Bloodlines

My plan was to see how willing Nevermore was to give me a tattoo. I wanted to know what warnings (if any) they gave out and how easy it was in the first place. Adrian's conversation hadn't yielded much info, but probably his on-fire-biker-skelet-on-with-a-parrot tattoo request hadn't done much to help his credibility. I was armed with cash today, which I hoped would get me somewhere.

As it was, I never needed to flash any. As soon as I walked in, the guy behind the counter - the same one Adrian had spoken to - looked relieved.

"Thank God," he said. "Please tell me you have more. These kids are driving me crazy. When we got into this... I had no idea it was gonna get this big. The money's good, but Christ. It's crazy to keep up with."

I kept my confusion off of my face, wondering what in the world he was talking about. He was acting as though I was in on his scheme here, which made no sense. But then his eyes flashed to my cheek, and suddenly, I understood.

My lily tattoo.

It was uncovered, since school was over. And I knew then, with absolute certainty, that whomever he was working with to get his supplies was also an Alchemist. He'd assumed my tattoo made me an ally.

"I don't have anything with me," I said.

His face fell. "But the demand - "

"You lost the other batch," I said haughtily. "You let it get stolen right out from underneath you. Do you know how much trouble we go to in order to get that?"

"I already explained that to your friend!" he exclaimed. "He said he understood. He said he'd taken care of the problem and that we didn't have to worry anymore."

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Yeah, well, he doesn't speak for all of us, and we're not sure we want to continue. You were compromised."

"We're careful," he argued. "That theft wasn't our fault! Now, come on. You have to help us. Didn't he tell you? There's a huge demand for tomorrow because those private school kids have a game. If we can deliver, we'll make double the money."

I gave him my best icy smile. "We'll discuss it among ourselves and get back to you."

With that, I turned around and began to leave. "Wait," he called. I spared him a haughty glance. "Can you make that person stop calling?"

"What person?" I asked, wondering if he meant some persistent Amberwood student.

"The one with the weird voice who keeps asking if any tall, pale people are showing up around here. Ones that look like vampires. I figured it was someone you knew."

Tall, pale people? I didn't like the sound of that but kept my face blank. "Sorry. Don't know what you're talking about. Must have been a prank."

I left, making a mental note to investigate that further. If someone was inquiring about people who looked like vampires, that was a problem. It wasn't, however, the immediate problem. My mind raced as I processed what else the tattooist had told me. There was an Alchemist supplying Nevermore. In some ways, that shouldn't be a surprise. How else were they going to get ahold of vampire blood and all the metals necessary for their tattoos? And apparently, this rogue Alchemist had "taken care of the problem" that led to the theft of their supplies. When had my father called saying I was being pulled because of Keith's reports?

Right after I'd broken into Nevermore.

I knew who the rogue Alchemist was.

And I knew that I had been "the problem." Keith had taken care of me, making moves to get me out of Palm Springs and bring in someone new and inexperienced who wouldn't interfere with his illicit tattoo operation. It was why he'd wanted Zoe in the first place.

I was aghast. I didn't have a great opinion of Keith Darnell, not by any means. But never, never had I thought he'd stoop to this level. He was an immoral person, but he'd still been raised with the same principles I had about humans and vampires. For him to abandon those beliefs and expose innocents to the dire side effects of vampire blood for his own material gain... well, it was more than a betrayal of the Alchemists. It was a betrayal of the whole human race.

My hand was on my cell phone, ready to call Stanton. That's all it would take. One call with the kind of news I had, and Alchemists would swoop in on Palm Springs - and on Keith. But what if there was no hard evidence to connect Keith? It was possible another Alchemist might go in and play the same game I had, getting the tattooist to think that they were part of Keith's team. Keith was the one I wanted to bust, however. I wanted to ensure that there was no way he could slip out of this.

I made my decision, and rather than the Alchemists, I called Adrian.

When I arrived back at Lia's shop, I found the training session winding down. Lia was giving Jill some last-minute instructions while Eddie and Lee lingered nearby. Eddie took one look at my face and instantly knew something was wrong.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I said blandly. "Just a problem I'm going to fix soon. Lee, would you mind taking Jill and Eddie back to the school? I have a couple errands I need to run."

Eddie frowned. "Are you okay? Do you need someone to protect you?"

"I'll have someone." I reconsidered, seeing as I was about to meet up with Adrian. "Well, kind of. Anyway, I'm not in trouble. Your job's to keep an eye on Jill, remember? Thanks, Lee," I added, seeing him nod. A thought suddenly struck me. "Wait... I thought this was one of the days you had a night class.

Are we keeping you... or... well, what days do you have class?"

I hadn't thought much about it, only noticing that some days Lee was around and other days he was in Los Angeles. But in looking back, there was no real pattern. I saw realization light Eddie's face as well.

"That's true," he said, eyeing Lee suspiciously. "What kind of schedule are you on?"

Lee opened his mouth, and I sensed a ready story coming. Then he stopped and cast an anxious look at Jill, who was still talking to Lia. His face fell.

"Please don't tell her," he whispered.

"Tell her what?" I asked, keeping my voice low as well.

"I'm not in college. I mean - I was. But not this semester. I wanted some time off but... didn't want to disappoint my dad. So, I told him I was just going part-time, which is why I was around more."

"What do you do in LA during all that time, then?" asked Eddie. That was an excellent question, I realized.

"I still have friends there, and I need to keep my cover." Lee sighed. "It's stupid, I know. Please - let me be the one to tell her. I wanted so badly to impress her and to prove myself to her. She's wonderful. She just caught me at a bad time."