Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,17
me, it won’t be any trouble. A few outside are ready to get out of here.”
“Thank you,” I said on a relieved sigh before Trixie could argue.
“You just might . . . want to . . .” Serah awkwardly said, motioning toward Trixie’s face.
The elf looked at me in confusion and I smiled. “You lost your glamour.”
“Son of a bitch,” she whispered in frustration, but the brunette was back in place in the blink of an eye.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead before releasing her. “I’ll see you back at my apartment soon. I’ll bring Bronx with me.”
Trixie nodded and then followed Serah back to the parking lot while I walked into the main tattooing room, where a trio of men struggled to get Kyle into a body bag. Not the easiest of tasks with his innards slipping out and threatening to flop all over the place. If I hadn’t liked the guy, I might have suggested using a shovel. Of course, I can’t say I was overly fond of him. Kyle had gotten sloppy and bad potions made us all look bad. Even so, the guy didn’t deserve to go like this.
Watching their slow progress, I saw something that could be useful, but I didn’t think the police would let me just walk off with evidence. “Here, let me help,” I offered, kneeling down by the body. Dried blood brushed off onto the knee of my jeans, but it wasn’t the first time my clothes had acquired bloodstains in the service of others, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. I was getting damn good at laundry since I could afford to replace my clothes every time things got messy.
One cop gave me a brief, grateful smile as I slid one hand under the corpse’s left knee, while the other was under its back. I quickly stopped my brain from trying to identify the crunchy and cool gel-like substances my bare hands were encountering. I was an idiot for taking off my gloves and a bigger idiot for not putting them back on.
It was awkward and we were all trying not to breathe deeply as we worked, but we got the body bagged on the first try. As they rushed to get Kyle zipped up, I sat back on my heels so that my body hid the small wastebasket closest to the tattoo chair Kyle had been using when he worked on the killer. In the blink of an eye, I snatched up a blood and ink-encrusted paper towel and stuffed it into my pocket before standing.
The paramedics stood and solemnly marched out of the room, their shuffling feet releasing flakes of dried blood into the air. The cop followed, his head down, looking pale but also relieved. His night in this grim place was almost over.
The tattooing room had always been a place of new beginnings, second chances, and adventure. But this one screamed of death and violence. It was ugly and mocked everything that had drawn me to becoming a tattoo artist in the first place.
Serah moved out of the entrance to let them pass, coming to stand beside me. “Trixie is being taken back by Carl and Ernie. They’re good guys and will see to it that she’s safe in your apartment before leaving.”
“Thanks.”
“I had no freaking clue she was an elf,” she continued in a low voice despite the fact that we were alone in the parlor. She shook her head as if she trying to dislodge the last of her shock.
“That’s how glamour works.” I grinned down at her. Serah couldn’t have been more than five feet five in her low heels, making her seem positively tiny next to Trixie, but there was a spunkiness to the woman that kept you from brushing her off.
She rolled her eyes and then turned serious. “I promise not to tell anyone.”
“She’d appreciate it. She’s not hiding any longer, but everyone knows this disguise, so she keeps it just to make life easier.”
“She was in hiding?” Serah said, but I was already shaking my head at her. The TAPSS investigator didn’t need to know about Trixie’s past. I was already cursing myself for that stupid slip.
“I’ve not spoken with many elves. Are they usually so sensitive? I wouldn’t have expected that.”
In general, that was a big NO. From my experience, elves were indifferent to humans because we were inferior. Luckily, my girlfriend had a different opinion. But her reaction was unexpectedly strong. The Summer Court seemed to