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Worn, heather grey fabric clung to her curves, the hem dusting her upper thigh, making me salivate. The faded, crackedlogo of the Nightwalkers stretched over her round breasts, with the slightly stretched collar revealing just enough of her shoulder and chest for me to see the hint of her collarbone and her creamy skin.

“So that’s where that went.” I smirked.

It was undeniable; I’d recognize that T-shirt anywhere. I’d caught it out of a cannon during a charity game and lent it to Juniper—damn near six years later—so she’d be comfortable during her sleepover.

“I-I-” Juniper stammered, her blue eyes wide like a deer in headlights as Elsie came running down the stairs in a flash of silvery blonde hair.

She squealed, ducking around Juniper to race into my arms, grabbing my face in her hands for an excited kiss.

“Dana just called! Are you really staying?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, giving her a squeeze. “So long as someone is okay sharing a bedroom.”

She gasped excitedly, face lighting up as she stole another kiss. “Oh! You can sleep in?—”

“Already called dibs,” Ren said icily, smacking a loud kiss against Elsie’s cheek. “Let me show you where it is, Vi?”

“Sure.”

“Hey!” Elsie whined, hanging from my arms so heavily she nearly pulled me to the floor with her as she bent backwards to watch Ren head for the stairs. “That’s so unfair!”

Juniper had taken advantage of the distraction to disappear back into the house before I could really call her out on her minor theft. But there would be time to tease my thieving black cat later.

Besides… I liked knowing she’d found comfort in my clothes. It was easy to wonder what some of Ren’s photographs would look like with Juniper in my shirt, legs bent, pulling down thehem to hide her pussy demurely from prying eyes as she looked into the lens.

Killer birthday present idea alert,I thought as I pulled Elsie upright to lean against my chest.

“No one said you couldn’t join us,” I offered, pressing a kiss on her temple. It was unusual to see the little blonde vampire without any makeup, her bare skin scented with rose moisturizer as we shared air.

“Perfect,” she whispered. “Are you okay? How’s Babydoll?”

I’d been so distracted by this place—and the vampires in it—that I’d nearly forgotten Kaylee’s ruined apartment.

“Reasonably upset.” I winced, taking Elsie’s hand to continue our conversation as Ren led us up the stairs to the second floor.

On the way, affixed to the wall so that it took up nearly the entire space between floors, was a beautiful photograph of a vampire, her long white dress see-through in a pool of water, revealing her curves amongst flowers floating on its surface.

She was… familiar in a way.

Like an old-time movie actress you’d only seen clips of during award season. Or someone who had been on the cover of a magazine.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Elsie said, following my eyeline.

“Stunning,” I agreed, my heart squeezing as I looked at her face, drawn with inexplicable emotion. “Who is she?”

“Cherie,” Elsie said, a twinge of sadness in her voice. “My sire. She was so beautiful, like a supermodel.”

“Did Ren take this?” I asked, thinking of the darkroom just downstairs.

Elsie nodded, dropping her voice to a whisper—not that it would do any good with Ren’s improved hearing as we trailed after her in the carpeted hall. “It was for a class; her model canceled at the last minute.”

Ren smiled, though it didn’t quite touch her eyes, waiting beside an open door. “She was a really good sport about it too. Cherie hated getting her hair wet—she had this, like, really unruly half-wavy texture that was a pain to style. I take a university-level photography class every so often to keep my skills fresh, and the final exam was for the professor to watch you run an editorial shoot from concept storyboarding to execution.”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” I muttered.

“It was.” Ren shrugged. “But that’s what I paid them for—to assess me. My model no-showed on the day and I was freaking out. It was just good luck that Cherie had been wearing a sundress when she dropped off my lunch. One of the other girls lent her a bit of blush, and into the pool she went.”

“Was she pretty spontaneous then?”