Chapter Three
BLISS
“When was the last time you had sex?” my sister asks, eyebrow raised as she twirls a straw around her drink.
And here I thought our first girls’ night after so long would be awkward.
The EDM music is thumping so loudly that my glance around the tables nearby ours is unwarranted. But even if no one did overhear us, red creeps into my cheeks, and I roll my eyes at Amelia.
I met Reese and Amelia at my aunt’s house—which I have only been back to a handful of times since moving out—to get ready for our girls’ night.
Amelia and I weren’t not on speaking terms, but things haven’t been right between us for quite some time.
As we got ready together in her room, the chill slowly started to thaw and we fell back into old patterns; for example, Amelia constantly butting into my sex life—or lack thereof.
“This is what you want to talk about?”
“It’s a valid question,” Amelia continues, completely ignoring my humiliation. She looks to Dericia, and I shoot a warning glare at my best friend.
Dericia shrugs and smiles at me and Amelia. “I’m not getting involved in a sisterly fight, especially not a succubus sisterly fight.”
“I’m not talking about this,” I tell Amelia, wishing I had ordered a stronger drink.
Amelia picks the straw out of her glass and points it at me, droplets of her Sex on the Beach cocktail flying onto the tiny table we’re seated at. “You look tired, and I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”
I search around for anything to change the subject but come up empty. “You and I both know, taking care of ourselves doesn’t power us up. If it did, I wouldn’t be so tired all the time.”
“Why doesn’t that recharge you again?” Reese asks. “It’s still sexual energy. It should count.”
“It needs to be other people’s energy,” Amelia explains. “Just how a vampire can’t feed off their own blood.”
Reese makes a face like the stars should make an exception for me.
“So you’ve gotten no dick recently, then?” Amelia asks, returning to my oh-so-favorite topic.
Dericia snorts and I shake my head, letting loose a sigh that is quickly swallowed up by the music.
“No, I haven’t.” It’s been a while, a long while. I’ve stuck to… uh… slightly less intimate options, and usually only in emergencies. Maybe my sister is right to be worried.
“We should find you a guy tonight, then,” Dericia says, starting to scope out the club. I put my hand on her forearm to bring her attention back to the table.
“Please, no. I don’t do one-night stands.”
“Bliss, you’re a succubus, a single one,” Amelia explains, as if I don’t know this already. “You have to be open to one-night stands. For your health. Plus, they’re sexy as hell.”
Dericia nods enthusiastically, swinging her long braids over her shoulder, as she goes back to looking for cute guys. “What about that one?” She points at a tall blonde jock type with lots of muscles who’s hanging out with a group of friends.
“Definitely not her type, Reese,” Amelia says, almost spluttering in concern. “My sister is not going home with someone who peaked in high school. We should have gone to a different club.” She sighs.
“This club is great,” Reese stresses, shooting a warning look at Amelia.
I look down at my drink, putting both my hands around it.
We came to this club in particular because we all knew we wouldn’t run into anyone from the metal scene—well, besides Amelia and Dericia.
The crowd they hang with is pretty great, but ever since my breakup, I just haven’t really found it in myself to hang around in that circle.
It’s his space, and I have to avoid it at all costs.
Facing him again just isn’t something I can do.
“You know, I actually love this song,” Amelia says, downing the rest of her drink and hopping off her barstool.
Her black minidress slips up further than is probably decent, but she doesn’t rush to right it.
My sister could be in this club completely naked and still walk around like she owns the place.
Dericia follows suit, reaching out her hand to me. “Come on, Bliss. We’re gonna go dance and find you a sexy man to take home.”
“I’ll agree to the dancing,” I reply, taking her hand and hurriedly finishing the last little bit of my drink.
She hauls me out onto the dance floor alongside her.
Amelia already has most eyes on her as she moves to the center of the dance floor.
Her long, pale legs draw male attention quickly, and soon the three of us find ourselves surrounded by a few different groups of fae men.
Amelia, recently topped up on power, is a magnet.
But even though I haven’t fed in a while, I still possess some of that same allure, and Dericia, with her huge chocolate eyes, flawless warm sepia skin, and long braids that hit the slope of her ass, has her own captivating presence.
So between the three of us it almost seems like every male in the club is making their way towards us.
Dericia and Amelia smile at the attention, knowing it means more options for them and—they hope—for me.
All it does is make me want to shrink into the shadows of the room and disappear. Which unfortunately is not a power I’m blessed with.
“What’s your name?” a sweaty voice asks right next to my ear. I recoil from the heat of it and swivel around to see an equally sweaty guy with slicked back greasy hair and a button-down shirt open almost to his navel ogling me.
“No thanks,” Amelia says to him from behind me. She waves her hand dismissively at him. “We can definitely do better than that,” she says to me.
“We’re not doing better than anything,” I remind her.
“I’m just here to hang out with you and Reese.
” It has been ages since we’ve had a girls’ night.
We used to do stuff like this all the time, but now we lead such different lives and it feels like a huge distance has risen up between the three of us.
Tonight was just supposed to be like old times.
And maybe it already is, because since when did my sister not meddle in my life?
I look around for Reese, catching a guy with dark hair grinding with her, his arms around her waist, his lips murmuring something in her ear.
She sees me looking and grins excitedly, obviously super into the guy.
And he is hot, so I smile back at her. “I’m going to get another round of drinks,” I tell them, as Amelia draws a guy towards her with just the simplest crook of her finger.
They shout their drink preferences at me as I try not to stumble all the way to the bar.
Taking off these heels at the end of the night is the closest I’m coming to an orgasm today.
A couple of the guys from the dance floor trail after me, so I let one of them buy the round of drinks, but I make sure to carry all three back to the dance floor so no one gets any ideas of slipping anything into them.
Amelia and Dericia reach out and take their drinks.
Amelia exchanges numbers with the guy she was dancing with, winking at me as he heads back to his friends.
“I’ll circle back to him before we leave,” she says, glancing down at her dress, which keeps riding up.
She tugs it down with her free hand. “Anyone catch your eye?” she asks me hopefully.
“Nope, but Dericia definitely seems to have caught many eyes,” I say, noticing a guy in a red shirt with his hair pulled up into a bun trying to pull her away from the guy she’s been dancing with now for several songs.
Her dance partner twirls them, so that Dericia is facing away from us, trying to put himself between her and the guy with the red shirt.
Amelia and I gasp as we catch a glimpse of the back of his neck. Thick ridges line the center of his back. It’s not as apparent through his shirt, but above the collar we can see where his ridged spine pushes through his skin.
A warlock.
Before we can attempt to disentangle Dericia from the warlock, the red-shirted guy starts shouting at him, and a crowd starts to form as everyone tries to get a look at what’s happening.
“Let her go, you Made fae piece of trash,” the guy in the red shirt says, baring his fangs at the warlock.
The warlock tightens his arms around Dericia, who swivels in his grasp to find us, her eyes wide. “We were just dancing,” the warlock says, fury lacing his words.
“I don’t understand why this place even lets in your kind,” the red-shirted vamp says, grabbing onto Dericia’s arms and trying to pull her out of the warlock’s grasp. “Don’t worry, babe, I won’t let him hurt you.”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” the warlock shouts.
Amelia and I exchange glances. More and more fae are starting to congregate around the scene these two are making, with Dericia smack-dab in the middle of it.
We have to get her out of there before anyone starts using their powers.
While her kindred rune protects her from some fae magic, like compulsion, it won’t protect against direct hits, and she doesn’t have magic of her own to defend herself if she gets caught in the magical crossfire.
Amelia sucks in a breath, raising her arms out around her, and a whooshing sensation rushes past me as she lets out a calming energy.
I can tell immediately when it reaches the two guys.
The Born fae vampire relaxes a bit, but he is still trying to pull Dericia out of the warlock’s grip. “She’s human, man. Just let her go.”
“Just because I’m Made, doesn’t mean I’ll hurt her,” the warlock replies, but the fury in his voice is gone.