Jeanne Stein - Cloud City

“He had a heart condition,” Sophie says, joining us from the shadow of the bar. “If we’d waited a minute longer, you both would have died.”

I steel myself for Jonathan’s reaction when he sees Sophie. Would he be angry that she risked his life to be rid of him?

Leticia is rubbing the back of his neck, nibbling his ear. He’s projecting nothing but contentment, purring inside like a kitten getting a chin rub.

After a moment, he rouses himself long enough to face Sophie. “I knew you were unhappy. You took a risk bringing Leticia into it, though. You would be dead if hadn’t worked.”

“You may still be dead,” Leticia growls, “if the spell turns out to be temporary. I need to know—what is Jonathan? Human or vampire?”

Sophie shakes her head. “I don’t know. But does it matter? If he’s human, you can change that.”

Leticia raises her eyebrows. “Hadn’t thought of that. You’re right. We’ll test it tonight.”

Jonathan looks around the bar. “Are there any mirrors? If I am human, I’d like to get a look at myself.”

Sophie spies one behind a booth. “There.”

He walks over, Leticia by his side. There’s a fuzzy image, fading even as he looks. I get a flashback to my first realization that I was a vampire. A mirror image vanishing as I watched just as his does now.

A stab of emotion washes over me—recollection of what I felt then—a sense of loss, uncertainty, fear.

That was eighteen months ago.

I’ve reconciled to what I am. Jonathan won’t have to go through that same period of adjustment. He’d been a vampire a long time before his assimilation into Sophie.

Jonathan runs a hand through his hair, glances down at his hand with a frown. “Well. I guess I have my work cut out for me. This guy was flabby and what’s with this hair?” He sweeps Leticia into his arms. “Can you live with this face?”

“We’ve got other things to discuss,” I remind him before he and Leticia start another round of petting. “Prendergast had a job. Do you intend to take over his life as well as his identity?”

He shrugs. “I suppose it depends on how much fun I can have. And how much money he makes. I am used to a certain lifestyle.”

Leticia clucks her tongue. “Money is no object, my love. I have plenty for both of us.”

“And there is Jonathan’s estate,” Sophie adds quietly. “I am willing to relinquish any claim. I still have my house in Denver.”

Jonathan waves his hand. “All things we can discuss later. Tomorrow.” His voice is husky. “Right now, I have more urgent matters on my mind.” He leans over and whispers in Leticia’s ear.

She pulls back, grinning. “You haven’t had sex in how long? What are we doing standing here?”

Jonathan looks at Sophie. “Prendergast was in room 302, right?”

She nods. “The key is probably in his pocket.”

Jonathan and Leticia barely take the time to wave on their way out.

Great. If I could hear Prendergast pecking at his computer and talking on the phone, what will it be like when those two start going at it?

I stay behind with Sophie to help her clear away the debris from her spell making and scrub the pentagram from the floor. We don’t speak. I imagine it’s a relief for Sophie to be alone with her own thoughts so I don’t intrude with small talk.

We part at the hotel lobby and I go reluctantly up to my room. It’s been a couple of hours, but the bed springs are still singing next door and the mingled moans of Jonathan and Leticia keep me awake long past dawn. The windows are open and once in awhile a whiff of sex and blood drifts in, making my own hormones jump into overdrive.

Tomorrow, I ask for a different room.

The ringing of a telephone wakens me from a deep sleep. With a groan, I roll over and look at the clock.

Ten A.M.

Between listening to Jonathan (I’ve already started thinking of Prendergast as Jonathan) and Leticia’s uninhibited cavorting and trying to come to terms with the morality (or immorality) of what we did last night, I didn’t get much sleep.

I pick up the receiver and croak, “What?”

“Well, good morning to you, too.”

Leticia sounds much too perky, too cheerful. Her voice grates in my ear like nails on a chalkboard.

“You sound well-laid,” I grumble.

She laughs. “And you don’t. You’re next door, aren’t you?” As if testing, she knocks on the wall. “Sorry if we disturbed you.”

“I’m sure. Is there a reason for this wake-up call?”

“We’re meeting Sophie downstairs at eleven. Will you join us?”

I tell her I will and hang up. I’ve no sooner swung my legs out of bed when I hear Leticia squeal with delight. I huff out a breath. “Jesus. Not again.”

And beat it into the shower.

I stand under a stream of scalding water, fighting emotions battling in my mind and body like prizefighters seeking the knock out punch. It’s not just aggravation I’m feeling. It’s jealousy. The closest I’ve come to a relationship like theirs was with a vamp I ended up killing. I don’t seemed destined for a happily-ever-after.

At eleven, I’m dressed and waiting in the lobby. I’m the first one down. Leticia and Jonathan are probably going another round. But where is Sophie? I got the impression she called this meeting.

I take a seat in the lobby and watch people come and go. Ordinary mortals, some with kids in tow, heading out for a day of sightseeing or hiking or fishing. They all have a plan. A destination.

What do I have?

No doubt about it. I’m in a funk. I need to get home and go back to work. I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and pull up my pilot’s number. I’m just about to hit send when the elevator door opens.

Leticia and Jonathan spill out like teenagers on a first date, all smiles and giggles and roving hands. Their skin is glowing, the effect sex has on a vampire’s constitution. It heats the blood and floods us with warmth. Leticia is wearing the same clothes as last night. Not surprising since she didn’t exactly arrive in Leadville with a suitcase. But Jonathan has washed the slickness from his hair and it falls over his eyes and tickles the collar of his shirt. He looks younger and relaxed and healthy . Far different from the Prendergast of old.

I watch them approach with narrowed eyes.

I’m jealous again.

“What’s the matter, Anna?” Leticia asks, plopping herself down on the chair next to me. Jonathan squeezes in beside her.

Naturally.

“You look like you want to bite the head off a chicken.”

I puff out a breath and try to wipe the resentment off my face. I go for a smile but I’m doubtful I succeed in anything more than a grimace. “Just tired,” I say in an attempt to cover up the unreasonable hostility eating at my gut. “Where’s Sophie? I thought she was going to meet us?”

Jonathan looks at the watch on his wrist as if seeing it for the first time. “Hmmm. Patek Philippe. At least Prendergast had good taste. It’s only eleven fifteen. She’ll be here.”

“So what did you two decide? Will you go to New York or…?” I realize I don’t know where Leticia was when Sophie conjured here in Leadville. “Where were you last night, Leticia, before Sophie yanked you away.”

Leticia laughs. “Good description of what happened. I was at my summer place in the Hamptons. In the middle of a party. I imagine they’re still talking about my disappearance. Luckily they know how mercurial I am. Probably thought I decided to jet off to my place in Paris or Lisbon.”

“Nice life. I guess you were right when you told Jonathan money would be no object.”

“I’ve invested wisely,” she says modestly.