Chapter 36 #2
Every inch of my vision is tinged in red. I clench my teeth. The urge to paint the club in blood is difficult to ignore. Nearly impossible. We were played, and I was too blind to see what was right in front of me all along.
I blame Ciprian.
I blame myself.
I blame the enclave.
And I blame the Fringes too.
The closed-mouth mentality ends for me tonight. I’ll pry if I want to, bones, teeth, secrets and all. No one deserves privacy at my expense. Here in this crowded strip club, I make a vow: to learn everything I can about the supernaturals living in this realm.
I won’t be taken by surprise again.
Ciprian marches to the bar, his jaw rigid, pulse racing. If I focus, I can hear it over the music. Thu-thump. Thu-thump. Thu-thump. I lick my fangs, testing the sharp points. I can practically taste his blood on my tongue.
Overconfident fool that he is, he’s letting me walk at his back.
I could kill him before his heart finished one full pump.
I reach for him, longing to feel his blood trickle down my throat again.
I know how good it tastes, how warm and satisfying—Phantom pain pierces me, and I relive the indescribable agony of the angel’s sword plunging to the hilt in my gut.
Ciprian tasted like my salvation that night, but he was our damnation all along. Still . . . I retract my hand. Motivations aside, my honor refuses to kill the man who saved my life. At least while his back is turned. If I end him, I’ll do it while staring into his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Luca demands, wiping the sweat off his brow and ignoring the line of people clamoring for drinks. His forehead pinches as he focuses first on Ciprian, then me. “Are you both okay?”
“We need to talk,” Ciprian says. His voice gets swallowed up by the din of the crowd, but we both hear him fine.
“Once Celine wraps up.” He glances at the stage, anguish on his face as he watches her dance.
My lips curl with disgust. He’s a consummate liar.
Even now it looks like he truly cares for her.
Luca turns his attention to the line of people jockeying for his attention. “You assholes better order a pitcher now if you want it,” he shouts. “I’m about to take my break.”
Loud complaints greet that announcement, all of them yelling to be served.
Ciprian slumps onto a barstool, and I watch him like a hawk, happy to let him wallow in the anticipation. He snuck into our community, gained our trust under false pretenses, and now it’s time to pay the bill for our hospitality.
The enclave has earned every bit of the derision it gets around here.
Never around to help, Dimitri Casanell and Joshua Therion love to send a minion to the Fringes to enforce their authority every few months.
I am surprised we warranted a visit from Casanell’s heir, though.
Ciprian must be out of favor with the self-proclaimed powers that be.
The cheering gets louder, signaling the end of Celine’s set. Like clockwork, Luca grabs a water bottle and rounds the bar.
“Here she comes,” he says, tossing me a warning look. I can only imagine how I seem to him right now. My bloodlust is teetering right below massacre level. His basilisk senses the predatory intent, and Luca the man doesn’t approve. “Let’s make this quick.”
I scoff. He’ll be singing a different tune as soon as he hears what happened. Ciprian will be lucky to walk out of here alive. I have to get a grip. Lying asshole or not, if we kill Dimitri Casanell’s son, we’ll pay with our lives.
“Hands to yourself, Rex, or you’ll get banned again.” Celine’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and I turn my head to see her prying the bear shifter’s fingers off her waist.
“I love it when you’re mean to me,” he says, slurring his words.
I blink, and everything turns ruby red. He reaches for her again, then my hand is around his throat, shoving his face into the bar top. His forehead hits the wood with a massive thump. Several people back away. I sense others closing in and snarl.
“Let him go, Alistair,” Celine hisses, tugging on my arm.
I growl. “Not until he apologizes.”
Using her full strength, Celine yanks me off the brute. “He doesn’t have to apologize. Gods, what’s the matter with you?”
I can’t believe she’s defending him. In front of all these people. “He had his hands on you,” I hiss and lunge for the bear again.
Celine shoves me back, glaring up at me like I’m the problem. She tosses the stunned crowd an apologetic smile, then levels me with an icy glare. “I had it handled,” she whispers.
“I’m supposed to stand by while someone paws at my girl?” I roar, my voice booming over the whispers and grumbles. No. Don’t do this. The thought is barely a whisper inside my mind. It’s no match for the anger.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” Celine says, steel in her voice and murder in her eyes. Every head in this bar is turned our way. She shifts uncomfortably on her feet.
“Nothing to see here.” She laughs. It’s the fakest sound I’ve ever heard.
“A little show for added value,” Luca jokes. “Rex, your next pitcher is on me.” He pats the surly bear on the back and hands him a napkin.
Rex glowers at me, his face warped with rage as blood drips from his nose. It smells acrid. Gamey. But it’s warm and wet, and for an instant, I pray he lunges for me like he wants to. When he shakes his head and backs away, I taste my disappointment instead.
“What the fuck was that?” Celine says, her voice cracking.
“He was touching you,” I seethe, looking to Luca for backup.
His face is carefully blank. It stings. Another betrayal.
“I’m serious, Alistair.” Celine crosses her arms over her chest. She’s squaring off against me, positioning herself as my enemy. “You better knock it off with the territorial bullshit or I swear—”
“You’ll what, Celine?” I snap, rolling through her weaknesses until I pinpoint the quickest way to hurt her as much as she’s hurting me. “Will you take your clothes off for a bunch of strangers? Oh wait, you already do that.”
Her mouth drops open, and she takes a step back. Too late, I realize what I’ve done and reach for her, regret overpowering my anger. She shakes my hand off and wipes every trace of emotion from her face.
Ciprian shoots to his feet. “Watch how you speak to her,” he says. “Don’t take it out on Celine because you’re pissed at me.”
My fury coalesces into a flash point with him at the center, and I lunge. “You’re asking for it,” I snarl. “Telling me to watch my mouth when every word out of yours has been a lie.”
“Woah, woah, woah.” Luca muscles his way between us, wincing when his collarbone gets jostled. “You’re making a scene. We need to go somewhere private.”
“Fuck that,” Celine says. “Alistair is obviously taking me up on my original offer, that’s all.”
My heart sinks, panic turning my blood to ice. The public falling-out she wanted to stage to keep me safe? I don’t want that; I want her. Can’t she see? I made a mistake, but this is his fault. All of this is Ciprian’s fault.
Celine looks up at me, her eyes hard and unforgiving. “I have better things to do during my break than hear a bunch of dicks-with-legs fight over me like a piece of meat.”
Mind at war, I stare at her, undecided. One side urges me to protect my wounded heart; the other demands I drop to my knees and beg her forgiveness.
She takes another step back.
I’m losing her.
It hurts, and I bare my fangs. When she flinches away from me, I try to stop, but the words are already pouring out of me.
“Because you’re such a good judge of character, aren’t you, Celine?
A magical truth detector who lets a liar into her midst and doesn’t even notice—it’s the start of a bad joke. ”
“What are you talking about?” Her wings spread wide and smoke ominously. “You know what, I don’t even care anymore. Get out of here, Alistair. I’m not dealing with this.”
Her rejection is the final straw. The third betrayal I’ve faced tonight, and the last.
I point at Ciprian, fury coating my insides in molten heat.
“He’s enclave,” I say, not bothering to keep my voice down. Gasps echo around us, and I spin to face the crowd. “A demon who feeds on fear with powers greater than most of you could imagine? It should have been obvious . . . His name is Ciprian Casanell, and his daddy wants him to come home.”
Whispers break out. The onlookers stare at Ciprian, first in surprise, then with growing hostility. Flames curl up from the tips of Celine’s wings, but when she turns to Ciprian, there’s fear in her eyes.
“Is that true?” she asks him, her voice smaller than I’ve ever heard it. “Did you lie to me about everything?”