Demon Night

Angie and Cora were shedding.
    He looked up as Charlie offered the ladies a box of tissues she’d retrieved from the office’s supply cabinet. Her eyes met his before she asked softly, “Angie, you’re sure he had black feathered wings? Not just black, like a bat’s?”
    Angie wiped her eyes, nodding. “We were over at the Seattle Center, out in front of that ugly-ass museum, waiting for Manny to come pick us up. And it was crouching up on the monorail, and the feathers were resting against the track. I saw them, told Cora we had to run.”
    “Because Drifter warned us about it,” Cora said, blowing her nose—though Ethan hadn’t ever known of a vampire getting leaky there.
    Charlie slanted a glance at him, but if she was amused by their antics or disgusted, he couldn’t read it in her face.
    Angie lowered her tissue, and her eyes hardened. “Then Manny drove up, but we didn’t think we’d make it to the car.”
    “It was right behind us,” Cora put in. She’d dropped the pretense, too. “And Manny could have driven away, but he got out.”
    Angie cupped her hands together, like she was holding a weapon. “And he had that sword he’d used when he was enforcing—”
    Cora muttered, “Goddamn Katya and Vladimir.”
    “—and he ran past us, and that demon just caught him up. Started cutting,” Angie said. This time Ethan thought the moisture shining in her eyes was real. “We heard him scream once, but then we got in the trunk.”
    “Manny always said it was big enough for both of us to hide in. So we put up the spell for as long as we could stand being cooped up in there, because we didn’t know if it would be waiting for us.”
    “He wasn’t,” Angie said with a shrug and a bit of embarrassment. “We’d been towed sometime during the week. Scared the shit out of the lot attendant, too, when we kicked open the trunk.”
    “Then we went back to the museum, where we saw Manny last.” Cora’s full lips flattened and paled. “And we finally found his clothes, stuck way back on top of the monorail station. I guess the ash must have washed away in the rain. There were streaks, but nothing else.”
    “He deserved it,” Angie said as she wiped her eyes again.
    Charlie frowned, and her brows drew together. “If he deserved it, why were you faking it before, and why is it real now?”
    Angie and Cora exchanged a glance before Cora said, “He was a prick, but he saved our asses. It doesn’t hurt anything if the others remember that we were crying when we came in; it gives something back to Manny.” She gestured toward the one-way and the vampires in the lounge. The shield was up, so they wouldn’t be hearing anything now.
    Angie added, “And we talked a lot in that trunk—about making some changes, getting a new line of work. We’d heard Drifter was opening up a theater, and would be hiring vampires.”
    The waterworks had been an audition? Charlie appeared too confounded by their response to tell them the Heritage would be owned by Colin and Savi, and Ethan just studied his boots again.
    “And we wanted to get Drifter here as fast as possible, so we laid it on thick—but your boss was so sweet, trying to help us out, we didn’t stop,” Cora said.
    “Now that’s a man,” Angie said, and looked through the one-way again as if she’d like to eat Old Matthew up.
    Though Charlie’s eyes widened, Ethan relaxed a little. Taken all together, the foolishness they were spouting was finally starting to make sense. “You’re aiming to take Manny’s place.”
    “Yes,” they said in unison. Angie added, “And we want your approval.”
    Ethan shook his head. “That ain’t my decision—it’s for your community to determine.”
    Cora smiled as she said, “Do you know what we’ve heard from every vampire since coming out of that trunk? ‘Drifter and Charlie, Drifter and Charlie.’ Your support will go a long way for us.”
    The truth was, Ethan could easily see Cora and Angie heading the community, but he sure in blazes wasn’t going to get pulled into a discussion of vampire politicking now. “You ladies stay in Vladimir and Katya’s house, keep your fingers in everyone’s business like they’ve always been, get some legitimate income, and you’ll be in a fine position to take over. You won’t be needing me.” He held out his hand for Charlie’s; a moment after her cool fingers clasped on his, another thought occurred to him, and he pinned a stare on Cora. “I sure