I blinked at him.
He flung his arms wide. “Please, for the love of whatever god, let’s go have some fun now.”
His melodramatic gesture curved my lips upward despite my irritation at Tessa for having heart-to-heart chats with everyone but me.
Tony was right. It could wait.
Fourteen
Tonight was a special night at Haven. We’d flown up a crew of our celebrity DJ pals from L.A. and they promised to pump out some serious, aggressive beats, and funky, chunky bass. All night long.
I was so ready for that.
We entered through the back door. As soon as we hit backstage I stopped, closed my eyes and let the beat wash over me, caress me from head to toe. A welcoming heartbeat. I took a deep, cleansing breath, and another, and another, rotating my head and shoulders and shaking the kinks out of the rest of my body in a languorous wave.
Music, good. Stress, bad. Bye-bye stress.
Alexander squeezed my hand. I opened my eyes to find him gazing at me with the bemused expression he’d worn so often this evening. That is, when we weren’t handling some kind of crisis.
“Welcome to my house.” I spoke at a normal volume. No need to shout-talk as I would have with a human. Vampire super hearing came in handy in a club rockin’ the loud tunes. “You don’t know this, but I like to dance. A lot. You up for it?”
He nodded.
Oh, yippee. My new undead boyfriend liked to get his groove on. More tension melted away. Tony nudged me, dancing in place, waving in the direction of the main room, ready to shake it, too.
My happiness increased by the second.
We’d already missed the female DJ in the L.A. crew, my friend Claire. She was stepping down from the DJ platform on center stage when I strolled up.
Claire gave me a big grin, arms spread wide in welcome. “Rina!”
We hugged and stepped back to admire each other. At five-ten, Claire was a few inches taller than me but at the moment she stood over six feet thanks to mega tall, orange vinyl platform boots. On her long and lean body she wore a shiny orange, vinyl mini skirt and matching crop top. Her hair was dyed neon pink today, with the exception of stark white bangs and a bit of white fringe framing her oval face. The rest of her hair was trapped in two pony tails set high on each side of her head. Anime-fantastic.
Claire gave me an appreciative once over and surveyed my companions.
“What’s up with the entourage?” she yelled in my ear. “You a rock star now?”
“Long story.” I motioned at Tony and Alexander to join us.
“Claire, this is my brother Tony.”
“I live in L.A.,” Tony shouted at her, shaking her hand. “I’m a big fan.”
Claire grinned her pleasure at him.
“Sorry we missed your set,” I added.
“No worries, I’m back on for the cool-down around five. I’ll be servin’ up some down tempo for breakfast.”
“Breakfast?”
“Yeah, croissants and coffee for anyone still here in the morning. That’s the word from Adrian, anyway. You didn’t know?”
I shook my head. “Hadn’t heard. I’ve been a little, uh, distracted lately.”
“I can see that.” Her eyes strayed to Alex.
“Oh, sorry, this is my—” I hesitated. What should I say? Boyfriend? Destined soul mate? I settled for, “Alexander.” I felt a blush heat my cheeks and hoped the club lighting hid it.
Claire shook his hand and leaned into my ear. “Whoa. Hot!”
Alexander heard her, of course, and his lips twitched. I blushed even more. Claire’s brows lifted, eyes alight with surprise and amusement at my discomfort. No shock there. She was well-versed in my confidence and Type A control tendencies. Would she be amused if I told her Alexander was a vampire and I was half one myself?
Gen, my other dear gal pal, waved at us from the front of the stage. She was an ocular treat in a sleeveless, metallic turquoise cat suit. Silver platform sneakers completed her outfit.
I waved back.
“Dance, girlfriend?” I asked my DJ pal.
Claire bobbed her head. “Absolutely.”
Off we went.
The second we stood within arm’s reach of Gen, she picked me up in her usual bear hug greeting, burying my face in her silver-and-blue-streaked red hair. “Hey, girlfriend! About time you showed. I’ve been wearing a hole in the stage all by my lonesome.”
I laughed. “The cavalry has arrived. Let’s do this thing.”
She set me back on my feet, hugged Claire in greeting, and eyed the two men standing next to me. I made the introductions and even managed not to blush until Gen leaned in and yelled in my ear for all of the vampires to hear. “Oh. My. God. It’s the hot guy. The one checking you out the other night. You rule!”
Argh. My face flamed. No escaping embarrassment this evening.
There was only one thing to do at this point. I popped in my custom-made earplugs—de rigueur for those of us who live in loud clubs—and danced. Claire, Tony, Gen and Alexander followed suit. Stella strolled to the edge of the stage and sat, surveying the crowd on the dance floor and bopping her head to the beat.
Perfect.
I closed my eyes, switched off my thinking brain, and let my primal self come out to play, opened to the beat, let it crawl inside me, push my buttons, vibrate my core, the very essence of me. I don’t know how long I lost myself in the even groove of the music, but when I opened my eyes, Faith and Kai had joined us and I danced in the center of a circle comprised of my friends, my brother, Alexander, and most surprising of all, Stella. She watched me with an intensity I was unable to interpret. Not that I cared. This was my world we inhabited now.
My home. My Haven.
Gen danced up to me as the DJ layered tribal beats into his mix. She held my hips and we ground down to the beat, the way we might move if we were, say, naked and dancing around a fire in the desert under a starry evening sky. Kai and Faith came next and we pulsed together, four chambers of one heart, in perfect synch.
The energy of the beat pumped in my veins, sang along my skin, knocked on my third eye. Open, open.
Just when I believed the moment would last forever, that it was forever, in a rapturous way, the DJ shifted the music again and broke us apart, like a universe exploding outward in orgasm until we were, once again, our own planets, separate yet still orbiting each other. Just with more breathing room.
Tony danced up and handed me a water bottle. “Thanks,” I mouthed. Dancing was thirsty business.
He leaned in to shout, “My turn, lil’ sis,” and led me away from my friends and Alexander. The latter sat on the front of the DJ platform. He gave me a slight nod and watched us go. I was disappointed he didn’t follow.
Hand in hand, my brother and I moved in time to the beat, weaving our way through the dancers. We ended up sharing stage left with Shane and Bobby, two of my regulars. Fierce dancers, popular with the crowd. As was Tony. I’d forgotten he could bust a major move.
As I danced in the shadow of the three men, a wave of love overwhelmed me for the brother I didn’t see often enough. Wow, he was putting on an awesome show along with Shane and Bobby. As if hearing my thoughts, the techies threw some shifting rainbow lighting our way, followed by the strobes. The crowd went wild. Me, too.
God, I love my job. It hit me then. Certainty. I won’t give this up.
I’d throw my current life as club owner and my new life as a vampire’s daughter into a shaker and mix them together into a new cocktail I could live with. Adrian had led a double life for a while now, so why not me? Granted, I had a much steeper learning curve, what with the groovy powers to master and a fat target for evil on my back. But I could try. No, not try. I’d do it. Period.
Sometimes it’s good to be stubborn.
Tony interrupted my musings by shaking the water bottle in my face. I accepted it and took a few swigs.
“I made some new friends.” He pointed at Shane and Bobby. “You
mind if I...?” His brown eyes twinkled with mischief.
Shane and Bobby waved and mouthed, ohmigod, your brother, wow, and put their hands on their chests in ecstasy. I laughed, gave them the thumbs up and hugged my brother. “Go have fun. I’m glad we did this tonight.” I teared up.
“Oh no, stop. You’ll make me cry and I’m wearing mascara, too!” He gave me a quick hug and strutted off to join Shane and Bobby. The three men strolled away arm in arm. Tony in the middle, of course.
I finished the water and set the bottle aside, scanning the stage for my friends and Alexander, but center stage—where I’d left them—was occupied by a new wave of dancers.
I shrugged. Whatever. I was far from finished on the dance floor. I lost myself in the music again, moving to the beat as it pounded out its primal call.
My sense of time disappeared as I grooved, the very air around me my dance partner, a warm, living creature caressing my body, feeding me energy. My core opened and my power awoke, as if called by the music. It snaked up my spine, curling round and round, up and up, spreading through my arms and legs, through every inch of me, so alive and strong. My eyes shifted to vampire black in a watery rush. I liked it.
“Carina. Carina!”
I blinked up at Alexander. When had he arrived? He gripped my arms and held me out from his body as if afraid to touch too much of me. Unacceptable. I wanted more contact, wanted to peel off his trendy jacket, followed by his shirt, and press my face to his chest, bite and lick and kiss it and wander lower for more—
The desire must have shown on my face because Alexander’s expression darkened. “Not now.”
He glanced to the side and I followed his gaze to a group of dancers. Their skin glowed with a warm yellow light. Lovely. Delicious. They stared at me with confusion, awe, excitement, and something close to religious devotion.
“Dial it down, Carina.”
I frowned at my ability to hear him over the music. “I can hear you.” Did I have vampire super hearing now?
“Yeah, you’re amped up. You need to calm down.”
His words confused me. I felt great, relaxed, the perfect picture of calm. I moved in for a snuggle, but he held me off.
The dancers approached us.
He cursed and backed up, taking me with him. “Carina, you’re leaking all over them. You have to stop this now.”
“Stop what?” My voice was dreamy. I sounded high. Had someone dosed me? Put something in the water?
“You’re high on power,” Alexander replied.
“Did you hear my thoughts?”
He shook his head. “You said it out loud.”
“Oh.” I wanted the dancers to come over and say hello. They moved closer. Were my thoughts controlling them? Part of me liked that concept.
He tightened his death grip on my arms. “You’re acting like a vampire. You’ve enthralled them. Let them go.”
His words snapped me out of my happy fog. “I don’t know how.” Fear jolted me. I wished Thomas or Jonas were here to help.
On cue, Thomas replied in my head. You rang, cara mia?
“Uncle Tommy,” I squeaked out loud so Alexander would know help had arrived. “I just bewitched four people and I don’t know how to undo it.”
I love it when you call me that. How long I have waited to hear those wonderful words.
“Zio. Per favore, focus. What do I do?”
The four dancers reached us, waiting for my command.
Alexander’s fingers dug into my arms. “Tell them to hurry up. We’re starting to draw attention.”
He was right. Other dancers glanced our way, and I was sure security tracked the action, too, on one of our many surveillance cams. We didn’t need my guards to arrive on the scene and burst the awesome party vibe. So bad for business.
Jonas chimed in. Stop thinking. Just do.
Ugh. Cryptic much? “You said that before and I still don’t get it.”
Do you think to breathe? To hear? To taste? These things require neither your permission nor your understanding to be done. Now go, undo what you have done.
“Ohmigod, you are so not helpful!”
Silence.
Okay, fine.
I jerked free of Alexander. I needed to ground myself and couldn’t do that while he squeezed my arms. I focused my mind on my feet, on the floor under my feet, on the ground under the floor, on the center of the earth under it all. I let the solidness of it all hold me as I breathed, in, out, slow and steady, and asked my power to come back to me, to slide down into the core, my core, the earth’s core, anywhere but all over the dance floor and the people around me.
“I release you. Now go and dance.”
The dancers blinked and looked around. They gave us confused stares followed by polite smiles, then danced off.
Phew. Crisis averted.
You think too hard. It is much simpler than that, Jonas groused in my head.
Shut up, mister no-help-at-all.
Well done, Carina, Thomas praised. Your first baby step. In time, with practice, it will happen more organically.
I don’t want to compel people. It’s wrong and creepy. I slipped my hand into Alexander’s, suddenly tired. “Um, I think I need to sit now.”
“Yeah.”
His cool tone irked me. I opened my mouth to tell him what he could do with his attitude when, without warning, he picked me up and whisked us both backstage at vampire hyper speed. When we arrived at the elevator, he dropped me to the floor just as rudely. Right. Fuming mad now. How dare he manhandle me?
I shoved him. “What the hell is your problem? I said I needed to sit, not get picked up and tossed around like a sack of rice.”
The two security guys stationed at the elevator coughed to suppress laughter. I scowled in their direction and they straightened like good little club soldiers. They didn’t seem surprised by our sudden appearance, nor were they asking me—their boss—if I needed help. And I was clearly unhappy.
I glared at Alexander. “Do they know what you are?”
“Carina. Stop.” He ran a hand through his hair, expression stormy.
I punched the elevator button much harder than I needed to, making my finger tingle. “Don’t you tell me what to do. You have no right, no right at all. You’re just some guy I met, some vamp—”
Alexander kissed me. The elevator doors slid open and he rushed us inside. I kept my lips shut, refusing to kiss him back. I didn’t care how hot he was, or how much I wanted this very thing to happen. No one took me by force.
The door shut behind us. He held me in place with one hand at my nape, the other clamped around my waist. My rage intensified, my inner voice roaring, resist.
I scratched his face.
Alexander grabbed my wrists and pinned me against the back wall, trapping my arms above my head. A growl emanated from deep in his throat. His lips curled back from his teeth, the canines growing longer, sharper.
Panic stabbed my gut. What have I done? My heart raced. This man, this vampire I thought would be my boyfriend, my lover, possibly my one and only, this monster was going to eat me. I braced for the blow, but instead, he released me. I slunk into the far corner, my mind scrambling for options. Open the door and run? He’s too fast. Send a mental SOS to Thomas and Jonas? Yuck, too embarrassing. Look up at the security camera in the ceiling and call for help? Again, no. Me...face...red.
Alexander stood where I’d left him, arms at his sides, hands loose. In other words, prepped for action. If I made the wrong choice, he would be on me like sticky rice. I hugged myself, stomach in a knot. Why were we fighting? How had we arrived at this horrible, confrontational place?
You did this. You. Gee, thanks inner voice. But it was correct. I created this mess and I needed to fix it. “Would you like to go upstairs and talk?” The words came out breathy and shaky.
He gave me a curt nod. I took in his damaged face. Four angry, bleeding red lines adorned his cheeks. The urge to lick the wounds almost overwhelmed me. In
stead of pouncing on him, I eased over to the control panel and punched the button for the top floor office. A hidden panel slid open on the sidewall and I put my hand against the scanner until it beeped. I punched some numbers into the keypad below it. Access to the inner sanctum granted.
As the elevator ascended, I kept my back to the sullen vampire. I couldn’t bear the sight of what I’d done to his beautiful face.
Fortunately, it was a quick ride.
When we exited the elevator, a pair of Thomas’s gigantic enforcer goons barred our way. They created a stunning visual standing at attention in the small hall, two tan and muscular giants almost seven feet tall, dressed in expensive, dark gray, Italian cut suits. Both had eyes the color of an electrical storm, lightning gray. Brothers, I assumed, given their resemblance.
They dropped to one knee, dark heads bowed, waiting. Antagonizing two ginormous vampires sounded like a bad idea, so, I opted for a polite greeting. “Buona sera. May we pass?”
“Forgive us, Principessa.” They stood in a blur of speed, backs to the wall.
I held my breath as we walked between them and didn’t exhale until we stood at the double doors to my office. One last security hurdle. I put my palm on the ID padlock above the right handle. Nothing happened because the doors were already unlocked. Oh, right. Who needed a locked door with huge undead warrior dudes in the hall? Their presence suggested a vampire VIP occupied my office, probably Thomas or Jonas.
I frowned. Can’t even get a bit of privacy in my own club. This is my office not theirs. How dare they—
And voilà, back to angry I rolled.
I pushed open the doors and stalked into my office. It was a large space with minimal furnishings. Brown leather love seat, larger matching couch, and a sleek, kidney-shaped walnut table we used as a desk. Adrian and I liked a simple, uncluttered space. We had files, computers, storage for valuables, and even a full bar, of course, but hidden behind movable wall panels. The bar was open at the moment.
Jonas hovered next to Adrian who was seated at the desk watching the six, flat panel, video screens on the wall. Each displayed a different area of the club, currently the main bar, Heaven, the security office, dance floor, DJ platform, and elevator.
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