Steal the Day Read Free

“Thanks.”
    “Don’t destroy it.” He shook his head because he knew I was perfectly capable of doing just that.
    I took the elevator straight down. The doors opened directly into Dev’s office. I had to walk through Ether to get to the parking garage where the car was parked. I opened the door to the office and was assailed by the full-time rave that is Ether. The throbbing beat filled the air as I descended the steps as quickly as my shoes would let me.
    A large red demon stood at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in an elegant suit. He tipped his horns forward in acknowledgment. Albert. Dev’s all-in-one, go-to demon. He acted as Dev’s butler, his bouncer, and his second in command. “Mrs. Donovan.”
    I was going to try pleasantries but simply snapped my lips shut and started to walk around him. At one point, I thought Albert and I could be friends. Now, he just viewed me as the harlot who was leading his precious master down the wrong path. Seriously, no one can be as judgmental as a demon. They really do know their sin.
    “Zoey,” he called out as I tried to get around him.
    I turned because he hadn’t called me by my first name in several months. “What do you need, Albert?”
    “A moment of your time.”
    “If you’re going to give me another lecture on adultery, you can save your breath. Daniel and I have an open marriage.” The open part wasn’t Daniel’s idea, but then the marriage part hadn’t been mine.
    Albert ignored me. “Did my master discuss our worries with you?”
    “He mentioned something about new vampires in Dallas. I think he wants me to figure out where they came from.” I had to strain to hear him over the noise. I was sure he could hear me. Sometimes it’s difficult to be the only human in the room.
    “Yes, we’ve had several new vampires in the club.” Albert raised his voice and inched closer to me when he realized my difficulty. I was happy for the heels because Albert was at least seven feet tall. With the extra four inches, I was all the way up to five eight.
    “And Dev said they had been seen with werewolves?”
    Albert nodded. “Several of them were seen with weres and shifters. The two-natured were all female, and the vampires were all male. It did not seem like a business relationship.”
    Curiouser and curiouser. If vamps and weres didn’t typically do business together, then they really didn’t have relationships. It was more about the weres than the vampires. Vampires have no problem coupling up with anything they find attractive, and were blood is particularly rich. If a vamp could get a pretty were to agree, I was sure the vamp would be thrilled. The werewolf, on the other hand, would be outcast. “Do you have any idea how many new guys we’re talking about? One? Two?”
    “I have reports that state at least five new vampires have taken up residence in our city,” Albert explained.
    My eyes widened at that bit of news. I really had been spending too much time alone if I hadn’t heard about that. Since we lost Sarah, our witch and my friend, in the last job we’d run, I’d spent a lot of time restoring my house. I’d retreated from the world, but it seemed to move forward just fine without me. “Five vamps have moved into town? There are eight vampires in residence? Can the city even sustain eight vamps for long?”
    “You aren’t hearing me, Zoey,” Albert said. “The vampires haven’t moved here. They rose here. Or if they didn’t have their turn in our fair city, then they got here as quickly as they could. None of the vampires appears to be over thirty human years old, and I suspect that is their true age. These are new vampires. I am almost certain of it.”
    I shook my head at the thought.
    My husband had an awful lot of explaining to do.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    I steered the Audi through downtown traffic, glad that I could make it to Daniel’s with a blindfold on because I wasn’t thinking about the drive. It was difficult to