* * *
We gathered in a parking garage, going up to the third floor where few vehicles had bothered to park. Willow had her hair all ruffled from a helmet. Wraithbane's dark locks weren't any better. A pile of gear littered the floor beside them. Damp coolness of concrete greeted me as Wraithbane shoved the motorcycle gear into the back of our van.
Our conversation on the rest of the way here had been short. Partly this was due to the motorcycle helmet noise, but once we'd cut off that conversation, it had been just Jay and me. He'd occupied himself singing to the radio, and I had snuggled up against the armrest to nap. Best conversation we'd ever shared.
Willow passed her bag of motorcycle gear to Wraithbane and stretched out her legs. If she resembled the tree at all, she resembled the trunk of a very mature specimen. That wasn't to call her in any way unattractive. She had a perfect semicircular smile, for one thing. For another, there was a certain matronly air about her. I wanted to use the fancy french term to describe her energy and very presence, but I wasn't sure what that term was or if it meant what I thought it meant. No matter. She was the person who people seeking comfort and protection would speak to. She could kick a vampire's ass one minute and dab a baby's milky chin the next.
She was the closest thing I'd come across to a living embodiment of what I wanted to one day be.
Willow said, “I wish we could have Charlie team with us.”
“The more hunters, the faster Thaimon's survival instincts will take over,” Wraithbane said. “Four of us is plenty, so long as you have me and Brandy.”
“But with Brandy...”
Wraithbane grunted, dismissing her worries. “You scared, Silver?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said.
“See? She's fine.”
Willow pursed her lips at me as if I had somehow participated knowingly in his shenanigans. “That's not what I mean. She's never trapped anything before, and the slip-up at Morris' proves my point: she should sit this out.”
“I thought we salvaged the situation,” I said, not liking how she held me culpable. “If you don't approve, that's fine, but at the end of the day Thaimon wants to talk to me. He'll blow off anyone else.”
“Or rip off their head,” Wraithbane said almost cheerfully.
“But it isn't fair to you, Brandy. Without preparation, you're at a disadvantage.”
I believed she was genuinely concerned about me, she was a worrywart. I'd seen her fret over Jay and Wraithbane both, and was a little touched that she now added me to that list.
The others were quiet. Waiting for me to respond, I realized.
I shook my head. “Nothing including Thaimon will ever be fair. It's the way it is. So, the deal is the same as we discussed before. I go, distract him if he needs distracting, stay hidden if not. Meanwhile Wraithbane and the two of you get your trap ready. When you're all set, you swoop in and snag him.”
“Yes,” Jay said. “Emphasis on the stay hidden part. Don't reveal yourself unless absolutely needed. I'd rather he not know we are here.”
“Gotcha,” I said, snagged a fresh earbud from the padded black case, and made a beeline for the parking garage elevator.
“Take the stairs!” Wraithbane yelled after me.
Ah, yes, the whole enclosed-spaces-are-death-traps-waiting-to-happen talk. I'd forgotten. I angled towards the stairs, pretending that they had been my goal all along.
By the time I finished four flights of stairs, I'd lost my pep and felt a bit sweaty. Not that I was in the best shape, but it was unseasonably hot. Instead of winter gradually defrosting into spring, Mother Nature had leapfrogged straight to summer just this afternoon. My wardrobe was still from yesterday, which made it totally outdated for today's trek across the ground-level premium-pass parking lot. Even the little brown wrens rested under bushes or panted near cars classier than any person I'd ever sneezed on.
Past double-glass doors, I found a map of the mall in an entrance which resembled the lobby of a fancy spa that I had once applied as a cleaner at. It smelled the same, like cucumbers and fresh towels. The employees checking trash bags by the door wore black uniforms and shining shoes. The best I could say for my own appearance was that I didn't look like a greasy spoon waitress who had given up on earning tips from tight-fisted curmudgeons. I didn't exactly stand out, but I sure didn't fit in.
“Hmmm.”
“What's wrong, Brandy?” Wraithbane's voice carried through the earbud.
“In the future, I need to pack spare clothes to match the venue.”
He laughed, a sound which warmed my cheeks and made me feel all fluttery in my stomach. “Ritzy place, isn't it?”
“Last time I was in a place this posh, they told me my application was denied because I wasn't tall enough to reach the top shelf unaided.”
“How tall did you have to be?”
“Six-foot-one. No heels.” I found the logo of the jeweler's store among all the other upscale, elegant logos on the glass map. Lines indicated hallways between the logos, each floor displayed one above the other. “Have fun reading this space-aged map. If I am reading it correctly, the jeweler's is up three sets of escalators from the main entrance, all the way in the back, down the right hand corridor at the end. There should be space for two shops, but I'm only seeing the jeweler listed.”
“Space not filled?”
“Maybe, but the rest of the mall is occupied. Could be that they take up two spots?”
“That's a lot of diamonds,” Jay commented.
“A lot of diamonds in a not-prime location,” Wraithbane said. “Be careful about getting too close, Brandy.”
“Sure, but why?”
“It sure sounds like a Bliss Club in operation,” Jay said.
“Different from a Bliss Den, how exactly?”
Jay said, “There's a subscription fee which ensures you don't go missing.”
“Great.”
“But you would disappear.”
“Because my name isn't on the list?” I wondered how much the subscription was. It had to be substantial.
Someone clicked their tongue twice, the sound usually accompanied by a point and a wink.
“Which one of you made the 'you got it' noise?”
“Bane did,” Jay said.
“Enough talking, please,” Willow said. “Brandy, I need their full attention now.”
I paused at a no-cell-service sign. “I think they have a signal blocker in this place. Will it bother our comms?”
“One way to find out,” Wraithbane said. “If it does, we'll have to make the best of—”
His voice went dead as soon as I mounted the first escalator. Oh, goody.
With a mind to giving them ample time, I moved at a leisurely pace through the shopping mall. Every now and again I admired dresses which I would have barely been able to afford when I still was working as a Lady Luck in Shevdon's casino. Even so, the thought of dumping that much dough on a sheath dress made me cringe.
The whole place oozed class and serenity, lacking the frantic bustle of bargain shoppers. These were a different type of people, the kind whose men spent their business lunch on a special hotline where they were told what a turn-on their authority was. So irresistible. Won't you let me stroke you, please, Sir? I grinned to myself. Ah, the memories.
That hadn't been a terrible job until my fifth client. I spent four hours talking a guy down from suicide. Some people just needed someone, anyone at all, to listen to them. It hit too close to home. Reminded me too strongly of myself when I'd been desperate for someone to validate my crazy impulses and agree that they were indeed crazy.
The memory of that night, the night of reliving my own horrors alongside the awkward pauses of a stranger's confession, left me shaken as I navigated my way to the jewelers. I felt nauseous at the shiny silver poppy against its white backdrop, the prisms of hundreds of diamonds twinkling in their illuminated cases. At the twist of my stomach, I walked instead into a small concessions store called Jane Ann'
s Cupcakery.
The name was misleading; cupcakes were only a portion of their menu. Five minutes later saw me sitting in a fancy little cafe table with a honey toasted-flaxseed bagel and the most expensive fizzy mineral water on the face of the planet. My seat just happened to also face the jewelery store entrance. And as I sat I just happened to keep tabs on the traffic flow.
A few things stood out.
1.The customers were usually between 20 and 40.
2.They dressed for a hot night of dancing. Except they all had long sleeves. To hide injection marks?
3.They were all led through a sidedoor which appeared to enter the blank void of a shop beside the jeweler.
4.No one left the jeweler. They only entered.
5.Thaimon was not in sight.
...unless he had inhabited the body of a scantily-clad young woman and gone by me without saying hello.
Trouble with that thought was, Thaimon preferred to be a male. It was odd. I'd never before considered that he could be female if he chose. The concept of a woman crooning, “Brandy, baby,” was bizarre. I doubted Thaimon would do it unless it was absolutely his only way to survive.
Now, Wraithbane on the other hand. If he were capable of jumping bodies he was the sort of curious person who would—I flinched in surprise.
Thaimon had just entered the jewelery store. He didn't bother to check his surroundings. Just walked headlong into the place and spoke to an employee who scurried off to the manager's office.
Unless he conducted his business out in the open, I was going to lose all trace of him. Of course, following Thaimon would be stupid.
As I got to my