Before Dawn

by Olivia Hutchinson

  Hannah: U ok?

  Red: Yeah, just don’t feel like going out tonight, u know?

  Natalie could just imagine the irritation and frustration that Hannah must’ve felt when she read that. Five minutes later. Hannah: You could've said something about it earlier instead of having me sit here looking like an idiot for almost an hour.

  Red: Don’t be a bitch. I don’t know what you expect.

  Hannah: Maybe not standing me up? That would be nice.

  Red: This is why I didn’t want to get back into this with u. Your such a bitch. Last night was a fuckin mistake.

  Hannah: You’re*

  Red: FU

  That was where the messages ended, so she slid the phone back across the table to Hannah.

  “Allie called me. She saw Red sucking face with some human chick at Pulse.” She groaned and dropped her head onto the table with a thud. “I’m so stupid. Obviously, he just wants to get his fucking dick wet. I mean, shit. He doesn’t care what he bangs as long as there’s a pussy between her legs. A human? He may as well fuck an animal.”

  The growling from the living room stopped abruptly. Anything Natalie was about to say was gone in an instant. An animal? Ironic considering the source.

  “I don’t know. Can you maybe hex him or something? Make his dick fall off.”

  Blinking once and then twice, it took a second for Natalie to find her voice and to make sure it wasn't going to shake when she spoke. As hurtful as Hannah's ignorant comment had been, Natalie didn't blame her for it. Hannah hadn't meant to hurt her, and there was no way she could explain it to the werewolf either. "I'm not hexing him."

  Hannah lifted her head enough to peer up at her. “Why not?”

  “Because hurting him isn’t going to fix what happened and it isn’t going to make you feel better.”

  “It might.”

  “It won’t. I promise.”

  “Then what do you think I should do?”

  “This isn’t what you’re going to want to hear,” she warned.

  “Please, just tell me. Just lay it out there.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I just turned twenty-one.”

  Young. Where had Natalie been when she was that age? Halfway through the physical therapy program and totally hung up on this one guy at her school. She’d been close to failing out because she couldn’t concentrate and anytime he wanted to get together, she dropped everything to be there. Just like Hannah.

  "I'm gonna tell you what my mama and my sister Nikki told me once. That man got under your skin and spouted off a bunch of bullshit, and you fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. I guarantee he's gonna reel you back in and throw you out again and again if he gets the chance because you're letting him. Hannah, take control back over your life and have some self-respect."

  Hannah leaned back in her chair and stared at Natalie, eyes wide.

  “Now, what is Pulse? Is it a bar?”

  "A vampire night club," Declan supplied softly. "It's pretty popular." He was standing in the kitchen now, leaning against the counter, and watching her quietly. She hadn't even heard him approach, but when she looked up at him, her breath caught. She could almost forget she was mad at him. Almost.

  Natalie turned back to his sister and slapped her hands on the table, sloshing tea out of Hannah’s mug. “Even better. I don’t know about you, Hannah, but I love to dance, especially when I feel like crap. There’s nothing better than throwing on a dress, some heavy eyeliner, and having a good time with people who love you.”

  Hannah was shaking her head. “But he’ll be there…”

  With a shrug, she said, “Maybe he will and maybe he won’t. Who cares? This is for you, not for him.” She turned to look at Declan. “We didn’t have to go anywhere else tonight, did we?”

  “No.”

  “Good. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a vampire night club before.”

  "Alcohol makes people bleed easier. Combine that with loose inhibitions, low lighting, and crowds, and it becomes a pretty decent feeding ground. A sip here and there and no one is the wiser about it."

  Now she was having second thoughts. “Hmm.”

  “It’ll be fine, Natalie, Others are off-limits.” With a wave of her hand and a smile finally on her face, Hannah exclaimed, “Hey Declan, you can be our DD!”

  "Four shots of Jose Cuervo and a Shirley Temple for this sexy piece of ass right here!" Natalie yelled over the thumping music. Apparently, tonight was ‘90s night, so the blaring speakers were playing all sorts of twenty-five-year-old club hits.

  Declan leaned against the bar shaking his head as Hannah slapped a hand over her mouth and dissolved into a fit of giggles. Since they arrived an hour earlier, the women were three shots and two tequila sunrises in.

  With the shots in front of them, he watched as they toasted and threw them back. When the bartender placed a red carbonated beverage in front of him, he grumbled, “Thanks.” Declan pulled one of the maraschino cherries out and popped it in his mouth.

  Natalie lent Hannah the dress she was wearing now, helped her with her makeup, and pushed her out of the apartment. Natalie still wore the little dress his mother had helped her picked out that morning, only now she wore it without the light sweater she had on earlier which took it from classy to downright sexy. There were dozens of male eyes on both of them, but Natalie didn't seem to notice or, if she did, care.

  Hannah did, however. His sister was eating up the attention, dancing with every man – werewolf, vampire, or human – that sought her out. Maybe Natalie was right. Maybe what Hannah needed was to see that there were plenty of men out there who would be interested in her. Men who wouldn’t treat her like shit, as Bowinger had.

  In the car on the way over, Natalie warned Hannah if she so much as attempted to text or call Red while they were there, she’d confiscate her phone and not return it until she sobered up. Hannah took the threat seriously and had not touched the thing all night long.

  Now – since he wasn’t much of a dancer – there wasn't much for Declan to do except hang around and wait for them. He played a few rounds of pool with Silas, one of the few vampires there he recognized. Silas at least was a decent guy. He had been turned in the early ‘80s but hadn't reached the age where his humanity had wholly faded away yet.

  He never took his eyes off Natalie or Hannah for too long, however. There were still plenty of predators here. Between the hungry vampires and the horny everything else, the two women drew a lot of attention.

  Eventually, they left the dance floor to seek him out. He introduced Silas to Natalie and Hannah before sinking the eight ball, leaving the vampire to his own devices for a few minutes while they got more drinks.

  "Hey!" a deep male voice shouted, drawing their attention. Red Bowinger stood behind Hannah, his face a mix of anger and unfiltered lust. It made Declan want to sock the stupid son-of-a-bitch.

  Hannah took one look at him, rolled her eyes, and turned back around to the bar. Declan suspected he was probably the only one there who saw her hands were trembling.

  Red's face matched his name. "Hannah, what the hell?"

  Natalie was watching both Hannah and Red closely, but Declan noticed when she took half a step back and towards him. He touched her elbow, ready to move her out of the way, depending on what Red did.

  Hannah turned around fully then and jutted out her chin. “What do you want?”

  “What are you doing here?”

  Hannah lifted a brow. “What are you doing here? I came here to dance and hang out with my brother and his girlfriend.”

  Red cast a glance in his direction and snarled so low Declan would have missed it if it hadn’t been for the way his nostrils flared. After a second, he turned back to Hannah. “We had plans.”

  "Plans you canceled." Hannah glanced down at her phone and ignored him. Her fingers moved over the screen. "Excuse me," she said, elbowing her way around Red. Hannah waved toward someone, and a few seconds later her friend Allie w
as there.

  Hannah completely ignored him, introduced Allie to Natalie, and before he knew it, all three of them were on the dance floor yet again. Red was stunned. And Declan was having a hard time not laughing at the obnoxious little fucker.

  "Fuck you, Azarov," Red snapped before trudging off.

  Declan didn’t say anything, he just watched Red go with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Hey, can I get another Shirley Temple?” This was turning into a good night indeed.

  Natalie was exhausted and more than a bit tipsy. Her hair was damp with sweat from the sweltering heat of the dance floor and the sheer amount of bodies crowded around her. When she felt Hannah would be okay with Allie, she left them to go seek out Declan and a tall glass of water.

  She saw him across the room, playing another round of pool with Silas. He hadn't told her what Silas was, but she recognized he wasn't human. His movements were too careful and deliberate, as if he was terrified of breaking something if he didn't touch it just right. There was a carefully controlled strength there that frightened her.

  Her best guess was that he was a vampire. His skin was pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in many, many years, but he seemed kind enough. If he were a total jackass, Declan wouldn't have played four rounds of pool with him.

  “Taking a break?” Silas asked her when she approached the pool table.

  “I need to cool down.”

  Declan grabbed one of the bottles of water from the tall bar table and thrust it toward her. “Here.”

  “Thanks,” she said, unscrewing the still sealed top and taking a few long gulps. It felt good when it hit her stomach. When she was satisfied, she put it back on the table. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Are you going to the bathroom?” Silas asked her as he lined up a shot.

  Natalie hesitated. “Yeah…”

  Silas nodded at Declan, his choppy, ear-length brown hair falling into his eyes. "Best go with her. She smells good enough to eat."

  Any doubts about what Silas was disappeared after that. Declan leaned his pool stick against the tall stool and said, “Come on.”

  His hand pressed against her lower back as he steered her through the club and down a long, dark hallway. A few people were milling about, but when she saw how they were watching her, she was glad Silas hadn't let her go alone. If the lighting hit just right, some of the eyes in that hallway glowed.

  Outside the women's room, Declan stopped. "I'll be right here."

  She almost wanted to ask him to come in with her, but when she saw two other girls go in, she just nodded. In and out. And that’s what she did, almost washing her hands too fast to get all the toilet germs off.

  "Are you having fun?" Declan asked her when she rejoined him back in the hallway. They wove their way down the hall, and she didn't miss the fact that one woman had her face buried in the crook of a man's neck, her hand stroking a noticeable bulge through his jeans. His head was lolled back against the wall, his eyes closed as he moaned.

  “Umm…yeah.”

  “He can’t feel her teeth,” he whispered against her ear. “It’s a quick bite, quick feed, and they don’t take more than a few ounces.”

  She waited until they were out of the hallway before asking, “Then why did you come with me? You make it seem like not a big deal at all.”

  "Because they don't always ask first," he said, his mouth was next to her ear, and his arm tucked around her shoulders, "especially when you're unmated."

  Hannah and Allie were at the pool table talking to Silas when they got back. She was glad this night was working out for Hannah. She seemed to have had a good time, which was all Natalie had wanted. The girl needed to get Red Bowinger out of her head. Thankfully, they hadn’t seen hide nor hair from him since she left him dumbstruck at the bar.

  “Hey!” Hannah said. “I was looking for you.”

  “Your brother escorted me to the bathroom.”

  “Mmm hmm…” Hannah looked over Natalie’s shoulder and smirked. “I’m going to stay at Allie’s tonight.”

  “Don’t worry,” Allie said with a wide smile, propping her elbow up on Hannah’s shoulder. “I’m going to confiscate her phone until morning.”

  “Why is that?” Silas asked, looking between the four of them.

  Allie reached up and swooshed her dyed auburn hair over her shoulder. "Oh, to keep her from texting her ex-asshole."

  “If he’s an asshole, why would you want to talk to him?” Silas asked, thick brows drawn in confusion.

  Hannah looked at the vampire, her head cocked slightly, and shrugged. "Because at three in the morning when I'm lonely and buzzing, it may seem like a good idea."

  “If you’re lonely at three in the morning, you could always text me. I’m awake and I’m only occasionally an asshole, but I wouldn’t be that way toward you.”

  Natalie stood there, just as stunned as Hannah looked. Both Allie and Declan were quiet, watching the exchange between the vampire and the werewolf.

  "Umm…yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." Hannah took her phone out and handed it to him. Natalie had never seen fingers move that quickly before. They blurred as he typed his number into her phone and then called himself. His phone lit up on the pool table when the call went through.

  “There.” Silas handed her phone back to her. “Now you have no reason to text the ex-asshole.”

  Hannah was staring at the vampire, her phone clenched in her hand. It was Allie who broke the now palpable silence between the group in the otherwise painfully loud club. “Ready to go, Hannah?”

  Hannah startled slightly and then glanced between Silas and Allie as if trying to figure out what her friend had just asked her. It took a full thirty seconds for her to respond. “Yeah, yeah. Okay. I’m ready.”

  There was a slow smile curving over Silas’s lips as if he were amused at the little werewolf’s sudden stammering. Maybe he thought it adorable? Natalie didn’t know, but she did know she liked this vampire a hell of a lot more than Red Ass-wipe Bowinger.

  Declan’s hand circled her wrist. “Ready?” he asked her, bending close to her ear.

  Natalie nodded. “Yep.”

  They left right after Hannah and Allie, only waiting long enough for Declan to finish his Shirley Temple. When she ordered it for him initially, she was trying to be funny, but he seemed to actually like them. She couldn't suppress her giggle as he slurped the rest of the drink up through his straw. Maybe it was the alcohol fueling her system, but she wasn't nearly as irritated with him now as she had been earlier in the day.

  In fact, it was quite the opposite. He hadn’t outright stared at her all night, but she felt his eyes on her several times throughout the evening. She told herself he was probably just making sure she was okay, but she couldn’t help the small flame of hope in her chest that he was looking because he liked what he saw.

  Lord knew she did.

  He was still wearing the same clothes he wore to the reception. A pair of black pants that weren't meant to be tight but still clung to him in all the right places while sitting low on his hips. His shirt was a cream-colored button down. He rolled up the sleeves and undid the top two buttons. His hair was gelled, and there was the start of a beard dusting his jaw. Even now, the scent of his cologne was doing all sorts of bad things to her.

  A small chill racked through her as he opened the passenger side door of the SUV. Natalie slid inside and jerked the door shut as he walked around to get behind the wheel. Not staring was a problem as he started the car, backed out of the space, and started down the parking deck ramp. He paid the parking fee and turned out onto the road to head back to his parent’s property.

  He leaned back in the seat, one hand resting on the wheel as he swerved through the traffic. Natalie half leaned against the door, her legs crossed toward him. She was currently squeezing her thighs together in an attempt to satisfy the ache growing there.

  "You know you upset me earlier," she told him.

  He glanced at her before looking back at
the road. “When?”

  “At the Council House.”

  “Ah. I wanted to talk to you about that.”

  She waved her hand. “That’s all fine and dandy, but I don’t want to hear it if you’re gonna be mean.”

  “Why do you think I would be mean?”

  "You were mean earlier. You shoved your fingers up my hoo-ha and then told me it shouldn't have happened."

  Declan shook his head. "It shouldn't have, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it or was trying to be cruel to you."

  She shrugged, trying to play off that it hadn't hurt her that badly and turned her attention to the cars outside the window. A light rain was hitting the glass. When she shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle, Declan turned on the heat.

  When the quiet of the car was becoming too much for her, Natalie leaned forward and flipped on the radio. Easy Lover hummed through the speakers. She went back to staring through the window as if the outside world was the most exciting thing ever, despite the fact that it was freakin' dark and she could barely see anything, especially after they turned onto the road leading to his parents'.

  When the headlight washed over a man standing in the middle of the road, his arms cross over his chest, Declan slammed on the brakes.

  Natalie gasped and clenched the door handle as her body rocked forward and then was thrown back against the seat. Declan flung his arm out in front of her as if he would be able to prevent her from flying through the windshield.

  Seconds ticked by as the massive stranger stood in front of the car, watching them. His brows were drawn as he glared directly at Declan. He wore jeans and a white t-shirt that was all but see-through thanks to the rain. His brown hair was wet and plastered to his forehead. It looked as if he’d been standing there for some time.

  “Who is that?” Natalie whispered, stealing a glance toward Declan. He sat in the seat, gripping the steering wheel and met the stranger’s steely glare with one of his own.

  “Brick.”

  "Brick?" What a ridiculous name…although he was built like a brick house, so maybe it was a nickname and not his Christian name.