Page 33 of Death is Familiar

Catching sight of me, Jack choked. Full-on choked. He coughed fitfully as he tried to catch his breath. Subtle.

Todd paused for less than a second, giving me a quick once-over, before he continued straightening the pressed collar of his dress shirt.

“I’m taking the coughing as consent to kill Jezebel,” I teased. Kind of.

“Sorry, sorry.” Jack coughed again. “I just wasn’t expecting…” He clamped his mouth shut, refusing to finish the sentence. The way he worked to control his breathing, told me exactly how seeing me in this dress made him feel.

“Neither was I.”

Todd shook his head, approaching me, like nothing was out of the ordinary. As he neared, I made note of how I was closer to, but still not at, his eyeline. “Bruises healed well.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I covered them with makeup, and I hoped to god that Jack kept his mouth shut about what they looked like a few days ago. Normally, he would have been too collected to consider saying anything, but my ensemble clearly had an effect on him. And I knew from experience that Jack was a different person when he thought with what was between his legs, instead of his head.

Deflecting the attention, I pointed at Todd’s shirt. “Jez said two buttons.”

He popped them open with a couple twists, and a grumble. “Happy now?”

“Hmm…” I feigned contemplation. “I’d be happier if I was allowed to carry my knife.”

“Even if we permitted you access to your knife,” Jack had pulled himself together to join the conversation, but still I caught his appreciative glances out of my peripheral vision, “not many places you could conceal it.”

The dress might not have left a lot to the imagination, but I had managed to hide a few useful goodies within the bodice…

Goodies I hoped to any and all gods I wouldn’t need.

†

On gathering night, the vamp hideout was hard to miss.

The derelict warehouse was teeming with people clad in all sorts of vampire attire. Black lace. Corsets. Dress shirts. Jeans. And everything in between. As Todd and I made our approach, vamps took deep drags from their cigarettes, making no effort to hide their attentions or their interest. More than a few ran their tongues over their elongated teeth.

Ugh.

My stomach somersaulting, accompanied by the sudden urge to jab the ogling vamps in the eyes, I reminded myself that I got us into this. That I had determined that attending the gathering was the most effective way to get information out of Lenore and the other vamps. With Jez’s insights from our earlier meet up, Jack was confident he could have gotten a search warrant. But since Lenore was all about business, having an FBI team forcibly search the property would only shut us out. We had to show her we were playing nice. Even if that meant playing by vamp rules.

Though the thought of using our back up plan was more than tempting.

I inhaled deeply, the vamp’s smoke surprisingly sweet and heavy in my lungs, as I schooled my features into a mask of calm. I turned to Todd. “Got your cue cards?”

Focus still on the vamps as we crossed the threshold, he patted his pocket.

“Good.” I squared my shoulders, drawing myself to full height. “Let’s hope you don’t need them.”

Todd and I pushed ourselves in and around the crowded stairwell as we worked our way down to the box office. Jezebel was yet again unnervingly perfect as she sat, untouchable, in her gilded cage.

“Who would have thought someone like you would clean up so well?” Jezebel pursed her lips as she scanned over our signed consent forms. “It’s amazing what can be done with a little effort.”

Keeping up appearances, I spoke through gritted teeth to ensure our interaction appeared as unpleasant as the first. “Is everything to your satisfaction?”

Jezebel drew her gaze over Todd in response as if to say, “him”, but instead she simply directed us inside the upholstered door to her right. “Go on through to the waiting room. If a vampire deigns to grant you entry, you’ll be permitted to the inner sanctum.”

“And Lenore?”

“Likely holding court in her office.”

“Which is?”

“Upstairs.” I felt Todd stiffen behind me, but Jezebel waved us off before I could ask any more follow up questions, or give her an encrypted what-for about the outfit and the lethal weapons she considered shoes strapped to my feet. I did, however, make sure to stare daggers at her until I was out of her eyeline, as Todd and I pushed through the velvet door into the waiting room.