“We didn’t see him,” Sophie said. “We saw the father of one of the girls on the news. So Liam drove me down—”
“You didn’t feel the need to keep this in the, uh, community?” Tina asked.
“She tried,” Liam said simply.
There was a short silence, broken by the queen’s muffled giggle, then Sophie continued. “We drove down and spoke to the girl’s mother. I don’t think there’s much doubt, or I certainly would not be bothering you with this.”
“Ugh! He dates these girls, makes them love him, then dumps them to watch them go all suicidal with despair?”
“Yup.”
“What a shit!” Betsy was on her feet. “Let’s go up to Embarrass and kick his ass!”
“It’s not in Embarrass,” Sophie began, but Sinclair interrupted her.
“I quite agree. This behavior is not acceptable in the least. Also, it’s messy and people are bound to notice.”
“Here we go,” Jessica said into her smoothie.
“Messy? It’s messy?” The queen looked around, but Jessica and Tina were hurriedly clearing all the empty glasses off the small table. Nothing was within throwing reach. “How about, ‘He’s a shit and we’re gonna stake his ass.’ How about, ‘Those poor girls, let’s avenge them.’ How about anything besides messy?”
“He did say anything besides messy,” Liam pointed out. “He said it wasn’t acceptable behavior. Which I guess it’s not.”
“Dude: so not talking to you.” The queen gave him a good glare, so he hung tight to his glass. “I don’t—”
“So, you’re the queen of all the vampires, huh?”
That took the wind out of her sails. “Yeah, I guess,” she replied, and her shoulders slumped.
“So all the vampires have to do what you say?”
“No,” Eric Sinclair said.
“And I’m not a vampire,” Jessica said. “I’m just a hanger-on.”
“Me, too, I guess,” he joked.
“You shut up, too. Everybody shut up. And to answer your question…uh, I’m sorry, your friend told me your name but I—”
“Liam.”
“Right. Anyway, they’re supposed to, but I don’t want ’em to, and a lot of them don’t listen anyway.”
“But that’s not because you’re resisting your destiny or anything,” Jessica said, smirking at him.
“Jess! Repeat after me: not helpful.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesties, shouldn’t we be driving north? He could be seducing another girl this minute.” Sophie’s expression darkened. “He could be breaking up with another girl this minute.”
“He could feel the tip of my shoe up his ass in another minute,” the queen vowed, slipping off of her stool. “Jess, you stay here.”
“Oh, come on,” she protested. “I always miss out on the good stuff.”
“If by good you mean hideously dangerous, then yeah, you do. Look, it’s vampire business, anyway. And last I looked, you were alive.”
“Then he shouldn’t go, either,” Jessica said, pointing at Liam.
“It’s my truck,” he said mildly.