Demon Night

kids’ section.
    Savi’s dark eyes widened. “Charlotte Newcomb?” she asked, then studied her in a way that reminded Charlie of Jane at her microscope.
    With a nod that Charlie hoped didn’t appear as stiff and uncomfortable as she felt, she said, “Yes.”
    “You look good,” Savi said, then narrowed her gaze on Ethan. “You didn’t tell Colin or me that you brought her down from Seattle.”
    Ethan’s mouth tightened. “She’s just fine here.”
    “In a hole upstairs? Did you even tell her she could stay with us while we find her a suitable partner?”
    “Miss Savi, I didn’t much consider it.” An edge of steel sharpened his drawl.
    Savi caught her upper lip between her teeth, looked at Charlie again. “Okay. I didn’t realize it was like that. Sorry.” She stood and extended her hand; her palm was the same temperature as Charlie’s—perhaps slightly warmer. “My partner and I look after the vampire community here in San Francisco. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come to us.”
    Charlie nodded again. “All right.” Then, because an awkward silence had fallen, she added, “Your house on the lake was incredible. Thanks for letting me stay.”
    Savi waved it off with a shrug that suggested she was accustomed to breathtaking views and beautiful houses. “I’m just glad it could be of some use,” she said. “Colin and I picked it up because we thought we’d be spending more time in Seattle, but we haven’t had as much success meeting with Manny as we did Vladimir and Katya.”
    “Katya and Vladimir were the heads of Seattle’s vampire community,” Ethan explained when Charlie glanced at him. “But they were killed about three months ago.”
    “And the new guy hasn’t been very receptive,” Savi added. “We’ve been looking at a few other ways to set up something similar to our club for the vampires in the Seattle community—actually, that theater across from Cole’s is one of them.” Smiling, she performed a little side-to-side headshake. “They were playing Dracula that night Hugh sent us to talk to you, so Colin couldn’t resist going in. And then we realized it’d make a great live theater, something like what they’ve got in Ashland, so we made an offer for it.”
    Charlie narrowed her eyes, tried to think. “Why does that sound familiar?”
    “Well, hell,” Ethan said. “Brandt mentioned it when he spoke with you, Charlie. If he knows it’s Colin and Savi who’s interested in it, he might be trying to block the sale.”
    “With the historical marker thing?” Savi snorted. “It won’t go through—they don’t meet half the requirements.”
    Ethan nodded. “Throwing up red tape, maybe, so it’s too much a hassle and you’d move on.”
    “He doesn’t know Colin,” Savi said. “Establishing a solid community in Seattle has become one of his new obsessions.” She caught her tongue briefly between her teeth, her eyes widening with amusement. “And I think it’s to spite Manny, too. The mustache offended him.”
    Charlie blinked and looked to Ethan, who said, “Her partner believes that no self-respecting vampire ought to have a varmint on his lip.”
    “Manny’s just a weasel all around,” Savi said as she walked back to her computer. “The community could do a lot better. But I guess it was easy for him to just move in and take over everything of Vladimir’s…like his car renovation shop. Charlie, you knew Mark Brandt?”
    “Yes, a little,” she said, and because it seemed she was going to be included in this, she followed the other vampire to the desk.
    “Did he strike you as the type to spend a substantial amount of time and money having a ’65 Ford Mustang restored?”
    “No,” Charlie said immediately. “Not unless the restoration included exchanging the engine for something that ran on batteries instead of gas.”
    “Which would be a waste of a damn good car,” Jake muttered from his desk. “I used to have one. She was the sweetest little machine. The chicks loved it.”
    Charlie lifted a brow at the back of his head, then glanced down to see Savi in the middle of an eye roll.
    “I had myself a real fine mustang once,” Ethan drawled. Charlie turned, found him watching her with amusement fanning from the corners of his eyes. “I took awful good care of her. Fed her, brushed her, and carried her across the desert after she threw a shoe.”
    “And, once again, Drifter wins the I’m a Man, Not a Pig contest,” Savi