a breath and moved toward the elevator.
When she was sure nobody was looking, she pressed the button. She couldn't go straight up to the penthouse. For that, you needed a key. But she had another plan. The elevator stopped on five, one floor below Anthony's place, the same floor she'd stayed on for the tournament. At the end of the hallway was a window. Because the building was old, the window opened. In a newer model hotel, it would have been sealed for a hallway like this. Safety first.
But since the guardians looked the other way while vampires brought meals up to their rooms, Jane was thinking safety first wasn't one of their mottos. It was hard to fathom the clueless humans who lived here. She pushed the window up and took one last look down the hallway.
It was empty, so Jane materialized. If she shape-shifted into something that could fly, she could zip up to the roof and get in through the door, even if she had to use brute strength to rip it off its hinges. Though that might blow her element of surprise.
She closed her eyes and focused on a memory of a raven she'd seen after a fresh snow one winter. It had been eating berries off an otherwise scraggly and bare tree. It wasn't working. Dammit! She didn't know how long Cole could stall. She'd been fast, but they must be fighting by now.
Jane moved down the hall, holding her hands out, hovering over the walls and doors... Somebody be feeling amorous tonight. Anybody. She sensed two humans in one of the apartments and the beginnings at least of flirtatious energy. She could work with that.
She knocked on the door of 5G. A woman answered, an irritated look on her face. "Who the hell are you?"
Jane's lips turned up in a friendly smile. "I'm not here. You don't see me. You want to climb your boyfriend like a tree and fuck his brains out. You can't stand for another moment to go by without him inside you."
The woman went back inside the apartment, the command fresh in her mind. The man showed up then. "Hey, what's going on?"
"I'm not here," Jane said. She was about to put a suggestion in the man's head, but the woman needed no additional help. As the two writhed on the kitchen floor like they were in heat, Jane's hands hovered over them, soaking in the sexual energy. How she wished she'd just inconvenienced Cole for twenty minutes before they'd left for Cary Town. This was... more inconvenient.
When she was satiated, she left the two none the wiser and went back into the hallway. This time, the shift came on easily. She hopped onto the window ledge in bird form and flew up to the roof. She would have loved to enjoy the thrill of flying, but now wasn't the time. She shifted back and went invisible again, making her way to the door that led back inside.
The knob on the metal door turned easily in her hand. As quietly as she could, she went through the penthouse, assessing the situation. There were only the two vampire guards, just like on the video screen. Fiona and the pup were playing in the main living area, but there was a witch besides Fiona. Not good.
Who first? If she took out the vampires, the witch might start chanting, and she didn't know how strong she was. It had to be the witch first. The pup looked right at Jane as if he could see her. She looked down at her hands but she was invisible. Could he sense her? The thought made her all warm inside. But if he sensed her, the witch would soon as well.
She backed into the kitchen and the curious pup followed her. Maybe he could see her? Cole couldn't when she was invisible. Maybe it was some preternatural mother-child bond. Since returning, she hadn't had time to read up on weirdness between magical mothers and their offspring.
"Stay here, I'm going to go after the pup," the witch said to Fiona from the other room, then she followed him into the kitchen. Exactly where Jane wanted her. Alone.
Jane moved behind the witch and put her in a sleeper hold, cutting off her oxygen so she couldn't chant. The witch struggled at first, but the demon was too strong for her. The blonde slid to the floor, and Jane stepped over her body.
Fiona appeared in the kitchen, having ignored