He took a bookmark from the back of the book and slid it between the open pages. Then he snapped the book shut. “I am well versed in the news. Published and unpublished.”
She was sure that was true, and how much news there must be in the world that never reaches the filtered content packaged prettily for public consumption.
“And something interesting happened,” he said, laying the book face down and open on the bed.
“What?” Lou asked, reading the cover of the book.
Buonanotte. The author’s name was Liane Carmi.
“Is this a romance novel?” Lou asked, surprised. The cover definitely looked romantic.
“I like romance novels,” Konstantine said with a wicked grin. “They have happy endings.”
She picked up the book, unbothered by the fact she couldn’t read the words. Some of them looked familiar, like they might be words borrowed into the English language, but she knew enough about foreign languages to understand that false cognates were common.
“Someone has been trying to expose you,” Konstantine said, taking up the wine again.
She put down the book. “What do you mean?”
“Your name and picture have popped up on a few websites. Two news outlets that I own published stories about you. I made a few phone calls and they were taken down. George, one of the editors, says that it was a young woman in leather pants who sold him the story. Maybe the sister?”
“King said they would retaliate,” Lou said. “Clearly they’re trying to.” And in truth, she didn’t mind. She would rather Diana blame her for the exposure than Dani or Piper. It felt safer, with herself as the target.
“Are you worried?” Konstantine asked, placing a hand on her thigh. His thumb traced the crease in her jeans.
“I think Diana is more dangerous than Piper realizes.” Lou stood, shrugged out of her leather jacket, and tossed it across the foot of Konstantine’s bed.
Then she bent down and undid the laces on her boots. He seemed pleased by this and moved over to make space for her. He even peeled back the covers in a more obvious invitation.
“I must admit, I am surprised you haven’t killed her yet,” Konstantine said. “But I understand why you haven’t.”
Lou snorted, sliding in beside him. “Do you?”
“You don’t believe you can hunt and kill every monster in this world. Here is another woman who can help. You also value your freedom above all else. You can’t imagine stopping someone with the same drive.”
Lou wondered if that was it. She had a feeling it might be something more. She searched Konstantine’s face. “Are you afraid of her?”
“No,” he said, finishing the wine and returning the glass to the opposite table. “She is no match for you.”
“You’ll jinx me.” She pressed herself into his side as he used both his free hands to envelop her. She liked his scent, heady and all-encompassing.
“That’s the danger, isn’t it?” He retrieved his book and opened it to the bookmarked page. “Even beginners get lucky.”
She put her head on his chest, listening to him turn the page every so often, his fingers playing absently in her hair while he read.
Lou was almost asleep when something occurred to her.
“The editor you spoke to, where was he?”
“Hmm?” Konstantine asked, looking up from his book. She felt his warm breath on her face. “The one who spoke to Diana’s sister?”
“Yes. Where was that?”
“Oklahoma,” Konstantine said. “Why?”
Oklahoma was south of Kansas, where Lou was fairly certain Diana’s secret farm was hidden.
“Would you…” She didn’t even know how to finish the request. She’d never directly asked anyone for help before.
“Anything,” he said without pause. “What do you need?”
“Do you have someone you trust in New Orleans? Maybe four or five people that can follow Dani and Piper around until this is over. It wouldn’t hurt to have eyes on Melandra and King, too.”
Anyone to buy time, in case I’m too slow to reach them.
“When?”
“Now,” she said, lifting up from her warm and comfortable position in the crook of his arm.
Konstantine put the book face down and retrieved his phone without another word.
She stretched out on the bed and watched him make the calls.
The compass inside her was spinning, trying to settle on a location that Lou couldn’t yet see, only feel inside her.
Had Blair simply driven across the state line into Oklahoma? Had they hoped to sell the story and settle the score? Or were they already heading south, perhaps as far south as New Orleans?
37
Piper read her class schedule from her laptop while Dani turned a mug of tea in her hands. Piper was trying to decide if she wanted to make herself a cup of mint tea, too. Those nachos were turning in her stomach riotously. If she didn’t take measures, it might be a long night of indigestion to look forward to.
“Since I have to go to campus for the lab class on Fridays, I was thinking I could stop by your work after class and we can do lunch before I head to the Quarter. What do you think?”
“A regular Friday lunch date?” Dani asked, taking a sip of tea. “I like it.”
Piper got a whiff of the peppermint and her stomach turned.
“It’s the only class I couldn’t get online.” Piper frowned. “But I like science, so I’m not too pissed about it. But a three-hour class every Friday, gah. It’ll be nice to recharge with you.”
She closed her laptop and pushed it onto the coffee table.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
Dani smiled. “Better.”
“Even though Diana is still out there.”
Dani looked out over the living room as if it were a vast horizon. “Yeah. I think it’s because I made my decision.”
Dani snuggled closer, lifting her tea up as she settled in to make sure it wasn’t bumped.
“I was having such a hard time because it felt like everything I was doing was losing. That I wasn’t good enough. That I was failing to hold it together. But I’ve changed my mind about that.”
Must be nice, Piper thought.
“All those feelings are still there, but I’ve decided they’re bullshit. The only way I can really fail is if I let Petrov and Diana or whoever else comes along take away what I love. I love writing these stories. Uncovering the truth. That’s my passion. And if I have to suffer nightmares or convulse on a floor once in a while to make it happen, then that’s just how it’ll be. But no one is going to take it away from me.”
“I’m proud of you,” Piper said. She thought this was the better thing to say, though part of her wondered if Dani was being masochistic by clinging so stubbornly to her dream.
“I’m proud of you, too,” Dani said, tucked into Piper’s side.
Uncomfortable heat spread up the side of Piper’s neck. She laughed. “For what?”
“You work so hard. You have your two jobs and you’re going to school. You’re amazing.”
Piper shook her head, as if this would volley the compliment away. Receiving compliments had never felt comfortable, but coming from Dani it was even worse. Part of her retracted, shrinking from the words as if they physically hurt. The other part, as thirsty as a desert plant, stretched forward.
She didn’t like that part very much.
“If I’d stayed on track, I’d have a master’s degree by now. Or I’d be studying for the bar instead of Biology 201.”
“Everyone’s life is different.” Dani’s voice was drowsy with sleep. “You’ve had a lot you needed to take care of. We’re lucky to get a chance at education at all. In some countries—” Dani gasped, bolting upright. “Octavia! No!”
Piper craned her neck in time to see the cat squatting in the kitchen, pissing beside the potted fern.
“Oh geez.” Piper took Dani’s tea and guided it safely to the coaster on the coffee table, so
Dani could leap up and assess the damage.
Dani unwound a wad of paper towels from their dispenser on the wall. “Her litter box is probably full. She’s fussy about that.”
She’s fussy about a lot of things.
Piper was fairly certain Tavi refused to use her litter box if there was one turd in it.
“I’ll change it.” Piper threw back the light blanket and got up.
Dani was already on her hands and knees with the cleaner, spraying the floor and the side of the planter. “Would you? That would be a huge help. Everything is in the closet.”
Piper found the pan liners, scooper, and fresh litter in the hall closet outside the bathroom. Not one for scraping or inhaling the scent of cat piss, she gathered up the whole pan liner and double bagged it closed. The pungent smell burned her nose, and she gagged before dumping the fresh litter into the pan, holding her breath throughout.
Octavia meowed from the bathroom door.
“All for you, you princess.” She carried the bag past the cat to the front door. She slipped her feet into plastic flipflops, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll run this out to the trash. Be right back.”
“Thank you so much,” Dani said, turning from the kitchen sink, where she was washing her hands. “I’ll have a big kiss for you when you get back.”
Piper had more than a kiss in mind. She supposed her eyebrow wag said as much.
Dani’s face turned red and a little nervous laugh escaped her. It brightened the dark mood that had hung over them most of the day. Something was weighing on Dani’s mind. She hadn’t brought it up to Piper yet, so they were in limbo.
In their six months together, Dani had sometimes gotten dark like this, discontent, unpleasable. Piper hadn’t known her long enough to know if these moods were part of her natural temperament or if they were the result of her PTSD. Either way, there seemed no remedy for them except to let Dani share—or not—at her own pace.
I don’t have much to offer, but I’ve got time, she thought.
And nothing said “I love you, you’re going to be okay” like carrying a bag of cat shit to the dumpster outside.
When Piper stepped outside, she found the night hot and balmy. A sheen of moisture formed along her hairline and the back of her neck before she even reached the dumpster at the edge of the parking lot.
Damn, NOLA, she thought. Why you gotta be so hot?
She tossed the bag over her head and listened to it crash into the bin. Up and down the street, soft lamps burned.
She took her first big breath of air.
It smelled like sun-soaked trash, but it was still better than the piss-stained litter box.
Most of the houses in the Garden District had wrought-iron fences enclosing their yards. Half a block up the street, a woman—or man—paused to let their shih tzu piss on the iron rods.
The wind changed and she caught the scent of something sweet. Oleander, maybe.
On the other side of the street a trash can crashed and a group of kids broke into laughter. A flash of metal sparked in the dark.
What were they swinging? An aluminum bat? A lead pipe?
Whatever it was, it struck the side of the can, spilling the trash. Their laughter rose as they ripped open the bags and kicked trash into the street.
She considered calling after them. Punk asses.
But since they had a weapon and she didn’t, she decided it was better to go back inside and make out with her girlfriend.
Something slammed into her back. Her skull hit the pavement, ears ringing.
She rolled on her back, her hands going up to protect her head.
Her fear spiked. Her mind vacillated between screaming for Dani or calling out to Lou. Dani might be closer, but Lou would be of more use.
Someone grabbed the front of her shirt and hauled her to a sitting position.
The person wore a ski mask—in this weather, Piper marveled—and head-to-toe black on black.
“Show your face, coward.” Piper spit gravel out of her mouth. She thought her lip was busted. She could taste blood as she dragged her tongue across her teeth. All were present and accounted for. “Tired of trash cans already?”
She thought she was talking to one of the kids. Street kids could turn like that. Anything for a laugh or to show off in front of their friends.
“Okay,” a mature voice said, and the black ski mask was yanked up.
It wasn’t one of the punk kids whacking trash cans. It was Diana. Her face was colder and more ruthless than those kids could ever manage.
“Tell Lou I’m waiting,” she said, and slammed her fist into the side of Piper’s face.
38
Lou woke to a buzzing sound. Then a light clicked on.
Her eyes opened, squinting against the soft glow of the lamp. Konstantine sat on the edge of the bed, the phone pressed to his ear.
“I understand,” he said. “Thank you for calling.”
He terminated the call, tossing the phone onto the bed. He opened a drawer and pulled out dark jeans. “We need to go.”
She sat up, her compass reaching out. But she felt nothing.
“What’s happened?”
“Someone, presumably Diana, attacked Piper, and took Daniella.”
Lou was out of the bed in a heartbeat. She laced up her boots and threw on her leather jacket.
Konstantine grabbed her arm. “Take me with you. I want to speak to my people.”
“Your guys were there?”
“Dani’s apartment building was blown up.”
Lou’s body iced.
“They found Piper unconscious in the parking lot outside. She is still unconscious, but alive.”
“Dani?” Lou asked, her voice thick.
“I don’t know.”
“Your people in New Orleans called you?” She felt her mind trying to complete the scene, understand what was happening.
“No.” He released her long enough to pull on pants and a black t-shirt. “There is a chain of command. I usually speak only to the boss of their boss.”
Why can’t I feel you? Lou thought of Dani. Her heart hammered in her chest. She had a sense of her location, but not her emotions. No fear. No need. She reached out to Piper and found the same.
She hoped they were both unconscious. Not dead.
“Okay. I have my wallet and—”
Lou was already pulling them both through the dark before he finished. She exchanged Italy for a hot, humid night in the New Orleans Garden District. The scent of flowers bloomed bright and instant, mixed with the smell of hot, putrefying garbage.
But both were overshadowed by the tremendous spike in heat.
She stepped away from the dumpster’s deep shadows and was hit by a wall of it.
Piper was in the grass, between the street and parking lot. It made Lou instantly think of the pornographers that Diana executed during the raid.
A young girl, no older than sixteen, stood guard over her with an aluminum bat propped against her shoulder. Three guys jumped back when Konstantine stepped into the light.
“Whoa. Dude. Where’d you come from?”
Their eyes shifted to Lou instantly. “Shit.”
But Lou didn’t care about them. She wanted to see Piper with her own eyes.
She dropped to her knees and pulled Piper up to a sitting position. Her head lolled.
“Piper.”
Her face was purple and swollen in two places. It looked like she’d been struck in the forehead and in the eye, which was swollen shut. And her lip was split and bloody.
Lou’s anger began to well up inside her, threatening to overtake her senses.
“Piper. Wake up.”
“I already tried that,” the girl said, pulling a red lollipop out of her mouth. “I think they drugged her.”
“What happened?” Lou asked. She saw unflinching eyes and a mischievous grin.
“We came by to check on things and saw this one”—she pointed the bat at Piper—“get jumped. But
it was the other girl they wanted. Saw them carry her out and throw her in a truck before the building blew. The cat followed them out. Lucky cat.”
Lou looked up and saw Octavia lingering near the dumpster. Meowing uncertainly, as if unsure she could come forward.
The girl snorted. “She’s cute now, but don’t be fooled. I tried to pick her up and she scratched me.”
Konstantine was shoving money into the guys’ hands.
“Don’t you want to know what direction the truck went?” the girl asked, eyebrows arched. She ran the lollipop along the bottom of her lips.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lou said.
The girl laughed. “Sure. Whatever you say. Hey, is this girl important to you? I’ve seen her around the Quarter a lot. For the right price, I can keep an eye on her for you. Make sure she doesn’t run into trouble with psychos anymore.”
Lou didn’t answer.
“Alice,” Konstantine said, and shoved a wad of cash twice as thick as the boys’ into her hands. “Thank you.”
“I go by Bane, actually,” she said, flicking the sucker between her teeth. “As in ‘bane of your existence.’”
Konstantine’s smile twitched. “Bane.”
She looked at the wadded-up bills in her fist again before flicking her eyes back up to Konstantine’s. “Anytime, boss. Let’s go, boys.”
She took off across the street with the guys obediently in tow. She swung her bat one more time, knocking a trash can into the street. The boys behind rolled it for good measure.
“She won’t wake up,” Lou said. She heard the fear in her voice and hated it.
“She will,” Konstantine said, kneeling beside her. “Let’s get her somewhere safe.”
Meow.
They turned to see the Russian Blue inching tentatively toward Piper.
Meow.
“Grab the cat. It’s Dani’s.” Lou lifted Piper into her arms. Her shoulder protested, but she ignored it.
Konstantine crept toward the animal, speaking sweetly to it. “Vieni qui, micia-gattina. Vieni.”
* * *
Alice Baines stood in the darkness, rolling the lollipop in her mouth. She watched the woman pull the blonde into her arms while Konstantine coaxed the cat forward. And it was Konstantine. She didn’t care what Micah said about the boss of all bosses being too important to mess with pissants like them.
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