Succubus Shadows Page 0,40

authors has given me great insight."

"Well," said Seth, a little embarrassed at the attention. "I don't know how much insight I'm really offering."

Simone laughed. "Lots. I feel like I'm getting something from you each time I see you."

"Have you seen each other a lot?" I asked.

"Kelly moved to Queen Anne," said Seth. "So we keep running into each other."

"It's a great area," I said. "Where do you live?"

Simone faltered. "Um, on Queen Anne."

"Street, Avenue, or Drive?"

Seth seemed surprised at the interrogative style of the question. Simone turned nervous. "Eh, Avenue."

Damn. Lucky guess. Queen Anne Street didn't exist.

"Nice place." Turning my back on her, I looked at Seth. "I came over because I heard someone say Maddie was looking for you." That wasn't true at all. Maddie wasn't even in for another hour. I gave Simone a casual glance. "Maddie's his fianc茅e."

"I didn't think she was in yet," said Seth.

Why, of all days, would his memory be up and running today? "Maybe I misheard," I said with a shrug. "But I figured you'd want to check."

"I will," he said, still a little puzzled. "I need to show Kelly one more book."

She shot me a triumphant look, but I knew she'd accomplished nothing with Seth. He had that expression he got when he was so focused on something - in this case, the history of books - that he was distracted from the world. "Kelly" was a pleasant coincidence. Simone was too overconfident to notice.

Seth turned back to the shelves, and me staying would have seemed awkward. With his attention elsewhere, I shot Simone a warning look. "Well, I'm sure I'll see you around."

"Oh," she said with a serene smile, "you will."

When I got home later that day, I was ready to break some furniture. "Did you see - "

"Yes, yes, I saw," said Roman, materializing beside me. "Calm down."

I let out a small cry of frustration, something primal with no real form. "I can't believe that bitch! Can't believe she'd actually do it right in front of me! She did it on purpose. She did it on purpose to taunt me."

Roman was the picture of tranquility as he leaned against the wall, a far cry from my frazzled, pacing state. "Of course she did. It's like mobsters who threaten their victims in a crowd - there's absolutely no way you could have fought back, not with that many witnesses."

"Nice analogy," I muttered. "Maybe there'll be a horse head in my bed next."

"I could leave one in hers, if it would help," he offered.

That almost made me smile. Almost. Except I wasn't entirely sure he was joking. "The really comical part is that Seth brought it about, you know? He was trying to stay away from me and walked right into this."

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

I didn't dignify that with an answer.

"Look," he said in all seriousness, taking a few steps toward me. "It sucks that she's doing this, and we can definitely rule out coincidence. But if Seth's with Maddie while she's there, you know nothing's going to happen. And Carter will report back to us. No point in getting worked up over it."

"Easier said than done. Nothing's going to distract me from this."

He moved closer still and rested his hands on my upper arms. "Oh? When was the last time you went dancing?"

I blinked in surprise. The last time I'd been dancing? It had been a salsa lesson at the bookstore earlier this year, after which Seth and I had ripped each other's clothes off in my office.

"A while ago," I said evasively, thrown off by both the question and his fingertips on my skin. "Why?"

"Let's go out," he said. "There are a million places we can go. Any kind of dance you want. If memory serves, you're an okay dancer."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm an excellent dancer, and you know it."

He leaned his face closer. "Then prove it."

"Irrelevant. I don't feel like going out."

Roman sighed and stepped away. I found I was a little disappointed to have him let go. "Man," he said. "I remember when you used to be fun. I'm glad I left town when I did." He walked over to my entertainment center and knelt down. "Well, if Muhammed won't come to the mountain..."

"Good grief. You're a wealth of religious proverbs tonight, aren't you?"

"Hey, just trying to - Jesus Christ. CDs? You do know the Dark Ages ended a long time ago." He pointed at my collection with disdain. "Everyone's gone digital