A Night at Tears of Crimson (15 page)

"My brother!" Rafe tried to keep the shock from his face as he gazed over the vampire who had sired him. Walking over with long strides he grasped his upper arm in greeting, a smile meeting his face for a brief moment before reading the seriousness of his manner. "We may talk in private upstairs," with a curt nod he released his arm and moved behind the bar with a speed that would have shocked the staff and employees had they been present.

In the office, Rafe opened the small refrigerator that sat by his desk and pulled out an ancient looking bottle and sat it on the table with two silver chalices. "I fear this visit is one that will not leave me happy with the circumstances," pouring the ruby red liquid he looked up to Gabriel for confirmation of the thoughts moving through his mind.

"It gives me no joy to share this burden with you brother, and you have discerned right there is a blood battle on the rise," taking the chalice he drank of the cool blood attempting not to shudder as he preferred his blood from the source.

“We shall discuss this more tonight,” Rafe knew this war was the last thing he wanted to attend to especially with the danger it presented to those under his protection. His thoughts moved to Cara and he felt a deep pang of regret for allowing her to be drawn into this. There was no doubt in his mind that the elders would be extremely cautious under the circumstances and his relationship with a human would be one to cause great concern.

“It seems we have much to discuss brother,” shaking his head as the thoughts of the young woman in his child’s mind was propelled into his own. “You know my feelings for humans, Rafe, they are little more than sustenance for us.”

“I know your opinions well brother, but understand that they are not mine,” fighting back a wave of anger over Gabe’s words he decided a bit of space between them would be a welcome relief. “Perhaps you would like to get more familiar with your surroundings brother?” it was a suggestion but he knew his Creator understood how deeply his words affected him.

With a curt nod of his head he nodded, “I will give you a moment.” He refused to apologize for his own dislike of the human race, especially after all they had cost him. Walking downstairs he was confronted with the object of Rafe’s desire and he felt the need to strike out against her for her heritage.

It was a little before nine when Cara and Angela pulled into the parking lot and the employee lounge was empty. After stowing their purses in the lockers they went out into the empty club. The women glanced at each other in concern, because this was definitely not right. Normally Michael and Dante would already be in getting things ready for the night. It was just entirely too quiet. “Well, well, well,” a deep voice echoed throughout the club and startled both of them enough that they turned around simultaneously.

“Rafe sent in some little treats,” Gabe laughed without humor and began walking toward them. "How delicious you both look."

Cara glanced over the man taking in his appearance, feeling more than a little threatened. He was about 6'4, with blonde hair that fell across his massive shoulders, and he was clad in black leather from head to boots. He was irresistibly handsome, she conceded, but the ice his cold eyes put off, definitely left her fearing for her safety.

Finding her voice after a few awkward seconds she looked him straight in his eyes. “Can we help you Sir?” her voice only shook a little. He began walking toward her and her friend menacingly and they took a few steps back in sync.

"That depends, sweetheart how fast can you find your knees?" His mouth lifted at one side at the humans shocked expression and he moved closer.

Cara was floored by his question and felt herself flush in anger. She was just about to give him a piece of her mind when she saw Rafe approaching. With a smile of relief, she knew he would take care of the problem.

“Gabe?”

Rafe's loud voice was like a little slice of heaven, Cara though, as he roared loudly. The man named Gabe turned toward her lover and smiled deeply.

“Now tell me you are not down here scaring the hell out of my employees.” Rafe's tone lowered and he spoke then gave a good-natured laugh.

“Would I do that brother?” Gabe said with an insulting wink to Cara, enjoying seeing the anger that filled her dark brown eyes.

Brother? Cara thought in shock, this man was related to her Rafe? Why wasn't he saying something? she couldn't help but ask herself. Brother or not the man had just insulted her. She turned her heated gaze on Rafe and wanted to scream at him, but forced herself to remain where she was.

“Surely you wouldn't do that here?” Rafe stated with a small smirk. He knew Cara was angry, but he couldn't explain why calling out Gabe was something he couldn't do. He only hoped later she would forgive him.

Cara couldn't understand what had gotten into him. He almost seemed like he approved of the way this giant man was acting. She was hurt that he wasn't defending her. Perhaps last night had meant nothing to him and all his words were lies.

Gabe threw back his hair, like a lion would toss his mane and laughed robustly. “Introduce me to your, um, workers,” he turned his eyes back to the women and allowed them to roam over each of them seductively.

Cara was deeply insulted, but a part of her knew better than to voice her opinion on that subject right now. Angela was completely entranced and she turned to her and shook her lightly by the shoulders until she was focusing again. She was close to having an emotional melt-down, and didn't want it to happen here.

“Let's get to work,” She grabbed Angela's hand, all but dragging her back to the kitchen. Cara didn’t care that she just ignored the man's request for an introduction, she was furious and confused at the same time. She wasn't about to wait on Rafe to introduce her to the barbarian or allow Angela to wait around either.

Gabe's deep laughter followed them to the back and she could hear him and Rafe laughing together. Her heart ached, but she refused to cry, instead she let anger take over.

“What the hell was that?” Angela stated, finally coming out of her shock or the hypnotic spell.

Cara didn't know exactly what he had done to her friend, but that made her even more furious. She shrugged and started cutting up lemons and limes, really not wanting to talk about the incident any further. Angela must have understood her mood because she started folding napkins and doing the other trivial things they did to prep for service. Cara heard Michael and Dante's voices, and her boiling blood finally cooled down enough that she stopped slicing lemons like she was imagining it was Gabe's head.

People began piling in and they went to work. She plastered a smile on her face and took extra care in being nice to the customers that night. She was easily able to discern the vampires that frequented the club that night. She couldn't help but feeling they all knew about her discovery as well. More than a few of them cast curious looks her way. None of them voiced those opinions, but it wasn't hard to discern. She really didn't have time to ponder those thoughts as the crowd was in full swing, and it took everything she had to keep up with the orders.

Philippe walked in and she quickly walked over to take his order. Smiling, hoping her face didn't show the feelings she really felt, she waited patiently for him to speak.

There was something different about the little human tonight. His eyes moved over her face and his mind connected with hers, finding the truth. Rafe had worked faster than he had, he thought angrily, he had wanted this little human. "A bottle of your red wine,” he waved her off trying to contain his anger.

For some reason it really hurt that he dismissed her so easily. She had to chalk it up to being overly sensitive. Giving Michael the order, she moved to the back to grab a wine glass to add to her tray.

“Everything alright with you, darlin'?” Michael asked in concern. She looked like she had just lost her best friend and wondered if there was already trouble in paradise. He was shocked that Rafe allowed her to walk around this way.

She gave him her biggest smile, “I'm fine, just a little tired tonight. She really didn't like lying to him, but there was no way she was about to get into a discussion concerning her emotions. She was trying desperately to hold herself together.

Michael smiled back warmly, and thought that Rafe should have his brain checked. The girl was obviously upset, and knowing his boss like he did he had a pretty good inkling about what was going on. Feeling his anger rise on her behalf, he struggled to keep his own nature in check.

She quickly took Philippe his order. His eyes barely acknowledged her as he paid the total and told her, as usual to keep the change. She decided there was enough to worry about, without adding Phillipe's strange behavior to the mix. This wasn't the place to have a meltdown, so she forced herself to let the disappointment fade into the background. She made really great tips, and knew tomorrow she'd be happy about that if nothing else. As they got the last of the patrons out of the club, Cara sat at the bar drinking a sex on the beach. She hadn't seen Rafe the rest of the evening, and that was completely breaking her heart into small little pieces.

“You need to get some more rest,” Michael said with a smile. Rafe was his boss and his friend, but Cara was a really sweet girl and didn't deserve how he was treating her. Angela had mentioned their date last night and he was angry on her behalf.

Dante sensed his little friends’ distress as he brought out some small sandwiches. "Don't you fret none, bebe, everything is gonna work out fine," he winked at her. Not liking seeing her upset. He couldn't say more, but he knew everything she was feeling.

“Have you seen Angela?” Cara questioned, sensing all the employees knew something had happened last night. It embarrassed her, and added to the upset she was feeling at Rafe not being here, she felt she was about to lose her control over her emotions.

“She was headed back to the employee area with that friend of Rafe’s the last I saw,” Michael's eyes filled with compassion. He would definitely be having words with his boss tomorrow.

“I’m going to see if she’s ready to leave,” hugging him quickly she walked off to find Angela, hoping she wasn’t getting too friendly with Gabe. There was just something about that man she didn’t trust.

Gabe had waited until the little waitress was alone and took over her mind, encouraging her to follow him into the employee lounge. He had her out of her skirt in only a few minutes, and down on her knees even faster than that. It had been a few weeks since he had allowed a woman to pleasure him, and he wanted to be fully satiated before joining Rafe at the Elder's mansion tonight.

As her talented mouth worked him over, he felt his body almost on the verge of release. Using his mind to explain what he wanted, he groaned as she moved to sit down on his lap straddling him and impaling herself on his large shaft. Grabbing her firm ass, he lifted her up and down until he felt her body come undone and clench him tightly. Sinking his fangs into her delicate skin he drank as he maneuvered her hips with his hands until he found his own release.

Walking into the employee lounge, Cara felt her cheeks turn bright red as she noted Gabe lifting Angela off his lap. Angel struggled to pull on her skirt and a confused look found her face. Gabe smirked and leaned back, not even bothering to cover himself and Cara turned her back completely embarrassed. “Are you ready to leave?” the words escaped her lips with a small stutter because she honestly couldn’t believe the audacity of him.

“Hon is everything alright?” Angela was mortified that her friend had caught her this way, and she was still in shock that she had allowed herself to sleep with a man she didn’t even know. Walking over in front of Cara she tried to shake off the confusion of how she'd ended up here in the first place. She didn't remember agreeing to this.

Cara could only shake her head no, between Rafe's disappearance and walking in on her best friend she was definitely as far from alright as she cared to be. Trying her best to not give in to the tears that threatened to fall at any minute, she just wanted to go home and sulk in private.

“Honey what’s wrong?” her own discomfort at being discovered that way erased, as she saw her friend was on the verge of breaking down.

“Not here okay?” feeling a few tears escape, she swiped them away with the back of her hand not wanting to discuss anything around that jerk Gabe.

“I can see you ladies need to talk,” He adjusted his clothes quickly and smirked. "If you need a little more experience with men honey, I'll be back in a few days." He knew what an asshole he was being to Rafe's little toy, but he really didn't like the idea of his child with a human. Turning his eyes to Angela he winked, "Thanks for the ride sweetheart,” he walked over to Angela and kissed her cheek before walking out of the lounge.

Tears streamed down Cara's cheek as he left, because how else would he have known her lack of experience, unless Rafe had told him. She was humiliated beyond belief. How could she have been so stupid?

“Come on honey, I think we both need to get out of here,” Angela grabbed her hand and they walked outside into the night air. She hated being caught with Gabe, but it was Cara she was truly worried about at the moment. She didn't have her worldliness and it was apparent that Rafe had been talking. They normally wouldn't have left the building without an escort but tonight was a big exception.

Philippe and two large men were in the employee parking lot, and Cara could only hope that they would not bother trying to have a friendly conversation at the moment. Wiping her tears away with the back of her hand, she tried to gain her composure long enough to make it to Angela's car.

8
Tears of Betrayal

“Miss Donovan,” Philippe spoke quietly sensing her emotional distress with ease. Perhaps it wasn't too late for him to claim the little human as his own, he thought with a smile. "I need to have a few words with you, if you don't mind,” he noted the other waitress with her and hoped she would agree to come with him peacefully.