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If he paid the least bit of attention, Grevolus would know.

“Tuesday. That’s the next new moon.” Hiding in the shadows was something she learned when she was young.

That ability was one of the reasons she was stuck on Earth with her sire.

What Grevolus didn’t know was that her power had increased in the last couple of years.

Now Elle could call on the smallest shadow and pull it around her like a cloak, obscuring her from view.

“I’m leaving after I eat so I have plenty of time to find the right female. ”

Grevolus tossed back the rest of the whiskey.

“After this hit, I think it’s time to move somewhere other than this hovel.

” He shoved back his chair, scraping it across the hardwood flooring, and tossed the empty glass in the sink.

Luckily, this one didn’t break. She hated cleaning up after him, but at least now he no longer cared if she did it with magic.

Elle dropped her napkin onto the plate and slumped back in her chair.

She hated moving because it was up to her to pack their meager belongings, but more than that, she hated the thought of another human losing their life just so they had somewhere to live.

She looked forward to the days when she went out of town.

In the beginning, Grevolus didn’t trust her to do the job without him, so he drove her to whatever city she chose.

He made her stay in the same hotel room those first few trips.

When he found a woman he wanted to bed, he got Elle her own room, and after that trip, they no longer shared.

Grevolus would find their target, break into the woman’s home, and steal her ID and bank card.

Elle finally convinced him to allow her to make the trips alone.

She reminded him of the sigil. It wasn’t as if she could get away from him.

He gave her one chance, and when she arrived back at the house they shared with the money, that was that.

Going without him gave her an opportunity to observe humans and be around others, even if it was a brief conversation with someone in a coffee shop where Elle sat and watched humans interact.

She listened in on conversations while using glamour to fit in.

She observed couples holding hands and sharing a laugh.

Elle longed to have a mate she could share her life with, but it wasn’t in the stars for her.

It also gave Elle the opportunity to choose which woman she would steal money from.

She observed the way they treated the workers behind the counter.

It astounded her how rude people could be to those serving them.

If Elle had to take someone’s money, it was from those who were less than kind.

Elle cleaned her plate and his glass with magic, then put both in the cabinet.

Knowing she would be gone a few days, Elle had already made several dinners for him to heat up if he decided to actually eat something instead of drinking the whole time she was gone.

She made sure the house was clean and the laundry was put away before packing her bag.

Without saying goodbye, Elle made her way to the small sedan they had bought with cash.

The truck was too recognizable being an older model, and it took too much gas to go the long distances Elle traveled.

Since she had already chosen a hotel on the internet, she punched the address into the GPS and headed out.

Her trips were always as close to four hundred miles between locations as she could get them, which took six to seven hours if she didn’t stop.

Elle hated driving on the busy freeways, but they were the quickest routes, and she would rather get to her destination so she could check into the hotel, then walk around the city.

Even though she only chose southern towns, they were each unique.

She couldn’t wait to get to Nashville, otherwise known as Music City.

That was another difference between Earth and Evyndral.

There were so many different types of songs on the radio here, whereas back in her realm, the songs were much the same, played on simple instruments by a single person.

The first time Grevolus heard rock ‘n’ roll, he cursed the truck and nearly wrecked trying to turn it off.

Elle preferred the softer tunes, although she enjoyed some of the livelier ones she had seen humans dancing to when she came upon a video channel on the internet.

Traffic was heavy as she neared her destination.

Elle’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as she had to merge onto the offramp with cars vying for position.

She let out a deep breath when she was on one of the side roads and followed it several miles to the hotel.

It wasn’t one of the most expensive because Grevolus would pitch a fit if Elle stayed somewhere lavish, but it also wasn’t a dump like he would have chosen.

Half an hour later, she had her keycard and rode the elevator to the fourth floor.

After unpacking her few belongings, Elle freshened up in the small bathroom, wrapped the voice translator she fashioned into a bracelet around her wrist, and set out on foot.

She had learned quite a bit of English, but not everyone spoke it.

She purposely chose a hotel away from all the bars on the main strip since they were more expensive, but she was excited to see what the honkytonks were all about.

She would enjoy the night away from Grevolus and search for her victim in the morning.

With Nashville being in the central time zone, it was going on five o’clock instead of six when Elle found herself on Broadway after walking close to a mile.

The sun was low in the cloudy sky, and bright, colorful lights adorned each building.

Although it was late January and chilly out, crowds were already forming in the live music venues.

Elle strolled along the busy sidewalk, taking in both people and the music playing inside the honkytonks.

Grevolus demanded she choose banks in larger cities, assuming people had more money there than those in small towns, which worked for her plan.

It was also easier for Elle to get lost in a crowd once she had the money in hand.

As she did in each new place, Elle found a group of young women and followed them.

She took in how they were dressed and the way they styled their hair, then she slipped into the restroom.

Ducking into a stall, Elle called on a glamour that was a mixture of their looks, and when she was sure she was alone, walked back out into the crowd.

Searching for those same females, she found them gathered round a tall table with drinks in front of them. Elle joined them.

“I’m sorry to intrude, but my friends are late. Would you mind terribly if I stood with you until they get here?” Elle knew better than to stand around by herself with so many males on the prowl. She’d made that mistake once.

“Not at all. I’m Kelsie,” the woman closest said. “This is Shelby, Dawn, and Brittney.” Each woman gave her a wave and a big smile.

“Thank you so much. I’m Ellie.” Close enough . “Are y’all from here?” Learning to speak the language wasn’t that hard, but choosing an accent was, considering each area she traveled to spoke differently.

Kelsie shook her head. “No, we’re from Kentucky. My sister is having her bachelorette party down here tomorrow night. We came early to make a weekend of it.”

When researching Nashville, Elle had read about bachelorette parties.

They didn’t have anything like them in Evyndral.

In the light courts of Summerland and Springmire, if a fae chose a mate, they went to the elders for a handfasting ceremony.

Their families joined them, and after, there was a shared meal with wine and dancing.

She had no idea if the dark courts had similar ceremonies, but if they did, she doubted they had a large gathering afterward since Melisandra, the dark Queen, had been stingy with her gold.

The longer they stood talking, the louder the music got, but Elle didn’t mind.

It gave her an excuse not to join in the conversation.

Just as the hair on Elle’s arms bristled, Kelsie elbowed Shelby, then pointed with her beer bottle.

Something or someone gave Elle goosebumps, but she didn’t have time to figure out what or who it was because Kelsie yelled, “I call dibs.”

The four friends were staring toward the door, and when Elle leaned sideways to see who they were looking at, she understood why they were ogling.

Several of the men in the establishment were handsome, but the tall male who just entered the building was huge.

Without a word, everyone moved out of his way as he strode to the bar.

All the women stared, and some of the men did too.

After he had his bottle of beer from the bartender, the man turned and surveyed the room.

Kelsie tugged her skirt down. “I’m going in.

” Elle didn’t know what that meant until the female stalked across the bar, angling between bodies until she reached her prey.

When she sidled up next to him, Kelsie ran a pointed fingernail down his bare arm.

Unlike the other men in the room, this one wore a tight T-shirt, showing off heavily muscled arms. For a moment, Elle wished she’d been the one to call dibs, now that she knew what that meant, but she wasn’t in town to find a male. She was there to do a job.

The man grinned at Kelsie, leaning down so he could hear whatever she said into his ear.

His eyebrows shot up, then he turned his gaze to their table when Kelsie pointed their way.

His grin widened until he saw Elle. For whatever reason, his smile slipped, and his sparkling eyes narrowed.

Then he grinned, and Elle felt it to her soul.

Something about him called to her on a cellular level.

He said something, and Kelsie looked confused, but he placed his hand on her shoulder and directed her to where Elle and the others were standing.

Elle excused herself to the restroom. Slipping into the first stall that opened, she changed her glamour from a blonde with long waves to a brunette with her hair piled up in a messy bun.

She altered the color of her shirt from pink to blue and opted for jeans that covered her boots.

Elle eased out of the restroom, glancing at the table.

Something about the redhead set off alarms no matter how handsome he was.

The male was preoccupied by something Shelby was telling him, and Elle took off toward the front of the bar, slipping out into the cool night air.

Taking a left, Elle strolled down Broadway to one of the larger places and found another table of females to chat with.

She was hopeful she could find a local female to impersonate and get that task out of the way.

After five bars, Elle was about to give up, when two couples sat at the table next to hers.

One of the couples looked happy, but the other appeared as though they would rather be anywhere else.

Elle sipped her drink as she eavesdropped.

When the two women went to the restroom together, Elle followed.

There was a line, so Elle waited behind them, pretending to scroll on her phone.

“God, he’s such a bore,” the unhappy woman groaned.

“Then why are you with him?” her friend asked.

Leaning in, unhappy grinned and mock whispered, “Because he’s got a really big... bank account.” Her friend rolled her eyes, but she snorted when unhappy giggled.

“Please. You have your daddy’s money. You don’t need Greg’s too.”

Unhappy shrugged. “You can never have too much. Besides, I need something to keep me warm at night when he’s off on his business trips.”

“You’re awful,” her friend said, bumping shoulders.

Elle couldn’t agree more.