I stepped sharply to the side, stuck my leg out and jerked hard on her shorts. Off-balance, she stumbled forward, her eyes flashing open, her arms windmilling. I thumped my hand between her shoulders and pushed her down. She landed on her front, her chin cracking hard against the wooden floor. Her breath gasped out as I dropped down to sit astride her and I slapped my hands on her arms and leaned my weight on her, pinning her to the floor.

‘Or was there something you wanted to tell me?’ I leaned down and whispered into her ear.

Then the screaming started.

Onstage, Red Poet had caught the girl and was holding her from behind, trapping her body tightly against his. The audience were transfixed, revelling in her terror. Tears coursed down her face as her struggles grew weaker. He gently wiped the tears away, then lifted her chin, stretching her neck so the large pulse jumped under the skin.

Beneath me, Rio laughed.

He reared back his head.

Shit! Riowas controlling him—

‘Make him stop,’ I shouted in her ear.

Red Poet froze, fangs poised to strike.

Rio turned so our faces were almost touching. ‘Shh, little sidhe,’ she purred, ‘you wouldn’t want him to hurt her now, would you? Just a slight miscalculation on his part, and there would be a tragic accident. And of course, she signed the disclaimer of her own free will, all our special guests do ... the Monitor goblin will vouch for that.’

Was she bluffing?

As if she’d read my mind, she whispered, ‘Unlike some, our plump little starlet doesn’t have the protection of the Earl, or a religious mother, or a celebrity boyfriend—no one would even remember her, if her performance tonight should be her swan song.’

Not bluffing then.

The girl could disappear tonight, and unless the contract called for the Monitor to register her death, no one would ever know. Humans really didn’t understand just how literal goblins were sometimes.

‘I suppose you want me to move, then?’ I muttered.

She gave another skin-crawling chuckle. ‘Please don’t. This is a delectable situation.’

Okaaay, so she liked being pinned to the floor ... ‘Fine,’ I snapped.

‘Oh, wonderful: now you can enjoy the show, and I can murmur sweet nothings in your tempting ear. Come closer, little sidhe,’

I sighed and bent nearer until my face was next to hers. Vampires do so love their games.

Back onstage, Red Poet had let the girl go and now she was crawling desperately away from him, half strangling herself with her nightgown as she did so. He tiptoed after her, exaggerating every move: a true pantomime villain.

Rio shifted beneath me. ‘You’ve been asking about poor Melissa. A great shame, her death, she was such a delightful pet.’

‘I’m not here for the eulogy, so just get on with it, Rio.’

‘Very well. Melissa came to me the night before she died and told me she had some information she wanted to sell to me.’

‘She was blackmailing you.’

She laughed softly, the sound vibrating through me. ‘Melissa was much like me; she had ambitions. She understood that the right word or deed could be used as leverage, or be a very effective weapon.’

Touché.‘So Melissa wasblackmailing you.’

‘She was smart, and she had her eye on a bright and shiny future.’ Rio arched one black brow. ‘It’s always possible she was blackmailing someone, don’t you think? I liked her. She was a girl after my own heart.’ She winked. ‘That’s why I agreed to be her sponsor.’

I frowned. Melissa already had a sponsor: Declan at the Bloody Shamrock.

‘I see no one’s shared that information with you, have they?’ Rio tutted. ‘But don’t you find it interesting that she had not one, not two, but threesponsors? Me, of course, the Earl, and Declan. And there was to be another, but he had still to declare.’

My back was starting to ache. ‘Let me guess: that’d be Malik al-Khan.’

‘You havebeen busy.’ She sniffed the air. ‘But I was meaning our other visitor, the Frenchman.’

I needed to clear something up. ‘So did you agree to be her sponsor before or after she decided to sell you information?’

‘Before, of course.’ She licked her lips. ‘I declared my intentions some time ago.’

For a moment I’d almost forgotten what was happening a few feet in front of me, but a low moan dragged my attention back to the stage where Red Poet was enjoying himself draping the terrified girl on top of the stone coffin. He flashed a fang-filled grin and tipped her head back, exposing her throat, and started carefully arranging her hair so it wouldn’t obstruct the audience’s view.

The music deepened ominously.

‘So what’s this information then?’ I asked.

Rio sighed. ‘Maybe you’ll tell me when you find out, little sidhe. Unfortunately, Melissa was silenced before she could tell me what it was.’

Figured! Rio’s little games were just her way of jumping on the spell bandwagon with all the other vamps. And she hadn’t even given me much more in the way of information.

The music rose on a drum roll and Red Poet lifted his arms, his cape billowing dramatically behind him.

‘Watch this bit,’ Rio tensed with excitement, ‘this is the best part.’

The music cut out. The audience members were almost out of their seats with anticipation.

A wooden stake bloomed in Red Poet’s chest, spraying a fountain of blood—

Light and smoke exploded, obscuring the stage.

I blinked in shock. Had they just staked him for real?

The smoke cleared, unveiling two figures locked in a passionate embrace. The music resumed, this time soft and romantic. The figures broke apart and the girl’s saviour flicked back her long red hair and flashed a fang-filled grin. The two of them giggled and took a bow as the audience erupted into loud applause.

‘Such a wonderful moment.’ Rio sighed with pleasure as the lights cut out, plunging the Théâtre in darkness.

She heaved and rolled and my back hit the floor.

And the lights flared back on to reveal Rio, on her hands and knees above me. ‘Happy endings,’ she purred, looking down, ‘don’t you just love them?’

I fumbled in my jacket, my pulse racing. ‘Is that what you want?’

Her tongue darted out. ‘Isn’t it what we all hope for?’

‘What about the star of the show,’ I demanded, ‘can she hope for a happy ending?’

‘I’m sure she can. We all need hope, little sidhe, otherwise what is there to live for?’ She blew me a kiss. ‘Take away hope, and there is nothing left.’ Her mouth opened wide in a fang-filled grin, much as the girl’s saviour had done, and she started to lower her head.

‘Even when hope is gone,’ I slammed the silver invitation against her chest, ‘there is always retribution.’

She shrieked and leapt back like a scalded cat, hands flapping frantically. Then her mouth gaped and she slid unconscious to the floor. My own mouth opened in shock as smoke wisped between my fingers and the smell of burnt flesh choked my throat, both mine and hers.

Shit. Her reaction was way more dramatic than I’d expected. Coughing, I scrambled round in a crouch, ready to face the audience; they were all staring like it was just part of the entertainment. My hands fisted. What the hell would happen when they realised it wasn’t?

Then a dainty blonde vampire in a twenties-style beaded dress stood up: Elizabetta, head of the Golden Blade family.

I registered who she was almost without noticing.

This was not good.

She inclined her head graciously, then brought her hands together and clapped.

The rest of the watching audience joined in.

Relief tumbled inside me. I dropped the invitation back in my pocket and swiped the back of my hand over my mouth. ‘Thanks for the chat, Rio,’ I muttered.

Cue my exit.

Outside in the empty corridor, I let out a relieved breath. Had Rio been going to bite me? Would she really have given the finger to the Earl and his guarantee of my safety like that? Or had it just been more play-acting? I grimaced at the red burn on my palm, then checked my watch. I still had nearly an hour before my meeting with Alan Hinkley, time enough for some more investigating ... only right now I’d had my fill of playing detective and having vampires taking me for a sucker. Resisting the urge to run, I strode towards the fire-exit, my high-heels sounding like gunshots pinging on the floor behind me.