“You lose your ID?” the brunette asked with a sweetness that made Ashwini want to bundle her up and get her out of there ASAP.
“No, forgot my lipstick.”
Her new friend opened her glittery gold clutch and took out a tube. “You can borrow mine. Just wipe it off with a tissue and use your finger.” An assessing look. “I think the color would suit.”
“Oh, thanks.” She took a seat beside the girl . . . and noticed the bite mark on her neck. Two tiny circles, along with a nicely developing bruise. “You already donated tonight,” she said with a smile, while taking a tissue from the dispenser.
“Oh, I’m with Rupert.” The woman sighed, hazel eyes dreamy. “He’s so nice to me. Look.” She wiggled her fingers to draw attention to the large rock on her index finger.
Well, at least she had protection. “That’s some ring.” Ashwini took the hand, examined the jewelry. “He must really be into you.”
“He is.” A bright smile. “Just like that vamp you came in with is into you.” The brunette waved a hand in front of her face. “God, talk about cute.”
Ashwini didn’t think Janvier was cute—he was too sexy to be cute—but she went with it. “Yeah, he’s not bad,” she said with a grin that implied all sorts of things.
The other woman squeaked. “Oh, that’s so hot. Rupert and I haven’t, you know, because he’s old-fashioned, but I’m hoping tonight . . .”
Ashwini decided she might like this vampire named Rupert. “That’s nice,” she said. “That he cares enough about you to wait.”
“He really does.”
Having stroked on the lipstick with her finger, she wiped the tube again and gave it back. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Are you guys regulars here?”
“We come once or twice a week,” the girl said, putting her things into her clutch. “Did you want to meet up? We can exchange numbers. I’m Lacey, by the way.”
“Ash.” She took Lacey’s number because contacts were contacts—and because she liked the sweet brunette. “I’ll call you if we come back this way, but I was wondering if you knew another donor.”
“Oh, who?”
Ashwini decided against flashing the image she’d sent to her own phone from Janvier’s during the drive. It was obviously not of a living person and this investigation was all about subtlety. “I’m asking for a friend who’s a vamp. They had the one-night thing, you know.”
Lacey’s face set into lines of disapproval that would’ve done an eighteenth-century schoolteacher proud. “So many girls do that, but I’m a relationship girl. No spreading myself around. I even told Rupert that the first time we met, that if he was just after a quick sex feed, he could find another girl.” Her cheeks dimpled. “But my Rupert’s a gentleman.”
Ashwini hid an inward smile. It was becoming clear Lacey and Rupert were a perfect match. “Well,” she said, hoping these two would make it, “my friend never got her name, but she had a tattoo like this on her ankle.”
She showed Lacey the picture of the tattoo, having had the Guild techs work with it so it now appeared to be an image she’d downloaded off the Internet. Easier than trying to explain why her “friend” would have a photo of the girl’s tattoo but not her face. “Have you seen it before?”
Lacey frowned, shook her head. “But you should ask Flynn. He knows everyone, I swear.” Getting up, she said, “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
“Thanks.” She followed the brunette out the door, keeping an eye open for Janvier.
Her Cajun wasn’t on the first floor. When she headed upstairs with Lacey, it was to see him sprawled in one of the groupings of sofas on the mezzanine, talking to a vampire with yards of red hair and skin like cream, her body poured into a black evening gown with plunging cleavage. Sitting in the center of her impressive breasts was a diamond that glittered even in the soft light up here.
But that wasn’t what held Ashwini’s attention. It was the fact that the redhead had her lips to Janvier’s ear, her hand stroking his thigh, and his arm around her shoulders.
21
“There he is. Flynn!” Lacey called out to a square-jawed black man who immediately headed over to them. Dressed in jeans and an untucked white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to show off strong forearms, a heavy watch his only decoration, he didn’t fit the hedonistic atmosphere of Masque except for the fact that he had the looks of a movie star or a model.
He and Lacey squeezed one another like best friends.
“This is my friend Ash,” Lacey said when they broke apart, her face open. “She’s with that super cute vampire who’s sitting with Adele.”
Neck prickling at the feel of Janvier’s eyes on her though she had her back to him, Ashwini couldn’t avoid Flynn’s hug. The man’s cheek touched hers as he held on tight and the contact made her ability come to life, as it did without warning at times even with people so young. But the resulting slap of knowledge wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. Vivid and strong and with a hint of darkness, Flynn was more dangerous than Lacey, but that was a matter of degrees. A puppy would be more dangerous than Lacey.
“Ash is looking for a donor who hooked up with a friend of hers,” Lacey said with a pursing of her lips. “Do you know a girl with a tat like this? Ash, show him the photo.”
Flynn looked at the picture for almost a half minute, a small frown line between his eyebrows. “I’m sure I’ve seen her, but not here. She’s more low-key.” He handed back Ashwini’s phone. “I think she used to go to Hinge, but that was a while ago. I haven’t been there for a year.”