Page 66 of Fire Dancer
I glanced at Jananovich. Was the man innocently mistaken or a cold-blooded killer? More to the point, was he a man at all or a vampire?
My phone rang, and I pulled it from my pocket. “Hello?”
Metal shop noises came through from the other end of the line as Abby spoke.
“Hi, it’s me,” my sister said, sounding rushed and annoyed.
Bang! Bang!She hadn’t bothered putting her work aside for this call. Which made sense since I’d drastically downplayed the situation.
“Oh, hello,” I said loudly, shooting an apologetic look at my host.
“Calling like you asked me to.” Abby’s sigh was punctuated by another couple of hits of the hammer.
“Yes, that’s right,” I said, playing out my side of a different conversation. “I’ll be sure to pick that up on my way home. I’m at La Puebla right now, but I shouldn’t be long.”
There. Another layer in my safety net, such as it was. I’d just made clear to Jananovich that someone knew where I was,in case he suddenly decided to off me and claim I’d never been there.
“See you at the shop soon,” I finished, then smiled, hung up, and apologized to my host again. “Sorry.”
“Not to worry,” he murmured, more focused on the glasses and decanter than me.
He liked them. He really liked them!
I could have cheered…until I pictured blood instead of wine.
Maybe it was time to get going.
“I’d be happy to leave the pieces with you to mull over,” I said, gathering the packaging.
Just then, the wind shifted, and along with the influx of fresh mountain air, I caught a whiff of ammonia mixed in with the Yves Saint Laurent.
My gut lurched. Shit. He really was a vampire.
“They are appealing,” he murmured. “Very appealing.”
More like terrifying. All the more so with the abruptness of my realization.
Of course, not all vampires were criminals. But with Ingo’s warnings, Stacy’s disappearance, and Jananovich’s interest in unidentified liquids, I veered way over to thebad guyhypothesis.
I made a show of checking my watch.
“Oops. I didn’t mean to take so much of your time. I really should be going.” I did my best not to rush, but the love vials I’d brought in case I needed another excuse to chat rattled, and one fell to the floor.
Quick as a cat, Jananovich caught it. I reached out a split second too late, and our shoulders brushed. I straightened quickly, but not before my nose wrinkled. Now that I was onto that hint of ammonia, it was all I smelled.
And, shit. Jananovich’s nostrils were flaring too, and his eyes gleamed as they roamed over my body.
Crap. Had he sensed my mixed heritage? Vampires had good noses, but I had it on good authority I smelled ninety-nine percent human.
Too bad for that one percent Jananovich had just caught on to. His eyes closed the way a wine enthusiast’s might when challenged with a taste test.
Interesting,his glittering eyes purred when they reopened.Very interesting.
I thought back to the beautiful consultants. Had they gone through an interview process that included a sniff test and ended with the same predatory purr?
“A pity you have to go. This has been a most fortuitous meeting,” he said.
I did my best to sound chipper and walk, not sprint, for the door.