“They’re here?” I said, looking over Andre’s shoulder. My fangs dropped down at the thought. All that Andre had warned me about last night replayed through my mind.
“Some of my bouncers and several of my patrons are vampires,” Andre said. He glanced at the nearby exits. “Now we need to get you out of here—”
The music suddenly quieted and a voice came on over the speakers. “Evening all you lovely creatures,” a woman said. The crowd stilled, and the hairs on my arms rose. The voice was melodic, seductive, … compelling.
My eyes searched for the source, moving over the packed dance floor and landing on the DJ station. There.
The woman stared at me, and when my gaze met hers, her red lips widened.
The blood drained from my face. I might’ve just caught my first glimpse of the murderer that smelled of ash and roses, and she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Most supernaturals were easy on the eyes, but she … she made my heart ache.
“Let’s get the party started,” she shouted, riling up the club. She spoke with an English accent. Not Romanian. Foreigner. “Get on the dance floor, and dance until you can’t anymore.”
Andre’s hands dropped from where they’d touched me. His eyes flickered, his mouth pulled down into a frown, but he moved away from me.
“Andre!” His shoulder muscles tensed, but he didn’t glance back.
Bodies brushed past me as other club patrons made their way to the dance floor. The bar and lounge emptied; everyone left what they were doing to join the dancing crowd.
The woman had her hand on the DJ’s shoulder, and she whispered something in his ear. He nodded and turned back to the setup in front of him. The speakers blasted as a new song came on, and the crowd began to sway.
As far as I could tell, I was the only one who wasn’t affected. There was only one thing I knew of that could cause this.
I tugged my mike towards my mouth. “Grigori, if you can hear this, then listen to me. I think I just laid eyes on one of the killers, and …” I took a deep breath, “I think she might be a siren.”
I thought I was the last siren left. I was wrong.
Pushing through the last of the people joining the dance floor, I made my way to the DJ booth. At the back of my mind I registered that I’d been immune to the glamour. I guess it didn’t work on our own kind.
If this woman was one of the killers, then I had an idea how our victims walked so far in their bare feet without any signs of duress. Glamour.
The woman stepped down from the booth, and her dark eyes glittered as she watched me approach her.
As soon as I reached her, she did something wholly unexpected. Pressing a fisted hand to her breast, she knelt at my feet.
I took a step back, now unsure of myself. Out of all the things I was anticipating when I confronted the killer, this was not one of them.
She rose, her eyes moving up until they met mine. “It’s an honor to meet you, consort.”
I started at the name. “Don’t call me that.”
She smiled. “My apologies, Gabrielle.”
That wasn’t exactly better.
My gaze moved to the crowd. At first glance, one would think they were having a good time. But their eyes gave them away. All were empty, unseeing, marionettes strung along by a puppet master. Using glamour in this manner was against the law.
“Let them go,” I said, even as the siren in me stirred. There would be no using the safety phrase. No amount of backup would save the people in this room, and there was nothing stopping this woman from doing to the officers what she’d already done to the rest of the room—including the king of vampires.
This was really not his night. It wasn’t really mine, either.
“I will, once we’re finished,” she said.
My eyes moved over her tan skin. It wasn’t glowing—actually, I hadn’t seen her skin light up at all this evening—yet the room was still under her spell. If she was a siren, how was that possible?
My eyes flicked up and our gazes locked. “What are you?”
She stepped up to me, leaning in. Her mouth skimmed my cheek, making me shudder. “I am just like you,” she whispered, her voice teasing a shiver out of me. She fingered my hair, and as she spoke, her lips tickled my ear. “Same seductive beauty, same powers of persuasion, same cursed lineage.”
She pulled away, her eyes moving to my mouth. “But I am not a siren.”
“Then what are you?” I asked.
Her gaze dropped to my cleavage. Not exactly the response I’d been looking for.
And then she reached down my dress.
I gasped, snatching her wrist, but not before I felt her yank the wires attached to the inside of my outfit. She pulled the listening device out and threw it on the floor, crushing it underneath her stiletto. “Can’t have the Politia ruin all our fun.” She eyed me. “You really shouldn’t be working for them. They hate people like us.”
“And you really shouldn’t be murdering people,” I snapped.
She flashed me a sinful smile and began to circle me slowly. “You have your orders, and I have mine.” Her hand skimmed along my waist, and I swatted it away.
This whole conversation felt like a violation, but what chilled the blood in my veins was that some part of me, the part that called to my darker nature, reveled in it. I wanted to let this woman’s murderous hands continue to touch me and her wicked lips to graze my skin. I wondered if I embraced the siren in me whether I too could wield this kind of power.
“Why are you here?” I asked. Behind her I swear I saw a shadow move, but then she spoke, drawing my attention away from the movement.
“Why, to meet you of course.” She stepped back in front of me.
“And are you going to tell me your name?” I asked, perhaps a tad snarky.
She tilted her head. “Mmm, I don’t think so.”
I was tired of this game of cat and mouse. Specifically, I was tired of being the mouse. The siren in me screamed to be let out, and for once, I caved.
My skin glowed. “Stop killing people.”
The woman looked delighted. “Finally. Took you long enough to come out and play.”