Dark Flame (Flame 3)

He moved swiftly and had just pulled the door to the entrance open, when the light brown curls turned toward him.

Holy fuck, if he hadn’t seen Juliet with his own eyes he wouldn’t have believed it. “You came to Crescent? Here? To see me?”

“I did.” Still the same soft warm voice, but she didn’t seem like the same woman. His acquired fae abilities intuited something major was going on with her.

He looked her up and down. “You’re wearing leather and suede.” The purple suede vest, dangling with fringe, was snug at the waist and the black pants fit her like a glove. She had on boots as well. Where were the loose clothes?

There were too many people milling around, so he took her arm and led her out onto the sidewalk. “I don’t get this. What are you doing here? And why are you wearing this get-up?”

Even her hair looked different. She wore it up off her neck with most of it pulled back. It still had a rough-and-tumble look but with an edge this time. Her lipstick was a darker shade as well, very striking.

She didn’t smile either. There was a seriousness about her that hadn’t been there a week ago.

She held his gaze. “I have a proposition for you and don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you and me on a personal level.”

He had no idea what she could possibly have in mind. “What kind of proposition?”

“Is there someplace we can go and talk or do you need to get back to patrolling?”

He knew his mouth was agape, and it took him a minute to bring his thoughts together. “I quit.”

“What do you mean?”

“I resigned about three minutes ago.”

She shook her head, her curls bobbing. “Why? You love your job.”

“I do. I did. Things have gotten so fucked up over the past few years. The cartels …”

“I know. They run just about everything.”

He dipped his chin. “But I don’t want to have this conversation here.”

Her lips curved. “I know a place in Elegance we could go.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. “I hope you don’t think I have any interest in a relationship.”

“I don’t. Like I said, this has nothing to do with you and me.”

“Then the White Flame it is.”

Without another word, she rose into the air, using her newly acquired levitation skills and headed southeast toward Elegance. He stayed right with her, passing over Sentinel Bridge that connected Elegance with Crescent, but slowing and making a descent a couple streets before the tall, stone Tribunal building.

The club was named for a mythical antidote that would reverse the genetic mutations of the various alter serums. There wasn’t an alter person in Five Bridges who didn’t wish the myth was true.

The marquis was a sophisticated black and silver with a flickering white flame at the right end towering twenty feet into the sky. Roof supports held it locked in place.

Once settled in a maroon leather booth, Brannick sat across from her as he had the night he first met her. He didn’t want any misunderstandings about their relationship. He might like her in leather and he might be intrigued by the obvious shift in her personality. But she would always be the fae woman who had violated his dreams.

She ordered a rum drink. He order scotch neat.

She sat back, hands settled on her lap. She looked around at those dancing to the music, to others in the neighboring booths. “They look almost normal, don’t they?” She was smiling, but even her smile seemed different.

“Okay, what gives? You’re not the same woman I was with a week ago.”

She held his gaze. “I’m not sure. I’m part vampire now and it’s changed me. I feel purposeful, more than I was before. In fact I’m not sure without have acquired your skills that I would have risked flying into Crescent.”

“Shit, I just realized you made this journey by yourself. Weren’t you afraid of Roche? That he might be on the lookout for you?”