ConVent (The Vampire Con Series Book 1) by Paulk Kate

Author:Paulk, Kate [Paulk, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: murder, vampires, fantasy, Science Fiction, sacrifice, editors, demons, conventions, werewolves, writers, sf/f, succubus, angels, urban fantasy
ISBN: 9781611360530
Publisher: Naked Reader Press
Published: 2011-12-09T05:00:00+00:00

18. Hell is Other People

The door to the party suite was closed when we reached it. A short demon in human form guarded the door with a sour expression. He didn't need more than that to convince people they didn't want to challenge him. It was the kind of expression a better actor would have used when saying, "Go ahead, make my day."

He had to be using demonic charisma -- or possibly anti-charisma -- because there was no way a balding man shorter than me with an unkempt salt-and-pepper beard and a ponytail -- presumably to compensate for the absence of hair on top -- should be remotely intimidating even with that scowl. The combination of too-tight jeans showing off skinny legs and the tee-shirted pot belly hanging over them did nothing to improve things.

"Oh good," Anson murmured with entirely too much malice. "It's mini-me."

I didn't ask. I didn't want to know.

The Bostings junior strolled up to him with bright, insincere smiles. I followed them and watched, wondering what Anson had in mind.

"It's a closed function, kids. Members and guests only."

That was at least two mistakes to start with. Calling Anson or Ricky 'kid' was a guarantee of trouble. Telling them they couldn't do something just ensured they'd treat it as a challenge.

Anson pulled a card from his pocket. "I'm a member. We've got important messages from Natalia and Don Bosting."

'Mini-me' made a show of inspecting the card before he handed it back. "One guest per member, Mister Bosting."

Only an idiot would have missed the insult, and Anson was no idiot. Ricky's snigger probably didn't help things.

Anson pulled himself out of his slouch and looked down his nose at Mini-me. "Really?" Ice frosted his tone. "Would you care to argue that with Natalia or Don? I'm sure they'd be happy to get Miz Guise or Miz Piper, or Miz Dell, or Miz Gould to vouch for us. Then there's our writer friends, like Mike Gander or Doc McCloud, or Ken Andrews, or --"

"All right, all right!" Mini-me had paled while Anson listed the assortment of stellar names his parents considered friends. Now he hastened to open the door. "Just leave me out of it and don't cause trouble."

I could have told him the latter was a lost cause, but I saw no point. I did give the unfortunate demon a murmured, "Don't feel too badly about it -- they do that to everyone," and a friendly wink on the way through.

I don't think he appreciated it, not with the emphatic way he closed the door behind us.

The suite was surprisingly non-crowded. I could actually see most of the people doing the standard adult party thing of standing or sitting around talking. Loudly, as usual. The ubiquitous presence of wine didn't surprise me. For some reason writers and alcohol worked much like writers and chocolate. Chocolate's probably less harmful, all things considered.

"There you are!" Doc McCloud greeted the three of us with obvious relief that lasted only until he realized that Don and Natalia weren't with us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.