to look at myself and see how big I am." I picked up my toothbrush again. "Size six. Who wouldn't want to be a size six?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I haven't seen that number since I was thirteen except in the shoe department." Penny glanced down at her faded sleep shirt. "Jenny's a six."
"Of course she is. So's one of my best friends. Size six is gorgeous. Worshipped by the masses as perfection for some reason." This was a hot-button issue for me. Totally unfair, this obsession with size. Big bones, heredity. There were so many factors that went into a woman's size. My own was the result of Jeremiah Campbell not warning me that I'd be stuck when he turned me. And he'd chosen a day when I was bloating, for crying out loud. Stuffed me like a Thanksgiving turkey for weeks before my V-day too. Men. They just don't get it.
"It's so unfair!" Penny peered over my shoulder, as fascinated by the fact that she couldn't see herself as I was that I could.
"Exactly." I waved my toothbrush in front of the mirror, still thrilled that I could see the hand holding it, my face behind it, the whole enchilada. "But I'm not giving in to those evil demons. I'm not working for the Devil. I'm at peace with my chubby thighs." Couldn't believe I said that with a straight face.
"Guess we might as well be, we're stuck with them." Penny waved that black card in front of me. "You want to call Caryon and tell him so?"
"No, thanks. I'm ignoring him and his torments. Tonight we deal with your sister. Did Josh call too?" I brushed my teeth, listening as Penny described the message from the frat boy. Seems he'd left a long apology, then a stammering request for a real date. If she could forgive him.
I rinsed out my mouth and turned to face her. "Call him back and say no."
"I already called him back and said yes." Penny glared at me. "He's cute. He's nice. I want to give it a shot." She toyed with that damned black card. "And his blood smelled delicious."
"That last sentence just sealed your fate, Penny. Not gonna happen. When is he supposed to pick you up?" I managed to snatch the card. I wasn't ripping it up. The number might come in handy.
"It is gonna happen, Glory." Penny turned and stomped into the living room. "We're meeting in your shop at nine tonight. Hitting a late movie. Deal with it."
"Deal with this." I was on her heels. "You will not taste his delicious blood. You will not drink from mortals. You will only drink synthetics while you live under my roof."
"You're kidding me. I can't believe all those vampires I saw at Damian's stick to synthetics. In fact, it was obvious that they didn't." Penny's hands were fists. "There were mortals around that I'm sure were providing meals for some of them."
Okay, I had to admit even Jerry did the mortal thing from time to time and Damian's crowd had been known to keep mortal pets. Nice that he'd let Penny see that. "You're right. A vampire with experience can drink from a mortal." I grabbed one of Penny's fists. "But you, my dear, are about five minutes old and haven't learned to control your blood-lust. Put you close to a mortal and you're liable to go too far. You want to kill Josh?"
She sighed and unclenched her hand, drawing it away from me. "I did. When he left me on that hilltop. But now I just want a date with a cute guy. Is that so horrible?" Her eyes filled with tears. "I want to be normal."
"The normal train left the station the night you were turned." I pulled her down to the couch. I hoped this didn't turn into a sobfest. "Tell you what. Meet Josh. I'll follow you every step of the way. I'll do you a favor and stay out of sight unless I see you start something that will become dangerous to him. I'm afraid that's as close to a normal date as you're going to get right now." I hit the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of synthetic. "Did you drink one of these yet? You need to fill up before you get close to him."
"Thanks, Glory. I'm sure you have better things to do tonight than trail after me." Penny twisted off the top of her bottle.