“He made friends with a kitten,” I added, leaning for the last slice of pizza. The bracelet of black gold I had found in my suitcase glittered in the light, and I smiled at his gift, not caring right now that he probably gave the bit of finery to all his lovers as a not-so-subtle show of his conquests to those in the know. Ivy had one. So did Candice, the vamp who had tried to kill me last solstice. I especially liked the little skull charm he had on it, but maybe this wasn’t such a good club after all.

“A kitten?” Kisten said. “No shit!”

Jingling the metallic skull and heart together, I chuckled. “Yeah.” I took a bite of my pizza. “Fed her butterfly pupa in return for her keeping him warm,” I added around my full mouth.

“Her?” he asked, the disbelief clear in his voice.

“Her name is Rex,” I said brightly, shaking my new charm bracelet down. What else would a nine-year-old pixy name a predator a hundred times his size? Eyeing Jenks holding the somnolent kitten, my eyebrows rose. “You want a cat?”

He laughed, the miles between us vanishing. “I’m living on my boat, Rachel.”

“Cats can live on boats,” I said, glad he had moved out of Piscary’s quarters when Skimmer moved in. That he docked his two-story yacht at the restaurant’s quay was close enough. “Hey, uh, how is Ivy?” I asked softly, shifting to drape the back of my knees over the arm of the green chair.

Kisten’s sigh was worrisome. “Skimmer’s been at the church since you left.”

Tension stiffened my shoulders. He was fishing to find out if I was jealous; I could hear it. “Really,” I said lightly, but my face went cold when I studied my feelings, wondering if the faint annoyance was from jealousy or the idea that someone was in my church, eating at my table, using my ceramic spelling spoons for making brownies. I threw the half-eaten slice of pizza back into the box.

“She’s falling into old patterns,” he said, making me feel even better. “I can see it. She knows it’s happening, but she can’t stop it. Rachel, Ivy needs you here so she doesn’t forget what she wants.”

My jaw stiffened when my thoughts swung to our conversation beside his van. After living with Ivy for almost a year, I had seen the marks Piscary’s manipulations had left on her thoughts and reactions, though not knowing how they had gotten there. Hearing how bad it had been twisted my stomach. I couldn’t believe she’d ever return to it voluntarily, even if Skimmer opened the door and tried to shove her through it. Kisten was overreacting. “Ivy is not going to fall apart because I’m not there. God, Kisten. Give the woman some credit.”

“She’s vulnerable.”

Frowning, I swung my feet to kick repeatedly at the curtains. Jenks had put his ailing plant on the table, and it was looking better already. “She’s the most powerful living vampire in Cincinnati,” I said.