Love? Yeah, right. Just rock-star rhetoric. But I hurried to rescue Nathan, giving him the suggestion that he'd come into a room full of my weirdo friends but they'd all cleared out now.

Nathan looked at me and shook his head. "Glad those friends of yours are gone, Glory. Ray needs some quiet time before he goes on."

"Lucky's not my friend, just a deranged fan who won't be back. Flo's my roommate. Richard's her boyfriend. They understood. Sorry if we messed up your routine, Ray." I sat beside Ray and put my hand on his thigh. I could feel the tension humming through him.

"Do I have a routine, Nate?" Ray grinned and looked longingly at the bar setup across the room.

"We usually have more time." Nathan paced in front of us. "But things look good out there. You'll be fine. No worries."

"Try to relax, Ray. How many concerts like this have you done? Austin loves you. Tickets sold out here in ten minutes."

"Glory's right." Nathan gave me an approving smile. "The opening act says it's a great crowd tonight. Singing along. Dancing. Hell, you could do this one in your sleep."

Actually with my vamp senses, I felt the building shaking with the fans clamoring for Ray to come onstage. His band was warming up, already playing the intro to one of his hits. Could Ray feel it too? His hand dropped down to cover mine, and I figured he probably could. Close up he looked tired and every one of his thirty-seven years.

Ray put his head back and closed his eyes. "Shouldn't have drunk that water. May have to throw up."

"That's nuts, man." Nathan pulled an icy bottle out of the minifridge. "Here's another one. Or do you need something stronger? To settle your nerves. I've got some Jack right here."

Ray swallowed and sat up. "No, that's okay. I'm okay. Let's do it." He squeezed my hand and pulled me up beside him. I watched him literally pull something from inside himself. Then he smiled, nodded and headed for the door. I trailed in his wake. He should have a shrine, and I'd seen a really nice life-sized poster on eBay ... Sixteen

I have no idea how he did it. Thousands of screaming fans were still begging for more after six encores. Ray had tossed his leather vest to the crowd a half hour ago, his body gleaming with sweat under the hot lights. Finally he sang a slow love song that had me weeping guilty tears and wishing for Blade at the end of it. The building went completely dark for several long moments. When the lights came back up again, the stage was empty.

I jumped a foot when I realized Ray was behind me. Just goes to show how involved in the music I was, because I should have smelled him. He'd put a lot into the performance. The first thing he did when he got to his dressing room was jump in the shower again. I sat on the couch and closed my eyes, still soaring from that last sexy song. God, but the man could sing.

"You really shouldn't let down your guard like this, my dear."

I flinched when I realized a stake touched my sweater above my heart. I turned my head to see Simon Destiny, his weasel face much too close for comfort.

"Back off, Simon. You know you promised you wouldn't hurt me or my friends. You swore on your demon's honor." Apparently even morally bankrupt slimeballs have some oaths they won't break, thank God.

Simon dropped the stake. "I've been trying to find a loophole. You need to die."

"So do you. But sometimes we have to live with disappointment."

"I hear you've made a new vampire, a Carvarelli."

Why did that interest Simon? "So?"

"The Energy Vampires are always interested in business. Making loans to paranormals could be a lucrative sideline. I would like to talk to Ms. Carvarelli. Perhaps recruit her if she has enough knowledge to be of interest."

"Now this is amusing. You come to me to discuss recruitment?" I wanted to laugh in his face. But, actually, hooking him up with Lucky could solve some problems for me. One, he could keep her away from Ray. Two, he would be so busy with Lucky, maybe he would forget about his son for a while. I really hated the idea of Freddy getting entangled in the EV world. I tried to work up some qualms about throwing Lucky and Simon together, but what she'd done to Ray had pretty well snuffed any protective instincts I'd had toward her. So far she hadn't told me anything Ray had done that deserved the punishment she'd devised for him.

"I believe you would like to know who attacked Ms. Carvarelli in your alley. Am I right?" Simon toyed with the stake, pricking his own finger with it, then licking away the blood droplet in a kind of sick game that made me want to throw up or join in. Yeah, yeah, but we're vampires, remember?

Wait, did he say he knew who'd attacked Lucky? "Yes, I'd like to know who attacked her. Do you know?"

"I might. Or I might not. Introduce me to Ms.-I believe she goes by Carver now-and I'll tell you what I know. I understand there might be a reward. I expect a healthy percentage if my information leads to a successful conclusion." Okay, how many people did I have in line for a payoff now? Seems like I was down to about 10 percent for myself. Still, 10

percent of a million was a nice chunk of change.

"Wait a minute. You came into my shop and assaulted my clerk. News flash-that clerk is my friend."

"I must tell you that that's no way to run a business, Gloriana." He gave me a pitying look. "I would never count one of my employees as a friend. Next thing you know, they'll ask for favors. Like time off, sick leave. Surely you can see that was an honest mistake." Simon poked himself again, and I tried to snatch the stake. No go. "Am I getting on your nerves? Delightful."

"Stuff it, Simon. If you want an intro to Lucky, you have to give me something. Back off my employees. We call a total and immediate truce." I threw up a block, but I figure a man as powerful as Simon could probably bulldoze his way right over it and read my every thought. It frustrated the hell out of me that I couldn't read his mind. But I didn't doubt he had a mother lode of info in there. Including what I needed to know. I could practically see my cash-flow problem solved. And a truce with Simon would be a tremendous weight off my shoulders.

"Oh, all right. Though hassling you is such fun. But since my son asked for the same favor, I guess I'd better grant it. He seems to think you walk on water for some reason." Simon chuckled, though the effect was like seeing Darth Vadar laugh. Yeah, creepy.

"Then we have a deal. What do you know?"

"The person who actually attacked her isn't on your list of debtors."

"How do you know about the list?" Had he talked to Greg?

"Your friend Greg Kaplan was fool enough to think he could use my headquarters as a base of operations for his own pathetic attempt to earn a commission from the Carvarellis." Simon smiled, and I figured Greg had paid a stiff penalty for getting caught.

"He's taking a time-out. Don't expect to see your friend Gregory anytime soon. Or to get his help. So you're dealing with me, Gloriana."

I winced, then tried to cover it with a shrug. "Okay, then. Deal." Poor Greg. I hated him, but an EV time-out had to be pretty grim, something a little more extreme than being sent to his room without his supper.

"Don't waste your pity on Greg, Gloriana. Concentrate on the problem at hand. Ms. Carvarelli's hit man was hired by someone who is on the debtor list. Both the hit man and the debtor are still in town. Which demonstrates how incredibly stupid or incredibly arrogant they both are."

"How do you know this?" I thought this made sense though. But, wait. If the debtor owed the Carvarellis, where'd he or she get the money for a hit man?

Simon had been busy reading my mind. "The person came into some money and, as the weak willed so often do, instead of paying his or her creditors, hurried out to the EV headquarters for a little R & R." Translation: a Vampire Viagra binge. "Of course the Carvarellis still wanted to be paid. But this person thought he would rather get rid of Ms. Carvarelli. Obviously a miscalculation, but you know a vampire who will take a hit doesn't care if the person doing the hiring is making a wise decision or not. He or she will take the money and do the job."

"Guess so." Actually the soulless vamps who are hired guns are a mystery to me. Yeah, Valdez is a shifter who works as hired muscle, but I hope he'd stop short of murder.

"The person who hired the hit left the EV compound but not the area. The hit man is still around too. Seems both are dissatisfied with the outcome. Until Ms. . . . Carver is terminated, the contract isn't fulfilled, so there is no payment in full. Problem is, the window of opportunity for the person who hired the hit has passed. The hirer could pretend he had paid his debt. That the money was stolen when poor Ms. Carvarelli was killed. Now that story won't work. He will want to cancel his contract. But these kinds of deals don't get canceled."

I shook my head. "You've lost me, Simon. The world of hits and contracts is way out of my league, thank God. So you think the hit man will still try to kill Lucky and collect on the original contract?"

Simon smiled his evil little weasel smile. Yes, he's a vampire too. Born vampire, like his handsome son. Obviously Freddy takes after his beautiful mother CiCi. Lucky for Freddy.

"Charming, innocent Gloriana. Your hit man will probably wait to see what will gain him the biggest paycheck. If your Lucky lives up to her name?" Simon chuckled. "Well, her family has money. It would benefit them to get to him first and pay him off."

"I thought she was still in danger. But now she's surrounded by her daddy's goons. She'll be hard to get to." But if I could find out who the hit man was, that info might be worth the reward by itself. An interesting thought.

"I'm sure you're right. I suggest you look for someone who came into a large sum of money recently. That should lead you to the right person."

"Wait a minute." I jumped up and faced him. "You know who did it. Who hired the hit, don't you?" I wanted to skewer that creep into oblivion. He was toying with me.