Reyna shook her head, but it was Jodie who spoke. “They blindfolded us.”
“Oh yeah. Shit,” he muttered as if he’d forgotten protocol. “Well, if either of you is a Visage spy, then I’m fucked.”
“What is that building?” Reyna asked.
“That’s our front. The building is home to a popular real estate company, but we live underneath it. Gives us cover to move above during the day if we have to, and no one looks too closely at what’s below, since the place is legit.”
Reyna sat back heavily in her seat. That building was the front for Elle. She couldn’t believe it. And yet, it made perfect sense.
It was the very building that Beckham had taken Reyna to the night they’d snapped photographs of Visage from the rooftop. After they’d had a long talk about the two factions of vampires—those who thought of humans as equals and those who thought of humans as food. Even then, he had been showing her this other world, trying to draw her into it, and she had never suspected.
Her heart panged at the memory. Where was he now? And how had their relationship disintegrated so completely, like sand through her fingers?
She faced forward, putting the Elle headquarters and longing for Beckham behind her.
Gabe drove through the city until he came to a stop in an open spot next to a graffitied park. Reyna rolled her shoulders and hopped out of the car, looking cautiously out into the darkness. They were not in the best part of town, and she was glad for her casual jeans-and-T-shirt combo, but it was also fucking freezing.
Gabe popped the trunk. He tossed Jodie a long-sleeve flannel shirt. “This is the best I can do.”
Jodie wrapped it tightly around herself. Gabe passed Reyna the leather jacket off his back. She slid into it, and it seemed to swallow her whole.
“What about you?” she asked. He was in just a white T-shirt.
“I’ll live.” He handed both of them a baseball cap. “Put this on, too.”
“This is never going to fit over my hair.” Jodie pointed at the mass of curls on her head.
“Best I can do.”
Jodie muttered obscenities under her breath before trying to mash her curls down to get the cap on her head.
“You’ll need these, too.” He produced two dull black bracelets.
“What the fuck is that?” Jodie asked.
But Reyna knew. “ID bracelets.”
“Yeah. They’re required in the city now for basically everything. These aren’t programmed to you, and there shouldn’t be any cops nearby, but it’s for appearances.”
Reyna slipped hers on and felt the weight like a shackle. Jodie irritably added hers to her wrist.
“What happened to curfew?” Reyna asked. There had been one citywide after the fires. The curfew and the bracelets had both come with the start of the Blood Census.
“The old mayor lifted it. Said it was only temporary, but the bracelets stayed. So, we’re straight.” Gabe nodded his head toward the stairs, and they followed. “Now this place, it’s a vamp-free zone. So you should be safe, but stick close to me at all times, and remember, don’t be seen. The last thing we want is for Harrington’s people to swoop back in and try to abduct you, okay? I can protect you from a lot, but I don’t know what I’d do if that happened. So let’s not let it.”
“We don’t want to go back. Don’t worry. We’ll stay close,” Reyna said.
It was only when they turned the corner and Reyna got a good look at the building they were about to enter that she started to sweat.
“We’re going to Five Points?”
Gabe’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “You’ve been here before?”
“Yeah. I saw you fight once.”
“Yeah?” he asked, beaming.
“You’re a fighter?” Jodie asked, eyeing his body corded with muscle. He was only about average height, but he looked scrappy.
