When we arrived at my place, I pulled out some cash to pay the driver, but Mike stopped me. “Go on, I’ve got it.”
“Thanks,” I muttered and climbed out of the taxi.
A moment later, he caught up to me and the taxi drove off.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Making sure you get home safe.”
“O-kay,” I drew out the syllables. “I’m safe. Thank you for your concern.”
He walked with me up to my door. “You’re welcome.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “There are plenty of women back at the club waiting for you to slay them with your rock star sex appeal.”
“Slay,” he repeated with a laugh. “I like that.”
“You’re wasting your time with me. I’m not sleeping with you again.”
“That not why I’m here. But now that you bring it up.” His eyes widened with mischievousness. “Oh wait, you’re into girls. Should we find one to join us?”
What was with this guy? He was decent one minute wanting to get me home safe and a dick the next. Probably just took me home to sleep with me.
I unlocked my door, but there was no way I was letting him in. “Thank you for making sure I got home okay. Good night, Chee. Or Mike. Whatever your real name is.”
“Good night.” Dark brows tightened over inquisitive eyes. “What is your name, anyway?”
I entered my apartment and shot him a look of pure venom before I slammed the door on him. Throwing my keys across the room, I shouted. “Bastard!”
Chapter Two
Danton
My lover, Tracy, finished clearing up behind the bar and cashed out.
“Ready to go home?” she asked.
“I’ll meet up with you. There’s something I need to discuss with my brothers.”
She peered at me with an inquisitive glint in her bright eyes. “Can’t you communicate with them like this?”
“I’d have to turn to stone. But I’d rather talk to them face-to-face.”
“Is it something you want to tell me?”
“Not yet, my love. I’ll see you at home.”
Since I’d taken the gargoyle oath with Tracy, my powers had grown stronger, so much so I could now switch from stone to man at will. And as the ancient magic filled me, I could also help my brothers come over, although the process drained me.
She kissed me and flashed a naughty smile. “I’ll be waiting.”
“I won’t be long.”
“I hope not. It’s a cold night. I need you to warm me up.”
I pulled her into my arms. She leaned in, pressing her full, round breasts against me. My cock immediately responded. Her delicious scent filled my nostrils. I gave her a kiss, deep and slow, enough to heat her up and leave her wanting more.
“I trust that will warm you enough to get you home.”
“From my head to my toes. I’m all tingly with heat.” She leaned in to whisper, “Especially one place in particular.”
“One of my favorite places to warm up.” I grinned.
“I’ll be waiting.”
She put on a long black duster, which covered all her sexy parts in a seductive package I couldn’t wait to unwrap. Tracy wore tight vinyl dresses or fetish outfits fashioned in leather and lace to bartend here at the club. With her pink hair and luscious figure, she commanded the attention of all men who came into the bar, and most women too. I knew as I was one of them, watching through stone eyes for many moons. Fantasizing about her night after night, a futile delusion. She was flesh and I was stone. It wasn’t until she was in danger one night that I was able to transform into human form and reveal myself to protect her.
“Don’t forget your hat,” I reminded her, pointing to the hook it hung on behind her.
“What would I do without you?” she said.
“Freeze?” I teased.
She grabbed her purse and blew me a kiss. As she walked out the door, my eyes followed every move of her body. Even after all the months that had passed, I hungered for her with as much intensity as I had in stone from afar. More so now that I’d had a taste and touch. I still couldn’t believe she took the oath to be with me forever.
I was the luckiest being of any shape or form to have ever lived.
After she had left, I turned my attention to the next order of business, changing my brothers. “Mattias, Lucan,” I addressed two particular stone gargoyles perched in the club, the way I had been for many years. “I’m going to transform you.” I gave them a warning before I summoned the magic. “We need to discuss something.”
I inhaled deeply and exhaled, drawing the ancient power into my body. At first I barely registered a tingle of its presence. The more it flowed into me, the stronger it grew. Within moments the magic spread through my body, flowing in my veins, tingling every nerve.
Summoning such power could be dangerous if not used correctly, for a particular purpose. I respected the power derived from the elements within me and focused on directing the magic to bridge my brothers. The air shimmered, its energy pulsating between us. First the gargoyle near the entrance, opposite where my shell remained, animated from the stone. I could sense his transformation from stone to flesh as much as I could see it before me. His gray stone took on the color of an olive-skinned human and his stone wings unfurled into black feathers. He stretched from a hunched posture and grew as he stood on two legs. The overlarge features of his face minimized to those of a human male and black hair sprouted from his head, extending past his shoulders. Mattias was as dark as I was light. The sensation of the magic leaving my body made me heady.
As Mattias completed the transformation, I directed my attention close to the ceiling at the rear of the club. Lucan preferred to perch high on the wall, watching the patrons from overhead, while Mattias and I had been positioned at an eye-to-eye level with the humans. Like Mattias, Lucan shifted from gray stone to flesh. From his position above, Lucan flapped his wings to slow his descent to the floor.
“Aye,” Lucan said. “What is it, brother?”
“Something peculiar happened backstage tonight.”
“It must be important for you to use your magic to change us,” Mattias said.
“I met a man back there.” I motioned to the rear of the club. “He was watching two women. One of them was Nike. She bit a woman.”
“She’s not a vampire,” Lucan asked. “Is she?”
“No,” I responded. “But she is adopting the behavior of one. And doesn’t seem to be in control of her actions. We need to watch her.”
“Is she a threat to humans?” Lucan asked.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I believe so.”
“What about Michel?” Mattias posed. The former owner of the club, Michel was in fact a vampire and he had brought us gargoyles to protect those in the club, including him. “Does he know what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I will tell him what I witnessed.” I paced before them and rubbed my chin, still bothered by what happened back there although I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “Something else happened.”
“Go on, brother,” Lucan said.
“A man witnessed the encounter with Nike. I tried to clear his memory but my magic had no effect on him at all.”
Matthew said, “He’s especially strong-minded, perhaps?”
“Yes,” Lucan agreed. “But it was more than that. A strong-minded individual would fight to block the intrusion. It didn’t even have an effect on him.”
“Hmm,” Lucan said. “That is peculiar.”
“What do you think caused this?” Matthias asked.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I tried to ascertain what he was and there’s definitely something different about him.”
“Gargoyle magic wouldn’t work on a vampire,” Lucan said. “Or a shapeshifter for that matter.”
“I don’t think that’s what he is,” I said. “I believe he’s human, but there’s something more there.”
“Any idea what?” Mat
tias asked.
I shook my head. “I want you both to keep an eye on him too.”
Mattias nodded. “Describe what he looks like.”
“He’s easy to spot,” I said. “The guitarist for the Velvet Cocks.”
“The rock band Maya books to play here often?”
Maya, girlfriend of the club owner Tristan Stone, booked many of the acts and by the number of times she had the Velvet Cocks and danced near the front of the stage, she was a fan. “Yes.”
Lucan’s mouth twitched into a smirk. “Is he the one who wears the crazy outfits? Like he’s from the Middle Ages?”
“That would be the one,” I agreed. Chee Keydood was as recognizable for his outfits as for his antics onstage.
“What shall we look for in particular?” Mattias asked.
“Anything at all,” I answered. “I think there’s more to him than even he’s aware of.”
Ally
“Check you out at the gym on a Sunday,” Lily said the next morning after I taught a yoga class. “Miracles do happen.”
“Don’t remind me,” I said as we walked the paths through the pine trees near the gym. They filled the air with their scent, reminding me that Christmas was coming soon. Snow still clung to the ground and the air was cool, but it felt soothing after working our muscles with yoga. “I’m doing a favor for the instructor. She had a wedding last night and begged me to cover for her. I have half an hour until I teach Pilates.”
“Sooo,” she began in a singsong voice. “How did you end up with Mike last night?”
“We didn’t really end up together,” I protested. “We just ran into each other and he wanted to make sure I got home okay.”
“Aww,” Lily said. “Sounds sweet.”
“Ugh, no,” I clarified. “He didn’t even remember me at first. What an ass.” The sting was still fresh.
“So was he trying to sleep with you again? Is that why he went home with you?” Lily took a swig from her water bottle.
I chewed my bottom lip, trying to make sense of everything. “Probably. He’s a guy. And his reputation as a womanizer is well-known. He’s not like Nico at all.”
Lily began seeing Nico several months ago. And they moved in together rather quickly if you ask me. She quit her job to start consulting, sold her sweet condo, and they bought a townhouse.
“He’s not so bad, Ally,” Lily said. “I thought he was a jerk at first, I really didn’t like him. But he’s just wary of new people, I think.”
I snorted to show my skepticism.
Lily gave me a sympathetic look. “I think he inflates the bad boy image to fit the role of a rock guitarist.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because he’s different when he’s hanging out with Nico and John. Nico told me how smart he is. No matter how much they dig each other, the guys respect him. Apparently, he’s a brilliant software engineer at work. Skipped a couple of grades at school and went to MIT.”
“That’s kind of cool,” I admitted.
“You know how some guys like that can be,” she continued. “Super smart, but lacking in social skills.”
A pang of empathy hit me. It must have been tough to not only go to a super selective and competitive school like MIT, but to be two years younger than everyone else. As a fan of the Velvet Cocks, I knew they were a bunch of self-proclaimed computer geeks who made a rock band for fun. Starting out as a parody at first, they created an outrageous band name and stage names and were as surprised as anyone when they took off and grew a following and got recording deals.
I’d had a thing for Chee Keydood, their brazen guitarist who sported sexy leather, medieval-style tunics, a belt with plates of armor, and enormous boots. I’d also seen them a few times live so was familiar for Chee’s stage presence. While Nico took on the punk rock, bad boy role, wearing torn camouflage, combat boots, and a scowling expression, and their drummer Dorian Black took on the dark, brooding role, hiding among the shadows, Chee relished the audience’s attention. He played up to them with his guitar riffs and a naughty-boy smile and the crowd ate it up.
Chee was known for his wild outfits. Some nights he sported a fantasy costume of tunics and boots, like from out of a role-playing video game with knights. Other nights, he wore leather pants with some type of fur covering his torso. And he might wear any number of costumes in between, whatever mood struck him. Most of them included giant boots and silver accessories. Occasionally, he even surprised the crowd with a nod to his day job. A software engineer by day, sometimes on stage he’d wear a button-up shirt and glasses with casual pants, a similar style to Angus Young of AC/DC. As he played, the clothes mussed up, his shirt lost buttons, and by the end of the set the women were practically tearing his clothes off him.
The last time I’d seen them was on Halloween, months after we’d slept together. Chee went all out, wearing a pirate outfit that could put Johnny Depp to shame. A long brown leather duster over tight cropped pants and with no shirt underneath. He was lean, not overly muscular, but not soft like you’d expect from a guy who spent all day in front of a computer. And the boots. Big brown leather boots with huge silver buckles. He wore a large, brimmed hat over his mussed sandy-brown waves that fell around his shoulders. By the end of the night, he was dripping with sweat. I was so turned on watching him that I almost approached him again. I had to stop myself. We’d had a one-night stand, that was all. Anything more with a rock star was asking for trouble. And our one night would have been just peachy if my friend hadn’t moved in with his band mate and coworker. Talk about awkward. The last thing I wanted was to hang around him while Nico and Lily mooned over each other. Since that night, I’d avoided situations where we might run into each other.
“He’s doing a convincing job in his portrayal of a womanizing jackass,” I said as we turned onto a path to head back to the gym. “He didn’t even remember my name.”
“Oh, Ally. You’re one of a kind.” She nudged my shoulder. “I’m sure it was just in the moment. You’re such a hottie that you make guys forget simple things like words.”
“I doubt that. Besides I totally expect a guy like him, who sleeps with so many women, to forget names.”
“Do you regret hooking up with him?”
I thought of that hot summer night in Vamps when I asked Nico to introduce me to Chee. Our flirty banter took on a more seductive tone and we were all over each other by the time we left the club. “No, not at all. I got what I wanted that night and so did he. Case closed.”
“So what happened with you two last night?”
I remembered flashes of the night. The part about the woman. Throughout the night, I had erotic dreams of being with her. But why did she bite my neck? Did she have a weird vampire fetish like Mike had suggested? Her eyes had taken on a reddish hue that I didn’t notice at first…probably just contacts. I’d seen people glue on vampire fangs a few times at Vamps as well as wear unnatural-looking contacts, like indigo or red cat’s eyes. That stuff was easy to come by these days at any Halloween store or online. “Something kind of strange,” I admitted.
“What?”
“I kissed a girl.”
“Get out!” Ally shrieked. “That was the last thing I thought you’d say. Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know. I’d never done that before. It just happened.”
Ally raised an eyebrow. “Too much to drink?”
I shook my head. “I only had one drink, even though it packed a punch. Tempting Fate, I believe it was called.”
Lily snickered. “Guess so.”
“I did feel strange when we kissed, dazed somehow, but it wasn’t like I was drunk.”
Lily bit her lip. “You think someone slipped you something?”
“Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that.” It would explain the euphoric sensation when we kissed. God, I wanted her so bad at the time and all those dreams last night. That was weird. I may have wondered what it would be like to be with a woman, but that was st
epping beyond curiosity. “It’s possible.”
“Are you okay? I mean, she didn’t get you to do something you didn’t want to do, did she?”
“No, I’m fine. I was a willing party.”
Lily’s eyes widened with curiosity. “So what was it like? I’ve never kissed a girl.”
“Well, I’m not switching teams any time soon,” I said with a chuckle. I thought about her soft lips and how aroused I was. “But I liked it.”
We turned a path heading back to the gym. Lily said, “You’re still coming to our New Year’s Eve party, right?”
“Of course. I’d love to see my uber-private friend in an entertaining mode.” When Lily’s face dropped, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I think I’m over my head,” Lily said. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Relax, Lil, it’s a party. Not some convention.”
“A convention might be easier for me to plan and publicize. Having an intimate party with friends is much more daunting.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re overthinking it. Like you said, it’s just for friends. They’re there for your company, not an experience. Just put out some drinks, appetizers and New Year’s party goods and everyone will be happy.”
Lily grabbed my wrist, terror flashing in her eyes. “I don’t know how to be in host mode. There are all these things you need to do. Introducing people, small talk, and—I don’t know how to handle stuff like that.”
She was intelligent, creative and professional, promoted to some big corporate position in her late twenties. After she started dating Nico, she quit being a workaholic for the company and started her own consulting agency. She even did the publicity for Vamps. What she had going on professionally, she lacked in social interactions. A classic introvert. Hmm, maybe that’s why she could relate to Mike.
“Do you want me to help you with the party?”
“Would you?” Her eyes filled with hope. “You’re so good with people. Everyone loves you.”
“Of course.”
“You’re sure you’re not too busy putting together the studio?”
When Lily left her high-paying job to go out on her own, she inspired me to take a risk as well. I’d been teaching yoga and Pilates at a gym franchise. I loved teaching classes, but the money-focused atmosphere of a corporate gym turned me off. For months I’d been preparing to open my own studio and signed a lease on a place as of January 1st.
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