I couldn’t decide if it would be easier to get answers looking like vamp bait or a hunter?
One thing you quickly learned was that supernaturals only really responded to the biggest and baddest around. Occasionally, the weakling damsel-in-distress act could convince them to drop their guard until you could get the information you needed, but that usually entailed touching and biting.
I sighed.
I knew which one I’d have to go in as. If I went in there kicking ass and asking questions, especially in a student-filled bar, my cover would be broken in a snap.
Dragging on the dress, I fiddled with my hair. The question was up or down. Vampires would want it up to tease them with my neck. I supposed the werewolves would want it up, too, with the whole alpha biting thing.
If I didn’t heal so damn fast, I’d have enough bite marks on me to play into my vamp bait look. As it were, being the daughter of two human servants had its perks.
Unfortunately, the dress didn’t exactly go with my motorcycle, so I had to order a car to pick me up.
“Hair of the Dog, please,” I told the driver.
The driver, a guy not much older than me, gave me a look. “Are you sure you want to go there? That place is a little… rough.”
I gave him a pinched smile. “I can handle myself.”
“Suit yourself.” He shifted gears and was blissfully silent for the rest of the ride. Finally, we stopped in front of a bar.
Honestly, the wooden building seemed about two seconds away from being blown over. The windows were tinted over so no one could see inside and a letter was out on the sign, making it read ‘air of the Dog.’ Overall, I wasn’t impressed.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” The guy shot a wary look at the bar and then back to me, almost hopeful that I wouldn’t be in there long.
I tapped my phone on his payment pad and shook my head. “I’m good.”
My foot had barely hit the pavement when a hand clamped down on my elbow, jerking me to away from the front door. My fist went swinging before I even registered who it was.
Julian caught my fist and dragged us beside the building out of the open. “Are you out of your mind?”
“What are you doing here?” I jerked my fist and arm away from him, tucking my phone back into my little purse.
“I came as your back up. Obviously, you need it.” His gaze swept over my clothing choice, his jaw tightening but he saidnothing else about it. “I thought you’d at least come with that little friend of yours, Zen Yin, not by yourself.”
“Xinyi,” I corrected him with a glare. “If I brought her with me, then she’d have questions or she’d want to bring Iris too. That wouldn’t look good if I’m trying to get vampires to talk to me.”
“And this does?” Julian gestured at my clothes. “Is your way of getting information? You look like —”
“Vamp bait. Yeah. That’s the point.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down. “You might think I’m all vinegar, but I wave the honey around just as much as the next girl.”
Julian snorted.
“Besides,” I continued, ignoring his obvious disagreement, “I want information, not a scene. If I go in there kicking heads in, no one is going to talk to me. If I go like this…” I twirled around to show off the dress. “I’ll be fighting off the wolves… no pun intended.”
“Yeah, you’ll be fighting off something,” Julian muttered and then sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Alright, fine but if you get in trouble, text me. I mean it, immediately, not when you are two seconds from bleeding out either. If you get in any trouble, I want to know about it.”
I held my hands up in front of me. “Alright, alright. Don’t go all dad on me.”
Julian’s hand grabbed my chin. “Keep acting like a child, and I’ll spank you like one.”
My lips twitched. “Now that’s not very professional of you, is it, Fawley?”
With an irritated scoff, Julian released me.
I pushed my purse strap back up my shoulder and sauntered around the corner, putting an extra swing in my hips with every step. His eyes burned into my back until I opened the bar door and stepped inside.
Beer, sweat, and vomit assaulted my nose and, underneath it all, was the familiar scent of blood. Some popular pop song played on the speakers. killing the supernatural vibe I thought I’d be walking into. Besides the coppery scent, it didn’t look much different from any other bar I’d been inside — which, let’s be honest, wasn’t many.
