out?'
'Probably work on my nest.'
'Okay. I'm going to grab a shower.'
'Sounds good. I need one, too.' Honey leaped into the air and flew to the bathroom.
'Honey?' I called.
'Yeah?' I heard the shower running.
'You know I'm not going to take a shower with you, right?'
She flew back into the living room. 'Why not?'
'I'm just not. It's not appropriate.'
'You don't want me to see you naked?'
'No, it's not that, it's just…roommates don't shower together.'
'Why not? Come on, I'll do your back.'
'Honey, you're a lot smaller than me. Don't you think that would take a really long time?'
'Remember how fast I knocked you down before?'
'Yeah.'
'I work fast.'
'That's not just in the Between? I thought that was your kung-fu magic.'
'It is, but I can do it here, too. And use glamour. But I don't cast spells like you do, because I'm a piskie.'
'Oh.'
'So come on, it'll feel really good.'
That's what I was afraid of. The whole Honey situation was pretty hard to figure out. I had no objections to a little harmless fun between girls. There'd been a few times with girls from the Men's Room, and I'd never regretted it. So how was I supposed to feel about a pretty, young naked woman who wanted to take a shower with me? What if she was eight inches tall? It was kinky, but more like a foot fetish. Not like bestiality or necrophilia kinky. And besides, it was just a shower.
Then I thought about Adan and what he would think of me showering with Honey. Well, he was a guy, so he'd probably be all for it as long as he could watch. But I knew I wouldn't like the idea of him taking a shower with some girl, no matter how short she was.
'Look, Honey, I just can't take a shower with you.' Then I had a moment of real inspiration. 'You're a very beautiful woman, you're very sexy, and I'm just not comfortable with that level of intimacy. We're roommates and I value our friendship.'
'You think I'm sexy?' Honey beamed.
'Of course. You're hot. And I can't say the idea of some kung-fu scrubbing isn't tempting. But that's why I can't take a shower with you.'
Honey sighed. 'Okay, I'm first then.' She flew off again. 'You can come in if you change your mind,' she called from the bathroom.
I dropped onto the couch and let out a deep breath. I felt like I'd either dodged a bullet or missed out on something so weird even the men's magazines wouldn't know what to do with it.
My preference for searching Adan's apartment was to do it when he wasn't there. I called him a little after ten and suggested we meet somewhere. My plan was to pick a place far enough away that I could break in after he left, search the loft and then make up for lost time with the traffic spell.
It was a good plan, but Adan invited me over instead. It was about ten-thirty when I got to his loft. He'd already had dinner, so we settled on coffee and shared a slice of take-out Washington. We finished the pizza and he let me smoke after I agreed to use my housecleaning spell to kill the odor.
'Tell me about Fred,' I said, tilting my head away from him and blowing a line of smoke into open air.
'You picking a fight, Domino? You just got here.'
'I'm not, but I work for your father and it's my job to look after his interests.'
'And protecting little old me is part of that job?'
'I'm not trying to protect you, Adan. I know you can take care of yourself.' It was the exact opposite of how I really felt, but I couldn't very well tell him that.
Adan nodded. 'He's German, but I think he's older than the country. He says it wasn't really unified when he was alive. He says he was a noble or a prince or something.'
'They always are. You never seem to run across a vampire who came up a peasant.'
Adan laughed. 'Well, I told you I met him at the club.'
'Yeah. I figure he hunts there.'
'I think so. Actually, he owns the place. Anyway, we became friends before I knew what he was, and I've never been with him when he…did that. But I've seen him leave with women.'
'And they don't come back.'
'No, sometimes they don't.'
I sank back on the sofa, smoked and thought about my next move. This was tricky. It was possible Adan could help me find the vampire, saving me the trouble of having to search his place. But if I asked the kind of questions I'd have to ask, he'd know what I was planning. Would he help me kill Fred? Or would he throw me out of his apartment?
My gut was telling me that his friendship with Fred didn't run too deep. He'd found out about him after they'd become friends. His father had him juiced-up with protective magic and spell talismans, but he was probably still a little intimidated by the vampire. Maybe he was worried Fred would come after him if he told him to get lost. Maybe I was right, and the spirit had even manipulated him into the friendship.
I just didn't know him well enough to make a read. Some people will remain loyal to a friend or family member no matter what they do. Even if he wasn't thrilled with Fred, that didn't mean he'd be okay with me taking him out. He might tell me to get lost. What I was most worried about, even though I didn't want to admit it, was that he wanted something from the vampire. Adan didn't have the juice to be a sorcerer, and he felt trapped between two worlds as a result. Maybe he saw vampirism as a solution to his identity crisis and he wanted Fred to turn him.
I didn't believe that, but I couldn't be sure. And again, I had to figure the spirit into this, whether it was responsible for the Adan-Fred connection or not. I didn't know all the details of how this thing worked, but it was a fair bet the spirit knew everything Adan did, even when it wasn't actively possessing him. It'd have to. I didn't like it, and I didn't blame him for it, but there was no way I could completely trust Adan, even if he would line up with me against Fred.
I couldn't read his mind, either, as I had with Honey. Even without his father's wards protecting him, I'd like to think I wouldn't have done it. Maybe it was even true.
'Are you going to kill him, Domino?' Adan asked. 'Don't lie to me.'
'No,' I lied, 'not unless you want me to. You had it right last night-I'm not really in a position to judge him.'
He nodded, but I couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed. 'I don't like what he does. It disgusts me. But he says he's a different species, that it's natural for his kind to prey on humans just like it's natural for us to eat cattle.'
'Do you buy that?'
'No. I understand why he sees it that way, but I don't think it's the same thing.'
'It's not,' I said. 'He's a monster. There's nothing natural about him.'
Adan smiled an uneasy smile. 'I told him the exact same thing once.'
'What did he say?'
'He said cattle would have the same opinion of butchers.'
I grunted. It was chilling, but it wasn't a big stretch for me to look at the world the way the vampire did. Maybe when I wasn't paying attention I did look at it the same way. I was a hell of a lot closer to human than Fred was, but I had to admit I usually didn't think of myself as one. Maybe it was the gangster thing, or the power magic gave me, but the same rules just didn't seem to apply. I was an outsider, and we made our own rules.
My attention turned from halfhearted moral angst to how I was going to search Adan's apartment without him noticing. He might make a move on me, and I was pretty sure I wanted him to. If I could get him in bed, there might be a shower later or he might fall asleep, and that would give me my chance.
