When Victor indicated he was satisfied with his greeting by taking the central chair, Eric told Jock to bring drinks all around. The out-of-town vamps all waited for Luis to drink from a glass he picked from the tray at random. After Luis survived for several minutes, all the newcomers selected glasses and one by one, they all took sips. The atmosphere grew much easier after that, because the drinks were absolutely kosher: warmed synthetic blood, a premium brand.

“You stick to the letter of the law here at Fangtasia,” Victor observed. He smiled at Eric. Mindy was between them, and she was leaning on Victor’s shoulder, her own Diet Coke with rum in front of her. Her husband, Mark, on Victor’s left, didn’t seem to feel well. His color was bad, and he seemed listless. When I saw the fang marks on his neck, I wondered if Victor had overindulged. Mindy didn’t seem worried.

“Yes, Regent,” Eric said. He smiled back, just as sincerely, and he didn’t elaborate.

“Your beautiful wife?”

“Is present, of course,” Eric said. “What would the evening be without her?” Eric waved me forward, and Victor raised his drink to me in appreciation of my appearance. I managed to look pleased. “Victor,” I said, “we’re so glad you could come tonight.” I didn’t try to summon more than “pleased.” Victor wouldn’t expect me to be as good at concealing my feelings as Eric was, and I wasn’t going to give him cause to think any different.

Of course, Eric hadn’t wanted me to be there. He’d made it plain that a frail human should not be around when vampires were fighting. In theory, I agreed. I would much rather have been at home—but I would have worried every second. The clincher in my argument was that Victor would definitely go on the alert if I were conspicuous by my absence, which would have been a clear signal that Eric was about to spring something. Eric couldn’t deny that when I’d made the point at our meeting.

Akiro positioned himself behind Victor’s chair. Hmmm, awkward. I was trying to think what I could do about that. Pam was behind Eric’s chair. When Eric beckoned to me, I smiled and went to join him, my purse over my shoulder.

Colton and Audrina were blending into the background by carrying trays of drinks around the club.

To my astonishment, Heidi went down on one knee by my chair, her posture indicating alert attention. Eric glanced at her but didn’t comment. Heidi was taking a stance as though Eric had ordered her to protect me during what might be a touchy visit. I looked down at her, but she didn’t meet my eyes. Yep, that was exactly what had happened. At least that was within the scope of “normal” and wouldn’t necessarily make the visitors worried.