“Can I help you?” A voice from the tunnel startled me. Looking over my shoulder, an older man who had spent too much time down here approached me. His eyes were hollowed out pits in his face, and his skin wasn’t quite the right color. His clothes looked modern, so this was actually happening, but he was filthy.
“I—I hit the wrong button.” To prove my point, I punched it again. The elevator was at ground level. “I need to check in to the hotel.”
I didn’t have to look back at the man to know he was right behind me. That same rotten meat smell from Cash’s apartment radiated from his body. “You don’t have any luggage.”
“No.” It was almost a protest, but he was right. I just had my wallet in the pocket of my hoodie. The two lit up above the door. The elevator wasn’t coming for me this trip. “I’m looking for my friend. In the lobby.”
“What’s your friend’s name?” The man’s breath was hot against my neck. It took everything I had not to squirm. If he touched me, I’d ignite. Or my former self would have ignited. “Maybe I can help you.”
“Blade.” There was no harm in telling him the truth. “Blade Bennett.”
“Today’s your lucky day,” he said. I wasn’t sure I agreed. “I know exactly where you can find him.”
“Where?” I already knew the answer.
The man grabbed my arm and turned toward the tunnel. I didn’t move with him right away and he dragged my feet along the concrete floor. Fighting with him would have been futile, there was no escape. We were encased in a concrete box below the earth. The darkness swallowed both of us, and then I was thankful for the feel of his bony, twisted fingers clutching my arm. Otherwise, I might have dropped straight into Hell.
Small gas lamp lights began to offer some guidance. The voices I heard before grew louder, but the words didn’t make much sense. I had a feeling I’d been in a place like this before.
When I discovered Cash was my father.
“Wait here.” The man stopped at a desk and let go of my arm. The sensation prickled against my skin and I rubbed it to make it go away. The sun had never touched this spot and I shivered, missing its warmth.
Minutes later he returned, the clanging of metal following him. He clutched Blade’s arm the same way he clutched mine to bring me to this spot. Burned flesh cut through the rotten meat smell that was so thick in the air. All I could see of Blade was his matted hair and filthy clothes.
“Not so fast.” The old man held his arm out stopping me from running to Blade. He turned away from me, addressing Blade. “You know this woman?”
His eyes were still the hottest part of the flame. I gasped when he looked at me, a smile spreading across his face. “I do.”
I took another step forward, but the old man’s arm was still between us. He didn’t lower it. “It’s best that you don’t touch this one.”
Blade sucked in a sharp breath. “You still have your fire?” I asked softly.
The old man’s mouth dropped. He’d meant to scare me, but instead I frightened him. I was way happier about it than I should have been.
Blade nodded, then squinted. “Don’t you?”
“It’s been gone since that night at Ryder’s house.” I reached over the man’s arm to touch Blade. He was covered in soot and bound by the neck, waist, wrists, and ankles. Otherwise, he appeared to be in good shape. His body heat seared my finger and I ducked under the barrier, wrapping my arms around him to absorb the warmth. It was like sun kissing my skin for the very first time. I was so glad he didn’t feel cool.
Blade couldn’t hold me, his arms were bound behind his back. I threaded my fingers between his the best I could at the awkward angle, and he strained to close his hand around mine. “You were there? Shit, I wish I knew that. We could have burned that place to the ground.”
“How? Rachel took my fire. She absorbed it into her body. I haven’t been able to summon it since.” We probably shouldn’t have been talking strategy in front of the warden, but this was the only way I was getting Blade. Right now, I was willing to overlook all the horrible things Blade had done if he could make me whole again.
pulled away from me. “I can project the power. You just have to be strong enough to pick it up.”
Problem solved. Maybe. “How does that work?”
“You’ll have to ask the Mistress. It’s how she destroyed your father.”
My knees buckled. “I’d rather eat nails than ask her, so if you have any other ideas...I’m game.”
“I can’t do anything from here.” Blade frowned. “The shackles are neutralizing my powers.”
“Don’t even think about it.” The warden barked.
“So you can’t help me.”
Blade leaned forward. “Get me out of here. And I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Seeing Blade again ignited everything in me but my fire. I couldn’t think straight as I tried to figure out how I was going to spring him from that hellhole. My face lit up when Blade’s breath tickled my neck, negotiating the bargain.
“Don’t even think about it,” the warden repeated when he led me back to the elevator. He knew what we were up to. Inserting a key attached by a chain to his belt loop below the button, the car floated down to greet me. “No one leaves here without me knowing about it.”
There was no get out of vampire jail free card. No judge, no jury, not even a court of popular opinion. Just the whim of a bratty Mistress and a cranky old warden.
“I want to go see Soul Divider,” I said to Rainey as soon as she got home from work, before I had a chance to change my mind. “I need closure.”
“Are you sure about that?” Her keys slid out of her hand and hit the table with a clang. “That could totally backfire.”
“I know.” I fully expected it to. “But I don’t want to leave any loose ends.”
Rainey sat next to me on the couch. Her gaze slid down my body before she spoke. I hoped she couldn’t smell the jail on me. Stench like that had a tendency to stick to the soul. She swallowed hard. “I never told you this, but after everything...happened, I went to confront Noah.”
I didn’t see this coming. “You did?”
She nodded. “I did. Because I needed to know what would make someone want to break the most beautiful person I’ve ever known.” My eyes clouded over unshed tears. “He didn’t see it like that. Instead, he thought he’d given birth to your power. Noah was proud of what he’d done, Holly. He thinks you owe him your entire career.”
I couldn’t respond for a long time. Rainey’s words echoed through my numb body, their vibration bringing pins and needles to my skin. “I don’t owe him shit.”
“No, of course not. But if you go there thinking you’re going to be able to rewrite the ending between you two, you’re never going to get the final word in. You’re just going to rip the wound raw.”
I wondered if there was any correlation between what Noah told Rainey, and Rachel taking my powers when she had such close ties to Soul Divider.
“I can’t run away from everyone who wrongs me,” I said as Rainey rubbed her brow. She didn’t agree. “Because then other people know they can do it. The fire was always in me. Noah just brought it to the surface. But what I did with it was all me. I worked my ass off for this. Maybe if he worked a little harder, his show wouldn’t be closing at the end of the month.”
When I came up with this idea, I spent a long time staring at the band on the computer screen. The show was ending after less than a year. Barring tragedy, that meant one thing—no one wanted to see them. Soul Divider had already been patched together with Noah as a singer, their original singer had been reported “missing.” The public thought vampires were a gimmick, and they probably couldn’t handle the details of his destruction.
“You’re going to regret this,” Rainey repeated.
“I don’t want to talk to him. I want to talk to Rachel.”
“It’s not going to be that easy.” Rainey got up, trying to sig
nal the end of the conversation. “Do you want some tea?”
“Yes, please.” I followed her into the kitchen. “I bought two tickets. I’d really like it if you came with me.”
I held out hope that all it would take was seeing Noah to get my fire back.
“No.” The pitcher came down too hard on the counter. “No more vampires. Every time you get involved with them, you come back a ghost of who you were before. Nothing’s changed since last time. I can’t keep doing this for you.”
Awkward silence filled the apartment as I got ready for the show. Rainey pretended to be lost in her book, but her gaze followed me around the living room as I got the last of my things together to go.
“Good luck tonight.” Her mouth was a hard, tight line. “You’re going to need it.”
I sat in the car forever, but I couldn’t put the keys in the ignition. My hands trembled in my lap. I couldn’t breathe. After a half an hour, I gave up and went back in the apartment.
“I couldn’t do it.” I dropped my purse by the door. I crawled on to the couch, settling close to her. She knew exactly what I needed, putting down the book and taking me in her arms.
“I’m sorry you’re so upset.” She stroked my hair as I lay my head on her shoulder. “But I really think this is for the best.”
“It’s not. He wins. I’m too afraid to go take back what’s mine.” I sat up, wiping my cheeks. “What am I going to do now? I need a job, I need...everything.”
“You’re a beautiful dancer. Any show on the Strip would be happy to have you.”
“They already have pole dancers and burlesque dancers. They don’t need me.”
“You know how huge these productions are. How many people did we have come and go?” Rainey’s shoulders fell, and she understood exactly what was bothering me. “No, you wouldn’t be the star yet—”
“Or ever. I don’t want to be some novelty act. I don’t want to be on a swing shift, hoping someone calls in because their kid got sick. And I won’t work in a strip club.” I tipped my chin up. “No one else in the world can do what I did. People came to see me.”
“And now you’re starting over.” Rainey wasn’t going to see it my way. “They’ll come see you again. Think about Soul Divider. They were huge back in the day. Now they’re slumming with Noah.”
We laughed, and it felt good.
“Do you think they want to be doing that? I’m sure they’d rather that they were still selling out stadiums all over the world. But they’re working, and the people who love them can come see them. You don’t have to figure it all out today. But you’ll figure it out,” she said.
“What do you See?”
“I don’t See anything.” She sighed. We both knew that meant one thing—vampires. Rainey slipped her shoes on. “Let’s go get your fire back.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“I love you,” I said for the twentieth time as Rainey and I walked into The Riviera hand in hand. “I couldn’t do this without you.”
“It’s still a terrible idea.” Rainey shook her head as our pace slowed. We hadn’t quite made it to the back of the casino when we joined the crowd waiting to get in to tonight’s Soul Divider show. “There are a lot more people here than I expected.”
The crowd had similarities to the one at the Alta Vista. They were older and calmer than the girls next door, mostly female, and uniformed in black. Rainey had on a blue sweater and I was worried they weren’t going to let her in. I was ready for battle in my little black dress.
“Yeah. Maybe people are coming now because it’s closing?” I shrugged. I wanted to keep talking so I didn’t have a chance to get nervous.
“Or maybe it’s closing for another reason.” Rainey raised an eyebrow. The doors opened and the crowd began to move. “You sure you want to do this?”
Not at all.
“I’m sure.” A few more steps and we gave our tickets to the usher. It was foolish, to buy tickets to a show that had originally been created around me, but that was exactly why we were here. “Amanda said Immortal Dilemma was closing, too.”
Rainey’s eyes widened. “I wonder if it has anything to do with the sex tape scandal.”
“Tristan made a point of telling me that he didn’t hook up with fan girls anymore. He wasn’t very happy to see Amanda And he and Callie seemed fine.” The theater was much smaller than Sin City Vampire Club, maybe even smaller than Theater Macabre. It was more like a nightclub. We didn’t have seats, it was general admission in front of the stage. I hung near the back, not wanting to get close enough to make eye contact with Noah.
“It’s a damn good time for you to have your fire back.” Rainey squeezed my hand and leaned in closer. I wanted her to kiss me, but she didn’t. There was only so much she was willing to cave on.
My plan was similar to what I’d done at Sin City Vampire Club; charm our way backstage and find Rachel. It wouldn’t be hard. I didn’t think the Mistress had any influence over this show since Blade had been working with Soul Divider. Blade’s absence made his sins fade to gray, but the pain was still there. Now it was my turn to use Noah.
Excitement swirled through the theater when the lights went down. I held my breath.
Seconds before I saw Noah.
In the past, sparks would have spilled from my skin as he stepped up to the microphone. But tonight, nothing but goosebumps. It was like my skin was shooting blanks. Rainey asked me several times if I wanted a drink. I did desperately, but I needed to have all my wits about me to get through this.
It was too bad, I liked Soul Divider. I’d never been a huge fan, but I didn’t switch the channel when they came on the radio. And they sounded great tonight. Under any other circumstances, I would have been really into this show. I just wished Drake Bonham was still their singer. Or anyone but Noah.
No one else shared my opinion. Women swarmed the stage, pressing against the barrier, doing anything to get Noah’s attention. I didn’t want to look at him, instead I watched Ryder. Even though my meeting with him hadn’t been great, his love for the music radiated through the room.
Noah kept walking into my line of vision, standing in front of Ryder, shielding his eyes from the spotlights like he was looking for something. Or someone. I would’ve hid behind Rainey, but I was taller than her.
“Looks like we have a celebrity in the house tonight,” Noah said. The crowd looked around, trying to figure out who it could be. He nodded to a pair of security guards. They parted the crowd, and I back toward the exit as they came closer. “Let’s welcome the Fire Dancer to the stage.”
I pulled Rainey to the exit, but the guards must have been vampires. They moved way too fast. Each of them took one of my arms. Rainey’s mouth moved to protest but all I heard was one thing.
“Holly! Holly! Holly!”
They were chanting for me. I couldn’t believe it. For the first time since I lost my fire, I felt complete.
I needed this. But not here, not tonight. The guards dragged me to the stage, people snapped pictures of me as I passed by. I tried to smile and wave. They easily lifted me up to the stage, and Ryder held out his hand to help me stand.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered.
“Why?” he asked. “It’s just like your show across the street. You don’t have the costume, or the pole, but I’m sure you can make adjustments on the fly. You’ll be great.”
“How many of you remember my old band, Fire Dancer?” The crowd cheered as Noah circled me. Each revolution closed the distance between us. I should have been fully engulfed already. “This is the goddess that inspired me to put that band together.”
“Bullshit!” I spat at him. My body shook violently, doing everything it could to bring the flames to the surface. Still nothing.
“Aren’t you going to dance for us, goddess? Or was it all just an illusion?” Noah ran a finger under my chin, and I snarled at him like I was rabid.
The chants faded, and the crowd waited for me to do something. Anythin
g. Ryder strummed his guitar, maybe to help me find my way, but when the rest of the band didn’t join in, he stopped. I was completely paralyzed on the stage, teeth bared like a feral cat. Or a half-vampire who lost her power.
Rainey pushed through the crowd, not afraid to throw a punch if it got the job done. She made it up to the barrier at the stage, but she wasn’t strong or quick enough to overpower the guards.
At first it was just one boo, but the crowd joined forces to form a strong chorus. I trembled and ducked as the first half-empty glass sailed passed my head, vibrating against the bass drum when it connected. It wasn’t long before the rest of the crowd hurled glasses, bottles, and souvenirs at me. I couldn’t avoid all of them. Jagged glass cut my skin, and blood trickled down my cheek. I roared, and some of those assholes had the nerve to laugh at me. If this kind of rage didn’t summon even a spark, my fire was gone. It didn’t matter what Rachel or any other vampire promised me. I howled, the pain overwhelming me. Not the cuts and welts forming all over my body, those were just an annoyance. All these people knew I was nothing, and they hated me. Now I could move, and I reached for Noah. I wanted to claw his heart out of his chest and throw it out into the crowd.
Noah side stepped me and I fell. He shrugged and frowned, looking from the angry audience to me.
“It looks like the Fire Dancer is a fraud.” He held his palms up to me, like this wasn’t his fucking fault. “She won’t even dance for us. Get her out of here!”
He reached for me and ripped my dress completely in half before pushing me away from him. I stumbled again, and the fabric remained in his hand.
The guards jumped up on the stage, Rainey scrambling up after them. They dragged my limp, naked body from the stage. I expected they’d throw me back to the crowd like garbage and let them rip me limb from limb. Instead they brought me to the backstage area, dropping me to my knees in the hallway. They didn’t even look at me before they left.
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