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Empath! I swung my fists at him. My hand was two centimeters away from slapping his face when it was caught and held in his powerful grip. The smug smirk was replaced by cold anger. “Don’t do that again.”
I felt a slow shiver from his words, but I was beyond caring. “Don’t ever call me that again!” I waited in thick silence before he released my hand. It dropped with a thud to my side, but I still fought from swinging my other hand.
“Fine, then you can stop calling me Vampire. My name is Luke, not Roane.”
I shrugged and sniffed, “Whatever.”
“Why did you kiss me?”
“Because… we made a deal. It was the only thing I could do to stop you from doing that thing again.”
“That thing?” Roane—Luke—echoed with a twinge of laughter in his voice. “What do you mean by ‘that thing’?”
I knew this test. It was more about me than him. He just wanted to know what I knew. “It’s what you, vampires, do when you want to search inside someone’s head. It’s worse than what I can do. You put your eye radar on that person and they can’t move so you can take your time looking through their brain index. I hate it and I really hate that Adam doesn’t even know what you did. He just thinks…”
I felt like I could vomit.
“He saw you kiss me,” Luke finished for me.
“Now he’ll think…” I didn’t know what exactly he’d think, but with a sinking heart, I knew there was nothing I could do now.
“Want to know what he thinks? I can tell you.”
It must’ve been my imagination because I detected a small bit of sympathy in his tone. Vampires weren’t sympathetic. I’d gone crazy. I lied, “No.”
“He likes you. He thinks I’m a bastard, but he’s worried about your welfare. He won’t be deterred from the kiss. Trust me.”
“Really?” The vampire was a complete contrast of emotions. I hated him, I needed him, and now—I was grateful to him.
He sighed and then swung towards the door. “Let’s go.”
“This place?” I still disliked this place. “We don’t have to go here now. They’re gone. We can go and find Kates now.”
“This is where Kates is.” Roane moved towards the door and a bouncer swept it open. Roane passed through like he owned the place. I was forced to reluctantly follow and when he turned down into a back hallway I knew this night had gone from bad to worse.
“Let’s go!” he commanded down the hallway and then I saw him open a door.
I sighed and quickened my pace even though this went against how I usually operated. I liked to slowly wade in and get my surroundings before I made rash decisions. It hadn’t been a rash decision to light Craig on fire. I’d thought and planned for weeks in advance and then the night came along. This was different. I’d been to the Shoilster, but I’d never been down a back hallway and certainly not a basement. The door was left open, but Luke was already downstairs and out of my eyesight.
“Get down here, now!”
My foot reacted first and I fumbled my way down the stairs. What I saw when I got to the end brought my jaw to the ground, almost literally.
The main floor of the Shoilster was used for dining and dancing. Not the basement. The basement looked like another secret gathering of vampires. They were everywhere. Some sat on plush red couches that lined the walls. Some stood in the middle, between two ponds that shown a sparkling reflection on the ceiling. I wondered if there were crystals or diamonds in the ponds, but then I forgot my question as my gaze caught and held on a girl in a back corner.
Kates.
She stood with a sultry smile on her face and her body was leaning suggestively towards a guy who looked like he’d love to ravish her that night. They both held crystal goblets with red liquid and I had a fleeting thought that his might hold blood, but Kates’ would’ve had merlot. For all her dressings, she was a wine girl through and through.
I didn’t know how long I stood there, but when a few vampires started to send glances my way, I decided it was time to mingle—or… just move. I moved. Like any other bar patron, I found myself at the crowded counter with no chance of heralding a bartender. It was packed. I was surprised that I’d even noticed Kates in the first place.
“Are you alone?” The question came out smoothly, too smoothly, and the blonde vampire stood tall. He was over six feet with a square jaw and sparkling blue eyes.
I smiled for different reasons. Roane had disappeared so I was alone. Then I smiled because this vampire thought I was a lost, misdirected little human who had no idea he thirsted for my blood. I felt a wave of confidence sweep through and I relaxed for the first time in awhile. Leaning back against the counter I slipped into Silvia’s persona. I held a hand out. “What’s your name? You look like… a Ben? No. Maybe a… Royce. Are you a Royce? Are you the sixteenth heir in a line of royal blue bloods? You dress the part. Is that custom fitted?”
I gave the vampire credit. He was startled, but he rolled easily on his heels and he returned with charm,
“It is actually. I can order something for you, if you’d like.”
