“Are you a vampire, too?” She raised her eyebrows hopefully.
“No.”
“Damn. I was hoping you’d suck my blood.”
Roxy moved back to the front of me, dipping down and swirling, opening her robe just slightly, revealing the high swell of her full breasts, then closing it again. She got down on her knees in and crawled in front of me before pulling herself up on to my lap. She grinded her hips against mine as she untied her robe and used it like a rope to pull my face closer to her bare breasts. Once she was done with it, she tossed the satin fabric back on to the table to Tristan. I looked over at him. His eyes were wide and unblinking, desire dancing inside.
I wanted to kill him.
She slid one of her knees between my thighs, still moving in the rhythm of the music. She pushed off against my chair, holding herself up on the table behind her as she snaked her ankles around my shoulders without missing a beat. As the song came to an end, she ducked her head down to mine and kissed me as passionately as my shock would let her.
Tristan stood up and clapped in approval. “Amazing.” He handed her a wad of cash.
I didn’t say anything to either of them as I slid out from underneath Roxy and back to the booth. I didn’t react when I felt Tristan’s arm fall back around my shoulders. I looked straight ahead, watching Roxy as she adjusted her robe and went off to her next conquest.
“That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” Tristan’s mouth was right near my ear. He began to suck on my neck.
“I’m glad I could perform for you.”
“Stop being a prude, Callie.” God, if only he knew. “It’s fun. Have fun.”
I downed the rest of my Venom and refilled my glass. “I’m not enough fun for you?”
“You are. I wanted to watch you. I didn’t give a shit about her.”
Suddenly, I felt bad. “Oh. I didn’t think of it that way.”
“That’s the problem. You think too much sometimes.” He kissed me, pushing me back in the booth so I was almost flat on my back. “Just go with it and have fun.”
I scanned the room, nuzzled against Tristan, trying to see the entertainment value in this place. I guess it wasn’t that much different than Embrace in a way. And Tristan was actually having a great time, which he never got to do.
Lost in thought, I watched another blonde swivel and swirl around a table. When the song ended, she left, snapping me back to the reality of staring directly at Noah. He licked his lips when my eyes caught his.
I darted my eyes away as soon as it sunk in who I was looking at, and crawled in to Tristan’s lap. I had my back to the room and to Noah.
“Are you feeling inspired now?” Tristan pulled me in closer and ran his hands along the sides of my stomach.
“Kinda. Can we go?” It wasn’t just that I was hiding from Noah. I needed Tristan. Now. And it wasn’t going to happen in some raunchy strip club.
We made our way out of the booth and headed out of the room at the same time that Noah got up from his booth. I tried to hide behind Tristan’s arm, hoping, praying that somehow he didn’t see us get up.
“Hello, lover.” Noah grabbed my free hand to stop me and purred in my ear. I froze, not knowing what to do.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Tristan bared his teeth as he spoke. That couldn’t be good.
“Just happy to see the muse in action tonight.” Noah ran his finger lightly up my arm. I flinched. “I know how she likes to celebrate.”
“Leave her alone.” Tristan growled.
“Why don’t we let Calliope decide what she wants?” Noah’s voice was impish as ever.
“She sure as shit doesn’t want you.”
“And if she does?”
Noah’s body landed on the floor faster that I could process that Tristan had punched him in the face. He crawled backwards like a crab, gingerly touching his bloodied nose. His eyes burned as he looked up at Tristan and hissed like an animal. Tristan stomped his foot forward, lunging at him again.
“Stop it.” My heart pounded in my ears. “He’s not worth it.”
“He’s not worth the blood wasted on creating him.” Tristan relaxed and slipped his arm back around my waist, still glaring at Noah, who’d made his way back to his feet.
“But the muse is worth the sweet blood that flows through her veins.” Noah called out as security separated him from us. The guards led us to the VIP entrance to wait for the car. They were smart enough to not bring Noah to the same place.
“God, I hate that guy.” The rage hadn’t disappeared from Tristan’s face.
“I do too.” I needed to change the subject fast. “Do you have anything else planned for tonight?”
“I do.” His face brightened. “But you’ll have to wait and see what it is.”
“I don’t know how patient I can be.”
“You’re going to have to work on that.” He pulled away from the club and headed back towards the hotel. He wrinkled his nose. “Ugh. I can still smell Noah on me.”
My heart stopped, wondering if he could smell Noah on me.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starving.” I hadn’t had anything but coffee since the night before.
“Good.”
He led me into the kitchen of his apartment. We never came in here. Tristan didn’t need to eat real food, and it was the last thing on my mind when I visited. I was actually a little surprised to see that he had a fully applianced kitchen with gleaming stainless steel fixtures.
He picked me up swiftly and sat me on the island. My feet swung above the ground like a little kid. He retrieved a familiar looking box wrapped in a purple bow from the refrigerator and hopped up on the island with me.
The box was from The Magnolia Café. My mom’s restaurant. My heart swelled in my chest just looking at it.
Inside the box were six cupcakes. Chocolate with cream cheese frosting, Lemon, Orange, Mint Chocolate Chip, Red Velvet, and of course, Birthday Cake. I knew them all without having to investigate. My hands automatically twined together at my chest.
Tristan picked up the birthday cake cupcake and handed it to me. “I thought you might like a little taste of home.”
“I can’t believe you did this.” I looked at the cupcake in disbelief. “I love it.”
But it made me sad, too. I missed my family so much. They would never understand why I’d chosen this over them.
Maybe I would never understand it myself.
“I knew you would.”
“How did you get these?”
“I had someone call and order them. I’d love to tell you I did it myself, but the restaurant is closed by the time I get up for the day and your mother would’ve hung up the minute she heard my voice.” He laughed.
I peeled the paper away from the birthday cake cupcake and broke the bottom of the cake away from the frosted top, just like I always did. I groaned as the sugary sweetness melted against my tongue. Tristan watched my delight.
“Can you have any?” I felt weird eating in front of him.
He swiped his finger through my frosting, smeared it on my collar bone, and then licked it off. “It tastes even better this way.”
I mimicked his action, smearing a little frosting on his lip then sucking it off. “You’re right.”
I pushed the box of cupcakes aside, and the guided Tristan back on the granite counter. I crawled on top of him, reenacting the performance Roxy had put on just an hour or so before. It was time to let the celebration really begin.
Chapter Forty Six
“How am I going to know if the blood worked?” I asked Lennon as we lugged my stuff from Janelle’s apartment to hers. I had dreaded going back to get everything. The last time I’d opened that door, Janelle’s blood was all over the living room, her skin torn like her posters. Now that the police had finished their investigation, cleaners had erased all the horror from the apartment. It creeped me out even more to think what had happened in that room could be
erased with soap and paint.
The sun scalded my healing skin and the bright glare made my head pound. I’d slept crappy without Lennon’s little helpers last night, but all of the blood trade that had been flowing through my body also took its toll.
Being in our old apartment reaffirmed what I’d done with Noah, what needed to be done to put a stop to all of this. Would there be a magic sign? Would Blade magically reappear in Lennon’s living room? All I had been told was they needed Tristan’s blood from me. I was on a need to know basis, and Peter didn’t seem to think I needed to know what the rest of the process was.
“I have no idea, doll.” She sighed. “I’ve never been involved in anything like this before.”
“Do you think Jacey would know anything?” I couldn’t give any more of myself to Noah. I couldn’t let myself relax. My brain would instantly go back to his teeth in my skin, and other parts of him inside of me as well. Tristan could smell him. He’d known I’d been around Fire Dancer before. It was only a matter of time before he found out. Would Tristan understand why I’d done it? After all, he fed off of random girls all the time.
I didn’t think he’d see it the same way. Stupid vampire double standards.
“I’ll ask him. But I’m not going to lie to you, he doesn’t want anything to do with this.”
Neither did I.
**
I jumped every time someone sat at the bar that night at work. I kept expecting it to be Peter. I prayed to see Blade. I didn’t want to see Talis. My nerves got the best of me when a two hundred dollar bottle of wine slipped through my fingers and shattered at my feet.
“I’ll pay for it.” I promised Jack when I finished hyperventilating. He looked concerned but didn’t say anything.
“I’ll pay for it.” Peter’s voice still took me by surprise. I hadn’t seen him actually sit down. For once, he was alone. I’d never seen him without his assistant before.
“You didn’t drop it.” I smiled weakly. “Can I get you anything?”
“Venom on the rocks, darlin’.”
I set the drink down in front of him. “Any news for me?”
“Well, there’s good news and bad news.” Peter’s mouth stiffened in a straight line. I didn’t think I could handle more bad news. “The good news is, your blood definitely made Noah stronger.”
Could have fooled me when Tristan’s fist had him sprawled all over the strip club floor.
“But the bad news is it wasn’t enough to take down Talis.”
I felt my body sag, my arms holding me up against the bar. I did it for nothing. I’d betrayed Blade, Tristan, and myself and it didn’t fucking work. I closed my eyes, hoping when I opened them, none of this would be happening.
“So now what? Is that it?”
Peter finished most of his drink it one hearty swig. “Well, we can try again.”
“No.”
“Hear me out, Callie. It did work, to an extent. I think we just need more.”
“I can’t keep doing this! It’s not like mailing off a bill, you know.” I wanted to have a full on tantrum, like a child. “You can’t keep using my body as some experiment. I’m not a lab rat.”
“I know that.” Peter put his hand over mine. I didn’t realize how hard I had been shaking until he touched me. “Give me another chance. If we can’t do it this time, we’ll think of another course of action.”
“We? How do I even have a choice in this? You told me this was the only way. If you’ve got something else, you better spill it now. I’m not a whore, Peter. I’m not going to keep giving myself away because you think something might work.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. My eyes widened and my muscles tensed even more. I realized he never intended for me to have sex with Noah. No wonder I felt so dirty. Used. Noah lied to me to get me to sleep with him.
“I’m not doing this anymore.” My voice was barely more than a whisper as I ran out from behind the bar.
I put my head back against my locker in the office. Jack was busy somewhere else, thankfully. I couldn’t face anyone right now. How could I be so stupid? So trusting? I was in so far over my head, and it wasn’t like I could just get up and walk away from it. Talis still had Blade. Janelle was still dead. And I needed the blood now like I needed oxygen.
I stayed in the office until my breathing slowed and I felt guilty leaving Lennon by herself. At least she seemed to understand my outbursts. How did she navigate through this world with such grace while I stepped on every landmine in my wake? My legs felt like they were made of lead as I walked back out in the bar. I was no smarter than the donors that wandered around here like zombies. And all the vampires had to know it. It was just a matter of time before they saw me as a snack. I fought back the bile rising in my throat.
Peter still sat on the stool, a fresh drink in hand. I might as well just get this over with.
“So what brilliant idea do you have this time?” I folded my arms in front of me, knowing I was going to hate whatever he said.
“I already told you darlin’, we need more blood.”
“Why don’t you go hold up the Red Cross or something? This blood bank is closed.”
He grabbed my arm as I turned to walk away. “Don’t get smart with me, little girl. I could choose to help Talis just as easily as I chose to help you. You don’t want that, do you?”
I trembled with rage, his hand still gripping my arm. I shook my head no.
“We need her blood. Tristan’s blood.”
“Just skip the semantics and tell me what you want from me.”
“Let my boys take his blood from you.”
Thank God he still held me, I would have fainted. My blood ran as cold as any vampires in my veins. “They’ll kill me.”
“You’ll need to get more than usual from Tristan. It shouldn’t be hard, really.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it. Sure, this was a piece of cake. Drain one vampire dry and let five others gang bang me for the goods. “Maybe on a night he parties a little too hard, you’ll be able to drink more from him.”
My eyes welled with tears. Peter knew Tristan’s weakness. Of course, catch us both in a compromising position. “What if I can’t do it?”
Peter shrugged. “Then Blade’s on his own and Talis continues running roughshod through the city. She’s only going to put up with you making a fool out of her for so long. Everyone’s already laughing that a child has more of a pull over her golden goose than she does.”
It took a minute to realize what he was saying. “What do you mean?”
“Tristan’s been defying her, questioning her, doing his own thing ever since you showed up. She hates you, darlin’. And you won’t bow to her, either. If you don’t take her down, she’ll catch up to you. You saw what happened to your friend.” He stood to leave. “Think about it.”
Chapter Forty Seven
“He wants you to do what?” Lennon looked at me in disbelief as I told her about Peter’s proposition when we got home from work. It was too risky to talk about these things at the bar, with so many of Talis’ people within earshot. She pursed her lips together hard and swirled the ice cubes around in her drink with her finger as I repeated the plan to her. Saying it again made it crystal clear why she would hate the idea so much.
I would have to let Jacey feed from me. No matter how it happened, the blood exchange was an erotic experience. I knew firsthand how it could cloud someone’s judgment, make them do things they swore they’d never do. Like sleep with Noah.
“I don’t want to do it.” Who was I convincing now, her or me? “But Peter says it’s the only way.”
Lennon sighed then stared at the TV blankly. An old rerun of I Love Lucy played. She loved this show but she didn’t react as the laugh track roared. So far, she’d been my ally throughout this whole vampire adventure. Until it involved her boyfriend. I didn’t blame her. Would I want Tristan to have to take blood from her?
“You’ve got to do what’s right for yo
u.” She turned back to me with the same blank expression. “Please just don’t tell me when it happens. I’d rather not know. If I lose Jacey over this —“
“You won’t. He loves you.”
“Vampires aren’t capable of love, Callie. They’re only driven by their instincts. Has Tristan ever told you he loves you?” Her words felt like a slap in the face.
“No.” But Blade had. “I won’t let that happen.”
“Oh yeah? You’re an expert now on vampire behavior since you’ve been here, what two months? You think you have these monsters eating out of your hands?”
“Lennon, what the hell? I don’t want this situation to get any more screwed up than it already is. It’s blood. That’s all.”
“Right. And with Noah it was just sex. You hate Noah, Callie. But still, you did it.”
I struggled to catch my breath. Now she hit below the belt. “What would you have done if it was you?”
Her expression softened. Thank God. “The same exact thing. But I don’t have to like it.”
I was more than ready to go see Tristan that night. I’d been cooped up in the house all day. The temperature had reached a brutal level, even for Las Vegas in the height of summer, and I knew my newly sensitive skin couldn’t handle it. My conversations with Lennon remained strained, even after she had sympathized with me. I didn’t blame her. Hopefully we’d be able to move past this. I didn’t like it any more than she did.
It all made tonight the perfect night to put this awful plan into action. I didn’t want to go home. I figured my best chance to get more blood from Tristan would be during daylight hours, when he was unaware of his surroundings. Of course, I knew I took a risk drinking from an unconscious vampire. The whole thing was a risk. And Tristan was already my downfall.
I watched the concert from my perch on the side of the stage. My favorite part of every show was Tristan’s guitar solo. It was the only time he stripped down the layers of his public persona and had a chance to bare his soul to the world. The notes he coaxed from the guitar were his stream of consciousness. He got lost in another world during those few minutes each night, and he dragged me right along with him. If only we could find a way to stay there.
Because the Night (The Night Songs Collection) Page 24