by Erin Embly
I walked over to check it out and someone called out from behind me, “Can I help you?” I swiveled around to see a young man—he almost looked too young to be in a place like this. “We don’t open for another hour,” he said, looking into my eyes.
I remembered I was supposed to be nervous and wrapped my arms loosely around my chest. “I’m here for an audition. At seven, I thought.”
He walked up closer to me, allowing me to get a better look at him. His skin was smoother than mine, and he was only a couple inches taller than me. I doubted he was an actual teenager, judging by the expensive-looking jacket and flashy neck scarf he was wearing. Probably a vamp.
“Are you Kat’s?” The way he said it made it feel like he was implying I was her property. Normally, I would have corrected him, but then normally I wouldn’t even be here.
“Yep.”
“She said you were a baby . . .” He walked a full circle around me, eying me with skepticism. “And a human.”
“That I am—both things.” I tried not to cringe at him calling me a baby. He meant it as in baby stripper, a term that had taken a while for me to get used to when I’d first started working for Baz. But when in Rome . . . “I’ve been bartending for a while, but I’ve never danced. Kat said I should learn from the best, so here I am.”
He smiled then, showing me his fangs, and extended his hand. “Well, you’re in the right place . . .”
“Birdie,” I said as I took his hand, biting my lip a little and casting my eyes down. Not an ideal stage name, but at least I was already used to responding to it.
“You’re in the right place, Birdie.” Taking me by surprise, he snatched my hand and pulled it to his face, inhaling deeply. His fingers were cold around my wrist, much colder than any other vampire I’d touched. He dropped my hand and looked at me with hard eyes. “But you don’t smell entirely human.”
“I . . .” Bats, the magic bird inside me just kept finding more and more ways to make my life difficult. “I really am human,” I insisted. “I can do a few magic tricks is all.”
Closing my eyes, I brought my hands up to my face and created a tiny amount of wind, enough to blow my hair gently out of my face. It required so little effort that I knew I would be able to do it without Ray at my side. Plus, it made me feel glamorous, which couldn’t hurt here.
“Cute,” he said, not sounding an ounce like he meant it. “Alright, up you go.” He gestured to the stage behind him and then snapped his fingers at a dark corner where the sound controls must be. An eerie melody filled the space, low and slow despite the vibrations it sent thrumming through my ribcage.
I dropped my bag on a chair and rushed to change out of my jeans and into Etty’s shoes, stumbling just a bit in the process. By the time I’d made it onto the stage, I was already a little sweaty, the cool air blowing over my exposed skin making me feel more naked than I’d expected. And I wasn’t even naked yet.
I was starting to feel nervous for real now. After watching countless other women get up on stage at Baz’s and do this—after seeing the power in their movements and the way they were showered with cash for their efforts—I hadn’t thought it would be too difficult for me. I wasn’t planning to try any challenging moves, and I’d never been squeamish about nudity. I was expecting the hard part to be the actual work, a full night of nodding and smiling at uninteresting human men and dodging the fangs of excited vampires without offending them.
But there was something about the silky lace moving over my skin as I walked, far more comfortable now that my jeans weren’t pressing it into me. The low lights energized my spirit, the heels and the stage lifting me up to tower over the whole room . . . it felt amazing, and my enjoyment of it made me feel vulnerable.
I had to remember I was behind enemy lines here. I needed to be focused if I was going to deceive an old, powerful vampire into incriminating himself in front of me. This was not the time for me to be having fun, but standing up here I could tell how easy it would be to lose myself in the moment.
I’d barely touched the pole when the music shut off and the vampire said, “That’s perfect. I’m putting you on for your first set at midnight.”
“Huh? I didn’t do anything yet.” I turned to look at him and brought my hand up to block my eyes from the lights that had suddenly gotten brighter.
“You don’t need to. I have a VIP who loves the awkward first-timers. You look great and you can barely walk in those things.” He nodded at Etty’s shoes on my feet. “You’re perfect.”
Well, if I’d needed something to take my ego down a notch, that certainly did the trick. “I can—”
“Just get downstairs and fill out your paperwork. You can be on the floor when we open, but don’t dance for anyone until your stage set. Trust me—it’ll be worth it to wait.”
“So I’m just supposed to sit around and look pretty for four hours?” I asked, getting a little irritated. If I saw Soma before my set, this guy would just have to deal. I hadn’t left Noah with Ray so I could waste the night doing nothing in fancy lingerie.
“You can chat, let customers buy you drinks, but no dancing. Soma will pay more than you’d normally make in a week if he can see your first dance.”
Ah. Soma was the VIP who loved baby strippers? Suddenly I was feeling a good deal more persuaded to do nothing for four hours.
“Here,” the young-looking vampire continued, reaching behind him to grab something off the bar. It looked like some sort of chalice, with a shape similar to a wineglass but opaque.
The base of the thing was thicker than I would have expected, and I turned it over to see two little tabs that looked like they could be pulled out. “What is this?” I asked.
The vampire took it back from me with a sigh. As if explaining something to a child, he said, “We don’t allow physical contact here. Of any kind.” I was more confused than before until he pulled one of the tabs and out came a blade. “You can bleed, but only into this cup.” He slid the knife back into the base of the chalice and then pulled on the other tab. The thing that came out looked almost like a tube of lip gloss. “Vampire saliva,” he said. “To dull the pain and heal the wounds.”
I tried not to grimace at the realization that bleeding would actually be expected of me here. They must either have some amazing bouncers or amazing ways to hide bodies if this was the case, because it was a rare vampire that could control itself around a bleeding human.
“Um . . .” I asked tentatively. “What happens if . . .”
“No need to worry, Birdie. We take security very seriously. We’ll keep you safe.” He said it far too quickly, too lightly, too practiced for my liking. I wanted to ask what their turnover rate for human dancers was, but something told me that question would not be quite so well received.
At least I wouldn’t have to bleed directly into anyone’s mouth. Hopefully, that meant I wouldn’t have to deal with any of the mind-warping side effects that usually came with blood donation. Blind devotion, memory loss, fabricated feelings of love—all the bullshit I’d already allowed myself to go through during my years with Simeon. I hadn’t ever let him take blood from me directly, but I supposed other bodily fluids could be just as effective.
I eyed the tube of saliva as the vampire in front of me slid it back into the base of the chalice, and I wondered whose it was. Regardless, I didn’t think I’d be using it tonight.
He handed it to me and ushered me across the room, where he opened a door that led to a staircase down. “Off you go. Tell them Gary sent you.”
“Gary?” It was a name more ordinary than I would expect from a vampire in a place like this.
“First rule of dancing, Birdie—don’t question anyone’s name.”
He had me there. Still wobbling in Etty’s shoes, I gripped the railing and slowly began my descent. For a moment I dared to hope these stairs in these crazy heels might end up being the worst part of the night, but no . . . my life was never quite that easy.
I fingered
Miriam’s small squishy behind my ear as I sat at the bar sipping orange juice. No alcohol for the dancers in this club—or at least, not for the ones who wanted to survive the night. Anyone who might end up bleeding in front of a vampire would need electrolytes and iron and vitamin C more than any liquor.
Soma’s face took shape in my mind as I focused in on the information stored in the squishy. It was strange. I normally had no issue recognizing people after seeing them in photographs, but for some reason the image of this man’s face kept fading from my memory. Kat had said he was ridiculously old, so it might have something to do with elderly vampire magic. Folklore said vampires had no reflections in mirrors and wouldn’t show up in pictures, but I had never met a vampire for whom that was true.
There’s a first time for everything. But I didn’t like the idea that a vampire could influence the way my mind worked just by existing when we’d never even met.
I scanned the room, trying to match the foggy image of Soma to one of the faces of the men in here. Gary had said he usually showed up before midnight, when I was scheduled to go onstage. That was still an hour away, but I wanted to get this done as fast as possible.
I nearly choked on my orange juice when I saw a face that was a little too familiar. “Motherfucker,” I muttered as Adrian walked over to me, dressed in what must be a new suit.
The crisp lines of dark blue fabric did nothing to hide the bulk in his chest and arms, although the color brought out a tinge of azure in his eyes that were normally a dusky gray. His face was even freshly shaved, a first since I’d met him, and he looked polished enough that he might have been able to pass for a vampire if not for the fact that he towered over everyone born more than a century ago.
I tensed, squirming in my seat. I wouldn’t have been happy to see him anywhere, but this was probably the worst place and time I could have possibly run into him. It was hard enough to avoid accidentally flirting with him when I wasn’t wearing a lacy set of lingerie, and if I tried too hard to not flirt here I’d probably blow my cover.
“Hello to you too,” he said, his mouth twisting like he was trying to hold in laughter. “I’d ask what you’re doing here, but your outfit kind of gives that away.” He took care to keep his eyes on my face despite his comment about the rest of me, which somehow annoyed me more than if he’d ogled me outright.
“Seriously?” I asked him. “Two months ago you could barely handle sitting at the bar at Baz’s without dying of embarrassment, and now you’re what—a regular here, and not even breaking a sweat?” I reached a finger out and poked him in the cheek, half expecting him to be made of plastic or something. But no, his skin was warm and soft, just like I remembered. “Who are you and what have you done with—”
“No touching,” said a gruff voice behind me, and I turned to see a tiny gremlin standing on the bar with arms crossed and chin raised, like a doll-sized bouncer.
Okay, so Gary hadn’t been kidding about them taking the rules seriously here. That should be relieving, but it also meant I was being watched more closely than I’d anticipated.
“Sorry,” I said to the gremlin as I pulled my hand back to my lap, and the little angry creature disappeared behind my drink.
I didn’t think this night could get any weirder, but then Adrian shrugged and leaned his back against the bar, propping his elbows on it. “I’m not a regular here,” he said. “It’s my first time, and I have you to thank.” He looked over at me. “You showed me there’s no reason to be embarrassed about coming to a place like this.”
“You’re welcome, I guess.” I took a sip of my drink to hide the look of disdain I was sure he could read on my face. “But aren’t you supposed to be working? Did you figure out what’s going on in the—”
“I’m here with my wife,” he said, cutting me off.
“Your what now?” I couldn’t hide my disdain at this point, so I put my drink down and turned to face him with raised eyebrows.
“My wife. She’s always wanted to come here with me, and you helped me realize there’s nothing wrong with that.”
I didn’t know what unnerved me more—his words or the easy smile he wore while saying them. He might have secretly gotten married since I’d last seen him or he might be babbling nonsense, but the truly weird part was how confident and collected he was acting about the whole thing.
“Here she is now,” he said as I gaped at him, and a statuesque woman appeared at his side from behind me. Her white-blond hair hung loose around her ageless face tonight, but the rhinestones on her glasses gave her away. Of course.
“Hi Miriam,” I said, leaning back in my seat and trying not to groan. “Congratulations on your marriage or whatever.” If they were here together, it meant they were here on police business, and Adrian had been trying to keep me from tipping anyone off. Well fine, I’d play along.
“Thank you, dear.” Miriam pushed herself awkwardly up against Adrian’s side and pressed the top of her head against his neck. It looked like something a dog or cat might do rather than a loving wife, but at least she was trying.
He stiffened—finally—his eyes bugging out a little before he coughed and said, “How was your dance? Did you learn anything you want to try out at home?”
“A little, but I’d like to stay longer.”
I had no interest in listening to them speak in code if they weren’t going to tell me why they were really here, so I gave them a polite fake smile and stood up with my orange juice, ready to find a seat somewhere I could go back to scanning the crowd for Soma.
Caught off guard by how tall I was in Etty’s seven-inch heels, I paused for a moment and looked down at Adrian. I could get used to this, I thought. He quickly stood up straight, and I smiled when I saw his eyes were almost level with mine. I might have to practice wearing these shoes more often, because this was awesome.
“Darling,” Miriam said, her hand on Adrian’s shoulder. “You should tip the pretty lady for keeping you company.”
“Yes, you should,” I agreed, popping my boobs out a little as I held out my hand. I could really get used to this.
Adrian fished out a crisp bill from his jacket and handed it to me, and I felt a little better when I saw the familiar reticence creep back into his eyes. I didn’t know why it made me feel better, but it did.
“Thanks a bunch,” I said with a sultry pout, tucking the bill into my wristband like Kat had shown me earlier. I had no pockets, after all. “Have a nice honeymoon, you two.”
I had just barely stepped away when I felt someone grab my arm. I spun around to see Gary, a look of relief on his face. No gremlins appeared to admonish him, so I supposed the “no touching” rule didn’t apply to the club’s employees. “This way,” he said. “Your VIP is here early and wants a private dance.”
He thankfully let go of me when we started walking, because I might have stumbled in my shoes trying to keep up with him otherwise. “Soma, right?” I asked from behind him. Soma was technically the owner of the club, even if he was functionally a customer, so I wasn’t sure I could count on all the rules applying to him if they didn’t apply to Gary.
“That’s right. And remember, he loves the new girls, so don’t try too hard.”
“Got it,” I said as he led me upstairs.
It was mostly private rooms up here, aside from the seating directly in front of the railing where people could watch the show from above. A great setup, I thought. They either had some subtle magic working or a very intricate air conditioning system, because the cash that was dropped over the railings always floated perfectly down to the center of the room to land on the stage.
When we reached the room all the way at the end of the walkway, Gary turned to me and looked me over thoroughly. With a frown, he snatched the bill Adrian had given me out of my wristband. “You’ll get this back later.” He knocked on the door twice and walked away without another word.
“Yes,” called a low voice from inside.
That was my cue. I fingered
the tiny squishy behind my ear again quickly before pushing the door open, solidifying the image in my mind of the man who sat before me now.
Soma was as difficult to describe as he was to remember. He appeared ageless almost in the same way Miriam did, his posture and facial expression indicating an elderly demeanor despite the lack of wrinkles on his face. His skin had an unnatural sheen to it, multifaceted despite its utter smoothness, and because of that it was difficult to pinpoint what color it might have been when he’d been human. Thick, luminescent black hair fell in chunky waves over his forehead, and black eyes stared straight into mine as I closed the door behind me.
This might be the first time I’d seen a vampire who actually looked like a vampire. Immediately, I could understand why I’d had to go through all this trouble to meet him, why Kat had said he didn’t get out much. A being like this would attract far too much attention walking down the street, and it wouldn’t be the kind of attention the vampires wanted at this stage in their collective career. To someone already on the hook of immortality, nearly ready to pull the trigger, Soma’s appearance might be encouraging—miraculous, even. But to the majority of humans in the world, it would only be terrifying.
Even I was having trouble keeping my heart from beating wildly in his presence, and I was well practiced when it came to keeping my cool around vampires. Remembering Gary’s comments, I realized that was probably a good thing. I was playing a role here, and Birdie the baby stripper should be terrified right now. Perhaps Darcy the trained killer should as well, if she knew what was good for her.
I inched my way towards him, keeping my head down and my arms crossed in front of me. With the low sofa he was sitting on, I felt like a giant standing before him. It was a strange sensation to be so tall and so powerless at the same time when I was used to being the very opposite. “You wanted a private dance, sir?” I spoke with a higher pitch than usual, and a softer tone.
“Indeed.” His voice reverberated through my whole body even though it was barely more than a whisper. My ribcage shook and my fingertips tingled. Not an unpleasant sensation, although unsettling.