Olivia performed a few practice jabs, wondering if any of this would have the slightest effect on a vampire. Not that she planned to be in a situation to have to protect herself against a vampire again. But all of this was good to know because there were plenty of lowlife humans still walking the streets of New York.
Now that Mindy had assumed the role of self-defense teacher, she went all in. Any downtime at the diner was spent practicing jabs and kicks. She even spent the next two nights at Olivia’s apartment, and they practiced until Olivia’s muscles were screaming from the atypical use. But it felt good to do something proactive to ensure her own safety. Mindy even found her practicing some moves when she got out of the shower the morning after their second night practice.
“Addictive, isn’t it?” Mindy asked as she toweled her hair dry.
“Yeah. Just call me Ninja Olivia.”
Mindy snorted and walked toward the coffeepot as Olivia headed for her own shower.
Around ten o’clock, right when they would normally be starting another self-defense session, two guys ambled through the front door and immediately set Olivia’s nerves on edge. They didn’t get many customers who weren’t locals, and these didn’t look like tourists either. Big, muscled, the type who looked as though they might work for vampires. As Mindy headed toward their table, Olivia wrapped her hand around one of her large kitchen knives. She didn’t take her eyes off them as Mindy took their orders then headed toward the kitchen.
When Mindy saw Olivia’s grip on the knife, she whispered, “I see you got the same vibe I did.”
Just then the bigger of the two met Olivia’s gaze, and her blood frosted. She swallowed hard. “What do they want?”
“Two BLTs and coffee.”
Olivia moved out of their view before speaking again. “Keep an eye on them.”
Mindy nodded as she turned back toward the dining room.
Olivia placed bacon on the grill with one hand while she reached for the phone with the other. When it rang, she jumped. She answered, but it was a wrong number. She used the phone’s ring to cover up the fact she then dialed Campbell’s number.
“Raines,” he answered.
“Campbell, it’s Olivia DaCosta.”
At first she thought he wasn’t going to respond. “Olivia.” His voice was toneless, distant, as if he didn’t know her. Not the time to worry about that now.
“Listen, this may be nothing, but there are two big guys who just came in the diner and they’re giving Mindy and me a weird feeling. I know you can’t do anything, but—”
“Don’t apologize. I’m glad you called me.” He didn’t sound glad. He sounded worried. And yes, odd timing, but that made her feel a warmth inside she hadn’t felt in a long time, the warmth of mattering to someone. “If you get too scared, call the police. Doesn’t matter if it’s a false alarm.”
“Better safe than sorry, I know.”
“Describe them to me,” he said.
“They’re both tall, over six feet, though one is probably two to three inches taller than the other. Blue-collar dress. Jeans, work boots. One’s wearing a denim jacket and the other black leather. The taller one has dark curly hair, dark complexion.”
“He look Italian?”
“Maybe some, though I’d say not totally.”
“What about the other one?”
“Sandy hair, little scruffy. Looks maybe of Eastern European descent.”
“What are they doing?”
Olivia casually moved so she could glance through the pass-through window. “Just sitting there talking, waiting for their BLTs. But...”
“But what?”
“I don’t know if I’m just freaking myself out or what, but when one of them looked at me, I swear my blood went cold.”
Campbell cursed, and she heard him moving around, as if he was pacing. “I hate this.”
She knew he was talking about being trapped by the daylight. He didn’t have to say the words for her to know that if he could, he’d be there in a flash to stand between her and the two spooky dudes. Did that make sense? No. Did she feel the absolute truth of it? Yes.
“It’s okay. Just talking helps.”
He was quiet for a moment, and she wondered if she’d sounded as goofy to him as she did to herself. “I’m surprised.”
“I’m sorry about the other night. I can’t believe I’m apologizing to a vampire, but there you go.”
“Your friend is probably right. You shouldn’t be.”
As she finished putting the sandwiches together, Mindy came back into the kitchen.
“No, we already have a supplier,” Olivia said, unwilling to let Mindy know she’d broken her promise by calling Campbell. She wouldn’t be able to explain how just talking to him made her feel safer. She didn’t understand it herself.
“What?” Campbell asked.
“Sure, you can send us some material in case we ever decide to switch.”
“Your friend is there and she doesn’t know you’re talking to me.”
“That’s right.”
Mindy grabbed the plates, but Olivia stopped her by grasping her wrist. “Wait.” She slid one of the smaller, less conspicuous knives out of the butcher block and into the pocket of Mindy’s apron. “Be careful,” she whispered. Mindy nodded then headed for the dining room.
“What’s going on?” Campbell asked.
“Mindy’s taking them their food,” she said softly so Mindy wouldn’t hear her.
“She lost someone, didn’t she?”
“How did you know that?” If what he said was true, he was a cop. Had he been running checks on her and Mindy?
“I can always tell. There’s a hostility in human voices when they’ve lost someone to vamps. Otherwise, it’s usually just fear.”
Olivia glanced toward the dining room to make sure Mindy was still out of hearing range. “Her mother and sister were drained and left on the front steps of their house the night before the announcement was made about vampires being real and to stay indoors at night.”
Campbell cursed.
“It was a horrible time for her. You won’t find anyone who hates vampires more.”
“I don’t blame her.”
Olivia watched as Mindy delivered the food to the guys and nothing out of the ordinary happened.
“Everything okay?” Campbell asked.
“Yeah, they’re just eating.”
“I’ll stay on here as long as you want me to,” he said.
“I appreciate it. I feel sort of silly.”
“Don’t.”
Needing to talk about something else until there was a reason to return to the topic of their unsettling customers, Olivia asked, “So, what were you doing before I called? Sleeping?”
“I don’t require sleep anymore.”
“Really?”
“We rest, but no sleep.”
“Wow, I could get so much done if I didn’t have to sleep,” she said, trying to relieve some of the tension knotting her muscles and making her nerves spark.
“Trust me, I wish I could sleep. I miss it.”
“You miss a lot of things, don’t you?”
“What makes you say that?”
Why had she? “Just a feeling. But I’m right, aren’t I?”
