Real Vampires Hate Their Thighs by Gerry Bartlett Page B

leash laws. I leaned down and grabbed his collar as we approached the front desk and the clerk behind the counter.
    “You have a gym here, right?”
    “Yes, of course, Ms. St. Clair. It’s open twenty-four hours for your convenience. You may use your room key card to enter.” The woman knew exactly who I was. Any consort of Israel Caine’s could have walked an unleashed herd of rabid hyenas into the lobby and she wouldn’t have cared. “Would you like for someone to show you where it is?”
    “Is there a scale in there? I want to weigh myself.” I smiled sheepishly and leaned in. “I’ve been dieting and I’m dying to know if I’ve lost any weight yet.”
    The clerk quickly hid her thrill at having something to sell to the tabloids. This was sure to hit newsstands soon. Which was fine by me. Better than the baby-trap stories.
    “Of course we have scales, a state-of-the-art gym and even personal trainers available if you want one.” She snapped her fingers and a bellman appeared at my elbow. “Fritz, escort Ms. St. Clair and her dog down to the gym, please.”
    “No trainer necessary and I forgot my key card.” And my purse. I travel light when I change into a bat. I smiled. “I’m hoping someone upstairs will let me in after I weigh.”
    “No problem.”
    In less than a minute I had a new card and Fritz was leading us down a hall to the gym. Once I knew where to find the room with the scales, I quickly dismissed the bellman with a five-dollar bill I kept stashed in my pocket for emergencies.
    “This is crazy. You really need to weigh now? You just left Ian’s place. What’s this going to prove?” Valdez slumped next to the door in the spot where I pointed. “Blade’s going to be looking for you. He’ll be on the roof right now.”
    “This will just take a minute. Ian said I might have already lost a few pounds, and I feel lighter. I want to check it out.” Jerry and I had set up this date before I’d met with the reality show people. I’d tried to estimate how my evening would go and picked a time, but I was cutting it close. Well, Jerry was used to me running late and this was important. I took a breath, closed the door with Valdez on the outside and looked around to make sure there weren’t any security cameras recording this. Paranoid much? You bet. Then I stepped on the scale.
    After adjusting the weights, I just stared. Subtracted the three for the jeans of course, then looked again. The scale didn’t move. So this was it. My weight. I couldn’t believe it. Two and a half pounds. I’d lost two and a half pounds. Just like that. I leaped off the scale, slammed the weights back to zero and then happy-danced around the room. I flung open the door and hugged a startled Valdez.
    “I actually lost weight. And not a little like I might have done before when if I’d snacked on a mortal who’d taken a run, but two and a half pounds!” I hugged him again, then reached for the waistband of my jeans. Could I get a finger inside there? Yes! “Look! Can you believe it? This is insane.”
    “It’s got to be a trick. Maybe the girl at the counter here at the hotel works for MacDonald. They set this up.” Valdez obviously wasn’t buying it. “And you’ve got to see if it’s still off in the evening when you wake up, remember?”
    I took a moment to think about that. Diabolical, but possible. Vampires are nothing if not devious. And Ian could be doing this to get a Campbell’s woman to trust him for some reason. I didn’t want to believe it. Or come down off this high.
    “The supplements are supposed to keep the weight off while I sleep. But I’ll keep an open mind. I’ll get Nathan to send someone out to buy my own scale tomorrow to keep in the suite. Will that make you feel better?”
    “It should make you feel better. Now, let’s head for the roof. I’ll keep my mouth shut for a while, but if you don’t tell Blade about MacDonald, I will.” Valdez gave me his best