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me, Nolan, you’re better off with nothing than with that. When we’re done here, if you still want to do this, I want you to go see Leary Fallon on 8th. Tell him I sent you. He’ll get you something useful. Don’t ever bring a stake to the hunt again. ”
I brushed my hands on my dress, offended by what I’d just touched.
“What do you mean when we’re done here?” he asked nervously, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. His Brooklyn accent seemed to thicken in relation to how frightened he was.
“You really want to be a vampire hunter, Nolan?”
“Yes. ” This time he spoke with total confidence. If Nolan made it through the night, I wanted to hear his story, his whole story.
“All right then. ” I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the alley. “Time for lesson one. ”
“W-w-which is?” He was so surprised I’d been able to move him, he wasn’t even fighting me. He would be putty if someone got the thrall on him.
“We meet a real vampire. ”
We passed under a streetlight, and he got his first good look at my face.
“Secret? What’s wrong with your eyes? They’re…” His voice was cold with fear.
My eyes were solid black, of course. I had the vampire hunger to thank for that. Pretty soon I wouldn’t be able to stop from flashing fang, but I was hoping to save that for a more opportune moment.
“You’ll see,” I promised, as we came to a stop in front of the entrance to Havana. “You’ll see. ”
Chapter Nineteen
Havana was like no other club I’d ever been to. This was my first foray into the interior of the establishment, and I was amazed by how different it was from what I’d expected. It was dimly lit, but not the moody darkness of a human bar. Even if the lights had been lowered it would have been more for ambience than anything else, because dark or light, the vampires there could see perfectly.
The music was kept at midlevel volume rather than blaring obnoxiously. It helped create an illusion of privacy.
Nolan and I entered into a small antechamber where a spiral staircase set into the floor promised to lead us onward. The walls were a deep, rich green color and the floor was polished black hardwood. Heavy brocade curtains were draped over doorframes and windows to protect the secrets that lay beyond.
Between us and the staircase a slender girl sat in a high-backed armchair. She had her legs crossed at the knee, and her fingers were tented in front of her smirking lips. Her hair was white blonde and cut short in an asymmetrical pixie style that complemented her angular facial features. She reminded me of Sig, if he were a waifish, arresting girl.
She wore a simple black minidress, which accented the ten miles of leg she was showing off. Her sky-high purple pumps made me both jealous of her and self-conscious of my own height and footwear.
The gatekeeper couldn’t have been more than sixteen when she died, but she wore her power like a tailored suit. She didn’t give off a vibe of old age some vamps did, but she felt important to me, and I knew I should give her my respect, if not for my sake, then for Nolan’s.
I relaxed my grip on the boy’s arm and skated my hands over his too-tight shirt, my fingernails dragging over his chest. Then, catching a fistful of the T-shirt material, I yanked him towards me. I couldn’t tell him what I was doing, so I hoped he’d be smart enough to play along. We moved to stand in front of the girl, and the tremor of Nolan’s throbbing heart pulsed against my chest.
The girl hadn’t moved an inch, not to take a breath or bat an eyelash. She was sizing us both up, and the twist of a smile on her lips didn’t falter for a moment. When she began to speak, I knew immediately the power of this girl was not to be trifled with.
“You’ve brought a beautiful toy to us, assassin. ” Her voice was a honey-smooth drawl, and judging by the tension that eased out of Nolan, she was one of the few vampires in the world who could enthrall with voice alone.
My lip curled. Of course she would know who I was. My own heartbeat was the one thing I couldn’t hide, and this girl was smart enough to put the pieces together. But it didn’t hinder my plan.
“If you know me, then you also know I am a warden now,” I replied.
She crossed, then uncrossed her legs elegantly, but her gaze never left my face. The smile remained, but there was a coolness in her expression.
“Yes, I suppose you are. ” Her accent was Southern, but not the same way Grandmere’s was. I would stake money on Georgia for this one. The ladylike poise, tweaked for modernity, was another hint at a belle’s upbringing. So was the forced politeness.
Maybe it was the voice, but in spite of her obvious disdain for me, I sort of found myself liking her. Tough nuts are endearing to me.
“Very well, warden. What can Havana offer you tonight?” Her head tilted to the side, big green eyes boring into me. “You look a little…hungry. ”
I’d never heard the word sound so erotic before. Feeding was a high for most vampires, but I’d never experienced it that way, at least not until my dream with Holden. I had fed to kill, fed to eat and fed to live, but never fed for lust. The way the gatekeeper said it made it sound like there was no other way.
My hand tightened on Nolan’s shirt. “This one is mine. ”
