cart, and he was wearing an expression you usually only see when someone in court is sentenced to

a long haul. Of course, we’d shopped for him first, and I figured that since he was a guy he

wouldn’t have as much embarrassment over buying underwear. I’d just told him to go and get a

couple packets of whatever he was wearing now. Benjamin looked like he’d swallowed a frog, and

I’d given the djamphir one of my best glares, an imitation of Gran’s shut-yer-mouth look. He subsided and muttered something about Macy’s. Followed by Neiman Marcus, please, even that would

be better, under his breath.

I figured if Benjamin wouldn’t pay for it with the Order-approved cards, I’d use the roll of emergency cash in my bag to cover it. It wasn’t quite an emergency, but Jesus. I wasn’t going to have

Graves wearing all the same stuff while I was kitted out.

“So where does the money come from, anyway?” I stopped in front of the display and started going

through the checklist. V-neck, short sleeves, not bad. I hate fabric crawling up on my neck. All-cotton, good, get them kind of bigger because they’ll shrink. A yawn caught me off-guard, I kept it behind a cupped hand. They had four black tees in medium. I grabbed them all and set them in the

cart.

“There’s plenty.” Out of all of them, Leon looked the closest to human under the fluorescents. He

was looking at a display of spring dresses, polka-dotted things that would be completely useless if

you were running away from something. “Is this what girls wear now?”

“Not this girl,” I muttered. “Seriously, where does the money come from? Come on, I want to look

at clearance.”

“Why?” Benjamin sounded honestly baffled. “A svetocha can have anything she wants, Dru; we

have plenty of money. The Order invests and has several corporations.”

Now that was interesting. Where there was corporation and stock, there were paper trails. At least,

you could find out some stuff with public records and other stuff by hack and by crook. I filed that

away. “Just because you have money doesn’t mean you have to waste it. Target’s good enough. And

what about a svetocha getting what she wants? I thought Anna was supposed to be a big secret.” I

halted near the clearance racks and started digging. It was a good time to get hoodies because when

spring comes they clear out just about everything to make way for the bikini-fest in early summer.

I shuddered at that thought.

“She’s a secret—from the nosferatu. She doesn’t mix much with the general population. Busy running the Order and . . . well, it’s best to stay out of her way. Out of the way of anyone on the Council, really. They don’t get there by being decorative.” Benjamin looked even more uncomfortable.