Flesh and Blood

Doc shrugged. ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘I’m talking about whatever happened between you and Dominic just now.’

‘With all due respect, what went down isn’t your business. Understand?’ Doc threw back the last of his drink and stood. ‘I’ll be in the car.’

If not for Chrysabelle and Dominic returning at the same time, Mal would have gone after him.

She smiled weakly. ‘We should probably go as well. Dominic needs to get to the club and we should—’

‘We should go check on Nyssa like Mortalis asked us to,’ he finished for her. It was a complete lie, but she clearly wanted to go. Had she not had any success with Dominic either?

‘Yes, we should.’ She nodded, eyes brightening at the out he’d given her.

Dominic paused beside her. ‘Perhaps after that, you could investigate this street Maddoc told me about near the club. Supposedly there are piles of fringe ashes there.’ He sighed. ‘I can’t have someone killing off my customers, especially near the club. It’s bad for business.’ He set his empty wineglass down. ‘This city doesn’t need a fringe uprising either.’

‘We can take a look.’ Mal had planned to check that out anyway after dropping Chrysabelle off. If someone was killing vampires, it seemed like something he should know about.

Chrysabelle frowned. ‘Won’t you need your car back if you’re going to the club?’

Dominic laughed. ‘I have more than one, cara mia. Now off you go. You have much to discuss with your patron, no?’ He gave Mal a very serious look. ‘You will do as she says. Understood? I will not have the child of my beloved harmed in any way. This thing she proposes to do, it is not easy. The outcome could change everything. And not just for you.’

Mal shot back an equally serious look. ‘If you think I would ever let harm come to her, you don’t know me very well.’ And suddenly Mal wondered how well he knew himself. Was he willing to put Chrysabelle in harm’s way in order to remove his curse? She’d been visibly shaken when she’d entered the room. He caught her gaze. ‘What exactly does this visit to the Aurelian entail?’

She cleared her throat before answering, lifting her chin slightly. ‘Blood sacrifice.’

‘Whose?’

Her face steeled with determination like she was preparing for a fight. ‘Mine.’

Tatiana entered Seven as easily as if she actually worked there, her guise of the bartender Mia firmly in place. So far, all the information she and Nasir had tortured out of the shifter was accurate. The employee entrance was exactly where Mia had said it would be. Tatiana punched in the code Mia had supplied: 55-21-16. The door clicked open. The little beastie had told the truth. Tatiana smiled. Amazing how powerful the sight and stench of a single Nothos could be.

She paused inside the door and smoothed her hands over the new body she wore. The cheap purple velvet bustier and black pleather pants were an affront to the beauty of her usual haute couture, but Tatiana willingly made the sacrifice. If the night went well, she would find the comarré whore, capture her, and torture her until the twit gave up the ring. Then, so long as her ex-husband, Mal, kept his distance, Tatiana would never have to return to New Florida again.

Seven’s back corridors were also as Mia had mapped out. Tatiana tried to walk with the nonchalant confidence of someone familiar with her surroundings. She shivered at the thought of having to hold down such a menial job, of relying on such work to live. In her human life, she’d made her way as a thief, a fortune-teller, and sometimes a whore. That, in combination with being Roma, had led her to the gallows. Then to Malkolm and the role of wife and mother, and ultimately to the transformation into the powerful creature she was now and the life she felt she’d always been meant for.

A male and female pair of fae walked toward her. With their dark eyes, dark hair, and scantily clad bodies covered in henna patterns, they looked like twins. Mia hadn’t mentioned anyone fitting their description, so she gave them a brief nod as they approached.

The pair slowed and the female nodded back, eyes bright. ‘Hello, Mia. How are you this evening?’

Bloody hell. ‘Just great, thanks. Gotta run. Don’t want to be late.’

The male laughed as the pair came to a halt, effectively blocking her path. ‘No, we don’t want that, do we?’

‘No.’ She was starting to wonder if she should kill them and move on, but hiding the bodies would take time and could arouse suspicion.

The female leaned in, nostrils flaring. Her long-lashed lids fluttered as she inhaled. ‘You smell delicious this evening. Is that a new perfume?’

‘Yes,’ Tatiana answered. ‘I just got it. Now if you’ll excuse me, can’t keep the boss waiting.’

The female wrapped her arm around the male’s waist. ‘So you’ve heard?’

‘Heard?’ She scanned her brain for a forgotten bit of info. What was she supposed to know?

The female lifted her face from where she nuzzled the male’s neck. ‘Dominic’s back and he’s questioning all the employees.’

Dominic. Dominic. What did she know about him? He was the dead comarré’s lover. Anathema. House of St. Germain, same as Nasir. He might know where the daughter of his former screw lived. Time to find out a little more. ‘What’s he questioning them – us – about?’

The fae pair shrugged simultaneously, but only the male spoke. ‘We can’t say, as our turn hasn’t come yet, but it might have something to do with that fight the other night.’ They laughed conspiratorially. Clearly there was something she wasn’t getting.