Threads of Crimson (Vampire’s Promise #1)

Prologue

BENJI

We stopped outside a metal door with a discreet sign that said VV on it. A man the size of a small car, decked out in a gray suit, stood in the doorway like a guard.

“What’s VV?” I asked Eric, my former, mischievous foster brother.

Eric smirked and waggled his eyebrows. “You’ll see.”

He flicked his head at the beast of a man, who eyed me and arched one eyebrow.

Eric wrapped his arm around my shoulders while holding up the folder. “We’re all good here. Ronan is expecting us.”

The guard touched something in his ear, mumbled so low I couldn’t understand his words, before smirking. “You’re in luck.”

He turned, opening the door and holding it for us to walk past him. I stayed as far from him as possible, while pressing up behind Eric. When I glanced backward, the big guy winked. Something about the gesture caused a ripple of fear to course up my spine.

I’d been so intent on him that I slammed into Eric’s back as he stopped right at the threshold of another door that led into another room. “Here we go,” Eric said with glee in his tone.

He stepped to the side, pulling me up next to him, and I peered around, a little curious but mostly anxious. It took my eyes a minute to adjust to the low lighting of what I assumed an upscale, underground bar should look like.

There were glass jars with tea lights in the center of the small tables that occupied the first part of the room before it turned into booths. A bar was to the left with a mirrored center that reflected the illumination of the candle sconces on the walls back into the room.

“Swanky, huh?” Eric asked as I took in the dozens of people sitting at the tables or on the stools around the bar top.

Everyone was dressed to the nines, whether in a casual way like Eric and me or in suits that shined.

Jewels dripped from women’s throats and ears, and there were a fair amount of men sporting gold chains, watches, and rings.

Swallowing back my apprehension, I licked my lips, then faced my friend so that I could gauge his expression as I confronted him. “Did you bring me to a mafia hangout?” I asked quietly.

Eric huffed, glancing around quickly before leaning to whisper in my ear, “Even better.”

He gripped my hand and pulled me toward the back of the club, weaving between tables, until we hit a straight shot between the booths and the bar.

Not wanting to be rude, I tried looking straight ahead, but movement from one of the tables to my right caught my attention, and I glanced over, almost tripping over my feet at the sight before me.

A woman straddled a man, her dress all hiked up around her thighs, and he sucked on her neck, while she moaned salaciously.

In the middle section of the booth, facing me, was a pretty blonde lady with her head tipped back and ecstasy on her face while a brunette seemed to be nibbling on her wrist. Beside them, a man stared intently at both couples with unwavering focus, drinking it all in.

“Benji,” Eric hissed, pulling my attention.

Feeling my cheeks flame with mortification, I hustled to catch up with him. “Sorry. I just…” I gestured behind me, thinking that should be explanation enough.

He snorted and patted my cheek. “Don’t be such a prude. You seriously haven’t seen anything yet. You good?”

Nodding, I cleared my throat. “Sure.” He smirked, then continued his journey to the back of the club, while internally, I thumped my head into a wall.

Why had I followed him anywhere? I was all about people making a living in whatever way suited them, but if this side hustle he mentioned was about selling my body, he should’ve given me a heads-up.

For me, who I fucked around with was the one thing that I’d been able to maintain control of.

There’d been a couple of close calls to that not being the case while I’d been unhoused, but…

Closing that train of thought down, I halted beside Eric as he stopped at the last stool at the end of the bar next to an extremely handsome, broad-shouldered blond. “Hey, Ronan.”

The man—Ronan—was probably in his late twenties, so not too much older than me, but he had a suave worldliness about him that I’d never possessed.

A slow smile spread across the guy’s face as his bright gray eyes flicked from Eric to me, and his gaze moved slowly from the top of my shaggy brown hair, which I’d done my best to control, down to the shiny toes of my boots.

No wonder Eric had given me the fancy duds.

If the pleased smile on Ronan’s face was anything to go by, I’d have embarrassed my friend by showing up in anything from my normal, holey wardrobe.

Too bad I’d be disappointing both of them when I let them know that I wasn’t interested in anything they were selling.

“So you must be Benji,” Ronan breathed out.

“Uh…um…yep,” I stammered, shocked by the silky tenor of his voice.

Ronan’s smile grew impossibly bigger, and the light glinted off the white of his teeth. His gaze moved to Eric. “You were right. He’s purrrfect.”

The way perfect rolled off his tongue, it sounded like he was purring, and I was sort of sad that I’d be leaving soon. This place, and the people in it, were proving to be interesting. “Listen, I’m not trying to be rude, but…”

I trailed off as, over Eric’s shoulder, a man…

“What the fuck?” I mumbled as a dude literally tipped a lady back and sank his teeth into her throat.

Stepping in closer to Eric and Ronan, I hissed, “A guy is literally…oh shit. There’s blood.

” My stomach turned as one long drip of blood rolled down the column of her neck.

I gripped Ronan’s suitcoat. “Turn around.”

He patted my hand. “Don’t worry, Benji.”

He held his other hand out, and Eric placed the manila folder on it, then buzzed my cheek. “Have fun,” was all he said before striding away and disappearing down a back hall.

Ronan opened the folder, fanning the pages of the NDA Eric had me sign before coming, checking all the spots where I’d initialed and closing it with a satisfied hum after a cursory glance at my signature.

I waited impatiently—having a hard time keeping my gaze from the couple behind him—as he set the folder on the counter in front of him and focused those piercing gray eyes back on me.

“Look,” I started, holding my hands up. “I’m not sure exactly what kind of business you’re running here, but, uh…”

My eyes moved back to the couple behind him. The woman—who barely looked twenty-one—had a bemused smile on her face as the guy who’d been chomping on her licked a stripe up her pale neck, cleaning up the blood.

“So yeah. To each his own, you know, but I’m not really interested in some weir—” I cut myself off. The last thing I wanted to do was offend someone about their kinks when I was standing in the middle of their club. I cleared my throat.

Ronan chuckled. “I’m sure this looks odd to you. I noticed when you came in that Eric didn’t really give you time to take it all in.”

He sure didn’t. Asshole. I was pretty sure he knew I’d have run right back out the door if I noticed people chomping on each other like chew toys. At this point, it being some kind of brothel or sex den would’ve been preferable to whatever the hell this was.

“No. He didn’t, which I’m sure was on purpose. Look…” I cleared my throat and hooked a thumb back over my shoulder. “I think I’m just going to head out.”

Ronan tilted his head agreeably. “If you’d like, but I think you might reconsider if you hear me out.”

“I’m not so sure about…” I trailed off as he opened his mouth wide and teeth—like the actual ones in his mouth—began to grow. “What the fuck?”

He smiled, all toothy-like, and I realized that it wasn’t all his teeth, but only his canines, leaving him with fangs. “How’d you do that?”

He chuckled again, which annoyed me a little since he was the one doing shifty stuff. “I just let my nature slip out, Benji.”

“That makes no sense. Your nature?”

Were these people all on drugs? Had Eric brought me and deserted me in the middle of some weird drug cult? I didn’t believe in God after the shitshow my life had been, but I’d thank him anyway that I hadn’t had anything to drink.

Over Ronan’s shoulder, I saw the bitey guy slip the girl a stack of bills. I sure hoped they were hundreds and not dollar bills after her letting him pierce her skin with those fake teeth and… Blech. I think he drank her blood.

“Are you people into vampirism or something?”

Ronan tapped on one of the long-ass canines. “You could say that.”

I swallowed hard. A redheaded bartender slid a drink to the lady behind Ronan, and she smiled brightly, taking a long drink before unfolding one of the bills and sticking it into his tip jar. Seriously, this place and the weirdly subservient occupants were freaking me out.

A clicking sound caught my attention, and I followed the noise to Ronan’s hand as he rhythmically tapped freakishly long nails against the folder holding my NDA.

Considering he’d patted my hand, and I’d been watching him as he flipped through the pages, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that those nails were not there before.

Maybe there was a hallucinogen in the air?

Ronan slid off his stool, patting the seat he’d vacated. “Have a seat, Benji.”

Shaking my head, I said, “I think I’d rather leave.”

“Please stay. Just watch for a little while. If you’re still not interested after this evening, then no hard feelings. In fact, you won’t even remember being here.”

Uh, did he think that was reassuring? What the hell did that even mean? Was he going to kill me? Drug me so that I blacked out and couldn’t remember anything in the morning?

Ronan pulled a money roll out of his pocket, very precisely counting out ten hundred-dollar bills, then laid them on the bar top in front of the stool he wanted me to sit on. “This is for your time. No matter what you decide, this leaves with you.”

He looked up at the bartender. “Can you get our friend a bottle of water, please? Leave the lid on so he knows it hasn’t been tampered with. He doesn’t quite trust us yet.”

Ronan nodded at the stool once more. “Sit, Benji. Soak it in. You could change your whole life in one month, my friend. Let us help you.”

He planted his hands on my shoulders, and I realized I’d moved and sat down while grappling with the idea of leaving here with so much money. One thousand dollars didn’t go far in New York City, but it sure the hell was a good start to changing my life.

The bartender set the water bottle in front of me with a sweet smile, and Ronan squeezed my shoulders. “If you have any questions, just ask Rafe. He’s been with us about six months, so he should be able to help you.”

Rafe blushed prettily at Ronan’s words before the blond disappeared, and the redhead leaned toward me. “I know it’s freaky at first, but this is a top-notch place. They don’t put up with any bullshit, I promise.”

“But they’re…” I shook my head, not wanting to say what I was thinking. Batshit crazy. Not right in the head. Mental. Gross.

I tried my hardest not to judge other people after all the judgment I’d received since I turned eighteen and the government said, see ya, with a side of, fuck you, to go with it.

Rafe’s green eyes lit up, and he clapped his red hand towel between his hands. “I know, isn’t it cool? I never believed in the supernatural. Like, not at all.”

“Me neither,” said a feminine voice to my side. Looking over, it was the girl who’d been that dude’s juice box. “Hi, I’m Sadie.” She held out her hand.

“Benji,” I replied automatically, shaking her hand, but my thoughts whirled. What did he mean about supernatural? I was starting to feel like I’d entered an alternate dimension where everyone knew the landscape but me.

“This your first night here?” she asked.

“Yep.” First and last, I thought in my head.

Sadie leaned one elbow on the counter. “It’s an adjustment. It took me weeks to wrap my head around everything I thought I knew not being true. Hey, Rafe, honey. Can I have another orange juice?”

“Orange juice?” I asked, surprised. I thought she’d been throwing back something harder, like whiskey, to erase what had been done to her.

“Oh yeah.” She blew out a breath. “I might have a drink later before I leave, but I never have one until after I donate, you know? Some people do, but I get light-headed too easily, so it’s better for them and for me if I hold off.”

Rafe set another drink in front of her, and I realized the glass was tinted a dark amber, which was part of where my assumption had come from that she was drinking alcohol. I took one of the bills from my stack, handing it to Rafe. “Let me buy that for her.”

They both laughed. “No one pays here. The Velvet Vein takes care of everything,” Rafe explained.

The Velvet Vein? Okaaay. That must be what the VV stood for. If that wasn’t freaky. I looked to Sadie. “But I saw you pay him.”

She shook her head. “I gave him a tip because he’s the best.” She winked at him. “And he’s also my brother.”

“Oh.”

Trying to work out what to say next, while also calculating how fast I could get the hell out of here, I noticed a man moving toward us so smoothly it was as if he floated.

Everyone here was dressed like the rich or to impress those with money, but this man…this man was obviously powerful. In all black, his clothes weren’t flashy, and he didn’t look much taller than me, but there was something about how he carried himself. Something predatory.

He moved past us without a glance, but I got a look at his smooth, pale skin. The fathomless depths of his dark eyes, and the bow of his sensual lips. Then he turned, robbing me of the chiseled cut of his jawline and headed for the back wall.

“Um. I’d stay away from him,” Sadie whispered.

“Why?” I asked, feeling like I should’ve stopped him, should’ve asked for his name. No, I should’ve dropped to my knees and worshipped his cock. I’d even let that one engage in this weird blood game they had if it would turn him on.

Rafe dried his hands on the towel, threw it on his shoulder, and leaned on the bar top. “Rumor has it, he’s ancient. He only comes in once a month because he doesn’t need a donor more often than that.”

“And if he’s an elder, then who knows what powers he has or what he’s capable of?” Sadie shivered.

Ancient? Elder? My gaze tracked back to the corner where a lady had joined the guy at a table. She sat demurely in the seat next to him with one leg crossed over the other as he took her wrist in his elegant hands. Damn, I wanted him to be cupping my wrist in his.

From here, I couldn’t make out what he said, but the woman giggled, then he leaned his head back, and I saw it. Just like with Ronan, his canines descended, revealing fangs.

“What the…”

I jumped as he struck, cutting into her skin. She jerked once, but then melted back into her seat. She didn’t look like she was in pain. She wasn’t moaning like she was in an X-rated porno either, but she looked…floaty. Peaceful.

Could it be true? Was it even possible? Had I entered a den of vampires?