by Casey Lane
“I might be,” she said, shrugging.
He stopped walking. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched him run back down the hall. The body-builder turned and she shrugged at him, kind of wishing Theo hadn’t left her alone with the guy. He glanced down the hallway, shaking his head.
“The reception is just through these doors.” He headed up the rest of the stairs.
She looked back before she followed him, slowly.
He held the door open for her, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the plush looking reception area and the ordinary looking girl with poker straight dark brown hair standing behind the front desk.
“Please, tell me you’re human,” she asked her.
The girl smiled. “Got it in one.” Her gaze drifted to the huge vampire and Skye caught a strange mix of fear and adoration in her eyes before she got her focus back.
“So what are you doing here?” Skye had to wonder.
“I kind of work here,” she said, holding her hand out as Skye approached the desk. “Stacy.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Skye.”
She nodded. “I heard. This is Shayne.” She nodded to the body-builder vampire.
“I assume you want these back?” She passed the bag and Skye’s trusty wedges over.
“Yes! Oh, thank you. I’m so glad I have these back.” She felt one step closer to getting out of the insane situation as she slipped her feet into her comfiest shoes.
Theo’s return surprised her because not only had he covered up with a shirt, he had a leather jacket in his hand that was apparently for her.
She let him put it over her shoulders. The lining was cool against her skin, but she knew it would warm her up in no time as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. It had an inner pocket that was just big enough to squeeze her little clutch purse in to so she didn’t have to carry it.
“Thanks,” she told him.
He nodded slightly before he turned to Stacy and Shayne.
“We need a plan.”
Stacy jerked back as the scary-big vampire moved behind the desk. The hurt in his eyes didn’t linger long, but it was visible enough to notice. Skye glanced at Stacy, but the girl was too busy averting her gaze and fidgeting next to the vampire. She was stuck where she was between the vampire and the desk, close enough to touch, and apparently it was freaking her the hell out.
Skye found herself smiling. How could a girl who worked in a place full of vampires be afraid of them? There was something about this one, too, some weird energy between them that she was guessing came from an attraction that might be one-sided. Or not. She’d have to watch the guy more closely to figure that out.
He cleared his throat and looked up. “There’s an emergency exit out through the basement level, but we’re not sure if it might be a trap.”
“Does he know about it?” Theo asked, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.
“Brody created it, so he shouldn’t.” He shook his head. “We can’t know for sure. He always seems to be a step ahead in these situations.”
“Marina,” Stacy breathed, glancing at the vampire briefly before dropping her gaze.
Shayne nodded. “That would be a prime example. It may even be the reason for the lock-down.”
“Um, can someone clue me in to what’s going on, exactly?” Skye asked, wishing she didn’t feel so out of the loop.
“Marina would be one of the vampires Brody is close with,” Theo told her.
“You could say she’s the one he’s closest to,” Stacy added.
“So, he found out about her or something?” Skye tried to understand what was going on.
Theo nodded. “It would make sense.” He turned to Stacy. “Still, if there’s a way to get Skye out of here before he comes back, I want to know about it.”
“There’s always blood magic if anyone around here knows how to use it,” Stacy said, shrugging her shoulders.
The body-builder shook his head. “Brody, but we can’t reach him.”
“What’s the worst this guy could do?” Skye had to wonder. The atmosphere in the room was tense, and she was getting more and more nervous the longer they talked. “Would he burn this place down?”
They all shook their heads. Theo turned to her. “It’s a family business. Brody runs this place since his dad retired, but Mr. McIntosh likes to make sure he’s running it a certain way.”
Stacy folded her arms. “The last time he was here he killed Marina.”
Skye blinked. “But I thought you said…”
“Brody was able to bring her back, in a different body,” Theo cut in. “It’s kind of complicated.”
“Okay,” Skye said. “So he killed her the last time and his son brought her back. Yeah, it kind of seems like that might be why he’s pissed or whatever.”
“We can’t know that for sure,” Shayne said. “There’s a chance he wants to take Theo out, too.”
“Why?” Skye had to ask. The insanity of the situation just felt like it was multiplying endlessly now. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take in without getting hysterical.
“He saved Theo from a bad situation. If his father knows anything about that he’ll know how much it would hurt his son to kill Theo.” Shayne looked as grim as he sounded.
“And he’s all about hurting Brody,” Stacy added, muttering “Arsehole” under her breath.
Skye took a few deep breaths. She needed to stay calm.
“So there’s an exit,” Theo said. “Where is it, exactly?”
“I can take you part of the way there.” Shayne came out from behind the desk with a key.
“Part of the way?” That sounded ominous. Skye felt her stomach begin to churn. What if it was a trap? She thought about hiding in the wardrobe again and groaned. She really didn’t want to do that. But… “Isn’t it riskier than staying here and hiding out?”
Theo looked torn. That really didn’t help with the nervous butterflies in her stomach. He turned his gaze on Stacy. “What about Marina?”
She shook her head. “She’s standing her ground. She said he can set her on fire again if he wants to. She’s getting bored of her new body, anyway.”
“We think you’re the only ones who might be targeted.” She shrugged her shoulders.
Shayne sighed. “Not exactly.”
She frowned at him. “You know what I mean.”
The hard look she gave him seemed odd considering how jumpy she’d gotten when the vampire she seemed to have a crush on came anywhere close to touching her.
He shook his head. “Call Mark to wait with you until I’m back.”
The penny dropped as a Stacy picked up the phone. Skye realized the girl might be at risk, too. She opened her mouth to ask why she wasn’t coming with them when Theo took her hand and captured her attention, whispering in her ear, “Don’t worry. He won’t let anything happen to her.”
She watched him and knew he was right. All she had to worry about was getting the hell out of this place. As soon as the other vampire showed up to watch over Stacy, they were on their way.
Chapter Fifteen
Theo didn’t let go of Skye’s hand as they walked. He sort of knew where the exit was, at least, he knew where the underground bar was that contained the hidden exit. He just wasn’t sure where exactly the damn door was. Brody had mentioned it to him before but told him only one person knew where it was, and that was for the best. Apparently, Shayne was the one with the secret, which he wasn’t surprised about considering the vampire was Brody’s right hand man.
“What does his father think of you, Shayne?” He had to know. It seemed like Shayne was as much at risk as them.
“He likes me,” Shayne said with a wry smile as he glanced back. “So, don’t worry. He won’t be setting me on fire anytime soon.”
“What about Stacy?” He knew the guy wasn’t as likely to kill a human, but he also knew Shayne was worried about it. The tension in reception when Stacy had shut him down was enoug
h to tell him that.
“She refuses to lock herself into one of the empty rooms for the night. She won’t leave her post at the front desk,” Shayne said, shaking his head. “Said it would look too suspicious.” He was clearly infuriated as he muttered under his breath about the foolhardy woman.
“She has guts,” Skye murmured before she smiled at Theo and raised her voice, “and she has a serious crush on this guy right here.”
Shayne stopped walking and turned, frowning at Theo. Skye giggled. She covered her mouth with her free hand.
“She meant you, idiot,” Theo said.
The guy’s expression didn’t change, but he got back to walking.
Theo shook his head at her. She just shrugged as they followed Shayne.
The darkness up ahead was expected, but he felt Skye shudder as they approached. He let go of her hand. “I’ll get the light.”
He dashed past Shayne, down the set of stairs and hit the switch at the bottom, making sure to keep his hand on it. There were spirits in this passageway. They didn’t like the light. He could feel their presences swirling when it was dark, less so when the light was on. Something was touching his hand, making it much colder. He knew the second he moved it off the switch the light would go back off.
He looked up as Shayne and Skye walked down the stairs. Skye folded her arms.
“This place is spooky.” She quickened her step to get to his side faster.
He smiled. “You should go on ahead. This switch is slippery. The lights won’t stay on once I let go.”
Shayne was already walking past. Skye hesitated before she followed him, looking back and making his stomach twist up inside. It cramped again and knew he’d have to get more blood soon. The bar was a good place to be for that. He’d just need to be careful. Too much could make him sick. Little and often was what it would take to get back to normal.
He let go of the switch once Shayne and Skye rounded the corner. Darkness engulfed him. Did he really want to get back to normal? The question seemed to stump him. Presences whirled through the pitch-black hall as he turned the thought over in his mind. He felt the spirits tug at his limbs. He moved through the dark place and stood watching Shayne and Skye enter the cavern-like bar with its well-lit pool hall and sitting areas. His mind seemed to mist over. He wasn’t so sure what he wanted anymore. He brushed the thought aside before it could clarify. The important thing right now was getting Skye out of the brothel. She couldn’t be here when Brody’s vengeful father came back.
He stepped out of the darkness and into the bar. It wasn’t busy tonight, which was just as well considering what was going on. Besides the three of them, Marina and Abby were lounging on a purple sofa near the back of the room. The brothel’s only female vampires had the night off, it seemed. They were talking quietly and drinking blood out of wine glasses.
He went behind the bar to get himself something. He didn’t need to decide now if he was done starving himself, he just needed to make sure he wasn’t hungry when he was leading Skye the rest of the way out.
“The passageway will bring you out inside the ground floor of Haven.” Shayne passed Theo a slip of paper and a set of keys. “These are the keys to get to the main floor and out that door.”
Theo now understood why Shayne wasn’t coming with them. It would take longer than he could stand to leave Stacy alone with Mark. He walked back into the darkness before Theo could say a word.
“What’s the slip of paper?” Skye asked as Abby got up from her seat and walked towards them.
He glanced at it and slipped it into his pocket. “It’s instructions on how to unlock the passageway when we get to the location. We need to get there alone to leave.”
“Beautiful,” Abby said, smiling in the dreamy way she always did as she touched Skye’s hair.
Skye jumped slightly, and he could see from the fright in her eyes that she hadn’t noticed the semi-naked brunette vampire sneak up on them.
Marina made her way over with her glass in her hand as Theo gave Abby a warning glance.
“She’s not here for you.”
Abby dropped her hand and tittered at him. She never looked entirely present, and today was no exception. Her lack of clothes seemed to back up her state of mind; she was wearing hot pink underwear that was entirely transparent, and nothing else.
“Someone’s possessive,” her comment was softly spoken, and the lilting quality to her voice made her sound drunk.
“Don’t mind her,” Marina said in her usual wry tone, smiling nicely at him. “She just misses the old me.”
Abby moved close and wrapped her arms around Marina’s slender waist. Her new body was young; she almost looked like a teenager again, and her hair was dark and cut in a bobbed style that reminded him of the girl who ran the brothel alongside Brody. Marina used to be blonde, and apparently Abby had preferred that.
“This new body isn’t you,” Abby complained, putting her head on Marina’s shoulder. “It’s Brody’s. I never should have let him choose.”
Marina rolled her eyes. “Oh shush. I wouldn’t even be back here if it wasn’t for Brody.”
Abby’s gaze slid to Skye, longingly. “She’d be perfect.”
Theo frowned at her. “She’s not here for that.”
He turned to Skye. “I just need to drink this and we’re leaving.” He uncapped the bottle.
“You know what? I could really use a drink,” Skye said, going behind the bar and looking around.
“So, I’m hearing the angel of death is near,” Marina said, sipping from her wine glass and staining her lips scarlet.
“Aye,” he said, taking a gulp of his bottle. Blood wasn’t half as good cold, but he barely tasted it as it went down. Calming his thirst was all he cared about right now.
“I don’t think he’s after me this time,” she went on. “I’m sure he’ll be curious to find out what happened as soon as he locked this place down though. Have a nice night, Theo.”
She put her empty glass down and broke away from Abby to leave the bar, allowing her hand to be taken when Abby skipped to catch her up.
Theo tried to ignore the paranoia her words had implanted in his head. There were no cameras down here. Still, he knew he’d have to be on his guard. He turned back to Skye and caught her staring into the darkness, a frown creasing her features.
She sighed before she turned to him. “That kind of gave me the creeps.”
“Should you really be drinking right now?” He watched her pour a whiskey glass half-full of rum before she went to pull a mixer out of the fridge.
“I’m thinking it’ll make this whole thing seem less disturbing, so, yes, I really should.”
He nodded slightly, wondering how well she’d take it once they had to walk through the spectre-filled darkness to get to the passageway. Apparently, he’d only be able to find the door in the dark. The piece of paper told him which bricks he’d need to push to get the passageway to open. He was going to have to go with her, all the way. He sank the rest of the bottle and considered taking one for the trip. In the end, he didn’t do it. It wasn’t going to take longer than an hour.
“Okay,” she said, taking a sip of the rum and Coke. “Do you think this could possibly be a trap? Like, even a little bit?”
He considered what Marina had said. There was every chance Brody’s father would do something like that. Make it seem like he was doing one thing when really, he was planning another. He couldn’t be sure. But he didn’t want Skye to worry about that. They had one way out, and they had to take it. Anything else was too risky. She couldn’t be in the brothel when Brody’s father came back. He couldn’t stand the thought of being helpless if the man decided to hurt her. He couldn’t go through that again.
He shook his head. “It’s our best chance to get you out of here.”
She raised an eyebrow. “To get me out of here?”
“You’re not safe here.”
“That’s not what I was…” She sighed, taking ano
ther sip. “Forget it. Let’s get moving.”
“You’ll need to take my hand and hold on tight.”
She did as he said without question. When he took a step towards the darkness she froze.
“Are you kidding?”
He shook his head. “Unfortunately not.”
She let go of his hand and dashed back to the bar to sink the rest of her abandoned drink.
“Okay, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Skye walked into the dark hallway with Theo, grasping his hand tightly. There was something freaky about the atmosphere in the hall, something that made her take a deep breath before she stepped into it. It felt like an abyss. The strangely cool air that seemed to be still one moment and rushing over her skin the next made her incredibly nervous. She moved with Theo, wishing she could see him. Her death grip on his hand was all that was pulling her though this nightmare passageway. She wondered how long this trip was going to take and her stomach lurched. Please let it be quick, she thought.
The ground seemed uneven under her feet. She stumbled over something and gasped, breathing in cold air and shuddering uncontrollably. Something brushed her shoulder and she realized in relief that it was Theo’s other hand.
“Are you okay?” The sound of his voice calmed her racing heart a little.
She nodded and then realized he probably couldn’t really see that. “I’m freaking out slightly. Where is this place we’re going? Are we close yet?”
“We’re close. I’ll have to let go of your hand soon to find the door.”
She felt her heart stop, just for a second, but it was enough. “No. Please. I can’t…”
“Put your arm around my waist.”
She swallowed, afraid to let go of his hand. “What if I lose you?”
“You won’t. I promise.” His other hand stroked the side of her face before his lips brushed hers, briefly. “Let go of my hand.”
She did it only after she touched the one he’d placed on her cheek, keeping it in place. If the lights were on, he might find her blushing at how pathetically afraid she was right now. Then again, if the lights were on she wouldn’t be freaking out like this at all.
