“Ugh. No. Geez, does being in a relationship, like, ruin you for seeing hotness?”
The hour was closing in on midnight, and I’d left Desmond to sleep. My nocturnal schedule meant I was wide awake and still needed to blow off some steam after my ghostly encounter. So I’d called the one friend I could count on to be up for a late-night cocktail.
Brigit Stewart looked impossibly beautiful tonight. She wore a strapless red satin dress and had her long blonde hair blown out to perfection. Her pale skin had lost the orange tone of the boxed tanning she’d indulged in during her life and now radiated with a cool, milky glow.
Death suited her.
“Hey, Bri, I need to ask you a bit of a weird favor. ”
“Sure. ” She didn’t hesitate or ask for details.
“There’s been some talk around the city lately of something strong enough to take out a shifter, and I think it might be the monster I’m looking for. They won’t tell me much at the vampire bars. Can you keep an ear to the ground and just tell me if anything comes up you think might help me?”
“Uh-huh. ” Brigit nodded and gave me a megawatt smile. I knew her mind was otherwise occupied, but I also knew I could rely on her to help me out if she could. At this point I needed to use every resource I had.
“Heeeey, baby. ” A guy in a fancy—albeit wrinkled—suit slid onto the stool next to mine. I acknowledged him but didn’t smile. No sense in encouraging Slobbery McDrunkface into thinking he had a shot.
Who was I kidding? Drunk guys in suits always thought they had a shot.
He put his hand on my bare thigh an inch below the hem of my black shorts and eyeballed my yellow backless halter top like it was an invitation. My jaw strained under the pressure of my teeth grinding together, and my hands balled into fists.
Oblivious to my demeanor, he pressed on. “You and your sisssster should come paaaaarty. ” He rubbed his nose and grinned.
“Ew,” Brigit groaned. “Are you retarded?”
The man’s hand spasmed on my thigh, sending a chill of repulsion through me. A film of confusion clouded his features, and I could smell his anger before I saw it surface on his face.
“Listen—” He didn’t get a chance to finish.
“No, you listen,” I whispered so only he would hear me. “I’ve been about as patient with you as I’m going to be. Get your hand off my leg, or forfeit it to me. ”
“What?”
“Get it off, or I keep it. That goes for any other part of you that tries to touch me or my…sister. ”
Brigit smiled, and from what I could see of her face without looking away from the man, she had a gleam in her eyes. Eyes that were no longer blue.
“Secret?”
I looked from Grabby Hands to Brigit and saw how dark her irises had gotten, as though the pupils were trying to overtake her whole eye. She leaned across me, bracing her hands on my right thigh, and locked her gaze on the douche in the suit.
“You want to have some fun?” Her voice was a throaty growl, full of sinful promise.
“This guy?”
Her stare never wavered, but she gave an imperceptible nod. I guess I didn’t have much say in this. After all, it wasn’t my hunt.
The music changed to something slower with an animalistic throbbing rhythm that shook my pulse and sent a thrill down my spine. Propping my elbows on the bar at my back, I let Brigit and the suit make eyes at each other while each of them held one of my thighs. It must have looked promisingly scandalous because a few people gave us lewd voyeuristic glances as they gathered their drinks.
“You want to leave with us,” Brigit told him.
A wheezy breath escaped his slack-jawed mouth, but apart from that he only nodded mutely.
Drunks were so easy to thrall it was almost funny. The human equivalent of an old, weak antelope, most vampires didn’t bother with them because there was no challenge in it. But Brigit had only been a vampire for nine months and was still learning how to enthrall humans, so a drunk was a safe place to start.
Now we needed to confirm she could feed from him without losing control.
“Let’s go,” I said.