Drive staring at Jamieson out of the corner of his eye. As Jamieson got out, the driver wound down his window and thrust a pen and piece of paper at him. ‘Would you mind signing this for my daughter?’ he asked.
Evie smirked as she stepped out of the car. Jamieson had thought it wise to don a disguise for the recce and had shifted into an up-and-coming young Hollywood actor, renowned for his quiffy hair and pout. Evie couldn’t remember his name. She could see Jamieson was enjoying the notoriety though, by the way he signed with a big flourish and tipped the cab driver extra large.
Flic rolled her eyes. ‘Sometimes I think it would be much easier to date a human,’ she sighed, looking sideways at Evie. ‘You know, you might want to consider it too.’
Evie’s head whipped around. What was she talking about?
Flic shrugged. ‘You can’t hold onto a memory for the rest of your life,’ she said softly. Then her mouth split into a wide smile as Jamieson came over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
‘Ladies?’ he said, offering Evie his other arm.
Evie took it, sliding her hand into the crook of his elbow, while frowning at Flic. Was Flic serious? Did she really think that nine weeks was all the time it would take to forget Lucas and move on?
‘Where are we meeting the others?’ Jamieson asked as they strode down the street.
‘Just up ahead,’ Flic answered, looking up from her Houses of the Stars map.
‘What are you doing with that thing?’ Jamieson hissed. ‘You’re with me. Why would I be going on a tour of famous people’s houses when I am one?’
‘Which do you think is less conspicuous – you pretending to be the guy from that lame movie, or us all pretending to be tourists come to ogle the houses of the rich and famous? If we’re not careful you’re going to get mobbed. And I for one am not happy with my role of fan girl. I’d rather be lost tourist.’
Jamieson frowned. Evie suppressed a laugh. She’d been quite enjoying the fan girl identity but Flic had a point. With a sigh Jamieson exploded into a ball of golden shimmer and then reappeared half a second later as himself.
‘And that wasn’t the slightest bit conspicuous,’ Flic remarked drily.
‘Do you ever stop complaining?’ Jamieson asked.
Flic elbowed him in the ribs and strolled off, holding the map up high. They walked on in silence, their senses taking over, scanning the houses they walked by, trying to pick up the scent of unhuman. It was difficult with two unhumans beside her for Evie to sense anything beyond them. And the houses were all set far back from the road – huge mansions rearing up behind twenty-foot high walls and wrought iron gates.
‘Hunters approaching,’ Jamieson said suddenly, sniffing the air like a bloodhound.
‘It’s Ash and Vero,’ Evie murmured, as the two of them rounded the corner up ahead. Cyrus followed just a few paces behind them. Their eyes caught for a few seconds and held before the sight of Victor distracted her.
Evie heard Flic suck in a sharp breath beside her, and then let forth a stream of colourful swear words.
‘Flic, cool it,’ Jamieson murmured to her.
‘No,’ Flic spat. ‘I want to kill the bastard.’
Evie wrapped her hand around Flic’s arm, hauling her to a stop. ‘Flic,’ she said, turning to her, ‘I know how you feel, but we need to do this. I gave them my word – no revenge until after this is over. And if you take out your blade and start flashing it on these streets it’ll be just seconds before we have private security on our backs, not to mention the cops. We can’t afford to draw attention. Not right now. Afterwards, I don’t care if we have an audience.’
Flic glared at Evie, her body vibrating like a tuning fork. Then she took a deep breath. ‘I can’t do this,’ she finally said, her voice breaking. ‘If I go anywhere near him, I’m going to kill him.’
Evie nodded in understanding, thinking again how stupid it was to have brought Flic along. But Cyrus had insisted, thinking that having some unhumans with them would help mask their scent.
‘You both stay here until you’re needed,’ Evie said. ‘I’ll go.’
She headed down the street towards the others, keeping her eyes on Cyrus and fighting the temptation to look at Victor, knowing that if she did she’d only lose it like Flic had.