Page 38 of Bent Out of Shade
“It was pretty bad.” I chuckled. “But it’ll make a hell of a great story.”
“One of many with us,” he said. My insides went mushy at his decisive words. “I was concerned you were upset.”
“Only because I thought you were.”
“Great minds worry alike.” He kissed my cheek. “Go get Sadie.”
“Are we platonic now?” I said in a voice lighter than I felt.
He smiled. “No. I want to kiss you properly after our next better date. Is that all right?”
“Tease.” He winked and I slid onto the pavement, my cheeks faintly pink. “Oh, one last thing?” I said.
His eyebrows rose in question.
“I’m wearing a thong and a corset. I was hoping you’d help me get them off.” I shrugged. “But we’ll save it for our next better date.”
His nostrils flared and he lunged across the truck for me, but laughing, I slammed the door.
I pressed my fingers to my lips and blew him a kiss, grinning when I heard his truck peel away with a loud revving sound.
Once inside my own sedan, my merriment lasted about three blocks, then I was focused on lead-footing it to Blood Alley before Sadie wore out her welcome. For good.
I made pretty good time downtown, but I got stuck in a snarl of traffic from a car accident, only to clear it and hit three red lights in a row. I was drumming my fingers on the wheel at warp speed at the last one when a familiar figure sprinted across the street.
I honked, causing Ian Carlyle to jump about a foot in the air. Without the Sapien’s help, Eli and I might not have learned about the Human Race in time to save Teresa Wong and the other players. Waving, I expected Ian to return the greeting, but he didn’t seem to recognize me before he ran off. I frowned, hoping that Celeste BatSila hadn’t traumatized her blood donor. Well, traumatized him more than he already was after surviving the Human Race.
The light turned green and I finally made it to the real Blood Alley in Gastown, a wide cobblestoned street, about two blocks long, lined with trendy restaurants. Sprinting from my parking spot, I relaxed my gaze without breaking my stride, allowing the hidden territory to disengage from the physical surroundings like a 3D stereogram coming into focus.
Zev’s human henchman Rodrigo, a brick wall of a man with a fondness for this stupid gold braided chauffeur’s cap, awaited me just through the spiky metal gargoyle-topped gates.
A group of five vampires were also congregated there. The one in front, a female croupier who I’d seen before, was explaining the history of Blood Alley to the others.
Rodrigo snapped his fingers, and the croupier grabbed the shoulder of a wide-eyed vamp who was wandering off.
“Trainees.” Rodrigo shook his head. “Can’t take your eyes off them.”
Under other circumstances I’d have stuck around to listen to the history and learn more about vamp trainees, but my daughter was in Zev’s clutches.
“How angry is Mr. BatKian?” I said, walking as quickly as I could to match Rodrigo’s long strides.
“About the fact that you didn’t tell him Sadie has magic?” Rodrigo whistled.
“How was that any of his business?”
“When Mr. BatKian agreed to keep Sadie and her friends safe, he assumed he was making the promise about a Sapien child. Not an Ohrist one.” He ploughed through a group of dude-bros coming out of one of the rooms.
Each of the black lacquered doors along the four lanes leading up to the nightclub Rome had anywhere from one to three red light bulbs mounted above them. It was a rating system of danger for the Ohrist guests, decided upon by the vampires.
The largest man turned with a loud protest, which he swallowed when Rodrigo, a good half foot and fifty pounds of muscle larger, glowered down at him.
“He did make the promise about a Sapien kid,” I said. “As far as we knew at the time. Her magic just got loose.”
“Ohrists are born with magic,” Rodrigo said in a hard voice.
Wonderful. Sadie crashes Blood Alley and the lord and master gets pissy at me about something else entirely.
Rodrigo stopped suddenly and raised his eyebrows at a weary-looking vampire coming down the crooked lane. “Well?”
