1 Chapter 1

1

This was not how he’d imagined spending his Friday night. There was no case hanging over their heads, the summer weather was surprisingly pleasant, and all Gideon Keel wanted was to take his lover down to Navy Pier and enjoy a nice, relaxing blues concert at the Skyline Stage. It wasn’t much. In fact, he thought it was pretty damn easy, considering what he could have been doing. How many other vampires were ripping up downtown right at that moment? Too many to make Gideon comfortable. And he wasn’t one of them.

Instead, he was in the back seat of Jesse’s Cherokee Chief—relegated there by his own propriety because he wasn’t about to make Emma sit in the back with the blood stains and scattered weapons—listening to Jesse and Emma chatter on and on about the estate sale they were going to. Normally, he liked these kinds of things; some of his best acquisitions came from sales conducted by ignorant surviving relatives. But they weren’t even going to this one for their own sake. This was about paying a debt. A debt to someone who didn’t even like Gideon.

And worse, all they were going to buy were books.

He could have stayed behind. When Jesse had brought up Michelle’s request, Gideon’s first instinct was to let him go on his own. If Michelle wanted their tab clear by sending Jess on a book-buying mission, it was no skin off Gideon’s nose. Until he thought about it a little bit more.

Jesse Madding. Cambridge graduate. The biggest bibliophile this side of the Atlantic. With Gideon’s money at an estate sale featuring one of Chicago’s largest collections of rare books.

Not going was out of the question.

At least Emma had come along as well. When Emma was around, Gideon wasn’t a captive audience for all of Jesse’s excited babbling.

“So why exactly isn’t Michelle going to this sale herself?” Gideon asked. It was getting a little tiresome being left out of the conversation. And the faint smell of blood that clung to the back seat was making his stomach growl.

“Big date,” Emma answered.

“It’s not a date,” Jesse said quickly, looking over his shoulder to address Gideon. “She’s meeting an antiques dealer tonight. An old friend of hers. He’s only going to be in town tonight, and they’ve got some business.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Emma asked.

Jesse sent her a disapproving glance.

She shifted in her seat so that she could talk to both men at the same time. “She’s been talking about this night for two weeks now.” Her dark eyes danced with merriment, and her mouth curved into a sly smile in spite of Jesse’s deepening frown. “Apparently, she and this Sam Grune used to have a thing, and they haven’t seen each other in years. And you know what they say about history.”

“Isn’t the word ‘doomed’ usually in that saying?” Gideon joked. He hesitated, something about what she’d said niggling in the back of his mind. “Wait. Did you say Sam Grune?”

Her brows shot up. “Do you know him?”

“No.” It was an honest answer. “But I know of him. I didn’t know he and Michelle were old friends.”

“He helped her when she first opened the store,” Jess explained. “He actually donated most of the books that made up her stock at first. But I assure you, they’re just friends.”

Emma looked pointedly at Jesse. “You are not telling me that because she just so happens to have a thing for that lady down the street, it means she can’t be interested in a male friend as well.”

This was far more interesting than listening to them talk about books, Gideon decided. “Yeah, Jess,” he said, leaning forward to rest his arms on the back of the front seat. “Since when are you so uptight about slapping sexual labels on people?”

Jesse sighed. “Since the night she grilled me on mysexuality. Let’s just say, I know more about her preferences and kinks than I really need to.”

Gideon grimaced. Discussing Michelle’s kinks was worse than books. “Well, it’s a good thing for me you’re not nearly as narrow-minded as she is,” he said as he settled back in his seat.

“Are you suggesting that I made an exception to my regular preferences for you?” Jesse asked.

“No, I’m saying Sangre wouldn’t be nearly as much fun if you didn’t like women, too.”

“You have sex with women at Sangre?” Emma asked.

“Well…sure. I mean, it happens. Sometimes,” Jesse said, without looking at her.

It was on the tip of his tongue to point out that he spent more time between Monique’s legs at Sangre than any other vamp in the joint other than Gideon, but the sudden heat from both bodies in the front seat made him pause. Emma was still watching Jesse with fascination, but now there was the unmistakable staccato of her heart added to the mix. And Jesse was doing everything he could not to look at her. It was hard to tell whether it was Emma’s empathic abilities picking up on Jesse’s desire or something of her own. Gideon wasn’t going to risk getting that gamble wrong.