bar. What would you like?”
“Water is fine.”
I wound through the tables to the bar and signaled the bartender.
“What’ll it be, Devraj?”
“Maker’s Mark on the rocks and a water.”
He nodded then meandered back to fix the drinks, while I tuned into the conversations around the room. Nothing too intriguing at first. Just flirtations and sexual innuendo, basic club talk, then a name caught my attention from the two vampires at the end of the bar.
“Blake was fucking pissed, bro,” said the dark-haired guy. “But his parents were done with them both.”
“Adam, too?” asked the other one.
“Yeah. Apparently, they’d embarrassed dear old mom and dad one too many times after their arrests at that vampire club at New Year’s. They’re using that tough love shit to try to get them back in line.”
“But, completely cut them off?” the other one asked. “How the fuck do they still have money? I saw Blake buying drinks for his boys last weekend at Tipitina’s. Didn’t look that broke to me.”
Tipitina’s was a popular spot for small band venues uptown.
“They were for a while, but seems they’ve fallen into some money somehow. Who the fuck knows?”
I did. I knew exactly where he and his brother were getting the money. Or at least where Blake was. Darren had never said anything about Blake’s brother nor did I see him when I read Darren’s memories. But now I knew what had motivated at least Blake to start his own blood trafficking ring. I shot a quick text to Ruben, letting him know what I’d just discovered.
“Here you go,” said the bartender, setting down my drinks.
I paid him then headed back to Isadora. She looked so demure and beautiful, the sight of her increasing the pressure behind my sternum. One night wasn’t enough. Desire seemed a feeble and weak word to describe what I felt for the sweet witch sitting in that booth. All I knew was that whatever this was, I wanted more. Much more.
Chapter 18
~ISADORA~
I couldn’t help but stare. He looked crazy hot tonight. Dark jeans and gray T-shirt covered mostly by a black leather jacket, his hair loose and long like it was at his house last night. He caught me staring as he headed toward me with drinks in hand, his smile deadly and knowing and his eyes burning with a silvery heat I knew far too well.
Flustered, I jerked my attention to Nico. He had a hypnotic voice—smooth and deep with a touch of husky. He played his guitar with swift, elegant movements of his fingers.
I didn’t look over when Devraj scooted into the booth from the other side, pressing close, his thigh a burning line alongside mine. I lifted the water and took a sip. “So this is a vampire den.”
“That, it is.” I felt the caress of his gaze. “Not what you expected?”
“Not really. It’s missing that dark Goth element.”
He laughed, drawing my focus back to him. He sipped his whiskey, his amber gaze steady on me. “Kind of cliché, don’t you think?”
I shrugged. “I suppose I should’ve known better. This is definitely more Ruben’s style.” I scanned the place, almost amused that people mingled here like any other bar. “So how does it work?”
“What do you mean? How do you find and proposition a blood host?”
Nodding, I then took another sip of water.
“Like any other pick-up bar actually. You talk, mingle, dance. When a human seems compatible and receptive, you ask if they’ll be your blood host.”
I watched a hot vampire across the club in a booth like ours. He had his arm draped along the back, running his fingers along the other man’s nape. The auburn-haired guy smiled and nodded, obviously enjoying his company. “Just as simple as that?” My heartbeat had skyrocketed, pumping blood through my veins like a rushing river. My emotions were a mixture of jealousy and desire, despising the women he’d drank from in the past, knowing the pleasure they’d enjoyed from him. “Then what?”
His thigh pressed against mine as he pointed his beringed finger in front of me. “Then we go behind that red velvet curtain and take care of business.”
I looked where he pointed, noting the shadowy corner, covered by red velvet, one of Ruben’s men discreetly placed outside the seductive entry.
Vampire dens were called such because they offered a place for blood-drinking. A safe place where vampires could drink from their host and the host could rest and recover from the high of the vampire toxin. It reminded me of an opium den.