chapter 8
It was loud.
So loud, my teeth chattered.
Dressed in mostly black attire with a black coat procured for me by Marcus from who-knew-where, my hands itched. The hwan-geum had been confiscated at the door by a tall, lanky vampire with shockingly blond hair that looked almost too bright to be real, but had to be, since vampires didn’t take to dye very well.
He winked at me as I reluctantly handed over the scabbard.
“Don’t worry,” he said as one of the other security personnel began to open up the wide double doors to the converted warehouse that was, judging from the line that extended past the building and down the street, a very popular nightspot for most of Centennial City’s populace. “You’ll get it back. Promise.”
I nodded.
He lifted up a hand, as if to touch me and I’m ashamed to say that I flinched.
His bright blue eyes widened. “Wow, scared much?”
I had to hand over the sword. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to hand over the wrist dagger as well. And if I drew it on the vampire in front of me, then I would get it taken away. Not the most ideal situation. “Don’t touch me.”
He bit the corner of his voluptuously curved lips. “I almost wonder what you’d taste like…”
Jason clapped a hand on my shoulder and I almost jumped a foot in the air. “F*ck off, a*shole.”
For a moment, he almost sounded like the pathetic skater-punk I waylaid in an alleyway. It seemed like half a century ago.
I rather missed it.
The blond haired vampire shrugged a bare shoulder. “Have it your way. Didn’t mean to offend, man.”
Jason snorted. “Let’s go, Ran.”
I followed Reiko and Marcus into the packed, dark club, all the while painfully aware of the blond vampire’s eyes on the back of my neck, like a line of ants marching down my spine.
“Should I have fought him?” whispered Jason directly into my ear and I rubbed it with my shoulder to stop the itching.
“Don’t be stupid,” I replied. “I thought our goal was to make your transition into vampire society as smooth as possible. Do you really think a fight your first night out will work?”
“Guess not.”
Marcus opened the other doors, and Reiko walked through, makeup turning her childish face into something older, something carnal. I was still having a hard time trying to reconcile the image of her wearing that skin-hugging black leather ensemble that trailed behind her in the form of a puffy veil to the little girl who had opened the door in a red dress…way back then.
Someone stood in the way, a tall woman dressed in a black business suit, hair tied back, accentuating her stunning Eurasian features. Past her, I saw bodies, a lot of them, dancing, swaying, bumping against each other in a brutally primitive way that would’ve made Madonna blush.
“Welcome to Black Masque,” shouted the woman with a small bow. “My name is Eve Faulkner.”
Reiko nodded imperially. “Vincent’s human emissary.”
Vincent. One of the four Vampire Lords of Centennial City.
Finally, the plan was set in motion.
No turning back.
Jason sidled next to me, didn’t even have to bend his head to speak into my ear. “This will be my…introduction to the vampire society, or so to speak, so perhaps we ought to be on our best behavior? After this, Reiko will get me into Noir’s House. And then you will be able to do what you do best.”
I didn’t have to ask what.
I nodded. I didn’t think he’d be able to hear me, not when the music just took a sudden upward surge, the discordant sounds of guitars and drums that made my nerves feel like they were going to jump out of my body and go walking all on their own.
The woman gestured and led us up a flight of metal stairs, the vibrations making their way up my legs and settle uncomfortably at the base of my spine.
There was a small alcove on the other side of the dance floor, soft leather sofas with a broad black table set in front. We were facing the entrance doors, something I didn’t know was intentional or unplanned.
Bottles of wine and champagne laid atop the table, each in their own silver bucket of ice, along with several crystal cut containers with jewel tops.
Reiko took a seat on a leather divan, or rather, she reclined, resting her feet on the other arm rest. “Won’t you tell Vincent I’d like very much to introduce him to my…entourage?”
This far up and opposite of the tall speakers, it was actually possible to hear her speak in a semi-normal volume and I took a spot along the wall, hands held in front of me. The classic bodyguard position.
Eve looked at me in an inquisitive fashion, but didn’t say anything.
I wondered if she knew I wasn’t a vampire.
Jason sat down on a love-seat next to Reiko and Marcus stood next to me, mimicking my stance.
Vincent’s emissary bowed again, this time deeper. “I am sure he is already on his way here, Domina Kumamoto.”
Kumamoto? Was that Reiko’s last name?
Reiko lifted a slim, tall flute and let Jason pour her a small amount of champagne, the bubbles glistening like diamonds in the darkness of the club. “Thank you, Eve Faulkner.”
She nodded and excused herself, with another glance in my direction.
I’m sure she had questions.
We all did.
It was just a matter of whether a person had the…guts to ask.
Jason looked up at me, a brow quirked. “What the hell are you doing?”
I returned the look. “Being your Ailward.”
He guffawed. “Looking like that? No one’s going to believe you.”
Marcus and I exchanged a glance and Marcus shrugged. “He’s right. You’re too small.”
“Too small? I’m almost six feet tall.”
He shook his head. “You’re too skinny.”
That was the first time I heard such a thing. “What’s wrong with being skinny?”
Marcus shoved me on the shoulder and I staggered a step, back hitting the wall. “You see?”
“I get the point,” I said and righted myself, tugging the leather coat back over my shoulders. “Touch me again and you'll lose the hand.”
Reiko sighed. “You did not give up all your weapons? I am happy to know this, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s assume I didn’t hear a thing.”
“Zero accountability?”
There was a hint of a smile on her red lips. “Something like that.”
Jason patted the cushion next to him. “Sit.”
“I’ll stand.”
He opened to say something, but never got the chance.
Someone came up the stairs, and instinctively my muscles tightened.
I’d seen his pictures several times in the Daily Centennial, but to see Vincent in real life, is like seeing a masterpiece through dirty lenses and then having them cleaned.
Vampires were beautiful.
It was both their curse and their gift.
With Vincent, it was hard to see his beauty as anything less than a gift from the Gods.
Auburn hair shone like garnets, tucked into a loose queue at the nape of his slender neck, and his green eyes crinkled at the corners as he held out his arms to Reiko.
She jumped up and hugged him, all little girl instead of the pedophile dream she tried so hard to pull off.
Behind him were several people, Eve, a pouting tall, brunette dressed in more furs than a caveman in the middle of the Ice Age, and the blond vampire I ran into at the front doors.
Vincent held Reiko at an arms length, teeth glinting white in the strobe lights. “What are you wearing?”
She preened under his eyes. “Do you like it?”
He laughed and let her go. “You look like a child prostitute, Reiko.”
I winced. He didn’t mince his words.
Instead of punching a hole in his chest like I half-expected, she wilted like a plucked flower left out in the summer sun. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Well, better him than me.
She latched onto Marcus’s arm, voice plaintive. “Take me home. I want to change.”
Jason made as if to stand up. “We’ll go with you.”
“No,” said Reiko with a shake of her head. “Stay here. We won’t be long.”
Vincent stood aside as Reiko shuffled down the stairs, Marcus holding her hand to keep her from falling down the stairs in her six inch stilettos.
Jason stood up and held out a hand to Vincent, lips fixed in an easy smile. “I believe this is the first time we’ve met…like this.”
Vincent didn’t take his hand, and his face turned cloudy, a drastic change to the laughing, smiling vampire I’d seen with Reiko.
“You are treading on very dangerous ground.”
Jason’s smile never flickered. “I’m not sure if I know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?”
“No. I don’t.”
Vincent looked past him and when the vampire lord’s eyes fell on me, I pasted a smile on my face. He was old, but not as old as Reiko, and for that I was grateful. It was easier to be around him since I spent the past three days with a child vampire capable of tearing me from limb to limb.
“I know who you are.”
Was that a compliment?
From the tone of his voice, harsh, biting, I didn’t think so. But I took it as such. It never killed anyone to be polite. “Thank you.”
“The only reason you and your…Order are still alive is because you fulfill a sort of…purpose,” he began, a muscle next to his lips twitching. “You get rid of the riffraff. I’m sure you wish you were hitting us where it hurt, but quite frankly, you couldn’t. I heard about Rammstein.”
My throat went dry. Civilized, or not, old or not, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Hunting Noir…perhaps I had a chance. But with Vincent? Not in a million years. There’s a reason why he’s head of the four vampire leaders. “Rammstein was an idiot.”
“For hunting Noir, yes, I would agree.” His gaze hardened and something inside of me curled in on itself. Not that I would ever admit it. “Do not mistake his gentleness for weakness. You don’t want to make him mad. Ever.”
With that warning, he turned to Jason, arms crossed over his chest. “I might not be your Dominus, but as a Lord of Centennial, I feel as though I have the right to ask you a question.”
The smile had never left his face. “I’m not stopping you.”
“What is the woman doing here with you?
He couldn’t possibly have said “that woman” with more scorn and animosity.
“She’s my Ailward,” said Jason easily.
Ryder’s eyes widened and Eve’s dark eyes narrowed.
“Ailward?” Vincent let out a sigh. “We do not observe such standing here in America.”
“Fine,” said Jason, his smile starting to crack around the varnished edges. “She’s my bodyguard. Satisfied?”
“A human for a bodyguard.” Vincent walked a slow circle around me, looking me up and down and then up again. I didn’t like it. “How…novel. And yet, if half of what I hear is true…perhaps not such a novel idea, after all.”
His human emissary cleared her throat. “Vincent.”
Just a single word and he stopped.
Strange.
Wasn’t she his human servant?
He walked back to his entourage, hands held behind his back. “I apologize. You are guests, after all.”
Why was he acting like he was her servant?
Vincent turned on one heel. “Reynold never arrived.”
Jason titled his head to one side. “Pardon?”
“As a Lord, I am privy to certain information…” He stared at me blatantly and my skin crawled. Beautiful or not, he was frightening. “Reynold was a contract killer. A rather infamous one, at that. He took hits from various people, be they human or otherwise. Yesterday, I received word he did not return back to his keeper. A well-known killer disappearing…rather curious, wouldn’t you say?”
My face was immobile. “What are you trying to say?”
“I presumed his hit had, in turn, eliminated him. But a vampire strong enough to dispatch Reynold…certainly, there are not many in this City that is able to dispatch a three hundred year old vampire who’ve been trained by the best killers of the millennium.”
I didn’t think he was that good. But I wasn’t foolish enough to admit to anything unless there was damning evidence. And even then, perhaps I would play deaf. “And what makes you think I know anything about him?”
“Nothing,” he said in a contemplative manner. It didn’t fool anyone. “Except I know who the contract was for.”
Jason wasn’t smiling anymore. “I don’t understand why you are trying to be so subtle. Do you want me to admit a vampire came looking for me?”
I wanted to bash my head against the metal wall. Or his head. It didn’t really matter. “Don’t. Tell. Him. Anything.”
“Too late,” he said and turned his gaze back to Vincent. “Yes, I’ll admit it. He came for me on the same night Reiko decided to turn me. Ran was simply defending me. Nothing more.”
Idiot!
“Normally, I would applaud such efforts,” replied Vincent in a hushed undertone. “However, I know about Ran’s history. I know where she comes from. A skilled hunter becoming the Ailward to a vampire? A new one, at that? One to which she had absolutely zero contact with? If you were me, don’t you think you would find that slightly…suspicious?”
He whispered the last word, but he might as well have screamed it for all the effect it had.
His emissary’s brows rose and the blond vampire’s mouth gaped open. The brunette flipped her hair back and regarded me with cool eyes. If I’d been prettier, I might’ve mistaken her look for jealousy.
But not the way I was dressed.
Jason let out a slow breath and I saw his hands clench at his sides. Surely he wasn’t an idiot enough to throw himself at Vincent?
But no, he unclenched his fists and squared his shoulders. “May I ask how you know about my personal history with her?”
Vincent smiled but it was like how Jason smiled. Lips curved upward, but no mirth in the eyes. “When I learned about Reynold and the contract out for you, a mere pup of a bloodsucker, I thought it was quite strange. He had been offered quite a bit of money, if you must know. I couldn’t help but wonder why someone would put out a hit on a newborn, and not only that, but put a large sum of funds on it. As of yet, I have not found out why. I’m sure, given enough time, I will. But can you see where I am coming from?”
I didn’t, but this was not a conversation I could interrupt. As Jason’s Ailward, it was my job to look tough and menacing.
But without my weapon, I wasn’t sure how I was pulling it off.
“I’m a rich man,” Jason said with a straight face. “To Reiko, I think I am a formidable ally. There are many who would think nothing of knocking an entire House down, if only to advance their own families. No matter how you try to hide it from the humans, there is always internal strife. Each House battles another for prestige and honor. Every year, more vampires die at the hands of their own brethren than from human hunters.”
Vincent inclined his head. “This I can attest to.”
“Then why is it so wrong for me to have a bodyguard?”
Vincent looked at me and in his eyes I read the mind of a man I hoped never to anger. “It’s not the fact you have a bodyguard that surprises me. It’s the fact that you have her as one.”
Calling me a bitch would’ve been less offensive. It was that sort of tone. I could have been on fire and he wouldn’t have pissed on me to save my life.
Jason tilted his head to one side. “Who better to protect me than someone like her? She has made it her life work to eliminate vampires. Human bodyguards are easy to get, but someone like her? No…she is a rare treasure and one I plan to protect.”
Strange choice of words. After all, I was meant to be protect him, not the other way around.
He put a hand on my waist and I let him. “She is, for the lack of a better word, incorruptible. Wouldn’t you agree…Vincent?”
Vincent’s lips tightened until they almost disappeared in the pale oval of his face. “So be it. Keep your secrets. But consider this a warning, newborn. I am going to watch you. I am going to watch your so-called Ailward. If I so much as sense some sort of treachery from you, if you do anything to harm Reiko and her House, you will not live to see another moon rise. Do you understand?”
Jason nodded. He did not have to see anything.
I stood still as Vincent’s eyes raked me one last time.
“One foot out of line, hunter. One foot out of line and I’ll rip you apart.”
I had no doubt he would. “Warning well noted.”
He whirled on one heel and left us then, the faint scent of oranges and something else, something coppery, staying in the air for quite some time.
His human emissary was the last to leave.
She paused, one hand on the metal railing and then looked over her shoulder.
“If I were you, I’d listen.”
I had to clear my throat to get any words out. “But you’re not.”
Her lips twitched. “No. I’m not. And thank God for that.”
She left and I let my knees get a little weak.
That I had been around such a vampire like Vincent and emerged alive and well…this was certainly quite an education. “This complicates things.”
Jason sighed. “You don’t say. It appears Reiko did not share with Vincent the…details of our relationship.”
“If I kill Noir and Vincent gets the idea it’s me, I won’t stay alive for long,” I said quietly.
“I can keep you away.” Jason looked up at me, eyes glittering like black diamonds. “I can hide you. Get you a new identity if you need it.”
A tempting offer, but… “If that vampire wanted me dead, I don’t think a new name would keep me alive.”
“What about a new face?”
He looked much too earnest. “I think I’ll pass. If the Fellowship can’t keep me hidden, I don’t think anything would.”
He stared at the mass of dancers on the ground floor, their hands waving in the air, reminding me of sea anemones, colorful and beautiful. “I think I’m hungry.”
Of course. That was one of the biggest reasons why we were here after all. Consensual feeding seemed to be the norm, or at least none of the staff thought to stop the various couples hidden here and there, buried in on themselves. Bile rose in the back of my throat as I thought about the blood that would flow down Jason’s throat.
Better anyone else than me. “Do you need my help?”
He grinned and for a moment, I saw the face of the skater punk from so very long ago. “Shouldn’t think so.”
“Well, in any case, I can’t just stand here.”
“Can’t you?” he asked, sounding terribly amused.
What was I supposed to say? “I don’t…”
He stood up, pushed the hair behind his ears and adjusted his shirt cuffs. “Standing here, or in my case, sitting here is hardly going to fix or change anything. You can stay here and watch me feed, or you can go down and get yourself a drink or something.” He laughed. “Perhaps they’ll have some juice.”
The way he said the last sentence made me feel like a child. But I was thirsty and all the expensive alcohol on the table less than a foot away was as useful to me as a bucket of sand in a desert.
I followed him down the stairs and stood at the very edge of the massive dance floor, watched Jason look at the mass of writhing, sweating bodies with a predatory gleam in his eyes.
“I’m off.” He slipped into the crowd as graceful and deadly as a hawk homing in on its prey and while I was good at finding, it would take more than I had to track him through the hundreds of people on the dance floor.
If I wanted to.
Which I didn’t.
The long, metallic bar with seven bartenders, all of them dressed professionally in black vests over white button-down shirts and black pants, stretched along one side of the wall and I made my way to the bar, managing to snag a seat in the very middle. A giggly, very drunk blond was on my right and a quiet, also very drunk redhead was on my left, both of them looking as though they would not be leaving the club under their own power.
I held up a hand and a bartender, dapper with a small goatee, nodded in my direction.
“What can I get for ya?”
“Cranberry juice, if you’ve got any.”
The giggly, drunk blond laughed shrilly upon hearing my order, but I ignored her. Taking action against her in the state she was in, was pointless and moot.
The bartender slapped a glass on the counter and poured me a tall one. “No problema. Will that be all for ya, chica?”
Chica? What was that supposed to mean? “Um. Yes. That’s all.”
Drink paid for, I turned in my seat, cold glass in one hand, all the while acutely aware of the leather wrist sheathe riding comfortably over my wrist bone, almost like a cherished bracelet.
I couldn’t kill a vampire with the small dagger, but I could hurt them enough to make them think twice about attacking me again.
And in most cases, that was seventy-five percent of the battle.
If I was under the impression that I could possibly spot Jason in the middle of at least three hundred people, I was sorely disillusioned.
Three hundred people.
Three hundred.
The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I put the glass down on the counter, hard enough to cause a wash of crimson to splash over the rim and onto my right hand.
Shit.
That’s twice in three days I left Jason alone.
Never mind he was taught by a vampire who could teach me more than a thing or two.
Never mind he was, by all accounts, my master.
He was still my responsibility and if he died on me now, I’d never get close to Noir, not with Vincent keeping such a close eye on me.
The DJ spun something new, something loud with lots of hard, distortion guitar music. I didn’t recognize the artist, but then again, my music of choice was written by people who were dead for at least a couple hundred years.
I pushed into the crowd, amidst cries and curses from the disturbed dancers who apparently didn’t enjoy my interruption into their bouncing and swaying.
Couldn’t see Jason.
I managed to make it out to the other side of the dance floor, the side facing the double entrance/exit doors and took a couple of deep breaths. I needed them. It was impossible to get a breath in, squashed in by people from all sides. It was enough to make me want to just start throwing punches left and right, if only to clear the way.
Shit, shit, shit!
Someone touched my shoulder lightly and unconsciously, I cocked my fist and whirled on one heel.
The fact he was a vampire was the only reason he wasn’t plastered against the wall. A human wouldn’t have been quick enough to duck.
The blond vampire held up his hands, cerulean blue eyes wide. “Whoa, whoa. Calm down! Calm the f*ck down, lady!”
Chest heaving, I brought my hand down, desperately glad I had enough sense to keep the bi-su where it belonged, tucked in the wrist sheath. I had to remember…it was nothing but a last resort. Had to remember. Why did I keep forgetting? “What do you want?”
He ran a hand through his blond hair, long enough to brush his jawline. “Couldn’t help but notice you seemed to be in a bit of trouble.”
“Trouble?”
“You just plowed through that dance floor like a f*cking bull-dozer,” he said dryly. “You’re lucky no one got hurt. Much.”
I didn’t have time for this. I had to find Jason, had to make sure he was safe. If I had to stand in front of him and watch him drain a human, I would. I no longer had a choice, not anymore. “Get out of the way. Leave me alone.”
He crossed his arms and planted himself directly in front of me. “Look, I’d like to help you. Let me help.”
What was his problem? Besides being nothing more than a walking corpse, anyways. “I said get lost!”
I pushed past him, eyes scanning the dance floor, the myriad of human bodies that glistened like wet silk under the strobe lights and frenetic colored lights that would give any healthy human the seizure of the lifetime.
He followed me as I walked around the dance floor, hoping for a glimpse of a white shirt, a glimpse of dark hair, even a flash of onyx eyes.
“Hey, I said I could help!”
Persistent bastard.
Still, if he wanted to help so much…
I stopped, sudden enough to make him bump into me. Most women would’ve taken it the wrong way and slapped the crap out of him, but I didn’t take it personally. I’ve got about as much curves as a plank of wood and about as much sex appeal. But you’d never find me complaining. “Fine, you want to help?”
His eyes were wide. It was cute. Not really. “What can I do?”
How much could I tell him without the wrong information going to Vincent? Such a precarious situation.
What was more important?
Finding Jason?
Or explaining away a wrong impression to Centennial City’s most powerful vampire?
The latter I could do.
But the former would lead to consequences that were unfixable, should they come to pass.
I drew in a deep breath of the slightly sweet, slightly sweaty heated air. Not because I like it, but because it was calming. Breathe in…breathe out…
“I’m looking for the vampire I was with,” I explained. “Jason. The newborn. My…master.”
The blond vampire tapped the side of his elegant nose. “Ah, he put the sack over you, eh?”
I had no idea what that even meant. “Um. Yes. Whatever you said. Look, it’s imperative I find him. If we split up, we can find him that much sooner.”
He squared his wide shoulders. I would’ve been more impressed if he wasn’t a vampire. “I can do that. What do I do after I find him, if I do?”
First thing tomorrow, I was going to get a cell phone. “Just stay with him. He might be feeding. When he’s done, escort him back to our seats. If I don’t find him within thirty minutes, I’ll assume you have him and we’ll rendezvous there. Got it?”
He grinned. “Ooh, rendezvous, hm? Sounds professional. I think I kind of like it.”
Who was this man and how had he survived for this long? I’d never met such a flippant being.“Just…just find him, okay?”
He clicked his heels together. “Aye, aye, Captain!”
I had serious doubts as to whether he could help me, but two pairs of eyes are more useful than one. “See you in thirty, if not sooner.”
“Um.” He stuck out his hand. “Name’s Ryder.”
I stared at the proffered hand. I didn’t want to take it. I didn’t need to start making vampire friends. As soon as Noir’s head was off his shoulders, I would be back hunting his kind. I didn’t need this kind of emotional attachment. “That’s nice to know.”
He sighed and extended his hand further. “You’re supposed to take my hand. Shake it. And then you say, Hi, my name is…whatever your name is. And then you say, nice to meet you. I’ll say likewise. Then we’ll be on our merry way.”
There was absolutely nothing merry about this. Nothing. “You sound ridiculous.”
He winked broadly. “Maybe so. But I’m pretty hot, so most people tend to overlook my faults.”
Reluctantly I took his hand, all the while painfully aware of the seconds, minutes ticking by, seconds and minutes better spent looking for Jason and being aware of his safety.
His grip was strong, but not overpoweringly so, just enough to show he was no pansy. Ryder was certainly innocent looking enough with his blond hair, blue eyes and the perpetual pout like he’d been sucking on his own lips.
But he was strong. Stronger than he looked, than he felt.
That much was clear.
And he knew the limits of his strength.
That boded…well.
“Ran,” I said, and then immediately wished I hadn’t given him my real name. Ah well. He was probably going to find out, sooner or later, sooner if he found Jason before I did. “Nice to meet you.”
His grin widened. “There. Now, that wasn’t too hard, was it?”
“You’re quite annoying.”
“All the time,” he said, laughing quietly under his breath. I think I would’ve liked him better, or at least tolerated him better, if I didn’t feel like he was laughing at my expense. “All the time, Ran.”
We parted, he to the left and I to the right.
If I thought I would find Jason soon, I was wrong.
Every minute spent looking for his dark head was every minute where I felt sweat pool in the small of my back. I was hot, hard not to be in an enclosed space with almost a thousand people breathing, moving, dancing, but it wasn’t just the heat.
Jason dead.
Jason with his throat slashed.
Jason with his blood coating his chest like a crimson sea.
No. I wouldn’t.
I wouldn’t let him die!
Not when I was close, so close to fulfilling my duty and getting out of here. Get out of the proverbial chicken coop and make for the hills.
Parting would never be such sweeter sorrow.
Thirty minutes later, I sprinted up the metal stairs, having convinced myself the only reason I hadn’t found Jason was because he was here with Ryder.
No such luck.
Ryder pushed back from the metal railing, his strangely dark eyebrows furrowed down. “You couldn’t find him either?”
I swallowed a lump of fear and nodded. “I must have been over every square inch of that dance floor. It’s hard to believe we could have both missed him.”
“Means he’s not on the floor,” he said and then sighed. “F*cking hell. There’s a chance he might’ve gotten past the security doors and is wandering around in the employee hallways. This place is a f*cking maze. If he’s not here, he’s got to be there. And if he’s there, Vincent’s going to have my ass on a stick.”
The club hadn’t appeared very large from the outside, certainly not large enough for one young vampire to get lost, and I told him as much.
He paused on the first step down. “Are you serious? You think this is all we have? Just in case you didn’t know, Vincent’s a powerful son of a bitch. There’s a lot of us who’ve thrown our lot in with him. He lets us stay here.”
I stared at the high metallic ceiling and felt my stomach dip. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get over the fear of heights. “Down. You live underneath the club.”
“Bingo.”
Why was I not surprised? “How many levels?”
“Four.”
I cursed under my breath. “How big?”
He blinked. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Just tell me.”
He did.
I cursed again, this time louder.
The vampire laughed.
At least someone was enjoying themself. “What’s so funny?”
He shook his head, still laughing to himself. “Nothing. Sorry. So, what now?”
As if there was a choice. “I’ve got to get down there.”
“Ooh, no can do,” he said, wincing. “Vincent’s rules. Look, if it makes you feel any better, if he is down there, someone’ll probably come drag him out in a little while. You want to sit down and see?”
I’d never survive the wait. “I can’t. He’s my responsibility. I’m supposed to be looking after him.”
He was silent for a moment. “You’re not doing a very good job of it, you know?
Truer words had never been spoken. “It’s…a work in progress, I’m afraid.”
How could it not be? I’d never had to guard anyone in my life before.
I rubbed my temples, trying to ignore the sudden pounding that made me feel like I was on an amusement park Tilt-a-Whirl. “He’s never hunted before. He was fed, that’s all.”
Ryder made a sound in the back of his throat. “I can understand your trepidation, but I really can’t let you go down. Orders are orders. No outsiders or humans allowed below. You’re just going to have to come up with another option.”
My options were…I struggled with the sudden nonsensical urge to laugh. What options? I couldn’t fight past Ryder, well, not fight and manage to stay conscious enough to get below. “Take me with you.”
His eyes widened. “You want to go downstairs? With me?”
“I don’t have a choice,” I said. “If I’m with you, no one will stop me. You don’t understand how crucial it is that I find Jason. There was an attempt on his life a couple of days ago. I have reason to believe he is still wanted.”
“I heard,” he replied, tilting his head to one side. Only a benevolent nun could’ve trusted the smile gracing his red lips. “Let’s make a deal.”
Deals. Everyone wanted to make them.
I, on the other hand, was really starting to hate them.
It was a deal that got me into this mess in the first place.
I doubted this deal was going to make the situation any better.
But it didn’t hurt to hear him out. As long as he was quick about it. “What’s the deal?”
He leaned against the metal stair railing, bracing his chin on his knuckles. It was an innocent pose and one he pulled off amazingly well, despite his bared shoulders in a black shirt with the sleeves artfully torn off. “That you get to take me out.”
I blinked. I didn’t think I heard him correctly. “I’m sorry. That I get to take you out?”
He grinned widely. “Yeah. I need a chance to get out of this place.”
There were so many questions I wanted to ask. Questions in the same line as “Looking like that, you have to resort to blackmailing people for dates?”, but quite frankly, I’d already wasted enough time. For all I knew, Jason could be dead and that knowledge made my breath come short. “If I say yes, will you escort me underground?”
He nodded, like an eager child offered a cookie. “Tomorrow work for you?”
That was soon. Maybe too soon. But there was no time to agree on a given day. “Yes, that’s fine. I don’t care. Now, will you take below?”
“Hell yeah!”
I wished I was half as enthusiastic.
Mm, maybe not.