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Doubtful, Sunshine, but I had to admire his confidence.
“Hey, Gen!” squealed Mindy with blurry-eyed giddiness. “This is my new friend, Pat!”
“It’s Kat.”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s Skat.”
I shook my head. “At least you’re a happy drunk, Min.”
We hadn’t parked far. Kat and I managed to get her there. She weighed next to nothing between the two of us, even when she leaned with her whole weight.
“Who’s drunk? Where we goin’? Bourbon Street? Let’s go to Pat O’s!”
“Um, that would be no.”
She turned to Kat, ignoring my refusal. “You like Hurricanes? They’re awe-ssssome.”
Yeah, that’s what she needed, a sixteen-ounce drink of rum, vodka, gin, amaretto liqueur, triple sec, and grenadine syrup. Like I wanted to clean up pink puke all night.
“Here we are,” I said, unlocking my car with a click and opening the backseat.
Mindy crumpled in and started to sing, “Here I am—rock me like a hurricaaaaane.”
“Looks like you’ve got this,” said Kat with her winning smile. She sifted out in a quiet snap.
“I’ll drive,” said Jude, taking my keys. I didn’t argue.
Mindy fell into silence on the ride home. So did I. Jude, laconic as always, said not a word.
The plan had gone relatively well, considering I did demonstrate my use of Vessel power, though weakly. Still, none of us were remotely hurt, and I finally got those two thugs out of the picture.
Then again, there was apparently an endless supply of weak-minded people who could be used for possession. But what disturbed me most of all was the undeniable presence of evil lurking around Jude after he killed Fabio. He didn’t want to talk about it, and now I wasn’t so sure I did either.
Jude pulled up the drive, parked, then tossed the keys to me. “I’ll get her for you.”
He lifted Mindy from the backseat and followed me to the door. Her blonde head rolled. She had to force it upright to see her carrier, slowly focusing on his face. “Well, hello, there.”
She looped her arms around Jude’s neck—a pretty, though highly intoxicated, doll in his arms.
“Hi.” He smirked at me as I passed in front of them. Mindy got that glassy-eyed gaze.
“Hey. Are you Batman?”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I jiggled the key into the lock.
“Do I look like Batman?”
“You totally look like Batman.” Note for Mindy. Tequila and beer—not a good combo. “You’d look soooo hot in a mask and cape,” she slurred, staring dreamily up at him.
“Please ignore her drunken blathering.” I pushed open the door.
Mindy waved a hand around her ears like she was shooing a fly.
“Don’t mind her,” she whispered outrageously loud. “Do you have a Bat Cave?”
“Of course I do,” he replied with such sincerity I had to choke back another laugh. “But I dare say, it may be a bit cold and dark for a sweet little thing like you.”
I led him into her bedroom and pulled back the pink rosebud coverlet.
