“Thanks, anyway.” I did not want to look at Keisha.
“Where are the tickets?” Keisha asked.
“We don’t have any.” I winced, like I expected her to slap me.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“I wish I was.” I leaned against the wall, closing my eyes and hoping everyone around me would disappear. But that wouldn’t get me closer to Tristan. “We have five more nights to get into the show.”
She crossed her arms over her stomach. “There are a thousand things I’d rather do on my vacation than hang around here, not seeing your ex. If that’s how you want to spend your vacation, fine. But I’m not.”
I’d get her to change her mind.
“Ladies!” a man called to us. I turned toward him, raising an eyebrow.
“Do you need tickets?” he asked.
This man was an angel. “We do.”
“Eighty each.”
“Can you do better than that? The show’s about to start.” Even in a time of crisis, Keisha could never resist negotiating.
He checked the time on his phone. “All right. Sixty each. They’re usually a hundred, but you ladies are cute and the show is going to start soon. Can’t believe I couldn’t get rid of these things.”
“We’ll take them.” I pulled three twenties from my wallet, and Keisha did the same.
He pocketed the money and handed over the tickets.
“Do you know what kind of show this is? You know you have to be twenty-one to get in, right?” He raised an eyebrow. I didn’t think it had to do with the fact we were the only brown girls here. I looked younger than eighteen. I hadn’t realized how much until I got off the plane in Vegas. And I was dressed way more casually than the rest of the crowd in an eyelet tank top and tie-dyed skirt. Just because Tristan had changed since I last saw him, didn’t mean I did.
This would be the first time I had a chance to try out the license someone had left behind at my family’s restaurant. If someone looked at it quickly, in bad light, they might think it was me. I hoped. We were about to find out.
“I’m twenty-four,” I assured him—and myself—as we walked away.
“What?” Keisha grabbed my arm. “Twenty-four?”
I grinned at her. “That’s what my fake ID says.”
“You never told me you had a fake ID! Let me see that thing.”
I dug it out of my purse while we waited in line to get in.
“It’s actually not too bad.” Keisha shrugged when she handed it back to me. If it passed her scrutiny, I was probably in the clear. She was twenty-one, so she had nothing to worry about. “Let’s see if it works.”
The usher glanced at my ID, ripped my ticket, and stepped aside.
It worked.
A group of girls next to us jumped up and down and squealed. I knew exactly how they felt. I couldn’t believe I pulled this off.
The lobby of Sin City Vampire Club looked like a Victorian theater. A giant chandelier twinkled above a grand staircase. Fans perched on red velvet Victorian couches and chairs, Ornate silver metalwork hung on the dark wood walls, alternating with large and gruesome paintings. Built-in curios housed skulls and jars full of gross things suspended in goo. Tinny, haunting music from an antique Victrola played over the speakers. We headed upstairs to our seats. An off-white and faded red striped curtain hid the stage.
Some fans wore fangs, others had their faces painted like skeletons, and a few had fake blood dripping from their mouths.
Keisha chatted with the girls next to us, a dark-haired girl wearing a ton of black makeup, and her perfectly put together redheaded friend. “Is this your first time at the show?” Keisha asked.
“We come all the time,” the redhead’s face lit up, and she leaned forward to wave to me. “What about you?”
“First time.” Keisha couldn’t pretend to be excited. I owed her a few nights out dancing now that I knew my fake ID worked.
“It’s nothing like you see on TV. It’s a sexual experience.” The redhead licked her lips.
Keisha gave me a look that said this was the only time we’d be coming to see Immortal Dilemma on this trip. She didn’t watch the TV show, and I hadn’t explained the whole Bloodlust concept to her. Some of the fans believed the guys in the band were really vampires, which was where I lost Keisha. They didn’t think they were simply super fans, instead they considered their attraction to the band to be a paranormal connection called Bloodlust. In the fictional sense, it was fun, but to hear someone say it out loud gave me goosebumps. I didn’t think anyone actually believed the vampire thing.
A ballerina came onto the stage with no fanfare. She moved so delicately, she could have been dancing on a cloud. Her severe bun had been powdered, and her ribs showed through the plain white leotard. As she spun around, trapeze artists flipped above her. Two other performers peddled on tricycles with giant front wheels. The music became more frenzied and the spotlights pulsed and flashed on each performer.
So entranced by the ballerina, I didn’t notice a man step from the shadows until the music stopped. The other performers had disappeared. With one arm clamped around the ballerina’s waist, he pulled her head to the side, exposing her neck. She held still, graceful, even under siege. Then, almost too quickly for me to see, he pressed his mouth to her neck until her body went limp.
The house lights fell and the crowd went wild. Everyone around us rose to their feet, screaming, crying, and jumping up and down. Emotion vibrated through the room. Keisha and I were the last in our section to rise.
The beat of the drums ripped through the room like fireworks. Heat exploded through the theater, warming my skin even back in our crappy seats. The rest of the band rose through the floor on giant pedestals, and the whole place shook with the crowd’s excitement.
Tristan played guitar, and he commanded the left side of the stage. His long, dark hair flowed free, and he’d painted his face in some sort of elaborate skeleton design that was almost pretty. Under the guitar, he wore a red fuzzy coat, open, no shirt underneath, and black shiny pants that must have been poured around the shape of his body to get them to fit like that.
Damn.
I hadn’t prepared myself for what it would be like to see him again. Even if it was from a distance. He took my breath away. The show wouldn’t be enough. I had to get closer.
Standing on the pedestal, he played his guitar with his head tipped back, his eyes closed, swaying to the beat. Eerie, peaceful, yet beautiful, drenched in red light.
The pedestals lowered and Tristan sprang onto the stage. Roaming like a predator and whipping his hair around, he teased the fans by leaning over them with his guitar but staying out of reach. He smiled wide, showing off those horrible fangs. I hated that part of his costume. They made him look like a monster.
I forced myself to tear my eyes away from Tristan. He had a way of making himself the center of attention, and making me want more. It had always gotten me into trouble, and I didn’t see that streak ending anytime soon. Especially not in the next week. The singer strutted around the stage, his spiky hair sticking out above aviator goggles. He danced with the burlesque dancers on the riser, singing to them and running his fingers down their bare, bloody arms. They shimmied in front of huge screens playing old horror movies. The bassist had painted himself silver, and he moved like a robot.
All the songs sounded the same to me. I’d tried, but I could never get into Immortal Dilemma’s music. It was a problem I only shared with Keisha. When the singer stopped and hoisted his microphone stand over the audience, the crowd screamed every word of the song back at him.
A single red spotlight framed Tristan as he began his guitar solo. He shed his jacket and an audible gasp escaped from the audience. A sleeve of brightly colored tattoos decorated his left arm. That was new. I wanted to trace my finger along each line, to understand its story.
I needed more. So much more.
He plucked and pushed the guitar strings, making it cry
out. A hush fell over the crowd when he finished the solo. He walked up to the microphone and paused.
“I’ve waited so long to see you again.”
I’d swear that’s what he said, even as the echo again...again...again... rolled through the theater in a wave. The crowd swooned.
Get over yourself, Callie. Every girl in this room thinks he’s talking to them. If I was the you he referred to, he would’ve left tickets for us at will call.
Keisha grabbed my arm so hard there’d probably be a mark in the morning. Even if he hadn’t convinced me, Keisha believed it.
The rest of the band came back out for the encore. But it was a blur. All I could think about was what if he was talking to me?
“Did you love it?” the dark-haired girl asked, jarring me from my trance.
“It wasn’t what I expected.” I had to figure out a way to get backstage, and see Tristan.
“Come hang out with us.” Her friend grabbed my hand, way too familiar. “We’re headed to an after party. There will be so many hot vampires there. It’s like a candy store.”
“You really think they’re vampires?” Keisha barely got the words out without laughing.
The redhead gave a smug smirk. “We know they are.”
“Okay.” Keisha turned to me and rolled her eyes.
“Let’s do it.” It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but there was a chance it could get me closer to Tristan. And if it didn’t, it would give us a better idea of what I needed to do to find him.
“Don’t you want to stay here? Closer to the action?” Keisha didn’t seem convinced.
“I came all this way. I want to meet some vampires.” I extended my hand to our new friends. “I’m Callie, and this is my cousin Keisha.”
“I’m Amanda.” The redhead squeezed my hand again. “And this is Janelle.”
“When you say vampires”—I ignored Keisha elbowing me in the ribs—“do you mean Immortal Dilemma will be there?”
There couldn’t be that many vampires.
“Yeah, Callie’s hoping to spend some quality time with Tristan,” Keisha added, and now it was my turn to elbow her.
Both Janelle and Amanda laughed. “Aren’t we all?”
Keep reading Because the Night!
OTHER BOOKS BY KRISTEN STRASSEL
COLORADO SHIFTERS
Lion and the Doe
Doe and the Hunter
Cougar and the Lion
Doe and the Pride
SAWTOOTH SHIFTERS
Forever Home
Rescue Me
Protect Me
Conquer Me
Celebrate Me
Shelter Me
Complete Me
THE NIGHT SONGS COLLECTION
Because the Night
Night Moves
We Own the Night
Silent Night
CIRQUE MACABRE (Vampire Dark Fantasy—A Night Songs Spinoff Series)
Stardust
The Fire Dancer
Sin City Vampire Club
Queen of the Night Time World
THE SPOTLIGHT SERIES (Rock/Country Star Contemporary Romance)
Secondhand Heart
The Trouble With Bree
Too Many Reasons
THE ESCORT SERIES (Contemporary Romance)
No Strings Attached
Wrapped Around My Finger
Ties That Bind
The Passion Project
NOT EXACTLY A STEPBROTHER ROMANCE
Dirty Little Secret
Exposed
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Also by Kristen Strassel
Cirque Macabre
Stardust
The Fire Dancer
Sin City Vampire Club
Queen of the Night Time World
Colorado Shifters
Wanted by the Lion
Taken by the Buck
Mated to the Cougar
Destined to the Pride
Fated & Forbidden
Fire Brand
Sawtooth Shifters
Forever Home
Rescue Me
Protect Me
Conquer Me
Celebrate Me
Shelter Me
Complete Me
The Escort
No Strings Attached
Wrapped Around My Finger
Ties That Bind
The Passion Project
The Night Songs Collection
Because the Night
Night Moves
We Own the Night
Silent Night
The Real Werewives of Alaska
Running Wild
Reindeer Games
Silver Fox (Bad Alpha Dads)
The Spotlight Series
Secondhand Heart
Too Many Reasons
Standalone
Sawtooth Shifters Volume 1
Sawtooth Shifters Volume 2
Wanted: A Blood Courtesans Novel
Queen of the Night Time World Page 26
