Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

not—” My words died on my lips as I caught sight of him. For a moment, all thoughts of murder and apartment intrusion blanked out of my mind. “For God’s sake, Peter. What happened to your hair?”
    He self-consciously ran a hand over the sharp, half-inch spikes covering his head. I couldn’t even imagine how much styling product it must have taken to defy the laws of physics like that. Worse, the tips of the spikes were white-blond, standing out boldly against his normally dark hair color. “Someone I work with helped me with it.”
    â€œSomeone who hates you?”
    Peter scowled. “You are the most uncharming succubus I’ve ever met.”
    â€œI think the spikes really, um, emphasize the shape of your eyebrows,” offered Cody diplomatically. “They just take…some getting used to.”
    I shook my head. I liked Peter and Cody. They were the only vampires I’d ever been friends with, but that didn’t make them any less trying. Between Peter’s assorted neuroses and Cody’s dogged optimism, I sometimes felt like the straight man—er, woman—on a sitcom.
    â€œA lot of getting used to,” I muttered, pulling up a barstool from my kitchen.
    â€œYou’re one to talk,” returned Peter. “You and your wings and whip getup.”
    My mouth dropped, and I turned an incredulous look on Hugh. He hastily shut the Victoria’s Secret catalog he’d been leafing through.
    â€œGeorgina—”
    â€œYou said you weren’t going to tell! You sealed your lips and everything!”
    â€œI, uh…it just sort of slipped out.”
    â€œDid you really have horns?” asked Peter.
    â€œAll right, that’s it. I want you all out of here now.” I pointed at the door. “I’ve been through enough today without you three adding to it.”
    â€œYou haven’t even told us about taking the contract out on Duane.” Cody’s puppy-dog eyes looked at me pleadingly. “We’re dying to know.”
    â€œWell, Duane’s the one who technically did the dying,” pointed out Peter in an undertone.
    â€œWatch the snide comments,” warned Hugh. “You might be next.”
    I half expected steam to pour from my ears. “For the last time, I did not kill Duane! Jerome believes me, okay?”
    Cody looked thoughtful. “But you did threaten him…”
    â€œYes. And from what I recall, so have all of you at some time or another. This is just a coincidence. I didn’t have anything to do with it, and…” Something suddenly occurred to me. “Why does everyone keep saying things like ‘arranged his death’ or ‘got someone to murder him’? Why aren’t you saying that I did it myself?”
    â€œWait…you just said you didn’t.”
    Peter rolled his eyes at Cody before facing me, the older vampire’s expression turning serious. Of course, “serious” means all sorts of things when paired with a hairstyle like his. “No one’s saying you did it because you couldn’t have.”
    â€œEspecially in those shoes.” Hugh nodded toward my heels.
    â€œI appreciate your complete lack of faith in my abilities, but isn’t it possible I could have, I don’t know, taken him by surprise? Hypothetically, I mean.”
    Peter smiled. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Lesser immortals can’t kill one another.” Seeing my astonished look, he added, “How can you not know that? After living as long as you have?”
    Teasing laced his words. There had always been an unspoken mystery between Peter and me concerning which of us was the oldest of the mortals-turned-immortals in our little circle. Neither of us would openly admit our age, so we’d never really determined who had the most centuries. One night, after a bottle of tequila, we’d started playing a “Do you remember