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I laughed. “Don’t sound so angry about it. I’m not complaining. And you’re done, so you can squirm all you like.”
“Damn, I’ve got a fucked-up head,” she muttered, standing to examine her face paint in the mirror. I started on mine next, hiding my face behind the layers of paint.
“Not fucked up to a demon, love,” I said. “We use piercings as marks of loyalty and devotion. When we take a mate, we’ll pierce them to lay our claim. It’s pretty damn normal for Hell.”
“You’re really selling me on Hell.” She watched me in the mirror. The striking paint on her face made her brown eyes look even richer. “Personally, I’m looking forward to trying out a whole new dimension.” She paused. “Is it a different dimension?”
“A different reality. But there are books in our libraries there that’ll explain it much better than I could.”
She stood at my side for a moment. We’d chosen subtle costumes, but there was nothing subtle about her face, her body. Even hidden behind paint, her beauty demanded appreciation.
She frowned. “What are you grinning for?”
“Thinking about piercing your tongue,” I said. “You’d look so damn good with my metal in you. And fuck, it would feel good on my cock.”
She shoved me. “I already let you cut up my chest. You really want to make me bleed again?”
“You cut me up too,” I said. “So we’re even there.” Not a day had gone by since she’d carved her name in my chest that I didn’t find myself admiring the sight of it in every reflective surface I passed. I could’ve let it heal entirely, erasing it from my skin — but like the piercings and the tattoos, it was a part of me now. “We can talk about it again after we kill Kent. Give you some time to think about it.”
“We’ll see. Hurry up, Mister Artist. We’ve got a party to crash.”
She smacked my ass on her way out. I exhaled heavily through my mouth, shaking my head as I resisted the urge to snatch her up for another fuck. Maybe she thought I was kidding, but I wanted my metal in her. I’d be asking her again.
The long, paved driveway was full by the time we arrived at the Hadleigh house. Cars were parking in the grass along the road, but we parked even further than that: along a narrow dirt road a half mile past the house, where Juniper’s Jeep could sit hidden amongst the trees.
I’d wanted to take the NSX, but she’d insisted, “Your car will stick out to them. Clean, expensive — and we don’t want their attention. No big entrance. We go in quietly.”
Ilovedmaking an entrance, so this “subtle” thing wasn’t exactly easy. Still, it was cute Juniper thought we could slip into the party without catching attention.
She looked hot as fuck. Her long hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, the suit fit her perfectly. Her cold, disinterested gaze did nothing to dissuade people from staring at her. As we neared the house, half the people we passed looked twice.
But when they looked back, I made sure they saw me first. I made sure theyknew.
Don’t touch.
The property was encompassed by a large stone wall, but the iron gate at the end of the driveway was left open so cars and partygoers could enter. The house was all glass and steel, a blocky modern design, perched above a perfectly manicured lawn. Beyond the lawn, the majority of the property was trees: tall, thick pines that hid the house amongst their boughs and gave it some privacy.
“Fuck, there she is.” Juniper stopped abruptly. I followed her gaze, expecting to see Victoria. Instead, I spotted a tiny woman with short black hair, dressed in an orange shirt and sweater, giggling as she clung to her friend’s arm and they entered the house together.
“Raelynn,” I said softly.
“I don’t suppose your little buddy, Leon, still has any interest in protecting her, does he?” she said. “Sure would save us a lot of trouble if he was keeping an eye on her.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if we can count on that tonight.” I’d seen Leon days ago, but it was hard to get him to disclose the most basic shit, let alone how he felt about protecting the mortal he’d gotten obsessed with. He had his own problems going on, the kind of problems that had me worried he’d get himself into an even worse situation than he had been in with Kent.
Leon didn’t know when to leave things alone. Adversely, he often didn’t know whennotto leave things alone.
“Alright.” Juniper took a deep breath, straightening her jacket for the dozenth time. I slid my arm around her shoulders, tucking her up against my side. She stiffened for a moment, before she leaned into it. “Let’s do this.”
“Knock, knock Hadleighs.” I grinned as we joined the crowd squeezing inside. “There’s a wolf at your door.”
35
The scent of liquor, sweat, and dozens of artificial fragrances hung heavy in the front room. The crowd was packed around us, their hormones creating a pungent cocktail in the air, telling me who was aroused, who was afraid, who was angry. Music pounded through the walls, heavy bass vibrating from a sound system at the other side of the room. Marijuana and tobacco wafted through the air, and I caught the sharp scent of cocaine. In the corner, two women downed pills with tequila shots. They locked eyes with me from across the room, their gazes heavy, their intentions clear.
“Everyone keeps staring at you,” Juniper said, her arms folded as she looked around the milling crowd.
“Do you have a problem with that?” I came around in front of her, leaning my arm against the wall beside her. “If I decided to kill everyone who looked too long at you, I would have murdered half the party by now, and be well on my way to shredding the rest.”
