Page 23 of Bony Bony
ThemoreIwatchedGianna, the greater my conviction.Shealways looked so put together, wearing clothes that flattered her.Sheunderstood the importance of appearance to convey a vibe, as noted by theGothicdresses she favored.Herstyle would fit perfectly with us on stage.
AndthenIdiscovered a vulnerability.Whenshe’d glanced at her reflection, one day, she’d said, “Getsome sleep” to herself. “You’restarting to look like you’ve been hit by the age curse again.”
Aging.Thatcaught my attention.Ifshe was concerned about aging, that could be somethingIcould offer her so that she’d never have to worry about physically aging another day again.Icould make her immortal.
Butonly if she did whatIasked in return.
Plantingthe skeleton in her club had been a good option.AlthoughI’ddiscussed her townhouse withMax, we backed off on that idea considering she lived with that overprotective mutt.Icouldn’t see him allowing anything into their house without him examining it thoroughly, and if that was the case, he might discover something that would undermine my plan.
Thinkingabout that scruffy mongrel left a sour taste in my mouth.Wheneverthat fleabag came into the club, putting his meaty paws on my claim, an urge grew to hunt him down.Whatdid she see in that furbag?Shecould do so much better with me.She’drise to tremendous heights with fame and immortality.Icould give her so much more than she ever dreamed.
Theonly problem with this skeletal spy was it would often wander around the club and pass out in spots without a good vantage point, rendering it useless for stretches of time.Fortunately,Giannadidn’t suspect anything.Shethought it was her staff playing pranks.Yet, how long would that work before she figured that wasn’t the case?I’dhave to win her over before then.
AfterIleft my bedroom,Iheaded out to the garage where we’d set up a practice space.Eachof us had our own room in this rental.We’dfound this unit through an underground supernatural network.Duringmy observations,I’dlearned thatGiannahad multiple connections to theSalemSupernaturalNetwork, a local branch, through her friends.Althoughthe network had been useful to find suitable housing for a vampire, they could be a detriment if they discovered how we used magic.Theyfrowned upon manipulating humans to do as we wished.Whatwas the point of having supernatural abilities if we weren’t going to use them to our advantage?Ourband wouldn’t have come this far this quickly if we hadn’t used magic to persuade humans.Still,Ihad to be careful to avoidGianna’sfriends so they wouldn’t interfere with my plans.
Duringpractice we played a standard set list with a mix of covers and some of our songs, yetImissed my cues more than once.
Violetput down her drumsticks. “Somethingwrong,Zane?”
“Whydo you say that?”
“Youseem—distracted.”
Thatwas indeed the case.Mycontemplation on how to coaxGiannato join me took much of my focus.Ihad to step my agenda up and soon.
Wefinished the halfhearted set, which turned out to be a waste of time.
Afterpractice,IpulledMaxaside in the living room before he returned to his bedroom upstairs. “Ineed more help withGianna.”
Hisbrow inched up half a centimeter as he stared at me with an amused smile. “You’rereally obsessed with this one, aren’t you?”
Myjaw twitched.Ihadn’t asked him for his opinion on the matter and didn’t care to discussGiannawith him.Whatdid he care about whoIwanted in my bed anyway?Hehad plenty of partners to warm his whenever he wanted, andIdidn’t question him about his private affairs.
Iignored his question. “Willyou help me, or shouldIfind someone else?”Igave him a hard glare.Thehint of warning in my voice conveyedImeant more than theGiannasituation.Thiswas my band.Icould hire and fire whomeverIwanted.Andif one of my band mates was no longer valuable to me, they would be replaced.
Maxstraightened, appearing to back off as he caught my drift. “Whatkind of help,Zane?”
Thatwas better.Italways was when people simply listened and did whatIwanted, rather than question me.
“Sheneeds some persuasion to join us.”Somethingbeyond my capabilities as a vampire. “Magicstrong enough to work on a supernatural.”
GIANNA
Iskipped my swim and headed into the club earlier than usual.Oncethe club opened,Ididn’t want to be cooped up in my office and preferred to be out interacting with everyone.
Besides, it was better to finish work in my office so thatIcould leave it behind whenIwent home.Homewas my sacred space to unwind.Itwas important to set up boundaries, andIdidn’t understand how people could work from home, likeNova.Notonly did she work for theSalemSupernaturalNetwork, but she worked remotely for a children’s publisher inNewYork.Thatmeant her home, which should be her place to escape work, was yet another office.Cringe.No, thank you.
Onthe way inside,Igrabbed a stash of mail and unlocked the club.BeforeIlet ol’Mr.Bonesgive me a scare,Iscanned the club to see where he’d end up today.
No, he wasn’t in his usual chair as he had been last night.Ispotted a white bony leg poking out from the seating from one of the booths.
So, it looked like moving this prop around was going to be a regular occurrence with my staff, like we were playing some macabre version ofElfon aShelf.Ishuddered.No, that elf was far creepier than this harmless skeleton.
“Ah,Mr.Bones,”Isaid aloud with a chuckle. “Didyou have a little too much fun after we left last night?”
I’ddeal with him onceIhad my hands free.PerhapsI’djoin in on the shenanigans.I’dplant him behind the bar or in the freezer as payback to my staff and scare them.Butfirst,I’ddump this stash of mail in my office.
OnceIunlocked the door,Ishuffled through the usual junk mail, tossing them into the recycling bin.Therewere a few small packages, one in a padded envelope from an addressIdidn’t recognize.WhenIopened the envelope,Idiscovered a note and a small black box inside, no larger than a cell phone.Iread the note.
