Queen of the Night Time World

by Kristen Strassel

  “Shh.” Lennon snapped back to life when the door closed. She grasped my face. “It’s okay. It wasn’t so bad.”

  “What did you hear?”

  “The x-rays show you have three cracked ribs, a broken ankle, and a severe concussion. He left a prescription for you—”

  “I’m not taking those pills.” I’d suffer the pain rather than touch anything he gave me.

  “Suit yourself, but I think you might change your mind. It will give you some relief. At least help you sleep. You’ll be out of work until he gives you the all-clear to return.” She smiled like that was remotely close to what happened. “Let’s get you up to your room and you can rest.”

  Oh, shit. “There’s a problem. Blade is in there.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle Callie. She won’t give you a problem after what happened tonight. She’s really worried about you.”

  Of course she was, since whatever witchery she and Rachel cooked up last night caused this. I wondered if she realized there was a connection. “It’s not that. Blade, uh, didn’t wake up before I came to work. I totally flaked on the production meeting, and came down at regular time. It was already dark.”

  Lennon shrugged. “Maybe he was just tired.”

  I shook my head. Ouch. I’d do anything for one of those pills. Or pills that weren’t dispensed by Gabriel. There had to be something in Rainey’s collection that would make me feel better. “He got beat up pretty bad last night by Gabriel’s guys. He passed out in the shower.”

  “Oh.” Now maybe Lennon would start taking all this seriously. “What do you want me to do?”

  “My phone should be in my sweatshirt pocket. Text him and tell him to come down here.”

  If he answered, everything was okay. If he didn’t, we were so, so fucked.

  “Aww, you have a heart next to his name,” Lennon said as she texted. “That’s cute. So I don’t freak him out, I’m texting like I’m you. I said, come down to the theater. Lennon will let you in. Don’t worry about Callie.”

  “I have a heart next to Rainey’s name, too.” Just in case Lennon thought I was moving on. The only difference was I listed her as My Rainey and Blade as just Blade. No matter how I felt about him, he didn’t belong to me. “And prepare yourself for some colorful language since you mentioned Callie.”

  “I’m sure it’s no worse than she says about him.” Lennon laughed. “You’re good for him. He’s changed. When I was still working at Embrace, he was pretty terrible. But now Rachel’s constantly bitching that she can’t get him to do what she wants. That’s your influence. You make him happy.”

  The pain was becoming unbearable, and I wanted to get this Blade-and-my-hotel-room thing sorted before I passed out. Everything was out of my hands. “He needs someone to believe in him.”

  “He does, doll.”

  “Tell me something. If what Blade was doing was unacceptable, why do you tolerate Rachel? She’s the one in the driver’s seat over there. And she’s waltzing around here like it’s girls’ night in. What she’s doing isn’t okay just because she’s a woman. It’s not cute. She’s spurred something we may not be able to stop.”

  “That’s exactly what I do. I tolerate Rachel. She’s my creator, so I’m bound to her. You know listening isn’t her strong suit.” Lennon rolled her eyes. “Unless she’s reading my mind. Callie loves her, so I believe that she does have some redeeming qualities.”

  “So does Blade.”

  “I know. You didn’t let me finish. She’s a part of my life whether I like it or not. So I try to find balance between what she wants and what I think is right.”

  There was that word again. Balance.

  “We have to stop her.” My light came from Lennon, especially now that she believed in our connection. Cash was pure, unadulterated evil, and Lennon was all light. They were like the original version of Rainey and me. Lennon had no idea what kind of power she harbored, and now I understood why Rachel refused to train her. She went against the plan.

  “Absolutely. But first you have to get better.” She glanced at the phone. “No word from Blade yet.”

  He could be busy. He could be doing a million things. Or he could be rotting in my bed. “Who can bring me that won’t cause any shit if he’s there?”

  If I were human and seen by a doctor that wasn’t Gabriel, I’d be headed to a hospital instead of a hotel room. But that wasn’t an option for a supernatural creature. I’d heal. Just like Blade should have by now. Why wasn’t he answering? His fire would help me heal.

  Lennon didn’t answer right away. “What about Ryder? They were working together for a while when Soul Divider was still together. I don’t think they had a bad breakup.”

  She actually got me to laugh. “Okay. If Rachel or Callie asks why, tell them to fuck off.”

  “Doll, there are a thousand ways to say that without using the word.” Lennon stood and smiled back at me. “That’s what I’ve got to teach you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Lennon groaned when she opened the door to my hotel room, and we had our answer immediately. It smelled like Embrace in there, and that couldn’t possibly good.

  “Blade!” Ryder called out. “You in here, man?”

  “He’s in the bed.” It was getting hard to talk again. I’d do anything for some relief, besides take those pills. I was half-vampire, but I never drank vampire blood. I’d only drank from Rainey, which had been a dangerous experiment.

  Lennon sighed as she pushed me into the room. “I’m going to go check on him, doll. How much do you want to know?”

  “Everything.” It wasn’t like I could hurt any worse. I hoped.

  They were with him for an eternity, muttering things I couldn’t hear. I floated in and out of consciousness and it was hard to stay present without someone next to me. Ryder’s voice snapped me back to attention with a loud word here and there. I hoped it meant they were making progress.

  Lennon reappeared with blood splatters on her face. I was going to get sick. “Ryder’s got him conscious, but it’s not good. He’s getting him out of bed. Give us a minute to get things ready for you.”

  “Don’t kick him out,” I whispered. “I want to see him.”

  “He’s in bad shape—”

  “I want to see him!” I gave it all the force I could muster.

  “Holly?” Blade’s voice sounded like it ran along the floor of the desert. “Where is she?”

  Lennon leaned in close. “He’s on the floor. Ryder didn’t tell him you were here.”

  “Do not leave him on the floor.” No wonder Blade acted like a monster. He got treated like one. “I want to see him.”

  “It’s not a good idea.” Ryder sounded like he didn’t have much else to give. “He needs blood.”

  “I need blood!” It scared me, but I did. I wouldn’t touch that poison that Gabriel tried to pawn off on me like candy. “Let me see him.”

  Flat on my back, I couldn’t see anything but Lennon and the ceiling, but the sounds of a struggle were obvious. If Ryder hurts Blade, I’ll burn him. My trust was shaky with him at best. He was one of those guys who fucked me over with his best intentions on a regular basis.

  The grunting got closer as Ryder kept Blade upright. He crashed into the end of the stretcher, one hand on either end of it. Wet blood painted his mouth and chin, and it was the only color on his face. The rest of him was gray.

  “Fuck, it’s good to see you.” He punctuated it with a grunt. “What happened?”

  “I fell.” Or something like that.

  “Shit. Not because I drank from you, I hope.” Blade tried to smile, but his eyes rolled back in his head and Ryder caught him before he collapsed. His head and arms were still on the stretcher, but he’d gone totally limp.

  Nothing came out when I tried to scream.

  “You let him drink from you?” Lennon asked. “That’s why you fell.”

  “What happened to him?” I ignored her, my gaze glued on Blade and Ryd
er. I hadn’t noticed the blood running down Ryder’s neck until now. Blade must’ve torn into him. Vampires healed faster than that, or so I thought. The pain changed everything. My brain had been dropkicked and fucked by Gabriel.

  “He was totally drained. Never seen anything like it. Good thing we came up here. He didn’t have much left in the tank.” Ryder groaned, like he was struggling to keep Blade up. Not good. Vampires were strong, and I’d seen Ryder without his shirt on. No complaints here. “You can’t stay in here with him alone, Holly. He’s hungry and you’re weak. He’ll hurt you without meaning to, just to survive.”

  “I don’t trust anyone else to take care of him.” Rachel was Blade’s only ally, and she was a backstabbing bitch. “They’ll kill him.”

  Ryder glanced at Lennon, who sighed above my head. “What should we do?” she asked.

  “I’ll get the guys from the band up here. We can take turns feeding Blade. He needs blood. But you should probably stay with Holly, too. Just in case.”

  “Okay.” Lennon’s voice brightened. “I always did love a sleepover.”

  Lennon had a way of making things happen. She called down for housekeeping to bring fresh bedding, and up to the penthouse to get her clothes. Once everything she needed arrived, she went to work stripping the bed.

  “Here.” She pushed a bucket at Ryder. “You get bathroom duty.”

  He groaned and lowered Blade to the floor. “Do I even want to know what happened in there?”

  “Blade got messed up by Gabriel’s guys last night. I came back here and he was covered in blood. His chest was totally ripped up.” I shuddered at the memory, and pain shot up my neck. He should’ve healed by the time I got to him, just like Ryder’s neck shouldn’t look like raw meat anymore. “I thought if I got him cleaned up, he’d be better. That’s when he bit me.”

  Ryder ran his hand through his hair and looked down at Blade’s body. Blade had stirred, but he hadn’t come around yet. “I’m gonna wait until one of the guys gets here. Blade can’t be left unsupervised.”

  Lennon popped her head around the corner. “What about bringing donors up here?”

  “You mean, humans instead of vampires?” Ryder asked.

  “Yeah. It might be less dangerous.”

  “It’s not a good idea to get humans involved, with both Blade and Holly down for the count.”

  She didn’t have a chance to offer another suggestion before someone knocked on the door.

  “What’s going on?” Fuck. It was Josiah. If it was just him, he was okay. Compared to the rest of the guys, he was reserved. The guys called him the band nerd. But there was a problem. He was Rachel’s boyfriend. “Fuck. I thought it was just Holly in rough shape. I didn’t realize Blade was...like this. I thought you wanted help keeping him away from her.”

  “Did you come alone?” I asked. I could not handle Rachel right now. The energy was thick and sour and she would pollute whatever clean air we had left.

  “Yeah. Got that message loud and clear.” He chuckled and tapped the stretcher right near my head. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Feed Blade, then help us get Holly into bed.”

  I’d never seen this side of vampires before, where they all worked together for the common good. I hated that something so awful was what made it happen, but one thing was clear—they weren’t evil. They’d been human once, with hopes and dreams and beating hearts. Only one of those things had changed.

  Blade’s groan was unmistakable, but I usually enjoyed it under much better circumstances. Josiah guided Blade to his feet and brought him back to the stretcher.

  He looked better this time. Almost human.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said, and I was relieved his eyes were blue and not red. “You gonna be okay? Anyone given you blood yet?”

  I shook my head only once. An extra Blade appeared and I knew that wasn’t right.

  “No to what?”

  “No blood.”

  Before my eyes closed, he turned away. “Someone’s got to give her blood!”

  “...Needed to see...you were okay.”

  Everything went black.

  I HAD A WRIST IN MY mouth when I woke up. The blood was warm, thick, and fruity. It rolled through me, smothering the burning pain and replacing it with something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

  Peace. I had an addictive personality, and it only took me a second to get hooked on the adoration of the crowd, or the taste of Lennon’s blood.

  Now I understood why the vampires were willing to destroy everything for just one more drop. Why it would never be enough. Shit.

  “Feeling better, doll?” Lennon’s question came out in a grunt as she pulled her wrist away from my grip. She brought it to her own mouth and licked it, her tongue coming away crimson. It took everything I had to not sit up and suck the blood out of her mouth. But it would be wrong on every single level.

  “Much.” I couldn’t tell her how much. Lennon had to understand what was at stake in the war between the Realms. It was a war when one faction was hell-bent on destroying the other. Gabriel had recruited the vampires to unwittingly become his soldiers, but he couldn’t get what he wanted. Me.

  I had to lead them out of darkness. I had to convince them to follow me. With Lennon and Blade on my side, I could do it. I saw what they really wanted tonight.

  “A little blood does wonders. Blade needed much more than you did, and the guys have been taking turns feeding him. He’s almost back to normal.” Lennon smiled. She cradled her wrist in her hand, like she knew it was in danger of an attack.

  No, I cannot bite her again. I don’t need it, I want it.

  Lennon went on, and I snapped back to attention. “We figured it was best to let you rest a little before we fed you. Do you think you can sit up?” she asked.

  I nodded. My wrists were still tender and my muscles shaky, but I did it. I took everything I had, but I did it.

  Lennon’s face lit up. “Awesome. Okay, I brought you some pajamas. There’s probably going to be a lot of people coming in and out of here and I had a feeling you usually slept au natural.”

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” I grinned and pulled the sheet up over my bare chest. On stage, it was fine. With my playmates, even better. In front of the reincarnation of my mother, tacky as hell.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Just a hunch.” She held open a leopard print top and I slid my arms into the satin sleeves. I had a feeling Lennon had more than one pair, but I knew it meant something that she was willing to share one of her signature outfits with me. Every time I went to Tristan and Callie’s penthouse, she had a pair on. It was like the official loungewear of the most fashionable undead. “It’s almost sunrise, and I think Blade’s in good enough shape to stay with you. You both need rest. If you need anything, I’m leaving a number on your nightstand. It’s daytime security, but they’ll be equipped to deal with whatever you need. I’ll be back at sunset. Is there anything I can bring you?”

  “Yeah. Lettuce tea.” I lowered my gaze to button my top, but lifted it to meet hers. “And Rainey.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “She misses you as much as you miss her.” Lennon squeezed my hand before she rose. “Get some rest. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.”

  She lowered the lights behind her as she left. I gasped when a shadowy figure entered the room. It was that kind of night where I didn’t trust anyone, especially when I was alone. But it was Blade. He’d undressed, which was how I left him. I giggled when it occurred to me he may have been naked throughout his entire feeding frenzy.

  “What’s funny?” He slipped between the sheets and settled with a moan. I giggled again and he leaned forward to kiss me. “Am I funny looking or something? It’s not a giggling kind of night.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s just that...” It seemed so stupid now. “Were you naked the whole time?”

  “Just like you.” Blade fought his grin. “I was under a blanket, but otherwise,
yeah.”

  “It just struck me as funny. It’s been a long night.” I snuggled against him and everything felt normal. Almost good. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in tighter. It hurt a little, but nothing like what I was dealing with right after the fall. “I’m glad you’re better.”

  “Same.” And his next kiss took some of the pain away. “What happened to you tonight?”

  I recalled the night for him, the comedy of errors on stage that led up to the silks falling from the ceiling. “One thing going wrong is par for the course, but three? No way. It felt personal, even before I fell. Gabriel disguised himself as the set medic—”

  “What?” Blade jolted away from me, coming up on his elbow. “I should’ve known that bastard was behind it.”

  “He said it was payback for what Callie and Rachel did last night. They weren’t supposed to act without me. I’m worried they either took or deflected my power to get into his Realm. He said things would only get worse.”

  “If?”

  “If what? He didn’t give a way out of it. That I was powerless and I would do what he wanted me to do.” I swallowed hard to push the mania down. “He wants me to destroy the Realm. That’s why he took Rainey away from me. He considers this place his dumpster and he plans to send his undesirables here, I assume as vampire feed. Which might sound good to you right now, but I’ve seen the future, Blade. What happens to you. The whole world is like Embrace. No sunshine. No power anywhere. It’s never enough.”

  Blade didn’t say anything, staring off into space like he was trying to imagine the world I described. I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I hadn’t been there.

  “He’s turned the vampires into his foot soldiers,” I continued, in case he didn’t understand what I was getting at. “And he expects me to lead them into temptation, like the queen of the fallen. I’m willing to be that queen, but we deserve better than this. I watched everyone come together tonight to help us. It was that goodness that saved your life.”