vanilla nightclubs. I take another long sip of my Mai Tai and spot the most beautifully exquisite woman I have ever seen walk in. Her long sleeveless gown with its tribal patterning and expensive silk look like something off a fashion walkway. The colors—the reds, greens, and blues—are a contrast to the sea of solid black, navy and red gowns in attendance, and the one very odd white dress on the girl over at the bar talking to two male lovers. This woman, she commands attention, and I can tell right away that she is not a submissive. Her dark skin is flawless, her head held perfectly high, and when she walks toward us, I swear I catch a glimpse of a fang. That can’t be right. Bentley said the vampires in attendance tonight were all men? In fact, I remember him saying all original vampires were men.
“I’ve been wrong before, Butterfly,” Bentley says, his eyes following mine. “You are correct. She is exquisite. I wonder who she is.”
“You can’t read her?”
“Oddly, no. All the more reason to get to know her. It is a very rare, very powerful one who can block me from reading their thoughts.”
“So, she is a…”
“Yes. It would appear so.”
I wonder if she can feel us staring at her. Her beauty is like an aphrodisiac. I’m not a lesbian, and have never been interested in women, but this woman, she could ask me to do anything and I’d happily oblige. Bentley’s chuckle tells me he is continuing to read my mind.
Mind your own business, I think, sending him the message.
“You are my business,” he growls back into my ear. We watch together as a male approaches the beauty.
Human or vampire?
“Human.”
“Oh. He’s brave.”
“He’s stupid,” Bentley answers.
The man swaggers up and starts talking. She seems annoyed, but like a fly buzzing around at a picnic, he doesn’t get the message. I gasp when he reaches out to touch her. My gasp turns to a squeal at the sound of bone breaking. Bouncers rush forward, and Bentley turns me away from the scene.
“Well, that didn’t go well for that bloke,” Erik says, coming up to us, a drink in each hand. He hands one cup to Bentley.
“Russian Mule. Remember that one time…”
“At band camp?” I can’t help but finish the sentence. They disappoint me. Neither of them laugh.
“I remember.” Bentley’s curt response makes me curious, there’s a story here and he doesn’t want me to hear it. I’ll have to get Erik alone soon and get the story out of him.
“You will do no such thing.” Bentley frowns at me.
“Damiano is here, wants me to send you over,” Erik interjects, giving me a half smile.
“Perfect, I’ll go deliver his collar. Stay here with Erik, Butterfly. I will only be a minute.”
“Actually, I need to go to the ladies’ room. If that is okay, Sir?”
“I’ll walk with her,” Erik volunteers.
“You don’t think I can go to the bathroom alone?” I ask Erik. I don’t need an escort to the bathroom at our BDSM club in Washington.
“I don’t want you getting lost or stumbling down the stairs without me.” Bentley kisses my forehead before walking across the room to deliver the requested collar to the other vampire. Erik takes my arm and guides me over to the restroom, chit chatting in my ear as we go, pointing out the variety of masks that we see along the way. He really is easy to be around.
Entering the bathroom, I shut the door behind me and lean against the nearest wall, exhaling slowly. I don’t really need to relieve myself. What I need is a moment to catch my breath. I am living in a real-life Hollywood movie. It feels like a dream, and I wonder when I will wake up. I want to splash water on my face but I don’t want to mess up the perfect makeup that was applied with more skill than I will ever have by an artist who cost more than I make in a year. Instead, I run the water as cold as it will go, cool my hands underneath for a few minutes, and then wet and wring out a hand towel. Classy. Individual cotton hand towels for everyone. I press the cloth towel to right below my armpits, far enough down not to mess up my deodorant, but it will still cool me down. It’s an old trick a college sorority sister taught me. I sigh as I feel my body temperature start