and her date to get in." She jumped up and hugged me. "Thanks for talking me off the ledge, Glory. I get so overwhelmed sometimes. You know?"
I patted her back. "Sure I do." I thought about the demons and how pressured I felt. "I really do. One word of advice. Don't go to the bathroom with Jenny. No reflection in those mirrors and wouldn't that raise questions? And of course there will be a bunch of other mortals in there too. Not only will you have the mirror thing to explain but - "
"Bloodlust." Penny made a face. "I'm doing better. Honest. The bartender is a vamp and he's been pumping me full of synthetic. He's cute too. If this thing with Trey doesn't work out . . ." She opened her purse and pulled out a cocktail napkin. "He gave me his number." She grinned. "What is it with these paranormals? Don't they notice the junk in my trunk?"
I laughed. "Lucky for us, a lot of them are ancient and have that old-time love of a well-rounded woman. And I don't mean a woman with a lot of interests." I hooked arms with her. "Now get out of here, have fun, but be careful. I'll want a full report tomorrow night."
"Thanks, Glory." She opened the door, then took off.
I was feeling really ancient myself as I walked out of the room and ran straight into Rafe.
"Oh, hey, I was hoping I'd get a chance to see you without your lord and master." Rafe looked me over with an appreciative smile. "You look amazing tonight. New dress?"
"Yes, Penny and I hit the mall. And thanks. But not for the lord and master slam. You know that wasn't nice." I backed up, pressed against the wall when Rafe moved close to let a group of giggling college students go past on their way to the ladies' room.
"You let Blade get away with that possessive crap, so I figured you got off to it." Rafe didn't move back now that the hall was clear, just stayed in my space.
"No, but some battles just aren't worth fighting." I put my hand on his chest with the intention of pushing him away.
"I get that, I so get that." He dug in his jeans pocket. "Here, I have something that belongs to you. Taking it was stupid. I realized that after the fact. It was something Blade would do."
I looked down and saw the vial Ian had given me. "What? You stole this out of my apartment?"
"Yeah. Protecting you from yourself." Rafe made a face. "I said it was stupid. But you know how I feel about Ian's shit. You had bad side effects from his diet drug. Remember?"
"Sure I do. But good ones from his daylight thing. It worked and it was amazing, my glimpse of the sun was longer than Ian's clients usually get. Still, it was too short for the cost." I sighed. "I can't believe you took this, Rafe. What were you thinking?"
"Wasn't. It was me doing the bodyguard gig. Can't seem to drop the act, you know?" He gave me a rueful smile. "Now I'm giving it back, but I'd like to know what in the hell it's for. Come on, Glory. What is that drug going to do for you? And you said Penny has a vial too. You're actually condoning your fledgling taking Ian's drug? Wonder what the council would say about that." Rafe stared at me with a mixture of accusation, concern and, okay, a bit of a threat.
"You going to rat me out? Oh, cute, rat, yeah, I should sue the damned council for sticking me with a fledgling who brings home fifty-three freaking rats." I glared at Rafe. "I can't believe you'd do that, Rafe. Seriously."
"No, I'm not going to tell anyone what you're up to. But I wish you'd confide in me. Let me be around when you take whatever this is. In case there's fallout." Rafe was all concern now, his hand on my shoulder.
"I appreciate your protective instincts. I do." I felt the steam go right out of me. "But Penny's a scientist and Ian is offering her a job. I don't think he'd be poisoning her. Right?" I waited for Rafe's reluctant nod. "So just trust me now and back off." The truth was I knew I was probably taking a chance with this drug of Ian's. We did have a history and Rafe had been a witness to the side