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shouldn’t have gone after him. You put yourself in a shitload of danger.”
    “In case you haven’t heard, I’m not exactly helpless.” I stiffened against a sudden wave of fear. I know, right? I’m a vampire. Invincible. Ballsy. Bitchy. Brave. The scared-shitless chromosome hadn’t made it into my DNA cocktail. I flashed a little fang to emphasize this point to Ash. “I can totally hold my own.”
    “Against another vampire.”
    “Or a were,” I added. My gaze collided with his and I arched an eyebrow. “Or a demon. In fact, I think I’ll stick around and pass out a few more cards.” I could handle anything, even if I had led sort of a sheltered life before opening my dating service.
    Basically, I’d lived at home with my parents and spent the majority of my time with other born vamps. While I’d learned about Others—everything from made vamps to weres, demons to Big Foot—I’d never actually met any of them face-to-face until recently.
    Ty had popped my cherry in the made vamp category. Viola had been my up-close-and-personal with a were. And Ash had been my first demon.
    While the jury was still out on Big Foot, I felt certain I could do damage in the other three categories.
    My hand itched and I remembered the glob of slime running over my fingers, dribbling down my palm.
    I swallowed. “That is, I would love to stick around and pass out more cards if I didn’t have a ton of work waiting back at the office.” All right, already. My aversion to blood also extended to bodily fluids. “I can see you’ve got the situation totally under control now, so I’ll just leave you to wrap things up.”
    That is, unless you wanna, you know…
    “Later.”
    Guess not.
    I turned and so did Ash. I limped a few steps before I heard the door rock shut behind me. I was just about to whistle for a cab when my super-deluxe ears perked and I heard the creak of hinges.
    My pulse leaped and a zing of excitement went through me, followed by a needle poke to the chest (a feeling I might have mistaken for guilt had I had anything to feel guilty about—which I so did NOT).
    I turned, fully expecting Ash to pull me into his arms and lay one on me. Or, at the very least, stare down into my eyes and ask me out for a cup of coffee. Instead, I found myself staring at a head full of snow white hair.
    My attention fell to a pair of clear blue eyes surrounded by a million tiny crow’s feet staring up at me.
    “Are you Miss Lil?” He was a short, stout old man wearing gray overalls and black loafers. He had a tool belt cinched around his waist. A walkie-talkie sat on one hip while a giant key ring dangled from the other. “Lil Marchette?”
    “Last time I checked.”
    Relief filled his pale eyes. “You left this in one of our storage closets.” He held up my purse, and the past half hour rolled through my mind.
    Schmoozing the bathroom line. Following Carmen into the storage closet. Helping Carmen in the storage closet.
    I’d set my purse aside and completely forgotten about it.
    Way to go, dumbass.
    “I hope you don’t mind that I opened up your wallet,” he went on, “but I needed to see your ID to know who it belonged to. Mighty nice picture, by the way.”
    “Thank you.” The realization of what had almost happened hit me and relief rushed full-force through me. Forget my wallet. I’d almost lost my makeup bag, complete with the new Hot Toddy Terrific lip gloss I’d bought just yesterday.
    “It’s all present and accounted for,” the old man went on. “Three bucks, fifty-two cents, and nineteen credit cards.”
    “Actually, it’s twenty, but I left my Barney’s at home.” I’d reached my limit and couldn’t use it until my next payment. “Thank you so much.” My hand plunged into the bag. My fingers closed around the tube and I smiled. “You’re a lifesaver.”
    “Glad to be of service.” He grinned. His blue eyes twinkled and his stats flashed like the marquee in Times Square.
    Earl Hubert