Reborn Yesterday - Tessa Bailey Page 0,72

of lightning, briefly illuminating the empty lobby.

There. In the far end, near the visitation room.

Had she seen an outline of somebody or were her eyes playing tricks on her?

All she could hear in the muted stillness was the sound of her own breathing. In out in out. Something was missing. The gentle ticking of the grandfather clock. Had it stopped working? In the absence of enough light, she couldn’t see the time indicated by the two hands. The sound of rain intruded, pelting the windows like Tic Tacs falling from the sky and thunder blustered again, followed by another blast of lightning.

A movement occurred in her periphery and she whipped her head in that direction. Nothing. Just the movement of shadow, surely.

The hair on the back of Ginny’s neck stood up.

Slowly, she backed into the office and closed the door, twisting the lock. Roksana would be downstairs any minute. Of course Ginny was spooked. Her life had become a parade of the unusual. Things that never existed before were her new normal. Once a vampire makes an attempt on one’s life, one may never feel truly safe again. Wasn’t that a universal truth?

Someone knocked on the office door.

Once.

Pause.

Twice.

Pause.

A third time.

Roksana wouldn’t knock.

Ginny reached back and gripped the desk, remaining as still as possible. Who was on the other side of the door? If it was a vampire that wanted to do her harm, there would be nothing she could do to stop them. Even if she had a big, nasty stake, she didn’t have the skill or speed to drive it home.

Another, louder knock made her jump, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. “Ginny?”

Her hand dropped away. “Tucker?”

“What’s good, sweetheart?”

She heaved a choppy laugh and unlocked the door, opening it to find Tucker in a rain slicker and Wellingtons. Gold chain. No shirt. “Crazy weather we’re having.”

“Yeah, it’s not often I get outside before six o’clock in the fall. I feel like a kid again.” Even as he made the joke, Ginny could see the concern lurking in the corners of his downturned mouth. “Where’s Roks?”

“Bagging my dresses for tonight.”

“I’m right here,” the slayer said, striding into the room, wooden stake at her side. “What the hell is up with this storm?”

“You mind putting that thing away?” Tucker waited for her to tuck the weapon into her boot. “I don’t know. It came on pretty fast.”

“Too fast,” Roksana muttered. “Where is the prince?”

“He’s going to be late. That newbie he met with the other day is having an existential crisis. He’ll meet us there.” He hopped up onto the desk and tossed a wink at Ginny. “Until then, I’m putting the body back in bodyguard.”

Fighting a smile, Ginny checked the time on her laptop. “My meeting is late. I’ll just call him to make sure he’s still coming.”

She picked up the office phone and dialed, getting a series of beeps in her ear. “The number you dialed is no longer in service,” she murmured, repeating after the robotic voice. “We’ll give him five more minutes.”

Her appointment never arrived.

A while later, as she, Roksana and Tucker carried her dresses out and loaded them into the waiting car, Ginny looked up at the sky and couldn’t find the merest whisper of a cloud.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It was one thing to be the outcast of Embrace the Lace. It was quite another to have so many people witnessing the obvious shunning.

Ginny had been assigned to a display table in the mustiest, darkest corner of the church basement, complete with cobwebs and rattling radiator. The light panel overhead no longer worked, leaving her in the shadows. There was a clear division of her and everyone else, the other tables bathed in light and surrounded by friends and family, who’d come to see the hard work of their loved ones and place bids on the finished dresses.

Ginny had Roksana and Tucker.

They basically waltzed in, fell into the two metal folding chairs she’d been allotted and glowered at everyone who even considered a visit to the distant glacier that was her table.

With a final adjustment, Ginny stepped back from the mannequin to which she’d affixed her Christmas dress and removed the pin from her mouth. “Did I mention how glad I am that you’re both here?”

The pair grunted and continued their hard scrutiny of every living soul in the basement.

“That being said, if you could try and appear just a smidgen less life threatening, that might help increase traffic to my table.”

“This is just my face,”