The Unlikeable Demon Hunter (Nava Katz #1)(33)

Next to the sunburst was the name of the store. Karel Tattoo. I went inside and found another small shop, very clean, with blue walls plastered in artwork. A lone black chair stood off to one side, next to a bookcase with neatly stacked rows of rainbow-colored ink.

Karel, or the guy I figured to be Karel, was a short, burly man with a trim goatee, who was inked up all along his arms and neck. He lounged in the chair, looking up from his phone when I entered. "You want a tattoo?" His English was heavily accented with Czech.



       
         
       
        

"The sun on the sign. What is it?"

Karel stood up. "You been to Versailles?"

A shiver ran up my spine. "It's his symbol. Louis XIV."

Karel nodded.

"I want it." I didn't, but some deep gut instinct made me say the words. "But … " This was going to sound so lame. "Can you make it temporary?"

"No."

My shoulders slumped. I still had the sense I should do this but it warred with my disinclination to make the sunburst the first tattoo on my body. I didn't want that permanent a reminder of this mission. Besides, if I ever wanted to be buried in a Jewish cemetery, then tattoos were right out.

He pulled a pencil from his back pocket. "I can do it in body paint. Lasts about three or four days if you don't get it wet."

My head snapped up. "Really?"

"Yes. It won't look like a tattoo but it'll look good."

"Can you make it glittery?" Given his scowl, I thought I'd pushed my luck, but he nodded. "You're the best." I placed my hand on my left boob, above my heart. "Here, please. But I don't want the fleur-de-lis or the hand."

He nodded brusquely at me to sit in one of the wooden chairs that constituted the waiting room. "Let me draw it up," he said.

A few hours later, I was the proud recipient of a brilliant, gold, shimmery sunburst. I even had the perfect dress to show it off. I fired off a quick email to Dr. Gelman asking which pastry shop to meet at. Then I got ready for my night out.

I knocked on Rohan's door at seven on the dot. He had a penthouse suite, as much as any room on the fifth floor could be called that.

Rohan opened the door, leaning against the frame to check me out.

I spun on my gold stilettos, knowing I looked fabulous. "You like?"

My pale gold mini dress with spaghetti straps floated out as I twirled. I'd pinned my curls up in a messy, sexy do, with a few tendrils escaping down my back. Gold shimmery eye shadow adorned my lids, with no eyeliner but a ton of mascara. I'd kept my lips nude, with sheer glimmering gloss to pick up the light. My sun design peeked up above the neckline of my dress.

Rohan reached a finger out as if to trace it, but I swatted his hand away. "Don't touch. You might wreck it."

"What's with the body art?"

"Is my entrance contingent on my answer or can I come in?"

Rohan stroked his chin. "I haven't decided." I didn't mind his hesitation because it gave me the opportunity to check him out. He wore a black suit over a moss green T-shirt. There was no eyeliner, no spiky hair. Instead his locks curled softly along the tips of his ears. No rings except his glamoured Rasha one, though he had kept the leather strap tied around his wrist and his single silver bracelet. 

I cocked an eyebrow and he shrugged. "Even rock stars can dress up," he said. He stood back, allowing me entrance. As I suspected, the only similarity between his room and mine was the four walls and a floor. I stepped inside his suite, the thick carpet muffling any sound.

Dirty glasses were strewn around the room, with more than one bearing lipstick stains, while a graphic-print scarf was tossed carelessly over the sofa. I picked it up. "The old forget-the-scarf trick?" I loosened my hold on the silky material. Tonight was about the mission, not us.

Rohan took it from me. "Yeah, I'll get it back to her."

I sniffed a half-empty bottle of Glenfiddich. "You had a party and didn't invite me? I'm crushed." My voice was light, airy, totally uncaring.

"It was an impromptu thing this afternoon. It would have been weird to specifically call you."

"So Samson wasn't there?" I guess if he hadn't been around, Rohan didn't need me to play act.

"No, he was. I just didn't need you right then."

Everything he said was plausible and Rohan going out of his way to include me would have seemed suspicious so this could all very well have been true. Still, he was a rock star with self-admitted bad behaviors going back down the rabbit hole.

I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Nice piano."