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4
Gabriel
Ileaned against the hammered copper bar of Ruby’s Speakeasy and took a sip of blood-wine. The music in the Syndicate’s exclusive underground club was thick with the pounding beat of hard, sweaty sex. Paintings of vampires and humans in various erotic combinations hung on the walls, and candles in red glass votives flickered on small black tables. In the speakeasy’s nooks and crannies, the plush couches had been claimed by vampires and their thralls.
Three days had passed with no news about Zaq. Three days in which I hid my worry for my brother behind a cool exterior while managing the Syndicate’s many concerns. These days, most of our businesses were legal, if not completely aboveboard. Casinos up and down the East Coast. Exclusive clubs and trendy restaurants. A media group that owned everything from magazines to TV stations. Hell, even a major New York investment bank.
I’d worked twelve-hour nights, often staying up past dawn. With Tomas’s help, I was staying on top of things. My father would be proud when he finally returned.
Ifhe returned.
I tightened my grip on my wine glass.
It was as if he’d fallen along with Zaq into some fucking black hole. What was going on? And how long was I supposed to wait before I said the hell with it and went looking for them?
I didn’t even have Rafe to discuss things with, because of Father’s prohibition against unnecessary communication.
Two of the Syndicate’s newest thralls sidled up on either side of me, both dark-haired with olive skin and full, kissable mouths. One of my men must’ve sent them over.
“Hello, Gabriel.” The one on the left raked bold black eyes down my body. “You look…lonely.”
I hesitated, but Rafe had been right. It had been too long since I’d fed from a warm human throat. The music throbbed in my groin, the insistent beat reminding me it had also been too damn long since I’d had a woman.
Vampires looked down on dhampirs as weak half-breeds, but in my opinion, I had the best of both worlds—a vampire’s powers and enhanced senses, and yet I lived and breathed just like a human, and if necessary, could even survive without blood. Still, drinking blood amped up my vampire half, made me stronger, faster, more powerful. Extended my already long life by centuries—and made me damn near irresistible to a human.
Too bad it hadn’t worked on the only human I’d ever really wanted. My mouth twisted.
The thralls lost their smiles, edged away.
She’s never coming back. And you need blood and a good fuck.
I set the wine glass on the copper bar and reeled the two women back in. “Not lonely. Waiting for you.”
They smirked, playing the game. The thrall with the bold eyes pressed closer. I racked my brain for her name.
“Krystal. Can I buy you a drink?”
“I’d like that.” Her smile said she’d like that and more.
The thrall on my right slid her hand beneath the collar of my silk shirt. A sharp nail toyed with my nipple.
Her name I knew. “Gina. What can I get you?”
Even white teeth closed around my earlobe. “Something cool…and wet.”
I don’t apologize for drinking from thralls, or using their soft human bodies. We pay them well, and they’re free to leave whenever they wish. If some stay longer than is good for them, they can’t say they haven’t been warned.
It’s no secret that a human can get addicted to the high of being fed on. A blood high, they call it. I’m told it makes the sex incredible.
“Can do. Two mojitos,” I told a server in a tiny black dress and steered the women toward a nearby alcove.
Krystal nuzzled my neck. “I’ve always wanted to do one of the Dark Angels.”
I turned my head to smile down on her and stilled.
Mila Vittore.Twenty feet away, staring at me like I was a ghost.
It was as if my craving had conjured her out of the speakeasy’s dark corners.
