“I would not advise—”
“Look,” I said. “Have you ever had a terrible engagement? Just a bad relationship?”
“Many times.”
“Me too. I was kinda over the whole thing and considering lezzing out for a few months. But Eddie was different. Eddie’s awakened… I don’t know, something in me, something that I didn’t think would be there anymore, some kind of flame inside that I thought was dead forever. We had a connection the other night at a club—and he had something come up. I never got his number.”
Mel considered this for a moment, her hands steepled.
“I can’t argue with love for the sake of living,” she said. “Just be sure that it doesn’t become love for the sake of dying. Do you understand?”
“I think so,” I said.
Mel nodded.
“Eddie and three other men meet at the Cathedral at midnight every Wednesday in the attic under the belfry. That’s the only reliable place I know he goes. The Cathedral is a community worship center. We are allowed to come and go as we please for the most part, though I have heard beyond the second story is restricted from public access. The Rector should allow you in for morning mass. I allow you to consider how you’ll handle the rest.”
“Very carefully, I imagine,” I said.
“Ah, one more thing. There are some…. unsavory sorts that hang around. One could argue Eddie, himself, is unsavory, but perhaps that comes with the territory. Please take this with you.”
She withdrew a box from under the counter, opening it with her thumbs. She carefully grabbed a crystalline vial filled with an amber liquid and passed it to me. The glass was cool to the touch.
“Thanks, I think?” I said. “What is this?”
“A little bit of personal discovery,” she said. “It’ll let you blend in with the shadows. Just a dab across the neck should let you go unnoticed, or unbothered, provided you are hidden, for a period of an hour. When the scent fades, you’ll need to reapply it. Might want to put on a dab before you request access to the building.”
I stared at the vial. Really, it looked like asparagus pee.
“Thanks, I guess,” I said.
Mel flashed me a quick smile.
“It’s the least I can do for the Moon-Kissed,” she said. She turned to the register. “Now, with the discount applied, that comes to an even fifty dollars.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“I’ll throw in some crystals as well,” Mel said.
I shook my head even as I dug in my purse for my billfold.
Chapter 8
“Special delivery!” It was a UPS delivery guy, the same one from the other day, with short shorts and tats. What were the odds, I wondered. He stared at his clipboard, package under the other arm, and peered from the clipboard and back to me again. “You Stacey?”
“You delivery man?” I asked, in a caveman voice.
He did not seem amused. He slammed the box on the desk and shoved the clipboard at me, then shook his head as he walked away.
“Ooooh,” Gabriel said. “Lookit that. Someone’s got a package. Could be a secret admirer? What’s the label say?”
“It doesn’t say who it’s from,” I said. I grabbed an ink pen to cut the tape, watched as the ballpoint broke, and then used my house key to undo the packing tape.
“The tension is killing me,” Gabe said.
“I’m really hoping this is something from a man,” I said, shaking the box. The inner cardboard was slowly sliding out. “I met somebody the other night. I thought we had a great connection, and I—“
The inner box fell to the desk with a splat. Droplets of red liquid trailed down from the lid.
