Blood and Kisses - By Karin Shah Page 0,28

a hand down his arm, dark eyes glinting beneath raven lashes. She was practically devouring him. Thalia turned away. Really, did they have no shame? It was embarrassing.

She waved a stiff paper coaster in front of her flushed face. Heavens, it was hot. Was the air conditioning even running? The heat of so many bodies was almost overwhelming.

She took a sip of her ginger ale. The ice had melted, making it watery, but it was wet, and she took another swallow while she surveyed the room. A haze of cigarette smoke hung over the crowd, thicker on the eastern side of the bar. The vampire half. Witches rarely smoked. After all, they weren’t already dead. She didn’t have to ask how the vampires got away with breaking the ban.

It was likely that somewhere in this noisy throng was the creature who’d stolen Lily’s life, and those of at least two others.

And he would strike again. From what Gideon had told her, the rogue had no other choice. A weighty sense of doom settled over her, pressing against her chest, squeezing the air out of her lungs. Three women dead already. Women whose only crime was their relationship with her.

Relationships that, at least in the case of the last two victims, were tenuous at best.

Because the list of Thalia’s non-witch acquaintances was small, she and Gideon had planned to keep an eye on any of the human pettys that also frequented the bar, but with such a crowd... How could she even know who to watch? Nor did she know how the vampire knew her connection with the victims, when even she hadn’t been aware she knew the second victim.

She closed her eyes against the pain and guilt. She couldn’t sit here any longer. She set down her drink and jumped off of her stool. “I’m going to the ladies’ room.”

The restrooms at the Bell, Book, and Candle were simply labeled “Women” and “Men,” but someone had long ago written “witches” and “mages” crudely above each sign.

Vampires didn’t need bathrooms, although the females sometimes used the mirrors to primp. Some human habits died hard.

The ladies’ room had an antechamber for just that purpose. A sort of lounge decorated in twenties-era style with a large gilt mirror, flowered wallpaper, and a pink velvet settee guarded by two stuffed chairs. For all Thalia knew it had been decorated in the Twenties. It’d looked the same for as long as she could remember.

Three young witches, two brunettes and a blonde, were using that part of the restroom, brushing their hair and applying lipstick in front of the mirror.

They didn’t look up as Thalia slipped past them, through the arch, into the back room that contained the stalls. Out of their view, their chatter, merely background noise in her ears, she splashed water on her face and ran some over her wrists. She turned off the faucet and took a paper towel from the dispenser, drying her face.

“...the Champion.” Hearing her title, she froze.

“I know we’re not supposed to look at them, but oh my God he’s handsome! I wouldn’t mind investigating something with him,” one of the women said suggestively. The other two tittered in response.

“Do you remember Jana? She dated a vampire.” Scandalized gasps met this confession. Thalia thought about ducking out, but something wouldn’t let her leave. “She really liked him and,” the speaker lowered her voice slightly for a moment, “apparently the sex was unbelievable.” Her volume rose. “But they couldn’t go anywhere together, and she said he got really frustrated that he couldn’t take her blood. What finally split them up, though, was that Jana got a gray hair.”

“That’s shallow.”

“He claimed her didn’t want to see her age because he knew he’d lose her.” The woman accented the “claimed” and sing-songed the rest, implying his words were probably a convenient lie. “Jana was so devastated she left the state.”

“Think Gideon and the Champion are sleeping together?” More laughter.

“Please! What would he see in her?”

A knot formed in Thalia’s stomach. Damn. She should’ve left when she’d had the chance.

“Hey, she really helped me out once!” Thalia suddenly recognized the speaker. It was the blonde, Ashley Trenton. And if that was so, the other two must be Maureen Smith and Kimmy Simpson. The three were always together, so much so they were referred to as the three musketeers.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Senior year I started to have these horrible dreams. I dreamt a monster was stalking me.”

“Ooh, Nightmare on Edgemere Drive.”

“Hey.”

Thalia heard the thump