“Nothing yet but it’s still early.”
He gulped casting a glance over my shoulder.
“Gorgeous as you are and as dangerously as I like to live, I’m getting bad vibes. Aram is watching my neck like he’d like to rip out my throat.”
“Then let’s go somewhere where he can’t watch us,” I said flexing my trapped hand giving Vincent a little thrill. His body wanted me, he wouldn’t tell me no if I asked again. That was if the tap hadn’t come on my shoulder. I looked back to see Dusk who was flashing a lot of fang at me. Dusk is a fairly young vampire, dead less than ten years and she adored Pink and Aram in equal measure. Real pink mind you, not the pastel. She was in fine form tonight, a sleeveless, low neck short-and I mean short as in barely covered her ass-electric pink sparkly dress with boots to match up to her knees.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She growled at me but I was completely un-phased. She was the least of all the vampires I knew.
“Dancing,” I said like it should have been obvious. She dug her nails into my exposed shoulder pulling me away from him and drawing a little blood.
“Dancing?” she sneered. “You’re practically already fucking him. I won’t let you do that to Aram.” I pried her fingers off me and slung an arm back around Vincent’s neck.
“Aram is a big boy, if he wanted to stop me he’d come over here himself.” I turned my back to her.
“I always thought you were cheap. Now I know you’re a whore too.”
My entire body tensed like she had hit me in the back with a hot lancet and I turned to her, furious. Who was she to judge me the way she threw herself at Aram. He could whistle for her and her panties would fall off before she reached him, if she was even wearing any to start with-which from the way the dress clung to her with no wrinkle seemed likely. I balled my fists letting the anger fill every muscle. Vincent took a step back and Dusk looked pleased with herself, pleased that she had rattled me.
“What did you just call me?”
“A cheap little breather whore.”
She smirked at me, a smirk that clearly said what you going to do about it? The muscle in my leg jumped and stretched as I landed a round house kick to her gut. She looked shocked as it made contact. It had been so fast. She flew in an arch into the DJ’s speaker, ass over teacup. I put everything I had into it and hoped to hell it hurt her. All noise and movement around me ceased. The vampires moved into super speeded action. Jareth took the attention of the crowd going for some mass hypnosis, a vamp whose name I didn’t know checked on Dusk as Aram wrapped his arms around me dragging me outside. The music started up again as we rounded the street corner. He dropped me unceremoniously on my ass in the middle of the street.
“What was all that?” he demanded.
“You dropped me on my ass.”
“Cassandra!”
“You dropped me on my ass, right in the middle of the street,” I said getting to my feet, “you jerk!” I went to slap him but he grabbed my wrist holding it just in the air above his shoulder away from his face. I looked at the ground, all my strength was evaporating and I felt ashamed with his eyes intent on me.
“She called me a cheap whore.”
“And do you think after your display tonight that it wasn’t deserved?”
I pulled my arm from his grip and turned my back to him. Despite everything that hurt, it hurt more than anything. I tried to keep the sobs out of my voice as tears began to fall down my face.
“It’s not your concern. I’m no longer tied to you.”
“You are my bride,” he said indignant.
“Oh am I? Make up your damn mind! As far as I am concerned nothing is official till there is a ring on my finger. I belong to no one.” He touched my shoulder.
“Pet, this behavior, it is not you.”
I smacked his hand away letting him get one good look at my angry tear streaked face before I told him to go to hell and walked away.
Chapter Six
An hour later I was dancing on Wraiths bar to the tune of Bad Girlfriend by Theory of a Dead man and trying to keep the grabby hands of some college kid off my leg.
When I’d walked back into his bar, Wraith had been a little unhappy to see me, sequestering the good booze to a secret location and offering to make me a memory & chemical cocktail. I’d jumped at the idea, the basics of it being that as long as I topped up my drink I wouldn’t remember the last week and just the tiniest bit of alcohol would be magnified by five. So three shots became fifteen and the spell would keep going until I chose to be sober. Wraith was watching me shake my stuff, this sad look on his face and he was dialing numbers on what I realized a little later had been my mobile. How he’d gotten it out of my jacket without me noticing I didn’t want to know. I leaned back, knocked back another shot and kicked the young man at my leg in the shoulder. He only saw that as encouragement and kept on bothering me. I kept dancing and eventually he drifted slightly further back, still watching me but trying to hedge his bets by talking to another woman. He wanted me but if he couldn’t have me, he still didn’t want to leave the bar alone. I scoffed at how fickle men are.
That’s when I saw him coming towards me through the crowd. Every surfer tanned inch of him. His golden hair was tied back from his face making his hair look severely short but showed off his ears. He had his hands pushed deep into the tightest pair of blue jeans he owned; he wore a white vest under a brown leather jacket with a fleece collar. He looked a bit like a pilot/treasure hunter from an old 1930’s Tarzan or Land of the Lost movie. He looked like he could ravage my temple. All he was missing was the hat with the goggles and a white scarf. My brain switched to neutral making my entire body judder and come to a halt on top of the bar. Magnus stood there looking up at me.
“Come down from there,” he said but his tone wasn’t annoyed. He seemed to be vaguely amused. I slumped to my knees on the bar. “Well that’s close enough.” Magnus smiled at me and I felt my stomach do little flip-flops.
“What are you doing here?”
“I called him,” said Wraith from behind me handing Magnus both my phone and the key for my bike, not that I had been stupid enough to drive to a bar when I had planned on drinking.
“Apparently I’m still listed under boyfriend.”
“That’s because Aram doesn’t have a cell phone,” I blurted out. Magnus looked a little less smug but he still pocketed my phone and key. I turned grabbing Wraith by the shirt. “Why?”
“We may not be best buds, Cassa,” said Wraith wincing, “but even I can tell you ain’t right with yourself. I respect you enough to not want to let you do this to yourself.” I let his shirt go and he stumbled back, I’d actually been holding him up on his tiptoes. “Whatever happened, you need to get some real help.”
I leveled him with an icy glare. He knew me well enough to know that something was wrong with me but not to know I’d had and lost another boyfriend since Magnus. My focus was lost when I felt hands on my waist pull me forward, lifting me and I was suddenly staring down at Magnus’s butt and past that to the floor. I watched his bottom sway rhythmically as he walked until I realized I was being carried out of the bar. I was being carried out of the bar slung over his shoulder like a caveman. I kicked my feet and made contact with his knee.
“Let me go! This is not dignified!”
He stopped in front of the stairs and swung me around him so that he was carrying me like Rhett carried Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. I blushed.
“Is that better?” I didn’t answer and he started up the stairs. I found myself wrapping my arms around his neck to help balance out my weight and blushed even harder. His new car was sitting parked on the double yellows in the culvert that sat in front of the firehouse that was just down to the left of the bar. This car was completely unlike his brown ford, this car was glossy black, sleek and screamed speed.
“What did you buy that for?” I asked gawking at it. “Did your mid-life crisis hit and you needed something fast and
vaguely phallic shaped?” He chuckled.
“Something like that!” He hit a keypad and the car lights flashed, the doors unlocking. He dropped my feet down to the floor cradling one arm around my waist still so he had a free hand to open the passenger’s door before he bundled me into the front seat. I ran my hands over the cream leather upholstery and all the strange looking buttons. He had to lean over from the driver’s side to strap me in because I was too busy punching those buttons like a giddy five-year-old, until I hit the one that made my seat drop back. Staring up at the roof of his car made me break out into a fit of the giggles.
“He, he, he; it’s a sex mobile,” I said through the laughter, secretly adding on in my head, have cock will travel. “Why did you buy this ridiculous car?”
“I don’t know. I needed a change. I could ask the same of you, the leather pants and the drinking.” I stroked my hands down my thighs without looking at him.
“They’re motorcycle leathers, I have a bike now to get me from place to place and they just look killer on.”
“Mmm,” he said and I looked up to see that he was biting his lip as he started the car engine. It purred like a hunting panther, a rather sexy sound to come from an inanimate object. He reached over flicking the button so that my seat shot back up and I was looking out the windscreen as he hit the streets.
“You didn’t answer me about the drinking,” he said shooting me a sideways glance. I crossed my arms over my chest looking defiant.
“You’re not the boss of me. I don’t have to tell you a thing.”
“No, you’re right, but it’s me here taking care of you right now. Do you want me to call Aram?” Magnus said Aram’s name bitterly. I just glared straight ahead.
“It’s not any of his business either.” We reached some traffic lights and Magnus motioned to turn left to go down to my place. I reached over and smacked his indicator off.
“Don’t take me home. I don’t want to be there right now.”
“Where do you want to go then?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. I didn’t really have any place to go on this side. The light started to change and Magnus reached to turn his indicator back on. So I blurted, “You got any beer?”
Magnus drove me to his place. I liked his little bungalow style home, it looked like it had come in one of those flat pack furniture boxes, it was all straight sides and clean lines. There was no sign of his old car, he must have sold it to afford the new one that I was happily nicknaming the “panther”. Magnus walked me inside and I ignored the couch in favor of strolling right into his bedroom to take a seat on the edge of his bed. He stood in the doorway, a beer in either hand and looked me over as I leaned down to pull my boots off.
“My bedroom?” he asked taking a step inside to offer me the open beer. I took it and let a cool sip of it slither down my throat.
“Where did you expect me to sleep?”
“So, you’re going to kick me out of my own bed?” he asked indignantly taking the edge off what I was guessing were his nerves by downing half his beer. Watching him gave me an evil idea and I was just far gone enough that the thought of initiating intimate contact with Magnus, after everything, was sexy rather than scary.
“Now did I say that?” I said pushing my hair back over my shoulder; he looked over me taking note that I was wearing my locket. I’d made the detour home to put it on when I’d thought I might need to stay a while in this reality. Last thing I’d wanted was to have a passionate night with Jareth or Aram in Dante’s and wake up butt naked in Tramps somewhere. No clothes, no way to explain. I patted the bed next to me, he waited a beat until I patted it again and he came over to sit by me. Magnus was so warm compared to Aram, his living beating heart and the blood that ran through every vein in his body pulsed with heat. Dating a vampire you had to get used to room temperature flesh, sometimes when we were at his that meant cold but at mine I would turn to thermostat up so that I was sweltering and nearly out of the mood. I stroked my fingers over the back of his knuckles that lay on the bed between us, he shivered a little at my touch but he didn’t pull away from me. I rested my head on his shoulder drinking my beer in companionable silence that Magnus had to ruin.
“What is he going to think about you spending the night here with me?” I knew who he meant by he. I rolled my eyes up to look at Magnus; he was torn between cautious and lusty. I liked lusty Magnus, he was more likely to give in and do something stupid with me.
“He,” I said placing my beer down on the floor, “doesn’t get a say anymore. He broke up with me and kicked me out of Dante’s earlier, so fuck him.”
“I believe you’ve already done that and he’s not my type,” said Magnus haughtily. I rolled my eyes to look up at him and he looked down to meet my gaze.
“Should I rephrase?” I said letting my mouth slowly rise up to meet his. I kissed him and he had the tight mouth he only got when he was either shocked or angry. I was hoping it was just because I’d surprised him. I pulled back to whisper against his lips exactly what it was I wanted him to do to me.
I didn’t know whether it was the idea of having me that drove Magnus over the edge or the coarseness of the language I used but he was suddenly kissing me back with a fierceness I’d not felt before. He was demanding, pressing me with lips, teeth and tongue till I didn’t know where his mouth began and mine ended. In between kisses there were flurries of movement, bam, he was shirtless, then wham, I was. He had me pinned under his body in the middle of his bed, holding my wrist above my head and kissing down my neck. Then he stopped to look at me. He was breathy and I could feel how aroused he was pressing against my leg.
“You are you, right? And you do want this? Me?”
I smiled at him and would have stroked his face if he hadn’t been pinning my hands. Instead I arched my neck so I could kiss him again, biting on his bottom lip. He growled in response and stroked down my arms to cup my breasts. He licked between my breasts and kissed his way across gently nipping me with his teeth. I cried out, my pelvis leaping up against his. I was about to demand he get out of his pants and into mine when I heard the unmistakable sound of a key in his front door. His eyes went wide and a look of chagrin washed across his features. The door opened and someone came inside. He detached himself from me trying to decide whether he could make it to the door or not when a female voice called out.
“That stupid job was for telemarketing, Magnus, you don’t know me that well but I’m not a people person!”
I looked at him and the horror must have shown on my face. I scurried back from him to the head of the bed where my top was and started to redress myself.
“Cassandra wait,” he said pleading with me. Nancy appeared in the bedroom door and Magnus glared at her.
“You were barely there for two hours,” he growled angrily. Nancy looked at me with her eyes wide. I glared at her, shoved Magnus hard and grabbed my boots so I could put them back on. He tried to grab my arm but I was out of his reach leaned against another wall trying to get them back on.
“I...I’ll just go to my room.” Nancy vanished from the doorway as I got my last shoe on. I turned to glare angrily at Magnus.
“She’s living here, she has a key.” I shook my head and stormed for the exit, in almost an exact replica of the last time I had been here. He grabbed my arm harshly at the elbow.
“She had nowhere else to go,” he said. I pulled my arm away from him. “I felt sorry for her.”
“That’s not my problem. This was a mistake,” I said and was shocked when Magnus grabbed my shoulders and kissed me forcefully trying to convince the mood to return. I reeled back from his lips and slapped him hard across the face. I stormed out the front door grabbing my phone and key from where he’d put them on the counter. I was stopped on the driveway because next to his sleek new car was his old ford. He had given her his old car for her use. That for some reason made me even madder. I screamed at the sky and stomped off heading on the long walk back to town.
Chapter Sev
en
I was glad for liquor stores that were open past ten on a weeknight as I shambled into my apartment carrying a bag containing two large bottles of premium Russian Vodka. From the price I doubted it was premium. Cheap booze always seemed to have better names to convince you just because you were on a budget didn’t mean you couldn’t have the good hooch. I pushed the boxes from my coffee table to clear a space and rifled through my cabinets till I came up with several colored shot glasses that had been bought for me as a novelty gift several years before. I lined three of them up shakily trying to pour vodka into them. I seemed to slop more on the table and the rug underneath it then I managed to get into the glasses. I could feel something at the back of my mind, threatening to break through, to erupt in the forefront of my thoughts with blinding clarity. I wanted to remain numb. Numb and happy.
I downed each shot in quick succession and felt that fluttering in the back of my memory go quiet and still. Whoever said ignorance was bliss had it right on the money. I let my eyes flutter with a wave of pleasant drunkenness that it had taken me all night to achieve. I lay down on the couch writhing happily to the sound of my ringing telephone and ignoring it completely.
Next thing I knew morning light was flowing over my skin and drums were banging in the back of my head. I cried out from the pain and swiped knocking the vodka bottle off the table; it flowed into the rug soaking it. I grabbed at it, downing what was left quickly. I lay against the back of the couch and slowly uncapped the second bottle. I stared down through the clear liquid to the bottom of the bottle and shook my head. Drinking alone was pathetic. I left the open bottle on my coffee table, grabbed my keys and pulling the locket from my neck walked out in search of a pub in which to be a social drinker.
Toby’s Tavern was a long room with the bar at the far end and a small raised area on the left that held two pool tables and an area right of the bar that held an indoor skittles lane. With twenty-four hour licensing laws it meant it was open by ten am and stayed open until one or two am if business was good. I liked the polished wooden floor and the surly woman behind the bar who polished glasses as I sat there at the bar drinking my fourth, fifth? Sixth? White Russian. In my state of mind I decided to commiserate with the bartender whether she wanted to or not. I just wanted to talk about how stupid last night had been with someone who I thought would understand.
Inhuman Heritage Page 6