Another knock. Jo traced to the door, removing the brace—she usually ghosted past it—and opened up.
The smarmy motel owner. He was always leering at the women here. Automatic probation. One strike, and he’s out.
His expression was a mix of fear and lust, his attention dipping to her body.
As long as she consumed blood, Jo retained a ballin’ figure. Without it, she turned all sickly again.
“What do you want?” she demanded. Even this guy wasn’t seeing her; he damn sure wasn’t looking into her eyes.
He asked her tits: “I was wondering if you, uh, wanted to go get a cup of coffee with me?”
Coffee must be the theme of the night. She could drink java if she had to, but it tasted awful and made her pee. She liked never having to go to the bathroom.
Vampirism did have benefits. No running out of toilet tissue, no flu, no periods.
When she didn’t answer, he finally met her gaze. She leaned in until they were nose to nose. The shadows around her eyes weirded people out; he was no exception. She told him, “Trying to drum up reasons not to kill you; comin’ up short.”
He swallowed thickly. “Oh.” Axe would be an improvement on his smell.
She wrinkled her nose, her mind drifting to Rune’s skin. So tempting. But even if Jo wanted to, she couldn’t drink the poisonous dark fey.
The man cleared his throat. “Do you, uh, happen to have the money you owe me?”
Jo had tons of cash, piled up in the corner next to her comic books, and she could get more whenever.
“If not, maybe we could . . . work something out,” the owner added.
Just for that crack he’d get nothing out of her. Lucky to be alive, little man.
She gave him her standard answer: “With your flayed skin, I’ll be able to finish my man quilt.” She slammed the door in his face.
One of these days she was going to have to start that quilt, or she’d just be a no good liar. . . .
She floated to the mini fridge to snag a bag of blood. It smelled dank and plastic-y. If Rune was toxic, then why had his flesh smelled so enticing? Even now her fangs were sharpening. Aching.
She’d sensed power in him, there for the taking. That pulse point had called to her as little else in her life ever had.
Just because he was poisonous to others didn’t mean he would be to her.
When had rules ever applied to Jo?
Her gaze fell on his bone thingy again. Why did he keep it? For years to come, she would imagine scenarios for it.
Unless she met him for their date and simply asked him.
EIGHT
“You’re good, female, I’ll give you that,” Rune said as he entered the courtyard.
The voyeur was sitting on the edge of the fountain, skimming her delicate fingers across the water’s surface, her black nails glinting. “Be specific. Good at lots.”
The mere sight of her made heat rush through him, pooling in his groin. When he’d scented her a couple of blocks away, he’d had to force himself to slow his steps. “Where did you learn to steal like that?”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Practice.”
“I never felt you near my . . . pocket. Are you a thief by trade?”
“I guess you could say I’m between jobs.” Her lips curled, like that was an inside joke. “You showed; does this mean you’ll join me for coffee?”
“Return my belonging,” he said as he closed in on her, “and I might only spank you.”
“And that’s a hard no on java.” She rose and squared her shoulders—as if they were about to spar.
How strange. Aside from Allixta, no females opposed him. They were too busy trying to land him. “What could you want with such a useless trinket?”
The voyeur reached into her skirt pocket, then held up the talisman. “I want it, because you obviously want it.”
His gaze locked on the piece. “It’s of no value.” It meant everything. “I’ll have it back simply because it’s my belonging.”
“See, here’s the thing—this is now my belonging. I stole it fair and square. What’s it for, anyway?”
“It’s not for anything. As I said, it has no value.” It’s merely the thing I care most about in all the worlds. The nerve of this bitch!
“What do the symbols mean?”
“That’s not your concern.” He didn’t know!
Captured and enslaved young, his dam had only remembered a limited number of runes to teach her son. That talisman had been the sole possession she’d had on her, yet even she couldn’t read it.
Unless Orion could help him decipher the markings, Rune would never know—because his mother’s breed of demon had gone extinct, their lore lost.