Skin Deep

CHAPTER 27

“IN,” LAURA DISCOVERED, meant boredom. Gia

When she came on shift, she saw Sinclair in company with several other security guards in the back of the bar. He gave her a subtle wink when their eyes met, but she didn’t see him again after that, which meant he was working in one of the private areas of the club.

As the evening wore on, the club reached capacity, and a line formed on the sidewalk. Tedium set in. She wished she could skip the ID checks and confirm ages by using her truth sensing. At least she was allowed to let obvious adults in without checking. In fact, most of the clientele was older, and a good segment of it had the privilege of not waiting in line. She didn’t know all the players, but the other bouncer seemed to know everyone. She tried to pump him for information at first, but he didn’t have much to say about anything.

The meeting with Blume ran through her head. She had met his type dozens of times-the self-assured power broker with grand plans. His notion of solving the animosity among the fey and humans spoke to his enormous ego. It was no surprise that Blume’s desires echoed the manifesto Terryn found on Alfrey’s USB drive. Maybe the two had gone their separate ways, but they still were in basic agreement.

Gia

The other bouncer went inside. Gia

When she turned, Gia

Laura waited a few minutes before turning to her companion. “I’m taking a bathroom break.”

Alfrey just arrived. I’m checking it out. Where are you? she sent to Sinclair.

Third-floor meeting room. Sinclair’s sending was faint, as if he were calling from far off.

Patrons packed the bar lounge. The music was louder than earlier, not dance-club level, but enough to prompt people to raise their voices. In the close quarters, species essences mingled in a confusing concentration. Someone with a more fine-tuned ability might be able to pick Alfrey’s signature out of the crowd and follow it, but Laura had to rely on her eyes.

She didn’t see him. She slipped into the back corridor and called the elevator. When the doors closed, she shot a burst of essence into the override lock and pressed the button for the next floor. With a momentary hesitation, the locking mechanism malfunctioned, and the elevator rose. Alfrey’s body signature hovered in the air around her.

When the doors opened, she held them with her foot while moving her hands in the air. Essence trailed from her fingertips in faint amber light that formed ogham runes-a long line with hash marks. The line coiled and stretched, then faded. She saw it still, invisible to the naked eye, but not her essence sensing. With a gentle nudge of thought, the spell floated out of the elevator and down the hall. Seconds later, it passed across the open elevator in the opposite direction. A few seconds more and it returned to her, spent and unactivated. It had found no living essence. The hall sentries were gone.

Alfrey’s body signature trailed left toward Blume’s office. As the runes dissipated in front of her, she decided against her initial plan to disable the cameras. Doing so would raise an alert and decrease her already limited time. Instead, she activated her body shield and tuned it to reflect her surroundings. Her body faded from view, not disappearing, but taking on the colors and patterns of the environment around her. The spell worked much like a glamour, but rather than a fixed template in stone, it fluctuated like a reflective veil.

She moved into the hall, her silhouette a rippled distortion against the wall, and followed Alfrey’s essence path to Blume’s office. Residual essence pooled in the air outside the door, layered over her own from her earlier visit as well as Gia

She froze as an angry voice penetrated the quiet.

“Of course she knows something. Why do you think she’s here?” Blume was in his office. A lower, indecipherable response revealed someone in the room with him.

“Then find out,” said Blume. “I want to know what co

More murmuring, then: “With Sinclair? So what. Of course, there’s more. You people are so damned short-sighted.”

She leaned closer, trying to hear the other voice, but the soft reverberation told her only that the speaker was male.

“Then do it. I want it taken care of,” said Blume.

The elevator signal chimed behind her, followed by the scraping sound of the doors closing. At close range, her spelled veil would not fool anyone. She hurried from Blume’s office in the opposite direction. As she reached the far end of the hall, the elevator chimed again. She ducked around a corner when she heard footsteps coming nearer.

She reached a brightly lit elevator lobby and hit the call button. When an elevator arrived, she rushed in and slammed the DOOR CLOSE button. The door slid slowly together as the sharp sound of footsteps rang in the lobby. A shadow appeared on the floor. The doors closed. She leaned against the wall and laughed as the elevator descended.

The elevator opened onto the main lobby for Blume’s building. Laura moved quietly within the area behind security. The two guards on duty didn’t even look to see if anyone exited the elevator behind them. She rounded a corner and faced a set of doors. A burst of voices and music greeted her when she opened the door to yet another corridor, the one that led to the rear of the Vault. She shed her masking veil and walked toward the bar.

As she reached the private elevator, it opened, and Gia

Laura threw an a

Gia

Instead of taking her to the bar, he unlocked a nearby door, and they entered a small, cluttered office, no closets, a sealed window. In the small space, she sensed no one else-no Inverni fairy masking himself from view. To be on the safe side, she activated her body shield. The room had no exits. Laura hesitated on the threshold. Being alone with the man who’d tried to shoot her wasn’t high on her list.

Gia

She gave him a tight smile and eased into the guest chair. “Thanks.”

A knock sounded, and a bar server in her early thirties came in with two drinks on a tray. She smiled. “Hey, Sal. Starting earlier tonight?”

Gia

Still smiling, she shook her head. “When my husband comes to pick me up. You need anything else?”

He gri