“A few more days and my internal clock will be permanently on vampire time.”
Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, she noticed a bulky envelope sitting beside the lamp. She padded over to see what it was.
Thought you might need this since you mentioned it earlier. It’s been ringing off the hook in the coat check all day.
Derick
She tore open the top flap. He found her cellphone and thought enough to return it.
Annika’s finger curled over her lip. The man was a contradiction. Controlling and dominant sexually, yet considerate.
With only ten percent battery left, she plugged the phone into its charger and scrolled down the list of recent calls twenty-seven missed calls. Most from Ariel and her mother plus five unidentified calls with a Los Angeles area code. She frowned. There was only one person who’d call from there.
Jesse.
Annika sank onto the end of the bed and pressed Ari’s number for callback.
“So, the prodigal client returns,” Ari joked. “I only left umpteen messages. Where have you been?”
“Don’t ask.”
She laughed. “Taking New York by storm, no doubt.” With a paused, Ariel sighed. “Listen, I know you’re enjoying your anonymity, but your show is tomorrow night. I need you to focus and rest.”
“Shouldn’t you be nagging me in person?” Nika chuckled, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.
Ari exhaled. “I’m not sure if I’m coming, yet. I don’t think I have the stamina.”
“Stamina? It’s just me and my acoustic guitar. The Red Veil did what you asked and hired a studio drummer and backup rhythm guitarist to help with chord harmony and pulse, but that’s it. Exactly what I want.
“I don’t know what everyone thinks this is supposed to be,” she sighed. “The house manager slipped stage directions under my door with a note asking what kind of pyrotechnics I want. The club has some kind of FX specialist. It’s crazy, Ari. I have a strong suspicion everyone is going to be disappointed.”
“Nonsense. You did an acoustic album with Dracone Noir and it went platinum. Just tell them you want a clean sound and you’ll be fine. You wrote half those songs, you know how best to stage them,” Ariel replied.
“I wrote those songs with Jesse.”
Ari was quiet. “He’s been asking for you.”
Annika’s gut clenched. “I know. I have missed calls I’m assuming are from him. He must be using his attorney’s cell phone.”
“Don’t call him back. There’s no legal reason for you to keep that line of communication open.”
“I don’t know, Ari.” She shook her head, pressing the phone closer to her ear. “My guess is he probably feels like I’ve abandoned him, but my gut tells me to stay away until I absolutely have to be in L.A.”
Ari let out a breath. “Good girl. My source at the D.A.’s office says you might not be called. Don’t aggravate the situation. Jesse is an attention junkie along with everything else. Allowing yourself to be dragged into a media circus only feeds his obsession.”
“I suppose. Look, I gotta go. I’m supposed to meet with the sound manager,” she murmured.
“Sound manager? Why are you doing your sound check today?”
“I’m not. He’s got questions that need answering or something like that.”
“Go, then. I’ll see you, when I see you. Break a leg, Nika.”
“Hey, Ari…”
“Hmmm?”
“For what it’s worth. Thanks.”
“Yeah, yeah. Call your mother. She’s been calling me, too. Something’s got her spooked.”
“Will do.”
Annika pressed end on her phone and tossed it on the bed. Everything was happening so fast. Or at least that’s how it felt. She hadn’t sung outside the shower or to herself in a year and a half, and the prospect of singing in public tied her stomach in knots.
Ari would say she was being ridiculous. Once a professional, always a professional. But she wasn’t there when Ki took his last breath.
She glanced at the desk and the stage plans waiting for her comments and revisions. Whatever her fears, whatever her guilt, Ki would have hated her throwing her career away. If she shrank from what was hers, then Jesse still called the shots.
Anger squeezed her heart at the thought. No more. Ki would have wanted her to take this chance, so Jesse be damned. Annika picked up a pen and sat at the desk.
It was time.
She would do this. For herself and for Ki.
For so late in the day, the stage was a buzz of activity. It was almost dark, but the venue had finally taken shape for the show.
“Derick?” she called softly.
He turned, lifting one hand and motioning for her to wait.
“Take those black PVC brackets to the back and put them with the rest of the cables. I’ll sort them later. After that, go home. All of you. Tomorrow’s a long day.”
“Derick. I don’t mean to interrupt, but I need a minute,” she tried again.
“Not right now, Annika. I have a lot to do or the show is not going to be what Abigail expects. No offense, but she signs my paycheck, not you,” he replied, adjusting a large speaker at stage right.
Hmmph. “If you’re so busy, then why are you sending everyone home?”
He raised an eyebrow, shooting her a look. “Because tomorrow they work set up, clean up, and break down. Eighteen hours at least.”
“I didn’t realize. Sorry.” She winced in apology.
Derick blew out a breath. “Artists rarely do.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find the sound manager, then.” She looked around. “Someone left me a note saying I need to meet with him. What about the house manager? I need to go over the stage directions with him.”
“You’re looking at him,” Derick said with an exhale.
She blinked. “You’re the house manager?”
“House manager, stage manager—” he nodded. “Sound, lighting and special effects.”
Eyebrows hiked, she chuckled. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I wish.”
Flabbergasted, she looked at him. “What if I had come with a full band complete with entourage? A one man roadie crew would cave.”
“We’d hire out if that was the case, just like we did for this show.” He shrugged. “You’ve got studio artists working with you, remember? Plus, not every club is owned and operated by vampires and Weres. We have abilities humans only dream about.”
Derick straightened to his full height. “Talents my nose tells me you share.” His voice dropped and he cocked his head, eyeing her.
Annika ignored the probe. “This is not what I expected,” she said, shifting the focus from her to the stage. She swung a hand toward the two hundred foot stage and the set dressers already designing the eerie feel for the night.
“Life is never what you expect, cher, and hardly what you want. Haven’t you figured that yet?” he flashed a soft smile.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “It should be, though.”
He lifted one speaker and adjusted it, moving it to the front right of the stage, doing the same with the left. “If you want something different, talk to Bette. I just work here. I don’t get involved.”
“That’s not what it looked like last night,” she said and no sooner had the words left her mouth then she clapped a hand over her lips.
Derick stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “That’s exactly what it was last night. Uninvolved.”
“Not from where I stood,” she lifted her chin.
He grinned, ducking under the mounted DSR system. “Stood? Last I looked darlin’, you were flat on your back with your hand shoved between your legs, your own juice running down your fingers as you watched me mouth fuck that girl.”
Circling past speaker he stood close enough for his scent to make her mouth water.
“I’m pretty good at reading people, Annika. I
think you are, too. We sense things others don’t. Secret things.” He ran his knuckles over the bare skin of her upper arm.
“We use those talents to our advantage. You seduce your audience the same way I used that girl to seduce you through the mirror.”
“It’s not the same thing,” she replied.
“Sure it is, even if you won’t admit it.” He considered her. “Your voice, your body. As the music takes you, your audience feels it. The intensity is as real as physical foreplay, even stronger because the sex is between their ears as well as between the legs. Your fans crave it. They crave you.”
Derick leaned in as he spoke, his lips hovered above the hollow at the base of her ear. The rough stubble on his chin teased the tender flesh, and his low husky voice vibrated against her skin. “I know how they feel.”
She swallowed. “Derick—”
He walked her backwards until the back of her legs hit the hard, flat side of a low amplifier. She lost her balance and he caught her before she landed on its soft, mesh cover.
His eyes searched hers. “You feel it as well. The pull between us.”
She pushed at him. “I don’t want this.”
“Yes, you do. You wanted it when I woke you, wanted me, but something held you back. Even now you’re so wet the air is thick with need. I can already taste you on the back of my tongue.”
“Stop teasing me, Derick. It’s a full moon. Nothing more.”
Even she heard how lame that sounded. Her lips parted to argue again, but Derick kissed her, running his tongue along the seam of her bottom lip.
He took her mouth, and this time she gave in to the seduction, breathless at the feel of his body and the taste of his lips.
Derick ran his hand over her thigh to the full curve of her hip, sliding the cotton of her skirt upward, inch by inch. He swept his arm beneath her one leg and spread her wide.
“You’re right,” he agreed, grinding his full hard, length against her damp panties. “It is a full moon, which makes this even more necessary.”
She froze mid-groan.
He reached down to move the lacey edge of her underwear aside, but she grabbed his wrist.
“What do you mean necessary?” Her eyes met his, angry and full of sudden fire. “Did the vampires put you up to this? Did Bette? She mentioned the moon and something about taking the edge off when I first arrived. Is this her plan to ensure a better show?”
Derick blinked. “What?”
“You heard me.” Annika pushed him back, forcing him to release her leg.
“Annika, don’t—”
Her body rushed with heat, and not the kind he expected. “No, you don’t.” She’d been manipulated enough for a lifetime. With Jesse, the record company, but no more.
Stunned, he stared at her. “Look, I may work for the vampires, but they don’t own me and they certainly don’t own my cock. I fuck who I want, when I want.”
“How nice for you.”
He threw one arm up. “Stop it. You’re twisting my words. You really think this is some kind of orchestrated seduction?”
When she didn’t reply, Derick exhaled shaking his head. He turned to leave, but then stopped. “I’m not for hire, Annika. I want you and I know you want me. Like it or not, full moon or not—”
Her phone rang cutting him off.
“Don’t answer that.”
She shook her head and reached for her cell in her skirt pocket. Glancing at the screen, she made a face. “I have to take this.”
Derick slid his knuckles over her forearm inching toward her hand, but she jerked the cellphone out of reach.
“You don’t understand. It’s a member of my band. I have been avoiding him for days.”
His hand froze on her wrist. “Jesse LaFont?”
She nodded, surprised. “Jesse was our guitarist.”
“I know who he is. He’s a jealous liar and a con artist, not to mention a bigot. I’m not surprised he killed your friend.”
“That’s quite a statement, even if you are from the bayou,” she shot back
One of the stage hands interrupted, poking his head in from the outside loading dock.
“Annika, I was heading for the subway when this came up in my feed. I doubled back to show you. Check it out.” He handed her his phone.
She glanced at the screen. The TMZ clip showed Jesse surrounded by paparazzi and reporters as he headed into the courthouse, with a headshot of her plastered at the bottom right of the screen. A voiceover questioned her whereabouts, wondering if she’d show for the proceedings.
The news clip shifted to a tape of her and Jesse walking with Ki on Sunset Strip a week before his murder. As always, Jesse mugged for the paparazzi.
Nika remembered that day like it was yesterday. Without warning Jesse grabbed her around the waist as they walked the strip.
He bent her back, cupping her crotch. She pushed him away and Ki intervened, getting between them. A shoving match later, and the incident was all over social media.
Annika held the man’s phone, staring at the screen. Finally, she looked up with an aggravated exhale.
The stagehand shook his head. “That dude is either a first class douche or a genius at working publicity.”
Derick snorted. “Trust me. He’s no genius.”
The man blew out a breath. “If I wasn’t afraid Bette would rip my heart out and eat it, I’d call TMZ myself. They’re offering big money for anyone who knows Annika Lee’s whereabouts, but I’d like to continue breathing, so no thanks. Vampires always find out.”
Derick slipped the phone from Annika’s hand and gave it back to his guy. “No more of these, okay? Now, go home. We need everyone’s A-game tomorrow.”
“Hey, man. I didn’t mean to upset her.” He looked at Annika. “I’m sorry, really. I didn’t think.”
Derick gestured with his head for the guy to leave, and the stagehand ducked out without another word.
“I’m sorry about that, cher, but it only proves my point,” he commiserated.
Annika sucked in a ragged breath. “You may know of Jesse, but you don’t know him. You can’t make assumptions based on what the media reports. There’s more than one side to every story.”
His eyes burned as he looked at her, and his intensity scared her. “I know more than you ever will.”
Unshed tears pricked Nika’s eyes. So much for peace and freedom. She walked away with the weight of Derick’s eyes on her back.
6
“Knock. Knock.” The door was ajar and Bette pushed it open. “Nika? You decent?”
“In here.”
“You said you didn’t want to go out, so I brought you dinner. I hope that’s okay,” the vampire called from the other side of the door.
Annika opened the door to her bedroom. A tall vampire holding a tray full of food stood next to Bette in the sitting area. The look on his face was comical, as though the smell of the food made him want to vomit.
“Wow, I didn’t think vampires could go green around the gills.” She chuckled. “Why don’t you put the tray down on the coffee table before you yak?”
The vampire did exactly that and then moved back to the door, exhaling hard.
Nika laughed out loud. “If it’s any consolation, dude, I gag thinking about what you eat.”
Bette snorted, dismissing the vampire with a quick wave. “Sorry about that. I forget how sensitive youngbloods are around anything human. He’s just gotten over his uncontrollable cravings, so I thought I’d start breaking him for the club. You may have noticed most of our staff are supernaturals.”
“I did. Daylighters for daily work and vampires for the club. Smart and practical.”
Bette smiled and the tips of her fangs glinted in the light. Her gaze softened at she looked at Nika already in her pajamas.
“Look, I get you need to rest and prep for the show, but are you sure you don’t want to join me for a little while? It’s only nine p.m., and I’ve been so busy I feel like we haven’t h
ad a chance to hang out.”
Annika shook her head. “I want one more night of relative calm. One of the stagehands showed me a TMZ clip, and speculation on my whereabouts is trending hard. After tomorrow, the entire world will know I’m here. It’s going to be a nightmare.”
“I told you this place is a fortress. Vampires and Weres may be on opposite sides most of the time, but not when it comes to protecting our combined secrecy. No one gets in without clearance.”
Annika laughed again. “You make The Red Veil sound like a compound.”
“Ha! How ironic. The Alpha of the Brethren of Weres will be tickled you used his word. It’s what he calls their center of operations in Maine.”
Nika nodded. “How could I forget?”
Eyeing her, Bette leaned over and snagged a dinner roll and handed it to Nika. “It’s my job to keep you happy until you have to leave us, so eat.”
She took a bite out of the roll. “Then I might have to stay forever.”
Bette laughed, flashing her fangs, again. “That can be arranged. One little bite and you and I could be sisters of the night.” She giggled. “Hey, cool name for a band, right? Whaddaya think?”
“No, thanks.” Nika shook her head. “I have a hard enough time finding time to properly shift, but you were right about full moon and the city. My skin is crawling with the need to get out and run.”
“From what I hear the moon isn’t the only reason.” Bette winked, flashing even more fang. “The backrooms are still an option, but if you really need wide open spaces the only place that comes close is Central Park. Wait until after midnight, though. Too many joggers otherwise for you to shift in secret.
Annika pushed her food around on her plate. She had no appetite. Right now she was too tired and too confused for anything other than a night of channel surfing and her pillow. Maybe an old movie with no interruptions would coax sleep.
She toed the tray to the end of the bed and slumped against the headboard. Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the blue lighted screen.
“Hey, Mama.”
“Bebe… Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mama. Ari said you’ve been calling. What’s going on?”
The Red Veil Diaries (Volumes 1-4) Page 20
