Page 28 of Throwing Shade
Ava nodded. “Yeah, I know Jude. She’s bowled here off and on over the years.”
Her grim tone turned the candy in my mouth to cardboard. I twisted up the bag and stuffed it in my pocket. “I sense a ‘but.’”
Ava fished a loose shoelace out of the box, frowned, and tossed it in a drawer.
I leaned forward. “Please. I’m really worried about her and I don’t know where to look. Anything you can tell me might help.”
Ava sorted through a few more pairs of shoes, then sighed. “I heard she’s gotten involved with the Blood Alley crowd.”
Located in the heart of touristy Gastown, Blood Alley was only about two blocks long, a cobblestoned wide alleyway housing a variety of restaurants. Supposedly, its name came from the abattoirs and public hangings that had taken place there, but neither were true. It was merely a rebranding campaign back in the 1970’s to give the area more allure.
“Like with some of the restaurant staff?” I said. “Any place in particular?”
Ava shot me a weird look. “No, the vamps. That’s their territory. How do you not know that?”
“I had a sheltered upbringing.” I sat down heavily on the bench provided for customers to put on their bowling shoes. I’d been a researcher in one guise or another for over twenty years. When I’d started out, it was in the film and television industry working on a reality show about serial killers. Humans were plenty monstrous on their own, but vampires?
I fisted my hands in the fabric of my silky dress. My magical education certainly left a lot to be desired. However, stories of evil creatures were as old as humanity itself. Was it so implausible that some of those were anecdotal and not allegorical?
That’s it. I’d have to find a way to induct Eli and Sadie into all things magic because it was either that or make sure neither of them ever left the house after sundown again. Hell, I didn’t want to leave the house after dark now.
I rubbed my hands over my thighs, light glinting off the clear polish. Jude despised my gel French manicures and was always pushing me to break my rut and go for more vibrant colors. Or, she’d say, flashing her own chipped dark purple nails, embrace that perimenopausal rage and paint them black.
Golems, vampires, how far had she taken her own advice? So much for my plan of a quick in and out of the magic community. I was going to throttle my best friend when I located her.
“You okay, there?” Ava crouched down next to me.
“You know, if asked, I’d have said Jude’s priorities were her friends, her art, and seeing how many cups of tea she could safely ingest in a single day. Cavorting with the undead wouldn’t have made the list.”
“I hope it’s cavorting,” Ava said. “If she’s gotten on the wrong side of the head vamp?” She pointed to a female patron in her early thirties with prosthetic legs, her jaw set. “Janice assisted him for years until she decided to move into the Sapien corporate world, and gave notice. Her severance package was more literal than she expected.”
“And the Lonestars let this vampire get away with it?”
Janice’s male companion finished his turn and Janice readied her shot. The ball hit the lane with a slam that shuddered through the room. She took no joy in her strike, returning to her seat with the same dead expression.
“She didn’t report it,” Ava said. “Are you kidding? She was lucky to get out alive. Her husband pays for us to fix that lane every few months.”
My search for Jude had skewed dangerously out of my wheelhouse, and I couldn’t do this alone. There was a reason cops worked in pairs. I smoothed out my wrinkled sundress. Huff ’n’ Puff was a dick, but he had some serious skills that I now required. Even better, he wasn’t a Lonestar, nor did he give a damn that I was, as he so charmingly put it, a “fucking BS.”
Everyone had their price. I’d find his and hire him to help me.
“Do you know a white wolf shifter who’s French, though that only explains some of his stratospheric levels of arrogance?” I said.
“Laurent Amar?” Ava massaged her lower back, and then motioned for me to scoot over so she could sit down beside me. “Overdid it at kickboxing yesterday,” she said. “What do you want to be messing around with Laurent for? If this is about finding Jude, you’d be better off going to the Lonestars.”
I really wouldn’t. “He already knows about my search so…”
Ava shot me a doubtful look but gave me an address.
“Thanks for all your help.” I stood up.
“No problem. Come back any time.”
“I’ll do that,” I lied. “It was great meeting you, Ava.”
“You too. Hang on.” She pulled out her phone. “Give me your number. Let’s grab a coffee sometime.”
She had a funky style, intelligence, and a quick wit, and in some other reality, she was the type of person I’d like to become friends with, but she was an Ohrist. Jude was too, but she didn’t know I had magic. The only way for me to have entered the bowling alley was with powers, which meant I’d either have to lie to Ava about what I could do, which was a sucky way to start a friendship, or trust her with the truth.
