Chapter 4 #2
“No, I just—I’d like to know . . . Hold on. Have I been pressurin’ you with the ladies this whole time? If you didn’t like the ladies, you coulda just told me.”
“I’m not gay—”
“It’s okay if you’re gay. I just need to know what your target demographic is to help you hunt—”
“I’m not gay. I’m just not against using my pretty face to get some answers.”
A couple of girls at the corner next to us turned to look at Andreas. Their gazes slid up and down like they were assessing the situation.
I glared at them. “Hey, it’s fine if he’s gay—”
“What? You twos’ sayin’ I look gay to you?”
The college-aged fae girl shrugged. “I mean, you’re kinda matching. You two could be a couple—”
“HEY!”
“Whoa!”
“That’s my brother!”
Andreas waved them off. “Keep it movin’. I don’t know why I—ah, fuhgetaboutit. I don’t know why I’m asking these jackasses.”
“You asked.” She rolled her eyes and started crossing the street ahead of us.
“What’s the matter wit’ you? Can’t you see he’s my brother? Look at this face.” I reached up and took Andreas’ chin in my hand, then pointed to my own face. “Look at these jaw lines. You think it’s not genetic?”
“C’mon now—”
“Ah, shit, that’s our turn.” I smacked my brother’s arm, then pointed to the right. As we turned down the street, I pointed to the left. “It’s right up here.”
“Lead the way.” He motioned for me to go ahead. “Right, so I found out that these Virtues, well, there used to be more but now there’s only a few of them left—”
“How many are left?” Because I definitely saw two new ones tonight.
“I don’t know. He didn’t say—”
“Maybe you shoulda’ got on ya’ knees—”
“Can we focus?”
“Is the idea of bein’ on ya’ knees for Josi too distractin’ for ya?”
“I tell ya, I’d’a got a whole lot more info if I was gay.” He stared at me for a second with wide eyes. “Unfortunately, I’m not into the dudes. I’ve looked. Nothin’ strikes me. You get on ya’ knees—”
“I am prettier.” I grinned.
“Are you gay? Because if you are I’m good with it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Didn’t we just go through this? Talk about the Virtues. How many they got?”
“So there might just be the two of them: those pop stars from Chanegan.”
No, there’s definitely at least one more.
But I didn’t say that. I wanted to get the info out of him first. I pointed to our left to signal for us to turn down a residential street.
We passed a row of Victorian-style wooden houses with the huge wraparound porches.
I nodded in appreciation for them. Not too shabby at all.
“Josiah was a little tight-lipped about it.” He shrugged. “I got the idea people just don’t really talk about it. Now, I coulda got more details outta Josiah—”
“Yeah, I bet you could have,” I said under my breath.
He shoved me. “Yeah, that’s right. I could have.”
“Oh, look.” I chuckled and pointed in front of us to the house on the right that Josiah Vauntero was walking out of. “There’s yo’ boyfriend now.”
“Ya know, I’ve done worse.”
Josiah fluttered by as if he had wings instead of just vampire speed, but he slowed as he passed us to blow my brother a kiss. “Call me for a night cap, gorgeous.”
Andreas threw his arms up. “See? I told you I’m pretty.”
“Yeah, but am I prettier?” I stopped and turned around and yelled out, “Hey, yo, Jojo, who’s prettier?”
Josiah stopped and eyed us with pursed lips. “Why do I have to pick? I like a sandwich—”
“What!? ”
“Hey, hey!” Andreas gestured to me. “He’s my brother.”
“Yeah, I don’t smash my brother.”
Josiah giggled. “We can make it work.” He winked, then sped off out of sight using his vampire speed.
“We can make it work? The fuck does that mean?”
“Enough with this. Let’s focus.” Andreas cleared his throat as we kept walking. “So, you know about those Stone Keepers?”
“Oh, yeah, Riven was tellin’ us about them.”
“Yeah, somehow the Stone Keepers and stones are . . . I don’t know, they’re somehow connected to the Virtues. It’s some bigger picture bullshit.” Andreas shrugged. “The two Virtues we know exist, Chanel and Regan, somehow have to do with the Serenity Stone. The details . . . are vague.”
“Look, the store is right here—”
“Is it in her front yard?” Andreas scowled and spun in a slow circle.
A white, country looking house stretched across the property and a cozy wrap around porch.
Large windows faced the street and shutters sat on either side of them.
The railings were wrapped with fall leaves and pumpkins.
Smoke billowed up from the chimney into the sky.
Warm lights shined within the many windows.
The shop was attached to the side of the house and had a little sign above it that read “Bow Ties”.
Those window were dark this time of night and would be perfect for what we needed.
“We do business from home. Why can’t she?”
“We don’t have a shop—”
“For good reason. Okay, but I gotta tell you something else about the Virtues. Well, one Virtue—”
“Look we’re at Peggy’s shop. Let’s get whatever we can use with this Serenity Stone to stall the Virtues.” He gestured wildly around the store. “You wanna help me collect the shit or you wanna handle the cash so we can bounce?”
I opened my mouth, then shut it and frowned.
There was a lot of stuff in this shop. Magic was not my specialty, at least not magic like this.
The walls were a comforting warm wooden color.
Exposed rafters were tangled with long green vines with blooming purple flowers.
On the wall at the back of the room, an assortment of talismans were on display.
A long table was pushed against the wall, and a purple velvet runner covered the center of it.
Athames made of metal and crystal laid there all sparkly and shiny.
Just up ahead sat a large, long table covered in crystals that I had no clue about. Bowls of stones filled every empty space available, and puffs of glittering magic flew from a defuser in the corner of the room. “I got no idea what this stuff is for.”
Andreas rolled his eyes then walked into one of the aisles. “Go drop some cash at the register. I’ll get the shit we need.”
But I couldn’t move, not without telling Andreas what I’d done. “Look . . . I may have propositioned her—”
“Propositioned who?” He stuck his head out into the aisle and caught my eye. “Which one?”
I pulled a wad of money from my pocket and dropped it on the register. “I don’t know. In my defense, she was blonde. Did you know there was a blonde one?
Andreas reached toward the shelf and grabbed a pouch of something I didn’t recognize. “What do you mean she’s blonde? One’s got pink hair, the other has that blue-green color—”
“Turquoise, Andreas. It has a name.” I walked into the aisle to follow him as he shopped.
“Whatever. Which one did she have?” He picked up a ball of sticks bound with twine, sniffed it, then put it back on the shelf.
“I already told you it was blonde.” I sighed. “It wasn’t pink.”
“Are you sure? It was dark out with bad lighting—”
“It was right here,” I said while holding my hand up to show where she’d been standing.
He arched one eyebrow. “What do ya’ mean it was right here? Why were you that close?”
“Well, yeah, I mean, I didn’t know who she was. She was just a pretty lady, so I decided to . . . say hello . . . the way I do. Shoot my shot.” I picked up an emerald-colored stone that remined me of her eyes.
“Don’t shoot your shot at the Virtues, Kaso,” he said flatly.
“Well, I didn’t know she was a Virtue. What was she doing in pajamas at the parade?” Then I gasped and snapped my fingers. “Was she undercover?”
His eyes widened. “Oh, that’s messed up.”
I dropped the stone back into its tray then put my hands on my hips. “That’s sneaky, and that says a lot comin’ from us.”
“Did she approach you or was it the other way?” Andreas selected a different stone and shoved it into his pocket.
“I approached her.” I frowned. “She seemed startled by my presence. I thought it was ‘cause I’m pretty but maybe . . .”
“Maybe she wasn’t expectin’ you to talk to her?” He finished my thought.
“What if the two Virtues in Chanegan are like the distraction.” I followed him as he headed to the door. “While everyone else is watching them perform, the other Virtues are snoopin’—”
“That would mean they heard our conversation with Christopher?” He pushed it wide open and held it for me to walk out behind him.
“They could’ve. We were there. They were there. We’re all here now.”
“I didn’t see the Chanegan girls though.” He fell into step with me as we hurried away from the shop. “Unless the colored hair is fake?”
“Maybe you need to call your boyfriend and get a few more details.”