Sleeping With the Entity by Cat Devon Page B

with approval. Her mom’s frequent use of the word heavenly resulted in the name Daniella had chosen for her cupcake shop.
    Xandra interrupted Daniella’s sentimental flashback to ask, “Do you mind if we play some music? Would Coldplay be okay?”
    “Sure.”
    Seconds later, the sound of the unique piano opening of “Clocks” boomed out of the iPod docking station. “Too loud?” Xandra asked.
    “No.” Daniella tilted her head to the beat of the music while using the hand mixer on the bowl of powdered sugar, melted butter, and warmed milk. Seeing Xandra’s quizzical look, Daniella said, “Warming the butter and milk prevents lumps in the buttercream frosting. That’s why I use the microwave to do that.”
    Xandra appeared to be impressed. “You’ve got such a great bag of tricks. Neither one of the other shops I worked in did that. They used lard for the frosting.”
    “Everybody has their own thing,” Daniella said.
    Time flew by after that as they both focused on getting the cupcakes baked, cooled, frosted, and decorated.
    The night before Daniella had used special neon-colored chalk to write the cupcake descriptions on the front of the glass case. An hour before opening time, she took the first tray of completed Blood Red Velvet cupcakes out. The sun was just coming up. And a line was just beginning outside her door.
    She blinked. A line? Really? She had a line? For her cupcakes? That BOGO special offer must be working.
    The first woman in line actually had a stool she was sitting on. She looked up from the People magazine she was reading and waved at Daniella, who waved back.
    A second later Suz appeared at the door. Daniella quickly let her in.
    “It’s wild out there,” Suz said. Despite the early hour, she was looking fashionista-fabulous in a leopard-print fuzzy vest, black sweater, and pants. Even her glasses sported an animal print. “The people in line are saying that Xandra is tweeting updates from the kitchen. Look.” Suz showed her the screen of her smartphone. “‘Just frosted the cookies ’n’ cream.’ She even includes a link to a photo she calls a cupcake cam close-up.”
    “Good job, Xandra,” Daniella said as she returned to the back to frost and decorate more cupcakes. It was bedlam after that with Suz carrying completed trays out to the display case as fast as Daniella and Xandra finished them.
    The three of them took a brief moment to share a three-way high five before Daniella opened the door. “Welcome to Heavenly Cupcakes!”
    *   *   *
    “I’ve got good news,” Neville told Nick the moment he entered the Vamp Cave that morning. “I finally got that vampire facial recognition software to work. It’s running right now. Ah.” Neville pointed to one of the large flat screens. “Bingo. Those three outsider vamps have worked for the Gold Coast clan before.” He hit several keys and more info popped up. “You’re right. They were recent recruits.”
    “And the ones who egged Daniella’s shop?”
    “I don’t know yet. But I did discover something interesting about Daniella a few minutes ago.”
    “What?”
    “She’s adopted.”

 
    Chapter Nine
    “Adopted?” Nick repeated. “Why didn’t her brother tell me that?”
    “Maybe he doesn’t know.”
    “Does she know?”
    “You’d have to ask her that question,” Neville said.
    “Right. Like that would be a wise move.”
    “Like what would be a wise move?” Pat asked as he and his partner Bruce entered the Vamp Cave. He glanced at the surveillance screens before adding, “All quiet on the cupcake front this morning?”
    “What a colorful crowd,” Bruce noted. “Look how politely they’ve all lined up.” He moved closer. “Oh, I want that person’s scarf!”
    “Daniella is adopted,” Nick said.
    Bruce turned to face him. “So? I’m adopted. Do you have something against adopted people?”
    “No, of course not. It just means that we now have a new line of investigation to follow in the