by Maria Amor
That bouncer, he hadn’t been like her. Even as the rational part of her brain told her that wasn’t possible, the part of her that ran purely on instinct knew she was right. Her hands shook so badly that she could hardly get her key into the ignition, let alone turn it so she could drive away. Once she got that done, it took a whole lot of effort on her part not to peel out and leave gravel kicking up in her wake. It wasn’t until she was back behind the surprisingly large building that she stopped the car. She stopped it so abruptly that it threw her head forward, then put the car in park and left in running.
“What the hell am I doing?”
This was exactly what she had been waiting for. This kind of break, this kind of chance, was the thing she’d been looking for all her life. What would she be if she ran away? Where would that leave her?
“I’d be just like him,” she whispered to herself with a throat that felt like it was closing up. “I would be exactly like him.”
That idea managed to be more terrifying than walking into a building with a bunch of vampires. From the outside, it looked like Augusten Grady was a reasonably happy guy. She hoped he was, for his sake. But he was also a guy who had chosen to almost entirely remove himself from the world at large, choosing instead to invent worlds of his own. They were good worlds, too, but they weren’t real. He lived in a house made of fantasy, and that wasn’t something she was interested in doing.
He had spoken to her about adventures, and when he’d done that he’d had a wistful tone in his voice and eyes slightly glassed over with something she couldn’t see. A man who spent most of his waking hours coming up with adventure and never lived a lick of it himself. Delaney just knew that if she drove away from The Blood, it wouldn’t only be the money she would be giving up.
She would also be giving up her opportunity to live her adventures out in real time instead of only in her thoughts. Although she couldn’t be sure, she had a suspicion that each time a person let fear win out of desire for action, it got a little bit easier to do it again the next time. If you made that kind of choice enough times, eventually it was the only kind of choice you knew how to make. She wasn’t willing to choose that for herself. Not now. Not yet. She was going to choose her adventure, whether it was scary or not.
She got out of the car, careful to shut the door as quietly as possible. What she definitely didn’t want was for the bouncer to hear something suspicious and come looking to see what it was. She waited for a moment, her whole body pumping with adrenaline and ready to fling herself back into the car should anything appear to be out of the ordinary. When she heard nothing that made her think someone was coming for her, she walked quietly towards the unassuming looking building that housed the club called The Blood.
It really was a massive building, one that looked like it had been a warehouse in its previous life. From inside its depths, she could hear the thumping of base and the distinct sound of people trying to speak over the music. It sounded like any other club she might have stumbled upon in Austin.
She had actually seen clubs touting themselves as “vampire clubs” in the city, more and more of them popping up seemingly every day, but she’d never considered that they might actually be legitimate. Now she had to wonder if they weren’t all real, something that kind of blew her mind.
“Where? There’s got to be a way in…”
She had begun to talk to herself with alarming frequency at this point, but she hardly even noticed. She was too intent on finding a way inside. She had no interest in going through the front door. Even if she hadn’t wanted the element of surprise on her side, just in case there was something terrible and dangerous waiting for her inside, she would have gone through the back.
No way in hell did she want to talk to that door guy again, not after how strange that first conversation had been. She just couldn’t imagine the kind of things he’d say if he saw her strolling back up to him again. No thank you to that. No, she’d take her chances sneaking around in the back, looking for some alternative way in and maybe a little bit of luck. She was sure she wasn’t going to find either, but it didn’t hurt to look.
After a surprisingly short amount of time, she found her way in. It came in the form of a metal door partially obscured by a large black dumpster full to the brim and spilling out some of its vile contents. She slid herself between the dumpster and the muted red brick of the club’s exterior, sure the door would be locked before ever putting her hand on the knob.
She was so sure, in fact, that she tugged with more force than was actually needed, which sent her stumbling backwards and into the dumpster, knocking some of the trash loose to rain down on top of her.
“Gross!” she hissed, swatting at the debris with a look of disgust on her face. It took her a full minute to realize that the door was still open and waiting or her to enter. For the second time, she looked around her, sure that someone must be watching her every move. When she found nobody there, she stepped inside. She looked over her shoulder, affording one long glance at the place where her car still sat, waiting for her to drive away. Then, without giving herself time to reconsider, she shut the door and entered her alternate world.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Oh, my god.”
It seemed like a pretty bland statement to express what she was seeing, but Delaney couldn’t come up with anything else. Her mind felt as if it were being assaulted with an entirely new world, her senses overwhelmed by the inundation of new things that weren’t supposed to be possible.
She thought briefly about turning around and sneaking back out the way she had come, but she knew she wasn’t going to do that. For starters, she had a feeling she had already been noticed by at least a few of The Blood’s patrons. That would make slinking off and then back into the back rooms to make her escape close to impossible. Unless she was very lucky, she would be followed.
It seemed like the kind of place where people might want to keep an eye on any newcomers which was exactly what she was. An interloper. So, there was the practical element of the matter. Then there was the other part. Now that she was on the inside, now that she could see the adventure Augusten Grady had sent her on, she didn’t think she would have been able to give it up for the world.
Her body was all but vibrating with the energy of the place and it felt as if her eyes wouldn’t ever be wide enough to take in all her surroundings. It was almost too much to take, and she could feel her heart starting to beat too wildly, as if in protest of the strain it was under.
The inside of The Blood looked nothing like the outside of it suggested. Delaney had been expecting to see something austerely industrial, which was an overly popular look at the time, as far as she was concerned. It was definitely not what this place looked like, aside from the exposed piping of the ceiling.
Everything else was plush and rich and full of texture. From the pipes on the ceiling hung elaborate, expensive looking chandeliers that acted upon the dim lights inside the bar as prisms. It gave everything an even more surreal look than it already had, which was saying a lot. There were little seating areas arranged sporadically throughout the vast first floor of the building with couches and chairs made of fine leather and thick, rich velvets.
The floor was covered with large, expensive rugs that gave an extra bounce to the step. The bar itself was made from deeply hued mahogany with a bar top carved out of large slabs of limestone. It looked like there were genuine fossils contained in the stone, with edges crusted in some kind of gem.
There was a slightly unstable looking stairway leading up to a second floor and a bouncer much larger than the one she had encountered in front of the building standing guard in front of a velvet rope. The club wasn’t packed to capacity, but it was active. There seemed to be people everywhere, milling around as they laughed and drank and danced.
At first glance Delaney might have mistaken the place as a normal, albeit more edgy than others, club. She would have been wrong. Some of it was just a feeling the place gave
her, evidence that would never hold up in court but was good enough to satisfy her. Then there were the patrons themselves. They were all beautiful. They were beautiful in a way most people would not only never be, but that most people would never see with their own eyes.
They looked like they had come straight out of a movie, or maybe that she had somehow walked onto a movie screen without even realizing it. It was beyond intimidating. It made her feel queasy, and she walked herself directly to the bar before she lost all her nerve and had to leave after all.
She wasn’t quite sure how it would work in a place like this, what kind of drinks they would offer or even if they would distinguish between vampires and humans, but she was willing to take that chance. If she was going to do this, she was going to need a cocktail.
“Can I help you, sweetheart?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Can I help you? You know, with a drink? Do you want something to drink? That’s what I’m trying to ask you. It’s my job.”
“Oh! Oh, sure I’m sorry. I-I’m just nervous I think.”
“First time here?”
“Yes. That obvious?”
“Honestly? Yes.”
“Awesome. Hence the need for the drink. Um, do you have any kinds of specials?”
The bartender looked her up and down, a slow grin forming on his face. It was another one of those smiles that looked like there was something hiding behind it, something she could feel but couldn’t quite understand. It made her nervous, but it also excited her. It excited her so much that she could feel a tingling starting in the tips of her toes and creeping up her body until her inner thighs began to quiver.
She could also feel her face heating up in a truly epic blush, but she did her best to control it. There was nothing she could do to stop it, she knew that from past experience. The bartender just stood and watched, that wicked smile playing across his lips, like he could read her thoughts as easily as if it were a book.
“It’s a Saturday night, sugar, no specials. But seeing as it’s your first time, how’s about I give you the first one on the house? Vodka soda, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Yes, but how the hell’d you know that?”
“Let’s just call it a lucky guess. I’ve got a knack for knowing what people are gonna want to drink. It’s my gift.”
“Like your superpower.”
“Yes, like a superpower. I believe I like the sound of that.” The bartender threw his head back, his thick blonde hair falling over the back of his shoulders and his mouth opening enough to reveal that he had the same sharp teeth as the door guy. She drew back slightly, aware that he was one of them, but she didn’t plan on going anywhere.
She seemed to be getting used to the idea of these vampires actually existing rather quickly, her initial fear replaced with an almost greedy kind of excitement. She could see how this place could easily turn into a kind of a drug, something she would only want more and more of as time moved on.
“Here you go, sugar, on the house, just like I said.”
“Thanks. Hey, can I ask you a question?”
“You can,” he answered with one eyebrow raised, “but don’t count on me answering it.”
“Where is it that you’re from? You don’t sound like you’re from around here.”
“That’s because I’m not. I came here from Louisiana, a little place outside of New Orleans.”
“So, that’s where you’re from?”
“It’s where I was from before I came here. I was from other places before that. I’ve moved around a lot. Let’s just leave it at that. Now can I get you anything else? I’ve got other individuals to serve.”
“No, that’s fine. Sorry to pry.”
“Don’t worry. You ain’t the first and I expect you won’t be the last. Now, have yourself a good time, sweetheart, but try not to have too good of a time. That’s the way you get yourself into trouble. Especially in a place like this.”
Delaney opened her mouth to respond, but there was no reason to. The bartender was already on the move, off to serve a little cluster of girls who were all made up to look like they had come straight out of The Matrix. There was a whole lot of black latex and darkly painted nails, dark eye makeup and piercings.
She could tell they were human, not some of the vampires, but they were seriously beautiful nonetheless. They looked like the kinds of girls who belonged in a place like this. Delaney was positive that she, in turn, did not. She glanced down at her ripped jeans and white boyfriend t shirt, topped off with a ratty pair of converse she’d had since she was in high school. Her hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders, falling into her face repeatedly no matter how many times she tried to stop it. She felt like she looked unforgivably plain.
Being that way was probably the best way for her to hang out in The Blood without being noticed by much of anyone, which would help her to get a good look at what was going on around her. The thing was, she was starting to realize, to really realize, that she didn’t want that kind of adventure.
She didn’t want an adventure composed of observation, she wanted experience. She wanted to see what it was like to get as close to a vampire as she could, to play with fire. She wanted to feel what it was like to be taken into one’s arms, to trust him with her life regardless of how reckless doing so might be. Some part of her had wanted this from the time when she’d been old enough to want a man in that carnal sense.
She’d wanted something different, something more than what your average woman got. She wanted to play with fire. Being around these superhuman beings now, however, she wondered if she would be something that any of them would want in return. She’d never been the type of girl to question her looks, never had any real insecurities at all, but being around all of these gorgeous people was enough to plant the beginnings of some.
She took a long sip of her drink, then coughed violently.
“Good lord!”
“What’s the matter? Too much for you to take?”
“What? No, it was just stronger than I expected it to be. I only planned on getting a single, and I’m guessing this is closer to a triple. Not that I’m complaining or anything, because I’m not. It was nice of the bartender to give it to me.”
“I bet he did. Looking at you, I just bet he did.”
“Um, thanks?”
“Don’t take offense. I don’t mean any. I’m just paying you a compliment. I don’t see anything wrong with paying a compliment to a beautiful young woman. I think one should always do just that.”
Delaney hadn’t even looked at the guy she was talking to yet. She was too busy trying to get a hold of herself and waiting for her eyes to stop blurring from the intensity of the liquor. She could smell him, though, which wasn’t something she considered to be a good thing with a guy who wasn’t right next to her. He was wearing some cologne she didn’t recognize and from the scent of it, he’d lathered it on like lotion.
Jesus, couldn’t he smell himself?! Didn’t he realize no girl alive was interested in someone who smelled that strongly of patchouli and cedar and the alcohol it was mixed in? But then she looked at him, really looked at him, and saw that he might not be so in touch with girls who were alive.
“Well, will you look at those eyes. Beautiful, just beautiful! But then I’m sure you hear that all the time, a girl as beautiful as you are.”
“Oh, um, no. I mean, sometimes. I mean thank you. Thanks.”
“But of course,. And tell me, is this your first time here? It is, isn’t it? I can tell just by looking at you.”
“It is. But what do you mean you can tell by looking?”
“Let’s just say I’m a very perceptive man. I’ve got a way of reading people. It serves me well.”
Delaney gave a little start, then hoped this guy hadn’t noticed. Something about the way he said that struck her as funny. It probably wouldn’t have if it had been the first time she’d heard someone in the club say it to her, but it wasn’t. What it was, was eerily similar
to what the bartender had told her.
There was every possibility in the world that it was just a coincidence, but something in her told her that was bullshit. This guy talking to her now was one of them, he was a vampire, and whether she was supposed to be able to tell so easily or not, she could. Her body responded to them in a way it just didn’t to people. It was like she had a sixth sense about it, like the animalistic part of her knew a predator when she saw one.
The thing was, and she couldn’t tell if this was a problem yet or not, she didn’t want to get away from the predators. She only wanted to be around them. That being said, she wasn’t so much interested in the one she was currently talking to. This was actually a relief. At least it was a sign that she wasn’t just some nutty vampire groupie, which was good. She hadn’t so completely drunk the Kool-Aid that she didn’t have the ability to express preference. And if she was in a position to be expressing preference, it was not to have this man near her.
“Did I say something to upset you? Not my intention, if I did. I would never want to upset such a pretty thing.”
“No, I’m good.”
The man reached out to brush the hair out of her face and she reflexively jumped back, ducking so that she was out of his grasp. She saw his lip curl a bit, revealing the points of teeth she was already starting to become strangely used to seeing. Apparently, this guy wasn’t used to being turned down. Either that, or he had been turned down more than he could handle and wasn’t going to take it anymore. Whichever it was, for just a moment she caught a glimpse of who he was underneath the overly genteel veneer and it wasn’t good. In her humble opinion, it wasn’t even close to good.
“Are you sure you’re good? Because, if you don’t mind me saying so, you seem a little jumpy. Perhaps you’ve heard a little bit too much about our little establishment. Perhaps you’ve let it get to you? Rattle your nerves? Please, don’t let it. I’ll make sure nobody hurts you. I’ll take very good care of you. The best care you’ve ever had, I expect.”