Riley and Lily follow. And then I hear shuffling on the street ahead.
“Well, hey, hotcakes.”
It's Addie.
She's standing there, lying in wait for her prey.
“Hotcakes?” the guy asks. “Who are you? What are you doing out so late?”
Something slithers and I realize it's Addie pulling up her skirt. So slut skirt it was after all. This is how she lures in her prey.
I turn the corner, motioning for Riley to stand back and stand there, still as the homeless, raggedy girl in the kitten sweater. Harmless. And I find the guy stopped on the sidewalk, just a few feet from Addie, who is leaning against the side of a closed tobacco store with her skirt hiked up over her bare, pale thigh. She chews the inside of her cheek as she looks at me, no recognition coming over her features. And from thirty feet away, I can see that the copper ring in her eyes has darkened to an evil red. The guy probably can't see it, but I sure can.
She's hungry.
Riley and Lily stay back around the corner, waiting. Addie's eyes widen in shock as I continue to hover there, looking like some dumbfounded, lost girl, and it takes effort to stop the pressure of my mind powers from exploding. Addie is almost as bad as Dominic. She's nowhere near as old, but she's got that serial killer potential.
“Who are you?” she snarls, letting her skirt fall as she straightens.
I'm still alone, with Riley and Lily lying in wait. If the Beaumonts know they're here, my cover will blow, and they'll be ready to deal with us.
I remember my fresh voice, a higher pitched one belonging to a lost girl. I maintain that image, projecting it to Addie and the college guy alike.
The guy backs away from her as if he can sense the danger. Smart.
“Are...are you selling yourself?” I ask, feigning innocence.
Addie works her jaw. The guy backpedals, clearly wanting nothing to do with this and a girl who could be underage for all he knows. “I wasn't planning to do anything,” he insists.
I ignore the guy. This isn’t his fault. My mind scrambles, thinking of what to say. Maybe I can look like a victim, but Addie will figure that out soon enough. She'll be able to pick up my lack of sweet scent since Nightside blood doesn't smell good to vampires of either type. Taking a breath, I project cheap perfume to Addie. I'm in her head, sniffing, trying to pick up a scent. Yep. Cheap perfume. I've slathered it on.
She wrinkles her nose.
“This,” Addie says, “is none of your business. Go crawl under whatever box you came out of.”
I ball my fists, wanting to kick her in the face again. Hold back. Control this. Don't give yourself away. Addie will know what mind manipulation feels like. Meanwhile, Riley and Lily stay back around the corner, waiting.
“Look, I don't know what this is, but I didn't mean to walk in on this, and no, I will not buy you,” the guy says. “And for all I know, this is a sting. Goodbye, and goodnight. And by the way, I wish you luck.” With that, Mr. Smart storms off and ahead of Addie, not looking back.
And he's gone, leaving just the two of us on the narrow side street.
Addie emerges from the light, and her eyes train on me, studying me, sizing me up. If she can't have a hot guy for dinner, then she's going to settle with a homeless girl. I hold back a shudder. “I told you to leave.” But her tone softens, inviting me to stay.
I know what I need to say, to get Addie to lower her guard. I'm still a homeless girl, starving, desperate. “I don't mean to offend you by asking,” I say. “But does this pay well? How do you get started?”
Yuck. I will never forgive myself for this, but it's the correct way to go. With luck, Addie will offer to take me back to her place to talk. And that could be a code word for the other Beaumonts. She's a hunter now, tasked with bringing in fresh blood. I can go with her just long enough to find out where the Beaumonts are hiding, and then freak out, have second thoughts, and run away. With the help of my powers, of course.
Addie curls up the side of her lip in a faint grin. She's got me.
“Well, it's not that hard, but you must change that getup, girl,” she says. “We can talk about it somewhere more private. Come on.” She waves me farther down the narrow road and to the beach, just beyond a guardrail.
I swallow, determined to hold back on hurting Addie. As soon as she turns her back, I ball my fists and follow, scraping my shoes against the concrete like a regular, tired human. Addie doesn't seem to notice that anything's off, that she's taking the enemy right to her secret lair.
Putting all my focus on her, I act like an obedient dog, passing closed stores and one that's out of business. The darkness inside looks like it'll swallow me whole, and then my senses catch a flash of movement from within the restaurant.
The trap isn't somewhere else.
It's right here, and Addie is the signal.
The door bursts open as Addie stops on the sidewalk and whirls.
Two Trueblood men burst out in front of me, blocking my view of Addie, and I catch flashes of crimson in their eyes as I leap back, senses exploding. Both bare their fangs and lunge as the store door closes, and I let my full power come to the surface, wrapping around them both. I act on my own, seizing the first man, a dark-haired guy with tattoos.
I'm looking through his eyes as I blink, and I see his companion, and then I take his arms and swing them at his buddy. The two Truebloods collide, going down as if they've crashed into each
