Tequila shots are my best friend, I decided as I stumbled into my dark apartment. Or maybe vodka…

The party had been way too long and way too much of a nuisance. I felt like that new guy, Dimitri, had been eyeing me all night. The peculiar sensation I had felt when I met his eyes and shook his hand wasn't something I had encountered in my life before. I admit, maybe I had felt something along those lines when I met my last real boyfriend, Mason, but I had been a mortal at the time.

Picking up any shots I could find and downing them on the spot for the whole second hour of the party was the reason for my alcohol-induced haze. The imps had been even more open to me than normal (probably something to do with the need for more power that all demons feel on Halloween) and even a few of the other demons.

By the last hour of the party, I had gotten so sick of watching Lissa and Christian tonguing and the feeling that I was being watched by those deep, brown eyes, I had done something that I had only done twice before in my immortal life—I left before the party was over and the majority of other people were gone.

My bed welcomed me with open arms and I succumbed into unconsciousness quickly that night. Amazingly, I didn't wake up with a massive headache in the morning and no signs of a hangover were present.

I quickly shifted into a pair of jeans, a tight, red tank with a plunging neckline, a black leather jacket, and black stiletto ankle boots and turned on my phone to check messages. I was a PI for some of Seattle's richest clients when I wasn't working my immortal duties. Apparently, my secretary, Andrea, had found me a new client. Go ahead and start singing the Jiff peanut butter song in your head, 'cause not only was the new clientele rich, he was hot and was having an affair with me. Talk about multitasking.

The office was still empty when I got there. It was only ten and I tended to get what only a PI would consider a rush around one when all of the 'richies' got out of their business meetings and had lunch. That also tended to be the time when they got updates on the whereabouts of their husbands, wives, etc. and decided to have a PI investigate something for them. Most of the time it was that they were afraid that this person had materials that would ruin them, or they needed blackmail material on someone so they wouldn't sue them, or they had a suspicion that their spouse was cheating on them.

I unlocked the door to my section of the office and pulled up the cases that I had closed the day before. It took me about an hour to mark all the cases as 'Closed' and, if I hadn't done so already, relate everything that I had discovered to the respectful client.

I got a text from Lissa at almost 11:30 asking me to meet her and the gang at the Thai restaurant down the street around noon. I was quickly texting my reply of 'I'll be there' when there was a sharp rapping on my office door and I glanced at the time. "Enter." A familiar smirking face and the accompanying usual disarray of black sex hair that was drowning in hair gel sauntered in. Jesse Zeklos.

"Good morning, Mr. Zeklos, it's a pleasure to see you again," I greeted him formally and move to close the door.

"Now, Rose, no need for the formalities. His voice was obviously attempting to be seductive yet at ease at the same time.

"Well then, what can I help you with Jesse? I know your not here to get me to help you scratch a certain itch…" I prodded.

He cleared his throat. "Yes, Ralf and I are launching a merge with a small company and we need some information on the owner. It's Armand Drozov."

I blanched. "The guy who was accused of killing that rich prostitute last year?"

"Yeah."

I slowly considered the angles of getting information. I'd always been a troublemaker. I smiled. "What do you need to know?" He grinned and we began compiling a list of basic dirt that he needed.

Twenty minutes later Jesse stood from the chair and grabbed his briefcase. Alright, well I'm assuming you'd like to get to your lunch break; that is unless you did want to help me scratch that itch?" He raised his eyebrows.

I laughed at him and said, "Well you know me, I'd normally love to, but I have to meet some friends for lunch."