16
I DIDN’T SEE WHAT
HAPPENED NEXT. I WAS TAKEN out of the room and back upstairs
feeling stunned and ill by what just happened.
I was eternally
bonded to a former vampire king.
I’d asked Kristoff to
turn Declan into a vampire.
In return, I’d agreed
to assassinate the leader of the Amarantos Society.
And to think, it was
only ten o’clock.
Meyers was there and
he knew what to do to get me ready. It involved a short black
dress, stiletto heels, a case of makeup, and about a half an hour,
twenty minutes of which I simply paced back and forth in the
ensuite bathroom of a large bedroom they’d locked me in like a rat
in a luxurious cage.
I tried not to think,
but that was impossible.
My decision about
Declan had been a hasty one, I knew that. And I’d made it selfishly
and without much thought to how he’d feel about it. But I couldn’t
let him die. Not like that. When he’d agreed to let Kristoff
euthanize him, he hadn’t been thinking right. Jade was insane from
being a dhampyr of her age. It was possible Declan wasn’t dealing
only with the violence, but the beginning stages of insanity as
well.
I tried to justify my
actions any way I could, but I knew there would be
consequences.
I got dressed and
pulled myself together as much as I could. I applied the makeup as
if I was going out to a club with some girlfriends, going heavier
with the eyeliner than when I was a blonde. When I was satisfied
with the results, I knocked on the bedroom door.
“I’m
ready.”
When the door opened
I was surprised by who was waiting for me. Noah stood there in the
hallway, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Oh shit!” He clamped
his hand over his nose as veins branched over his
cheeks.
I tensed. “Good to
see you, too.”
“They want me to go
with you.” His words were now muffled.
“You?” I swallowed
hard and looked over at Meyers, who stood patiently to the side,
leaning against the wall. “Why him?”
Meyers shrugged.
“Kristoff wants to do an experiment. See if Noah has any worth to
him as an assistant. If he can’t handle being with you, then it’s
decided.”
Noah looked dismayed.
“It’s a job interview.”
“Great.” More
complications for me to deal with. The thought that being near a
hungry fledgling was the least of my worries at the moment didn’t
help much.
Noah’s eyes were
black. “You look kind of hot right now in that dress. You smell
even better.”
“Is that going to be
a problem for you?”
“Oh,
yeah.”
I slipped into the
high heels and eyed him cautiously. “Is it a problem you’re going
to be able to handle?”
“I don’t
know.”
“That’s not a very
good answer.”
His face showed his
stress. “Even though I know it’ll kill me, all I want to do is
drink your blood.”
“That’s even less of
a good answer.”
This was what Declan
would be like—but worse, much worse. Noah wasn’t angry with me, he
didn’t hate me, and he hadn’t been a dhampyr to start with. And he
still wanted to bite me. I shuddered to
think what was in Declan’s immediate future. All I remembered was
how Noah was in the beginning—zombielike, uncontrollable, and
ravenous.
I’d made a horrible
mistake. But there was no going back now, only
forward.
Noah drew closer,
closing his eyes and inhaling. “Holy hell. I’m so fucking hungry.”
His lips curled back from his fangs and I felt his breath on my
skin.
I slapped him. “Stop
it.”
He held his hand
against his face. “Shit. That hurt.”
“I don’t want you to
die. I need you too much.”
His brows drew
together. “You do?”
I nodded. “Declan’s
being sired.”
“Oh, shit. Really?
Why? How? Who?”
“I asked Kristoff to
do it.” At Noah’s look of shock, “There was no choice. He was
dying—being poisoned. It was the only answer.”
His mouth fell open.
“He hates vampires.”
“I
know.”
“He’s going to kill
you.”
I cringed. The
reminder only made things worse.
“I mean . . . uh, he
might not even want to kill you, but
I’d stay about a million miles away from him until he gets his shit
together. As a dhampyr to start with—” He grimaced.
“What?”
“I wouldn’t want to
be in the same room with him. And I’m already a
vampire.”
I didn’t think my
stomach could sink any lower than it already was, but I was
wrong.
“And Kristoff’s going
to do it himself?” Noah asked. “You know what that means,
right?”
I looked at him with
concern. “No. What does it mean?”
“As both Declan’s
father and his sire, he’ll have total
control over him. They’ll have the ultimate blood bond. No wonder
Kristoff agreed to do this. After all, it’s against vampire law to
turn a dhampyr.”
Noah was a wealth of
knowledge about all things vampire, especially now that he was
one.
I felt ill. Kristoff
had agreed pretty quickly to this, considering he was the one who’d
created the law in the first place. Kristoff saw the benefits, and
it was similar to what Carson had done with Declan, only much
worse. Over six feet of mindless muscle who obeyed every order. The
ultimate bodyguard to protect the new vampire king from those who
might not share his vision. I was just surprised he hadn’t thought
of it himself.
All I knew for sure
was that whether Declan had died or was turned into a vampire . . .
he was now lost to me forever. It hurt worse than I ever would have
thought, but I had to put it out of my mind and focus on my task
tonight. Doing the exact thing I’d tried to avoid from the
beginning—kill someone purposefully with my blood. The safety of my
nieces depended on me succeeding. Kristoff could say he loved
children and that they were in no danger, but I didn’t trust him.
Actions spoke much louder than words.
I shook my head and
tried to ignore the pain in my heart. “I’ll deal with all of this
later. Right now I have to do something and it looks like you’re
coming with me.”
He looked grim. “They
already told me all about it. You agreed to this?
Really?”
“I had no
choice.”
Instead of
questioning me more about it, he just nodded. “Okay, then let’s go.
There’s a car waiting outside.”
Meyers watched me as
we passed him, a small smile twisting at his mouth. “Good luck,
Jillian.”
I smiled back at him.
“Fuck you.”
I had to take my
frustrations out on someone.
THE DRIVER TOOK US TO
A NIGHTCLUB CALLED THE Silver Cross that was an hour away from
Kristoff’s home.
“Man, I’ve heard of
this place. Really? This is it?” Noah looked up at the
sign.
I eyed the exterior
guardedly. “What have you heard? That the leader of a secret
vampire society owns it?”
“Actually, that
didn’t come up. It’s a sex club. Very elite. Only for the richest
and horniest in Southern California.”
Kristoff better not
be messing me with me right now by sending us here. “But you heard
nothing about vampires being here?”
“I think I would have
remembered something like that.”
I couldn’t say I was
all that surprised. Vampires enjoyed mixing blood and sex, and
where better to feed off both desires than a sex club?
Be strong, Jill, I told myself when I found it
difficult to force myself toward the front doors. I couldn’t lose
it now, I had to stay strong. For the kids. For Noah. For . . .
Declan.
Even for
Matthias—wherever he’d been taken. I’d be more worried about him if
I didn’t know he was immortal. He wouldn’t be killed only because
he couldn’t be killed. It didn’t set my
mind at ease very much. There were many things Kristoff could do to
his brother that didn’t include murder.
Our life forces were
bound together. Maybe I’d know if something happened to him. All I
knew was that despite my circumstances and stress, I physically
felt better than ever. Even better than before I’d been injected
with Nightshade in the first place. I felt stronger, more alert,
and full of energy. There was no pain. The bruises I’d had
yesterday were completely gone. For the first time in two weeks I
didn’t feel like I was going to die.
He’d given me a
second chance at life. But I could still be killed.
“Game plan?” Noah
asked, breaking through my thoughts.
I pulled my long hair
over my left shoulder. “I’m open to suggestion.”
“He’s expecting you.
He thinks you’re a gift from Kristoff.”
I grimaced. “I love
blind dates.”
“You
ready?”
I inhaled deeply and
exhaled slowly. “Yes.”
“Then let’s do
this.”
We approached the
front doors to The Silver Cross. The bouncer eyed us.
Noah nodded at me.
“This is Jill. Alex is expecting her.”
The bouncer’s fat
face didn’t change, but his light gray gaze scanned me and his
nostrils flared. I smelled good to him thanks to my Eau du Nightshade.
I tried my best to
look at ease, as if I was accustomed to being sent from one vampire
to another like a slutty blood servant. It was a
struggle.
Thanks to my
brand-new bond with Matthias, the fang marks on my neck from the
last bar I’d been to had faded completely. I was fresh and
unblemished meat. I bit my bottom lip, tasting the thick red
lipstick there, then adjusted the front of my low-cut dress that
barely covered my breasts and left my entire back bare. And I
focused on not being afraid.
I didn’t think about
Declan and how he’d react to becoming the very thing he’d hated all
of his life. I didn’t think about Matthias and wherever he’d been
dragged away to. I didn’t think about Sara, the dhampyr baby with
very valuable blood who was completely and utterly helpless right
now. And I didn’t think about my sister’s kids, who had no idea
they were in horrible danger while their mother had no idea what
had really happened.
Or . . . I
tried not to think of these
things.
What I needed to do
was focus on Alex, the leader of the Amarantos Society—someone who
sounded horrible and greedy and manipulative. He was a vampire who
deserved to die and one I would feel no guilt about
killing.
The bouncer spoke
into his earpiece, then nodded and opened the door for us. Someone
else was waiting there—tall, big, bald, and ugly.
“Follow me,” he
said.
After exchanging a
glance with Noah, we followed him. Despite Noah’s initial reaction
to seeing me again, I was impressed by how in control he seemed
right now. His survival instincts had kicked in. Between death and
becoming Kristoff’s reluctant vampire assistant, he’d chosen door
number two.
The interior of the
club was dark and loud pounding music assaulted my ears. At first
glance, it looked like any other club I’d ever been to. There was a
long black bar along one side of the expansive room. A dance floor.
Dozens of couches like domino tiles spread in front of me. Silver
and black were the main colors, and a sparkle of light from a
mirror ball scattered across the faces of the dozens of people here
tonight.
At second glance I
saw more details of the patrons of The Silver Cross. Varying
degrees of nudity, bodies pressed against each other, the smell of
sex and sweat, and the heavy cloying scent of perfume.
“Only humans out
here,” Noah whispered to me.
“How can you
tell?”
“I can smell
them.”
I didn’t look too
closely at my surroundings. I kept my eyes ahead, focused on a door
in front of us marked “VIP Access Only.”
Our guide silently
eyed us, then pushed the door open to let Noah and me through into
the next room.
It was darker in
here—so dark I could barely see my hand in front of my face until
my eyes adjusted a bit better. Hotter, too—easily over ninety
degrees. The room was smaller than the previous one and there was
no music playing, apart from the muffled throb that could be heard
coming from the previous room.
In here I smelled
blood as well as sex. My gut twisted with fear. Out of the corner
of my eye I could see the outline of a naked woman, tied to a pole
with her arms above her head, a look of bliss on her face. A fully
nude man fed from her inner thigh and a half-dressed woman fed on
her throat.
“Vampires,” Noah
said. “Lots of them.”
“No
shit.”
And suddenly, every
eye in the house went to me.
“Keep walking,” Noah
said.
“Trying to.” I
stumbled on something on the ground and a cool hand reached out to
steady me. I didn’t see who it belonged to, but it slid up my bare
thigh under the edge of my skirt and headed north. I slipped away
from whoever it was before they got any friendlier.
“She’s for Alex,” our
guide snapped. “Hands off unless you want it permanently removed
from your body.”
That helped save me
from any more groping, but I still felt the curious stares weighed
down with hunger as I moved through the hot room, silent except for
the sounds of feeding or grunts and moans of pleasure.
There was a mirrored
wall in front of us that reflected the darkly lit Hieronymus Bosch
scene behind me. The Silver Cross was my first vampire sex club. I
sincerely hoped it would be my last.
My own image was
reflected before me—heavy makeup, midnight black hair and eyes, and
a tiny tight dress to match. Long bare legs, stiletto heels. I
looked like someone who belonged in a place like this. The thought
wasn’t much of a comfort.
Our vampire guide
opened a door hidden in the mirror that led into another dark room.
Noah was about to walk through, but was stopped.
“Just the human,” the
guide said.
“Jill—” Noah
began.
“It’s okay.” I
swallowed hard and took a deep breath to steady myself. “Wait out
here for me. I’ll be fine.”
Noah frowned. He
might be acting as if he was totally in control, but just being in
a place like this had pushed him a little further over the edge.
His eyes were black and hunger had branched over his
cheekbones.
He nodded. “Try not
to die.” It might have sounded like a joke if he didn’t look so
serious.
I stepped through the
door and it slowly closed between us. I then realized that the
mirror was two-way glass, and from this new room I could see
everything that was going on right next door. This was an
observation room.
“I was told to expect
you.”
I stiffened at the
smooth, deep voice and fear snaked through me.
Showtime, I thought.
Time to be a
killer.