Night Moves (The Night Songs Collection)

by Kristen Strassel

  The woman let go of Erin’s hair and neck and sat up, like that was always what she meant to do. “What are you, some kind of rabid animal?” She sneered at Rachel. “Jesus Christ, you’re a lunatic.”

  “Who the hell are you?” I asked her, my arms crossed. Erin squirmed out from under the woman’s legs, rubbing her neck.

  “I should be asking you that question.” She answered defiantly. “My husband owns this house. I’m Polina Bonham.”

  Oh shit. All the advance press on this chick was true. She was nuts.

  “Ryder is renting it.” I said nonchalantly as possible. “We haven’t seen much of Drake since we got here.” I didn’t mention why.

  “Well this little slut thinks it’s okay to fuck my husband, so I’m sure she’s seen more than her fill of him.” Polina lunged for Erin again, scary long fingernails ready to scratch her eyes out.

  “Stop it!” I stepped in between the two of them. “Why would you come here looking for him?”

  “He’s not answering his phone, he’s not at his loft, and no one has seen him. So I figured he was screwing around with this whore.” Even Polina’s voice was awful. Nasal with a thick Jersey accent. Her skin was so tan it was orange, a horrible contrast to her harsh dark hair. She was the dark devil next to Erin. I started to understand Drake’s logic in having an affair.

  “I haven’t seen him.” Erin’s voice shook. “I’m not lying to you. He hasn’t called me either.” She left out the reason why, too.

  “I don’t believe you, but obviously I’m wasting my time with a bunch of children playing house on my dime.” She got up and smoothed out her outfit, designer labels shining like road signs. She looked around the room. She spent too much time looking at me. Shit, shit, shit. “Aren’t you that girl on TV?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I work at a bank,” I realized I was backing away from her as I spoke.

  “Yeah, you’re that girl who killed someone.” Polina smirked. “And she’s the girl all the church groups are concerned about.” She motioned towards Rachel. “The one who isn’t supposed to be a vampire. Does The Mistress know about you?”

  “Talis knows everything. Drake brought us here for a reason. He’s bringing us to her. I just don’t know when.” I surprised myself with how quickly I came up with that. It was mostly true. His plan had just backfired.

  Polina looked skeptical, and I tried not to lose my cool. Finally, she nodded, seeming to buy my brand of bullshit. “I should just let her take care of this nonsense. But if you go anywhere near Drake,” she pointed at Erin again. “I swear to God I’ll rip that weave right out of your head. Do you understand me, you trashy little slut?”

  “I do,” Erin said as bravely as she could. She knew the threat was empty, but it still had to be unnerving. I could see the rise and fall of her chest from across the room.

  “Give Ryder my love,” Polina said before she turned on her heel and left.

  The three of us looked at each other open mouthed.

  “What the hell just happened?” Rachel asked.

  “Welcome to my life.” Erin shook her head, sitting back down in the middle of the floor and wrapping a blanket around her to ward of the chill of that little episode. “It’s not my fault her husband thinks she’s repulsive. Or thought.” She sighed, her face darkening.

  “Well, they were married.” Rachel said and I glared at her. There was no need to gang up on Erin right now, beating a dead vampire, so to speak.

  “It wasn’t my job to care about her marriage. That was her job to keep her husband happy.” Erin looked her straight in the eye. I didn’t agree with her opinion, but I had to admire her conviction. “What were you doing then, chasing those guys around? You had to know they were taken. What did you want?”

  I hated so much that Polina ruined our girls’ night, but Rachel didn’t have any room to judge.

  Rachel sounded defensive. “I never expected to ever get anywhere with any of them.”

  “Then why the hell did you bother following them all over the country?” Erin asked. “Why would you bother with a bunch of guys who didn’t give you the time of day? You’re a cute girl. I’m sure you weren’t hurting for dates.”

  “Where I come from, in Minnesota, the big social activity was church. Going on tour with a rock band was the most exciting thing that was ever going to happen to me. Sure, eventually I’d settle down with some boring guy from high school that worked at the frozen food plant. That would be it. I wanted more than that. Soul Divider was my way out. I met Catelyn online, in a chat room. When she needed a partner in crime, I jumped on it.”

  “You certainly did.” Erin scoffed.

  “Erin! Come on, let’s not be nasty to each other because that horrible woman came in here trying to ruin our night.” I needed to put a stop to this.

  “She attacked me!” Erin wailed.

  “Both of you, stop attacking each other!” I yelled, adding to the drama. “You both wanted the same thing, and got it in the end. We need each other right now. Don’t let Polina divide and conquer.”

  Even though we all settled down, the night was ruined. We never watched the movie. My popcorn kernels swam swollen in lukewarm oil, never popped. The ghost of Polina hung heavy in the room. None of us said it, but we all had to be wondering what her next move would be.

  It couldn’t be good for any of us.

  I jumped every time the house settled. Any unfamiliar noise could mean Polina had returned. Beyond that, my mind raced as I lay awake in bed, there was a rogue clan of vampires fucking with us that we’d been too busy to even think about since we arrived in Las Vegas.

  What else could possibly go wrong?

  Ryder could escape, but there was only so far he could run before sunlight caught up to him. The three of us were trapped in this house. With one cell phone between us. It was like the perfect horror movie setup.

  At four AM, I started to worry. Ryder hadn’t returned yet. I didn’t have any way to get in touch with them. I didn’t want to bother the other girls. I forced myself to stay in bed. When the door opened, my heart practically broke through my ribcage. I’d just about caught my breath when he pressed his chest against my back and pulled me into him.

  “Did I wake you?” He asked. “I tried to be quiet.”

  “No. I was still up.” I wrapped my arms around his. “I’m glad you’re back. I was starting to worry.”

  “There’s nothing out there scarier than me, babe.” He chuckled stiffly, but stopped when he realized I didn’t much care for his joke. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “What about those other vampires? The ones that created Rachel and poisoned Josiah. Do you think they just forgot about us?” I felt crazy every time I brought them up.

  Ryder sighed. “No. But they’d have to be really bold to attack here. There are a lot of different clans in the city. One of these nights I’ll bring you to the bar I went to tonight. It’s a meeting place for all the vampires in the city.”

  “What was that like?” I tried to picture a vampire convention. My mind conjured images of velvet, lace, and cravats. The vampires I knew would never do something so stereotypical B movie. Just stereotypical rock star for them.

  “It’s a cool place, actually. Really chill. I can relax there, be myself.”

  “I’d love to go with you sometime.” I snuggled against Ryder’s body, starting to settle down. I felt safer when he was around. But I had to wonder if I’d be welcome in a place like that. I didn’t fit the main requirement.

  “You’ll get your wish sooner than you think.” He didn’t sound promising, just sad. “Talis would like to see you there.”

  “The Mistress has requested my presence?” I tried to keep breathing. “How nice of her.”

  “I hope so. Listen, babe, you don’t have anything to worry about. She knows I killed Drake. She’s probably just going to try to scare you.”

  “Oh well that makes me feel better.” I laughed ne
rvously. “I don’t have enough to be scared of already.”

  “You want her on your side, you really do.” Ryder tried to sooth me. “She is the law around here. If she says you’re okay, you get a get out of jail free card.”

  “Literally.” I took a deep breath and turned my body into his. “Okay, I can play nice. As long as I get to stay here with you.” I nuzzled against his chest. He smelled sharp like alcohol, making my heart sink a bit. “What is she like? Around humans?”

  Ryder seemed to think for a moment. “She’s tiny. She’s old. A few hundred years. You know she’s in charge. She can be very cunning. If she likes you, she’ll go out of her way for you. If she doesn’t like you, she’ll go out of your way to let you know.”

  “What about Rachel?” We’d all grown to really like her. She was a sweet, funny girl who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “I don’t know, babe. Rachel is a mistake. Or a message. I don’t know if there’s much we can do for her.”

  “But Josiah will do something, right?” I started to panic.

  “It depends. Does he want to be thrown out of the clan if he goes against Talis? Can there be two female vampires so close to one another? Rachel’s not going to be welcome in any clan. She could be a nomad, but she needs the interaction of a community to survive.”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of powerful male vampires. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It’s different. The males follow the females, even if they are clan leaders. It’s just how it works. A female won’t follow another female. It’s the top of the heap, or nothing.”

  I rested my head on his shoulder, his cool skin refreshing against my own clammy body, and let my mind process all of this. We needed to prepare to mourn again, we’d be losing another friend. How, in a world of so many people and myriad vampire clans, could there really be no place for Rachel? What an archaic way of thinking. I didn’t expect there to be a vampire clan matchmaking website, but there had to be a happy medium.

  I also needed to face the inevitable. That meant I could never be a vampire. My time with Ryder was limited not only by my mortality but by physics. I’d continue to age. He wouldn’t. Sure, he had ten years on me in human time and twelve on the earth, but that was just a blink of an eye in the face of forever. Could I hold myself to a standard that I couldn’t compete with? Ryder had had his pick of the most beautiful women on earth ever since his face graced an album cover. What was I doing in that company already was beyond me, but what would happen in ten, twenty, thirty years?

  I sighed, snuggling in closer to Ryder. I hadn’t thought like that with Jamie. I hadn’t thought about my relationship with Jamie at all. I needed to learn to live for the moment happening now.

  “What did she say to you about Drake?” I was afraid of the answer, but he was still here, so it couldn’t be that bad.

  “She’s pissed.” Ryder admitted. “But she’s not totally heartbroken over it. Drake was a more difficult partner than she imagined. I don’t know how happy she ever was with their union. She’s just like him, all business.”

  “Ugh.” I groaned. “She sounds delightful. And speaking of delightful, we got a visit from Polina tonight. She tried to strangle Erin. She thinks the reason that Drake hasn’t been around is because he’s been too busy screwing her.”

  “Oh God.” Ryder’s voice was thick with contempt. “I’m not surprised.”

  “She was exactly like everyone said. Awful. Do you think she’ll go to The Mistress? I mean, I don’t know if they do lunch or anything.”

  “I doubt it. Right now, the ball is still in our court.” Ryder traced his finger along the line of my arm, lighter than a whisper. He ran it back up to my shoulder, lacing his fingers in my hair. I almost forgot what we were talking about. “Instead of telling me what she was going to do about it, Talis told me she wanted to see you.”

  As the warm, sweet tang of Ryder’s blood exploded in my mouth, I wondered what this really meant to him. He was still handing me over to Talis. Above the law. I sucked greedily, filling the dark recesses of my body that doubted him with his essence. He moaned and cried out, but I didn’t listen.

  Forget Rachel. I was the one that didn’t belong anywhere. I wasn’t even sure that death would welcome me.

  “Babe, no more.” Ryder’s voice sounded soft but urgent all at once as he eased me away from his body. Blood dripped down my chin. I no longer felt human, I felt like an animal. The room swam in front of me and his beautiful face looked like a surrealist painting. I half fell, half rested my head on his chest. “You’ve got to be careful. Don’t take too much.”

  “Did I hurt you?” I tried to pick my head back up, but I felt the blood rise in my throat. The room spun. I kept it down on his bare chest.

  “No. But I don’t want you to take too much.” He smoothed my hair as I licked my lips to clean the blood from them. “I like you just the way you are.”

  “I’m scared,” I moved my head just enough so I could look him in the eye. “That she’s going to kill me. And you’re bringing me there.”

  “No.” He continued to run his fingers through my hair. I wanted it to comfort me, but I was far too anxious. “We want her to be our ally.”

  “You want me to kiss her ass.” I wanted to get up off of him, but I was trapped.

  Ryder sighed, reading my mind, and slid out from underneath my body. I grabbed for the pillow as he sat up, running his hands through his hair. “Tell me what other options we have. I’m bound to her. She’s my creator. You are trapped here with me. If we don’t partner with her, we’re dead for sure. I know you think it’s a sign of weakness, but it’s survival. We can only move forward, we can’t go back and fix the things that got us here.”

  His words stung. He knew his own Achilles heel. He was too agreeable, too laid back, too trusting. And me, I wanted the world and I wanted it now. His solution made perfect sense. I tried not to let it feel like a scolding. Ryder was level headed when I was hot. He thought about things when I sprang headfirst into action. It still landed us in the same place, but I had no reason or choice but to trust him.

  I slept so well after having Ryder’s blood. My dreams were strange but comforting. I didn’t want to leave them, even though consciousness pulled me into a new evening.

  Ryder was already up. Guitar riffs bounced down the hallway as I dug through the refrigerator looking for something to make for breakfast. I had to settle for a bagel with butter. It was hard to rely on people who didn’t eat to do your food shopping.

  The house was too quiet. Rachel would stay in her room, nose in a book, until one of us retrieved her. But Erin always held court on the couch, watching gossip shows and recorded soap operas. Her blankets, usually thoughtlessly thrown back, were carefully folded with her pillow on top and on the edge of the couch.

  “Babe?” I called down the hall, swallowing a mouthful of bagel. “Where’s Erin?”

  “She went home.” Ryder said between guitar licks. He slid his finger up the length of the guitar neck, holding the string down and making it cry out. I shuddered, thinking how he did the same to me.

  “But Polina. She’s not safe by herself.” I started pacing in the small studio.

  “Her neighbor is a security specialist. She came to pick her up. Polina doesn’t have any reason to know where Erin lives. Erin needs to get on with her life, babe. Sitting here with us isn’t good for her. She’s dying right along with Drake. She doesn’t have any reason to hide.”

  “I just hope she doesn’t do anything stupid. She’s too trusting. She’s always going off on these crazy jobs, and it’s just a matter of time before something happens to her. She already got called in to talk to the police in Denver. What if they’re watching her?”

  “This is why we all want Talis on our side. Talis never had a problem with Erin. In fact, she could probably make Erin a huge star in adult entertainment.” Ryder’s eyes sparkled, thinking of the possibilities.

  “But s
he can’t be a vampire.” I protested.

  “Lucky her. Not everyone in her organization has to be a vampire. Only if she wants special control over them. This is what I’ve been trying to tell you. A lot of people in this city make a nice living thanks to The Mistress.”

  “I never thought of it that way.” I said, settling on the arm of the chair Ryder worked in, my thigh against his arm.

  He put down the guitar and pulled me into his lap. “Think positive. Not everyone’s out to get you.” He kissed the top of my head.

  “But I’m not a rock star, or some gorgeous model who anyone would pay to see take their clothes off.” I rolled my eyes as Ryder scoffed. “What if she thinks I’m useless? What if she wants me gone?”

  “You make me happy, and that’s more than anyone could ever ask for.” Ryder murmured. “She wants to keep me happy. I’m one of her work horses.”

  “It’s just too simple.” My arms flailed up, and I jumped a little in his lap. I probably would have gotten back up if Ryder’s arms weren’t around me. “I mean, I always thought I had to prove something, work, have some purpose. All you want me to do is be me.”

  He smiled. “It’s harder than you thought, isn’t it?”

  “It’s impossible!” I had to laugh, too. I forgot how good it felt. We hadn’t had much to laugh about lately. “I don’t even know who I am anymore. In college, I just wanted to finish and get a job. Then my job consumed me. Now that all that is gone, I need to find me.”

  I looked at Ryder, feeling the tears well in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry. This wasn’t a poor Melanie moment. I refused to turn it into one.

  “When did you start college? Six, seven years ago?” Ryder’s thumb caressed my jawbone as his finger wiped away an escaped teardrop. I nodded. “It took you that long to get to this place. You’re not going to change all of that overnight. No one is expecting that but you. We have a close knit, dysfunctional little three ring traveling circus of a family that loves you. I love you. When are you going to love you?”