Chapter 24 Maeve
Maeve
The bar really wasn’t as loud as I’d expected it to be. I’d thought Kayla was planning a really raucous night out. We’d certainly dressed for fifty shades of sexy between us.
Instead, the backdrop to the chatter of the people in here was soft jazz rather than anything Cajun or zydeco and there wasn’t a beard or a biker or a flannel shirt in sight.
After so long being surrounded by only vampires, everything here looked so normal, and a pang of familiarity ached in my gut. I wanted normal. Hell, I longed for it.
Except, did I?
If I tried to imagine sitting on one of these barstools and discussing the weather or the latest development in politics, or even what I did for a living, I couldn’t. It was as though that lifestyle was no longer an option, as though it had disappeared.
Perhaps there really was no going back, and that was sad. I’d changed, and the world had moved on without me. I’d spent the past few weeks with paranormal creatures and supernatural old guys and now I didn’t truly fit anywhere.
But I missed it. Not being chased and attacked and afraid all the time… That sounded almost idyllic. Especially as I’d set myself up for all three of those things tonight.
“Come on. Let’s head over here.” Kayla indicated a booth at the back. “What do you drink, Maeve?”
“I have no idea.” I laughed as I shrugged. It wasn’t as though I spent a lot of time out on the town back home in Boston. I was way more likely to be found urban exploring an abandoned building or sitting in a cemetery past midnight.
“Well, choose something.” Kayla brandished the drinks menu in my direction, and my gaze fell on the list of cocktails. I’d expected the usual options—long island iced tea or dry martini, but instead, I laughed.
“Oh my God. I think we should all get a different one.” I stopped. “Oh, shit. Sorry. You don’t drink.”
Kayla grabbed the menu and her eyes sparkled as she read the options before passing the menu to Ciara, Sam, and Leia. “But I’m definitely thinking we should order. This is too much fun not to.”
“Who’s drawing the short straw and actually asking?” Leia perused the menu.
“I think Maeve should do it,” Sam said. “But I’ll come with you if you feel like you need protection.”
I laughed even as embarrassment crawled through me. “I don’t think this is the part of the evening where I was supposed to need protection though, right?”
“Very true,” Ciara agreed. “So ladies, what’ll it be?”
“Nothing for me.” Leia curled a lip. “Alcohol isn’t sitting well right now.”
After I grabbed their orders, I approached the bar.
The bartender smiled as he moved towards me. “What can I get you?”
I grinned, although anxiety fluttered in my stomach, and I didn’t know if it was because of what I was about to say or due to the rest of the evening and the big unknown hanging over my future.
Most likely the second one, but I took a deep breath before I spoke, anyway. “Sit on my face, creamy pussy, tie me to the bedpost, and cum in my panties, please.” My face burned a little as I finished the order.
“What… No dirty little virgin?” He smiled as a fang peeked from beneath his top lip.
Immediately, I took a step back. Kayla had boosted my scent. Every vampire in spitting distance of New Orleans knew exactly what I was and probably how to find me.
“Relax. Nic already spoke to me. You’re among friends.”
I nodded. Okay. That was okay. The entire bar was looking out for me, then. I fumbled for my money in my purse, but he shook his head.
“I’ll bring your drinks over when they’re ready.” Then he looked at the other women. “Just try to keep any fighting to a dull roar. My boss will have a heart attack if you destroy his bar.”
I nodded again like it was the only movement I could make right now. Fighting. That was the part I didn’t want to do. Although the others had put safeguards in place—Nic was out back, there were guys in here with us, and apparently even the bartender was on our side if things went wrong.
I rejoined the others, sliding into my seat.
“Well?” Ciara grinned.
“I made the order.” I flipped my hair, making the gesture casual.
But I looked around. Shit, I was the only human here. The target. The weakest link. Never had felt so vulnerable. Not in all of the risks I’d taken trying to find the paranormal and prove its existence before. I almost wish I hadn’t stumbled into it.
The bartender approached the table. “Ladies.” He grinned and held up the first cocktail. “Sit on my face?”
Everyone laughed. “Me.” Ciara licked her lips then chuckled. “Although Jason might kill one of us.”
I laughed along with the others, but my mind was still distracted. I really wasn’t good enough to be here. I wasn’t like them. I couldn’t do what they could do. They couldn’t rely on me, anyway. If everything went wrong with Kayla’s plan, I couldn’t save any of them. There was just no way.
I’d always been weird in the human world, and I’d gotten used to it. Perhaps I’d even started to embrace it. It was kind of like my calling card. It went with the job. But I was even weird here.
I wasn’t good enough in either world. No wonder I didn’t have any friends.
“Maeve?” I looked at Sam as she spoke, and she wrapped an arm around me, drawing me to her body. “You doing okay? I know this part must be scary.”
I tensed a little. It was rare for anyone to hug me, even like this. A side-arm hug thing. Mom had never even done that. Granny had, though. Huge bear hugs full of lilac fragrance and soft, thin skin when she wrapped her arms around me and pressed one of her cheeks to mine.
I sighed. Maybe it was a blessing she was gone now. I wouldn’t have to leave her.
“How are things with you and Francois?” Sam wasn’t nosy when she asked, but everyone else leaned forward, like the answer mattered.
But the door to the bar opened and I glanced up then caught my breath.
The Ancients were instantly recognizable, their hair so pale it could have been white, and their movements smooth but also slightly awkward.
There was definitely something otherworldly about them and they didn’t appear to try to hide that.
I swallowed. The secret hope I’d harbored that they wouldn’t even come inside, that somehow someone had arranged for all of this to happen where I wouldn’t even see it, let alone take part, was killed in an instant. It was going down, and it was going down now.
Francois and Jason moved, skirting the edge of the room, and part of me relaxed.
Everyone was on task at least, but I was still front and center.
I’d never been so aware of my own vulnerability.
Not even when I was alone with Francois and we were intimate—at least then, I still felt safe. I felt protected and loved.
Not here, even as the other women crowded behind me, their physical presence almost overwhelming as Kayla started to mutter under her breath.
“Go to Nic?” Sam appeared at my elbow and tugged me to standing before she even finished speaking. “Do you remember where he is?” I nodded and started to move, fear propelling me forward before I could even think about what to do.
An Ancient female was walking in our direction but in the next moment, she seemed to be right in front of us.
I made a strange yipping sound—the kind of embarrassing noise that would probably keep me awake for many nights in many years to come as I relived it—but Ciara snarled and stepped forward, already slashing with her hand.
Her claws ripped a jagged trail in the Ancient’s cheek as Kayla’s magic began to wrap around her.
The woman met my gaze and smiled, but it was full of malevolent promise, and I shuddered. I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t let her get me. What the hell was I thinking, agreeing to be bait?
I checked over my shoulder, locating the exit, then backed toward it, keeping the Ancient where I could see her.
My back hit the emergency exit door and I fumbled behind me, reaching for the silver bar to push and let myself out.
The alarm blared as I did, but the only one who even seemed to notice was the bartender.
He glanced up and winked in my direction.
Wind blew through my hair, making a cracking noise like it was alive and had electrified me as I pushed the door wider.
Then pain ripped through me, coursing up my arm as something sharp caught hold of me.
I ripped away as I fought through the door, my eyes half closed, my hands reaching into the dark.
My arm throbbed.
“Got you.” Nic spoke as he pulled me forward, catching me as I fell against him. He lifted his cell phone to his mouth. “Temple, you’re up.” Then his nostrils flared and he glanced at my arm.
Blood trickled down my wrist and I pulled my arm back against myself, clamping it to my side.
Nic didn’t get the chance to ask about it because the air around us filled with screams from inside the bar as the door opened and Kayla rushed out, pushing Leia in front of her and dragging Sam behind her.
Last came Ciara, loping forward in wolf form.
As soon as she left the bar, the screaming died down, and Nic leapt forward and slammed the door shut as Kayla murmured another spell.
“It’s sealed,” she said.
“Okay.” Nic nodded. “Did Temple get the Ancient?”
Kayla shook her head. “No. She was too fast. They’re something else, Nic. I need to go back to the drawing board on this one. I need to tweak the plan.”
“Okay.” He started to agree with her then looked up as Jason and Francois came running around the corner.
Francois swept me against him immediately, and he smoothed his fingers over the bare skin of my arm in his usual comforting way but he grazed too close to the bite mark, and I flinched as pain flashed through me.
I watched him as he looked down, watched as his eyes widened and rage contorted his face.
He sprang toward the van—it was empty but he didn’t know that as he beat against it with his fists, leaving dents in the strong metal. I shrank away from the display of violence, but the other vampires ran toward it.
“Francois, stop.” Jason took hold of his shoulder, but Francois didn’t pay him any attention at all, continuing his violence like an overgrown toddler having a tantrum, except this tantrum could be deadly.
But Francois threw Jason to the ground, his show of strength dangerous and scary as his eyes flashed red and he seemed to growl ugly French words.
“Francois.” The king’s voice boomed out, and even I listened.
Francois slowed his frenzy a little as Nic turned his attention to Kyle and Sam.
“Sam, get over here. You said your coercion extends to vampires sometimes, right? Can you hold him? I have things to do.”
Sam nodded and walked toward Francois, not the least bit intimidated by what she was seeing. Instead, she started talking to him really quietly as she maintained their eye contact.
He stepped away from the van and some of the red color bled out of his eyes. “Who the hell bit my mate?”
He turned to me, but I held up my hands and stepped back. The back end of the van looked like a crumpled aluminum can.
But he only shook his head and made a scoffing noise. Then he was in front of me, using his vampire speed against me for the first time. But as he pulled me to him again, I forgave him. He smelled like home.
He smelled like home, and I never wanted to be anywhere else.
“Mon ange,” he whispered after pressing a kiss into my hair as he loosely held my bitten wrist in his hand. “We’ll fix this, I promise.”