Enemies, Exes, and Evening Wear (Belladonna Hollow #3)

one

Baz

“Hey there, handsome.” The blonde from the far end of the bar slides onto the empty stool next to me. “Want to buy me a drink?”

As a vampire, it’s nearly impossible not to pick up women, especially at bars. They’re drawn to us—our eyes, our good looks, our scent. The poor things don’t stand a chance. Add alcohol to the equation, and it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

I raise my hand to the bartender and nod for him to get her another drink.

He reaches into the cooler in front of him, pops the cap from a bottle, and puts a low-calorie beer in front of her.

Something that isn’t really beer at all.

Something that will make her blood taste like bubbles and wheat-flavored water.

I wish she’d ordered a dark beer or a smoky whiskey. Something I could reasonably enjoy.

“So, you live around here?” she asks.

I nod. “Grenadine Court.”

We start a conversation so mundane and lackluster that it doesn’t require any brainpower. I’m not listening to her.

I’m thinking about CJ.

About how we’re lying to her.

About her billion-dollar question.

Why?

I don’t dare tell CJ how many women actually answered that ad. How many wanted to be our unholy mistress.

But I could read their minds.They were accepting the challenge.

Just last week, TikTok videos claiming there are three vampire kings looking for a human queen started circulating. Vampire Kings’ Betrothed Challenge has been trending all week.

Inara’s work again. She knows we are out here somewhere, and even without finding us, she is ruining our efforts. Of all the applicants, CJ was the only one who wasn’t some girl looking to get TikTok or YouTube famous by becoming some queen of the night.

But Inara never anticipated we’d find CJ. CJ isn’t a danger to us.

But we are a danger to her.

“I can’t believe you live over on Grenadine Court. Those houses are incredible. They never come up for sale. Not that I could afford one.” She sighs. “You want to take me to your place? I’d love to see what it looks like.”

The blonde bites her bottom lip, which is covered in overly pink, waxy lipstick. A smudge of it sticks to her tooth.

We haven’t even finished our drinks. So much for playing hard to get.

I nod again, knowing full well we are never going to leave the woods behind the parking lot.

I put enough money on the bar to cover our drinks and a generous tip, and we head outside. I take the lead, and she follows me into the trees, moonlight shining through the leaves of the thick Southern Oaks around us.

CJ was escaping her own chaos. She wasn’t trying to get involved with vampires. She was the only genuine one among the women who responded. The only one who actually needed a place to stay.

The only one without an ulterior motive.

“Want to fool around?” The woman from the bar smiles and opens the buttons of her shirt.

I nod, but I don’t advance. I let her come forward. She does without hesitation.

I’m bored with this exchange. It requires so little of me.

I bite down and suck fast, ignoring her now exposed breasts.

As I feed from her overly perfumed neck—I’ve never been a fan of freesia—my thoughts drift back to CJ.

To the pull I feel toward her. To the possibilities she represents.

To the danger we are putting her in. If she doesn’t die in the process—a very real possibility—this will be the greatest vampire advance in our history.

And it all comes back to her, this innocent girl who has no idea who we are or what we are capable of.

For reasons I don’t fully understand, I can’t stop thinking about her.

Perhaps it’s her attitude, or her ridiculous internal thoughts, but she floods my brain. Infiltrates my day.

She intrigues me. And I haven’t even tasted her yet.

She might be with Andre tonight, but soon it will be my turn.

We will all have our turn.

That is, unless she leaves. Which she might once she learns of our deception.

When she finds out what’s really happening—and that we weren’t the ones to tell her.

No.

I can’t let that happen. We are too close to our goal. And she is too perfect to help us get there.

We are going about this all wrong. I can tell from listening in, she doesn’t want to be deceived.

But if we tell her—if we let her have some control—then maybe things will be different.

Maybe she’ll even want to be queen.

Maybe she’ll stay with us after we begin our takeover. Maybe she doesn’t care what happens to the human race. Much like Andre, it doesn’t appear to have done her any favors.

Maybe we can change her. Make her a vampiress leader.

Maybe she can truly be ours… eventually.

I lose myself in the possibilities she brings us.

Pleasure. Power. Happiness. Blood.

The blonde goes limp in my arms.

Damn. I have got to pay more attention to what I’m doing.