Wicked Appetite - By Janet Evanovich Page 0,33

to the back door and her mouth dropped open. “Holy cow,” she said.

It was Wulf. He was standing in the doorway, his dark eyes fixed on me. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black slacks, black boots, and his glossy black hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. I felt a chill run through me, and I went breathless at the sight of him. He was terrifyingly compelling.

“I believe you have something that belongs to me,” Wulf said.

I opened my mouth to deny it, but it took a while for sound to come out. “N-n-no,” I finally said.

Wulf moved toward me. “We’ll see.”

I scrambled to the other side of the workstation, putting the island between us. “I swear I haven’t got anything.”

“Stay away from her,” Glo said. “Or else.”

Wulf’s focus never wavered. His eyes were fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

“Come here,” he said. “Trust me, you don’t want to make me angry.”

Glo was standing by the table we used for the meat pies. She snatched a garlic clove out of a bin and threw it at Wulf. It hit him in the side of the head and bounced off onto the floor.

“Death to vampires,” Glo said.

Wulf flicked his eyes to the garlic. “If only it was that easy,” he said.

“Lenny’s inheritance got blown up with the chicken, and Diesel has Shirley’s,” I told Wulf.

There was a flash of fire and lots of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, Wulf was gone.

The monkey peeked out from behind Glo. “Eep!”

That pretty much summed it up for all of us.

“I’m impressed,” I said to Glo. “You were really gutsy to throw that garlic at him.”

“Yeah, but now I might fall over,” she said. “I’ve gotta sit down. I need a cupcake or something. Holy bejeezus, he’s one scary guy.”

Clara scooted a chair under Glo, and I gave her a cupcake. The monkey looked freaked, so I gave him a cupcake, too. Everyone took a moment to breathe.

“Okay, I feel better,” Glo said. “I’m not going to throw up or anything.”

“Someone’s pounding on the front door,” Clara said. “I’m ten minutes late to open.”

Glo and I followed Clara into the shop and looked out at Shirley hammering on the door. She was bug-eyed, and her hair was Wild Woman. She was wearing a misbuttoned white shirt, and her skirt was twisted off center.

“Eek! Eek, eek, eeeeek!” Shirley said, charging into the bakery, waving her arms. “Boogie man ramma framma me. Icky poopy.” Shirley gave a shiver and made spitting sounds. “Pthu, pthu.”

“Something bad happened?” Clara asked.

Shirley nodded her head and gave herself a frantic pat down. “Grabby flabby big boys, bum, scooter pie.” Her eyes narrowed. “Slippery fur forest and brown Betty!”

“We don’t make scooter pies,” Glo said.

Shirley pointed to her crotch. “Scooter pie!”

A wave of nausea slipped through my stomach. “You were strip-searched.”

Shirley put her fingertip to her nose. “Beck.”

“Was it Wulf?” I asked.

Shirley nodded. “And peepee Snatch Bagger.”

“You should go to the police,” Glo said.

Shirley rolled her eyes and pointed to her mouth. “Snot gobble.”

“Yeah, that’s a problem,” Glo said, “but we could translate.”

I gave Shirley a cupcake to calm her down. “Language isn’t the biggest problem. I’m not sure the police can do anything with Wulf. Either he’s a figment of our imaginations, or else he actually disappears in a puff of smoke.”

Diesel strolled in from the kitchen. “The smoke is just theatrics. Wulf thinks it’s fun. The problem would be with containment.”

“What are you doing back at the bakery?” I asked him. “Did you know Wulf was here?”

“No. I knew food was here.”

“Wulf was here, but Glo hit him with a clove of garlic and scared him away. Or maybe he left because I told him you had Shirley’s inheritance.”

Diesel looked over at Shirley. “Shirley looks like she had a rough night.”

“More like a rough morning,” I told him. “Wulf came looking for the charm.”

“Was Wulf alone?” Diesel asked.

Shirley held up two fingers. “Nut sucker by Snatch Bagger.” She jumped around making slashing motions like she had a sword.

“I’m not getting an exact translation on this,” Diesel said.

Shirley stopped jumping and her eyes practically popped out of her head, spotting the monkey for the first time. “Jeepers!”

The monkey was sitting on a counter, stuffing his face with cupcakes. He realized everyone was staring at him and his mouth opened and a chunk of cake fell out.

“If the board of health sees this, I’ll be shut down,” Clara said. “It’ll be