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Or maybe that’s wishful thinking.
We get to the main floor and I poke my head into the kitchen, looking for my mom but she’s not there. Usually she’d have appetizers ready that I can just grab and put out in the club, but I don’t see any. Vampires may not love sitting down for heavy meals, but they are quite the grazers, especially when drinking alcohol.
Then we go down another level to the nightclub, pushing open the swinging wooden doors with the death’s head moth engraved on them, and stepping inside.
“There you are,” Ezra grumbles, popping up from behind the bar. Then he frowns. “Wolf, are my eyes deceiving me or are you glittering this evening?”
Wolf shrugs and runs his hand over his jaw in a casual manner, even though he’s getting silver sparkle makeup all over his hand. “Just your ordinary run of the mill vampire,” he comments. “And what are you supposed to be, a fuckhead?”
Ezra looks down at his clothes, dressed as usual in dark colors. “Not in my costume yet, asshole.”
“You’re actually dressing up?” I ask Ezra as he comes out from around the bar and gives me the once over. “I’m impressed. Thought Lenore and I would be the only ones.”
Ezra’s upper lip curls into a snarl. He’s quite the snarly guy, a personality quirk that suits him. His background, from many centuries ago, is Italian, so he’s got the olive skin, dark curly hair, and brooding eyes and leans hard into the whole smoldering thing. I can see why my friend Shannon was so taken with him back in the day, but once she discovered he was a bit of a jerk, the crush wore off.
“And who are you supposed to be?” he asks, glancing at my cleavage. “Yourself?”
I burst out laughing. That was actually a good one, though I swear Wolf bristles beside me, as if he took that joke more personally than I did.
“Hey,” Ezra says to him. “I need some help with the keg in the back.”
They walk off down the length of the club to the storage room and I take in the sight of Dark Eyes in the Halloween spirit, thanks to the decorating job that Wolf and I did earlier.
That’s when I feel a cold energy suddenly beside me, signaling the boss’s arrival.
Chapter 3
Amethyst
“Well done,” Solon comments to me in that smooth voice of his.
I turn my head to look at the vampire who is now standing in Dark Eyes beside me. Always feels like he appears from out of nowhere. “You really think so?”
Getting a compliment from Solon is like pulling teeth, so I’m taking what I can. Plus, there’s the fact that I’m forever in his debt and revere him completely.
He tilts his head slightly to study my decorations strewn across the club, a mannerism that reminds me of a bird of prey. “Of course,” he says, dark brow arched. “I suppose it’s a little on the gaudy side, but that’s to be expected when you’re dealing with human design.”
I give him a wry look. “You know, had Lenore actually helped with the decorating, maybe you would have more of a vampire touch.”
He bites back a rare laugh, his blue eyes twinkling. “Oh please. Lenore has only been a vampire for six months. She’s very much a twenty-one-year-old girl from the Bay Area. Plus, you know, her parents being witches and all, I don’t quite care for that whole…” he waves his fingers around, “aesthetic. Little too earthy for me.”
I look back at the room. Honestly, I think it looks pretty good considering Dark Eyes has such a vibe of its own; mahogany wood furniture appliqued with velvet, tall ceramic vases with stately pampas grass, the mirror-backed, well-stocked bar lined with gleaming brass finishes that would fit in any film noir. Maybe some of the Halloween decorations look childish and cheesy but that’s what he gets when I shop at the Dollar Mart. At least Wolf being in charge of the cobwebs gave the place a realistic, creepy quality that reminds me of the lobby in the now-defunct Tower of Terror at Disneyland.
“You did a good job, Amethyst,” Solon adds, and from his patient tone, I know he’s trying to placate me.
“Thanks boss,” I tell him.
“Boss?” he asks. “New nickname? Makes me sound like a crime lord.”
“Well, you kind of are.”
Not only does Solon (pronounced Saul-on) look like a mob boss with his expensive Tom Ford suits, black hair, and piercing stare, but he sort of runs this town. Not just the vampires, either; he has a lot of influence with humans (and witches too). Everyone wants to be him and yet they fear him at the same time. It hasn’t helped that he’s done things in the past—like the time a vampire attacked Lenore during a ball and Solon reached into the vampire’s chest, pulled out his beating heart, set it on fire, and then stuck it back in his chest until he went up in flames. I missed that scene, but it sounded pretty fucking hard-core.
