Queen of the Night Time World

by Kristen Strassel

  Rainey had almost everything on hand, along with measuring cups and spoons neatly stacked in the corner. Cleaning up my mess made my heart ache, missing her, wishing I’d thought to ask her to show me how to cast the spells. But it made her special. And if I’d gone tromping through her world, knocking jars over and only half-listening to instructions, I would’ve cheapened it. Sometimes, there was a perfectly good reason for my ignorance. Everything else I filed under I Never Believed Rainey Would Really Leave Me.

  Scooping everything into sandwich baggies and taking pictures of the pages I needed to cast the spell, I headed back to the Alta Vista. My eyes were closing on the drive and I couldn’t wait to go to bed. I still had time to sleep before the vampires woke and The Afterlife rose from its slumber.

  My hotel door was open a crack. A sane person wouldn’t go in—but the type of security I needed was incommunicado until sundown. Stupid me hadn’t asked what to do if something went wrong during the day. I thought the only creatures I had to worry about went bump in the night.

  I kicked the door open. Rainey’s spells would protect me.

  The shades had been drawn closed, but there was enough light to see Blade with his hair pasted to his face, and his clothes soaked with blood.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Blade smothered me in a kiss before I had a chance to ask what the hell happened to you? His firm hold on my back guaranteed I couldn’t get away. I had no idea whose blood was seeping through my clothes.

  “It’s ten in the morning. How are you still awake?” It shouldn’t have been possible.

  “Is it?” He pressed me against his filthy body. I’d protest, but Blade needed something, I just hadn’t found out what yet. “It took everything I had to stay awake. If I’d gone under before I saw you... I don’t know what would’ve happened when I woke up.”

  Energy. He needed my energy, which became more obvious as he dipped his lips into the crook of my neck and moaned. I had about two seconds to decide if I would let him bite me.

  Not even that, because he did it. I’d forgotten what it felt like to truly let him inside—not as a man, but a vampire. The sensation of the burn of impact, and the fire rushing through my veins to meet his lips. He took more than my blood. I couldn’t form words, or thoughts. If I wasn’t careful, he’d suck the life out of me.

  The bag on my hip burned. Even if I couldn’t speak for myself, Rainey’s potions had something to say about the situation.

  “Blade.” I gargled the word and used every bit of strength I had to push free of him. “My bag’s on fire.”

  He pulled it off my shoulder and threw it on the bed. Fuck, he was going to burn the Alta Vista down. No regard for the sleeping vampires or either Realm. Or us. There was only so long we could endure the flames before we succumbed. But Blade wasn’t as reckless as I thought, and my knees buckled when he wrapped the comforter around it to tamp them down.

  “At least you don’t have a death wish.” I collapsed on the edge of the bed, woozy from blood loss and a near-death experience. Clasping my bleeding neck, I half-expected Blade to come back for round two. Then I remembered what was in that bag and dove for it. It was still smoldering, like a burrito fresh out of the oven. The hot glass singed my skin when I pulled the jars from it. As long as the contents weren’t affected by chemical reactions, I was still in business. The candles... Those would have to be replaced. Along with the bag, which had at least an inch of spiritually-charged melted wax at the bottom.

  “No, but it looks like you might.” My bag dangled from his finger. “What the hell are you doing with that shit?”

  “It’s not shit.” I cradled a jar against my chest, and didn’t think for a second the spark that escaped was a coincidence. “And you don’t get to play that card tonight when you show up in my hotel room fresh from a massacre.”

  His grin was feral. All of it was a lie. This wasn’t funny and he wasn’t human.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened?” I asked. “How many people did you take blood from tonight?” How much did he need to sustain himself now? It wouldn’t be as easy as a super-hot fuck anymore. I was losing him. And I wasn’t prepared for how bad it hurt. I’d never learn.

  He ran his hand over his matted beard and huffed. It probably would’ve been a laugh if what he experienced warranted any sort of humor. “Can I take a shower first?”

  “You came here to suck my blood and mess up my tub?” I gestured toward the bathroom. “By all means.”

  “I was hoping you’d join me. I got you dirty.”

  Like I could resist that invitation. More than my energy, Blade needed my trust, now more than ever. I could give him something no one else was willing or able to. I rubbed my chin, grimacing when my hand came away the color of rust. “Only if you promise to tell me how the hell you wound up like that.”

  He put his hand out and pulled me off the bed. I flinched when he came closer, afraid he’d bite again. My energy was finite, even if my love wasn’t. Instead, he kissed me. It wasn’t hungry and manic like when I first walked in. Blade still had a shred of civility under the filth and fangs. “I’m sure it will all come back to me after I see you naked.”

  I rolled my eyes, fighting a grin. Peeling off my clothes, layer by layer, and throwing them at him, Blade got his own personal striptease. He unbuttoned his shirt as he followed. I leaned against the doorframe and watched him, swallowing hard when the deep scratches on his chest came into view. Purple bruises formed around them, and he should’ve been way more healed than he was. No wonder he took my blood like that.

  “Are you okay?” I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the wounds.

  “Yeah. It takes a lot more than that to kill me.” He put his fingers under my chin. “What about you? I always worry when you hang out with Callie.”

  “She says the same thing about you.” Wait a minute. “How did you know I went to see her?”

  He shrugged, and undid his belt. “I can dig around in Rachel’s mind.”

  Not even the view could lessen my rage. “That would’ve been helpful information before now.” I could’ve been pumping him for information and gotten a step ahead of her. The only consolation to finding this out now was that Rachel probably returned the favor on the regular, and Blade held no secrets from her.

  I’d make it worth her while tonight.

  “Now you know.” He was determined to distract me, placing butterfly kisses in a trail from my lips, to the healing skin on my neck, down to my shoulder. He put his hand over my heart, and I wondered if he missed the beat of his own. “There’s only so much longer I can stay awake.”

  I nodded and turned on the spray, nice and hot. Blade slumped against the wall, his eyes closing for long blinks and then opening, but I wasn’t sure he was actually seeing anything. I held my arm out to him, and he was off-balance as he stepped into the shower. He settled against the wall.

  Never more thankful for housekeeping service in my life than I was at that moment, I dragged a washcloth across his chest, not even caring that it came away brown. It reminded me of Rainey, who’d have a fit if I did this with her towels. There was no way we could’ve done this at our apartment. That wasn’t the only reason we were better off here. Whoever left Blade looking like that could’ve followed him. At the apartment, we would’ve been on our own, and probably outnumbered. I might not have known who to call for a supernatural shitstorm during daylight hours, but someone would help us here.

  This wasn’t how I pictured taking a shower with Blade. If I’d got to him earlier, I could’ve helped him, but now it was too late. He moaned as I cleaned him. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “Gabriel’s guys.” He punctuated it with a groan and slid down the wall.

  Shit.

  “Blade!” I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Blade. Wake up.”

  A sound similar to a hum emitted from his lips. He was still in there; his brain didn’t shut off just because his body did. It was horrifying for
him to go down like that and worse that he was aware. I pulled on his arm, but his body was dead weight. I shut off the spray and grabbed one of the fluffy towels. I unrolled one and placed it over him. I couldn’t leave him here like this—naked and cold against a hard, damp, faux-something surface.

  “Sorry.” I kept talking to him, convinced he could hear me. I was strong, but not strong enough to lift one hundred and seventy-five pounds of unconscious vampire. “I’ll get you to the bed. It might suck a little bit, but I’m doing the best I can.”

  I’d only slept with Blade a handful of nights, and he’d always gone under intentionally. Usually spooned against me, with my back nestled against his chest and his arm slung low on my waist. Some of those nights, Rainey had been there, too, and I had to equally distribute myself between the two of them. Vampires and angels both had issues with sharing. So I never got a good look at him while he was out. That awful gray color bled through his skin. His glamour was gone and he couldn’t hide what he really was. Dead to the world.

  It took a couple tries to pull him up onto the bed. I swung his legs onto the mattress and collapsed on top of him, still wet from the shower and sweaty from my struggle. I usually didn’t have to set my alarm to wake up in time to go to work, but it was almost noon and my muscles protested every move.

  I kissed his forehead, and convinced myself his lips quivered upward. “You can tell me everything when you wake up.”

  Sleep was stubborn. I closed my eyes and thought about Rainey, Blade, and me happy together when this was over. I could only hope Blade and I shared the same dream.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I didn’t envy anyone who woke up to an alarm every day. My heart pounded and I had no idea where the hell I was. Oh yeah, at the Alta Vista with Blade, who passed out in the shower. He hadn’t stirred underneath me, still exactly how I left him. I’d slept with my head on his chest, but the cuts and bruises hadn’t healed. Shit. I gave him a quick shake before I got up, but the only thing that moved in the darkness was the mattress.

  Everything hurt. It was worse than the morning after my first day of hardcore strength training. Dragging Blade across the hotel room pulled pretty much everything. The bathroom looked as bad as I felt. Towels, wet and bloody, littered the floor. Blood streaks and dirt everywhere else. Showering was futile.

  I hoped whatever happened to Blade wasn’t catchy. Last night was brutal and I expected to wake up with an emotional hangover. But not this. The dark disorientated me, and the pain hadn’t waned. It shot through my limbs every time I moved.

  Housekeeping must’ve known a thing or two about not keeping a packed house full of ticket holders waiting and brought me fresh towels right away. The show must go on, I thought as I stepped into the shower, and we had safeties in place if my powers failed. The supernatural ones, anyway. No one on the crew doubted my physical abilities. I’d never given them any reason to.

  Blade hadn’t woken by the time I had to go downstairs. I didn’t dare peel back the blackout curtains and see if the sun had gone down. I spent most of my days in this cavernous building and until now, I didn’t realize how little I relied on sunshine. Like I was being primed for a future without it.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Callie waited for me outside my dressing room door. At least she had the decency not to barge in uninvited. I’d had enough surprises.

  “I’m here on time.” I pulled my phone out of my sweatshirt pocket to check, thankful when it proved me right. This was the first show after Tristan’s revelation that the Alta Vista was Gabriel Country. I feared that things would be different tonight, the whole see-what-you-want-to-see thing, but so far, so good. No electronic failures. Just The Mistress handing me a demerit on my start time.

  Callie shook her head, and held up a piece of paper that looked awfully familiar. Oh, shit. She sent me this in an email. “We had a production meeting today. And the network is pretty pissed off you pulled a no-show. They already think you’re uncooperative.”

  “You’re really going to pull this shit on me today?” I pushed the door open so hard it slammed against the dressing room wall as I went inside. Callie startled and gave me a puzzled look. She’s got no idea what’s going on with Blade, I reminded myself. If she did, she’d go upstairs and finish the job. If Callie and the other vamps that were on a need-to-know basis had enough time to go to a production meeting, it meant the sun had been down for longer than I’d been awake. Blade should’ve woken up when that awful alarm went off.

  “Listen, I know they chant your name and it’s your face all over the city, but it would benefit us all if production liked you. They think you’re a selfish brat and say you’re costing them money.”

  Nobody had played the selfish card in a while. Ironic, since production would really love me if I screwed up my performance after trying to take care of Blade. No surprise I hadn’t done a very good job. “How’s that?”

  “They think if you play to the cameras, the ratings will be higher and they can sell more tickets.”

  I’d heard that line before. “The shows are sold out. How would they sell more tickets?” The only way to sell more tickets would be to add more shows. I negotiated my own contract, and I wouldn’t add more shows without more pay. In some aspects of my life, I was happy to play the selfish card.

  “More advertising dollars, higher ticket prices. I don’t know.” She waved her hand at me like I was in the wrong for calling her out on her bullshit.

  “Was Gabriel at the meeting?” I didn’t know what I’d do if I was in the same room as him, after last night’s revelations. If we would’ve gotten anything done besides negotiating for Rainey’s freedom.

  “If you came, you’d know.” She tipped her head and smiled.

  She pissed me off. “So why are you here? To give me a detention? To make me promise to be nice when the producers follow me around and ask stupid questions? Not gonna happen. My work speaks for me. I don’t need to leak a sex tape—”

  “Do not go there,” she growled. It had been a minute since she flashed her fangs at me. She hadn’t gotten any scarier. “You have no idea what we have on you, Holly, and production might be forced to use it if you don’t honor their requests.”

  “All you have on me is...” Nothing. Possibly me having sex with Blade, which would piss her off. Rainey and I only had sex in this hotel once, and it was before Immortal Dilemma knew we existed. “They do it and I walk.”

  The little bitch had the nerve to laugh. She motioned behind her. “There’s the door. Remember, you need me more than I need you. You can’t get your girlfriend back without my help.”

  I would do whatever it took to prove her wrong. To get Rainey back on my own. But I had to be careful. The Afterlife kept things semi-normal, but Embrace was a shit show. I could handle Callie in her present form. But we didn’t know the extent of Gabriel’s powers yet, and if she borrowed them with her half-assed approach to leadership, it would be the end of the world as we knew it.

  “I have to get ready to go on stage.” I opened the door and glared at her. “Give everyone who came tonight the best I’ve got.”

  “You better.” She stormed out and turned around to mean-mug me, complete with red eyes. I behaved myself and didn’t give her the finger. But I really, really wanted to.

  I sat in front of my makeup mirror, putting my hand on it and hoping Rainey would welcome me into the other side. But for now, that portal was closed. My work was here.

  I looked like hell, with dark smudges under my sunken eyes. Thankfully, stage makeup wasn’t street makeup. Nobody was getting up close and personal. I colored just below my bottom lashes white, and incorporated my dark circles into my eye shadow. My fake lashes would disguise anything that trick didn’t cover.

  The headdress weighed a ton. I had to figure out a way to save Rainey, kick vampire ass, and make it to the gym a little more often. That had to be why I was suffering so much tonight. I had to do better, in all areas. Considering the circ
umstances, as I took one last look in the mirror, I was doing a good job faking it. No one would know anything was wrong.

  “Look who played hooky from the meeting. I’m jealous.” Tristan caught me off guard, and smirked when I jumped. He leaned against the wall, his bare chest covered in shadow, fingers moving over his guitar as always.

  “Not intentionally. I had some pressing business to take care of.” I had no doubt Tristan would report everything I told him to Callie, but at least she’d listen to him instead of flying off the handle the moment I opened my mouth. “Gabriel’s guys are at Embrace.”

  His fingers stopped moving. “Yeah. I know. There’s some shit going down.”

  I put my hand over his on the neck of the guitar. Tristan and I touched many times casually during the shows, and he’d never sent a current through me before. It felt the same as the riff sounded when they turned house sound on. Showtime.

  “Holly! Holly! Holly!” Not yet.

  “What’s going on?” I stopped short of telling him about Blade, because that would get back to Callie, too. He wasn’t Tristan’s favorite person either, since he kept trying to kill his girl.

  Tristan looked toward the spotlight shining from the top of the staircase. It was the spot I first appeared in front of the crowd, and the start of every show. “They’re calling for you.”

  “I’m not going out there until you tell me what happened at Embrace.” I hadn’t let go of him yet, and the sensation was overwhelming. Like we could fall through the floor at any second and no longer be in this Realm.

  I never saw Tristan’s eyes turn red before, and it made my blood run cold. The Mistress could learn a thing or two from him about being scary. “Gabriel plans to take this Realm over. He’ll suck all the good out of it and use it as his Purgatory.”

  Maybe I should’ve gone to that meeting, but this didn’t sound like new business. “How long have you known that?”

  “It’s been his plan all along.”