2 Sean Hayden (12 page)

"I want to go dancing," Vic said sheepishly. It kind of surprised me; I didn't think anybody who danced for a living would get any pleasure from doing it in their time off. I looked over at Marcel and he nodded affirmatively at her suggestion.

"You two go, enjoy yourselves. I think I shall stay here and rest," Marcel with a small smile.

"Hey, Thompson," I hollered through the door. "We're going dancing. You wanna go?" I never expected a response.

Chapter 12

I glanced up at the name of the club and made a face that caused Vic to laugh heartily next to me. "NOS4A2 Nation" glared at me in gothic styled neon. I glanced over at Victoria and rolled my eyes. "Are you kidding me?" I pointed at the sign glaring above the door.

"Be nice, I used to come here a lot before Santiago gave me a job at the club. The nosferatu that own the place are cute in an ugly sort of way and they have killer, killer music." Vic opened the heavy glass door letting said music hit us full force. Not being a fan of techno, I avoided rolling my eyes at her a second time and walked into the club.

My mouth dropped open in surprise. The building housing NOS4A2 Nation looked pretty nondescript and almost shoddy in appearance, but when you walked through the door, you literally stepped into another world. Since I joined the FBI, I've been to some pretty remarkable places and some pretty cheesy clubs. This one topped the remarkable ones exponentially. The far wall of the room wasn't a wall at all. Whoever decorated the club imported enough stone to build a castle, literally. It wasn't a fairy princess castle either. Imagine the gloomiest castle in all of Europe, and then make it tenfold darker. I expected the dark knight to come charging from its depths, but it was just a façade that stretched thirty feet in the air.

The dance floor sat nestled about three feet below the main entrance in a sunken pit. I don't think one more person could have occupied the floor without a good coating of butter. A sea of people undulated to the throbbing pulses of the trance music pumped out through speakers that looked like they'd been ripped from a major league baseball stadium. My ears hurt, but I found my head bobbing to the music. I gained a little insight into Vic's fascination with the club.

Vic grabbed my hand and led us to one of the very few unoccupied spots at the rear of the club and parked her butt on a stool at the high top table. I half expected her to drag me out on the dance floor and gave her a quizzical look. She held her hand up and began looking around for someone, or something.

I decided to engage in a little people watching. As soon as I glanced around, I realized I should have just kept my eyes in my head and saved myself some serious embarrassment. Every guy within a ten-table radius stared at Vic and I as if we were a couple of T-bones. I felt more than a little self-conscious and wished Marcel or Thompson had deigned to come with us.

I glanced back at Vic and she smiled and waved at someone. I glanced in the direction she stared and saw a tall, gangly, bald man, who could only be a nosferatu, wave back and start making his way to our table. I could only stare more as he got closer to our table. I'd seen pictures of the elusive nosferatu, but never met one in person. The pictures didn't do them justice. They weren't ugly; but they were scary. Even when he smiled at Vic it didn't erase the fear factor from his face.

"Viktor," Vic said with a little squeal and launched herself into his arms. I giggled a little at the "Viktor, Victoria" thought that flittered across my mind and I smiled at the utter exuberance Vic showed at seeing her friend. Then jealousy reared its ugly little head. Only for a moment, but I recognized it at once and mentally swatted myself.

"Hello, sunshine," Viktor replied with a deep accent and a small smile. I tried to place the accent with little success. It wasn't Russian, and for some reason it struck me as older, much older.

"Viktor, come meet my
new
master," she said and released the nosferatu, dragging him closer to the table. I stood and made my way around the table and held out my hand.

"Hi," I said and watched the smile fade from his face as he looked at my eyes. He slowly raised his hand and grasped mine without ever taking his gaze from me. Before I could feel his cold flesh, the club fell away. I broke my cardinal rule. I never looked vampires in the eye anymore; when I did bad things happened.

The club vanished and Viktor and I hovered in the air, illuminated from within. As usual, I hovered over the massive body of water I'd learned was the embodiment of my power. Every other vamp I captured with my gaze usually did the same, hovering over their own ocean, lake, or pond depending on their strength. Viktor hovered, but it was over a dry, barren desert, bereft of life. I watched as the waves of my power lapped at his sandy beach. He looked around him and sighed. Just when I formed the first of my questions, he disappeared.

I came to standing in the club and the mysterious Viktor still holding my hand. I avoided his eyes and looked down at my hand in his. My talons I'd seen a million times before, but
his
hand I stared at intently. It looked like somebody had taken every bone in his hand and fingers and stretched them until they doubled in length. His handshake literally wrapped around my hand. His skin held a rough quality, and if anything, his body temperature appeared colder than mine. The nosferatu held the honor of being the oldest of the vampire races, and now I understood why people truly thought us the undead.

"Pleased to meet you," Viktor said and turned around, walking into the crowd of people I'd completely forgotten about.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know," Victoria replied and gave me a small smile. "I'm going to find out." She left quickly, following Viktor into the crowd. That left me sitting at the table, alone.

"Great." I sighed and turned around, taking my seat while I waited for Vic to come back.

I avoided looking around and found myself faking great interest in the surface of the table I sat at. Mid stare, I heard them come in over the droning noise of the music.

I glanced up and saw at least thirty vampires pause at the entrance. They looked around the club as if they owned the place and tried to find a spot large enough for their party. The lucky streak that had been following me all night held as they made their way to the few empty tables in the club that just happened to be in the area I sat. Many of the patrons of the tables around me got up and vacated their spots as they saw the small army of vampires approached.

I debated doing the same, but the small stubborn streak inside me held me rooted to my spot. I glanced around, using only my peripheral vision, and held my breath. The sickly sweet smell of so many vampires really started bothering me. It also made me more than a little hungry. In human years, the vamps around me looked rather young. I wondered if they all were the result of an overzealous vampire in a fraternity house. The thought made me giggle a little. I fought not to look up from the very interesting nick I'd found in the surface of my table. Bringing my hand up from my lap, I started prying at it with the tip of my talon. A hand closed over my shoulder.

"Excuse me, beautiful. Would you care to dance?"

I couldn't help it. I stopped playing with my little hole in the table and in one motion, turned, grabbed his hand in a vice like grip, and snarled in his face. He backed away wide-eyed and tripped over his feet, ending up on his butt on the dirty floor. His friends erupted into laughter as he stood and brushed himself off. I hoped he would run away, but being surrounded by his friends made him bold and stupid. Instead of going back to his seat and brushing the incident off, he advanced on me and made a grab to pull me from my seat when Victoria appeared between us.

She grabbed his throat and neatly lifted him from the floor. I could see his eyes over her shoulder and he didn't look surprised, he looked pissed. She pulled his face closer to hers and whispered something into his ear I couldn't catch over the music before she dropped him to the floor for the second time that night. His friends started to stand up, but he held his hand up, motioning them to stop. That may have been the first smart thing he'd done since walking into the club. He lifted himself off the ground and walked back to one of the other tables.

"Thanks, Vic," I said and gave her a small smile as she turned and sat back down next to me, never taking her eyes from the group of vamps around us.

"Do you want to find a new table?" I rolled the idea around in my head and figured any show of weakness would just invite more trouble.

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. Do you want to dance?" I really didn't want to, but I figured it would be a good reason to get away for a little while without looking weak.

"I thought you'd never ask." She reached out for my hand. I took it, stood, and followed her into the sea of dancers while trying very hard not to look around at every set of eyes I could feel staring at us.

Vic led us to the exact middle of the floor and turned to face me. I watched her as a wicked grin played across her lips. She closed the distance between us and put her hands on the silky material of the dress covering my hips.

Slowly, she started to undulate to the beat of the rhythmic music. It throbbed in the very bones of my body. I offered a delicate smile and matched her movements as best I could. I might be a vampire, but Vic was a vampire who worked professionally as an exotic dancer. I tried not to feel outclassed as she snaked around me in suggestive movements, caressed me in places that shouldn't be touched in public, and basically let everyone in the club know I was hers. I didn't know how to feel about that.

She must have felt me stiffen because she paused in her more suggestive movements and looked straight at me. My eyes widened in panic, not wanting to enrapture her, but I could gaze into her icy blues without any problems. "What's the matter?" More comforted by the fact that I could share something as simple as eye contact with her than the level of discomfort I felt from her being a woman, I let a big smile creep onto my face as I pulled her closer.

"Absolutely nothing," I replied.

"You've never been with a woman before," she said in my ear, guessing at what caused my initial discomfort.

"I've never been with anybody before." I felt her stiffen in my arms. She pulled back and stared at me with a cute little incredulous look on her face.

"Truly?"

"Truly," I answered and nodded as well.

I expected her to pull away a little, but I watched as her sultry smile crept back and she pulled me in close again. "We're gonna have so much fun later," she whispered in my ear and gave my neck a little lick. I shivered and felt a chuckle rumble in her chest that just happened to be pressed as close as possible to mine without being naked. I could feel my blush creeping up to my face and I buried it in Vic's shoulder as she held me tight in the middle of the dance floor.

* * *

We walked back to our table, giggling. The group of frat vamps still occupied all the tables around us and I tried really hard not to let it affect my mood. We sat down and a small waiter made his way to our table.

"May I offer you refreshment?" I tried not to laugh at his voice. Fangs occupied most of his mouth and I couldn't blame him for talking a little funny.

"Yes please, Drago," Vic replied automatically. He nodded and scampered off.

"They serve blood here?"

"No, but he'll bring us some willing food," she replied nonchalantly.

I looked at her eyes and a peculiar feeling settled itself in the pit of my stomach. Her eyes had changed to match mine when I fed her, and fed from her, making her mine. I looked down at her normal looking fingernails and wondered if she would have my particular dietary requirements. I opened my mouth to break the news when Drago returned with a nervous looking human behind him. He looked like a college student, but unlike the frat brother vampires around us, this one looked like he belonged in a dorm room studying astrophysics. Horn-rimmed glasses perched precariously from his beaky nose as he clutched nervously at the yellow knit cardigan sweater covering his skeletal frame. I looked in vain for a plastic pocket protector.

"Here you are, ladies," he said with more than a little difficulty.

I looked at Vic and watched her give him a cursory once over and a little shrug. She held out her hand and nerdy guy handed her his wrist. Looking away, she brought his wrist up to her mouth and bit down. I heard the little crunch as her fangs pierced his skin and I saw the look of horror as she pulled back and spit out the blood she collected in her mouth. "Damn," I said and covered her wrist with my hand.

"What just happened?" She let go of her food and stared at me. He held out his other wrist to me and I shook my head and looked away, telling him to leave.

"You're like me now, Vic. We can't eat humans."

"What do you mean?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"How hungry are you?"

"Starving," she replied.

"It's a very long story, but trust me when I tell you that from now on you won't be able to eat humans anymore. Vampires yes, lycanthropes yes, but not humans." I watched the suspicious look in her eyes transform into confusion. "I don't know what to tell you, Vic. I'm not a normal vampire, and it would appear that I passed it on to you." I pulled my hand from her wrist.

"Master," she said and took my hand as I pulled it away, "Don't be sorry. Do you know how happy I am? For the first time in my life, I'm happy. You've made me strong, stronger than I could ever have imagined. So, what are we gonna have for dinner?" She gave me a little wink.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something." I squeezed her hand. Actually, I'd brought some lycanthrope "juice pouches" with me, but I saved those for emergencies. It wouldn't be enough for the two of us. Just my luck I'd ended up with another mouth to feed.

Lost in my ponderings, I missed the concerned look on Vic's face and the sound of heated arguing behind me. It wasn't until Drago landed in a heap next to our table that I snapped out of it. I reached down from my stool and offered him a hand, which he accepted with a skeptical look as his gaze flittered between my face and hand. I lifted and pulled him from the ground into a standing position.