by Gwen Knight
“To what end?”
She arched a delicate brow. “To the final point of sale. Your job is to charm the clientele into bidding on you. It is your responsibility to drive them wild until one, or preferably more, deign to bid on you.”
My mouth parted. “Bid?”
“Indeed. The gala tonight is a charity event, or an auction if you will. Highest bidder wins the right to the lady of his choosing. Do try to be among them. As I said before, I will provide the wardrobe, but after that, it all comes down to your ability to charm yourself a companion.”
“And if no one bids on me?”
She lifted her shoulder in an elegant shrug. “Then it’s back to waitressing with you.”
“All or nothing, hey?”
“As is often the case in life.”
In other words, Tessa’s life depended on my ability to seduce a possibly centuries-old vampire with only one prior notch on my belt. This had disaster written all over it.
“So, to be clear… You primp me up and pimp me out, but I have to seal the deal?”
“Crude, but accurate. However, someone as lovely and as experienced as you shouldn’t have any issues, wouldn’t you agree?”
Oh, sure. What twenty-two-year-old didn’t enjoy hearing that? See, this was what happened when people deceived. Tessa had lied to me, and now her life was in danger. As a result, I had lied to the madam, and now she expected me to seduce a freaking vampire. Which meant, now I had to lie to my family about everything.
All in all, probably the worst Tuesday ever.
“Arrive at the Palmer House Hilton by six o’clock sharp. The event begins at eight, but you will need time to dress and see the stylist. If you are late, you forfeit your position.”
This had all sounded far simpler while sitting at Tessa’s bedside. We’d contemplated the many ways this could go wrong; however, me playing the role of the seductress hadn’t even made the top ten.
“Until tonight, my dear.”
Recognizing a dismissal when I heard one, I gave a grim nod and left the room. The term up shit creek suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense.
Guess all that remained was giving Tessa the ‘good’ news.
Chapter 2
Police sirens lit up the late spring night as I dragged my ass toward the door that led into the apartment complex where Tessa and I lived. Really, complex was too generous a word. The rent was cheap thanks to the roaches that lived here for free, but it was our home, one that Tessa and I had busted our asses to build.
Though living with my family meant a rent-free environment, it also meant an overabundance of weapons and vampire paraphernalia. Those were the reasons I’d moved out. There was nothing worse than stumbling down the stairs at three in the morning for a drink only to cut open your foot on a discarded katana. Apparently, no one ever picked up their toys before bed. It’d taken ten stitches across the arch of my foot to convince me I needed my own place.
Thankfully, Tessa had welcomed me into her home with open arms. Our matchbox apartment barely fit her, let alone the two of us, but we made it work.
With a deep breath, I nudged open the door and slipped inside, my gaze falling to a pair of worn sneakers resting on the welcome mat. Seemed the doctors had finally discharged Tessa from the hospital, which meant now was as good a time as any to root out the truth.
I toed off my boots and made my way down the hallway. Tessa stood in the middle of the living room, her fingers twisted into the sweatshirt that barely covered the thick gauze taped to her neck.
The past two nights had been brutal for us both. The doctors had demanded the entire story from Tessa, which she’d refused to provide no matter how much they’d prodded. Though it was evident from the deep puncture wounds and the resulting tearing that she’d been savaged by a vampire, they’d needed her to speak the words, to agree to press charges. One dimwitted doctor had gone so far as to suggest she’d caused the damage herself. I’d left shortly after. If I’d stayed, there would have been another person emitted to Emergency.
I, however, needed the entire story. The last thing I’d expected was to return home and find a monster latched to my best friend’s throat. At the time, I’d reacted the way any sane person would. I’d snatched the nearest butcher knife off the counter and plunged it past flesh and bone.
My first time stabbing someone—let alone a vampire—and it hadn’t gone well. The moment the blade had cleaved his back, he’d spun around and slammed me into a wall. On the upside, my attack had disoriented him enough that he’d swept out of the apartment in a panicked flurry.
Pushing those memories aside, I finally met Tessa’s russet gaze and winced when I caught sight of that damned gauze again. I knew what lay beneath the padding, knew that it had taken nearly twenty stitches and a blood transfusion to repair the damage. I also knew that she was damn lucky to be alive.
“H—How did it go?” Tessa murmured, her attention locked onto her feet.
“I’m honestly not sure. I think it went well enough. Seems I need to attend some charity event tonight and schmooze some vampires.”
Guilt tightened her countenance. “I heard there was a gala this evening. Ashley mentioned it to me when we spoke on the phone.”
“And who is Ashley?”
“Another courtesan. Relatively new, but she has enough experience under her belt to assist you. She’ll be looking for you tonight. She’s also the person who arranged the interview for you.”
“Ah.”
An uncomfortable silence stretched between us, one that hurt my heart. It’d never been this way before, and we’d known one another since we were in diapers.
Finally, Tessa shifted her weight and turned back to the couch. “I guess you want to hear the whole story then, right?”
“Only…a lot,” I murmured. If I was about to enter the shadow world of vampires and blood courtesans, then, yes, I wanted the whole story.
With a hand at her throat, Tessa dropped down onto the cushions, her face pale. “It started last year when I lost my job.”
I blinked in surprise. Last year? Lost her job? She’d never mentioned any of that before.
“When it first happened, I was so embarrassed. I’d decided to pound the streets, find work, and then tell you. Once I had everything all sorted out, not while I was floundering. But the economy was still suffering, and apparently no one had any work for an unskilled student.”
“Tessa,” I whispered. “I would have understood—”
“That’s not the point, though. I refuse to be a burden on someone else. I refuse to owe anyone anything.”
I bit down on my lower lip. Her whole life, Tessa had strived to be better than her old man, to prove to everyone she was nothing like him, even though we all knew that. The jackass continuously popped in and out of existence, and, when he did, Tessa’s mother was the one who suffered.
“But things started to get bad quickly. I’d maxed my credit cards, taken out a consolidation loan I couldn’t pay back. I’d even gone to one of those fast cash places, using my car as collateral.”
Jesus… The strength left my knees, and I lowered into the nearest chair as I listened.
“That was when a friend introduced me to Madam da Silva. She took me under her wing in a way no one ever had before. For five months, I worked for her. The money, Winter…” Tessa released an appreciative sigh. “In the span of those months, I’d repaid all my debt and replenished my savings account. I had money for my mom, money for school, money to survive… It was incredible.”
“Selling yourself to vampires,” I whispered.
“They’re made of money, Winter.”
Yeah, well, immortality went hand-in-hand with compound interest.
“Soon after, some of the girls started talking. They claimed the madam took too high of a cut. We were the ones out there doing all the hard work. What did we need her for?”
I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. Surely she hadn’t been so stupid… “Tel
l me you didn’t.”
“We did,” she confessed. “We struck out on our own. The madam takes thirty percent of the fee. At the amounts we were earning, that was an astronomical cut.”
“So the hell what!” I dragged my chilled hands down my face. “Who cares if she took fifty percent? You said you had more than enough money.”
Tessa blew out a soft breath. “It was stupid. I was stupid. I know that. I fell in with the wrong crowd, and, together, we left the house. We stopped working for the madam and saw only to ourselves.”
“And that was when everything went downhill?”
She nodded. “I didn’t realize everything the madam did for us. She’s made it her business to provide us with safe locations and trustworthy vampires—”
“No such thing…”
“—ensured we received a fair price and protected us from any vamps who dared to break the rules.”
“Not to mention that without her, the vamps had no reason to pay you,” I grumbled.
“Exactly. Once word got around that we’d left the madam, things started to change.”
“And back into debt you went,” I concluded.
“It wasn’t just that they stopped paying, but also the cost of the tools we needed to do our job. The dresses, the makeup, the shoes, the accessories…you wouldn’t believe how it added up.”
Oh, yes, I would.
“Without the madam’s connections, we had to pay for gowns that were thousands of dollars each. My savings account dried up faster than I’d expected, as did my credit cards. After all my hard work, I was back where I started.”
I tipped my head back against the chair and closed my eyes. This kept getting better and better. I was afraid to hear the rest.
“We were powerless.”
As most humans were in the presence of vampires. And here I was, about to join that world. Huzzah.
“So, then…”
Here it came. The reason I’d been forced to stab a vampire. “Then?”
“I…turned to a vampire for help. Someone I’d dealt with in the past and knew to be honorable.”
An honorable vampire. Like hell.
“He promised he would help me. Swore he would talk to the madam on my behalf. He was so charming…”
Fear ratcheted my pulse. This was the start of every horror story I’d ever heard. “You slept with him?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I thought he was one of the good ones.”
“Did he help you?”
“He paid off my debts for me with the agreement that I would repay him once I started working for the house again.”
Anger rushed through my veins. “So, you turned to a stranger for help instead of me.”
“I c—couldn’t come to you with any of this.”
I scoffed under my breath. “Keep going.”
“Eventually, he informed me that the madam would not take me back. I’d been blacklisted, along with the others.”
Big surprise there. Personally, I didn’t blame Madam da Silva. “And then this vamp of yours demanded his money back.”
“I told him I didn’t have it.”
“But he didn’t care.” I shook my head. “I doubt he ever spoke to the madam. This was a con from the very start.”
She nodded. “There’s more.”
I groaned. How much worse could this get? I opened my eyes and watched her from across the room.
Embarrassment chased across Tessa’s face. She blew out a heavy breath and nodded. “You need to know everything.”
Didn’t that sound ominous?
“I grew addicted,” she finally said.
My brow winged up. “To…life?”
“To their bites, their blood—”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Tessa! Tell me you didn’t!”
“You don’t understand! Their blood is intoxicating to me! For some reason, it hit me stronger than the other courtesans. Apparently it can happen. Much like how vamps can grow addicted to one person’s blood, a human can crave a vamp’s blood. Everyone reacts differently. I couldn’t get enough.”
“Of…their blood,” I reiterated to make sure I understood, because…ick.
“I tried to kick it, but it’s not as easy as you’d think.”
Addiction never was. Horror swelled within me, and I gave a bitter laugh. Fan-freaking-tastic. This whole situation was ridiculous. And all because she’d refused to turn to me for help. She’d refused to grow dependent on someone else, and, instead, she’d become a blood whore and reliant on a vamp. I didn’t even know what to say about all this.
“Winter, you have to believe me. I never meant to involve you in any of this! If you don’t think you can do this, I’ll find another way. Maybe I can bargain with Alexei—”
“Bargaining was what got you into this mess to begin with,” I snapped.
I didn’t want to hear any more. I shook my head, stunned by her revelations. Everyone knew a vampire’s bite was pleasurable, but to actually drink their blood? She’d fed from one of them. How the hell had any of this gone down without my knowledge, and for almost a year?
“The vamp I stabbed,” I demanded. “Was that Alexei?”
“No. That was Calix,” she mumbled, absolutely miserable if the expression on her face was evident of anything. “He belongs to Alexei.”
“As in, he was turned by Alexei?”
She nodded. “And Alexei was the vampire I was…”
“Sucking on,” I provided when she stuttered.
“For lack of a better term. The other night, I’d called Alexei and invited him over.”
Stupid, stupid, girl.
“You needed a fix,” I grumbled.
She nodded. “It was supposed to be Alexei, but Calix showed instead. He told me my time was up and that he had a message for me. Before I could ask, he had me pinned against the wall and his teeth buried in my neck.”
“Message received.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Right before you stabbed him, he told me I had to pay them the money.”
Seven nights. I remembered. “Or they’d take your life as payment?”
She shook her head, her platinum hair spilling over her shoulder. “Or they’d turn me into one of them.”
I froze. “What?”
“What good am I dead, Winter? He wouldn’t get his money then.”
“What good is it to change you, though?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “If Alexei changed me, I would be one of his, to do with as he pleased for as long as he wished. If I understood Calix correctly, I’m slotted to become Alexei’s next play toy.”
My heart dropped into my gut. “You’re serious? They’d turn you into one of them just to pimp you out?”
“Vampires can take a lot of damage,” she commented on the wing of a sob. “There’s a market out there for such a thing.”
I shuddered. That was worse than death.
“Calix said they’d get the money out of me, a pound of flesh at a time.”
My fingers trembled as I combed them through my hair. “And now, you’ve asked me to take on the role of a courtesan to make enough money to bail you out of this mess. You’ve put me in the same position you put yourself.”
“It’s the only way to get rid of Alexei.”
No, it wasn’t. In theory, her plan was solid, except for one not-so-teeny issue Tessa clearly hadn’t thought through. No one—human or vampire—would willingly walk away from someone they had complete control over. Paying Alexei off wasn’t the problem here. It was all part of his game, all a way to lord something over her. Here was a powerful vampire with lackeys of his very own, and a human not only addicted to his bite but his blood. If she believed paying him off would suffice, guess again. She was a free source of blood and sex, a woman who had already cracked, a woman he could exploit again, and again, and again…so long as she continued to serve his needs. Even if she paid him off, he’d come back for a small taste. Enough to indebt her to him all over again.
<
br /> Money meant nothing to those like him. It was all about control. Even I knew that.
Determined to make her see reason, I straightened in my chair and met Tessa’s gaze. “My family—”
“No!” she hissed, eyes wide with fear. “You can’t tell them about any of this. Swear it to me!”
My brows shot up into my bangs. “You’re kidding, right?”
The night of the incident, she’d begged me to keep this all a secret, and I’d agreed so as not to stress her out any more than she already was. I hadn’t known the whole story then, either. At the time, it’d seemed like nothing more than a random attack. Now that I had my facts, though, there was nothing random about this. And assembling my family seemed the wisest course of action.
“Winter, please!” Tessa pleaded in a shrill voice. “If you tell your family and Alexei learns it’s because of me, he’ll do so much worse than change me into a vampire.”
There was worse? “These vampires—”
“We can handle them ourselves!” She stumbled over her words. “We pay him off, all right? Alexei is strong. He isn’t some stray vamp your brothers can pick off in the dead of night. He has a network of vampires beneath him, and he controls them. This is the safest route, I swear it. He gets his money, and no one dies.”
I wasn’t entirely convinced of that. My family focused on more than strays, but I wasn’t sure they’d ever taken on someone of Alexei’s caliber. They tended to focus on the rule breakers—the ones who cared little for our world’s laws. There were too few slayers and too many vampires in the city to execute them all.
“I’m serious, Winter. If any of your family were hurt because of this, I’d never forgive myself. Not to mention if your family shuts down the courtesan business, there will be a lot of people back on the streets, selling it in the gutters.”
“So, instead, you’d rather I risk my life? My brothers could hunt down Calix and Alexei—”
“And paint a giant target on our heads! The others would find out. Please. Do this for me. This is the safest route for everyone involved. Alexei is old. Centuries at least. When was the last time your brothers faced off against a vamp of his magnitude?”
