Free Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

shake, which I did. It was cold.
    “Nice to meet you. It’ll be good to see a familiar face during the show tomorrow.”
    “Oh, this is so cool, I’m bringing everyone I know.”
    Aw, she was adorable. I beamed right back at her. “Lisa, I’m sorry, we have reservations and really should be going.”
    “Oh, of course, I don’t mean to interrupt. Have a really good time, okay?” We all said goodbye, and she went back to her quarry.
    “That was kind of surreal,” Ben said. He was still smirking.
    “See,” I said. “Vampire, but not creepy. Sylvia sneaking up on me outside the gun show? That was creepy.”
    He just chuckled.
    It turned out the Napoli steakhouse did serve an excellent rare steak, with a fabulous cabernet, topped off with a chocolate raspberry torte for dessert. His expression amused, Ben watched me devour this orgasmic dish. “You know why I really want to marry you? You’re so easy to please.”
    “My needs are simple,” I said, licking every last crumb of chocolate off my fork.
    “So, does that mean it’s time to head back to the hotel room, maybe address a few other simple needs? Not to mention getting away from all these people.” He glanced suggestively at the doorway. Even amid all the meat and chocolate, I could smell the hormones and knew what he was thinking.
    Damn. This was probably the right moment to tell him about Dominic. Not that I had any choice now.
    I tried to smile sweetly, but it probably came off looking guilty. “Actually, I have an errand here first. That’s kind of why I picked this place for dinner.”
    “Ah. And what kind of errand?”
    “It isn’t a big deal. It shouldn’t take long at all.” I avoided looking at him, folding and refolding the napkin on my lap instead.
    “All right. But what is it?”
    I winced. “Rick wants me to meet the Master vampire here, who just happens to own the Napoli. I know, I should have told you. But we were having such a good time, and it never came up.”
    Ben’s smile grew very icy indeed. “Vampire crap. You’re running errands for Rick.”
    “It’s a favor, not an errand.”
    “You just called it an errand.”
    I sighed. “I know, I’m sorry. But I just hand the guy Rick’s note and then we’re done.”
    “I hate vampires. You know that, right?”
    I did. I couldn’t really blame him, but then I had more vampire friends than he did. Rather, he had no vampire friends at all. “Rick’s not bad.”
    “Rick almost got us both killed when he took over Denver.”
    I couldn’t argue with that. “Look, you don’t have to come along if you don’t want to. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Maybe you can kill time in the casino.” He seemed to be pretty good at that.
    “Do you want me to come?” he said.
    “Yeah, I kind of do.” We were a pack; I’d feel better with him at my side.
    “Then let’s go and get this over with.”
    We made our way out, walking side by side, our arms just brushing. “I should have told you earlier. I’m sorry.”
    He didn’t say anything but took my hand and squeezed it. Grateful for the contact, I squeezed back.
    Not knowing how else to go about seeing Dom, I asked at the front desk of the hotel. I was working on assumptions about a system I didn’t know very much about. Despite recent publicity, most of the city Masters still preferred to stay hidden. Among themselves, however, they had a network. They seemed to know each other and communicated with each other. Didn’t mean they were all friendly. In fact, there seemed to be factions. That was the part I didn’t understand too well.
    I found a clerk at the desk. “May I speak to your manager? It’s nothing serious, I promise,” I added quickly at the young woman’s stricken expression.
    After a moment, another young woman, this one more poised, balanced perfectly on high heels and wearing an armorlike smile, approached from the back. “I’m the duty manager this evening. Is there a problem?”
    “No, not