So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 8.5 : Night of the Vampire pt5

"What the fuck is going on?"

This was from Sammy, but it might as well have been from me. I mean, it was the perfect response to being told that you're in danger, kinda like when someone tells you to "Duck!" and instead you pop your head up to see what's going on and go "Huh?" before being immediately decapitated by that thing you hadn't seen coming to kill you.

"Dude, this is seriously the worst night for you to be here," Claude said. "And you brought Sammy with you? Dude!"

"Great to see you too," I growled.

"He didn't bring me anywhere," Sammy snapped. "He did call in sick though, fucking left me stranded."

"Yeah, I did do that," I admitted, then: "What did you do with the store anyway?

"Fucking closed it. I wasn't missing this party."

Claude could see that his warning was getting completely derailed. He had apparently forgotten the minor chaos that came from Sammy and me being in the same room with both of us determined not to listen to him.

"You guys can't be here. Not tonight," Claude pleaded, then something occurred to him. "Why are you even here? This party is super exclusive."

"Her boyfriend," I said, and Sammy said at the same time: "He's fucking the boss lady."

I glared at her, then offered Claude a better explanation. "She's dating the King—"

"The rapper?"

"One and the same— and my girlfriend is apparently really, really rich."

"Girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend-ish?"

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Claude said, shaking his head. "Take a drink before you blow my cover," he said. Sammy and I both took another wine glass.

I shrugged. "It's a talent." I glared at him. "What are you doing here?" I finally asked.

"Working," Claude admitted, then rolled his eyes at Sammy's instant suspicion. "It's complicated. It's a job for our mutual friend."

I looked where he was not looking. Fifty feet away, Madame Vera was being her gorgeous, charming self to a group of billionaires, all of them human, all of them smitten by the beautiful woman in front of them. Before the end of the night, they were going to be significantly less wealthy and they wouldn't mind at all.

I saw Sammy looking with me. She looked stunned, which was generally what happened when anybody first encountered Madame Vera. She seemed to have the same effect on everyone she met.

"Who's she?"

"Madame Vera. She's all kinds of awesome, isn't she?"

"Wow!" Sammy never took her eyes off of Madame Vera. "She's fucking gorgeous. Why have I never heard of her? A woman like that should be on magazine covers. Like all of them."

"She's a very private individual," I said cautiously. "Maybe you can get the King to introduce you? He kinda-sorta knows her."

"Yeah, but you guys also know her, and that is seriously fucking with my head right now. Makes me wonder what other secrets you're keeping from me."

I looked back at Claude, or rather where Claude used to be. He had melted into the crowd, determined to be as far away from us as fast as possible. Sammy noticed that Claude has vanished.

"Whoa, where did he go?" Sammy asked and then shrugged. "You know what? Don't care. I'm going to go talk to the hottest woman in the room," she said. "Maybe she'll rub off on me. Let me know if you're going to stay and get killed or whatever."