Blood Debt (Kingdom of Blood #1) - Callie Rose Page 0,7
debauchery down here. A flat-screen TV is playing porn on mute, and neon arrows are pointing to the left. There’s a window cut into the wall on the other side of the room with another bored-looking vampire sitting behind it. She flicks her gaze at me and away again, not seeming interested or impressed. She clearly knows why I’m here, and I allow that knowledge to bolster me a little. The disguise I picked is working.
Since the woman behind the window seems content to ignore me, I ignore her too, venturing deeper into the underground club. Scanning my surroundings with a subtle glance, I turn left and step through another curtain. This one leads to a narrow, dingy, poorly-lit hallway which, as soon as I turn the corner, becomes a narrow, dingy, poorly-lit tunnel.
My stomach churns. Fucking hell.
I wasn’t hoping for puppies and rainbows, but this isn’t what I was anticipating at all. It’s creepy as shit, as if every level of this place I pass through is peeling back a layer on the vampires’ veneer of humanity.
Down here, they clearly don’t feel a need to keep up any pretenses.
But I grit my teeth and keep walking anyway. Not only do I refuse to back off and leave Nathan to his fate, but running would probably only make the vamps suspicious at this point, or give them an excuse to chase me down.
Never turn your back on a fucking predator. I learned that lesson a long time ago.
At the end of a tunnel, a huge man stands beside what can only be described as the biggest vault door I’ve ever seen. His arms are crossed, and he’s got a gun on each hip. I don’t know why a three-hundred-pound body building vampire needs any guns, but he’s got them. He lowers his arms as I approach and looks me up and down. His eyes linger on the blood-drop earrings which are brushing seductively against my throat as I walk.
“Lost?” he asks gruffly.
Gotta be stupid. Gotta be vapid. Come on, breathy tone, wide eyes.
“I don’t think so.” I step closer to him and drop my voice to a stage whisper. Cue the drama. “I’m here to offer myself as tribute… to the vampires.”
He frowns thoughtfully and circles me like a shark, feeling me up with his eyes. I smell the hunger on his breath and see it in the bulge of his pants. I bite the tip of my tongue gently, just enough to remind myself to keep my expression neutral, but I hate the way he’s looking at me. This expensive as fuck dress won’t be worth a damn if he decides to take me for himself.
I stiffen my posture as his hand brushes my ass, my heart jolting into overdrive. I can’t let him keep touching me, or he’ll feel everything that I have hidden.
“This is the auction house, isn’t it?” I ask, forcing my voice to sound uncertain and a little panicked. He drops his hand. “Did I come to the wrong place? A friend told me about it. I heard that… but maybe I was wrong…”
“Nah. This is it,” he says. He looks me over once more then shrugs as if deciding I’m not worth the trouble. “You’ll do, I guess.”
He opens the door, and despite his casual dismissal of me, I can still feel his gaze glued to my neck. I suppress a shudder, reminding myself that this is why I’m here. I want this attention. I want to be noticed like that. At least for right now. Later, once I’m in the palace, I’ll do whatever it takes to blend in to the damn wallpaper.
Shit. Do vampires even use wallpaper?
“Stupid question,” I mutter to myself. “Not relevant, Mikka.”
The auction house contrasts strikingly with the rough tunnel outside. The ceiling is so high that it fades away into the shadows as chandeliers plunge low over the crowd. Grand pillars and expensive chairs dot the marble floor. Every wall is a patchwork of intricately carved molding and ancient tapestries, with the occasional heavy oak door breaking up the pattern.
On the stage are twelve pedestals. People—humans—stand on eight of them.
A woman strikes a sensual pose, putting her neck on display. Another one stands stiffly, staring off unblinkingly at a shadowy part of the ceiling. I figure the first woman watches too many movies and the second one has too many gambling debts. I write them both off as idiots and do my damnedest to mimic the energy of