by Sarra Cannon
“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 tightly 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 here.”
“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 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 and everything he’d learned 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 to me 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.
He’d all but told me this himself, but I had failed to connect the dots.
Was this really all just a game to him? Were we back to this?
Azure didn’t even bother to wait for a response from me. She casually grabbed a clean glass from the stack and poured a shot of Blue Frost, filling the glass to the rim so that some of it spilled out onto the floor at her feet.
She shoved it toward me, the neon liquid sloshing onto my shirt. “Do yourself a favor,” she said. “Drink some of this. Get some clarity before you end up making some huge mistakes that put us all in danger.”
I wanted to throw it in her face, but instead I took it from her. My hand trembled slightly as I held it, but I didn’t drink it. Not yet.
Azure rolled her eyes and turned around, going right back to her friends without missing a beat, as if she hadn’t just turned my entire world upside-down, all over again.
I wanted to leave. To walk away from this place and never look back, but in the space of a few short days, my life had become so entangled in this new world it felt like there was no way out.
Or at least no way out alive.
I couldn’t leave. Even if Rend had only kissed me to try to convince me to stay or to drag me deeper under his spell, he was still the only one who could offer me any kind of protection from the evil that wanted to destroy my life.
I needed to stay strong.
I thought I had faced dangers in my life before this, but my life since receiving those black roses had brought new meaning to the word danger. There was so much darkness surrounding me now, maybe the only way out was to start looking for the light.
And right now, the light meant taking the veil from my eyes and seeing things for what they really were.
I downed the shot of Blue Frost, a cold chill spreading through my body like ice through my veins.
I closed my eyes and held onto the edge of the bar as the magic worked its way through my system. I felt my head begin to clear and my skin cool. My heartbeat slowed back down to normal, control restored.
And when I felt my head clear, I opened my eyes, ready to find my way out of the darkness.
Chapter 9
A Natural
“Red Dragon.”
A guy at the far end of the bar snapped his fingers at me, and when I glanced his way, he held up three fingers and tapped them on the top of the bar.
Normally, snapping your fingers at me will get you damn slapped in your face. Tonight, though, with the shot of Blue Frost cooling me down, I offered him a smile instead.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw three other previous customers step to the bar and look my way expectantly. The clarity of mind the potion provided gave me access to memories I never would have been able to recall without it. I remembered each customer and exactly what they’d ordered. Even without looking directly at them, I could tell from the angle of their bodies and the tension in their bodies that they weren’t coming to order something different.
I lined six glasses up on the bar a
nd poured from two bottles at the same time, my brain working on extra channels, processing the weight and pour of each liquid with no effort.
All six shots were poured and delivered in less than thirty seconds.
The customers nodded in appreciation.
“Thanks,” the guy with three Red Dragons said when I pushed the shots toward him. He looked to be about my age, maybe a few years older. He had long brown hair that dusted the top of his shoulders and light green eyes that were locked on my face.
He flashed a smile and tucked his hair behind one ear on the left side. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before,” he said. “Are you new?”
“Yes,” I said, smiling back and leaning against the bar. “This is my first night behind the bar slinging drinks.”
“Well, you’d never know it,” he said. “You’re a natural. I’m Ashton, by the way.”
He extended his hand to me, and I wiped mine on my jeans and placed it in his. He held onto it a beat too long, but I easily kept my cool.
“Nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Franki.”
“Very nice to meet you, too.” He finally released my hand. “So did you just move into town or—”
“Oh, no,” I said. “I’ve actually lived here my whole life. What about you?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. His head twitched and his smile changed. “I was brought through when I was pretty young,” he said. “I’ve been on this side for the past twenty years, but of course, only free for the past six months or so.”
“Brought through?” I asked. I had no idea what he was talking about.
He gave a shake of his head and twisted one of the shot glasses around in a circle. “You know, by the Order. They—”
Rend’s hand landed on the guy’s shoulder. “Ashton, it’s really nice to see you here, again,” he said. The sound came out nicely enough, but there was an edge of annoyance there. “I see you’ve met my Franki.”
My Frankie? Was he jealous?
“Yeah, she’s doing a great job for it being her first night,” Ashton said. “We were just talking about how she grew up here in Chicago.”
Rend waved his index finger over the three full shot glasses. “Did you have some friends waiting for these?”
“Oh.” Ashton glanced over toward one of the booths closest to the bar where a few other guys sat. “Yeah, I guess I should probably get these out to them. It was nice to meet you, Franki. I hope we’ll be seeing more of you in here from now on.”
“You, too,” I said, flashing a smile that was perhaps a bit brighter than it would have been had Rend not been watching me, the tension in his shoulders growing with every second that went by.
“What was that about?” he asked when Ashton had rejoined his friends.
“We were just talking.” I grabbed a towel from the rack behind me and started wiping the counter with it, forcing Rend to lift his elbow so I could clean under it.
“Just talking about your personal life and where you live?” He raised his voice. “Franki, you don’t know most of these people. Until you get a feel for what kind of temperament they may have, I think you should be careful not to share anything about your personal and home life with any of these people.”
“It wasn’t like I gave him my home address,” I said. “Besides, he seemed sweet.”
Rend shook his head and tightened his jaw. “I don’t want you talking to anyone in here about your personal life, sweet or not,” he said. “There are things about the people who come in here that you don’t understand and you never know who might be working for the Devil.”
“The Devil already knows where I live, remember? He sent me flowers before I even knew he existed.” I poured a few more drinks for waiting customers. “Besides, I understand a lot more than you think I do. I may not know all the dangers of this world, but I am still the one in control of my own life. Just because I agreed to work here doesn’t mean you own me.”
His eyes darkened and his shoulders tensed. “I want you to be careful.”
You want to protect your investment.
“I am being careful,” I said. “And one thing you need to learn about me is that if you ever hope to earn my trust, you had better start trusting me too.”
He swallowed and pushed off from the edge of the bar. He looked around at the rest of the people in the bar, taking his time to respond.
“We’ve only got about an hour left before last call,” he said finally. “You’ve done a great job tonight, but let’s try to get through the rest of this evening without anyone making threats or learning more about you than they need to know.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, saluting him.
He narrowed his eyes at me, then shook his head. “I’ll see you after your shift,” he said. His eyes softened. “I have something important I want to show you.”
He walked away, and I let my head fall back slightly. Why did I always have to open my smart mouth and talk back to him? Why couldn’t I make him smile like he had earlier?
The only thing that made me feel better was that it was obvious, from the way he was acting, that I was getting under his skin just as much as he was getting under mine.
Chapter 10
The Devil
The rush of orders from before slowed to a crawl. I was dying for this last hour to go by faster, so of course, it was the slowest hour of the entire night.
I busied myself by cleaning up the glassware and wiping down the bar, sweeping the floors and straightening up in general.
Lyla leaned across the top of the bar and yanked on my hair. “Hey, girl, how was your night?”
I had never been so happy to see someone. “Great until about half an hour ago when everything slowed down,” I said. “I’m turning into a zombie back here.”
“Want to sneak out and grab a cigarette with me?” she asked.
I looked around, mainly checking to see what Azure was up to and whether Rend was paying attention. “Won’t we get in trouble for ducking out early?”
She shrugged. “Nah. It’s Sunday night and it’s slow,” she said. “Come on, we’ll just pop out for a few minutes and be back before anyone even notices.”
“Okay,” I said. I tossed the towel I’d been cleaning with into the sink and came around the bar to meet Lyla near the door.
Azure didn’t even flinch when I walked by.
Selena nodded as we walked out into the humid night air. “Hi,” she said. “Fun night?”
Lyly made a face. “Slow,” she said. “But I guess you already know that.”
Selena laughed.
The two of us walked down the alley to get away from the main entrance, moving up onto the main street a little more. Lyla leaned against the brick exterior of a nearby restaurant and lit her cigarette. She offered one to me, but I declined.
The city was alive for me in a way it had never been before. I could hear every sound with complete clarity. Footsteps on the pavement. Laughter from the outdoor patio of the restaurant across the street.
I could see and register so much of what was going on around me. It was a very cool feeling without being too overwhelming.
Lyla laughed and I turned to question her.
“Blue Frost for the first time?” she asked.
“How did you know?”
“I’ve seen that look a dozen times before,” she said. “It’s like you’re seeing the world for the first time, right? Noticing every crack in the pavement and hearing every blade of grass as it blows in the wind.”
I laughed. “Maybe not quite that many details, but yeah. It’s amazing. Rend’s amazing. Do you know where he learned to make all those?”
“He taught himself, mostly,” she said. “Back in the Shadow World, he had a teacher, but I can’t remember his name. Still, I think he learned most of his alchemy through experimenting in his own lab and shit.”
“Incredible,” I said.
“What’s going on there?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”<
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“Come on,” she said, laughing. “You and Rend. What’s up?”
I blushed. What was I supposed to say to that? I guess I knew this was coming. There was no way I was going to be able to hide my feelings from everyone, but at the same time, I knew he wouldn’t want me telling anyone what had really happened between us. Not that I really understood it, anyway.
This sucked.
She took another drag from her cigarette. “Damn, you’ve got it bad.”
“No, I don’t,” I said, turning my face away from her and watching a group of girls make their way into the club. I wondered if they realized they had less than half an hour left to drink and dance before closing?
“Oh, yes, you do,” Lyla said. “You are one hundred percent fucked.”
I snapped my head toward her. “What do you mean? No, I’m not.”
She shook her head. “Rend is complicated, to say the least,” she said. “But I know there’s no talking you out of it now. You’re already in love with him.”
I pressed my lips together and raised my chin. My insides twisted. “No, I’m not in love with him,” I said. “I just like him. A lot.”
“Uh huh,” she said, obviously not buying it. “Just be careful, okay? Rend can be amazing. He can be the first person to pull a girl off the streets and he’d do anything to keep us all safe from the Order or the Others. But at the same time, I’ve seen him do things that have haunted my dreams for months.”
Her face went pale and the expression was like a dagger in my gut.
“What kinds of things?” I asked, my mouth dry.
“Do you know what it means? His name?” she asked.
“Rend?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Rend. To tear something into two or more pieces. It’s not his real name, you know. Just a nickname he got a very long time ago for doing exactly that to vampires and witches who crossed him in any way.”
My heart stopped beating for a moment and my mouth opened, but I couldn’t even think of what to say. I felt suddenly very cold. “He tore them apart?”
