Bloodlines

"Don't change the topic." I spoke haughtily, though he'd again woken a sliver of fear in me. What if Adrian and I failed? What if the Alchemists listened to Keith and hauled me away? He'd never have to worry about me again in a re-education center. "This isn't about me. We were talking about Carly."

Keith rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I'm done talking about your slutty sister."

That was when my earlier impulse to throw something at him won out. Lucky for him, it was only my coffee and not a chair. Also lucky for him: the coffee had cooled considerably. There was still a lot of it left, and it managed to splash everywhere, drenching his unfortunate choice of a white shirt. He stared at me in astonishment, sputtering to get his words out.

"You bitch!" he said, standing up.

As he started moving toward the door, I realized that my temper might have just blown the plan. I hurried over and caught hold of his arm.

"Wait, Keith. I-I'm sorry. Don't go."

He jerked his arm away and glared at me. "It's too late for you. You had your chance and blew it."

I grabbed him again. "No, no. Wait. There's still lots we have to talk about."

He opened his mouth with some snippy remark and then promptly shut it. He studied me for several seconds, his face growing serious. "Are you trying to keep me here? What's going on?" When I couldn't muster a response, he pulled away and stormed out the door. I quickly ran back to the table and tossed a twenty on it. I grabbed the pie and told the bewildered waitress to keep the change.

The clock in my car told me I had twenty minutes until the Alchemists were supposed to show up at Keith's. That was also the time it would take to get back there. I drove right behind him, making no effort to hide my presence. It was no secret now that something was going on, something I'd lured him away from home for. I blessed every red light that stopped us, praying he wouldn't arrive too early. If he did, Adrian and I were going to have to delay him.

It wouldn't be impossible, but it also wasn't something I wanted to do.

We finally made it back. Keith pulled into his building's tiny lot, and I parked uncaringly in a fire zone out front. I was only steps behind him as he ran to the door, but he hardly seemed to notice. His attention was on the lit-up windows of his building and the dark silhouettes barely discernible beyond the heavy drapes. He burst in through the door, and I followed a moment later, nearly running into him as he came to a complete standstill.

I didn't know the three suited men there with Adrian, but I knew they were Alchemists. They had that cold, polished feel that we all strove for, and their cheeks were emblazoned with gold lilies. One was going through Keith's kitchen cupboards. Another had a notepad and was talking to Adrian, who was leaning against the wall and smoking. He smiled when he saw me.

The third Alchemist was kneeling on the floor in the living room near a small storage cupboard in the wall. A tacky painting of a shirtless woman's back lay nearby, which apparently had been used to hide the compartment. Its wooden door had clearly been forcibly opened, and various contents were strewn haphazardly around - with a few exceptions. The Alchemist was going to great pains to sort one pile of objects: metal tubes and needles used to drain blood, along with vials of blood and small packets of silvery powder. He looked up at our sudden entrance and fixed Keith with a cool smile.

"Ah, so glad you're here, Mr. Darnell. We were hoping we could take you with us for some questioning."

Keith's face fell.

Chapter Twenty-Three

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

I was sitting on the end of a row of seats at Jill's fashion show almost a week later, in downtown Palm Springs, waiting for things to start. I hadn't even known Trey was at the show and was startled to suddenly find him kneeling beside me.

"What exactly are you referring to?" I asked him. "There are about a million things I can take credit for."

He scoffed and kept his voice pitched low, which wasn't too necessary with the dull roar of conversation around us. Several hundred had turned out to see the show.

"I'm talking about Slade and friends, and you know it," Trey said. "They've been really upset about something this week. They keep complaining about those stupid tattoos." He looked at me meaningfully.

"What?" I asked, putting on a face of innocence. "Why do you think this has anything to do with me?"

"Are you saying it doesn't?" he asked, not fooled in the least.

I could feel a traitorous smile playing over my lips. After raiding Keith's apartment, the Alchemists had made sure his tattooist partners no longer had the means to administer illicit tattoos. There'd also been no more talk of Zoe replacing me. It had taken days before Slade and his friends had realized their connection to performance-enhancing ink was gone. I'd been observing their furtive conversations with amusement this week but hadn't realized Trey had noticed as well.

"Let's just say that Slade may soon no longer be the superstar he's been," I said. "Hope you're ready to step up and take his place."

Trey studied me a few moments more, apparently hoping I'd add something else. When I didn't, he simply shook his head and chuckled. "Anytime you need coffee, Melbourne, you come see me."

"Noted," I said. I gestured toward the still-growing crowd. "What are you doing here anyway? I didn't realize you were interested in today's hottest fashions."

"I'm not," he agreed. "But I've got a couple of friends working on the show."

"Girlfriends?" I asked slyly.

He rolled his eyes. "Friends who are girls. I have no time for silly female distractions."

"Really? I figured that's why you got your tattoo. I hear women go for that kind of thing."

Trey stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

I remembered that Kristin and Julia had mentioned how strange it was that Trey had a tattoo of his own and Eddie had later mentioned seeing it on Trey's lower back in the locker room. Eddie had said it looked like a multi-rayed sun made of very ordinary ink. I'd been waiting for a chance to tease Trey about it.

"Don't play coy. I know about your sunshine. How come you always give me such a hard time, huh?"

"I..."

He was truly at a loss. More than that. He looked uncomfortable, worried - like this was something he hadn't wanted me to know about. That was weird. It wasn't that big a deal. I was about to question him more when Adrian suddenly made his way to us through the crowd. Trey took one look at Adrian's stormy face and immediately got to his feet. I could understand his reaction. Adrian's expression would've intimidated me too.