It was starting to feel like I’d never left The Wicked Kiss. The moment I walked through the door, I asked myself why I bothered. Would things be any different whether I was there or not? Judging by Kale’s dead whores the other night, the answer to that was ‘no.’
I could feel Arys’ presence. I hated that he’d been hanging around so much. It made me think he knew something that I didn’t. Knowing him, he did. I assumed he was there because of the Vegas vampires, but I still wasn’t sure how concerned I should be about them. Everything Arys had to say about them scared the shit out of me. However, I’d been hit with a lot in recent days, and I could only handle one thing at a time, as it occurred.
It was early yet, barely midnight. The club was busy but not yet crowded. I could still make my way through without having to toss people out of my path. Nothing was amiss, yet. My senses were blazing as I tried to take in everything and everyone. The overwhelming sensation was incredibly uncomfortable at times, but it was better than being caught off guard by the wrong person.
I headed for the back hall with unabashed intentions. The hallway was deadly quiet. I hated that. The silence was unnerving because I knew several of those rooms were occupied. Kale’s however, was not. I didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t at The Kiss, and that was a good enough excuse for me to snoop around. The door was locked. Just as well. I didn’t need or want to go inside. I could sense that nobody was inside, corpses included. That was all I needed to know.
The sound of metal grinding on metal drew my gaze to the parking lot exit at the end of the hall. Arys strolled through the door looking pleased with himself. His energy was running hot, and I gasped when it mingled with mine, merging together the way two separate bodies of water become one.
“I told you not to hunt here, Arys.” My glare was wasted on him.
“You told me not to kill here. I followed the rules. Although nobody else seems to have to.” With a smirk, he pulled me close for a bruising kiss.
The taste of blood was fresh and strong when he slipped his tongue between my lips. A series of images flashed through my mind, ending with the lifeless body of Abigail Irving. The bloodlust was sharp and sudden. I jerked away from Arys, fighting to clear my head.
“Please tell me you’re not feeding from the willing victims here.”
He frowned as if I’d suggested something vile. “Hell no. I grabbed a guy in the alley out back. It was just a taste. I didn’t kill anybody.”
I did my best to roll my eyes, but I ended up giving him a pained look instead. “Kill whoever you want to. Just don’t do it in here, and I don’t care.” As an afterthought I added, “Ok, well not whoever you want to. You know what I mean.”
“Are you alright, love?” The humor fled from his expression as he regarded my discomfort. “That’s what happens when you feed the bloodlust at first. Rather than feel satisfied, you just want more.”
“You knew?” Of course he knew, the same way I’d known the moment he walked in. Hiding it from Arys was impossible.
“Well yeah. You and Sinclair bagged yourselves a human. Nice change. Can’t say I mind. Although I’m not too keen on him being your tag team partner.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I flashed him a vicious warning look, one that he didn’t ignore.
Arys held his hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, if you and Kale want to use a job as your excuse to kill shit without a guilty conscience, feel free. But, I can see where this is going even if you choose not to.”
“No, you can’t. It was one human kill. One.” I argued for the sake of refusing to allow Arys to be right. It was useless.
“Just one? Come on, Alexa. You’re not that naive, just incredibly stubborn. It’s never just one. Not for us.” He reached to stroke a lock of my hair back from my face, and I leaned into his touch. “Already it’s burning inside you, the hunger for more. I can feel it.”
I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not going to be a slave to the bloodlust, not while I still live and breathe.”
I knew he was thinking that I was living in denial. Thankfully, he was sweet enough not to say so. It had been a while since I’d killed a human, almost a year, and it felt better than I remembered. I had to shake myself out of that frame of thought. Remembering was not going to help crush the hunger taking root in my core.
I turned to head back into the heart of the club. The Kiss was already busier than it had been just minutes before. Damn blood junkies.
Arys gave the club interior an intense once over. “Do you get a lot of demons in here?”
“What? No. Never.” I followed Arys’ gaze to the front entry.
“Well, there’s one.”
I’d had little experience with demons, and all of it was bad. I didn’t know why one would come to The Wicked Kiss, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.