Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(36)

Ethan and Rodina were driving just behind us as I searched for parking. I needed two spaces not that far away from each other ideally. Bodyguards can’t do their job unless they’re with you, but on the nights that Jean-Claude was onstage the parking was even worse than usual on the Riverfront.

Even though I was headed to him soon, I didn’t want to reach out mind-to-mind to him in case he was interacting with the audience, even just giving his voice to introduce someone else. Hard to dance or interact with the audience when someone else tries to peek into your head. We finally found me a spot to park and let Rodina and Ru be my bodyguards to the shop while Ethan found a parking spot somewhere else.

“When Claudia said she was thinking of keeping three to four people on you until the higher alert calms down, I thought it was overreacting, honestly, but now I’m glad she did it, because I have to leave you here while I park,” Ethan said through the window of the black SUV that was part of a fleet we’d gotten for security to use on the job.

“I guess so,” I said. The car behind him started honking its horn.

Ethan started to say something, but the horn sounded again. I motioned him to just go as the three of us moved closer to the parked cars to let Ethan and the impatient line of cars behind him ease past.

“So, you’re going to go to the bridal store to get professional hair and makeup done, before going to Guilty Pleasures. I’d have dressed differently,” Rodina said.

I looked at her hooded sweatshirt and black tac pants and boots. I was dressed almost the same except I’d opted for jogging shoes instead of the boots. Ru was wearing almost the same thing as his sister except his sweatshirt zipped up the front. I was wearing one almost identical to it. I laughed.

“If you’re going to be part of my regular rotation we gotta start planning our outfits so we don’t all match.”

Rodina said something, but I couldn’t hear her over the traffic, the groups of people on the sidewalks. I shook my head and she finally stepped closer to me. Ru started looking outward for trouble as the three of us huddled closer so Rodina could repeat herself.

“I said, we’re accustomed to matching a hell of a lot more closely than this.” She gave a glance toward Ru still searching our surroundings for bad guys, so that he didn’t see the dirty look she gave

him. I think she was referring to his new hair color, and not just their missing triplet.

“Are you fit for duty tonight?” Ru asked.

“What?” she asked.

“Are you fit for duty, or do you need to take the night off?” he asked, still without looking at her.

“I’m . . .” She stood a little straighter; I hadn’t even noticed her shoulders were hunched until she stopped. “I’m ready for duty if you are, little brother.”

“You taught me to always be ready for duty,” he said.

She let out a long breath and then smiled at me. It even filled her eyes, though with black eyes you have to work hard to get them to look friendly, but she suddenly managed it. “Let’s get inside so the beautification can happen in time to ogle Jean-Claude.” She didn’t say get me inside in time, but I didn’t ask her if she wanted to ogle Jean-Claude, I mean, who wouldn’t?





13

TWO HOURS LATER I was sitting in front of a mirror staring at someone that I didn’t know. It was me, I was in there somewhere, but I’d never worn this much makeup in my entire life. My eyes looked huge and dark. I had good skin, luck of the genetic draw, but the makeup artist had smoothed me out even more, so that my skin was flawless. Once they’d made me uniformly pale, then they’d done things with blush to give back some of the color they’d covered up, and then they’d used two kinds of powder. One to contour and one to cover over everything else. I suddenly had higher cheekbones than I’d ever had before. I couldn’t decide if they’d changed the bone structure of my face, or just carved out what was already there so I could see it?

My curly hair was both curlier and neater than it had ever been, because the hairdresser had used a curling iron to turn my mass of curls into perfect ringlets. I didn’t even know my hair could look this good. Jean-Claude had to be using a curling iron some nights when he was going onstage. Who knew?

“It doesn’t look like me,” I said, voice soft. I wasn’t really talking to anyone else.

“It does, you know,” Ru said as he stepped out of the shadows formed by the bright lights around the makeup mirror.

I used the mirror to look at him behind me. “This so isn’t me.”

“Now you look like our dark, slutty queen,” Rodina said, spilling from the shadows on the other side.

I turned to look at her, frowning. “Thanks for the ‘slutty’ comment.”

“You’re wearing fuck-me shoes and a dress that’s barely there.”

“She’s wearing it for the man she loves,” Ethan said, coming to stand behind me. “That’s romantic, not slutty.” He offered me a hand to stand. Normally I wouldn’t have taken it, but I was wearing five-and-a-half-inch stilettos. They were the highest heels I’d ever attempted and some of the narrowest, spikiest heels I’d ever tried to stand up in, let alone be expected to walk in, so I not only took Ethan’s hand, but I leaned into it.

I’d stood up on the heels before I sat back down for the last few touches of makeup and hair, and it was just as hard to stand up in them the second time. Two steps and I was clinging to Ethan’s hand.