Chapter 1 – Violet
Chapter One
Violet
Chaos has a vibe that’s all its own. It’s a Saturday night, and the club is filled with people and alive with an energy that my vampiric side loves.
My wolf?
She’s not as enamored by all the sights, smells, and sounds. It’s unfortunate, but I make decent money hourly and the tips are great.
Coming to Black Cove was the best decision I’ve made in a long time.
When my old babysitter, Greer, reached out to ask if I’d like to live in the house she inherited from her grandmother, I couldn’t bring myself to say no.
Even if it felt like she was only offering because Hazel and her mates moved out.
Having a twin sister that’s not just the only one of her kind but also a devourer has its perks, like siphoning and having someone who can literally devour the soul of anyone who has wronged me on speed dial.
Unfortunately, it’s also a real mindfuck when it comes to feeling inadequate. Our parents always went out of their way to make sure they treated us as equals.
It just never really helped.
Hazel has always had her shit together in a way I don’t.
She knows who she is despite our age, and her species gives her direction.
She restores balance to the world by devouring rotten souls.
That’s some serious life purpose, while I’m a hybrid of two species that have an almost comical distaste for one another.
It’s hard not to get an inferiority complex when I compare myself to my twin, but people have done it for my whole life.
Now, here I am.
Not only living in the same house that she did while she was in Black Cove, but I’m also working at the same club one of Hazel’s mates worked at. Well, Annex technically worked over at Rut, the sex club portion of the business, but Chaos, Rut, and Rage are all owned by Greer’s mates.
Even if it looks like I’m trying to pretend to be Hazel 2.0, I couldn’t turn down the chance to finally get out of my parents’ house just to save my pride. And for the most part, I love it here.
It’s a little lonely going from a house full of people to living alone in the huge mansion Greer inherited, but it’s also nice to feel like I’m growing into my own.
Serving drinks isn’t as boring as I thought it would be. I regularly rotate between Rage and Chaos. They have totally different atmospheres, and that keeps work interesting.
Rage is more hyped-up from the monsters in the fighting ring. The audience is there because they want to see blood spilled or to watch someone suffer.
Chaos has more of a sensual energy from the people grinding together on the dance floor or standing around, flirting at the bar. The club might be packed, but everyone is focused on finding someone to go home with at the end of the night.
Black Cove is more of a hub for vampires, demons, and dark fae than Haven. Greer told me once that the town motto is, everyone in Black Cove has secrets. From everything I’ve seen, that statement is accurate.
My vampiric side loves the dark, edgy energy, and I don’t even let myself focus on how hungry I am. While there are plenty of monsters in Black Cove, there are also humans.
Delicious-smelling humans filled to the brim with delectable blood. Thanks to my wolf, I can consume human food to survive, but I prefer an all-liquid diet. It amps up my strength and natural abilities, and when I only consume blood, I don’t have to worry about bodily functions.
I’m off in an hour, then I’ll be able to scout around for a willing blood source.
Fergus is convenient, but it’s also starting to feel a little too serious when I feed from him, so it’s probably time to take a few days off.
I don’t want him to think I’m so pathetic that I can’t go a day or two without seeing him.
The only downside to my night is the table of wolf shifters who flag me down every five minutes.
Apparently the two drinks I dropped off for each of them are already gone.
It takes a lot of liquor to get a shifter drunk.
Their system runs so hot that they tend to burn off the alcohol before it can do much.
Not to mention, they’re massive.
The one in the middle of the booth is an alpha. Dominance rolls off him in waves, and the other wolves look to him for his approval, even while they’re casually talking.
It’s ridiculous, considering they’re grown adults, but there is a hierarchy in packs and shifter culture, in general.
I head back to the bar, order them another round, and wait for the drinks to be made. While the bartender is working on that, I check back on the table of wolves. They’re eyeing me, and I don’t like it.
My vampiric side isn’t intimidated by much, but my wolf is uncomfortable with the attention the wolves are giving us.
It’s kinda embarrassing that I didn’t end up an alpha, considering my biological fathers are an ancient wolf shifter alpha and a vampire, but that’s just how things played out.
When someone picks up my scent, they always assume I’m solely a vampire rather than a hybrid. They could be studying me because they’re as cliché as most of their kind and they hate vampires.
It’s really a toss-up.
My mom loves to talk about how much my fathers disliked each other back in the day. Then again, my mom is a blood witch, and her blood magic somehow combined their essences to create me, which makes everything significantly weirder.
The bartender fills my tray and laughs. “They’re keeping you busy tonight.”
“They are,” I agree. “Let’s hope they’re decent tippers or I might cry.” Hoisting the tray, that’s even heavier now that it’s full, isn’t difficult, but it reminds me exactly how hungry I am.
I cross the busy room, ducking and weaving between monsters, and finally make it to the shifters. Resting the tray on the edge of the table, I get to work handing out everyone’s drinks.
The two guys on the left of the table lean their heads together, laughing about something.
I ignore them and place their drinks in front of them before collecting their empty glasses and moving on to the guy on the right.
All of them are easy enough to reach, but it’s a pain to have to stretch to serve the alpha in the back.
Trying to balance the heavy-ass now-empty tray isn’t helping. I can’t rest it fully on the table, or it’ll shove their empty glasses around, so I grab the alpha’s drinks and put the tray on the floor vertically, leaning it against my shin.
I’ll add the dirty glasses to it once I’m done. It’s probably against safety codes or cleanliness standards to have any part of the tray touching the floor, but ninety percent of everyone in the club is immortal.
I lean across the middle of the table, getting as close to the alpha as I can before giving his glasses a shove. They rattle together as I push a little too hard.
Time seems to stand still as I wait for the alpha to lift a hand to catch them, but when I check his face…
He’s busy staring at my tits down the top of my dress.
Okay, if he gets a lap full of beer, he deserves it.
My eyes meet his, and I quirk an eyebrow as the guy closest to him catches the drinks before they can slide off the table and into his lap.
The alpha wolf keeps his eyes locked on mine, and my wolf whines in my mind. His eyes flash an ambery-gold color that signals his wolf is close to the surface or, possibly, that he’s assessing me.
It takes every ounce of willpower I possess to keep my wolf from changing my eyes. The internal struggle goes on as I fight for control, but she doesn’t understand how unsafe the world is for female wolves.
We’re practically endangered these days, but I’m safe enough, thanks to my vampiric side. No wolf wants a mate that’s half vampire, even if shifting female wolves are a hot commodity.
My friend Ember fought the alpha and won control of the North American Pack. She’s doing everything she can to make it a safer place for all shifters, no matter their species or gender.
It’s a step in the right direction, but the world outside of her pack lands isn’t as secure.
It’s time for me to go.
Maybe even time to pawn this table off on another server. Hell, if they end up tipping well, whoever comes after me can take the blessing. I should have kept my distance from the very first second I scented them.