“Young Lady! I’ve been thinking about you.”

“Nice things, I hope. Want to have a drink tonight, or dinner? Maybe I can make dinner for you and Charlie.” Charlie Arthur, his vampire beau, was a hotel manager. “I can fire up the Margaritanator 3000 for strawberry margaritas.”

“Charlie’s at a conference, but I’m free. Can we go shopping first? I need new shirts.”

“You are a dream date,” I said, and we arranged to meet at the mall downtown.

I put on a dress, a jacket, and cute flats, and walked on the gusty, busy streets to the mall. I rode the dizzying circular escalators up to the top floor and waited for Gabriel.

I liked watching the crowds. Frequently I saw girls who looked like me, curvy brown-eyed girls with dark hair and olive skin, gossiping with their girlfriends and wearing sexy outfits. I imagined being with them, talking about normal things like how we hated our jobs and cool clubs and hot guys.

I spotted Gabriel’s pretty copper-gold hair as he rode the escalators up, and then he got off and saw me.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he said, giving me a kiss. He was a small, lithe man with fine features and green eyes. “I envy that tan.”

“I’ve been swimming stark nekkid at Ian’s new place.”

In unison we said, “The Dark Lord!” The nickname was the sort of joke no one was brave enough to say in front of Ian. Gabriel claimed not to know Ian’s full role with the Vampire Council, and Ian claimed that all he did was attend meetings.

Gabriel and I walked into a favorite department store, and I said, “The Dark Lord hired a married couple of thralls to work as his butler and housekeeper.”

“You sound annoyed.” Gabriel took my hand, and we strolled toward the men’s department.

“I’m annoyed to the nth degree.”

“You don’t expect him to do his own mopping and scrubbing. He probably needs a full-time person just to care for his suits.”

“He’s got a place in town that does that for an astronomical fee. You know I have Major Issues with thralls. It seems so exploitive. You should have seen them kissing his ass.” I saw Gabriel’s expression and said, “No, hold that thought.”

We laughed and he said, “It sounds as if your problem is with their desire to please, not the work they do. Most people don’t want to be in charge.”

Gabriel pulled a vintage-style slate blue polo off a rack and showed it to me.

“Love it,” I said. “Ian told me it’s insulting to assume that the thralls aren’t capable of self-determination.” I considered my ex’s ranch hand, Ernesto. “I always thought of Ernesto as Oswald’s buddy, but … but is there an emotional master-servant component to their relationship that I didn’t see?”

“If you asked Ernie that question, he’d laugh in your face. Did you hear that he just bought twenty acres of old cabernet vines?”