Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

it.”
    not I could pull off being a hooker. What concerned me
    “Spill it.”
    was the fact I was supposed to do that, lullaby Tobias He stared at me. “First of all, you have to realize it’s Dawson, and get away afterward—all on Mab Monroe’s not enough for you to just get into the party. You can’t go home court. Still, Finn was right. This was probably my into Mab Monroe’s mansion as you, Gin Blanco. Jonah best, quickest shot at Dawson, and the dwarf needed to McAllister’s on the guest list. He’d spot you in a minute.”
    die—right now.
    “So I’ll wear a disguise. Not like I haven’t done it be“All right,” I said. “So I’ll go in as a hooker.”
    fore.”
    Finn nodded. “That’s actually where it gets a little Finn polished off his cake and cut another slice. “True, easier.”
    and I have an idea about that. As part of the evening’s
    “Why?”
    festivities, Mab has arranged for a variety of . . . entertainHe grinned. “Because I happen to be very good friends ments for her guests.”
    with the person supplying the evening’s entertainment—
    My gray eyes narrowed. “What kind of entertain- Roslyn Phillips.”
    ments ?”
    First, Donovan had mentioned her name last night, Finn cleared his throat. “Hookers. Men and women. and now Finn this morning. I hadn’t thought about the Humans, giants, vamps, dwarves. Her guests pick out vampire in weeks, but here she was, popping up all over who they like, do whatever they want, and she foots the the place, even if she didn’t realize it. Even if I didn’t like bill for the whole thing.”
    the fact of how closely we were tied together.
    “So you’re telling me the best way, the only way, to get Not only did Roslyn Phillips run Northern Aggresinto this party is for me to pretend to be a hooker, catch sion, the most decadent nightclub in Ashland, the vamEstep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 258-259
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    pire used to be a hooker herself. She had worked the Southtown streets for years before she’d saved enough money to move up into management and open her own gin joint. All vampires needed blood to survive, of course, but lots of them also powered up through sex, which is 24
    why so many of them worked as prostitutes. Plus, vamps could live a very long time, and hooking, well, it was a skill that would never go out of style or demand. Vamps needed cash just like the rest of us.
    Roslyn Phillips was the best of the best. She could do things to men and women I’d never even dreamed of—
    and she’d taught her staff most of her tricks. But more important than that, the vampire owed me for killing her abusive brother-in-law and for not telling Finn how her loose lips had inadvertently led to Fletcher’s death. So RoIt was a little after one when we pulled into the parkslyn was going to have to deal with me again, whether she ing lot of Northern Aggression, which was located in liked it or not.
    Northtown, as befitted its name. By eight o’clock toI scraped up the last of my warm cobbler, then pushed night, high-end cars of all makes and models would fill my bowl away. “Well then, I guess it’s time to pay Roslyn the lot, and a long line of eager men and women would a friendly visit.”
    be waiting to get inside and satisfy their desperate deFinn grinned. He and Roslyn had been special friends sires.
    for years. That is, they often met for dinner, drinks, and But on this cold November afternoon, the nightclub a night of hot, sweaty sex when they weren’t seeing other looked like some anonymous warehouse. A big, gray, people. Sometimes, even if they were.
    metal box you’d find in any one of Ashland’s industrial
    “oh, goodie,” Finn drawled. “A field trip.”
    parks—except for the enormous rune over the door. A neon light shaped like a heart with an arrow through it perched above the entrance to the nightclub, marking it as something out of the ordinary. The pierced heart was Roslyn Phillips’s personal rune and the symbol for her club. From previous visits, I knew the sign would flash red, then yellow, then orange when it was turned on. But Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 260-261
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    Web of Lies 263
    right now, it was just a hunk of metal and glass hovering up that little mess the other night. Shouldn’t you be out above the door.
    arresting lawbreakers?”
    “The place looks deserted. You’re sure Roslyn’s here?”
    Xavier’s grin widened. “Ah, the cop