Kiss Me Forever - M.J. O'Shea Page 0,49

hell did see.

Chandelier was like Donovan’s club in a way—hidden from the public, another world behind closed doors. But that was where the similarities ended. If Avery had followed Macy here the first night, he’d have bolted the minute they walked through the door. It was almost like Donovan’s club was the starter club, the place where one went to get used to the world Tyson lived in.

Chandelier was... not.

“I don’t even understand how this exists,” Avery whispered to Tyson as they walked in.

“Stick with me. I’ll show you.”

Chandelier was enormous—impossibly enormous. Where Donovan’s club seemed a bit too big to fit behind the façade of the building it inhabited, Chandelier was too big to fit in any building in the Quarter. Yet somehow it did.

The place was cavernous, like some emptied-out theater with ornate carved wood, velvets, and gilded details. Every surface was luxe, and the room was filled to the brim with light bouncing off crystals. They entered onto a wide mezzanine that floated above a ballroom floor with tables surrounding it. Already there were hundreds of people. If people was taken in the broadest of terms.

Donovan had made some effort to blend in with the average person, dressed in normal clothes, kept his hair long but still passably modern. The inhabitants of Chandelier made no such effort. Avery felt like he’d just walked into a scene right out of an Anne Rice book—corsets and top hats, fangs out, every single terrifying, incredible thing Avery would have somehow hoped vampires to be.

Avery followed Tyson the rest of the way in, clutching his hand and quite terrified to let go. The thrill pulsed thick underneath his skin.

“Don’t lose me. This place can get a bit debauched.”

It looked mannerly and Victorian at the moment, fangs aside, but Avery took Tyson’s word for it.

“What happens?”

“This is a vampire bar only. Not like Donovan’s, which is open to everyone.”

“Are we supposed to be here?” The last thing Avery wanted was to piss off a room full of vampires.

Tyson chuckled. “The vampires like me. Half of them still assume I’m one of them. The rest of them know I’m friends with Donovan. We’ll be fine.”

“Is this where Marie Laveau is?” he whispered. He had no idea how well the people, vampires, surrounding them could hear.

Tyson chuckled. “No, she’s definitely not a vampire. That’ll be for another night. Tonight’s for observation. But... discreet observation. Don’t stare.”

It was nearly impossible not to. Especially after a few drinks from a bartender who’d obviously learned some tricks from Dan.

Eventually, Tyson pulled Avery onto the dance floor. It was crowded and warm, smelled of perfume and that sweet musk he’d smelled on Donovan before, but as soon as Tyson wound his arms around Avery’s waist, everything else disappeared.

They swayed to an otherworldly melody and a haunting voice singing about being with someone for always. Tyson pulled him closer to nip gently on his neck, kissed his way up Avery’s sensitive skin, and ended with a soft kiss to his lips.

The music swirled around them, Tyson’s pale hair glowed in the light of huge crystal chandeliers, and his heartbeat thumped gently beneath Avery’s. He nudged his fingers under Avery’s shirt and Avery shivered from his touch. It had to be magic. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to it.

Tell me that you’ll kiss me forever....

“A lot of vampires really like to party,” Tyson said when they’d returned to their seats with a drink. “It’s why Donovan doesn’t hang out in places like this very often. Not his scene. They can be fun when you’re in the right mood.”

Avery was still reeling from their moment under the lights, but he managed to take a long look at the crowd, hopefully a discreet look. He didn’t want to be rude. Clothes had been partially removed, and the air reeked of champagne and the metallic tang of blood.

There were no boundaries that Avery could tell, groups of bodies swayed together, touching and kissing and downing sparkling drinks. Avery noticed he was far from the only human in there. In a way he wasn’t surprised. He’d expected something like that from years of movies and television.

There was something hypnotic about the vampires, even if they were terrifying in their excess. He imagined the people were drawn to them. It didn’t look like the vampires were all that attached in return. Avery watched one female vampire take a short drink from a man’s neck and then push him away, giggling as she watched