Chapter 9
Idrew in a sharp breath as two distinctive pricks pierced my neck.
The bite wasn’t painful, but it was enough of a shock to send my already apprehensive body into high alert and onto the verge of entering fight mode, which wasn’t a good thing.
Fight mode had the habit of taking over.
Of consuming me until I was no longer myself.
The beast within me laid bare, until it knew I was safe.
But here it would be an unwelcome possession.
I closed my eyes, trying to forget that we were in a room full of people, most of whom were envious of my position, while the woman, Carmen, sucked on my neck.
And she was sucking.
After the initial prick, she didn’t release me.
No. She drew me closer, pulling more of me into her mouth.
Tugging. Tasting. It took me mentally counting past ten Mississippi to realize she was dead set on giving me a hickey.
Leaving an undeniable mark on my flesh that would be much more noticeable than the two tiny holes I’d been expecting.
She was making this a show.
A flutter of panic slammed into my chest. Staving off fight mode had left an opening for other more vulnerable parts of me to slip through. My scars, my healing brand, the discomfort of being exposed and on display flashed through me. And all I wanted to do was get away.
“Mmm…” she purred into my neck, and she drew in closer, repositioning my chin. An act that told me she wasn’t letting me go any time soon.
This. This right here was why I hated vampires. The control. The dominance. Every single thing I had said and thought about the vamps in the car with Jack and Todd on our way to Huntington simmered in my mind. About to boil over.
But that thought flipped a switch. And in a very Jack-like fashion, I began searching for loopholes. Something, anything, that would get me out of the discomfort and exhibitionism I was experiencing.
Technically, I had my mark. I could call ‘holy water’ or ‘silver’, and I still should have been permitted entry. But I needed her on my side if I had a chance of getting Todd in, bite-free.
Fine. I could withstand a little more excessive sucking. For him.
The angry edges of my panic subsided. My body relaxed—somewhat. She couldn’t attach herself to my neck forever. The discomfort was temporary. It was just flesh and bone. Just lips on my neck. My body had gone through worse. Was going through something worse.
With a sudden smack of skin and lips, Carmen released me. Even with a dull throbbing on my collar, which I had no doubt was blossoming into splotches of concord and cabernet, relief flooded my pores. Breathing came easier.
“Oh, yes.” She wiped her bottom lip, fixing the smudge of her lipstick back into a perfect line, then ran a thumb over where she left her mark on me. “You’ll do nicely.”
Her attention flashed over the rest of the room, the room I was working hard to ignore, when her eyes flared. Whatever it was, she liked what she saw.
“Come, darling, let me show you what you get for behaving so well.” Eyes still fixed over my shoulder, she laced her fingers through mine, leading me toward the inner sanctum.
But I couldn’t go in. Not yet. There was still something I needed to do.
I planted my feet, my angry and heavily stilettoed feet, and located Todd, who was a lot closer than I was expecting, motioning for him to join us.
“What are you doing?” Carmen whispered. There was an edge to her voice I couldn’t place. It fell somewhere between anger and interest.
I ignored how wrong the words felt on my tongue. “Getting my man-toy.”
She pursed her lips, sizing up Todd as he approached. “My plans involved keeping you all to myself. I have no intention of biting… him. If that’s what you’re asking. Though I’m sure he’d whet someone else’s appetite.”
“Are you alright?” Todd asked, unnerved. The apprehension he carried with him was palpable, well beyond his base-level irritation.
I squeezed Carmen’s hand, ignoring Todd’s question. “Oh no. He’s already been bitten.”
“What are you doing?”
“Show her your neck.” The lighting was dim enough, his tattoos dark enough, that it would be hard to tell whether or not he had been bitten. If he had been bitten.
A small, almost imperceptible, muscle ticked in Todd’s jaw as he turned his head to the side.
Carmen narrowed her focus, raking her gaze over the thistle tattooed on his throat. It was a good choice. The colors and the textures would have made anything beneath hard to distinguish. I never realized how beautiful the line work was. How well the colors suited him.
Crap.
In order to notice all of the details, I must have been staring. Correction—I was staring.
“He was bitten on the way in,” I lied. “Vamp lost interest when they realized I was his translator.” But there was something else I needed to add to seal the deal.
Something that would get Carmen’s interest. Based on the performance and how she watched Todd’s reaction, I took a guess.
“And he didn’t want to go in without me. ”
She liked that. More than liked. She darted her tongue over her lips, delighting in the dynamic she saw at play.
“I see.” She released my hand and transferred her grip to the small of my back, an intentional move designed to both guide and claim.
“Come along, then. And be sure to keep out from underfoot.” As the three of us pushed through to the inner sanctum, Carmen spoke low into my ear, just loud enough for me to hear.
“I like an audience… But what I like even more is jealousy. And the envy rolling off him is delicious.”
?
Though the space had changed drastically from when I was last permitted entry four years ago, the inner sanctum was impressive.
And substantial. The art deco speakeasy motif continued here, the lights dimmer, the space darker.
People could— and did— hide in the shadows.
Moans of pleasure echoed from a distant corner, audible even over the ambient music.
“Dis-connected.”
It took me a second to realize that the automated voice came from my earpiece.
Todd shook his head, ignoring the hedonism imbued in our surroundings. “No reception.”
Not two steps inside the inner sanctum, and we’d lost our connection to Jack.
“Great,” I signed, managing to be both succinct and sarcastic.
Since Todd didn’t use standardized sign language, it allowed us to communicate discreetly in public, which was useful.
It was also useful in getting Carmen to intervene, since it was obvious she wasn’t a fan of being left out of the loop.
“Leave us.” She waved Todd off, keeping her eyes on me. “Go find someone else to play with. You’ll have her back when I’m finished.”
Now, it was Todd’s chance to do his thing.
Where, despite all logic, he could make himself disappear into the crowd.
There he would be able to listen, gather information and tidbits of conversation that weren’t meant for him—though our surroundings were sure to reveal more of the vamps and their prey than Todd was bound to like.
“I’ll be nearby,” he reassured, pinning a glare on the vamp before he left.
“I like it when their minds runaway with them,” Carmen spoke once she felt Todd was out of both eye and earshot.
She tucked one of the strands that framed my face behind my ear.
“Now, you will have a drink with me. We’ll enjoy each other’s company, and if I’m so inclined we will play a game of my choosing, then you’re free to roam. Deal?”
“Deal.” Though I had every intention of turning the concept of enjoying each other’s company into a conversation she would not be expecting.
“Grand.” Carmen snapped her fingers. Two breaths later, Xander stood before us, head lowered, gesturing towards the bar at the far side of the inner sanctum.
“Right this way, mistress.”
Xander guided us to the bar. As Carmen and I sat, he kept his head lowered, awaiting further instruction.
“That will be all, for now, Xander.” She patted his head with something akin to affection. “I’ll summon you when needed, but until then, I’d very much appreciate if you kept an eye on the large fellow.”
Xander acknowledged the request with a bow before backing off into the crowd.
With her familiar gone, Carmen placed the full weight to her attention on me. “Now, where were we? Ah, yes!” Again, she snapped her fingers, and a rather bulky bartender slid over to us. With arms the size of my torso, I was confident he’d have no trouble out arm-wrestling an ox.
“The usual, Mistress Carmen?” His voice held a lilt I couldn’t quite place. Carmen confirmed her order with a simple lowering of her lashes before the bartender directed his next question to me, “And for you?”
While I had agreed to a drink, I never said what kind. So, I kept it simple. Ginger ale.
The bartender mirrored Xander’s movements, a silent bow of acknowledgement before backing away down the bar to prepare our drinks.
“I certainly didn’t expect you to be dry.” The way Carmen said the word dry made me think what she really meant was boring. “I was hoping a drink would help loosen your tongue, and you could tell me all your deepest, darkest, secrets.”
I feigned a chuckle. “Last time I drank… things didn’t go as expected…”
“Never let one bad experience keep you from enjoying the pleasures of today.”
“No, but it would be foolish of me if I didn’t learn from my mistakes.”
Carmen drummed her fingers on the polished wood countertop. Each of her nails filed to an obsidian point, tapping in calculated waves. “Sounds like there’s more to the story…”
She paid little attention to the bartender when he returned with my ginger ale and a martini with four olives. Olives that looked delightful. My stomach grumbled in agreement.
Or perhaps it was a threat. It was hard to tell anymore.
I eyed my ginger ale hoping it would be a suitable placeholder. But the second grumble of my stomach confirmed that wouldn’t be the case.
Better get a move on.