A Girl's Guide to Vampires

staying put at your rune table.'

'You really do think you're the cat's pajamas, don't you?' I asked Raphael, annoyed with his arrogance. He might be everything I ever wanted in a man, but that didn't mean I was going to let him do something stupid when I could prevent disaster.

'Cat's…' Inspector Bartos asked, his pencil poised above his notepad.

'Pajamas. It's an expression that means Raphael thinks I'm helpless against his masculine charms, which is just ridiculous, because I'm trying to save his sorry hide. That reminds me—I want to have a little talk with you later about some misconceptions you might have about him.'

'Joy.' Raphael's voice sounded like that of a particularly hard-pressed saint. 'Go back to your table.'

'No. If you won't come with me to see Christian and let him knock off some of those blinkers you're wearing, I'll go by myself.'

'You will not.'

'Oh, really? And just how are you going to stop me, have me arrested?'

'If I have to.'

I looked at Inspector Bartos. He smiled. I gaped at him. 'You wouldn't dare!'

His moustache smiled, too.

'Ha ha ha, you guys are so funny.' I started to edge away, picking up speed quickly until I called the last few words over my shoulder. 'Well, I think I'll be taking a little walk now. See you both later.'

I dashed off, Raphael's sexy chuckle caressing my ears. I didn't for one moment believe Inspector Bartos would arrest me on Raphael's say-so, not even if my growing suspicion about the two of them was true, but I really didn't want to leave Renee at the rune table long.

I passed Arielle's table and paused for a moment to see how she was doing, and to tell her that I'd be sending Renee back to help her as soon as I could.

'I am fine, thank you,' she said with a watery smile. Her eyes still looked red and swollen, but all in all, she was holding up remarkably well. I spun around and dashed through the line of people waiting to have their cards read, almost mowing down Henri in the process.

'Sorry, Henri. I'm in a bit of a hurry.' He muttered an apology and stepped back as I threw myself back into the crowds. I headed toward the west garden, but suddenly made a detour when I saw Dominic slobbering over the hand of an extremely buxom woman dressed in fishnet stockings, PVC, and fake blood running out of an equally fake wound on her neck. Considering Tanya's death, it gave me a bit of the heebie- jeebies, but I swallowed my revulsion and waved to catch Dominic's eye.

'Mon ange,' he said, looking a bit embarrassed about being caught fawning over another woman's hand. 'I thought you were reading the runes now?'

'Just taking a little break. Renee's covering for me. I just wanted to let you know that I'll read them until nine, and then I'm calling it quits.'

He smiled and reached for my hand. I snatched it back and turned around, running smack dab into Henri again.

'Sorry, Henri. Guess I'm two for two with you, huh? Did I hurt your toes? No? Great. See you later!'

Off I went again at a fast trot, or as fast a trot as I could manage in the huge horde of people that had descended upon the well-groomed grounds of Christian's castle. I veered around a maze, realized I was going in the wrong direction, turned around, and raced around the corner to head to the west.

'Damn!' I rubbed my nose where it had smacked into Henri as he barreled around the corner toward me. I blinked back the stars, and glared at him. 'Oh! Henri, are you following me?'

Henri, a nice guy with warm brown eyes and a rather shy smile, looked horrified. He stammered out a feeble excuse, which I trampled over brutally. 'Tell Raphael I don't need a nursemaid.' I zipped past him, heading in the right direction for the west gardens. 'And stop following me!'

He followed me anyway. When I stopped to face him, my hands on my hips, he told me he didn't dare ignore Raphael's orders. 'He was very adamant that I should remain with you if you left the rune table.'

Henri was about my size, but he had a friendly puppy air about him that kept me from laying into him. Besides, it wasn't really him I was angry with—that delight was reserved for Raphael.

'OK,' I told him. 'You can come with me, but you have to stay out of my way. And no snitching to Raphael what I'm doing.'

'Snitching?'

'You can come with me, but you can't report back to him where I've been or whom I've spoken with. OK?'

'OK,' he nodded, obviously relieved.

Christian was overseeing the tapping of several oversized kegs of beer arranged in sort of an informal beer garden. Long trestle tables and benches had been placed within the walled garden. Due to its distance from the main stage, the garden was relatively quiet… for the moment. As soon as the beer garden opened its doors, I had no doubt it would be just as mad as the rest of the festival.

'Christian!' I bellowed across the garden and waved to get his notice. One of his servants, a big beefy guy with a wicked scar down one side of his face, stood blocking the entrance and wouldn't let me in. Christian turned and motioned for him to let me pass. I told Henri to wait for me, smiled at and scooted around the behemoth at the gate, trotting down a line of tables to where Christian stood directing the placement of kegs. He'd had torches set along the perimeter of the garden, the flickering light of which cast a medieval feel to the whole setting.

'Christian!'

He turned to face me, his face as pleasant as ever. I examined him closely for a minute, looking for signs that he'd suffered some sort of difficulty, but his eyes were warm, and the ever-present smile lurked just behind his lips. 'Are you all right? I've been worried sick about you! Where have you been?'

Both his eyebrows went up in mock surprise. 'Such passion. I have been here, readying the estate for the festival.'

'You know full well what I'm talking about!' I smacked him on the shoulder, then grabbed his hand and pulled him over to an unoccupied corner. 'Where were you last night? I was worried about you after… after Tanya's body was discovered. You heard about that, didn't you?'

He reversed my grip so he was holding my hand, raising it to his lips, his eyes holding mine as he kissed the back of my fingers. Say what you will about women's lib, I had to admit there was something about having my hand kissed that made me go all girly inside.

'You look lovely tonight, my Beloved. However, I must presume to inform you that I do not care for you to be sharing your charms with every man present.' He reached to the front of my ruffled blouse. I looked down. The top button, a small faux pearl, was missing, leaving my blouse gaping open, exposing my breasts down to the edge of my very low-cut bra.

I grabbed at the material and clutched it closed. 'Damn. Must have happened when I crashed into Henri.'

He smiled and flashed his hand. In it was a very old-looking gold brooch of a griffin clutching a large red stone in its beak. 'Allow me,' he said, brushing aside my hands, pinning the brooch so it closed my blouse.

'It's lovely, Christian, thank you. I'll take very good care of it.'

'Consider it a gift from one who admires you.'

I didn't want to accept it since it looked valuable, but I figured I'd return it after the festival when I could explain my feelings without insulting him.

'Thank you, but that still doesn't explain why you didn't answer me last night.' I peered into his unfathomable eyes.

'My housekeeper said you called,' he answered, not batting an eyelash at his obvious evasion. 'Alas, I was not at home at that time.'

I squinted my eyes at him. 'Christian Johann Dante, you know full well what I meant, so don't try to pull that Mr. Innocent crap on me.' I put my hand on his wrist and gave it a little squeeze. 'I know you heard me; I could feel you out there. Why didn't you answer me?'

He didn't move a muscle, but I felt him withdraw. 'I was under the impression you found such form of communication distasteful. Further, I believed from the activities that followed that you preferred your privacy to my company.'