3. Ren
ren
. . .
Vi took her time familiarising herself with the menu while she sipped her scotch, working through our various drink options. It would’ve annoyed me, the way she seemed completely unhurried to get behind the bar and to my side—to help with my swamped backlog, obviously —except it gave me ample time to study her between mixing cocktails and taking orders.
I thought she was beautiful when I saw her in the café.
But now? Done up for a night of dancing and who knew what else? She was radiant .
Soft, tousled waves gave her bluntly cut bob a more lived-in feel, the ends of her hair just barely grazing her collarbones in a clash of smoke and cream as her eyes moved over the menu in careful study.
There was almost something familiar in the way she toyed absently with her glass, the amber liquid slowly rolling around the edges of the crystal. Like I’d watched this exact scene a hundred times before… But that was impossible. I was certain that if I’d come into contact with a woman like this I’d remember.
Vi’s wasn’t exactly the sort of face you forgot.
I attempted to focus on the task at hand, something increasingly more difficult as I was slowly consumed by questions that I had no business wanting answers for.
What was her plan for the night before she’d been drafted into helping me behind the bar?
Was she thinking about finding someone to take home to bed?
Did she prefer humans or vampires? Obviously, if she stepped foot inside of O she was at least vampire curious, but… Some humans found our cold skin and neverending stamina to be intimidating.
Would she choose someone that would leave after they’d finished, or did she prefer to tiptoe around in the morning to the coffee shop to secure them some breakfast?
Or was Vi the kind of girl who liked to play in public?
Would she want to take her unfathomably lucky conquest into the back to share a taste of her honeysuckle and vanilla-scented skin where someone could watch?
Where I could watch?
Maybe join, if I was lucky?
A possessive prickle needled my chest, the same one that’d pushed me into action at the coffee shop. Something about Vi, whether it was her petite stature or her big, emotive, fawn-coloured eyes, called to me.
I’d never been good at denying myself when I wanted something.
Ren, you barely know her name. Want to take it down a notch?
She brought her glass to her lips, plush softness pressing into the rim with just the right amount of give to make me wonder how they’d feel wrapped around my fingers. Like she’d sensed the lurid nature of my thoughts, Vi’s gaze met mine briefly as her eyes swung from the menu to survey the collection of bottles at my back.
A sort of nervous smile teased the edge of her glossy pink lips, her trimmed nails tapping lightly along the cardstock.
I tried not to think about it while I mixed drinks.
About how she was smoke and cream and bubble gum and all kinds of deliciousness I wanted to sink my teeth into immediately , my tongue heavy in my mouth with the desire to bite and tear and taste and?—
“Where do you keep the blood?” she asked, tucking a piece of her dark hair behind her ear.
My fingers itched for my camera. Vi would be exquisite on film. Not the DSLR I’d come to favour in recent years, but something older. Something I’d have to take into the darkroom and lovingly bring to life with my own hands.
Though, when it came to the temptress sitting at my bar, I could think of better uses for my hands.
Fuck. I hadn’t had this moth-to-flame sensation with a mortal since I’d met Elsie a decade ago. Back then, I’d asked Cherie to turn her within a couple of months, too eager to start the rest of forever.
That was always my problem—too eager. Too much of a head-in-the-clouds romantic. And when I was paired with someone like Els?
It was amazing we’d held out as long as we did.
Surely, Vi was unaware that she was showing off the long line of her neck with the curious tilt of her head, drawing my attention to her pulse thrumming just beneath her ivory skin. Even so, the move was incredibly effective.
I wasn’t the only one who noticed either. Sel, one of my regulars, glanced down the bar from their usual stool, their mouth slanting into a charismatic smile as their glance turned into a full-on stare .
Fucking bastard vampire and I had the same type.
I’d practically had to beat them off with a stick when Elsie started coming around. Seemed like I’d have just as much competition when it came to Vi.
That was, if I was going to cross that line.
It wasn’t until Vi cleared her throat expectantly that I realised how much time had passed, her glass now empty where it rested in her hand.
“Come around to this side and I can show you,” I suggested, collecting her empty cup with a lingering brush of our fingers.
“We won’t worry about the point of sale tonight. I’ll have you working the waitress’ queue. Nice and easy that way.”
Vi hopped off her stool, and I politely pretended not to notice the flush dusting her shoulders and chest. Her tiny sparkly handbag caught the lights as she rounded the bar and ducked under the little hinged opening.
“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m dressed like this?” she said with a laugh, motioning at her bare legs and borrowed low-top Converse sneakers in baby pink. In all fairness, the stilettos she’d come in were fine for dancing, but open toes shoes were a hazard on this side of the bar.
Without the added height of the heels, however, I towered over her. The feeling was heady.
I swallowed hard, willing my heavy tongue to say something— anything —that wouldn’t make me sound like a total fucking— “You look good enough to eat.”
What?! Who the fuck says that? Especially when you’re practically this poor woman’s new boss.
Not like that’s stopped you before, a tiny voice chided.
Okay, yeah. I did have a habit of dating the girls who worked at the club. But in my defence, it kind of came with the territory when you worked in the service industry. No one else was insane enough to put up with the hours.
Plus, I watched them walk around either half or fully naked all night. I was only a vampire.
Vi smirked, using her hip to nudge me out of the way to finish pouring the beers I’d stalled out on during my internal crisis. “Why don’t I just take care of these for you?” she said, voice light with amusement as her warmth leached into my skin, making me even more aware of her proximity.
I turned away quickly, hiding my embarrassment by keying in my code to the register to pull up the outstanding orders.
“I—I meant for the clients ,” I replied hastily, though we both knew I didn’t. “Baby told you about the guests, right?”
“Sure you did,” Vi muttered with a laugh that made a prickle rush up the back of my neck. “And, yeah. Not that she needed to... I mean… O is the most notorious vampire club in the Lower City.”
“And the most exclusive,” Sel called unhelpfully.
“Right,” I gritted out, fighting the urge to look at Vi again. Before she could get distracted by the masculine vampire, I clicked on one of the orders. “Can you mix four blood drops and a dry martini?”
“You got it, boss ,” Vi said, moving to grab a shaker. The motion made her brush against me, a wave of the sweet perfume clinging to her skin flooding my nose in a tide of vanilla and sweet honeysuckle.
It made my fangs ache , the monster lurking under my skin roaring to life like it had in that damned coffee shop. Far too eager for my taste. All the more reason I needed to at least… attempt… to resist.
I was not good at resisting.
I leaned forward to touch the keypad, moving the screen to the next chit, the tips of my fangs practically dripping venom when the side of my body brushed against the front of hers unexpectedly.
“Just so you know… Dana is actually your boss,” I ground out through my locked jaw, grabbing a pair of pint glasses. “I’m more like your… supervisor. If that, really.”
Vi poured multi-coloured juices and liquor into the copper-and-silver shaker like she’d been doing it for years, clicking her tongue. I’d have to test if her free pours were at all accurate another time, but damn if it wasn’t sexy as hell to watch her work like she owned the place.
She capped the shaker, her hands moving like lightning as she turned a cheeky, kilowatt smile on me that showed off her straight human teeth.
“How about sir, then?”
The glass splintered in my hand with an audible crunch that I hoped the music covered. But even if the sound was lost to the noise of the club, the uptick of Vi’s glossy pink lips told me that she’d noticed the rivulet of liquid dripping from the crack.
She raised an eyebrow, gaze flicking from the ruined cup, to meet my eyes, to my lips and back again far too slowly to be casual.
If it could, I’m sure my heart would be pounding. Instead, I was left with a sort of achy buzzing excitement at her obvious interest.
Speechless.
I was going to have to sink my teeth into every girl in a five-mile radius to keep my hands off her.
My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips, partly to taste her perfume in the air as I leaned into her warm body, my eyes flicking from hers to her lips and back again in a clear response to the path she’d made herself.
“I suppose I could tolerate it, Pet .”