“I don’t think he can do this,” Evan said to their sister.
“Sure, he can. You’ve got this.” Dani was at his side, pretending to bounce to the music, dancing as they searched the crowd, looking for the two shifters. “I can get more blood if you need it.”
He couldn’t go on a blood binge, no matter how badly he craved it. If he was going to be around Erica, he needed to keep it under control. He’d had enough to revive his strength. Overfeeding would be to his detriment.
“Where’s Asher?” Julius scanned the room, focusing his attention on something else.
“How could you miss him? I told you he stuck out.”
“North wall.” Evan nodded in the guard’s direction. Asher did look out of place amongst the humans dancing around him, not that he wasn’t comfortable. His mate was human, but the guard wasn’t used to trying to blend amongst them. “I’m going to go talk to him. Get a read on the shifters.”
Julius pushed the thoughts of his thirst away and focused on scenting Erica. She wasn’t in the crowd.
“At least try to blend in.” Dani nudged him and pulled two drinks from a tray girl who was circling the crowd and handed one to him. He wasn’t in the mood to drink liquor. He didn’t need anything else clouding his senses.
Julius kept his vampire focused on tracking Erica. Finding her scent was difficult at first, but he set his vampire to the task. Her perfume was weak under the much stronger scent of blood. As faint as it was, it was there. He held onto it.
“Now, what does she look like?” Dani asked from beside him.
“Gorgeous. Wavy blonde hair that goes down to her waist. Tiny, compared to me. Maybe about your height. Hazel eyes and a smile to kill for. She’ll likely be working behind the waist-high benches.”
“I know what a bar is. I think I see her.” His sister pointed at the far end of the club. Erica wasn’t stationed at the main bar, but an annex one to the side.
“Mr. Craul… I didn’t expect to see you tonight.” The dragon intercepted them before he could go further. Stick offered his hand and a questioning look.
“An unexpected situation brought us here.” Julius’s face drew into a tight smile.
The bar owner seemed to sense the alarm in his voice. Apparently, the dragon lore had gotten some things right. Dragons were said to have keen senses. Even better than a vampire’s.
“Is there trouble?”
“Some things are best said behind closed doors.”
Stick nodded and motioned for him to follow. Julius didn’t.
“I’ll explain. You get Erica.” Dani said.
Like he had any other intention. Julius moved toward the bar while Dani introduced herself to the club owner.
Behind the bar, Erica’s movements were fluid. Naturally graceful. She smelled just as intoxicating as she had the first night they met. After having so much blood, his senses were becoming more heightened. Every neuron fired and pulsed as he drew closer to her. The feeling was otherworldly, like they were vibrating on the same frequency and she was subconsciously pulling him closer to her.
She was serving a group and didn’t see him. Erica placed several shot glasses in a row and poured a strange mixture in them before splashing alcohol at the top. Then she lit it on fire.
The small crowd around her bar wooed. Each of the guys, all human, grabbed a shot glass for themselves, blew out the flames, and gulped them down. He didn’t smell shifters close to her. He briefly glanced over his shoulder. They must have been keeping their distance.
They are. Evan’s voice slithered between his thoughts. One’s by the door. The other is near the emergency exit.
Julius looked and spotted them immediately. Dressed in plain black, they looked normal amongst the crowd, if a bit understated. Julius memorized their faces.
What’s their plan?
Not sure yet. Remember the plan. Convince Erica to leave with us. When they follow, Asher and I will track them back to their den.
Got it.
“Erica,” Julius grabbed her hand before it left the bar. A zing of pleasure shot through him. Her pulse spiked and surprise recoiled it back to her chest when she saw him.
“Oh shit,” she gasped, fumbling with a large bottle in her hand. Then dread rearranged her features into terror. For a moment, it looked as if she was going to hurl the bottle at his face and run.
“I need you to listen to me. You’re in danger.”
“Yeah, I know.” Her gaze swept his frame before scanning the crowded club. He tried to brush off the hurt.
“Not from me.”
You need to hurry, Evan said quickly. You’ve been spotted, and their alpha has given them the order to take her if you showed. We have to go.
Julius looked up. The shifter near the door moved from the wall. From across the room, the other nodded and they made their way through the crowd toward him.
Asher and I will intercept. Focus on Erica. Take her if you have to.
Take her? Ice surged through Julius. If Evan wanted to steal Erica away, his brother must have seen what nasty plans they had in store for her. He turned back to Erica.
“There’s a man by the door coming toward us. Bald head. You see him?” He leaned in closer to her. She looked over his shoulder, eyes searching through the crowd until they paused near the entrance, just next to where security was checking people in and out. She nodded, eyes never looking away from the heavyset man. “He’s been following you.”
Her head volleyed from the man coming toward them and back to him.
“W-what do they want?” Erica backed up into a case of bottles, looking for a way out.
“You. We have to leave right now.”
16
ERICA
ERICA WATCHED THROUGH the darkness as a man, thick like a Sequoya, weaved through the thicket of patrons. Her heart lodged in her throat.
“What do I do?” She hadn’t realized she’d said the words aloud until Julius responded.
“Come with me.”
She looked into his emerald eyes. A larger part of her than she cared to admit found comfort in them. She shouldn’t have. Not after finding out what he was. But now that Julius’s reassuring presence was in front of her, things felt different. Easy. Normal.
She nodded and placed the bottle of liquor in her hand down in its cradle. In a daze, she pressed the comms in her ear.
“Stick.” Her voice was shaky.
“Erica, are you okay?” Her boss’s voice calmed her slightly.
Julius appeared next to her like he’d mastered teleportation. One moment, he was on the opposite side of the bar, the next he was standing right next to her. Standing much too close for her sanity. Erica wasn’t sure if she should be deathly afraid or completely aroused. Despite what her body was telling her, her brain chose the former.
“You have to do this on the way out.” Julius grabbed her forearm and pulled her from the platform and down into the crowd. Pleasure erupted from his fingertips and across her skin. Small zings at first. But it became stronger the longer he held on. Just like it had felt when he’d licked almost every inch of her.
“Hey, stop that.” Her words were at odds with her feet’s compliance. Her feet, the stinking traitors that they were, would probably follow for as long as the pleasure coursed through her. She yanked her arm away from him. Despite feeling a sense of desperate loss, she let Julius take a stride away from her. What the heck was happening? She looked down at her forearm then back to Julius. Was he doing that?
“Erica, you have the night,” her boss said over the comms in her ear, jolting her back to the present. “Your friends explained everything.”
Her friends? They were not her friends. As soon as she opened her mouth to tell Stick that, the heavyset man was bulldozed by someone equally as large and slammed into the side wall.
“This way.” Julius navigated away from them. It didn’t take long for a fight to start. Several bouncers were already running toward it, poised to break it up.<
br />
As with any disruption, curious heads turned toward the men throwing fists. Bodies caught in a stasis watched the fight. Except one. The second man, just as intimidating as the one behind her, cut toward them.
Julius murmured something against her ear that she couldn’t make out. He didn’t touch her this time, but the vibrations from his voice sent shockwaves of pleasure shooting down her neck. The music down in the pit was loud. Much too loud to keep focus. Even though she tried to drown it out, she couldn’t hear anything but the drumbeat in her ear. Or was that her pulse quickening at Julius’s touch?
“An exit,” he repeated. This time, the sound clarity was marginally better.
Before she could reply, Julius tugged her toward the entrance. They weren’t going to make it out. Not with the line that had formed. A wave of screams erupted in the middle of the pit.
“Oh my God,” a girl shouted from behind her. Someone bumped into her.
“Don’t look back.” Julius weaved through a crowd too distracted to notice they’d cut ahead of them in line.
Then chaos erupted. Several screams rang out. Julius tugged her out the door just as the club burst. He hastily led her down the stairs. Groups of people stampeded behind them and onto the sidewalk.
“Come, we can’t stop.” Julius didn’t look down at her, only kept his attention focused ahead of them. His fingers twisted with hers. Waves of pleasure made her shiver. She suppressed a moan and followed his large strides to the road.
“Jules,” a voice called out from the street. A girl with black hair and golden eyes pulled up to the curb alongside them. She didn’t look old enough to drive. “Get in.”
Julius ushered her into the backseat, then got in behind her.
“Where’s Evan?” the girl asked.
“Inside. He hasn’t come out,” Julius replied.
The girl pulled away from the curb and honked at several people loitering in the street. She looked ready to run them over if they didn’t move.
“Aren’t we going to wait for him?” Erica pointed back at Stick’s nightclub.
“He can take care of himself,” the girl in the front said, then slammed on her brakes and laid on the horn. Several partiers yelled for her to watch where she was going. She gave them the finger and shouted, “Move, or I’ll move you.”
The nose of the car bucked forward in warning. The sea parted to let them through. She gunned it. Erica flinched, thinking she was definitely going to run over a few people with how close they were. The girl wasn’t worried. To Erica’s surprise, they made it past the collection of patrons that waddled into the street without taking anyone out. As soon as they drove through the crowd, the girl flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked in the rearview mirror at Erica.
“I feel like I know you already. I’m Danica. But you can call me Dani.”
Erica looked at her with confusion but introduced herself to be polite. “Erica.”
Dani looked between her and Julius. “You mean, you haven’t told her about me?”
The screech in Dani’s voice made Erica jump in her seat.
“Oh, come on Jules. You promised.”
“Hardly the time.” Julius was preoccupied with his phone.
“I’m his sister, and it looks like dufus here didn’t say anything even though he promised to soften you up to me.”
“You’re the one who helped him with the flowers.”
Dani beamed with pride and nodded.
“At least he didn’t take all the credit, like he usually does.” She gave her brother a pointed look. “Julius has been falling all over himself for you. You must be special.”
“Dani, focus on the road.”
Immediately, the animated girl in the front seat stopped talking, lips squeezing into a pucker.
“Erica, I need you to be honest with me. Who were those men?” Julius asked from beside her. Even his voice washed her with pleasure. She hadn’t realized she was leaning up against him until he adjusted himself. Immediately, she flung herself to the opposite side of the backseat and strapped in. She needed to keep herself together. There were two men after her, and she was completely entranced by the vampire beside her. She focused on his question.
“I never seen them before.” Panic rose in her throat.
Dani groaned from the front of the car. “He’s gotten ahead of himself. The two men in the club were shifters.”
“Dani, you could be a bit more discreet,” Julius said, chiding his sister. “You’re going to scare her.”
“What discretion? She already knows what you are. No point in cutting corners now.”
“A-are you one too?” Erica cringed at the thought of being in a car, trapped between two vampires.
Dani was silent when they came to a stoplight, then sighed. “I see there’s a lot my brother has to tell you. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“So, I’ve heard,” Erica said. “Why does everyone keep telling me that?”
“Your heart is racing.” Julius’s voice was soft. Comforting. But he didn’t look at her, only stared at his phone. “It’s an earmark of fear.”
Erica clutched at her chest as if putting her hand on it would placate her heart and make it slow down. “Is it—distracting?”
“No, why would it be?” Dani turned the corner and entered an underground parking garage. “Now, the shifters in the nightclub.”
“I don’t know who they are. I’ve never seen them in my life.”
“What about the ones in your apartment?” Julius asked.
The air left Erica for a moment, and her heart thumped erratically in her chest at the memory. Her brain told her not to think of it. To forget it ever happened. It was too scary to relive.
“He said something about Max.” Erica’s voice pinched inside of her throat.
“Who’s Max?” Dani asked looking at them again.
“Her ex.”
“What’s he doing in bed with shifters? That’s nasty business.”
“His father owes Splinters money,” Erica explained.
“I’m sorry, did you just say Splinters?” Dani asked. “THE Splinters? For the all gods, Splinters is after you? What the hell did you get yourself into?” The questions were directed toward her, but Erica had no answers.
“Who’s Splinters?” she and Julius asked in unison.
Dani’s golden eyes flickered over to Julius, who’d hardened into stone. “Haven’t you been paying attention, Jules? He’s a trader.”
“Then what does he want with Erica? She’s not supernatural. I’m sure once he’s made aware of that fact, he’ll leave her alone.”
Dani didn’t look convinced. “You don’t understand, Jules. Splinters is ruthless. Anyone in the body trade has to be, but Splinters is his own kind of sadistic. If someone owes him, he’ll find a way to get it back. No matter the cost.”
“We can find the money, whatever the cost. We’ll arrange a payoff. Things will be fine. Come, let’s get up to the suite. We can discuss this further up there.” Julius remained calm as his sister pulled up to the entrance.
“No dice. I have to go back for Evan.”
Julius nodded at his sister as they got out. “Find him safe.”
“Will do.”
Dani shot off in the car, tires screaming as she took several turns more wildly than necessary as she went back for her brother.
“Will he be okay? We could have waited...”
“My brother knows how to defend himself.” His voice was like gravel. Rough. “Our first priority is you.”
“Me? Why me?”
Julius’s expression was unreadable as he ushered her into the hotel lobby. She looked around at the gold-plated elevator doors and marble floors. It definitely wasn’t the kind of digs she would’ve expected a clan of vampires to hole up in. “Is this where you’re staying?”
“It is. I got stuck in this dump since my coffin is in the shop.” Julius shrugged.
Erica tried to hold in a laugh. He’d make
a joke out of everything. “Yeah, what a dump. Much too clean for my tastes. Give me cramped quarters and claustrophobia any day.”
A long, awkward silence passed between them as they waited for the elevator to open.
“For as long as I can remember,” Julius said, “I have always known what to say. But now, I find I am at a loss.”
“You can start with the truth.”
The elevator doors opened and they boarded. She felt the tug of the elevator pulling them upward. An even stronger one pulled her toward Julius.
“Nothing I have said to you has been a lie.”
No, it wasn’t. He’d told her that he was a vampire. She’d just refused to believe it.
“How could I believe you? You’re… well, normal.”
“Most of us are.”
“Y-you walk around in the sunlight, for crying out loud!”
“We are light sensitive, but we do well at all times of day once our eyes adjust. In most ways we are the same as humans.”
“Except the…” Erica swallowed a lump that formed in her throat, the last bit squeezed out in a whisper. “…blood thing.”
“No creature of size can survive without it. We have a genetic defect that makes it impossible for us to produce it on our own. So, we must ingest it.”
“From humans?” Her voice squeaked.
“Human blood is preferable. Although my kingdom has been looking for alternate forms. There’s one alternative that shows promise. We call it synth blood. My siblings and I have transitioned to it for nearly a year. It doesn’t make us as strong as human blood does. But it will suffice. If we can produce enough, it’ll keep my people from starving. But, it’s really expensive to produce. That’s why we’re here, in your world.”
“My world?”
“I should probably start over. Hi, I am Julius Craul, third son to the great king, mid-prince of Elder. I hail from the vampire realm.”
“Vampire realm…”
“Yes, there are several known realms. Many have yet to be explored. But there are three that we’ve studied extensively. This one, which we call the alter realm or human realm. My realm, which is the vampire realm.”
Love Bitten (Vampire Blood Royals Book 1) Page 14
