by K. A. Linde
“Everett! You’re here!”
He hugged her back and then released her. He tugged Reyna closer, bringing her into view. “This is my friend Reyna. She’s new at my building.”
Reyna glanced at him curiously as he ushered her into the booth next to one guy. Everett slid in next to her. The blond girl took the seat across from Everett.
“Valet?” the blond girl asked disbelievingly.
Everett shook his head. “Receptionist.”
“Killer. I was a waiter there for one week before I wanted to open my wrists on the tile floor just to see all the nasty bloodsuckers have a field day.”
“Oh,” Reyna said awkwardly. Why had Everett lied about her? He knew that she didn’t work as a receptionist. But clearly this girl didn’t like vampires, so maybe it was better to play along.
“I’m Mara,” the girl said, offering Reyna her hand. “And this is Lauren, Tucker, and Coop.”
She pointed around the table to a tall black girl with short brown hair, a mixed guy with thick curly black hair, and another guy with longish brown hair who looked like a skinny rocker with tattoos.
“So, Reyna,” Lauren said, leaning over the table. “Where the hell did you get that outfit? Did you rob a bank?”
Reyna stared down at it and realized how ridiculous it must look to them. She was wrapped in silk, wearing designer labels, and shoes that cost a fortune.
“Oh…these. Well, don’t tell anyone. They’re knockoffs,” she muttered. Suddenly she realized that she wasn’t really any freer with these people than with Beckham. At least with Becks she didn’t have to lie about who she was.
“Best knockoffs I’ve ever seen,” Mara said. She clearly didn’t buy it.
“Want a drink?” Everett asked.
“Dying for one,” Reyna said. She hopped out of the booth and followed him to the bar. “What the hell was that?”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Visage isn’t well liked around here.”
“How do you even know I work for Visage?”
Everett gave her a meaningful look. “A beautiful girl with an unlimited credit card hanging around Beckham Anderson? Kind of an easy guess.”
“Oh.” Reyna felt her cheeks heat. “You think I’m beautiful?”
Everett laughed. “Yes, but don’t let Beckham know. He’s a scary motherfucker.”
“True.” She could hardly disagree, but one thing stuck out to her. “Wait…is Beckham normally with other pretty girls?” She leaned against the bar as Everett ordered drinks.
“I wouldn’t say normally, but the women I’ve seen him with have been attractive.” Everett gave her a weird look. “Why?”
“Just curious,” she said softly.
The thought of Beckham having other women filter through his life was unsettling. She didn’t know what that meant. She had only been here a short while. Were these other women people he drank off of? Was he used to having a rotating option of people to eat? She couldn’t figure out why she was different and why it unsettled her so much to think about him eating from anyone else. She tried to ignore that pang in her belly. She had no idea who these women were. She didn’t know if they were other subjects or vampires or what. And really it was none of her business. None of her business at all.
Everett handed her a dark red drink, and she raised an eyebrow. “What’s this?”
“Enjoy the irony. It’s called a bloodsucker.”
Reyna brought it to her mouth. The thick red liquid touched her lips and a burst of cherry flavor assaulted her taste buds. It was sugary sweet and delicious. Everett reached forward and wiped a stray bit of the drink from her lip. She stiffened and looked away from his face. She wasn’t sure what Everett thought it meant to bring her here, but she was just looking for friends.
Her mind strayed to what Beckham’s reaction would have been to see blood on her lips. It was wrong on so many levels.
Reyna followed Everett back to his friends, and slid into the booth. Lauren and Coop were practically making out while Tucker was chugging a beer. She had never met such free-spirited people. Everyone back home worked constantly. The hours were rough and people were too exhausted to have much time for fun like this. Even her time with Steven had been in between his shifts at the factories.
Mara leaned over Reyna and tapped Everett on the arm. “You got her a bloodsucker?” She gave him a drunk pouty face.
“It’s cool, Mara. Don’t worry about it.”
She pulled her hand back and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Lauren came up for air. “Ohhh a bloodsucker. So delicious. You can’t even taste the blood in them.”
Reyna paled. “What?”
Mara laughed hysterically. “Nice one, Lauren.”
Everett just shook his head. “She was kidding. No blood. Just alcohol.”
“Oh.” God, she felt dumb.
“Speaking of fucking bloodsuckers,” Lauren said, nodding her head out to the dance floor.
Everyone turned to look. Reyna had no clue what she was looking for. She didn’t see any vampires. Granted the only ones she knew were rather wealthy and probably wouldn’t frequent a club like this.
“She’s hot,” Tucker said.
“Ew, Tucker. Have standards,” Mara spat.
“What’s the fun in that?”
“Who?” Reyna asked.
“Her,” Mara said, turning Reyna’s head until she found the girl in the center of the room. She was blond, with her hair pulled over one shoulder. Her clothes were skintight and revealing, her lips blood red, and she was so thin, her collarbones protruded.
“What about her?”
“Can’t you tell?” Mara asked with disgust. “She’s a blood whore.”
Reyna swallowed and reassessed the girl. “How can you tell?”
“How can you not? She’s totally flaunting it. Red lipstick? Milky white skin? Her neck exposed? Can she be any more obvious?”
Reyna wished her hair were down. Even though Becks hadn’t fed on her, she still felt like her neck was on display tonight. Like everyone knew.
“Why do they flaunt it like that?” Reyna asked. Everett reached down and squeezed her hand as if he could feel her spike of anxiety.
“Gives you a high,” Coop said.
“What?” Reyna asked, her head snapping to him.
“No, it doesn’t!” Lauren snapped, smacking him on the back of the head.
Mara rolled her eyes. “Technically it kicks your adrenaline into overdrive. Like a flight-or-fight response. So endorphins flood your system to try to counteract it. Kind of like sex,” she said with a wink.
“Let’s dance,” Everett whispered into her ear. He squeezed her hand and then pulled her onto the dance floor. “You should ignore Mara. You look pale as a ghost.”
“I’m fine,” Reyna lied. She wrapped her arms around Everett’s neck and leaned into his chest to quiet her racing heartbeat. “Do I look like her?”
“No. Just calm down. Mara likes to get under people’s skin.”
“But she doesn’t even know.”
He sighed. “I’m sure she suspects.”
“What? Why?”
“Come on, Reyna. There’s no one who works at my building who looks like you.”
She pulled back to look at him in surprise. “How?”
“You know.”
The music shifted to a slow hypnotic beat and their movements adjusted with the rhythm. His hands gripped her hips, pulling her closer against him.
“Like a blood whore?” she asked defensively.
“No. Gorgeous.”
She laughed and shook her head. “That’s such a weird thing to hear. Where I grew up, I’m pretty sure I was considered adequate at best. No job. Just another mouth to feed. My nicest dress was…oh wait, I didn’t wear dr
esses because it wasn’t practical.”
Everett reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. “Whoever that girl was before she came here, no one sees her anymore.”
Something in the way he was looking at her made her feel like all the air had been sucked out of the room. She had come here to have friends. She hadn’t anticipated him looking at her like this. For a split second, his eyes were replaced with ones as dark as onyx and instead of his boy-next-door features were ones cut out of marble. Her mind conjured up Beckham out of nowhere. A vision she should not be thinking about. She pulled away abruptly.
“I need to get some air.”
And then she dashed away from him as fast as she could. She couldn’t breathe. No. This was all wrong. Shouldn’t she want to be looked at like that by a nice cute boy? But she didn’t. And what was that vision of Beckham? Sure he was handsome and she liked the way he looked at her, but she shouldn’t be thinking about him like that…or wondering how he would react to blood on her lips.
Reyna found the back emergency exit and pushed through the door, praying the alarm didn’t go off. When nothing happened, she walked outside and took in a few deep calming breaths. She needed to get it together.
A minute later, Everett busted out the back door. She whirled around and pressed her hand to her chest.
“God, you scared me!”
“Why did you leave?” he asked.
Reyna looked away from him. How could she explain? “I just needed some air. I felt so claustrophobic.”
“I didn’t mean to push,” he apologized, stepping toward her.
“No. You’re fine. Just so many changes in my life all at once.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you off.” He looked sheepish.
“I’m not scared. I just…I don’t know. Not ready,” she ended lamely.
“Come on. Let’s go back inside. I promise to be on my best behavior.”
“And I promise to be on my worst,” a voice said from the shadows.
“Reyna,” Everett said anxiously, pushing her behind him. “Let’s get out of here.”
And then the person moved closer toward them, and she realized he wasn’t human at all. He was a vampire, but something was wrong with him. His skin was pallid and waxy. So pale, it was almost translucent. He looked as if his body might crumble into ash at the lightest of touches. His jeans and T-shirt were torn and frayed. They hung on his emaciated figure like a mother’s wedding dress on a child. He had none of the formidability that Beckham or the vampires she had met at Visage had. But she recognized the same desire and need trapped in his eyes, like a living breathing dragon desperate to escape.
“We were just leaving. We didn’t mean to bother you,” Everett said, slowly backing away from the vampire. He nudged Reyna and whispered, “Run, Reyna. Run.”
Reyna’s heart was a drumbeat in her ear as she dashed toward the door. She could feel Everett close on her heels, but she knew that she wasn’t fast enough. Neither of them could possibly be. This was a nightmare. One the entire world had lived with before the cure.
She tripped over her high heels, cursing herself for wearing the damn things. But it didn’t matter. They were never going to make it anyway. She glanced over her shoulder and watched as the vampire lunged for them at an inhuman speed, teeth bared. Reyna screamed and tried to dart away, but the vampire grabbed Everett. And she stood frozen as he held Everett as if he were a rag doll.
“No,” she gasped out right before he sank his fangs down into Everett’s tender neck. Blood spurted out from the wound into his mouth and the vampire drank deeply.
As Reyna watched the life begin to drain from Everett’s face, Reyna let loose an earsplitting scream.
Chapter 14
This couldn’t be happening. A vampire wasn’t going to kill Everett. She couldn’t run away and leave him here to die.
Despite her better judgment, she ran over to them and pounded on the vampire’s back. “Stop!” she screamed. “You’re killing him.”
When he made no reaction, she stomped on his foot with the heel of her shoes. She heard a sickening crack as it tore through his foot and her heel snapped off. The vampire wrenched away from Everett, who dropped like a bag of rocks. He rounded on Reyna, and she stumbled back a few steps in terror.
“Shit!”
The vampire stalked forward in a way she was deeply familiar with. Her body shook as it dawned on her, the stupidity of what she had done. She could have gotten away. No matter how much of a coward that made her. She could have at least gone for help. Now she was stuck here with this monster, and she could see in his lifeless eyes that he was going to kill her too.
Once he reached her, he swatted her across the face like an annoying fly. The force of the hit sent her careening headfirst into the metal dumpster. She rebounded, falling in a heap into a pile of discarded trash bags. Her vision blurred, and when she touched the source of the pain, a hot sticky wetness coated her hair.
The vampire stooped to pick Everett back up and finish what he started. But once she pulled back her hand to see the bright red blood, the vampire’s head whipped around to face her. His stare promised death. She struggled to stand back up, but just collapsed back to the ground. She was disoriented and couldn’t get her limbs under control. She knew that the vampire coming toward her had only one thing in mind, and still she could do nothing.
“What do we have here? Your blood produces the sweetest aroma.” As he stalked toward her, Everett’s blood dribbled down his chin. “Tasting you will be like drinking the nectar of the gods…if I believed they existed.”
“Wha-what?” she stammered.
“I’ve heard of blood like this.” He leaned down and breathed in deeply, savoring the scent of her like a rose in bloom. “It seems my fortunes have turned.”
“I’m nothing,” she pleaded, tears running down her face. “You’ve had your fill. Just let us go.”
“I don’t think so.”
The vampire leaned toward her, enjoying the terror in her expression. Everett’s blood had given him life, but she could see in his crazed eyes that he was going to take her for pleasure. She shuddered as he ran his hand down her cheek and tilted her head to expose her neck. And there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t even scream. She just closed her eyes and started to say prayers to whomever would listen.
But the bite never came.
Then the pressure on her neck disappeared. Reyna’s eyes flew open. And she couldn’t believe what she saw. Her eyes widened in disbelief as Beckham held the vampire by the arm. The other vampire snarled and twisted, breaking out of Beckham’s tight hold. He lunged for Beckham, who moved so quickly that the pair of them were a blur. The vampire must have been starving, because with fresh blood in his system he had more power and speed than he’d shown only moments before. The two moved together. Beckham seemed to have the upper hand. His hands were thrust out, breaking down the other vampire’s defensives and leaving his spurt of energy to be wasted. Still they fought—blows landed and deflected, feet kicking, and bodies twisting and moving to try to break the other.
In a movement that Reyna could hardly even see, Beckham whirled the other vampire around so his back was to Beckham’s chest. Beckham placed a hand on either side of the vampire’s head. For a split second, the guy stopped moving entirely. He seemed to realize he was defeated.
And for the first time, Beckham’s face was illuminated in the streetlight. As she stared into Beckham’s endless dark eyes, Reyna’s gasp was audible.
His fangs were bared and he looked furious. Beyond furious.
Dangerous.
Ruthless
Deadly.
“Becks,” she whispered in horror.
But he didn’t seem to hear her. The only sound that followed was the sickening crunch as Beckham turned the vamp
ire’s head to an unnatural angle. He fell to the ground. Dead.
Reyna’s mouth hung open. Holy shit! He had just killed for her. She couldn’t comprehend it. She was wavering in and out of consciousness. She grasped at it with straws desperate not to succumb to the darkness.
“Little One,” he said softly as he approached her. She watched him suck in a deep breath and then hold it as he bent down toward her. He scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing.
“Everett,” she mumbled.
Beckham sighed and then nodded. He would take care of it. He didn’t even have to say a word.
“Thank you,” she whispered before darkness carried her under.
* * *
—
Reyna awoke to find herself laid out on soft cushions. Her body ached everywhere, and she had a splitting headache. As she tried to sit up, she groaned. A hand rested on her shoulder to lay her back down.
“Take it easy,” Beckham said.
She peeled her eyes open. Beckham was sitting next to her on the couch in the living room of his penthouse.
“Becks,” she said, her voice raspy.
She had never been this happy to see him. She couldn’t believe that she was here right now, that he had followed her, that he had saved her. All she wanted to do was reach up and run her hand down his beautiful face and apologize for ever doubting him. Her gratitude was beyond measure. In his eyes, she no longer saw the monster who had snapped the vampire’s neck in half, but a man searching her for signs of distress. A man who may have chosen to take a Permanent Subject against his will, but would no less take care of her for it.
Beckham averted his own searching gaze and reached over to the table for a glass of water. “Drink something.”
She took it without complaint and managed a few sips. “You saved my life,” she said, swallowing back the emotions threatening to take over.
“You were supposed to stay safe.”
Reyna didn’t know what possessed her to do it, but this time when the need to touch him took over, she didn’t suppress it. She reached her hand out to his face and placed it gently against his cheek. His skin was cool to the touch. Yet she felt like she was burning up. Whether from the life-threatening experience or the growing shift in what his nearness did to her, she didn’t know.