Dead Reckoning

present, of course,” Eric said. “What would the evening be without her?” Eric waved me forward, and Victor raised his drink to me in appreciation of my appearance. I managed to look pleased. “Victor,” I said, “we’re so glad you could come tonight.” I didn’t try to summon more than “pleased.” Victor wouldn’t expect me to be as good at concealing my feelings as Eric was, and I wasn’t going to give him cause to think any different.
    Of course, Eric hadn’t wanted me to be there. He’d made it plain that a frail human should not be around when vampires were fighting. In theory, I agreed. I would much rather have been at home—but I would have worried every second. The clincher in my argument was that Victor would definitely go on the alert if I were conspicuous by my absence, which would have been a clear signal that Eric was about to spring something. Eric couldn’t deny that when I’d made the point at our meeting.
    Akiro positioned himself behind Victor’s chair. Hmmm, awkward. I was trying to think what I could do about that. Pam was behind Eric’s chair. When Eric beckoned to me, I smiled and went to join him, my purse over my shoulder.
    Colton and Audrina were blending into the background by carrying trays of drinks around the club.
    To my astonishment, Heidi went down on one knee by my chair, her posture indicating alert attention. Eric glanced at her but didn’t comment. Heidi was taking a stance as though Eric had ordered her to protect me during what might be a touchy visit. I looked down at her, but she didn’t meet my eyes. Yep, that was exactly what had happened. At least that was within the scope of “normal” and wouldn’t necessarily make the visitors worried.
    “Bill,” Eric called. “We’re ready!”
    And Bill emerged from the back hallway, smiling—a totally uncharacteristic broad grin—to stand with his arm outflung toward the hall (tah-DAH!) to announce Bubba’s entrance.
    And what an entrance it was! It put Victor’s in the shade.
    “Ohmygosh,” I murmured. Bubba was wearing a red jumpsuit that someone had taken a Bedazzler to; he had fake jewels and sequins everywhere, and his hair was styled in an amazing pompadour. He was wearing black boots and big rings. He was smiling that amazing lopsided smile that had made women swoon all over the globe, and he was waving as though there were thousands of us instead of a handful. Bill stood by the boom box Maxwell had set up, and when Bubba leaped onto the tiny stage and thanked us all very much, the lights went down. Bill started the music—“Kentucky Rain.”
    It was incredible. What can I say?
    Victor was totally entranced, or as totally as someone who’s perpetually wary can be. Victor leaned forward—Mindy and Mark forgotten, the other vampires forgotten—to absorb the experience. After all, he had Akiro to watch out for him. And Akiro was on the job, no doubt about it. His eyes never fixed on Bubba, but swept the room. Luis and Antonio had positioned themselves by the front door, guarding Akiro’s back, and the bodyguard’s eyes were doing a 180-degree scan of the rest of the club as he stood behind Victor.
    As Bubba bowed to the applause, which was as thunderous as our small crowd could manage, Bill started the music again. This time we heard “In the Ghetto.”
    Red tears ran down Victor’s face. I glanced over my shoulder to see that Luis and Antonio were rapt. The two nameless vampires were standing close to Bill, their hands folded in front of them, watching the show.
    Ana Lyudmila was not a music lover, apparently. She was looking bored as she sat on the end of a bench at one of the booths close to the front door. I could see her over Mark’s shoulder. Thalia, who was about half Ana Lyudmila’s size, sidled up to her and silently offered a tray laden with more drinks. Ana Lyudmila nodded graciously, selected one, and took a big swallow. After a second in which her expression flashed absolute horror, she crumpled. Thalia caught the bottle as it fell from Ana Lyudmila’s fingers. The lethal and ancient vampire silently shoved the limp body farther into the booth and turned to look at the stage, standing so as to block the sprawl of Ana Lyudmila’s legs. The whole episode took less than thirty seconds. I had no idea what had been in the drink; some form of liquid silver? Was that possible? That little subplan had been contingent on one of the vamps being out of the line of sight of the