Ewan sighed beside me, drawing my attention from the Sapphic display. “Believe it or not, I don’t like to alienate my mortal clientele.”
“Sell out.”
“Mortals are good tippers,” he said. “Unlike some immortals I know.”
Ivan reappeared with my drink. I tipped him a twenty, with a pointed look at Ewan.
“Great, now I can afford that mansion in Bel Air,” Ivan said, pocketing the money. I ignored him and gulped down some blood, followed by the shot.
Ewan watched me as he sipped on his own pint. “Have you talked to David tonight?”
Here’s the thing about Ewan: His expertly mussed hair and designer clothes gave the impression he was just another party boy. However, nothing happened in the L.A. vamp scene without his knowledge. Information was his currency. Plus, Ewan also had an uncanny ability to read people.
I shrugged and looked at my glass. “Nope.”
“Interesting.” He took another drink, watching me over the rim. “He called here earlier and said he was on his way to meet up with you.”
Shit. Forcing a casual shrug, I said, “Never showed.”
“Maybe he’ll stop by here then.” I could tell from his voice he didn’t expect that any more than I did. “Though he hasn’t quite been himself lately.”
“Oh?” Glancing up, I noticed that the mage at the other end of the bar seemed to be watching us. If he hadn’t been so far away, I would have thought from the tilt of his head he was eavesdropping. When he saw me catch him, he looked away quickly.
Ewan leaned in. “Word on the street is he’s got himself mixed up in a power struggle between the Dominae and Clovis Trakiya.”
“Power struggle?” I asked, playing dumb. “From what I’ve heard Clovis Trakiya is nothing but a nuisance for the Dominae.”
Ewan shook his head. “He’s bad news. Mixed-blood.”
My head jerked up. “Really?” Interesting, I thought. My grandmother failed to mention the mixed-blood tidbit when she gave me the rundown on Clovis earlier. She’d just said he was a fringe nut job up north who was trying to recruit vamps.
“Yeah. Rumor is he’s half demon, if you can believe it. Anyway, he’s building some kind of army in San Francisco. But get this, he claims it’s a religious sect.”
“A cult, you mean.”
He nodded. “Apparently, Clovis is preaching unity among the races or some shit. He’s recruiting young vamps, fae, and even some mages.”
“He’d have to be insane to think he can overthrow the Dominae,” I said.
“Maybe. All I know is his numbers are growing. And I have it on good authority our friend David might be considering defecting to Clovis’s camp.”
Here’s where things were going to get tricky. Obviously, I couldn’t confirm Ewan’s hunch, but denying it too passionately might also make him suspicious.
“Come on,” I said. “David wouldn’t be that dumb.”
Ewan raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t he? You know damned well he’s had problems with the Dominae’s policies in the past. Remember when they decided not to ban feeding from humans? He threw a fit. If I have to hear him preach the gospel of synthetic blood one more time—” Ewan shook his head. “Anyway, I’m just telling you what the rumors are. You might want to talk to him before he does something stupid. Like get himself killed.”
I took a long drink to hide my reaction that that little gem. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was goading me into admitting my crime. But there was no way even Ewan would have heard so soon.
“I’m just sayin’, Sabina. Because you know if your grandmother catches wind of the slightest hint he might be in bed with Clovis, she’ll have David killed.”
I raised the glass in one sweaty palm and gestured to Ivan for another. “I’ll handle it,” I snapped. The irony of this statement wasn’t lost on me. But at the moment, I just wanted another f**king drink.
Ewan’s eyes took on an assessing slant. “You know, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.”
“Oh?” I said, praying he was going to change the subject.
“Have you and David ever …” Ewan made an obscene gesture with his hands.
“What? No! David’s been like a brother to me since we went through assassin school together.”
Ewan toyed with his glass. “But you two always argue. I just thought maybe it was more of a sexual tension thing.”
“Absolutely not. It’s more like a he’s-an-annoying-big-brother thing.” Or he was, I silently amended. I took the glass Ivan delivered and took a long gulp.
Ewan shrugged. “My mistake.”
Dirk appeared at Ewan’s side and whispered something I couldn’t hear. “There’s an issue that needs my attention up front. If you’ll excuse me?” Ewan said, standing.
I nodded. “Sure.” The interruption was a relief. All this talk of David made me feel itchy, like my skin was too tight.
“Don’t repeat anything I told you. I try hard to be the Switzerland of the vampire world, if you know what I mean.”
“No problem,” I said, forcing a smile.
As he walked away, I thought about what would happen once word got out I’d smoked David. Most likely Ewan would be pissed I hadn’t told him so he’d have been the first to know. Despite their casual friendship, Ewan wouldn’t mourn David’s passing. It would just be another bit of information he would stash away in his mental savings account, ready to withdraw should it prove valuable.
From the corner of my eye, I saw an auburn-haired male move toward me. The scowl on his face didn’t give me hope he just wanted to buy me a drink. His two buddies, both over six feet tall and almost as wide, had his back. I almost laughed, loving the fact that the guy felt he needed two friends to help him confront little old me. I subtly checked my rear waistband for the gun I always kept there.
“You’re Sabina Kane.” He filled out his leather pants nicely, and would have been hot if he hadn’t looked like he wanted to spit at me.
“In the flesh.” I took a slow sip from the pint.
He leaned in, crowding my space. “You killed my brother.”
I turned slowly and looked up at him. “And? I’ve killed a lot of people’s brothers.”
My lack of fear seemed to confuse him for a second. He looked at his friends. The one on the left nodded his head encouragingly. The other cracked the knuckles of his ham-hock hands.