Chapter 48
O ur tickets had sold out, so we went out for dinner to celebrate. This time Lilith was the one to keep us waiting. She showed up looking distressed.
“Are you okay?” Mia and I asked in unison.
Lilith hesitated. “Dad caught a vampire last night; it took down three of my cousins. Two of them are in hospital with broken ribs.” She pressed her lips together, looking down at the table. I wondered if that meant the third cousin had died.
My heart skipped a beat. “Is it…?”
“No, they’re starving it now to find out where he is.” Lilith frowned at me. “You can’t protect him, Quinn. I can only hope that when we do kill him, you’ll be free from the sway he has over you.”
I bit back on responding, hurting at where our friendship was. She seemed resentful at me for getting involved with a vampire. The strain had only escalated.
Mia put her hand over Lilith’s. “I’m sorry about your cousins.”
Now that she could be open about her family’s secret, everything was about vampire hunting.
“Why are you in a band?” I asked. “It’s clear that your entire life is hunting vampires. So why bother?”
Her eyes met mine. “We all had to follow an interest that gave us some light in the dark world we live in. Richie chose to help people, and he can do that as a police officer. My mum loves history, so she took a position at the history museum. Me, I love music.”
“But your future is in hunting?” I asked.
She lowered her eyes then. “If I had to choose, yes.”
Mia gasped. “What? You never told me that! You’d walk away from the band?”
“Then why the hell have you been with us all this time?” I demanded. “You know what our end goal was; what was all this for if you would have just walked away?”
“What about if you became a vampire?” She slammed her hand on the table. “I didn’t say I would quit or anything. I want the tour as much as both of you. We’ve all worked hard towards this. But if it came down to it, and I had to choose, it would be to hunt. My ancestors have been hunting vampires for centuries. Ever since the vampire war. In fact, I believe that woman Gabriela may have been there. Likely Carlos, too. If they’re Gabriela Ramirez and Carlos Rivera, they’re worse than Matteo.”
With what I had felt in Carlos’s presence, it didn’t surprise me.
Mia sighed. “We’re here to celebrate. Maybe we can keep our conversation music-related. I’m kind of sick of hearing about vampires.”
“Yes!” I said. “No more vampires. This is about music. Even if you’d leave it all behind.”
“I’ll stick to band and tour talk,” Lilith agreed. “I’m sorry I said what I did. It won’t come to that, I promise.”
A cold dread trickled down my spine. I needed to run, get out of this restaurant. Something was wrong. I shivered, glancing around.
“Are you okay?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know.” I frowned. “I just feel uneasy all of a sudden. Like I need to get out of here.”
Our food was brought to our table, and I stared at the steak and chips, no longer hungry.
“Shit.” Lilith said. We both looked at her, waiting for her to explain. “You were blood bonded with a vampire.”
“Damnit, Lil!” Mia rarely showed anger, but she did now. “We just agreed.”
“No, I know, but we should listen to Quinn’s instinct.”
The entire restaurant went silent, heightening my feeling of foreboding. Lilith paled, her eyes on something behind me. I caught a flicker of fear within them. “Lil, what is it??”
“I’d like to join those lovely ladies in the corner,” A deep, accented voice said behind me. I knew that voice. My heart pounded, my mouth dry. We needed to leave, but I couldn’t move.
“Certainly, sir, right this way.” The waitress sounded off, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d compelled her.
“Thank you, beautiful,” he said to the waitress.
The waitress giggled.
“We need to leave, right now.” Lilith started to rise. “Get up and move.”
“Don’t get up on my account; stay.” His voice turned my heart to ice.
He was too close for comfort. I still couldn’t move. I gasped. I turned around slowly, finding Carlos right behind me. He smiled, as he sat at the empty chair, closest to me, Lilith also within his reach. But he ignored her, watching me.
“Um, what are you doing here?” I asked, unable to hide the tremor in my voice. “This is a private dinner.” I tried to keep a smile on my face to hide my fear from Lilith and Mia.
“You’re brave; I knew there was a reason I liked you.” He placed his cold hand over mine. I tried to move it, but his grip was too strong. “You still belong to Matteo,” he said. “Even through his hunger, when all of him is screaming to feed, his thoughts are still focused on you.”
My heart skipped. He smiled as if he had heard it. Of course he heard it. He leaned over, helping himself to a chip from my plate and putting it into his mouth.
“Vampire, you have not been invited here.” Lilith said in a low voice, and stood, her chair scraping and drawing the attention of everyone in the restaurant. “Leave, now. This is a violation.”
I panicked; her manner would not go down well with him. “It’s Carlos,” I whispered in warning.
Her eyes widened, but she stood her ground.
He didn’t react, and he actually looked bored as he took another chip. “These are good,” he stated. “I hope you don’t mind, I’m a little hungry.”
“Take all my food, why don’t you?” I muttered, annoyed at him eating from my plate.
He laughed. “I would, but your steak smells a little too well done for my liking.”
“You need to leave,” Lilith demanded. “You are not welcome here.”
He barely glanced at her, watching me the whole time. “Sit down, Hunter, you wouldn’t even have time to reach for your weapon before I snapped your neck.” I’d never seen anyone make such a threat while so calm. So matter-of-fact. “Here,” he said to me. “I’m sure you’re hungry, have one. They’re good.” He held a chip out to me.
I shook my head.
“What do you want?” Lilith demanded, sitting down, her body tense.
“Tell your Hunter friend to address me with respect. I won’t be spoken to that way by a human.” He leaned forward. “Come on, we’re friends now; you don’t have to be afraid of me. Eat, young singer. You shouldn’t deny your appetite; it’s unnatural.”
Friends?
I suspected it wasn’t the food he was talking about, but the appetite I’d had for blood. I had no choice but to open my mouth, letting him push the chip in. He pulled his hand back, licking his fingers. I chewed on the chip. It was covered with chicken salt, hot and soft. It did nothing for my appetite.
“Where’s Matteo?” I asked. “Is he okay?”
“He dreams of you.” He lowered his voice. “I know you still yearn for him as much as he does for you. ”
I hated that he was right but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction to admit that.
“Excuse me?” Mia called out to our waitress. “Can you ask this man to leave? He’s not welcome here.”
He leaned in towards her. “Little girl, hold your tongue, or I’ll rip it from your head.” Again, no change in his manner, which only made it more chilling. I didn’t understand why he was threatening my friends, but trying to show me a softer approach.
The look of sheer terror in Mia’s eyes worried me. I put my hand to her arm, to comfort her. Lilith had turned red, fury shining through her eyes.
“Please don’t threaten my friends,” I said, surprised at the steadiness of my voice. “This is a special night for us that you’re interrupting.”
His gaze shifted to my face. “I’m continuously impressed by your courage. You’re terrified; I can smell your fear.” He flashed a smile at Mia. “Not as much as hers. A most pleasurable smell.” His eyes returned to me, his thumb stroking my hand. “You know what fear does to us. You’ll need that courage. I hope you survive what’s ahead of you, young one, I really do. I do like you. You would have been good for Matteo.”
He stood up, grabbed my hand, and lifted it, lowering his head at the same time. His lips brushed the back of my hand, and I shuddered. “It’s been a pleasure to see you again, young singer. I will see you soon.” He smiled at us all as if he hadn’t just threatened us. “Ladies.”
With that he walked out, glancing back at me once. The ability to breathe returned.
Lilith sent a message, probably to her family. “I still can’t believe we have Matteo, Gabriela and Carlos here. La Primera Familia, here? This is a lot. Too much .”
I stared. “What do you mean?”
“Gabriela and Carlos were part of the first clan ever formed. We have three of the deadliest vampires all here in Melbourne. This might be too much for my family; we need to call others in.”
“He was at the Masquerade,” Mia said with a small voice. I wondered if she was going into shock. “I remember because I saw him kissing a different woman to the one he arrived with-” She gasped. “He was feeding, wasn’t he?”
“Probably,” Lilith said, and looked at me. “Are you okay?”
I clenched my jaw as I searched the restaurant. There was no sign of Carlos, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he meant. No matter how much I convinced myself I was done with the vampire world, it wasn’t done with me.