Chapter 8 #2
“Ten-four.” Jack waited a moment before continuing, “But I’m on standby for the safe words.”
“He always overprotective… with you?” I asked Todd so the listening devices wouldn’t pick up on it.
Todd cocked his head. “He is more on edge than usual. The outfit, your outfit … is part of it.” Then his grin deepened. “But yes.”
I chuckled. Audibly.
“I know what you’re doing…” Jack spoke again, his voice sending vibrations deep inside my ear.
“And I don’t care what names you call me, as long as I know you are both okay.
And I’m always going to make sure you are okay, or I’m not doing my job.
” Something in the car beeped. “Going radio-silent, but I’ll be here. ”
Todd and I shared a look, acknowledging that we’d been caught red-handed. And Jack wasn’t even in the building.
Settling our sights back onto our mission, Todd and I faced the crowd. The room oozed with need and want. Desperation thick on the air, with people waiting to be chosen. People wearing far less than I was.
Perhaps Jezzy was right in dressing me a couple of tassels away from being a burlesque dancer.
But the longer we stood, the greater I got the feeling that most, if not everyone, had been here—in the waiting room—before. And not many had made it to the inner sanctum. Desperation was a turn off for vamps. And almost everyone was aggressively seeking attention.
Todd, being the stoic, silent, and heavily-tattooed type, couldn’t have looked desperate if he tried.
That would work in our favor, but I was never one to just standing around waiting for something to happen.
I needed to draw attention to us. The right kind of attention, and not be overly obvious about it either.
While I assessed the room for weaponizable objects, beyond my stilettos, I also looked for anything I could use to our advantage in drawing attention—when I spied pitchers of water and accompanying glasses stationed on each of the cocktail tables.
They would have to do.
I kept my smile to myself as the idea unfolded. My make-shift plan had the benefit of putting Todd at ease, at least temporarily, and some cash in my pocket.
“Twenty bucks says you’ll be brought in first.”
Todd’s eyes lit up. “Fifty, you’re wrong.”
“Deal.” We shook on it and I sprang into action, all but bee-lining for the nearest pitcher of water.
Todd was going to regret taking our bet. I was going to make sure of it.
But my plans were interrupted by a bleary-eyed elfish blonde woman just as I started pouring water into a glass.
“Woah. You are ridiculously good looking!” She definitely had a few too many drinks before she arrived. “You a vamp? You are, right? Looking for food?” She scooped her hair to the side and held her neck out to me.
I almost laughed, though I wasn’t sure if it was because I thought it was funny, or because I was uncomfortable. She was just so … forward about wanting me to bite her. She was all too willing to give herself to me, to give up control. A concept I was unfamiliar with.
I flashed my teeth at her, showing her that I was fangless, as I poured water into a second glass. “Sorry, no vamps here.”
“Oh!” The elfish woman righted her posture, then gave me a once over, like she still didn’t quite believe me. “You must be new. You must be. If you’d been here before I’d remember you. You’re face—”
“First time,” I lied, hoping to end the conversation. I had plans, and they involved intentionally spilling water all over Mr. Grumpy, who seemed to be attracting similar attention. The people surrounding him didn’t seem to mind that they couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Me? I come here every other week. Only ever been let in twice, but it’s like everything you ever wanted on the inside.
” She grabbed my arm, holding me captive.
“Like every dream you have of being with a vamp, and like how powerful they are. And like the fact that they are rich—you know how much money they have to pay to get fangs? It’s like a lot.
Like how much I’d make in ten years. So, you know you’d be taken care of… ”
I all but drowned out the woman as she continued talking about her love of vamps.
The last vampire show she watched. The last vampire book she read.
How she was considering being a familiar since she heard it paid well.
The local apothecary she frequented because they supplied the vamp’s events.
And just when I was sure I was going to interrupt her ceaseless one-sided conversation, a vamp entered the room.
Well, it must have been a vamp since everyone’s attention snapped to the inner sanctum door behind me. The elfish woman who had been voicing her stream of consciousness gripped me tighter. Her breathing hitched.
“Oh my. He’s dreamy. Isn’t he dreamy?”
I flashed my gaze over my shoulder at the vamp. He was clad in black from head to toe, but the outfit was simple. Clean. Nothing exceptionally vampy aside from the fact his raven-black dress shirt was unbuttoned to reveal the entirety of his sternum.
I turned away, pulling my arm free from the now awestruck woman.
If she had been less talkative, and had let me get a word in edgewise, I might have asked her a few questions about her knowledge of the vamps, if there was anything out of the ordinary, but I hadn’t got the chance.
That, combined with the fact that she’d only made it in twice before, I didn’t imagine her having insights on the vamps that would prove useful to the case.
But something told me I’d only find that out after subjecting myself to twenty more minutes of her relentless monologue.
With a vamp in the room, I had something to do.
Water in tow, I worked my way back toward Todd, ignoring the presence at the doorway. Hopefully, there would be enough time for me to put on a little show, before the vamp made his selection. Or was disinterested enough to leave the room empty handed.
I was almost within spilling distance of Todd, when a firm hand took hold of my elbow. About to give the elfish woman what-for, I found the man in black at my side.
“Who are you?” His voice low, he guided me closer with the gentle pull of his hand. If he was a vamp, he didn’t yet have his fangs.
“No one of consequence,” I said coyly, batting my lashes as I made to pull away. But he gripped me harder, drawing me towards him before bringing his lips to a swathe of exposed skin on my shoulder. Inhaling, he drew a hot line up my neck to my chin. The hair on my neck stood on end.
He released a satisfied rumble deep within his chest. “Well, No-one-of-consequence, you smell delightful.” Keeping my overwhelming urge to elbow him somewhere soft in check, I caught the briefest flash of his attention in Todd’s direction, before the man in black’s lips curled. “Carmen will be pleased.”
Then he was gone.