Shadow Of Death . Amy Blankenship

rarely there. You’ll basically be on your own with the exception of me popping in every now and then. The alarm system is one of the best available and it’s a lot nicer than the Hole.”

      Chad looked over at him with a startled frown on his face. He never even thought of that and the fact that Trevor had offered wasn’t to be taken lightly since they all knew how much Trevor liked his privacy.

      “All right,” Chad said softly, actually liking the idea. “We’ll go get my stuff and I’ll move in with you later today. But,” he continued, “I keep my apartment. That way when I want some time to myself I actually have a place to go.”

      “Too late,” Envy said guiltlessly. “I cancelled the contract on the apartment yesterday and all of our stuff is now stored.” She shrugged at the look Chad gave her and tilted her chin defiantly, “What? My name was on that lease too.”

      “Whatever,” Chad gave up deciding to drop the subject.

      Trevor nodded and clapped a hand on Chad’s shoulder, “Well, look at it this way… that’s better than her burning the place down and you having to arrest her for it. I’d take what I can get if I were you.” He glanced at Envy just in time to see the relieved light in her eyes and knew he’d just made her a very happy girl.

      “Come on,” Envy said excitedly, “you gotta see what we’ve done to the club so far. It’s a lot bigger than what it was.”

      Chad gave Envy a patient smile and let her drag him from one end of the club to the other. Trevor followed a few feet behind them taking in the new decorations and grinning at the numerous glow-in-the-dark Jack-O-Lanterns that were being set against the walls on the floor.

      Warren was on the scaffolding, hanging upside down next to the mirror ball putting something on the faceted surfaces of it.

      “Run it,” Warren called out after he’d pulled himself upright.

      The lights went out and the mirror ball came to life. Trevor raised an eyebrow as the ball reflected light back across the floor and walls. Hundreds of witches, skeletons, and black cats with their backs arched high in the air were giving the appearance of running from shadow to shadow.

      “Looks awesome bro,” Devon called up.

      “Did you remember to order the fog fluid from The Witch’s Brew?” Warren asked him.

      Devon gave him a thumb up, “It’ll be in tomorrow morning. Nick offered to pick it up for us.”

      “He’s Alive!”

      Chad yelped when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and spun around. When his feet found the floor again, he had to grab onto the railing to steady himself. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Nick standing there.

      “Nick,” Envy admonished. “Don’t do that.”

      “Why not?” Nick asked with a smirk. “Tis’ the season to get the crap scared out of you. Besides, it’s not every day I get to see someone who cheated death. I gotta get my hug too.”

      Chad had regained enough of himself to bat his eyelashes at Nick. “Why Mr. Wilder,” he said in a sticky sweet voice, “I didn’t know you cared.”

      Nick paused and slowly looked back over at Chad who was grinning stupidly.

      “Damn,” Nick said when he realized Chad was joking with him. “As long as you don’t EVER do that again… we’ll be fine.”

      “Hi Trevor,” Alicia said coming up behind Nick. She hadn't seen Micah in the last couple days due to her and Damon breaking in their new home at Love Bites. Michael and Syn were supposed to be living there too but so far they hadn't moved in. “Is Micah behaving himself at work?”

      Trevor smirked, “If you don’t count the paper airplane battles, using the window as a garbage can to hit unsuspecting pedestrians walking by, and having to restrain him from spraying silly string all over Tasuki’s car… yeah, he’s doing good.”

      Alicia grinned, “Yeah, he told me about the new guy joining him and Titus, and from what Micah says, Tasuki seems pretty cool.”

      Damon growled from behind her and she promptly turned around to smack him on the arm. “You stop that right now,” Alicia announced then turned to Nick, “Speaking of crazy vampires, I’ve got something for you.” She waved him away from the others not wanting anyone to see the gift she had for him.

      Nick frowned when Alicia slipped something into his hand. “What’s this?” he asked curiously as he stared down at the necklace curled in his palm.

      “That is a charm I made to protect myself from falling under a vampire’s thrall,” Alicia whispered then smirked wickedly over her shoulder at Damon. “I switched the gold chain I was wearing with black leather so it would look good on you. Don’t tell anyone you have it. If you wear it the day of the party, then Michael won’t be able to trick you into dressing up like a girl.”

      Nick had a smile plastered to his face, “Awesome! And who says I’m waiting until Halloween to wear it?” He quickly put the necklace on feeling safer for it. He ignored Damon who had started growling again and tucked the necklace inside his shirt to hide it. “I really owe you one for this.”

      Damon drug Alicia back toward Envy before Nick decided to give her a hug too. He didn’t think she’d like it very much if he strangled the jaguar with her gift. He knew Nick didn’t remember but the image of Nick all over Alicia in Michael’s living room was still too fresh in his mind.

      Alicia frowned when several overhead light bulbs brightened then shattered. She looked up at the back of Damon’s head when Warren yelled from the rafters something about there being a short somewhere in the wires. She hid her soft smile as she wrapped her arms around Damon in an attempt to save a lot of extra work on the club.

      “What are you dressing up as?” Chad asked Nick when they rejoined the group.

      “I’m going to be the twenty-first century version of Billy the Kid,” Nick answered with a straight face.

      “In Layman’s terms,” Alicia droned, “He’s going as himself.”

      Everyone chuckled when Nick shrugged and went to help Quinn and Kat behind the bar. Alicia suddenly gasped and rushed off toward the back of the club with a predatory looking Damon following close behind her.

      “What do you suppose that’s about?” Chad asked with an arched eyebrow.

      “What do you think?” Devon smirked.

      Trevor glanced over at Envy and frowned when he noticed she suddenly looked a bit pale.

      “You okay Envy?” he asked softly.

      Envy raised her chin with a bright smile and lied, “Sure, I’m great…”

      Trevor moved to catch her the second her eyes closed.

      “Envy,” Chad also reached for her and kept hold while Trevor lowered her to the floor. “What the hell just happened?”

      Devon had moved at the same time Trevor did but Trevor had been closer when Envy fell. He kneeled down beside Chad and cupped Envy’s cheek.

      “Envy,” Devon whispered while stroking his thumb across her skin. “Come on baby, open your eyes.”

      “Has she been getting enough sleep?” Chad asked accusingly.

      Envy squeezed her eyes shut as sound drifted back towards her and moaned before slowly blinking them open. She frowned when all three men sighed collectively in relief.

      “Why are all of you looking at me like that?” Envy asked and looked around in confusion. “Did I fall?”

      “You fainted,” Chad explained suddenly getting a little payback from all the worry she’d been doing over him. “Are you okay?”

      Envy gripped his hand and slowly stood up, “Yeah, it must be all the