of the wooden box from Barnabe, it’s not leather anymore. The amulet dangles from a long silver chain and sets off my dress perfectly. Hmmm. Curiouser and curiouser. One of these days, I might take living with magic for granted. This is not one of those days.
After one last admiring glance at myself in the mirror, I head to the living room where Luke and Noah are waiting. I’m not gonna lie, the dual dropped jaws and body sweeping stares they give me are most definitely good for my morale.
“Not bad for ten minutes, huh?” I twirl, giving them a chance to see it all and come to a standstill with a little satisfied grin. Let Luke get a good look at what he could have had. Let Noah get a good look at what he most definitely still could have. I chuckle to myself. What would old Zoe have thought about the kind of things new Zoe thinks and does?
The guys fill me in on the target. An Andrew Llewellyn who seems to think he’s more James Bond than Eric Northman. It’s all tuxedos, champagne, and posh interiors for this guy. Oh, and he loves blondes.
“So we can be glad you look as delicious as you do,” Luke says with a dark smile.
Noah’s jaw tightens. “I guess,” he mutters through clenched teeth.
So if I’m the bait, I’m gonna have to spend some time alone, making sure our guy can see me seeing him. The good news is that Andrew isn’t cruel. If I catch his eye, I have a night of dancing and conversation ahead of me before he discreetly tries to drink my blood and leave me for dead. That is, as long as he doesn’t catch a whiff of the magic in me like Nancy did. That wouldn’t be very good at all.
I wrap my fingers around Barnabe’s amulet and hope for discretion.
We pile into Luke’s car — not wanting to end up sitting next to Luke, I slide into the backseat — and I wonder, not for the first time, how he’s managed to afford keeping it around. It’s not high end, but it’s new. Well new er anyway. I know my meager salary from the coffee shop just barely covers rent and food. Same with Noah at the bookstore. I don’t even know where Luke works. But, he always has money come rent time and somehow manages to afford this thing.
Not that I’m complaining at the moment. It’s cold. My dress is short. There’s snow. My heels are high. I way prefer taking a car to walking or riding the bus. We ride in silence and I take the time to consider my approach for the evening.
Andrew Llewellyn considers himself a sophisticated lady killer. Pun intended. Would that mean he prefers sophisticated ladies? Or will a naive young woman be better? ‘Cause I’m not sure I can pull off sophisticated, but I sure know exactly how to come off as naive and unsure of myself. And then there’s this tiny little whiney part of me that wonders why I need to bait in the first place. Our tracker spell and stalk the victim technique has worked just fine up until this point. Except not really. Nancy was totally aware we were following her. Assuming we’re working our way up the food chain and not down, it’s probably best to assume that we’re gonna end up dealing with more and more powerful vampires.
Great.
I shudder a little at the thought, not quite consoled by the fact that I’m a pretty powerful witch. It’s a long car ride and my energy is waning again. I steal a glance at the clock. 10:45 and I’m ready for bed. That little jolt of magic I gave myself is already fading. There’s no way I’m gonna feel comfortable using magic once we’re in range of the target. He’ll smell it. Which is totally unnerving.
I give myself another little jolt of energy. I’ll pay extra for that in the morning, but I’d rather be on my game tonight, I think. Noah turns around in his seat and stares at me, eyebrows crinkling together in that way that means he’s concerned and trying not to judge.
“You OK?” he asks.
“Just getting myself ready for this.” He can just go ahead and judge. He’s not the one who’s gotta
After one last admiring glance at myself in the mirror, I head to the living room where Luke and Noah are waiting. I’m not gonna lie, the dual dropped jaws and body sweeping stares they give me are most definitely good for my morale.
“Not bad for ten minutes, huh?” I twirl, giving them a chance to see it all and come to a standstill with a little satisfied grin. Let Luke get a good look at what he could have had. Let Noah get a good look at what he most definitely still could have. I chuckle to myself. What would old Zoe have thought about the kind of things new Zoe thinks and does?
The guys fill me in on the target. An Andrew Llewellyn who seems to think he’s more James Bond than Eric Northman. It’s all tuxedos, champagne, and posh interiors for this guy. Oh, and he loves blondes.
“So we can be glad you look as delicious as you do,” Luke says with a dark smile.
Noah’s jaw tightens. “I guess,” he mutters through clenched teeth.
So if I’m the bait, I’m gonna have to spend some time alone, making sure our guy can see me seeing him. The good news is that Andrew isn’t cruel. If I catch his eye, I have a night of dancing and conversation ahead of me before he discreetly tries to drink my blood and leave me for dead. That is, as long as he doesn’t catch a whiff of the magic in me like Nancy did. That wouldn’t be very good at all.
I wrap my fingers around Barnabe’s amulet and hope for discretion.
We pile into Luke’s car — not wanting to end up sitting next to Luke, I slide into the backseat — and I wonder, not for the first time, how he’s managed to afford keeping it around. It’s not high end, but it’s new. Well new er anyway. I know my meager salary from the coffee shop just barely covers rent and food. Same with Noah at the bookstore. I don’t even know where Luke works. But, he always has money come rent time and somehow manages to afford this thing.
Not that I’m complaining at the moment. It’s cold. My dress is short. There’s snow. My heels are high. I way prefer taking a car to walking or riding the bus. We ride in silence and I take the time to consider my approach for the evening.
Andrew Llewellyn considers himself a sophisticated lady killer. Pun intended. Would that mean he prefers sophisticated ladies? Or will a naive young woman be better? ‘Cause I’m not sure I can pull off sophisticated, but I sure know exactly how to come off as naive and unsure of myself. And then there’s this tiny little whiney part of me that wonders why I need to bait in the first place. Our tracker spell and stalk the victim technique has worked just fine up until this point. Except not really. Nancy was totally aware we were following her. Assuming we’re working our way up the food chain and not down, it’s probably best to assume that we’re gonna end up dealing with more and more powerful vampires.
Great.
I shudder a little at the thought, not quite consoled by the fact that I’m a pretty powerful witch. It’s a long car ride and my energy is waning again. I steal a glance at the clock. 10:45 and I’m ready for bed. That little jolt of magic I gave myself is already fading. There’s no way I’m gonna feel comfortable using magic once we’re in range of the target. He’ll smell it. Which is totally unnerving.
I give myself another little jolt of energy. I’ll pay extra for that in the morning, but I’d rather be on my game tonight, I think. Noah turns around in his seat and stares at me, eyebrows crinkling together in that way that means he’s concerned and trying not to judge.
“You OK?” he asks.
“Just getting myself ready for this.” He can just go ahead and judge. He’s not the one who’s gotta
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