Page 59 of How to Seduce a Slender

“You won’t leave though, right?” Her eyes widened as she looked his way. “Cause the last time the thing got me in here and I’m not really lookin’ forward to a repeat performance.”

“I’ll be right here,” he offered her a hand, helping her limp to the tub. As she sank in, he sat beside the tub. It took all his might not to dive a hand in and stroke her arm or leg for reassurance. Instead, he watched her dip underneath the steaming water. He waited for a while before turning off the water. When she broke the surface, she made sure not to splash before raking her fingers through her hair.

“Smith?” She glanced at him, “I…I think I remember something.”

Smith lurched forward, careful of the water dancing dangerously close to the lip of the tub. “What did you remember?”

“There was a table there, that day, they left after Pete but before you. I went to go serve them and Mr. Bourgias stopped me. He said I wasn’t supposed to go near that table and to pretend like it wasn’t there… Did you get to talk to him? Did he tell you anything?” Melody shifted, peeking at him like a mermaid observing someone on a pier above the ocean.

“No,” Smith sighed, “Unfortunately, the necromancer is tying up loose ends. Mr. Bourgias was dead before even Aravis caught him for questioning.”

Melody’s face paled and she audibly gulped, “Well, then after my potion gulp, you better go back to town and hunt this person down…cause there were two people at that table, and one of them is a regular of mine.”

Smith would need to find that other person before the necromancer did. Hopefully they were better at getting away than Mr. Bourgias. Smith exhaled, “Can you tell me what they look like?”

Melody grinned, “I can do you one better.”

WhileSmithsawtopouring her a shot glass of sterling silver potion, and Dahlia saw to the morning coffee, Melody scribbled away. Her hands moved at the speed of light, flying across the page with reckless abandon. “His name is Winters, Bellivenue Winters, he’s always tight lipped. Never gotten more than his order and a ‘thank you, ma’am’ out of the guy. Always pays in coin, never leaves too much, and always orders something small for someone else, has someone join him, and then they leave. I thought maybe he was doing business—none of my business, though. I know better than to put my nose where it doesn’t belong. People get their paws hacked off for less. But that was the first time Mr. Bourgias didn’t let me wait on him. I thought it was weird, but I got a couple of teenagers needing a milkshake and hot fries after school just after him, so I didn’t have the time to snoop.”

Smith soaked in all the info he could as Melody sketched out a perfect scene of the diner, like she was staring at the person from behind the pie counter.

Unfortunately for Smith, he knew exactly who he was when she slid the picture over. “You think you can do something with that?”

Smith’s hackles, made of static and venom, rose up along his back. “I can do plenty with that. Thank you.”

It had been ages since he threatened the life of a council member, but he wasn’t above applying pressure. Smith didn’t know Bellivenue Winters by name, only by reputation. He worked for Lavender Dawn, the councilor over business. Bellivenue was who she sent to oversee her dirty work. Twisting arms, bleeding companies dry; if she didn’t want her face attached to it, Bellivenue saw it done. Including a particularly nasty ad campaign against Hauntings&Company some years back.

Smith had a run in with the slick-haired rat before and would take a sick pleasure in seeing him one more time.

“It’s honestly a shame I have to keep him alive,” Smith muttered under his breath.

“What?” Melody chirped.

Smith slid the shot glass to her, chuckling, “It’s nothing. Take this.”

Like the good girl she was, she tossed it back and gulped it down before picking up the fork next to the plate of food she’d been offered. Smith slid down into his seat next to Melody, propping his arm up on his elbow. She eyed him with confusion…until he struck out his pinkie. Her face lit up. “Ooooh, you want to make a deal, Mr. Smith?”

“I do, in fact, want to make a deal, Ms. Deathless. I need to go take care of this, but in order for me to work, I need a guarantee that you are safe here, at home. So, much like yesterday, you will eat all three meals today, plus snacks. You will empty that goblet full of water four times into your belly. And you will draw me a self-portrait. Preferably one I can carry with me, but I will accept something I can keep in my office. Do we have a deal?”

Melody narrowed her eyes on him, shifting to prop her own arm on the table. She struck out her pinkie. “So, the deal is I stay here and behave and you what? Get to galivant off into town and hunt down bad guys? And, I have to make you something? Doesn’t seem fair?”

Dragons above, she was attractive when she was feisty.He chuckled, pressing his pinkie teasingly against hers. “What can I do to sweeten the deal?”

Melody inspected him up and down before she leaned in close to his face. The whole kitchen seemed to disappear as those green eyes of hers flashed ruby once…then twice, her fangs glinting in the early morning sun. “I’ll draw you a portrait of me if you tell me something about you, from your past. Something no one else knows. Since you’re so secretive, it shouldn’t be hard to think of a fun fact.”

Share something? Smith wasn’t good at sharing. He was hardly good at sharing Melody and most of the time he’d shared her, it had been out of necessity. But the smug curl of her lips told him this was a part of their newest chase.

If he wanted to catch her, he’d have to give up a piece of him.

“I believe that is more than fair.” He curled his pinkie around her rod straight one. “Do we have a deal?”

“Deal,” she hissed wickedly, curling her pinkie around his. And then, before he could react, she lunged even closer to him and pressed a kiss to the cloud of static that he called a cheek. Her lips met something solid, and she left a smooch against it before pulling back. “Now shoo, if the necromancer is tying up loose ends, you’re going to need to scoot to catch Winters before they do.”

Smith had never been so motivated in his life as he launched away from the table and shot out of the house like a lightning bolt.

Smithwasafirmbeliever in going directly to the source of information. When it was Dahlia’s family issue, he spoke with the maid and butlers as they worked. He didn’t fuss with the figure head. They never kept their ears to the ground. Councilor Lavender Dawn was no different. Other than being a sheer dreadful, elitist, piece of garbage elf, the councilor did not get her hands dirty. She would merely spook Bellivenue from whatever rats’ nest he lurked in. No, Smith needed a location to corner the filth in with a dustpan of facts and broom of extortion in hand.

So, instead, Smith went to the source of information in the Council. He settled into the hall of records, watching people come and go through the aisles of papers. The Slender had a very specific person he was looking for, and it didn’t take long for her to slip into the room as she usually did.

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