" What's the word?" Valdez was showing all his teeth.

I shook my head. "Would you relax?" I pulled open the door. "And, Damian, you'd better not try anything weird." I threw up my mental blocks anyway.

Damian smiled. "I am never weird." He brushed against me as he came inside.

"What's this about Flo?" I sat in one of our club chairs and watched Damian try to avoid Valdez. Not easy. My dog was right on him, never more than six inches away.

"Can't you put the beast away?" Damian had a hunted look. "At least order him to back off." As much fun as this was to watch, I did want to talk to Damian about Flo and Richard. "Okay, Valdez. Go sit by the door. I'll let you know if I need you to take a chunk out of Mr. Wonderful here."

I leaned back and crossed my legs. "Damian, sit. You too, Valdez." Both beasts gave me a go to hell look. Too bad.

"Gloriana, you look wonderful tonight." Damian settled on the love seat.

"You are so full of it." No makeup, shapeless T-shirt and barefoot? A raving beauty I wasn't.

"What I am full of is lust for you, Gloriana." Damian struggled to keep his charming smile going and sniffed. "What do I smell?

Have you been cooking? Florence told me you want to eat."

"I'm not eating yet. It was steak. For the dog."

Damian sniffed again and leaned toward me. "And lavender."

"Good nose, Sabatini." I'd tried a new soap Lacy had brought when she'd gone to the store for Flo and me. We were low on a lot of supplies. I hated to be scared to even go to the supermarket. Maybe after Damian left I'd slap on the Kevlar and hit the all-night grocery store.

"You're still blocking me, Glory." Damian slouched, playing the poor rejected lover. "Don't you trust me?"

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I trust you again, Damian."

"You wound me." He put his hand on his heart.

Too bad he was so damned good-looking. Everything Damian said and did was calculated to be completely charming. And it worked. Five o'clock shadow for the masculine touch. Silky shirt open low enough to showcase his toned body. Loafers without socks to hint at his sophistication. Well-cut trousers giving more than a hint of impressive male attributes. I doubled my block. Too much dwelling on his package was a bad sign.

"What about Flo? That's the only reason I let you in here, Damian. I'm worried about her association with Mainwaring. They're out again tonight."

"Ricardo's fine. Not a problem," Damian said it almost by rote.

" Great guy." Valdez stood and padded into the kitchen. " Any steak left?"

"No." Okay, this was getting weirder and weirder. "When you two agree on something, the planets are out of alignment. I'm convinced Ricardo, as you call him, has done something to both of you."

"What could he have done?" Damian yawned, obviously unconcerned.

"Mind control, Damian. Something you're very familiar with."

"Don't be ridiculous. No one controls my mind." Damian stood and looked at Valdez. "The dog, sure. Anyone could make Rover roll over." He got a crafty look and he and Valdez locked eyes. "Forget it." He sat down again. "Why do you think Ricardo could do this, what do you call it, oh, yes, whammy on me?"

"Listen to yourself, Damian. 'Ricardo's great. No threat.'" I frowned. "When you went after Flo and him the other night, you were furious. Did all that anger and mistrust just melt away?"

"I got to know him. He adores my sister."

"But he hates me." I stood and walked over to sit beside Damian. "I know I'm not Miss Perfect, but I've done absolutely nothing to provoke such all out hatred."

"Of course not, Gloriana." Damian picked up my hand. "I'll talk to Ricardo. Explain that we must love you." He smiled and kissed my knuckles. "He will be like a brother to you."

I jumped up. "I don't want him for a brother!" Damian was obviously not getting it. "He may be stronger than you, Damian. Or maybe you let down your guard around him."

Now that got his attention. "I never let down my guard." Damian finally looked thoughtful. "But if you're right, which you're not, then Florence isn't safe with him."

"She says he loves her. But the rest of us…"

"You seriously think he could be staking vampires with a cross? That he killed Trevor and Marguerite?" Damian shot to his feet.

"And my sister is sleeping with him?"

"I don't know what to think. So far whoever's staking doesn't leave witnesses. We need proof and obviously we're not going to be able to read his mind."

"No, I tried." Damian began to pace. "He is powerful. You sure he won't hurt Florence?"

"I'm not sure of anything." I was almost sorry I'd started this. I hadn't really learned anything new and now Damian was fired up.

"Why did you come over tonight?"

That stopped him in his tracks. "Halloween. It's next week. I want you to come to my party."

"I could use a party."

"Of course you could. So many worries." Damian moved closer and took my hand again. "And you could be my hostess. Some say that is an honor."

An honor. Only Mr. Super Ego Damian Sabatini would say such a thing. I extricated my hand and put the coffee table between us. It was a wimpy move. I was blocking. My head ached, but it didn't kill me. I wasn't afraid of Damian's power over me, was I?

"I don't think so."

He pouted until he saw it wasn't working. I've known way too many bad boys in my time to fall for their games. But the term

"bedroom eyes" could have been invented for a guy like Damian.

"I promise you'll have a good time. I play Count Dracula and everyone comes in costume. Lots of mortals too, eager to donate a pint or two if you wish to feed from the real deal."

I glanced at the two empty Bloody Merry cans on the table between us. It was taking more and more of the stuff to silence my inner beast. Which, sorry, but that's what it is. Not that I'm ashamed of it or anything. It's a fact I accepted a long time ago. Like my gambling addiction, I know that it'll never go away, but I don't have to give in to it.

"Sounds like a swell time, Damian, but I think I'll pass."

"Mara and Jeremiah will be there. I already talked to her. She says Jeremiah will be wearing his kilt and, when I told her about the costume contest, she promised to blow us all away in something sexy."

Manipulative bastard. Of course he wouldn't hesitate to use the old jealousy card. And of course it was working.

"You're kidding. You have a costume contest? Isn't that a little…"

"Juvenile?" Damian grinned. "Perhaps. I don't know about you, but my childhood didn't feature fun and games. I'm making up for it now." He was on my side of the coffee table. "We'll play, Gloriana."

"Play" was whispered in my ear and my imagination filled in the blanks. Have I mentioned that I've always had a soft spot for bad boys? And I wondered about Damian's childhood. I was pretty sure he and Flo came from privilege. Poor little rich kids? I figure we all came with some baggage.

"Let me think about it. The party. Not the hostess gig." I patted his cheek. "That implies a relationship between us that doesn't exist."

"Yet." He took my hand and sucked one of my fingers into his mouth before I realized what he was up to. I jerked my hand away and staggered when Valdez leaped between me and Damian.

" Did you call me, Blondie?" Valdez growled at Damian.

"You go too far, dog," Damian snarled.

"Calm down, both of you." I kept my hand on Valdez's collar. "This is about the time of night Margie was killed. Why don't we go down to Diana's coffee shop and see if she's got any regular customers who might have seen something or someone that night?"

" Good idea, Blondie. Put on your Kevlar first." Valdez bumped me toward my bedroom door. " Sabatini doesn't need to come with us."

"Yes, I do." Damian was eyeing my chest.

I wasn't wearing a bra, but the T-shirt was doing a pretty good job of hiding that fact. That's one reason I've always loved black. It hides a lot.

"I want to see this Kevlar that Flo told me about. She thinks it's ugly, but I want her to wear it too." Did I really want to parade in front of Damian in my Kevlar bra? Why not? I could handle Damian and I wanted Flo to wear one too. Maybe she'd actually listen to her brother if he agreed that it wasn't all that ugly. I had my second one now. It hadn't taken to dye, but Kim had discovered she could use fabric paint on it. I had to give her credit for imagination, even if my seamstress had gone a little nuts on this first experiment.

"Wait here and I'll put it on." I gave Damian a stern look. "This isn't for your entertainment, Damian. This is a security issue."

"I won't be entertained." He grinned and crossed his heart. "I swear." I couldn't keep from grinning back. My inner slut was having a great time flirting with such a hottie. Of course I realized that if I hadn't been playing hard to get, Damian would have moved on long ago. He'd started this pursuit as a "Get Blade" maneuver. Now it was a "Get Glory to admit she wants me" deal. I wasn't admitting anything, but I did slap on some makeup while I was in my bedroom.

When I came out in my bra with my T-shirt over my arm, Valdez was staring at Damian. But Damian was staring at me. His mouth dropped open. "What is that all over your chest?"

Chapter Eighteen

I looked down ruefully. "Bull's-eyes. Can you believe it? My seamstress was making a little joke. I'd told her Blade threw knives at me and sometimes missed. She painted on targets."