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The hotel’s front doors were open, and hotel employees wearing either black trousers and vests edged with gold piping and a gold tie or a black dress edged with gold ribbon and chiffon scarves stood by the doors as a steady trail of guests flowed out of the tall building.

I clenched my jaw, the sour taste of defeat coating my tongue.

I lost him.

There was a good chance he was in the hotel—I was fairly sure the running steps I’d heard were him, which made me think the shutting door was him, too, since I could see at least one side entrance to the hotel from my viewpoint.

There was no way we’d be able to smoke him out. There were too many entrances and exits he could use before my squad caught up. Though maybe Sarge would want to try watching the hotel anyway.

I better radio it in. At least I managed to get a small lead.

I relaxed my shoulders and uncurled my hand, picking the red gem out of the grit in my hand. I opened a pouch on my belt and dropped the gem in, then snapped the pouch shut.

Maybe Sunshine or one of the other techs will be able to trace the magic.

I removed my radio, then started up the sidewalk. Based on previous experience, I suspected the red jewel had somewhere around a twenty-foot radius so I couldn’t risk using the sidewalk in front of the hotel, but I could get closer—particularly if I looped around the back where guests weren’t gathering.

“Blood, reporting,” I said. “I lost him. OutsideLuxe Sejour.”

The radio crackled. “Understood,” Sarge said, his voice still pleasant sounding despite the crackly static from the radio. “My team will come north to rendezvous with you.”

“Understood,” I repeated back to him before I tucked my radio into my belt.

As I trudged up the sidewalk, I watched the guests pouring out of the hotel’s front doors. I spotted a handful of vampires and some wizards dressed in white and blue coats, but the majority of the crowd were fae—beautiful and dressed to the nines, sparkling with illusion magic to enhance their natural beauty.

There must have been a late-night performance tonight.Studying the bright faced wizards and the fae whose satisfaction was so thick you could almost feel it, I raised my eyebrows.A fae performance.

The hotel had a gorgeous theater that occasionally some Magiford fae rented out for private performances. (Magiford fae, led by the Night Court, had become fixated on human pop culture, hence their newfound love of theater. Although, since fae couldn’t lie, it made fae theater productions particularly interesting and usually involved inanimate objects playing the roles of murdered characters or love interests.)

I’d made it past the hotel and was contemplating if I could risk taking the alleyway directly behind it while still bearing the gem—when I heard a pleasantly husky voice call.

“Slayer? Is there a problem?”

I instinctively turned towards the voice pausing when I saw it was Gisila—the dragon shifter.

She stood on the edge of the crowd, eye catching in her dark purple floor length gown. It had a gold waistband that was stamped to imitate scales, and the trim around the neckline and hem of the gown were golden and swirly—reminiscent of flames.

Fearlessly, she crossed the street without looking—stepping in front of a fancy, luxury car that had pulled onto the street after picking up passengers in the hotel’s loading zone. Although she had a pleasant smile on her face, I felt the full force of her power and gulped.

“M-ma’am.” I ducked my head in a quick bow. “Everything is f-fine.”

Of course, I have to meet the dragon shifter when there’s no one else around to talk for me!

I briefly hoped my adrenaline would kick in—which might make me say something stupid, at least I’d speak more smoothly—but it seemed like her innate power didn’t press me as badly as Ruin’s did because I could feel my lungs settle into inactivity even though my pulse was pounding with fear.

“That’s good. You’re on a patrol, then?” Gisila asked.

I stared at the tips of her shoes—gold, to match her purse—that peeped out from the skirt of her dress.Remember the jargon the Commissioner wants us to use—fall back onto training!“I am on official task force business. If you’ll excuse me.” My voice was robotic but at least I’d gotten it out, so I could start edging down the street again without worrying about insulting the dragon shifter.

Why was she talking to me anyway? Supernaturals with her kind of power don’t notice peons like me!

Gisila followed me down the sidewalk “You said everything is fine? There’s no active threat?”

“No,” I confirmed. “Excuse me.” I waited for a black SUV with some kind of dragon emblem emblazoned on the side to pass before I risked darting across the street. We were far enough up from the hotel that there weren’t nearly as many humans, so it should be fine even though I had the gem.

I heard the click of Gisila’s heels behind me, and the paranoia I’d been raised with began to stir in my stomach making the hair on the back of my neck stand.

Why is she still following me? Even if I’m the only slayer in Magiford and we exchanged greetings that time she visited the Cloisters, slayers are well beneath the notice of a dragon shifter. Plus, it’s not like she could be concerned for her own safety—there’s very few individuals in Magiford that she needs to fear, being what she is.