Blood Song Read Free

I’d watched Bob set everything up. He’d been patient enough to explain the how and why of everything he did—let me follow him around for days. It was obvious he knew his stuff. With an almost unlimited budget to play with, he’d done one hell of a job. I’d been impressed at the time. I still was.
    His plain features lit up with a delighted smile. He brushed a hand over shaggy hair the color of warm honey. “Celia Graves, as I live and breathe. Don’t tell me you’re here to guard the prince?”
    I nodded my affirmative, and Bob’s grin widened. “Is this yours?” He held out his hand to me. The little scanner looked almost impossibly tiny balanced in his huge palm.
    “Yup. Just bought it this afternoon. Works like a champ.”
    “I heard. But why didn’t you put it on stealth mode? What good is the deluxe model if you don’t use all the bells?”
    “There’s a stealth mode?”
Yow!
I couldn’t help but grin—nearly identical to the one Bob had on his face.
    He snorted and rolled his eyes but proceeded to flip the little car over and show me a switch I hadn’t noticed before. “So what was with the alarm?”
    I told him about the break in the perimeter. His expression sobered instantly. He handed me my car without any fuss and said, “Show me.”
    I showed him. He didn’t have a lot of magical talent—almost none really. But that didn’t keep him from squatting down and using what little he did have to test the area around my little “fix it” job.
    He looked up at me, his expression serious. “This isn’t going to hold up for more than a few minutes. We need to get upstairs, warn the client, and call in the cavalry.”
    “Agreed.”
    I let him take lead. Neither of us had a weapon drawn, but our jackets were open, our hands loose, so that we could react in a hurry if need be. We moved deliberately toward the side entrance, eyes scanning the area for any sign of trouble.
    Nothing. Not a damned thing. It should’ve reassured me. Instead, I felt the tension in my shoulders tighten another notch. Why would a demon break a barrier and then just
leave
?
    I turned to the side, providing cover as Bob took the wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a key card. I’d been provided a similar card when I’d been hired. From the corner of my eye I saw him slide the card through the black security box. A series of small lights flashed green. When the last one lit, I heard the lock on the door click open.
    We stepped inside and the door swung shut, locks and spells closing behind us. I waited as he repeated the process with the service elevator.
    I blinked, trying hard not to stare as I caught sight of him in the polished stainless-steel door. His whole body language had changed. He looked like
hell.
Oh, he was still clean, and the clothes were pressed. But there was this sense of
defeat
about him. You could almost smell it, like a cheap cologne. It showed in the slight slump of his broad shoulders, the hesitation in his movements that had never been there before. He was pale—but then he’d been living on the East Coast. Probably hadn’t had a lot of beach time. Still, there’s pale and there’s
pale.
I hesitated, trying to think what to say, and couldn’t come up with a damned thing that wasn’t prying. So I reached forward to hit the intercom button.
    “Celia Graves.” I pronounced each syllable of my name clearly as I held down the button to the intercom speaker.
    “Bob Johnson.”
    The two of us turned to face the security camera, giving them a good look. I didn’t bother to glance up at the monitor mounted near the ceiling in the corner.
    “So,” he said, while we waited for someone to answer. “You’re looking good—really good. The business must be agreeing with you.”
    It was my turn to snort. “Hardly, but thanks.” I unconsciously smoothed fingers against my ash-blond hair. The hair is shoulder length at the moment, longer than I like to keep it. I’ve had enough business