Chapter 1
Jamal
Tonight was the night I would leave.
I repeated this to myself over and over as I walked out of The Purple Fang, the male strip club my coven owned on Bourbon Street in The French Quarter of New Orleans. It was where we performed, and also where we fed. And the only place I felt like I didn't belong to anyone but myself.
It hadn't been my choice to work there. We were forced into the club by the restrictions of the witches. However, taking off my clothes for an audience was my choice. The women I gave special attention to in the back room were my choice. And the women I fed from and sometimes fucked were my choice.
Not anyone else's. MINE.
I pulled up the collar of my jacket to keep the wind off the back of my neck as I checked out the vibe outside the club. Things could get a little dicey in this part of the city at night, and it was always good to know what I was about to walk into. Wouldn't want to get caught by surprise and vamp out on somebody by accident. That always caused all kinds of problems. Girls screaming. Dudes pissing their pants. People getting trampled. And it was hard to catch everyone who saw what happened so we could make them forget. Then we had to bring the witches in, and they never failed to give us shit about it.
Girls who'd traded their bras for beads after too many Hurricanes and now couldn't find their hotel? I was more than happy to help get them there safe and sound in exchange for a tiny sip of that sweet blood they would never remember. Guys who couldn't handle their alcohol and were chasing each other up and down the street with busted beer bottles? Yeah, nah. Imma be getting the hell out of there quick. Let the cops handle those idiots.
It had started raining sometime earlier this afternoon, so Bourbon Street was relatively empty. And I was glad for it because I didn't bring the car. At least with no one around I didn't have to pretend to be human. I'd be home before the rain had a chance to soak my clothes. I could pack some stuff and be out of there before Killian had a chance to stop me. Because that's exactly what he would do. He wouldn't be able to help himself, no matter how much I told him I needed to go. And that's the only reason I had to sneak out without saying goodbye to him and the other four vampires I'd spent so many decades with. But he left me no choice. And if I timed it just right, I could be in a completely new place by Christmas.
I started home, but I'd only gone about two blocks when I remembered I'd told Lizzy--Killian's new mate--I would stop by her shop for her. She'd left her dog's medication there, and rather than have her run out in the cold rain to get it, I told her I would stop on my way home since Killian was going to be stuck at the club for a while yet. My last good deed.
I liked Lizzy, and I liked her dog, Wiggles, and not only because she kept Killian off my back most of the time. It was just nice having another woman in the house. Good to come home and have the house smell like whatever she'd cooked for dinner. I couldn't eat it, but it was still nice. And she was an easy person to be around. She made it comfortable there. Homey. So, for her, I'd trek an extra few blocks out of my way, and even get my clothes wet.
About half a block from Lizzy's store, Ancient Magicks, I slowed down, narrowing my eyes. With my dark skin and clothes, it was easy for me to step into the entrance to a courtyard and not be noticed. Someone had just come out the door, the tinkling of the bell over the door coming to me easily down the empty street. The person's back was to me, and all I could tell was that it was a woman. Human. Her scent tickled my nose, made stronger by the humidity in the air. With a wave of her hand, she locked the door again--or so I assumed--looked up and down the street, and walked away, her hands shoved in her pockets and her bright red hair mostly covered with the hood of her black raincoat.
A witch. I knew that red hair, bright as a candied apple against her pale, white skin, reminding me of Leeloo inThe Fifth Element. One of my favorite movies. As I watched her walk away, I let the witch put some distance between us as memories flashed through my head, one after the other.
Angel, that was her name. Angel Moss. One of the witches from the local coven run by Judy, Lizzy's aunt. I'd seen her around here and there over the last few years, but my most recent memory was from the night we'd all been here at the shop as they cast a spell to try to find Kenya, my best friend in the coven, after she'd disappeared on us. My stomach clenched as I remembered that night. It was something I'd rather try to forget. Like, for real.
When she was a good three blocks away from me, I started to follow her, curious as to what she was doing in there this late. I hadn't seen anything in her hands, but that didn't mean anything. She was a witch. She could hide shit easily. A fucking elephant could be strolling alongside her and I would never know it if she didn't want me to.
That kind of shit creeped out some vampires, and I was one hundred and fifty percent one of those bloodsuckers. It was strange, because I grew up with women--and some men--practicing voodoo they'd brought with them from Haiti when they were forced to relocate to this country. But what the witches here practiced was nothing like voodoo. Nah.Thatshit was a different beast entirely. And it made my skin crawl like roaches were embedded in the muscle beneath it.
Angel stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk, her head turning slightly, like she was listening to something. I ducked into a doorway, my own sensitive ears attuned to the night, but I heard nothing but the rain hitting the pavement and my own soft breathing. Did she sense me here somehow? I waited for her to turn around and look right at me, but she didn't. After a few heartbeats, she crossed the street and headed toward the Garden District. I wondered why she hadn't brought her car. It was a bit of a trek from our hood to hers on a cold, rainy night.
A few seconds later, I followed her, knowing I may not find out anything if she crossed into her neighborhood. It was warded by the witches. They would know as soon as I stepped foot over the line, and then there would be more questions than I was ready to answer. She walked two more blocks and turned a corner. Looking around to make sure there were no witnesses, I jogged ahead at vamp speed, slowing down only when I'd reached the street she'd turned on. I waited a heartbeat, and then leaned out around the corner. But she was fucking gone.
I walked around the corner, narrowing my eyes against the rain, but I couldn't find her anywhere. There was no way she'd made it to the next turn that fast. So she'd either gone inside one of these houses, or she'd known I was following her the entire time. "Dammit," I muttered.
"Why are you following me, vampire?"
I whipped around with a curse to find her directly behind me, hands in the pockets of her rain jacket, head tilted with curiosity.
"Hey, Leeloo."
She didn't bother to correct me, even though I knew the nickname irked her, which is why I used it. Instead, she just stood there, waiting for an explanation.
"What are you doing sneaking around Lizzy's shop?" I didn't know the extent of her magic, but from the way my skin tingled, and how my immediate instinct was to run as fast and far as I could, I figured it was safe to assume she was one of the more powerful ones. So I figured lying probably wasn't my best option here. That left me with avoidance.
To my surprise, she didn't push it. "None of your business." She went to walk around me, and without thinking I grabbed her elbow to stop her.
A current of energy whipped up my arm, zapping me like I'd just licked a live electrical wire, and I jerked back, releasing my hold on her and throwing my hands in front of me, palms out. Baring my teeth as the hair rose on the back of my neck, I muttered, "Sorry, princess."
"Don't flash your fangs at me, vampire. I'm not afraid of your bite."
My cock twitched in my pants as I wondered if her blood was as spicy as her personality. "Keep your fucking magic in check, Leeloo. I just wanna talk."
"There's nothing for us to discuss," she told me. "I was in the shop. The shop once owned by our coven and still owned by my cousin, who will be a full member as soon as she stops trying to deny her heritage. It's none of your concern why I was there or what I was doing. End of discussion. Now stop following me."
She turned to leave, and I reached out to stop her again before I remembered myself and rushed around her to block her path instead. She stopped when I appeared in front of her, her face a mask of impatience, but she didn't try to go around me or zap me out of her way. She didn't even startle when I suddenly showed up there. "I'm getting wet," she said in a bored voice.
