by Sarra Cannon
The doors to the club had opened for the night and the lights had all been dimmed. Azure served anyone who came up to the bar, leaving Rend and I alone at the other end.
“Purple,” he said. “Lady Luck. It gives people a sense of confidence, as if luck is on their side. It doesn’t actually make them lucky, so they couldn’t leave here and go win the lottery or anything. It just gives them the illusion of luck. A lot of people come in and request this one when they have a big business meeting or a performance coming up.”
I poured the purple shot and found that it felt relatively normal compared to the others. No big tricks there.
I nodded to the last of the five basic shots. Green.
“Green Monster,” he said. “You won’t be asked for this one nearly as often, but we keep it on the menu for certain guests who crave it.”
“What does it do?” I asked. I picked up the bottle and the liquid inside began to bubble up as if it were agitated with my touch. I set it back down, scared it was about to burn me like the red one did.
“Green Monster gives you courage,” he said.
“How is that different from Lady Luck?”
“Luck is about confidence and feeling good about your decisions. It’s about presenting yourself in a way that makes others believe you are a confident, sure person,” Rend explained. “Courage, on the other hand, is about believing in yourself. It’s about gathering that inner strength you need to get the job done.”
“Why did it act so agitated when I picked it up?” I asked.
“Because Green Monster is all about fearlessness and daring,” he said. “It’s a very energy-focused drink. To keep it from bubbling up like that, just hold it closer to the top. In fact, you’ll do better to just grab them all at the neck and pour from there. That way people can’t read the drinks by the way you’re holding them. Some customers don't care who knows, but others value their privacy. And their secrets.”
I nodded, pouring the final shot to complete the set in front of me. I was in awe of the glamours and the other magic I’d seen so far, but alchemy was something different. It was like bottling magic and gifting it to other people. I wondered if I could learn how to make potions like this someday.
“How do you feel, do you want to go over it again?” he asked.
I stared at the line of glowing shots. I briefly went over the basics of them in my mind. “No, I think I’ve got it,” I said, amazed I could even concentrate when the sleeve of his jacket was touching the bare skin on my arm.
“It’s Sunday night, so it should be much slower tonight than what you’ve seen in here so far,” he said. “When it really gets going back here, it can be intense and some of the people who come in can be less than patient when they really need a drink.”
“I’ve worked behind a bar before,” I said. “I know how fast-paced it can be. I’ll be fine.”
“This isn’t like any bar you’ve worked in before.” He picked up each glass and dumped the contents into the sink.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I said, then regretted my sarcasm. I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t taking this seriously, but did that really have to be said? I may have been naive, but I wasn’t stupid.
“This isn’t a joke, Franki. This isn’t some game I’m playing with you,” he said. His voice grew rough and a few of the staff serving at nearby tables turned to look at us. Rend turned away from them, leaning so close to me, a warm rush of desire spread through my veins. “If anyone so much as says a single word that makes you feel uncomfortable or frightened in any way, I want you to come to me.”
“Okay,” I said, wanting to tell him that he was making me uncomfortable.
He let out a breath and ran a hand through his dark hair. He moved over toward the register and opened a mirrored cabinet filled with dozens of smaller, rounded bottles. He selected three of them and set them down beside a fresh glass on the bar.
Two of these smaller ones glowed much brighter than any of the basic bottles. The other was pitch black like ink. He poured an ounce of Blue Frost, then carefully poured a tiny bit from each of the smaller bottles. The colors mixed together, then the entire glass-full turned to black, a dark mist rising from it.
He threw it back, downing the shot in one smooth motion, and then set the glass down hard against the bar.
He placed both hands on the edge of the bar and leaned into it, his head dipped low.
I waited, watching to see if I could tell what kind of effect the drink would have on him. The only physical response I could see was that his tense shoulders relaxed and his breathing steadied.
What it was doing to his insides, I had no idea.
“What do these do?” I reached for the bottle of black liquid but the moment I touched it, his hand closed over mine.
The touch of his skin against mine made me ache for something I knew I couldn’t have. At least not in front of all these people.
“These are special,” he said. “Not for the average customer and definitely not for you to touch until you’ve studied them and you understand how the different potions mix and combine. The wrong combination could be fatal.”
He released my hand and I pulled it back, my stomach twisting and turning.
“What do you call that shot?” I asked. My voice came out unsteady and breathless. I cleared my throat and forced myself to relax. He couldn’t know how much he was getting to me.
“I don’t have a name for this mix,” he said. “Azure, what would you call this?”
“Rend’s Addiction,” she called out, laughing.
Rend smiled and nodded. “It’s just something that takes the edge off for me when I need it,” he said.
He didn’t give me any more details than that. He just put the three smaller bottles back in their case and closed it up again.
“Azure will take care of any orders that require mixing,” he said. “All you have to do is serve the basic five. Like I said, most of the people who come up will ask for one of those.”
I had been staring down at the five bottles, running through what he’d taught me so far, but when he paused, I looked up to find him watching me. The look in his eyes took my breath away. There was something unsaid there behind them, and I suddenly couldn’t wait for my shift to be over. What was he waiting to tell me? Would he break it off? Or would he kiss me again?
I bit my lower lip and his eyes dipped to my mouth. His lips parted slightly and he sucked in a ragged breath. When his eyes returned to mine, they were full of undeniable desire.
But desire for what?
“I’m going to make sure everything is set up and ready for us to open,” he said. He left me standing there behind the bar without another word.
Pure torture.
Currency
Once the customers started pouring in, the night flew by.
I got used to the weight and flow of each of the five basic drinks and before too long, I was able to choose the right bottle without even looking down.
Most of the people who came in seemed happy to see a new face behind the bar. I began to relax into the rhythm of the work, having fun meeting new people and listening to the kinds of conversations taking place.
Since the music was loud, most people practically yelled at each other, laying their business out in front of everyone close enough to hear.
I paid attention without making eye contact or showing any indication that I was listening, but I was getting a kick out of things like complaints about girlfriends who had cast spells on them when they refused to help with the dishes.
I was sure the more serious conversations were happening back in the shadowy booths and in the darkness of the second floor tables, but I liked the energy up here away from the darker places. I liked the neon glow of the bar and the way I could see everything happening out on the dance floor.
I also liked the fact that no one could come up and threaten me in front of everyone. I felt safer up here.
The people who crowded arou
nd the bar were like most customers at bars I’d worked in the past, here to have a good time and be around friends and people who were like them.
People like me.
“Where’s Rend?” A man wearing a black baseball cap leaned across the bar near me. From what I could see of his face under the cap, he was handsome.
I moved toward him, the mention of Rend’s name sending an involuntary flare of heat though my middle. “I’m not sure,” I said. I glanced around the crowded room, but didn’t spot him anywhere. “I don’t see him. Wait here just a second.”
Azure had barely spoken two words to me all night. She’d mostly kept to her side of the bar all night, only coming over when someone requested one of the more complicated drinks and she had to get into the cabinet behind me. She would know what to do, though, and possibly where to find Rend.
“Hey, the guy in the black hat down there is looking for Rend,” I said, walking over to where she was openly flirting with a group of guys at the end of the bar. “Do you know where he is?”
She sighed audibly. “Do you?”
I bit back a sarcastic reply and played nice. “What should I tell this guy, then?”
“That's Silas,” she said, waving to him. “I’ll go see if I can find Rend. Tell him to hang on to his britches.”
“Thanks.”
I asked Silas to wait here while Azure went to see if she could find Rend. I served a few customers who all wanted Red Dragon. A few minutes later, Rend appeared on the other side of the bar and shook the man’s hand. They half-embraced, clapping each other on the back.
The pure smile that spread across Rend’s face mesmerized me. I’d never seen him so joyful. He always seemed either angry or amused or passionate, but this was a new side to him. The smile animated him, and I was struck by the intense desire to someday see him smile at me that way.
Watch yourself, kiddo.
Forcing myself not to care was an exercise in futility. He was magnetic. I was drawn to him despite myself. No amount of logic could keep me from wanting him, and I might as well accept that.
As I looked up from pouring another shot to a new customer, I knew honestly and completely that I was falling for him.
I was falling for a freaking vampire. What the hell was wrong with me?
“He’s beautiful when he’s happy, isn’t he?”
Azure stood next to me, mixing some new concoction that glowed bright pink in the glass.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I said. I don’t even know why I denied it. She’d obviously seen me staring at him like a lovestruck schoolgirl.
She laughed. “Okay,” she said. “But just so you know, whatever it is you think the two of you have, it isn’t going to end well for you.”
I bristled. Who was she to tell me what Rend and I had?
“I know you don’t believe me, but nothing happened the other morning,” I said. I had no idea why I wanted her to believe nothing had happened between us when something obviously had. She brought out the worst in me. “He’s just trying to protect me. So whatever bug you have up your ass about it can just die a slow, painful death. There’s nothing to be jealous about.”
Her eyes widened and both of her eyebrows raised. “You think I’m jealous of you?” She threw her head back and laughed. “Girly, you’ve been here what? Three or four days? I’ve been with Rend for decades, working right here beside him every minute of every day. Trust me, I’m not jealous of you.”
Decades? I swallowed and glanced back at Rend. If he was a vampire, that also meant he was old. Possibly centuries old. If she’d been with him that long, maybe she did know a lot more about him than I did.
The thought unnerved me.
“Then why are you so intent on making me feel like I don’t belong here?” I asked. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you and you keep coming back at me with anger and sarcasm, like I don’t matter.”
“Oh, you matter,” she said, finishing the mixture and using a clear glass rod to stir it around. “Just not the way you think you matter.”
She replaced the bottles she’d taken from the cabinet and returned to her side of the bar to deliver the drink to a beautiful blond woman wearing a hot pink dress that matched the color of the drink exactly. I couldn’t help wondering what the special drink would make her feel. The woman leaned over the bar and planted a kiss on Azure’s cheek, then slid her a hundred-dollar bill.
I glanced back at Rend. He was still standing with the handsome man in the black hat, smiling and laughing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were obviously old friends.
Azure’s words kept playing in my head like a broken record. What did she even mean by that? What way did I matter, then?
A woman leaned over the bar and asked for a shot of Red Dragon and I held up a finger and told her I’d be right back. I wiped my hands off on a towel and threw it back down on the shelf beneath the bar, then marched over to where Azure had resumed her flirting with the group of guys who’d been lingering around her all night.
“What exactly did you mean by that?” I asked. I knew I sounded like a petulant child demanding an explanation, but I didn’t care.
“Excuse me, guys,” she said, throwing them a smile. “I’ll be right back.”
She turned to me, her head leaning to one side and her hand on her hip.
“What did you mean by I matter, but not the way I think?” I was almost more scared than angry.
“Look, I know Rend better than someone like you ever will,” she said. “He’s been through things your tiny brain can’t even imagine, and he escaped all that when he created Venom. This club is his life and he cares more about what he’s built here than anything else in this world or the next.”
As she spoke, I bit down on the inside of my lip, the pain anchoring me so that I didn’t get emotional or let her words tear me apart.
“He doesn’t do anything to risk this club,” she said. “Sure, he may stick his neck out sometimes to help one of us out or to get someone like you out of trouble, especially when he sees great potential in someone or he senses their brokenness. But he never, and I mean never, risks his heart.”
My heart thumped in my chest and I breathed in slowly as she spoke.
“Whatever happened—or didn’t happen—between you two has nothing to do with Rend falling in love with you.”
“I never said anything about love.”
“I see the way you look at him like a little lost puppy dog looking for someone to save her. I see that heady mix of panic and desire flash through your eyes when you look at him. You’re not fooling anyone,” she said, shaking her head. “But don’t you even think for a second he’s going to return that affection. Rend doesn’t fall in love. Period. He’s incapable of love. At least the kind you’re looking for.”
I regretted coming over here to talk to her. I never should have even let her know I gave a shit about what she had to say. I wished I had the nerve to just turn around and walk away and not listen to another word of this, but I couldn’t. I needed to know. I needed to hear this so I would stop hoping for something that would never happen.
“What I meant when I said you don’t matter in the way you think is that you’ve somehow convinced yourself there’s a chance with him and that if you could just break through that hard outer shell of his, you’ll find a soft, loving boyfriend on the inside,” she said. “I’m telling you this for your own good before you end up with your heart broken into a million pieces. If he’s done anything to make you think he cares for you, or if he’s giving you a taste of what it would be like to be with him, he’s doing it for one reason and one reason only. To get you wrapped so tight around his little finger you wouldn’t dream of taking a single step without his permission or acceptance.
“Because if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that Rend will do anything to make sure his club stays exactly the way it is. He’ll do whatever it takes and hurt whoever he has to in order to protect what he’s built he
re.”
“I don’t understand what protecting the club has to do with me,” I said. My mouth was dry.
“I thought you said you were smart?” she said, taking a few steps into my personal space. “Do I really have to spell this out for you? You show up here because you were invited by some anonymous stranger. You’re threatened by a guy who works for one of the most dangerous vampires in existence—a vampire who wouldn’t think twice about just taking any witch he wanted from the safety of her own bed in the middle of the night while she was sleeping. You’re the descendant of one of the most evil witches who ever walked this earth. All these things lead to one conclusion. Have you figured out what that is yet?”
My hands trembled and I pressed them hard against my legs to make them stop. I hadn’t realized he’d been keeping Azure in the loop about me. It was unsettling.
“My blood is valuable,” I said.
“Ah, so you’re not entirely stupid,” she said. “Yes, your blood is extremely valuable, which means you matter to a lot of people right now. Some evil and some just looking to profit from you in some way. Which do you think Rend is?”
I swallowed, the realization of what she was saying finally soaking in. I bit down harder on the inside of my lip tasting the sting of blood as my teeth pierced the sensitive skin.
“The truth isn’t always easy to hear, but I’m telling you this for your own good, Franki.” She moved in closer, her face uncomfortably close to mine. “Because I don’t want you to ever think for one second that you’re anything more than currency to him.”
The room around me began to spin, throwing me off-balance internally. Anger and regret and disappointment swirled around me and the slightest wisp of wind blew across my skin.
Breathe, little bird.
I breathed in through my nose, filling my lungs with air, but my heart continued to pump faster.
Currency.
My blood was valuable, which meant Rend only cared what he could get for me in trade or negotiation, anything to keep the Devil, one of the only vampires he feared, from destroying everything he’d built.
