“This is on you, Caine. Take care of our girl.” Valdez followed us to the door.

“Our girl?” Ray put his hand on my waist. “Glory’s a woman, more than capable of taking care of herself. Now you’ve got a night off, man. Spend it finding your own woman.” He pushed me out into the hall and closed the door.

“Was that necessary?” I looked back.

“I thought so. You can’t keep dragging him everywhere you go, Glory. I can take care of you tonight if there’s anything that needs doing.” He punched the button for the elevator. “Have I told you how incredible you look? The tabloids are going to go nuts.”

“Thanks, Ray. But, sweetheart, I’m the vintage vamp here. I’ll take care of you.” I kissed his open mouth, then stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the lobby.

“Just when I think you can’t get any sexier . . .” Ray pushed me against the back wall as the elevator doors slid shut. “So you’re the alpha in this pack?”

I grinned up at him. “Is two a pack?” I ran my hands up his chest. “Don’t wrinkle my dress, Ray.”

“It’ll be worth it.” He leaned in and kissed a path along my jaw to a spot behind my ear, making me shiver.

“Probably.” I sighed when he moved down to press his open mouth against the pulse in my neck. The elevator shuddered to a stop.

“Looks like we’re interrupting something, DeeDee.”

Ray didn’t lift his head, just moved closer. I could see DeeDee, her expression never changing from neutral, like she’d caught two strangers making out.

“We’ll wait for the next elevator.” She shoved her date back and hit the button so the doors closed again.

I pushed Ray off of me. “Chicken. Couldn’t you have at least said hi to your bed buddy?”

“I was busy. DeeDee knows the score.” Ray shrugged, pulled down his jacket, then reached out to straighten my neckline that he’d managed to slip aside until it showed a trace of nipple. The elevator doors opened at the lobby.

“Here we go. Showtime.” He grinned at me. “My life’s in your hands.”

“I know that. Believe me, I know that.” I threw back my shoulders, on high alert. Between the two of us, I was the strong one here, the experienced vampire. Ray was a newbie, just coming into his skills. And his mortals would be useless if we ran across any paranormal threat. I actually felt a rush, though the odds of encountering a paranormal hit squad were slim to none. Okay, okay, that was a relief. I’m not an idiot.

We headed out of the main lobby entrance. Other celebrities were also taking off for a night out and the paparazzi were in a feeding frenzy. But they noticed me on Ray’s arm and my new look.

“This way, Glory. What diet are you on?”

“Who did your lipo?”

“Did you lose the baby?”

The lipo question made me wonder if there had been a mole in the production staff of the TV show. The baby question was so crude and disgusting I sent the idiot a mental message that made him go pale and back away. After that, I refused to say a word as we hurried into the limo. Ray and I settled back, the two guards facing us as we drove to the first party.

Ray grabbed my hand. “Damned paparazzi. I’m sorry about that, Glory.”

“Comes with the territory, I guess. Not your fault.” I smiled at him, then leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I scared that one photographer. He’s going somewhere so he can look and see if he’s still got something between his legs.”

Ray laughed. “Baby, I like the way you think.”

“Yeah, I just wish I had the power to make stuff like that really happen.” I eased my hand out of his and adjusted the silk wrap that matched my dress. “Tell me about this party we’re going to.”

“My record label’s throwing this bash. I already had Nate spread the word that I’m on the wagon.” Ray frowned and sat back. “Of course the execs were happy to hear that. Didn’t know I had such an obvious problem.”

I covered his hand where it rested on my thigh. “Just the insiders knew. Your fans didn’t have a clue unless they believed some of the meaner tabloid stories.” Ray had been on the brink of going into rehab for alcoholism when he’d been made vampire. It had been tough for him to realize his drinking days were over when he’d awakened to a liquid diet that wasn’t his favorite Jack Daniel’s. Bummer for him. Then to find out he couldn’t see daylight again either . . . When you don’t choose to become vampire, like I did, it can be a pretty depressing reality.

“Well, the upside is I’ve made the powers that be at the label very happy with my new sober work ethic. They really like my new tunes on the upcoming album. Now all I have to do is get them used to my crazy new work schedule. Of course I’ve always been pretty much a night owl. Never really appreciated the daylight before. But now . . . Hell, next time it’ll be different.” Ray turned his hand over and squeezed my fingers. “I’m not bugging you about this anymore. Or arguing about it tonight either. I’m sure it’s not a bit sexy.” He nodded toward the mortals who were both plugged into iPods to give us privacy. I didn’t doubt they could still hear us, though.

“We can talk about this later.” The limo was slowing and I could see another crowd gathered around a canopy in front of a restaurant. Our car was in a slow-moving line, until it was our turn and the guards jumped out first.

“Israel Caine!” Female screams made it clear that Ray still had plenty of female fans as a throng pushed against velvet ropes, and policemen kept the crowds back. Ray stopped and signed a few autographs, then waved at the crowd and escorted me inside. We left the bodyguards by the door and headed into the darkened restaurant that had apparently been totally taken over for the party. M.A.S. Records logos were everywhere, the bloodred letters on black background unmistakable, along with O.B.G. Sounds, the rock division that was Ray’s label. One of the Grammy-nominated hits was loud and proud, played by a DJ. Scantily clad waitresses in tight white O.B.G. T-shirts, cut off to show their tiny waists, circulated, taking drink orders. Ray and I took our token glasses of sparkling water and pretended to sip.

We saw famous faces everywhere and Ray knew everyone. I was in fangirl heaven and had a hard time pretending to be cool. I wished Flo could have met the hunky country star we’d both drooled over in a video one night. Or the older man whose music we’d both had fun dancing to back in the sixties. I just hung on to Ray’s arm and kept smiling. Then I caught a whiff of something I’d never expected to smell here. Vampire.

I looked around. No, not just one vampire, but several. Holy crap. I didn’t feel menace, but that didn’t mean Ray and I couldn’t end up with our throats ripped out. We didn’t know any of the Los Angeles vampires. I did have names I could throw around. Jerry, Richard and Damian had talked to the Council. Maybe they’d mentioned us. Let it be known we were in town and meant no harm. I gave Ray an elbow.

“What, baby? Let me introduce you to Celine.” Ray pulled me forward. “Glory’s a big fan. Has all of your CDs. We meant to make your show before you left Vegas.”

“Ray’s right. I just love you.” I babbled and almost spilled water all over the famous singer. But I couldn’t concentrate. I had to get Ray alone. I finally sent him a mental message.

“Ray, there are vampires here. Several. Sniff the air. See if you can pick them out.”

Ray’s eyes widened and he leaned in to kiss Celine’s cheek. “Great to see you again. E-mail me your concert schedule and maybe we can connect.” We watched her disappear into the crowd. “Well, she’s not one.”

I wanted to giggle hysterically. “I never thought she was.” I felt a presence behind me and knew the vampires had found us.

“Come with me, please. There’s someone who wants to meet you, Mr. Caine, Ms. St. Clair.”

Ray and I turned and there stood a pair of vampires who could have been just your ordinary record executives. Hey, I challenge you to pick them out of a crowd in any boardroom. Thousand-dollar suits. Silk ties. White shirts and expensive haircuts. One even sported horn-rimmed glasses à la Clark Kent. The pair was completely nonthreatening if you weren’t into mind reading. Unfortunately, Ray and I were able to get the mental message loud and clear. This wasn’t an invitation we could turn down.

We were going to meet a big bad vampire whether we wanted to or not. Oh, yeah, and I was supposed to protect Ray. Uh-huh.

Fifteen

We followed the two vamps to the bar area of the restaurant where a blond man held court in a corner booth. It was obvious that bodyguards controlled who could and couldn’t gain access to this section of the room. Our host had a beautiful woman on each side of him. He whispered in their ears and they quickly slid out of the booth and hurried off.

“Please, join me.” He smiled and gestured, and two goblets of what smelled like a new and very excellent synthetic blood were set on the dark wood table on either side of him. “So glad to finally meet you, Caine. And the beautiful Gloriana.”

Ray nodded and I was proud of him. Even though this was probably the man who held his recording contract, he wasn’t about to shake hands with any vampire. We just stood there.

“Sit. Both of you.” Now there was steel in his voice and the record execs were joined by two more muscular types.

“Sure.” I smiled and slid in on one side of him. “I’m afraid I don’t know your name. Ray?” I looked at him where he still stood, obviously reluctant to just cave to a command. “Sit, baby, let’s get to know . . .”

“Chip Rollins. I own M.A.S. Records. Caine should know that.” He smiled when Ray finally dropped into the booth on the other side.

“Sure, I know who runs the show at M.A.S. Nice to finally meet you. Didn’t know you were”—Ray glanced around—“vampire.”