Let Them Eat Cake Read online

  “Maria,” Justin growled in warning.

  She closed her eyes and sighed with heartfelt pain. “Yeah. I know. I’ll just lie here with my eyes closed while you get dressed. Then I’ll join you in the living room.”

  He didn’t waste time. He grabbed their clothes off the balcony, threw his on and soon disappeared to wait for her. Maria rolled out of bed and went to her closet. She dressed for comfort in sweats and tied her hair back. She walked into the living room to find Justin sitting on the couch, with both Matt and Brian in the overstuffed chairs.

  “Here, babe,” Brian said as she passed him, handing her a glass of blood-wine. “Thought you might need this.”

  For Brian the comment was very mild.

  “Thanks. You guys are still up,” she stated as she settled on the floor in front of the fire, waving away Justin’s motion to have her sit beside him. She needed some distance. Her hormones were still singing little happy songs. And she wanted to watch his face when they talked.

  “Yeah, it was, um, just a little bit difficult to even consider going to sleep with the porno noises you two made. Congrats on finally getting laid though!”

  Maria shook her head. Unfortunately, this sounded more like what she expected. “Justin, I apologize if anything these two say offends you. I have given up trying to beat manners into their thick skulls.” She brightened considerably. “But feel free to use your sizeable muscles to pound on them at will.”

  Justin threw back his head and laughed, which left Maria staring at him in awe once again. Jeez, she might have to kiss Matt and Brian if their antics put this look in his eyes. This man seemed totally different from the one she met at the coffee shop. His face pleasantly etched with satisfied lust and laughter instead of shadows and pain.

  “No problem. I’ll smack them around if it makes you feel better, but I believe he’s right. I am sure we made considerable noise.”

  He was gloating. The man’s cat-ate-the-canary look broadcast his satisfaction loud enough that everyone in the room could understand. Maria shook her head. Men! She would never comprehend them.

  “We’ll go to bed in a minute though,” Matt said. “I just wanted to let you know we got in touch with everyone for the meeting. They will all be there with bells on. And speaking of bells, I have a new outfit for you. Do you want it here or at the club for tomorrow?”

  “Club. I will go out as soon as I wake up, and then go into Sins about 6:30 to take care of some business before the meeting. Justin, I am assuming you will be going to the meeting as well.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it. However, it would help if I understood what club you’re talking about and what exactly this meeting is,” he replied.

  “Which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about. But hold on—the guys can go get some sleep. Do you think you two could come up with something for Justin to wear as well and bring it to Sins?” Maria asked, looking at Matt and Brian. She knew tomorrow the issue of clothes would be the hardest part of Justin’s night.

  Justin interrupted, “I’ll just swing by my place and grab something.”

  Maria sighed. “This meeting is a Vampire Sentinel Council. I will get into what that means in just a second. The short version on wardrobe is that the Council is old and very set in their ways, and there is a certain—well, dress code, or statement to make if you will. I haven’t been willing to push changes enough to end their fun. The boys will have to find you something to wear.” She turned to Matt. “Keep it black. Get pants with simple studs and an acceptable shirt. Please, Matt, don’t go too extreme,” she pleaded, knowing any promise he made would be kept.

  He nodded his agreement and she relaxed.

  After Matt and Brian left the room, she looked at Justin and smiled. “So. Where to start? The meeting tomorrow will be held at my club.”

  “Sins?”

  “Short for Sins of the Flesh,” she said, and watched as his eyebrows rose. “I know…a little hokey. The main area is a Goth bar with live bands and dancing, there are separate, smaller bars with male and female strippers, and a theater for live shows.”

  “I can’t wait to see it,” he commented dryly.

  “Yeah, it’s an experience all right. Now to explain Vampire Council.” She thought for a moment.

  “Why do you say vampire with different accents sometimes?” Justin questioned.

  Maria frowned. “Oh, sorry. V. A. M. P. Y. R., or vampeer, is old world, and said like you’re talking around teeth. V. A. M. P. I. R. E., or vampire, is an American or new world thing. I’ve lived so long on this continent and with the bookends I mix and match.”

  “Makes sense now, sorry. But bookends?”

  Maria grinned. “Matt and Brian. You won’t understand until you see them tomorrow. Anyway, the Vampire Council is groups of paranormals, mortals and immortals who oversee issues affecting all of us. Us, being not human,” she clarified.

  “So there are other vampires on this Council?”

  “Master vamps only—they control their fledglings and human servants. There are also Were pack leaders and other shifters, both Wiccan and dark witches, the fae or fairy folk and the druids all have representation. Demons aren’t allowed, as their main purpose is to make trouble, not prevent it, so there is no point.”

  “No,” he said with serious intent. “That wouldn’t make sense.”

  “It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” she asked him, as she tried to hide the sympathy and worry in her tone.

  Justin smiled at her in reassurance. “I have seen things I thought defied explanation when I based them on the world as I knew it. If I base them on your world, I think someday I may figure out what it was I dealt with,” he said. He didn’t realize that the agonized look flashed back into his eyes for a moment. She wanted the smiling self-satisfaction back.

  “I am not sure, but I think somehow my earlier experiences make accepting your life easier. It’s just a lot to absorb. What continues to blow my mind is the fact my father knew about all this for almost as long as I’ve been alive.” He shook his head and continued, “We’ll talk about me later, let me understand tomorrow better. I heard you mention something about sentinel. What is a sentinel?”

  “Not what, but who. Me. I am Sentinel for this area.”

  “What does being Sentinel mean exactly? Leader of the Council?”

  “No. Well, yes, I am the leader of the Council, but it exists because I allow it to. Our world is not a democracy. A better description of Sentinel is judge, jury and executioner. I watch over this region, and if any paranormal being steps out of line, I either take care of them or make sure they get taken care of. Handling a paranormal who doesn’t behave by our rules can mean punishment, fine, banishment or…”

  “Execution.”

  “Yes, execution.” She watched him closely.

  “Okay, let’s table everything else for now as it is getting late. Tomorrow’s meeting. What’s the dress code?”

  Maria smiled. “It’s very simple. We’re talking vampire drag queen. Or king. Gothic slut is another term for it. In part, the dress code is in place because it follows old customs and the older paranormals love ritual. But they also keep dressing up because they adore coming to the club all decked out in what they want to consider traditional monster clothes and mingle with the humans. They get a kick out of showing up dressed as a vampire and not having the mortals realize what’s really in their midst. Many of them wear clothing that was in fashion when they were mortal, but there is a very large contingent who will design their outfits in secret and work very hard at one-upmanship and shock value for these meetings.”

  Justin groaned. “Vampire drag queen, huh? And you put those two in charge of coming up with an outfit for me?”

  “Yeah, well, cheer up. They always dress me as the ultimate Gothic wet dream.”

  Chapter Four

  Justin left just before dawn broke over the skyline. The kiss he’d shared with Maria before he walked out the door left him wanting to throw her ov
er his shoulder and carry her back to bed. The cold shower he took when he got home wasn’t enough to cure him of the impulse.

  A myriad circle of questions still played through his mind, but he figured he wouldn’t get everything answered in one night. He replayed what he did know and decided to work in an opportunity to have a conversation with his father. Which brought up a scary thought—did his dad dress in vampire drag? This next day would be interesting, to say the least.

  Justin figured he would stay home for a couple hours and sleep. Then, after he went into the precinct this afternoon, he would either spend some time on the Internet or go to the library. He wanted to refresh his memory of the French revolution.

  Justin rang the doorbell at his parents’ home. He had keys and the security code…not that he actually needed them anyway, since his breaking-and-entering skills were very fresh. It was just easier knocking than figuring out which key went to which lock and scrambling to punch in the codes. Breaking in took less time.

  Or it was easier, until his mother opened the door and looked at him as if she had him under a microscope. When she smiled in obvious delight, he knew he was in trouble. His father referred to her as a pistol…always in the middle of things, stirring up emotions and charging in to fix things. Her looks were deceiving. She appeared to be the epitome of an aging grandmotherly woman. She had beautiful white hair that she got styled and sprayed into submission on a weekly basis. Her hands were soft, her voice happy and steady, and her arms were always open for a hug. Sometimes she scared him to death.

  “Justin!” she exclaimed as she moved to greet him with a fierce hug. “How wonderful to see you looking so…um, rested. Your father tells me you met Maria last night.”

  Justin frowned at the back of his mother’s head as he followed her down the hall. What the hell? Surely his mother didn’t know about vampires.

  “You know your father doesn’t keep secrets from me. I’ve met Maria several times and we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the French revolution. She even helped me pick out some of my antiques. I know she’s a vampire, and I also know you are attracted to her. I just want you to realize that your father and I give you our blessing.”

  Justin was speechless. Scary. She always knew what he was thinking. He hadn’t been able to keep secrets from her when he was a child and it still seemed to be an impossible task.

  Where was the rabbit hole into Wonderland that he had stepped in? He could have sworn his mother just said she approved of him fucking a vampire.

  “Mom?”

  His mother turned and smiled at him again with a smug look on her face. “Really, Justin. I’m not so old that I don’t …”

  Justin knew the expression on his face must have been one of horrified stupefaction. When his mother giggled like a schoolgirl he glared at her. “Mother, I am not going to discuss my sex life with you.”

  He watched as she raised her eyebrows at him and replied in a serene voice, “I wasn’t talking about your sex life, Justin dear. I was talking about a courtship.”

  Justin sputtered as his mother walked away with a wave of her hand toward his father’s study. She’d done it again. He knew better than to put words in her mouth. She caught him every time. He could swear she muttered something about men not being able to keep their pants zipped for five minutes in this day and age. He closed his eyes and decided that the world had gone crazy on him while he wasn’t looking.

  Bill watched Justin as he came in the door. His son had called several hours ago, saying he wanted to talk before they went to the meeting tonight. A man of few words lately, it had been years since Justin really initiated a conversation. He preferred to close himself off and observe life, but not participate. Those traits worried the father in him.

  “Hey Dad,” Justin said, as he crossed his father’s study to shake his hand. “Thanks for rearranging your day for me.”

  “Not a problem, son. You’ve been into the precinct today?” Bill asked. He hadn’t missed how the shadows in Justin’s eyes seemed a little lighter today. He’d overheard part of Justin’s conversation with his mother, so the bewildered expression on his face could easily be explained. Nancy always managed to get under her men folks’ thick skins.

  What interested him most was the returning spark of life in Justin’s eyes. It was the first encouragement he’d seen that his son would heal from whatever atrocities he’d dealt with while working for the government.

  “Yeah, I stopped by to check on a few things. There’s nothing new except for the body Maria found last night. I let it be known I would be doing the follow-up on the new case, so until we have a better idea of what’s going on, I won’t have other cops either spinning their wheels or putting themselves in danger. Do any of the other members of this team know about—” Justin stopped abruptly.

  Bill smiled. “About the Vampire Council, and the fact there are things walking our streets the general public believes only appear in fiction novels or horror films? No. Anytime I thought we might be dealing with something other than a human killer, I brought in Maria and she made sure it was taken care of. There are some case files that either disappeared or were moved to the cold case file with instructions not to work. Your mother knows, though.”

  Justin winced and then nodded, “Yeah, I just had a conversation with Mom.”

  Bill smiled when he realized that Justin didn’t want to talk about what his mother had said.

  “I can see how creative filing might be necessary. I can’t believe you’ve known about vampires and werewolves and other things all this time, yet you never mentioned it to me.” Justin didn’t phrase it as a question.

  Bill shrugged. “It wasn’t my secret to tell, Justin. And really, without seeing it, without experiencing this…alternate reality…I don’t think you would have believed me.”

  Justin shook his head in agreement. “No. You’re right, I wouldn’t have. I would have pushed you to get a psych evaluation.” Justin laughed. “I’m told the dress code for tonight will be interesting?”

  Bill couldn’t stop the blush Justin had been looking for. He sighed and decided to tell all. “I used to take a suitcase to those meetings and change either in the car or, after Maria bought Sins, at her club. My worst nightmare revolved around someone I knew seeing me dressed in leather and a choke collar. Your mother loved my discomfort. She told me to quit being such a stick in the mud.” He laughed at his son’s grimace. “Now I’m an old man. An old human man, and the Council permits me the dignity of dressing in a very cool black suit. I have been allowed to throw out my leather pants.”

  Bill looked at Justin and grinned, “You, however, aren’t going to be so lucky.”

  Justin pulled in front of the black warehouse building where the red neon sign screamed the words Sins of the Flesh. The clock on the dashboard read a little after 6:30 in the evening, and Maria said her club didn’t open until 9:00, so the parking lot was nearly empty. As he got out of his car, a side door in the building opened.

  “Good, you’re here,” Brian said. “I’ve been keeping watch. No one else will be coming until close to 9:00 and I didn’t want you pounding at the door without any response. I should have given you my cell phone number.”

  Justin looked at Brian and worked very hard to keep the alarm off his face. No way in hell would he wear an outfit like this one! Brian was dressed—or undressed, depending on how you looked at it—in a studded leather harness and… What in God’s name was that? A black leather thong barely covered the man’s dick. Dangling chains secured to a leather strap at his waist draped to attach to the scrap of fabric covering his groin. The rest of the outfit consisted of tall, black leather boots. Nothing else.

  “What are you supposed to be dressed up as?” he questioned the other man in what he thought could pass for a normal tone of voice. He wasn’t sure he wanted to get any closer to Brian.

  Brian laughed. “Relax. Your outfit has more to it. And I’m a human servant. Matt and I wear things like this be
cause the other human servants will be donning something similar. It pisses Maria off.” Brian moved to let Justin through the door.

  “Glad to know my outfit consists of something more than a few miniscule scraps of leather. But why does it upset Maria if the other human servants are dressed this way?” Justin asked.

  “Maria got in just a few minutes ago and she needed to make a few calls. Why don’t you come into my office and change before you go see her? I’ll try to fill you in on vampires and human servants while you get into your outfit.”

  Justin followed Brian into an office about midway down the hall. Considering the way this lunatic dressed, he was surprised to find very conservative décor. Two big mahogany desks faced each other and a nice, dark gray leather couch and chair sat with chrome tables in one corner. Modern artwork on the walls added splashes of red, black and gray, and those colors were repeated in the throw pillows on the couch. Not a whip or chain in sight. Thank God!

  Justin wondered at the fresh, spring-like smell of the office until he noticed the bowl of potpourri on the coffee table. Matt sat comfortably sprawled at one of the desks working on a computer. He looked up when they walked into the room.

  “Hey, Justin! Perfect timing, I’m just finishing here.” Matt stood up and Justin shook his head.

  “Aren’t you guys cold?” Matt’s outfit was identical to Brian’s. No wonder Maria often referred to them as her bookends. The nickname fit the two perfectly.

  Brian laughed. “Nah, we don’t really feel cold or heat. One of the advantages of being Maria’s HS’s.”

  “HS’s? Ah, human servants?”

  “Yes. Matt, Justin wants us to give him a little background on HS’s and why our wardrobe for these functions upsets Maria,” Brian said. “Sit down, Justin. Can I get you something to drink? No? Okay. In a nutshell, human servants are made when the vampire has you drink their blood every night for three nights. It’s not much blood, not enough for the human to be turned into a vampire. But it is enough to cure any diseases the human has and fix any deformities. At the same time, it creates an unbreakable bond between the vampire and the human,” Brian started.