A Night at Club Vampire 2 (5 page)

She opened her mouth to speak, but snapped it shut again without saying a word. The fire in her eyes seemed to soften slightly, but only slightly.

"Or," he continued, "If you'd rather not return to the club, perhaps we could have dinner the first of the week? I know an amazing little Italian place in the upper west side of Manhattan. It's delicious, truly it is."

Lacey nodded. "Alright. I'm sure the girls would love to come back tomorrow," she paused as a smile spread over her lips; lips still red and swollen from his demanding kisses, "but I would also like to take you up on the dinner invitation."

Relief washed over him. Good. He could get her out of here and out of harm s way, if the potential threat was still hanging around. Even if it wasn't, having her here would be a distraction and the last thing he needed was her lingering around and seeing something she shouldn't.

Nigel cupped the side of her face with his hand, carassing her cheek with his thumb. He noticed a line of faint freckles trailing over the bridge of her nose. They were adorable.

She
was adorable. The desire to protect her came to the forefront of his mind. He leaned over and kissed those cute freckles on the bridge of her nose, then captured her lips. She surrendered to him, deepening the kiss, a soft moan erupting from her.

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat had Nigel snap back upright and focus his attention on Travis leaning against the office door casing.

"I hate to interrupt, but the car is ready." Travis said. Trinity stepped up from behind him and into the room.

Trinity smiled sweetly and motioned for Lacey to follow her out of the room. "Let's go find your friends."

Nigel stood, pulling Lacey up with him. Drawing her into a deep embrace, he took a moment to take in the scent of her shampoo once more. So fresh, so alive.
Tomorrow
night
, he promised himself. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow. Trinity will take good care of you and your friends."

Lacey gave him a weak smile and nodded.

Not being able to help himself, he gave her a final hug and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Make sure she gets home safely, Trinity," he told her. Trinity gave him a knowing look and nodded her response. The women quickly exited the room, with Travis closing the door behind them.

"What's going on, Travis?" Nigel asked sitting back down.

Travis raked a nervous hand through his hair. "It's bad Nigel. Really bad. Three humans

- two females and one male - were found drained in the men's washroom of the VIP

section along with what appears to be the remains of a vampire."

"In the VIP room? Really?" Nigel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his fingers interlaced. The VIP room was a place where vampires took humans so they could become more intimate. There was a bouncer guarding the door to ensure any human entering was escorted by a vampire. In essence, you would need to know of the existence of vampires to even be allowed in there. The VIP room was essentially a massive room -

with a number of small apartments adjoining the main area - where vampires and humans would partake in various sex acts, or vamps would feed from their partners.

The good news is that since it took place in the VIP room the information about the murders could easily be contained. The bad news was that because of where the murders had taken place it meant that Nigel must know the vampire who was murdered and quite possibly knew the human or vampire responsible.

"Alright. Call down and have Will and Franny taken off the balcony bar, replace them with whoever is available. We could use their help on this. Then tell me everything you know about the situation, while we head down there."

****

As soon as she entered the main floor of the club, Lacey felt the influence of the music.

She was immediately aroused. She wished she was back upstairs with Nigel, feeling his hands on her and the touch of his mouth. She was starting to find it hard to concentrate.

Again, that drugged sort of feeling was creeping back.

"Which ones are your friends?" Trinity leaned over and yelled in her ear, breaking her from the semi-trance she was in.

Scanning the sea of bodies, a soft gasp escaped her lips. Virtually all the people were paired off, with their hands exploring each other with no concern for anyone else around them. Couples were kissing, necking, screwing - in the open for all to see. But no one seemed to be paying attention since they were all in the middle of their own private make-out session.

"What's going on here?" She yelled over her shoulder to Trinity.

"It just gets like this here. Not a big deal. Which ones are your friends?" Trinity asked for a second time.

Lacey found Beth and Simone right away, easy enough since they seemed to have decided to double up on some lucky bastard sitting at a booth in the far corner of the room. She pointed over to them and a blonde lumberjack of a man appeared out of nowhere and headed in that direction.

"Who is that?" she pointed to the butch blond man.

"William. He's one of the staff," Trinity gave Lacey a reassuring smile. "He'll just retrieve the ladies and escort them to the limo."

Taking another look at her two friends and considering how much they seemed to be enjoying the sexy Latino man they d found, she doubted they would be willing to go quietly with him. Oh well. Not her problem. Good luck to William, was all she could say on that.

She noticed Nigel, followed by Travis hurrying across the dance floor. They reached a guarded door marked
VIP,
and disappeared inside. The reporter inside her knew that was where the story was. Perhaps
the
story that could start her career! She wished there was some way she could get into that room. She could feel Trinity's eyes glued to her, so she continued to scan the crowd for her remaining three friends. Every few seconds she would quickly glance over at the
VIP
door hoping to see someone come or go. No one did from what she could tell.

"There's Virginia," Lacey pointed to a leggy blonde on the dance floor, who was currently in the process of removing the shirt from her dance partner. Again, as if out of nowhere a man wearing a black t-shirt with Club Vampire written across the back in red lettering brushed past the women and towards Virginia.

Where the hell are they coming from?
Lacey thought bewildered, looking over her shoulder, wondering if she could spot another guard. There were none that she could see.

"Where did you take off to?" A familiar female voice yelled in her left ear. Turning Lacey came face to face with her closest friend Andrea who, considering the way she swayed while attempting to stand upright, appeared to be quite intoxicated. She gave her friend a hug, whispering in her ear, "I met the owner, Nigel."

"Oh my God! Are you serious!" Andrea squealed, not realizing Lacey was trying to be discrete.

"We have to leave. Where is Terry-Ann?" Lacey asked.

"Leave? No. Why?" Andrea appeared to be less than thrilled at the idea, as she crossed her arms over her chest pouting.

"I'll explain in the limo - "

"Limo?" Andrea cut in.

Clutching Andrea's upper arms in her hands, Lacey asked a second time in a tone that emphasized the seriousness of the situation. "Where is Terry-Ann? I don't see her on the dance floor."

"Oh my God. Lacey, what's wrong. What happened?"

Lacey was losing patience. If something serious was going on, then she wanted her friends far away from here. She was beginning to really worry that the absence of her final friend may mean she was somehow connected with the big situation with which Nigel was required to sort out.

"I need you to focus for me Andrea. Where
is
Terry-Ann?"

Andrea stood looking back at Lacey, appearing to be considering the question. Just when Lacey thought for certain she'd lost Andrea to a drunken stupor, a light seemed to appear with her. "She's in there," Andrea pointed to the
VIP
room.

Lacey nodded. "Alright, I'll go get her." She hadn't taken two strides before she was stopped by yet another bouncer.
For heavens sake, they're like cockroaches! Where are
they when the disappearances and murders happen?
"Excuse me," she tried to brush past the massive wall of a man, but he blocked her path once more.

Trinity touched her arm, grabbing Lacey's attention. "We'll get your friend. Her name is Terry-Ann? What does she look like?"

"No. I'm going to go get her," Lacey insisted. She tried to brush past the massive man again, but to no avail.

Trinity took a step towards Lacey, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry.

We will retrieve her and bring her to the car. It's not a problem. The VIP room is a restricted area of the club."

Anger began to boil within Lacey. She'd played ball with them so far, like a good little girl. She was leaving as requested, but she'd be damned if they were getting her outside without all of her friends in tow. She looked over to the far corner where her other two friends were. They were already gone, having been escorted out. Looking to the dance floor she realized Virginia was also gone. She reached behind her and grasped Andrea's hand. She couldn't be too safe.

"Bring me Terry-Ann then I will leave quietly," Lacey replied through clenched teeth.

"Look... Lacey... We will get her out. I personally guarantee it."

Pfft. Little good this woman's personal guarantee was in easing her mind. "I want to speak to Nigel," Lacey's eyes narrowed at Trinity as she glared at the other woman.

"I'll make you a deal. You go to the car now and if we haven't retrieved your friend within ten minutes then you can search every inch of this club until you do," Trinity smiled sweetly at Lacey, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Looking up at the huge man standing in front of her, his biceps bulging under the sleeves of the t-shirt she decided there was no use arguing. She'd have to agree to the terms. Trinity had ten minutes to produce Terry-Ann or she'd be coming back and tearing the club down to its foundation to find her.

****

Arriving in the VIP room Nigel was impressed by the way Travis had handled the situation so far. He was thankful he had hired Travis several months ago as the head of security. The humans were lined up to the right of the room, most of them naked or near to it, all of them wasted. Nigel planned on having their minds wiped, just in case, before they left. The vampires glared at Nigel from the left side of the room. This impromptu investigation was cutting into their feeding and sexual play, not necessarily separate events. A couple of his guards were already in the process of questioning the guests.

It wasn't as if he
wanted
to be there himself. Half an hour ago he d had his head between the legs of one of the sexiest women he'd ever met. Even with the prospect of having to inspect dead bodies his cock tingled thinking of her. Now he was stuck examining the bodies of three drained humans and a pile of ash, which would be the only remains of the vampire who d been murdered.

Not a single human or vampire had been allowed to leave, once the bodies were discovered. The three massive vampires standing at the only exit made sure of that.

Sadly, he seriously doubted the guilty party was still present.

"Over in the men's room." Travis nodded towards the washroom to their right.

"Hold it a minute, guys," Trinity's breathless voice called to them as they made their way to the washroom.

Nigel stopped and waited for Trinity to join them.

"We have a situation. Apparently your little girlfriend out there has a friend in here somewhere. A female friend," Trinity informed the two male vampires as she approached.

A worried frown crossed Nigel's face. There were two women in the washroom. He looked over at the remaining humans, huddled together, consoling each other. There were six men and four women. "What was her name? Lacey's friend?"

"Terry-Ann."

Nigel looked over at the four women, silently prayed he'd get lucky and then called out the name, "Any one of you Terry-Ann?"

The humans and vampires all looked at each other, but no reply came.

Fuck!
How would he explain this to Lacey? He'd have to glamour her. He didn't want to, it was a last resort, but if her friend was one of the dead women in the washroom then he'd have no choice. He'd have to take her memory of visiting Club Vampire, which also meant she'd never remember him.
Double fuck
. "Terry-Ann. Is there a Terry-Ann in this room?" he called out a second time.

His only answer was silence...

Chapter 5

Nigel raked a shaky hand through his hair. This situation just went from bad to worse.

"Where
is
Lacey and her other friends?" Nigel asked Trinity. "Have they all been gathered up?"

"I herded them all into the limo. They re locked in. Your little red head was demanding to come back here to find her friend herself. I bought us some time." Trinity answered, placing her hands on her slim waist as she awaited further instructions.

"Alright. Keep them there for now. We'll have to do a memory sweep on them."

"Lacey." A meek voice whispered to their right.

Nigel looked for the owner of the voice. A human female was sitting naked on the floor, her knees pulled tightly against her body. She looked up through tear-stained eyes, which appeared vacant. She was under the influence of some pretty powerful narcotics. A thin layer of dried blood covered her neck and the tops of her breasts. It was fairly obvious she had gotten herself pretty heavily involved with one of the vampires in the room.

Nigel looked over at the vampires. They all refused to make eye contact. None wanted to take responsibility for the girl, but at the same time none wanted to squeal on one another either.

"Are you Terry-Ann?" Nigel asked taking a cautious step towards the woman.

She nodded.

Nigel heaved a loud sigh of relief. At least that problem was taken care of. Turing to Trinity he asked, "Could you take her into your apartment, get her cleaned up and put some clothing on her before you take her to the others? If she remembers anything, take her to Evan in the security room to have her memory wiped."