in plenty of time.” He, too, looked toward the front.
Say something more about the jeweler, Keira silently urged.
“Let’s go upstairs,” he said and looked at his companion. “I could use someone to drink.”
The woman agreed and the pair walked away.
Damn it. Keira let out a long breath and eased back behind the column again. She relaxed her hold on her Earth energy. When the tingling in her skin ceased she leaned against the column, taking in deep breaths, and waited for her legs to stop trembling. As soon as she felt she could walk without crumbling to the floor, she headed toward the exit. She returned Javier’s wave and pushed open the door.
As she headed toward the stairs, she wished the two vampires had given more specific information about the jeweler, but at least she had a place to begin a covert investigation. After all, how many jewelers could there be on Scottsdale Road?
Finn circled the column, staying out of sight until Keira left the room. He’d glanced at her off and on through all Liuz’s bullshit, and to his surprise she’d seemed interested. Her expression had been nearly as rapt as all the other lemmings in the room.
He was disappointed, and a little angry. She was supposed to be doing better than him, moving away from her old life. So what in the hell was she doing with this crowd?
For his part, he thought everything Liuz had said was bullshit, and hated the idea that now that he was “in” he’d have to put up with all this crap until the next rift. Thankfully that was only three more weeks away, then his mission would be complete and he’d be his own master for the first time in two millennia. Failure was not an option.
After listening to Liuz tonight, and seeing how everyone in the room cradled his words like they were precious newborn babes, Finn didn’t disagree with dear old dad that having the demon-to-other-pret ratio swing even wider would be a bad thing. If vampire numbers grew and demons did not, it wouldn’t be long before Finn and his kind were eliminated.
This was as much about maintaining the status quo as anything else. It was also about self-preservation, pure and simple.
And if there was one thing he understood, it was self-preservation.
Chapter Six
Over the next few days Keira came to realize there were more jewelers on Scottsdale Road than she would have thought possible. Without having a specific name it was very improbable that she’d find the one who was going to provide Stefan with the gold filament. Not that she was ready to give up, not yet. She was merely ready to move on to plan B as soon as she thought it up.
She stared down at a row of sapphire rings without really seeing them. This was the tenth store she’d been in, and everything was starting to blur together. She looked up at the salesman and gave him a smile. “I’m sorry, I just don’t see anything that catches my eye.”
She knew that wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear, but his polite expression never changed. “That’s all the sapphires we have, I’m afraid.”
And yet again she’d struck out. “Well, thank you,” she said with another smile. She left the store and headed toward her car. Then her stomach growled, and she thought maybe she should stop and get something to eat before trekking on to the next shop.
Thankfully there was a small café near the jewelry store. It was brightly lit with mostly small tables for two, a few tables for four, and stools at the counter. Against the far wall were three booths that were all occupied at the moment. She took a seat at a table near the back, sighing with relief to be able to sit down. While she liked expensive jewelry as much as the next woman and enjoyed spending hour after hour looking at diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, she didn’t like pretending to be interested in buying something while she watched and listened to what was going on around her. It was too much like scoping out a place in order to run a scam.
It didn’t make her feel good about herself at all, even as she reminded herself she was doing it for a good reason. It still seemed too much like what she’d done in her old life.
That’s not who you are anymore.
Though she was beginning to think perhaps she should embrace that part of herself instead of