Pretty When They Collide (Pretty When She Dies 0.50)

“So it’s not her real hair?” Frank frowned.

“No, but a bit of her real hair is caught in it,” Ramon pointed out.

Aimee threw him an annoyed look. She had hoped to hide that. A few strands of chestnut brown hair clung to the clip. Now she was convinced that the woman entering the elevator was the mysterious dhamphir.

“Looks like you get to do a tracking spell after all,” Frank said with a wide grin.

“I don’t have the ingredients here,” Aimee answered, her stomach clenching.

“I’m not in a rush. Capturing a dhamphir is going to take some cunning and a lot of planning. But first we need to find out where our little dhamphir likes to hang her duplicitous little hat.” With an extra spark in his step, Frank walked toward the door. “I may have lost one relic, but I have a feeling that I may just get it and a nice little added bonus in my hands very soon.”

Aimee carefully stored the extension in her evening bag. She felt sickened at the thought of Frank capturing the woman with the mesmerizing eyes, yet she had a feeling that it would not be as easy as Frank was imagining.

Chapter 5:

Departure

Cassandra made a quick stop to collect her overnight bag from the out of the way motel she had stayed at for just one night. Though she was certain no one had followed her cab from The Stratosphere, she still felt uneasy. Maybe it was because her hand was still tingling where the blond woman had touched her. As the taxi drove away, she hurried up the outside stairwell to the second floor, her heightened senses revealing nothing out of the ordinary.

Rubbing her hand against her jeans, she worried that maybe the woman had cast a spell on her. Yet, the sensation didn’t feel malevolent, but pleasant. Plus, her mind kept lingering on the sparkle in the woman’s eyes, the shimmer of her hair, and her slightly parted pink lips.

“She was just a girl. Shake it off, Cass,” Cassandra muttered to herself, unlocking her room. She had been avoiding the dating pool since her break up with her ex, but if she was this flustered over a brief meeting with a beautiful blond then maybe it was time to dive back in.

The cellphone in her jacket buzzed. She slid it out, checked the message, and was glad she was running on time. Her broker had just arrived and was waiting for her. Snagging her already packed overnight case and the messenger bag she used as a purse, she scanned the hotel room one last time to make sure she was leaving nothing behind. Though she had meticulously planned every step of her job, she still felt a bit thrown off by her brief interaction with the vampire and his companion.

Satisfied, she hurried outside, down the stairs, and slipped into the backseat of a boring green sedan with tinted windows. The car and the man in the back seat waiting for her were inconspicuous, which was exactly what Scott wanted. In his late fifties, Scott was a regular-looking guy with faded blond hair, a nice but not remarkable face, bland brown eyes, and a soft-spoken demeanor.

“Good to see you,” Scott said as she opened the door and tossed her overnight case and messenger bag onto the floor and climbed in.

“Thanks for the lift,” she said, just in case anyone was listening. She pulled on her seatbelt and slouched on the leather seat, trying to get comfortable.

In the front seat was Scott’s usual guard duo, George and Tracy. George, in his thirties, burly and blonde, posed as his son. The redheaded Tracy in her late twenties pretended to be married to George. It was a good cover for when the three of them traveled. Or at least that is what Cassandra assumed. Maybe they really were all related to one another. She could never be sure. In the past she had seen George take down a vampire without barely breaking a sweat and Tracy was a sharpshooter according to Scott.

In reality, she didn’t know Scott very well. He had discovered her talents by accident when she had been modeling in Paris. Angered by a businessman’s attempt to force himself on a modeling friend, Cassandra had broken into his hotel room and beat him soundly. Scott had spotted her exiting the room and followed her. After a few weeks of observing her, Scott had approached her about working for him. Her beauty, preternatural strength, and dhamphir abilities were assets she could utilize if she worked for him. Cassandra still wasn’t certain how Scott had determined she was a dhamphir. He always smiled mysteriously whenever she asked and never gave a direct answer.

Plopping the bag with her disguise, the glamour spell, and relic onto the seat between them, Cassandra gave him a brief smile. “Ta da.”

Carefully opening the bag while George drove out of the parking lot, Scott drew out the cloth bag containing the relic and took a peek. “Excellent. Well done. Perfect as always.”

With a grin, Cassandra inclined her head. “Thank you, Scott.”

Scott tucked the relic into the bag and handed it to Tracy in the front seat. The guard tucked it under her legs and returned to surveying the darkened back streets of Las Vegas.

“Any trouble?” Scott asked. He lounged comfortably, arm propped on the back of the seat, and gazed at her.

Cassandra shook her head, then hesitated. “Well, not exactly.”

“You killed Leonard, right?”

“Yeah. Totally. He got what he deserved. That’s not the problem. I think his client arrived just as

I was leaving. I had already dropped the glamour and was at the elevators when this vampire arrived on the floor with this really...” she widened her eyes, struggling for a description. “Well, the woman with him was something I’ve never encountered before.”

“You have me intrigued. Go on,” Scott urged.

“Well, she was drop dead gorgeous for one thing,” Cassandra said rakishly.

Scott refrained from rolling his eyes. “Remind me on your performance evaluation to say that you are easily distracted by pretty young things.”