Page 57 of Blood and Bonbons

Picking up her phone, I went to knock on her door.

“Vena, you got a text.”

She opened the door. One leg was out of her pants, and the other was still in.

“Who is it?” She held out her hand for her phone.

“Before I give you your phone, I need you to promise you won’t overreact.”

She stilled. “You’re scaring me. Is it about Miles?”

“It is. Someone is asking to trade for information about him.”

Her eyes widened as she grappled for the phone. I tugged it away before she could get it.

“But they want the ring.”

“We’ll get it and meet up with the person for the information.”

“Vena, Cross has the ring, and I doubt he’ll give it to us after we stole it.”

“Stake to the heart. No problem.”

“Even if you could kill Cross, we don’t know where he is. But he’s not the problem here.”

“Sounds to me like he is.”

“Vena, someone knows about Milesandthe ring. Who would know that? Cross knows about both, but why would he want to trade for his own ring?

“We were just at the Shadow Market and showed the ring to Spawn. So, he knows about the ring and Miles, but that place was loaded with people. What if someone else overheard us? Or what if that little demon, Spawn, told someone?

“This could be a trap. We need to be cautious, especially since we have the book that’s making everyone disappear.”

“And sit on information about Miles? He could be in trouble or dying somewhere.”

“That’s what I’m talking about, Vena. You can’t overreact and make assumptions. We don’t know what we don’t know. And the more we don’t know, the more dangerwecould be in.

“Ask questions. It’s a trade for information. The information they’re offering could be useless. We already hit dead ends with the strip club, the book, and maybe the sheep skin, too. We need to be level-headed about this and have a plan.

“And we won’t see Cross until tomorrow, so we can’t actively chase this lead until then. So, ask for proof that they're offering information we’re looking for. Ask why the ring is important. Ask who’s asking.”

“Okay. I get it. There are a million questions to ask.”

“Exactly. Rushing in half-cocked and getting ourselves killed won’t help Miles. And while you wait for answers, we can work so we can pay rent.

“Tomorrow morning, when we have more information, we’ll talk to Cross about the ring and find out why someone would cold text you a trade offer like that. If the person is willing to trade information for the ring, the ring is obviously valuable.”

“It’s a ruby. Of course it's valuable.”

“It’s a vampire’s ruby. You saw Spawn’s reaction to that fact. No one should be willing to risk their necks over a vampire’s anything. Why is this person? Cross might be able to enlighten us or at least help us understand what we might be getting ourselves into.”

“Ev, you saw him today. He’s not our pet. He has no reason to cooperate with us.”

“Yes, he does. He needs us. The pawn shop guy is going to contact me about the offer on the coin. Between that, helping him blend, and finding a blood supply, we have leverage, too. Let’s use it wisely.”

Vena frowned as she plopped onto her bed, one leg still stuck in her pants. “I’ll sit on this lead tonight. But that’s it.”

That was all I needed. Once she started thinking rationally, she’d see waiting was the best option.

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