Smoke and Ashes Read Free Page A

tissue. “I’m afraid I have a bad addiction to trashy romance novels,” she told him apologetically as she stood.
    â€œWho says they’re trashy?”
    â€œPretty much everybody.”
    â€œI don’t.”
    â€œBut you wouldn’t be caught dead reading one.”
    â€œI’ve read a couple.”
    The caked blood kept her from smiling too broadly. “How very sensitive new age guy of you.”
    He shrugged and stood to one side to let her pass. He’d read them because Elizabeth Fitzroy was the pseudonym of Henry Fitzroy, once Duke of Richmond and Somerset, bastard son of Henry VIII, vampire, and one of his exes.
    Sort of ex.
    Sort of…not.
    Henry Fitzroy—Prince of Man, Prince of Darkness—was just a little on the possessive side. As far as he was concerned, Tony would always be one of his.
    Mostly, that was all right by Tony. He liked to keep things friendly with all his exes. Hell, he saw Zev all the time at work and they still occasionally hung out. It used to be like that with Henry. Even a couple of months ago, he’d have given the vampire a heads up on this night shoot so they could hang together for a while, but things had cooled between them since the incident with the house.
    Since it had become obvious that Henry’d developed some kind of connection with Chester Bane.
    Okay, strictly speaking, things hadn’t so much cooled as Tony’d cooled things.
    He didn’t like Henry becoming a part of his daytime life. He might be Henry’s, but this show, this job, was his—and Henry could just piss off and stop bonding with his boss.
    He wished he had the guts to ask CB if they were still in touch.
    Following Padma across the street, he noted Everett, the makeup artist, standing by the video village, a gallon of fake blood at his feet. Beside him, Alison Larkin from wardrobe sketched costumes in the air; her every gesture threatening to drench the immediate area in coffee. As far as Tony knew, she’d never lost a drop. He placed the genny op, light techs, sound techs…the greater part of his job on location was knowing where people were so he could find them if needed.
    Jack and Kevin Groves seemed to have left the area. Probably not together. Hopefully not together. Unless Jack had arrested the reporter for loitering with intent.
    No. Not even then. Jack knew enough that Tony wanted the reporter nowhere near him for any length of time even if that time involved handcuffs. And not in a fun way.
    â€œCome on, people, let’s move!” Adam’s voice set the crew in motion. “We’ve only got the street for one more night and second unit’s got it all tied up!”
    Padma laughed at something Lee said as she arranged herself on the pavement and Mason smacked his costar lightly on the arm. Peter shuffled the two men into position, Adam called for quiet, and they were rolling again.
    Raymond Dark and James Taylor Grant stared down at the body that had just landed at their feet.
    They weren’t the only ones.
    Tony’s gaze flicked up to the rooftop.
    Something else was watching…
    Wonderful.
    It was like having fucking gaydar for the supernatural.
    â€œSo I have to be careful now because I’m a player?” It was one of the last conversations he’d had with Henry before he’d stopped returning the vampire’s calls. “What was I before?”
    Henry’s eyes had silvered slightly, a sign that the Hunger was near the surface. “A victim. But there’s enough of them that you had a chance of being lost in the crowd. Now, you stand out.”
    He’d very nearly responded with something stupidly cliché about how he thought he’d been more than just a meal to the other man. Stomping hard on his inner drama queen, he’d snarled, “I’m not saying I don’t appreciate your help, but I’ve been taking care of myself since I was fourteen.”
    â€œYou