When Dante shifted beside her, she glanced over at him. He’d removed Julie’s picture from his pocket and was staring at it with a look of steely determination. She didn’t see how anyone so determined to reunite a family could be an asshole.
Cassidy glanced at the smiling blue eyes of the pretty girl in the picture. She didn’t know why Julie got tangled up in whatever mess she had, but she was too young and too mortal to understand some things weren’t pretend. There were some vampires out there who would love nothing more than to destroy an innocent girl.
“Here we are,” the driver said in a thick Boston accent as he pulled to the side of the road.
“Thank you,” Dante said.
Leaning forward, he handed the man money for the fare as Cassidy opened her door. He almost grabbed her back, but she was already out of the car. Dante didn’t bother with his change as he slid across the seat and stepped out to stand beside her on the busy Dorchester street.
The setting sun created waves of color across the twilit sky, but he couldn’t see where the sun touched the horizon as buildings blocked his view. In front of them was a brick building with a brand-new, purple awning proclaiming it as Lavender Moon in black lettering.
A sign for tarot reading hung in one of the tinted, plate glass windows beside the large, wooden door. On the other plate glass window was a sign for tattoos. No chunks of brick were missing from the building, and the door had a fresh coat of black paint on it. He had no idea what to expect from the place, but the owner took pride in their business.
“What is this place?” he asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Cassidy admitted. “When I asked Kyle about how he found the parties, he told me he went to Lavender Moon in Dorchester and asked for Opal.”
Dante had seen how overprotective Kyle was of his sister; he couldn’t picture him spilling all these details to her. “Why did he tell you this?”
“He was a little drunk when he got home, and I might have decided it was a good time to learn all I could about the clubs he visited. Of course, he never expected me to go looking for Opal, but he did reveal a little bit too much.”
“When was the last time Kyle came here?”
“I’m not sure. It was a couple of months ago when he came home drunk and told me about finding Opal.”
“So Opal should still be here,” Dante said.
The door opened, and a wave of incense billowed out as a young woman emerged with a brown paper bag in hand. “Oh,” she breathed when she saw them standing only a foot away.
“Sorry,” Dante apologized as he stepped out of her way.
The woman smiled at him before glancing at Cassidy and hurrying away. Cassidy watched her go before glancing at Dante. He didn’t notice when the woman almost walked into a pole because she turned to look back at him. Was that because he was so used to the attention, or because he really didn’t notice it?
“Are you ready to go in?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Dante opened the door and stepped aside to let her enter first. He scanned the busy street before following Cassidy into the store. The door slid closed behind them and clicked into place. Inside, the smell of incense and herbs was nearly overwhelming, and he resisted using his hand to cover his nose.
The dim, overhead lights shone off the jars of incense, stones, and crystals lining the freestanding shelves creating an aisle toward the front of the store. Directly in front of them was a glass countertop with a cash register on top of it.
Above the register, a variety of different colored glass balls dangled from the ceiling. They caught and reflected the light across the chestnut, hardwood floor. On the small tables speckled throughout the store were books, decorative holders of burning incense, crystal skulls, and more candles than a one-hundred-year-old’s birthday cake. An assortment of magical goods also lined the shelves along the walls.
Dante rested his hand on Cassidy’s elbow and guided her toward the register. When they were almost to the counter, he spotted another doorway that opened into a room full of racks of clothes and more bookshelves. One of the shelves had a sign for tattoos and a finger pointing toward a set of stairs leading to the second floor.
From behind the counter, a woman rose and set a couple of books on top of it. Her gray hair hung in a thick braid over her left shoulder; the flame from the candle at the end of the counter danced in her gray eyes. He knew instantly she was a vampire, one who was changed later in life.
Unease flashed through her eyes before the lines around her eyes and mouth crinkled and she smiled at them. “Can I help you?”
“Yes.” Cassidy stopped in front of the counter. “We’re looking for Opal.”
“I’m Opal.”
Cassidy hoped her drunken brother hadn’t gotten everything mixed up in his head when he told her about the clubs and Opal. “We’re looking for a party.”
Opal’s smile vanished. “I might be able to help you. Who sent you?”
“Kyle.”
“Ah,” the woman said. “I know Kyle.”
The way she said it, Cassidy didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Unsure of what to say, Cassidy didn’t speak as Opal bent down again. She rose to set another stack of books on the counter.
“My parties aren’t the same as they used to be,” Opal said as she tapped a finger on one of the books. “There’s only
