Sucker Punch (First Fangs Club #3) - Kristen Painter Page 0,72
like enough. Not sure this matters, but he reeked of French perfume, so he either had a woman upstairs or had just been with one. More likely, she was upstairs. Which might explain his reluctance to come down.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. He likes his companionship.” Temo looked at them in the rearview mirror. “What I want to know is how you did that flaming arrow.”
“There’s a trigger switch that ignites the tips of a certain kind of our arrows.” Cammie stripped off the crossbow and sword and leaned over the seat to put them in the back before buckling in. “I preloaded a fiery one in anticipation of needing it. I could have used it as just an arrow too.”
Donna shook her head. “That’s ingenious.”
“The Venari have a lot of tricks.” Cammie stared out the window. “Keep all that between us, though, all right? I might not be Venari any longer, but that’s on me, not them. And I don’t need to burn any bridges. No wordplay intended.”
“Not a peep,” Temo said.
“None,” Donna answered.
“Thanks.” Cammie leaned back now that she could without the encumbrance of the crossbow. “I guess we’ll see soon enough if that worked. Are you still going to share your secret?”
“Why? Do you think I shouldn’t now?”
Cammie was silent for a bit. “He’s a slimeball. I’m a little worried what he’d do with that information. But then again, maybe it would get him to back off. Hard to say.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. He won’t like it. I’m sure about that. But again, don’t you think it might make him a little more leery of coming after me?”
Cammie pursed her lips in thought. “He wasn’t nearly as afraid of me as he should have been. Which means he’s either stupid or has more tricks up his sleeve.”
Temo snorted. “I vote stupid.”
“I don’t know,” Donna said. “He seems to do basically anything he wants without fear of retribution. Not saying what you did back there won’t be effective, but then again…”
Cammie nodded. “I have my doubts too. It’s like he thinks he’s untouchable.”
“He definitely thinks that,” Temo said. “Look how he acted at Francine’s party.”
Donna’s mind started working. “Should I file a complaint against him for that? The way he basically tried to disparage me at the party? Is there any kind of code of ethics for the governors?”
Temo shrugged. “Charlie would know that. That’s her department. But I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
Cammie twisted toward Donna. “You know you can file a complaint with the Venari. It’s considered a pretty scummy thing to do for one vampire to turn in another, but it happens a lot more than you’d guess. No one ever talks about it, that’s all.”
“It does sound pretty scummy. But then, you just acted like a Venari to intimidate him on my behalf, so…maybe I’ve already crossed that line.”
“Hey, what’s a little playacting in the name of peace?”
Donna gave her sister a look. “Except Fitzhugh doesn’t know you aren’t Venari.”
“That was the point.” Cammie tipped her head back and closed her eyes. “We’ll see tomorrow if it worked, I suppose.”
Donna nodded slowly. “Maybe by the time Pierce and I get back from the funeral, Fitzhugh will have pulled his complaints. Or at least one of them. That would be something.”
Temo glanced up. “Am I driving you to that, boss?”
“You don’t have to. Pierce can drive.”
“If I drove you, I could go too.”
“Do you want to come with us? You’re welcome to.”
He nodded. “I think Charlie would too. It’s a good idea to show support. The wolves turned out in a big way. I know Rico is one of theirs, but even so, they really gave us numbers.”
“That, they did. Without them, we would have been hosed. It would be great if you both came.”
Cammie yawned. “I’ll stay at the penthouse. There are a few wolves who might take exception to a Venari attending. Namely those who have extremely close relationships with vampires.”
“That’s all right,” Donna said. “Rixaline won’t be going either. She can’t. Daylight. And that works out, because I’m not crazy about her being alone in the apartment anyway.”
“You don’t trust her?”
“It’s more about her being a teenager at this point. I don’t trust them. Not that she’s given me a reason to think she’d do something dumb.” Donna laughed. “Speaking of, remember that time Joe Jr. convinced Christina she was adopted?”
Cammie grinned and rolled her eyes. “Or the time she used a pair of his underwear for her science fair project?”