Table of Contents
Sin City Vampire Club (Cirque Macabre, #2)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2017 Kristen Strassel All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to [email protected]
Strassel, Kristen. Sin City Vampire Club (A Cirque Macabre Novel - Book Two)
Illustration by Daoyi Liu Cover design by Hang Le
Sin City Vampire Club
Good girls don’t have secrets they keep in the dark.
Holly’s never been a very good girl.
Without her fire, Holly has nothing. She’ll do whatever it takes to get it back, even if it means going against the leader of the Las Vegas vampire clan.
Blade Bennett can help Holly get her fire back. He's an enemy of the clan and aligning with him puts everything at risk—her new burlesque show, and her relationship with her soulmate, Rainey. There's only so far Holly can plunge into darkness before she loses her.
Rainey is Holly’s heart, but Blade is her fire. To survive, she needs them both.
Chapter One
BLADE BENNETT NEEDED to reclaim his stake on Las Vegas, and he wasted no time starting with me.
His kisses hadn’t lost any of their fire while he was trapped in a low-rent ring of Hell. They intensified. The flames consumed me, and the cool concrete wall of the parking garage was a relief when he backed me against it.
I shivered when his hungry lips moved away from mine. Blade needed blood, and he was drawn to the throbbing pulse in my neck. Energy sustained vampires, but he’d been denied everything for so long he no longer recognized the difference between want and need.
Or those things had changed for him when he’d been locked away and prevented from leading the most powerful vampire clan in the city. He certainly hadn’t wavered on his blind determination to take what was his while he was incarcerated. And he planned to mainline his way back into the spotlight.
I prayed he didn’t sink his fangs into my flesh in the middle of a dirty Vegas parking garage. We were the only two creatures in the city with fire. Or we had been, anyway. Now it was only him. I couldn’t give him what he needed.
I hadn’t prepared myself for how it would feel to be so close to the fire. Blade was my best chance to get it back.
“Holly,” Rainey said sharply.
Blade had no problem getting to work in front of the person who kept my world spinning. Calling Rainey my girlfriend was taking the easy way out. That wasn’t something I was good at. Rainey and I had been together as long as I could remember, which was pretty close to forever. Blade and I separated with a grunt.
An apology was in order, but I wasn’t sure to whom.
“We have to get him back to the apartment.” I pulled up on the car door handle, but Rainey hadn’t unlocked it. “The sun will come up soon.”
The moon moved through the sky like a ticking bomb.
“We can’t bring him back to our house.” Rainey’s tone had yet to soften. I’d broken my promise to her in one shared heartbeat.
So much time was spent on planning to get Blade out of jail, we forgot to discuss what to do with him once we succeeded. We’d agreed on an outcome, but not how to get there. The hungry determination had yet to fade from Blade’s eyes.
“He doesn’t have anywhere else to go.” I glanced at him, knowing too much contact with him was dangerous in every facet of my life.
“Just for the day.” His voice was gravelly, stolen away from him along with the rest of the kiss. “Give me a chance to get my shit together, and I’ll go.”
My heart throbbed as the two most important people in my life played tug of war with it. Rainey and I should’ve thought this part of the plan through. But the problem was that we made decisions for Blade without consulting him first. The three of us had no time to come to grips with the fact I loved them both.
“The apartment isn’t vampire-proof.” Rainey unlocked the doors and Blade and I jumped into the passengers’ seats before she had a chance to take off without us. “We just finished fire-proofing it.”
Tires always squealed on the garage concrete, but Rainey’s shrieked as she high-tailed it out of there.
“You can put a blanket over the window. No place I’ve ever stayed has been meant for a vampire,” Blade said from the backseat.
My heart went to Blade in that round. I turned to put my hand on his filthy knee. It poked through his torn jeans. Besides the fire, there was another thing that Blade and I had in common—we were both desperate to find the place we belonged. For completely different reasons, we’d decided that place was Las Vegas. It would’ve been a much smoother transition if anyone else wanted us here.
Want, need—those things got tangled easily, and complicated quickly when you were used to having nothing.
“HOW SHOULD I DO THIS?” Rainey eyed the sliding glass door in the living room as soon as we got home. As reluctant as she was to host a sleepover with Blade, she wanted an in-house vampire explosion even less. Forget getting the security deposit back after that. “I have an extra set of sheets, but it’s not enough to block the sun.”
Blade looked as anxious as she did. “How big is your closet?”
“Pretty big, but Holly took it over with all her stuff.” She had to twist the knife and get that detail in there. “Her stage clothes take up a ton of room.”
He shrugged. “I don’t care. I’ve slept standing up ever since I was captured. Let me take a shower and I’ll do anything you say.”
My stomach flip-flopped at the visual he’d painted. “The bathroom’s the door on the right.”
He was in worse shape than I’d realized. I’d visited him several times while he was in jail, but dungeon lighting left a lot to be desired. So did parking garage ambiance. Now that he was on my turf, I could get a better look at him. He was covered in soot, but his blue eyes glowed, and several lines on his face shone with fresh blood. Dirt matted his blond hair.
The shower ran behind the closed bathroom door, and he groaned when he stepped under it. I winced; his pain was a tangible thing.
“What the hell were you thinking, kissing him like that?” Rainey snapped me back from Blade’s plight. “I won’t share you, Holly. If I realized you didn’t understan
d that, I would’ve never gone along with this ridiculous plan.”
“Calm down.” Worst thing I could’ve said. Rainey didn’t spontaneously combust on the regular like I did—or I used to—but it was about to happen. “Did you take a good look at him? He’s ripped to shreds.”
“He was in jail. He didn’t just come home from war,” Rainey muttered. I begged to differ.
“We have to talk. All three of us. And we have to listen to him, too. Let’s make it through the day first. Get some rest.” Jail didn’t destroy Blade, but a sleepover at Rainey’s might.
Rainey headed to the bedroom, tearing the closet door open and tossing my shoes and stage costumes to the side, under the guise of creating space for Blade. “They could come looking for him. I don’t want those people in my house,” she said as she worked.
“Those people wouldn’t survive above ground.” If they were even people anymore. That underground jail was a suburb of Hell with an easy commute.
“That’s not who I’m talking about.” She glared at me. “Monsters roam free in Las Vegas. I know you’ll do whatever it takes to get your fire back, Holly. But you have to realize that I have limits.”
Blade would have expectations, too. I’d led him on, given him hope because he had what I wanted. All I’d thought about was my fire. I’d been accused many times of being selfish, and this was a shining example of it.
“We’ll all be happier if I have my fire back.” The water shut off in the bathroom. I needed to wrap this up before Blade came out. He knew enough of my weaknesses. I had one advantage right now.
I was his savior.
“Best shower ever.” Blade came out in a towel and kissed the top of my head, batting the rage ball back to Rainey. “Where’s that closet?”
Rainey smiled brightly through gritted teeth. “Right here. Hope you don’t mind—I snore.”
She never snored. I considered sleeping on the couch.
“I’ll wash your clothes for you.” I ignored Rainey rolling her eyes and grabbed the bundle of filth from under Blade’s arm. “Are you hungry? Oh, never mind.”
Was he ever. A malnourished vampire was lousy at keeping secrets. “I wish you two would stop fighting. It’s like crunching on nails,” he said.
He clutched the towel, but my gaze was drawn to it as it slipped. His lean body rippled with power, and the indent of his hipbones directed my attention to what I shouldn’t have been thinking about. Damn that V. Even bruised and broken, Blade was still beautiful. In a totally different way than Rainey. It was a painful reminder that no one could have it all.
I pulled my pillow and a blanket from the bed, ignoring Rainey’s grumbling. Blade juggled the new items and the towel. Please don’t drop it. He’d choke on my desire.
“Get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow when our heads are clear and we know what we want. We’ve got work to do. It doesn’t get any easier from here,” I said.
Blade nodded, but didn’t say anything before he closed the door behind him.
“Come to bed.” Rainey was my lifeline. Without her, I’d slip into Blade’s nightmare without a second thought. It would be too easy to believe I belonged there. Rainey was a constant reminder I deserved better. “You’re not totally recovered, either. Tonight’s taken a lot out of you.”
“Thank you,” I said as I crawled under the sheet. Our lips met in a wordless concession. Love was supposedly never having to say you were sorry, but that was bullshit. I’d spend the rest of my life making this up to Rainey.
She’d nursed me back to health after I’d lost my fire. I’d burned from the inside out, and from the sound of it, she’d brought me to her house in an urn. I lost many things the night of the fire. My father, Cash Logan, perished at the same time I burned. And Cirque Macabre, the show that had made me a household name, had to go dark with its two biggest stars out of commission. But Rainey had always been there for me.
She sighed against my lips. Sleep would claim her any moment. “You know I’ll do anything for you, Holly.”
I held her until she fell asleep, kissing her as I figured out how to explain I’d do the same for her. I wanted so many things. My fire. For Rainey and Blade to get along. Another chance to perform on stage. After that night, I swore I’d never need anyone again.
Chapter Two
“WE NEED TO TALK.” I ripped the closet door open, having no idea if Blade was awake or not. I’d stood outside the door until the only light in the room was from cars passing in our apartment complex parking lot. I’d lived with one other vampire, Cash, but he resided in a concrete bunker six feet underground. Appropriate. Nothing could touch him.
Shit. Blade slept naked. I’d spent the afternoon psyching myself up for this talk. I came up with every angle that he could take to disagree with my plan, and made sure I had a rock-solid rebuttal. But as my gaze fell to the curve of his butt, and the blanket falling away as he stretched, I realized there was one thing I hadn’t considered. The way my body reacted to Blade, the thing deep inside that wanted to ignite even though it had forgotten how. It hurt, in more ways than one.
“Good morning.” He grinned at me, his eyes not totally open yet. A good day’s sleep, even if it was on the floor of my girlfriend’s walk-in closet, did him wonders. Last night’s angry purple slashes were pink and tight as new skin replaced the horror of what he’d experienced before I freed him. His hair was wild against my pillow, like he done much more than sleep.
Wild impulses flickered through my veins at the thought of it. He reminded me I still did have my fire, somewhere deep inside.
“Got any coffee? I haven’t had it since I was alive but I kept thinking about it while I was underground. I’d kill for a cup.” He chuckled when I flinched. “Kidding.”
“I’ll go make some.” I gulped as he sat up with no regard for where the blanket fell. Other morning rituals had followed Blade to the afterlife as well. “Put your clothes on before you come out.”
It was a couple second sprint from the bedroom to the kitchen. I leaned against the counter and concentrated on my thundering heart. Anything to forget his giant erection. Blade and I shared a kinship; an understanding, even though we had many differences. He’d worked with my father, providing him women for his on-stage kills. Blade benefitted from the horror, too, satiating himself on the domination and the desperation of the victims in their last moments of life, when they would’ve done anything to reverse their fate.
I was desperate. I couldn’t give him the one thing he wanted more than anything—a chance to dominate me. If I were to get what I wanted, it had to be a fair fight.
Blade honored my first request. He put his clothes on. They were torn, but clean. “Need some help?”
“Yeah.” I pushed the coffee maker at him. “I drink tea. This is Rainey’s.”
She’d be home any minute, and she wouldn’t want his paws on her coffee machine. Certain things she held sacred. Blade whistled low. “Someone’s serious about her coffee. I’ve never used a French press.” He looked up at me and grinned. “Kinda psyched about it. Does she keep instruction manuals anywhere?”
Like I had any idea. “I didn’t think guys used those.”
Blade stopped examining the coffee machine and stood straight. “Coffee is a serious matter. I can’t risk starting my first day of freedom on a sour note.”
Good to know.
He motioned to the counter. “Grab your phone, we’ll look it up.”
Rainey texted me. Several times. Checking in. Making sure everything’s going okay with Blade.
Hey... you there?
If you don’t answer me, I’m leaving work early. I should’ve never left you alone with him.
No, she shouldn’t have. Everything’s cool. We’re making coffee. I prayed her answer didn’t pop up as I handed the phone to Blade.
“Okay, we need to boil water. You can handle that, right?” Blade winked.
“My specialty.” I filled the pot and put it on the stove. “We still n
eed to talk.”
“Can’t it wait until I have my coffee?” Blade groaned. “I’ve been looking forward to this for... how long was I in that jail? I lost track of time.”
It was like he knew I meant to break his heart and he intended to beat me to the punch. “A couple months,” I muttered. It gave me the perfect segue to what I had to tell him. “A lot of things happened while you were there.”
He clasped his hands together like he meant to pray. “Please tell me someone took out The Mistress.”
Blade’s ex, Callie Chabot, was The Mistress. She’d been a vampire for all of about twenty minutes before she’d been named the leader of the Las Vegas clan that Blade believed should belong to him. She also killed my father. We could both do without her stirring up a massive shitstorm everywhere she went. “Nope, still doing what she does best.”
He rolled his eyes. “Good. I had a lot of time to think about how I’d thank her for tossing me into the depths of Hell.” The light faded from his face—the memories were still too fresh. Visitors weren’t allowed in the bunker located deep below the Flamingo resort, but I managed to get in. I wasn’t sure if it had been luck or misfortune. Blade reached for me, and a smile played on his lips when we touched. I wished I could’ve shown him the sun. He cupped my chin. “What else happened?”
“Cirque Macabre closed, since I’m temporarily out of commission and they had to clean Cash up with a mop. Soul Divider’s show is over, too. They imploded the Riviera. Too bad they didn’t leave Noah inside when they did it.” He was their singer, and the only vampire I hated more than Callie. I snickered, then took a deep breath. “Rainey and I are a couple again.”
“I knew that.” He let go of my chin. I hated how much I missed his touch. “The two of you belong together.”
Which was exactly what Rainey had said about Blade and me. “I still feel—”
“Don’t.” The teapot whistled, and Blade reached past me to grab it. He swallowed hard as he poured the steaming water over the coffee grounds. “Thinking about you, us, kept me alive in those dark days.”
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