Biting Oz: Biting Love, Book 5 by Mary Hughes

Author:Mary Hughes [Hughes, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2012-08-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Damn.” Julian tossed back a shot of whiskey, then plunked it down in a row of empties that stretched the width of the table. Apparently, the older the vampire the more it took to get drunk, because Julian was still red-eyed, long-fanged and apparently clear-headed. “This was their plan all along.”

We ringed a table right in the middle of Nieman’s Bar, but Julian’s fanged state wasn’t a problem. Not just the PAC had been emptied by Camille’s free drinks.

“I can’t believe we fell for it.” Mishela, back in her tomboy flannel and cap, toyed with her soda. “The kidnapping attempts were a diversion, to keep us from seeing them finishing the club.”

“Not just a diversion,” Nixie said. She was systematically destroying every bowl of bar peanuts within reach. “If you’d gone MIA, Scary Ancient Dude would have been flinging-apeshit mad. You know Nosy’s MO. Anything to fuck up the Alliance.”

Anyone else, I would have asked what the hell they meant. I was sort of used to not understanding Nixie.

Fortunately, Julian had gotten to be a competent translator. “Mishela’s kidnapping would have upset the Ancient One, distracted him and disrupted the Alliance. You’re right. That could have been Nosferatu’s primary plan, with Camille as a backup.”

“A one-two punch.” Nixie mimed a jab-cross. “Knock us off balance with Shiv, then KO with this shit.”

“Perhaps it’s not that bad?” Glynn nursed a Red Special, which smelled uncomfortably like brandy and blood. “Perhaps the townspeople will check out the club, find it not to their liking, and life will return to normal.”

I jumped on that. “Of course. The novelty attracted them. It’ll wear off.” Then I shook my head. “But in the meantime, it’s free drinks. No self-respecting Meiers Corners—” I tried to think what our noun-forming suffix might be. Corners-ite? Corners-zian? Corners-erella? Gave up. “No MCer turns down free.”

“What chaps my ass,” Nixie said, “is that those good Corners folk could have come back after downing their drinks. They didn’t.”

Glynn frowned. “So?”

“So the shiny-new’ll wear off, sure. But maybe too late for us.”

I tried to steal a peanut, nearly got my hand chomped. Small, fast and pregnant is a dangerous combination. I shook out my fingers. “I hope not. If we lose our audience, that’s bad. But all the quaint local shoppes the Sparkasse Bank invested in will be in trouble too.”

“And if the shoppes default, well.” Julian downed another shot. “The bank will be ripe for takeover or worse.”

“Fuck me,” Nixie said. “Aren’t we as much fun as a barrel of dicks?”

Julian eyed her. “I think you mean ‘barrel of monkeys’.”

“Dude, the only possible way being mashed in a barrel with a bunch of hairy little things would be fun is if it’s dicks.”

“Ah.” Julian set the shot glass down. “My mistake.”

“Remind me,” Mishela said. “Why is the Coterie going after Meiers Corners?”

“First tell me what the Coterie is,” I said. “And Nosy and the Alliance.”

Julian said, “The Iowa Alliance is a group of philosophically like-minded vampires who live in harmony with humanity.

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