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“Sounds…dreamy. Is he here in this town too?”
“Oh, no. He’s in Paris.”
Okay, so all she’d really admitted to was having an affair with someone currently on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. That didn’t exactly line up with anything fishy happening here and now.
“Tell me more about him,” I said. “I mean, if you want to.”
“I’d love to, actually. Damon…” Alicia sighed dreamily. “Well, he’s the kind of man who can make all your dreams come true.”
I had a name. I had a location. This was good, even though I had started to feel a bit guilty by my shameless prying. Alicia seemed truly happy talking about this dude. She’d lit up for the first time just by saying his name.
“So my dream of becoming a bat could finally come to fruition,” I joked.
Alicia chuckled. “You never know.”
“Is he a vampire?”
“No. Actually, he’s a shoemaker.”
I blinked. “A shoemaker.”
She nodded. “He makes the most exquisite shoes you’ve ever seen in your life.”
The answer came as a surprise, of course. A shoemaker who lived in France. That didn’t exactly sound like a criminal mastermind to me.
“Well, I do love me some shoes,” I admitted. “And if you’re saying he can make dreams come true, too—what’s your dream?”
Her bright expression turned serious in the span of a heartbeat. “My dream, Sarah, is to be able to wield real magic as easily as one of the witches here in this town. That is true power.”
Based on her boyfriend being a dreamy shoemaker, I kind of figured she wanted a killer pair of heels. My mistake.
I spread my hands. “Unfortunately, there’s not much magic in being a vampire. Unless you learn some nifty card tricks.”
“That’s what I always believed, too. At least, until Damon opened my eyes to the magical possibilities hidden in the shadows for anyone to find if they know the way.”
A shiver went down my spine. She sounded so certain. This wasn’t just a pipe dream. This was serious.
“Those must be some amazing shoes,” I said.
“Oh, you have no idea how amazing they are,” she said with a knowing smile.
I had to admit, I was a bit confused. But I still felt like I was on the right track here to uncover some useful information.
Thierry believed this boyfriend could be a true threat against the Ring. It sounded like he might be using Alicia—the wife of a Ring elder—to get closer to his ultimate goal, whatever that might be. Clearly, to me, at least, this alleged cobbler had ulterior motives for his relationship with Alicia, which she might know nothing about.
And he’d lured her in with false promises of power and magic.
Super shady.
“Sounds like you’ve been doing your research about magic,” I said. “I guess that’s why you’re here hanging around all these witches.”
“I came here to see the Baba Yaga specifically,” she said. “But she’s not the easiest person to come face to face with, especially if you’re a vampire.”
“She seemed perfectly happy to be face to face with Thierry,” I reminded her.
“Well, Thierry is a powerful man, and a very attractive man, which is definitely the Baba Yaga’s type. The fact that he’s also a vampire seems to be beside the point.” Alicia grinned wide enough to show off the tips of her fangs. “He sure made for a fantastic distraction. Even better than I thought.”
I cocked my head, confused. “What do you mean?”
