Free Blue-Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells Page A

said.
    Dicky’s smile fell. He stepped forward. “Are you sayin’ I’m lying?”
    Adam didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
    Giguhl nodded his bald head vigorously.
    The Brit blustered for a few moments. “I didn’t ask for this, you know. Just doing a favor for a friend.”
    “Look, dude,” I said. “You said it yourself—these are dangerous times. We’d be idiots not to ask.”
    “I’m tempted to kick you out again,” he grumbled. “But I suppose you have a point.”
    His lips pursed in annoyance. “Look at the bag.” He held up the false book for us to gather around it. Sure enough, there was a symbol embossed into the velvet.
    Silence followed. I frowned at him. “What the hell is that?” The symbol depicted a sword and chalice. I’d never seen it before, but generally anything involving a mysterious symbol spelled trouble.
    Dicky frowned. “What do you mean? It’s the symbol of Abel. All his allies know about it.” His eyes widened. “You really have no idea what you’re doing, do ye?”
    I threw my hands up. “No shit.”
    “Wait a second,” Erron said. “He’s right. Abel was wearing an amulet with that symbol when I met him.”
    “Anyone could have placed Abel’s symbol on that bag,” Adam said, crossing his arms.
    “Janus, Minerva, and Jupiter,” the Brit exclaimed. “I don’t know what else you want from me.” He jiggled the box at me. “There’s only one way to find out if I’m telling the truth.”
    I looked up, not at Adam whose opinion I had a pretty good grasp on, but at Erron. He had far more experience with both Dicky and Abel and thus had the most informed opinion of the three of us. “Do it,” he said, his expression grave.
    Finally, annoyed and ready to just get some freaking answers already, I handed Giguhl to Adam and pricked my finger with my fang. I massaged the tip until a bright red drop formed. “Here goes nothing.” I blew out a lungful of air and slowly moved my hand to hover over the bag.
    Everyone held their breath. The blood fell in slow motion. The instant it made contact with the velvet, a bright blue flame flared. In the blink of an eye, the bag disappeared and revealed a small, yellowed scroll. I couldn’t tell if it was yellowed from age or the effects of the flames, but either way the paper had seen better days.
    No one moved. Then I realized they were all waiting for me to do something. With a trembling hand, I reached for the message. When my fingers made contact, a tingle spread up through my digits and through my wrist and up my arm. The mark on my left shoulder—Maisie’s mark—tingled. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation but it felt meaningful. I stilled, waiting for some sort of magical fallout, but… nothing.
    “Open it,” Giguhl urged.
    I looked up quickly. Erron, Adam, and the cat were leaning toward the box, their eyes lit up like treasure hunters on the trail of pirate gold. My heart thudded against my rib cage. My palms were sweaty but my skin cold.
    Finally unable to stand the suspense any longer, I grabbed the parchment and unrolled it. Holding it close to my chest, I peeked down. A single word written in bold calligraphic strokes stood out starkly against the yellowed paper.
    Pasquino
.
    Almost as an afterthought, someone had written in hasty scrawl at the bottom, “Trust no one.”
    I frowned and flipped the sheet over, wondering if I’d missed something. I held it up to the light in case Abel had used invisible ink or something, but no other clues appeared.
    “What’s it say?” Dicky tried to move closer, but I held it out of reach.
    “I’m not sure.” That wasn’t a lie. But I also wasn’t eager to share this one meager clue with him, either. Abel had gone to great lengths to magically guard this word from any eyes that were not mine or my sister’s. So even though I didn’t know what the hell it meant, I wasn’t about to share the single word with anyone I didn’t trust implicitly.
    Pasquino.
    Adam caught my eye