Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Jack
What to wear? What to wear? What did one wear to a supernatural bar?
I held up the dress I’d borrowed from Xinyi and then looked at my own clothes. If it were a biker bar, I’d fit in great but as just a supernatural bar…
I couldn’t decide if it would be easier to get answers looking like vamp bait or a hunter?
One thing you quickly learned was that supernaturals only really responded to the biggest and baddest around. Occasionally, the weakling damsel-in-distress act could convince them to drop their guard until you could get the information you needed, but that usually entailed touching and biting.
I sighed.
I knew which one I’d have to go in as. If I went in there kicking ass and asking questions, especially in a student-filled bar, my cover would be broken in a snap.
Dragging on the dress, I fiddled with my hair. The question was up or down. Vampires would want it up to tease them with my neck. I supposed the werewolves would want it up, too, with the whole alpha biting thing.
If I didn’t heal so damn fast, I’d have enough bite marks on me to play into my vamp bait look. As it were, being the daughter of two human servants had its perks.
Unfortunately, the dress didn’t exactly go with my motorcycle, so I had to order a car to pick me up.
“Hair of the Dog, please,” I told the driver.
The driver, a guy not much older than me, gave me a look. “Are you sure you want to go there? That place is a little… rough.”
I gave him a pinched smile. “I can handle myself.”
“Suit yourself.” He shifted gears and was blissfully silent for the rest of the ride. Finally, we stopped in front of a bar.
Honestly, the wooden building seemed about two seconds away from being blown over. The windows were tinted over so no one could see inside and a letter was out on the sign, making it read ‘air of the Dog.’ Overall, I wasn’t impressed.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” The guy shot a wary look at the bar and then back to me, almost hopeful that I wouldn’t be in there long.
I tapped my phone on his payment pad and shook my head. “I’m good.”
My foot had barely hit the pavement when a hand clamped down on my elbow, jerking me to away from the front door. My fist went swinging before I even registered who it was.
Julian caught my fist and dragged us beside the building out of the open. “Are you out of your mind?”
“What are you doing here?” I jerked my fist and arm away from him, tucking my phone back into my little purse.
“I came as your back up. Obviously, you need it.” His gaze swept over my clothing choice, his jaw tightening but he said nothing else about it. “I thought you’d at least come with that little friend of yours, Zen Yin, not by yourself.”
“Xinyi,” I corrected him with a glare. “If I brought her with me, then she’d have questions or she’d want to bring Iris too. That wouldn’t look good if I’m trying to get vampires to talk to me.”
“And this does?” Julian gestured at my clothes. “Is your way of getting information? You look like —”
“Vamp bait. Yeah. That’s the point.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down. “You might think I’m all vinegar, but I wave the honey around just as much as the next girl.”
Julian snorted.
“Besides,” I continued, ignoring his obvious disagreement, “I want information, not a scene. If I go in there kicking heads in, no one is going to talk to me. If I go like this…” I twirled around to show off the dress. “I’ll be fighting off the wolves… no pun intended.”
“Yeah, you’ll be fighting off something,” Julian muttered and then sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Alright, fine but if you get in trouble, text me. I mean it, immediately, not when you are two seconds from bleeding out either. If you get in any trouble, I want to know about it.”
I held my hands up in front of me. “Alright, alright. Don’t go all dad on me.”
Julian’s hand grabbed my chin. “Keep acting like a child, and I’ll spank you like one.”
My lips twitched. “Now that’s not very professional of you, is it, Fawley?”
With an irritated scoff, Julian released me.
I pushed my purse strap back up my shoulder and sauntered around the corner, putting an extra swing in my hips with every step. His eyes burned into my back until I opened the bar door and stepped inside.
Beer, sweat, and vomit assaulted my nose and, underneath it all, was the familiar scent of blood.
Some popular pop song played on the speakers.
killing the supernatural vibe I thought I’d be walking into.
Besides the coppery scent, it didn’t look much different from any other bar I’d been inside — which, let’s be honest, wasn’t many.
Wooden chairs around worn out tables were spread out through the room. A mixture of metal and wooden bar stool lined the edge of the bar, while a handful of wooden high-backed booths were pushed up against the walls.
A dozen or so sets of eyes slid to me, assessing before dismissing me for the most part. Most likely they could smell the other supernaturals on me and took it as a sign that I wasn’t some human wandering into their place.
I sashayed up to the bar, my chin lifted, pushing myself to exude confidence, as if I came to places like this all the time. In reality, I would rather be punching my fist through some rogue vampire’s face or, more commonly lately, curling up with Tate on the couch.
“What can I get you?” an unnaturally colored redhead asked, his hands busy pouring a drink for some wolves a few seats down.
My nose crinkled as I thought. If this was anything like the supernatural parties back at the dorms, they’d have witch’s brew and, after my recent bout with that stuff, I was hesitant to order anything other than water. However, I didn’t want to look out of place.
“Just a beer.” I shifted onto the available bar stool. My hands tapped out a rhythm on the top of the bar.
A moment later, the bartender slid me my drink. I reached for my bag to pay.
“Put it on my tab,” a low deep voice almost growled with a southern twang to it.
Lifting my head up, up and up, until I reached the face of the large man before me. A werewolf no doubt, he was even taller than Tate. His eyes glinting yellow was unsurprising being this close to the full moon.
“Thanks,” I offered without taking my drink.
The wolf leaned against the bar, his massive body brushing against my arm. “You’re new here.” He chuckled and stroked his mustache. “You’re a pretty thing, too. Are you from the school?”
I ignored his blatant flirting. He wasn’t my target tonight.
Large warm calloused fingers tickled along my hand. “Then you’re one of us… but what kind? Don’t tell me. I love to guess.” His eyes glinted with the challenge and some kind of innuendo I didn’t get.
“I bet you’re… a witch.” He snapped his fingers, pointing at me with a self-serving grin.
I gave him a tight smile. “What she is, is going. Thanks for the beer.” I hopped off the stool and started to walk away.
“Hey!” That beefy hand landed on my shoulder and jerked me back. “I wasn’t done talk to you.”
What was with everyone grabbing me today?
No longer bothering to play nice, I grabbed my bottle by the neck and swung it around, slamming into the side of his head. Unfortunately, that only seemed to piss him off. He bared his teeth at me, the strain on his face showing how close he was to wolfing out on me.
“You bitch!”
“Oh,” I pouted, preparing myself for a fight. “Don’t tell me you don’t think I’m beautiful now, do you?”
A familiar chuckle tickled up my spine.
“Calm down, Cletus.” Tate’s hand clamped down on his shoulder. “You can’t fault the woman for not being interested. Why don’t you go outside and cool off?”
Tate’s happy go luck personality seemed to rub off on the werewolf who huffed and deflated before me.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Cletus shook his head, shooting me a look before ducking out of the bar, leaving me face to face with the very guy I’d blown off for this.
“So…” Tate rocked on his heels, amusement glittering in his eyes. “This was why you couldn’t go out with me tonight?”
I pulled my purse strap further up my shoulder. “I’m supposed to meet someone.” I glanced around the room as if searching for her. “But I don’t think they’re coming.”
Tate’s brow furrowed as he took a step closer to me. “I know I have no right to say this since I’m seeing Kyren, but are you seeing someone else?”
“What?” My eyes widened. “No! No. I mean…” I shook my head and shifted in place. “I was — I wasn’t…” My face heated with embarrassment.
“Hey, now, it’s okay.” Tate’s hand cupped my face, lifting my gaze to meet his. “We never said we were exclusive, and I’m with Kyren. It’s well within your right to go out with other people. I just want to know.”
There was a sort of desperation in his words, almost like it hurt him to even say the words. That, in turn, made my heart ache for him.
“No, I’m not… I mean… I don’t want…” I wrapped my arms around my waist, staring down at the ground. “I don’t want to see anyone else. Only you.”
“Yeah?”
I lifted my head at the hopefulness in his voice and smiled. “Yeah.”
Tate’s smile was blinding, as if I’d just told him he’d won the lottery. “Well, I’m here with Kyren. Do you want to join us?”
My hand slipped into his without bothering to answer, letting him lead me through the tables to a booth near the back where Kyren waited.
The dark-haired vampire had a glass of red liquid in front of him, and one whiff told me it was blood.
Likely from one of the donor businesses that supplied a lot of vampires in the area.
When I approached his gaze lifted, that intense stare seeing straight through me, making me feel more naked than I felt in this tiny dress.
“Hey, look who I found.” Tate let me slide into the curved booth first, putting me between both of them. “Cletus was hassling our girl, but I took care of it.”
There was some underlying meaning in his words as he exchanged a look with Kyren. Before I had a chance to ask about it, Tate turned to me.