My hands shook on the steering wheel. I had to pause to catch my breath several times as I filled Arys in. He was quiet, listening intently as I spoke. His grave silence conveyed his unease.
I tried calling Kale again. Still no answer. “Dammit, Kale! Where the hell are you?” I growled to his voicemail. “You better have a damn good explanation for what I just saw.”
“You should leave it alone, Alexa.” A flash of angry energy accompanied Arys’s warning. I felt it inside, a painful slap that melted away to a pleasurable sting.
I shook my head, refusing to argue with him on this one. “Something is going on, and I want to know what it is.”
By the time we returned to The Wicked Kiss, I had called Kale six more times to no avail and heard as many snarky remarks from Arys in regards to my obsessive behavior. I parked in front of the main doors, taking no chances on getting jumped in the parking lot. Arys shadowed my every move between the car and the club.
“Wherever Sinclair is, he can take care of himself. You have more important things to do right now. Like stay alive.” With a shake of his dark head, Arys steered me inside with a hand on my waist. “You have this tendency to taunt death, my love. It’s frustrating.”
“I do no such thing,” I protested, enjoying the spark that jumped between us. “What you see as reckless behavior is me following my instinct. Give me some credit for not being dead yet.”
“Maybe just a little.”
I smacked him playfully, choosing to keep the conversation light. An argument about Kale was not on my agenda but finding him was. Sooner rather than later. I would give both Kale and Arys the benefit of the doubt for now. A vampire as old as Kale didn’t need me to babysit him.
The crowd had thinned considerably since we’d left. I saw a lot of regulars littered about, both human and vampire. One lone woman occupied the dance floor. With her head thrown back, long brown locks flowing, she spun in slow, lazy circles. High as a kite.
People got off on a vampire bite in different ways. The pain and the rush of being bitten, screwed or both by a vampire was enough for most people. However, the real euphoria came from the bite of a vampire with power. They could manipulate the experience on a metaphysical scale as well as physical. It was bliss. Deadly, dangerous bliss.
Two female vampires and the array of human men falling all over them had claimed the cozy little lounge area tucked in beside the bar. Bodies littered a chaise lounge and love seat. I had to do a double take to make sure they weren’t pushing the boundaries. This part of the club was public. Rules were rules.
A few jock guys sat around a table near the door loudly arguing sports. At first glance, they seemed to be in the wrong bar. Then I saw the bite one of them was trying unsuccessfully to hide with the collar of his jacket.
The rest of the crowd was made up of people mingling, drinks in hand, seeking to be or to have a playmate that likes to bleed. I had looked down on them once. Sometimes, I still did. I had no right; I was just like them. Power and blood were my drugs of choice, too. I just didn’t have the shameless courage to flaunt it openly.
Shaz sat alone at the bar, nursing a beer, watching us make our way toward him. Jez was nowhere in sight. That left the back rooms. Would she go so far as to take a vampire back to a private room to get some answers for me? That couldn’t possibly end well.
“Something is definitely up,” Shaz greeted me with a grim smile. “I didn’t get much, just that someone has the vampires in this city riled up. They’re afraid of you. But, they’re afraid of the one that wants you dead, too. After what you did to Bianca, I think they’re feeling trapped.”
Her name on his lips was like nails on a chalkboard. I wanted to cover my ears and scream. Instead, I pondered what he’d just said.
“So they’re being forced to choose which one of us they’d rather live with. Me or the one who wants me dead. Rock and a hard place. I bet I made that choice really easy for them that night.”
Several vampires had been present the night I attacked Bianca. They had felt what I’d done to her. That wasn’t going to win me any votes.
Arys nodded knowingly. “They should be afraid of you, Alexa. But, they know the benefits of having an ally in someone like you. You’ve never done a thing to any one of them without reason.”
“No,” I trailed off, lost in thought. “I have been a known hunter of vampires. I have a bond with the most powerful vampire in the city. There is no reason for them to trust me.”
My mind raced as I tried to put it together. I knew the one who was after me. I was sure of it. I thought back to a few months ago when a vampire had tried to stake me here in the club. What drove him to it was the belief that I would have power over him, something Shya had confirmed. I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle. So close.