by Erin R Flynn
Right?
The layout of the restaurant part of the club was gorgeous. Four booths were back to back to back, but not like IHOP booths where if the person behind you sat down too hard you felt it. They were huge and heavy with enough room in between to have white orchid and bamboo plants. There had been some debate about cut flowers or plants, but honestly, with as many fairies that were around, the plants thrived.
Guests sat at the booths, and there was a chair at one end of the table for the host. It kept them there but easy to get up to serve drinks, but distance as well so people didn’t get as touchy as I’d seen in Tokyo host clubs. It wasn’t that kind of place, and there certainly wasn’t any prostitution or propositioning hosts. There were a few signs that said exactly that with the threat of banning people if they tried.
We’d even decided on doing one of those trendy wall gardens where people could see staff clip herbs for dishes or drinks right in front of them. There were some really cool details like that I thought people would notice and respond well to.
Before I could have my next attack of worry, the doors were opened and guests started pouring in. We had enough room for them even with one dinner time instead of at six and eight with some limited reservations at ten like we’d have normally. Setting times like that was the only way we could coordinate hosts, as they weren’t just servers with sections. Some restaurants with reservations booked an hour apart for table turnover.
But that tended to lead to overbooking. The whole point of this was for people to relax, feel like guests, not customers, and get a bit spoiled. So we planned on an hour and a half with a fifteen minute grace period and fifteen minutes to bus the table, get the host a break, and reset for the next guest.
The hosts—male or female—would make money, no problem. They got a quarter of sales, plus any tips, and the smaller tables of four had to guarantee a hundred dollar meal, while the larger tables for up to eight was set at two hundred. Tables would be held with a twenty-five dollar deposit, which the hosts got for coming in even if the table didn’t show up.
Eventually, people could make reservations with their favorite hosts, everyone using fake names so there wasn’t too much familiarity. And we were talking about table preorders, so they could have more fun after meals and less time waiting for food, which could annoy people no matter how fast service was. Simone was confident it would work out one way or another and be fine.
I hoped so because that wasn’t my headache to deal with, and I couldn’t do any of what she did.
The club would actually open at eight, early for clubs, but it wasn’t just a late night dance party, and that way guests who finished their meal didn’t have to wait for the damn club to open and come back. That would have been stupid. They got a slight discount on cover if they ate there, but cover was high given it was all inclusive for drinks, tips, the shows, and so on. Five dollars from each cover went into the kitty for tips to be split at the end of the night.
Which was better than most would probably get as bartenders or burlesque dancers. Granted, they had their hourly pay when they switched from host to dancer, but the tips would make the pay really worth it.
I simply hoped it was worth opening such a club and we eventually made money more than just paying people well. It would be nice if we actually made money on this crazy idea.
Simone was confident, as cover was separate from renting a dungeon and that fun, and so were the hot tubs. Someone could pay just to get in the hot tubs or dungeon, and there was a wrist band system and so on for security and whatnot. All I really cared about was all first timers had to sign waivers and scan their driver’s license as well so we were covered and the rules were clear.
There was a lot that could go wrong, after all.
“Thank you everyone for joining us on our first preview night,” Simone greeted loudly right before six and people were shown to tables. “Tonight we have samplings of possible menu selections we’d like you to try and give feedback on. Our hosts are also getting some experience on how it will go here, not only where they trained, without too much pressure. We also have some samplings for drinks, so please have fun, enjoy, and we welcome opinions to help us.”
Everyone clapped politely, but she wasn’t done.
“Also, since this is the friends and family preview, our hosts are wearing potential costume ideas. There are many we were on the fence for and making them a theme for a night, so any input on that will help as well. If you have other suggestions, we’ll gladly hear them, and every host has a list and calendar of what we’ve already decided. Our opening night, Friday, there will be a maid theme to welcome our first paying guests.”
Then she was done, and it was hard not to laugh as the hosts came out from the back. Some of the costumes were just weird to me. There was the one shoulder mini that basically made her costume bacon. Another had a strapless tiny thing that was hot sauce with her green “cap” hat. There was a sexy, generic range of kids’-type stuffed animals and puppets, which kind of bothered me, but we’d agreed to give them a chance for the previews.
I did like the sexy animal costumes. They weren’t like trashy Miley Cyrus shit, which was supposed to be a mouse, but really well done with ears or faux fur boots. A few had gloves, which couldn’t be worn to serve but looked fun for effect.
“Congratulations on your big night,” Hagan greeted me with a huge bouquet of flowers. I stared at them and swallowed tears. “You look beautiful, Sera.”
“Did you plan on bringing flowers before or after I got upset?” I asked quietly. His silence said it all, and I turned away, not accepting them, heading to our table. Having to sit with them would be hard enough, but knowing that the first time I was getting flowers from the twins was because of a fight hurt even worse.
I took the seat meant for the host in case I needed to see to anything. Hagan, Reagan, and Nina, our witch friend, were three, plus my three ancient vampires—two were working undercover cases for my office after they’d done such good work getting out of their own art theft mess—plus Dain and Theon made eight. Alok, Tasar, and the rest of the Greek wolves on loan were with the boys.
We had debated a bunch about who to leave with them and how many, but in the end, we’d decided four powerful Greek wolves and two strong and old fairies would be enough.
Everyone at the club was twenty-one with the exception of Jesse. He was twenty and my wolf, living with Riley, and they were super happy, which I was glad for. But I’d hated his job. I didn’t care that he’d worked for a shipping company, but how they’d treated him like a second class citizen for being a wolf. They’d given him the crappiest routes and made him do extra work for no pay since it was so easy for him with his strength.
I understood hazing the new kid, we did it in the FBI with extra reports and crap, but it had been going on since he’d started years ago and went over the line. So after some talk, Simone and I had agreed to make an exception for him, as it was legal for him to serve alcohol in Cook County. We’d been very clear he was not to partake and behave so we didn’t get in trouble.
He was a good kid… A good kid that hadn’t known fairy nectar had alcohol in it. He’d actually found me, completely sloshed, to warn me something was wrong with the batch of juice because someone had slipped booze in it. And then he’d passed out right in front of me.
Goof.
Jesse was one of the hosts and bartenders that were assigned to deliver courses for tonight, and I smiled at him when he arrived with several large plates. “We are starting tonight with salmon croquettes, beet and goat cheese rounds, mushroom and steak puffs, and vegetable napoleons with eggplant crème.”
“Good job, nice and inviting,” I praised after he set down plates for us to share.
“Thanks,” he whispered, flushing a bit. “Drink samplers are coming in a moment.”
Sure enough, seconds later Gayle Harper appeared with a tray full of wood slats that had sample sized glasses. She wasn’t going to be a host, instead
, deciding to be the one support server we would have most nights since she didn’t feel comfortable being flirty and whatnot. She was however in charge of the makeup for the feeding show and lots of others, so she really was a big help.
She smiled as she set three sets down and pointed to them in turn. “For the vampires we have Suck It Down, AB4U, Just a Nip, Vein & Tonic, Virgin Sacrifice, and Stake Me at Midnight. The first three contain no alcohol, but the last three do. Please rank them to your preference, as the top inventors will get a bonus if their named concoction makes the permanent menu.” They thanked her, having a hard time not chuckling at the names, which had been the point of some of the cheese.
I had known I was different than other shifters, and after meeting with Igor, I knew bunnies were good. I’d figured vampires could tell the difference between human and others, but what I hadn’t known was we were much more of a kick. They could discern blood types too, and they had preferences just like humans did their cut of beef or pork. Fairies did not donate blood because it was against their beliefs, which tied into their magic, but also magic tasted bad to vampires.
After working with Riley a bit, I’d found out that an adult shifter could donate two pints every other day and not be affected at all. We weren’t going to have people do that, as that would be crazy, but instead, Simone and I worked out that if a shifter donated so many times during the month, they could get into the club for free during the full moon.
We had so much damn blood already it was crazy. Hopefully we would also have lots of vampires who would frequent Siren’s Kiss. The boys kept offering to donate more and more, but we had some in stock, and seriously, I wasn’t going to drain my adopted younger brothers. I had argued against their doing it at all, but Simone had talked me into it because they really wanted to, not like we made them, and why not let the kids help?
She reminded me it wasn’t any different than how we’d let them help clean glasses and plates after they were all delivered. It was and wasn’t the same, but it didn’t hurt them now that they were healthy, so I let it go.
It wasn’t as if we were bleeding children. Even the youngest, Tommy, would have been old enough to donate with guardian consent if he had been human giving for a blood drive.
I gave a heavy sigh after I tried my drink samples and the appetizers. “I’m so useless for this kind of stuff. It’s all good. I like it all. How can I pick and risk never having one of them again?”
“You’re such a silly woman sometimes,” Nina teased me. “You’re not penalizing anything for being bad, just praising what is really good. I love this Grim Reaper. Is it black cherry and dye to make the slushy black?”
“I think so,” I answered, finishing off my own daiquiri flavor sampler. I saw Simone stand, and I got to my feet. “We’re rotating between tables for courses, so be nice to whatever host you get.”
“I’m sure they will be female with all these men,” Nina playfully huffed as if she wasn’t sitting with enough gorgeous men. “I’ll make sure they’re nice.”
Oh, I just bet she would. She might have looked mid-thirties, but she was old, especially for a witch, and gave off a feeling of principal and grandparent that no one wanted to misbehave around.
“How do you like everything so far?” I asked Noah’s table, nodding to the female host, one of Noe’s hawks, to switch with me.
“I like three of the blood drinks best, but I have a feeling that’s because your blood’s in them,” Noah answered, the other vampires at his table going tense, as most of them were Vlad’s security and knew what my blood had done to the crazy councilmen.
“Yeah, but very, very little. A carafe—which is how we’re going to serve them—won’t have more than five or six drops. You probably have one in the glass.”
“Potent,” Jake, one of Vlad’s vampires I’d gotten along with, complimented. “I like all six. Honestly, I wish I could feed like this all the time.” I smiled at him, and he laughed. “Your place isn’t cheap, Sera. I’m just security.”
“You and Remus are head of Vlad’s security now and practically run Noah’s bodyguard school. You can’t be hurting.”
“Still expensive,” he chuckled.
“I’m sure something could be worked out for talented security who would be willing to hang out during peak times and not be boozing it,” Noah replied easily and made me wonder what he was up to.
“You mean we get all the non-alcohol awesome blood we can drink if we spare a few hours at closing time when there are more rowdies and more hands are always welcome but not in the budget?” Remus accused, shaking his head and laughing when Noah shrugged. “Could we get hot tub access before our hours?”
I took that one. “I wouldn’t care as long as you’re not demanding the private baths and weren’t drinking booze. I have to talk to Simone though.”
“You’re pushing the line on poaching from Vlad,” Remus warned us. “He’s seriously miffed over losing Noah still, and you made friends with the fairy queen and get exclusive fairy nectar and got the blood license.”
“I read the ruling on why he got denied,” I informed them, knowing I was about to overshare. “It was his own damn fault. There were rumblings as far as DC that he was putting the screws to people to get his businesses approved and perfect health department grades. They couldn’t risk one of the first licenses going to someone who might not be aboveboard or play dirty.”
“For real?” Remus checked as our next course of items were delivered. I nodded. “Can I tell him that?”
I sat with that as I reached for my first salad plate. After a few bites, I sighed. “I don’t know. He’s being such a damn baby about stuff. I’m not trying to stick it to him. Am I still hurt at what he did? Yeah, and I think that’s fair, and it’s fair not to trust him. If I knew he would keep that information private, I would tell him, but I don’t know that he won’t start shit or use whatever he can to his advantage again!”
I apologized when I realized I’d gotten a bit loud. It wasn’t their fault. After some heavy silence, Noah switched seats with the vampire closest to me. I couldn’t look at him when he sat down, embarrassed at how I was handling life.
“Dain called Alena,” he confessed under his breath so only we would hear, and I covered my face with my hands, completely ashamed of myself. “She’s angry with herself for not understanding when you’ve been her responsibility, as it was her bloodline that infected you. I know she and Zeno fought about not telling you what your blood can do to vampires. It’s because they care, Sera. You shouldn’t be embarrassed. This is what family does.”
“What is she doing?” I asked, feeling like I was missing something. “She’s done so much. How can she keep doing all of this for me?”
“She’s your mom,” he chuckled gently, moving his hand to my knee under the table. “She was upset she’s been so busy helping you with the business and alliances, she didn’t think of how to help you.” I opened my mouth to argue or maybe ask what he meant, but he went on. “There is a wolf she found in Greece, a siren infected wolf, who specializes in helping infected, not born, shifters. Alena has arranged for her to fly out with them for Friday and stay at least a month.”
“Will that help?”
“Dain believes so. You’re not a normal shifter, Sera. It’s so much harder for you not having been born a siren. You don’t just have an animal side that’s more basic than a person, but a siren, which is almost another woman living in you. For born sirens, it’s totally different. Their siren is them or maybe just sexy them when they feed. Dain talked to Alena about what you say of your siren, and she wasn’t hearing how different it was for you because of her guilt that you’re hurting.”
“It’s not her fault.”
“No, of course not, but it is something she should help with,” he told me firmly. I met his gaze then and was shocked to see how much he believed in what he said. “When a vampire turns someone, they take responsibility for everything that fledgling needs. You are a baby wol
f and siren. You need parents to survive this, and they now get that. They only saw adapting to our world stuff since you’re an adult.”
“It’s super rare they accidently infect someone. This wasn’t on them. They’ve done a lot for me.”
“Yeah, they have, but now they’re going to do more, so allow it and let them help you.”
“Okay,” I agreed after a bit of consideration. “I accepted it before too, Noah. It’s just hard to know what’s the right path or what will work.”
“I think this and working with Dain will do wonders.”
I nodded but gave him a look I was sure he understood. That didn’t solve what had happened with me and the twins, and I didn’t know what could. He sighed and kissed my forehead. Yeah, I was trouble.
6
I traded with the host at Brian’s table when it was time for the fish course, but instead of taking the chair, I nodded for him to scoot over and plopped down on the edge of the booth. He didn’t even ask, simply moving his arm around me and letting me lay my head on his shoulder.
“You were smiling earlier.” He tried to move a plate in front of me.
“Yeah, and I might be again, but while Noah and Dain think the help I need is coming and there’s a plan, I feel fragile.” I lowered my voice for the next part, which had hit me during salad. “I’m scared for you, Jason, and people I knew in my life before to see the show.”
“You have to say it at human levels of hearing,” he chuckled and kissed my cheek when I sat up.
I leaned in and pressed my lips to his ear, repeating what I’d said. I moved back as he slanted his head so his lips brushed over mine.
“Sera, you could turn into a wolf and have sex with a wolf on stage or just about anything else, and you will still always be my Sera, okay? You can’t think like this anymore. You’re still you.”
“One, that sounds just wrong, and two, I’m not anymore, and it’s not thinking like this, it’s more it’s just hitting me?”
