Friday, 07:10
“Good morning, my dear.” Anne entered the kitchen, with her usual impetuous quality. “I reckon you promised me Mexican,” she said, rubbing her hands. “A morning that starts with Mexican food can only lead to good things.”
“You’re very cheerful this morning, Annie,” Cadee observed, turning from her cooking and leaning on the kitchen counter. She watched her friend with a knowing eye, she was wearing the same clothes than last night, and a smile that challenged the sun. “A good night, huh?”
“And a good morning,” Anne winked. “Too bad I have to work, wouldn’t have minded staying.”
“Oh, so Mr. tall and handsome is a keeper?” She asked, even if she knew the answer, Anne was happy enough with sole encounters, said she liked to keep the doors open.
“Nah,” she said, confirming Cadee’s prediction. “But you can’t blame a girl for enjoying simple pleasures… like your cooking. So, Mexican it is?”
“Huevos Rancheros,” she answered, waving towards the kitchen counter with an enormous knife, where little piles of perfectly sliced onions, garlic, tomato and chili were displayed. The smell of the tortillas was delicious. “Go clean yourself, it’ll be ready when you come back.”
“Okie dokie, artichokie,” Anne said, and saluted before leaving the room. Cadee chuckled and resumed her cooking. She hoped she wouldn’t take long, she didn’t have much time before she went to work, and she just needed to tell her about Jasmin.
By the time her friend came back, all showered and ready for work, the kitchen smelled spicy and warm at the same time. A couple of steaming huevos guerreros plates waited on the table, each with a mug of fragrant coffee at its side.
“Oh, wonderful, Cade. This is mouthwatering, I can’t imagine what you’re doing ‘serving’ food and not ‘cooking’ it.”
“Can’t stand being tucked up in a kitchen, you know that.”
“You don’t mind being tucked up in this one,” Anne mumbled, closing her eyes and yumming as she put a forkful of spicy eggs in her mouth.
“Not the same, this is pleasure, not work.” she replied. “Listen, Anne, there’s something I need to tell you.” Cadee waited till Anne swallowed and looked at her before going on. “How much do you know this Jasmin Taylor?”
“Oh? Not much, I just try and deliver her stuff whenever she needs the service. She’s a great tipper and her errands usually involve industry people… so, good news. You should see her penthouse! And I see her at the Graveyard all the time, of course, but last night was the first I approached the woman there…” She eyed Cadee’s serious face and wondered. “Why are you asking?”
“The woman ’s a vampire,” she said, and waited for Anne’s reaction.
“What???” Anne lowered her coffee mug so brusquely that it splattered coffee all over her eggs, but she didn’t notice. Her eyes were fixed on her friend’s face as she nodded. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“But, but… are you fucking sure you’re sure? This is Jasmin Taylor you’re talking about. Hollywood, Broadway, the Graveyard… she’s a fucking public figure!”
“Stop cursing, and of course I’m sure. She’s a vampire, all right. If she looks like a vampire, smells like a vampire, and talks like a vampire... she’s surely not a duck!” Cadee frowned. “Now think, have you ever seen her during the day? Enjoying sunshine, drinking margaritas in that fine penthouse of hers?”
Anne thought of the usually shadowed rooms and the heavy curtains, of Jasmin’s pale skin and morning sleepiness, and cursed again. She must have been blind! But she was a public figure! She opened her mouth to speak again, but Cadee anticipated her.
“It’s not unheard of vampires mingling among humans. Not usual, I grant you, but not impossible either. I’ve been giving it some thought,” she said, watching her now cold eggs with distaste, what a waste! She sighed. “There’s plenty of ways she could feed without calling attention on herself. I don’t know, blood banks, willing donors, criminals…” she frowned at the thought of the latter, but continued. “We know for certain she doesn’t kill discotheque patrons, for one, there’s never been word of it.”
“Nor couriers,” Anne added, biting her lip; it was certainly scary to think she had been in the beast’s lair regularly. If Jasmin were an ordinary vampire, she should be dead, all right. A decent vampire at last?
“Nor couriers,” Cadee repeated, serious. “So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it.” Anne got up, her breakfast as forgotten as Cadee’s. “What are you going to do? Kill the big bad vampire?”
Cadee thought of the creature she had met last night, all blond and delicate, and laughed.
“I’d hate to spoil your acting possibilities, not to mention your great tip source, so I guess I’m leaving her alone…” Then she got serious, she had given the matter a lot of thought, in fact. “I don’t think this vampire in particular poses a threat. Although she’s probably old and powerful, she has much to lose if she acts all ‘big bad vampiry like’. There’s probably nothing to worry about, well, as long as you take care, right? No paper cuts and the like, Bella…”
“Yeah, I guess.”
She was so absorbed that she missed Cadee’s joke. Bad signal. Cadee sighed as she followed her friend out of the kitchen, all her hunter instincts telling her she shouldn’t let Anne next to a vampire just like that, but then she reminded all the whys and wherefores this was not the typical vampire.
Anne moved to the door and took her bicycle helmet, not talking while she adjusted it. When she was ready she turned to Cadee who was watching her with a worried look in her face, and offered a weak smile. “I just hope Jasmin doesn’t need me today. I really need to think about this.”
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