Excerpt from Tooth and Claw

I was in hell.  Surely I must have died and I was in one of the nine circles of hell, the one where sinners go and have to sit through endless petitions from long-winded immortals who thought the small print on a legal contract was scintillating.  I was actually sitting in Dante’s Inferno, the nightclub, so the comparison was appropriate.

It was the night of my weekly visit to the Magister.  As an added bonus tonight, for some reason Salvador decided that I should accompany him while he held an audience with his vampire subjects.

I should have known that Salvador had something special in store, when Henry, the limo driver that picked me up each week, arrived with a familiar white box tied with a blood red bow, a sure sign that Salvador had been shopping for me again.  Since it was now part of our new agreement, I had no choice but to accept it.

I actually liked today’s selection, not that I hadn’t liked the previous McQueen dress.  I just wasn’t used to wearing clothes that cost more than three times my former monthly rent.  I didn’t have a clue how much this dress cost, probably not as much as the McQueen, but I’m sure it was up there, judging from the pearl and crystal embellishment that covered it.  The dress itself was an Alice & Olivia in white silk.  It had a high neck with a flare silhouette, the skirt coming to about mid-thigh.  The reverse cut out back left more bare skin than I was comfortable with when dealing with vampires, but I could live with it.  Or, at least I hoped I could.

So far, I had managed to keep from ruining it, like I had the last dress Salvador gave me.  And that was despite the fact that I had to take down a bitchy vampire intent on tearing out my throat.

Tooth and Claw – The Harry Russo Diaries, volume 2
by Lisa Emme

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