History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) (23 page)

“Who’s hosting this dance?” I asked as we waited. Lilly might have mentioned it at some point, but I hadn’t been paying attention.

“An associate of my boss,” Lev told me. “He’s a very well connected guy from way back in the day.”

I scanned my memory to see if I had any inkling of what Lev Wilson did for a living. Didn’t his father sell appliances? Was that right? Did Lev sell appliances? No, that didn’t make any sense. Somewhere in the back of my brain I thought maybe I remembered he had something to do with security. I had no idea what kind of security. But, judging by the other guests at the dance, it was for people who had more money that anyone I knew. I thought it would be rude to ask Lev questions about his work when I knew he had probably already told me every detail about it, so I didn’t say anything else.

As we entered the dance, Lilly and I were both handed a dance card, done up with pink ribbon, each with a miniature pencil attached. “You won’t need that tonight,” Lev said with a grin. “You can pretty much count on dancing every dance with me.”

“Same goes for you,” Walter said, giving Lilly a nudge and then breaking into a wide grin.

Lilly nudged her date in return. “I could say the same to you.” They both laughed.

“Come here for a minute,” Lev said, herding us all to one side of the foyer. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a silver colored flask. “I know there’s a bar,” he said, uncorking it, “but it’s a cash bar, so I thought we might as well get a little warmed up first.”

Lev took a large slug out of the flask and then shoved it in my direction. I’d had a few sips of wine before, but I’d never tried hard alcohol and I didn’t think it was time for me to start. “No thank you,” I told him.

Flashing me a quick look of disdain, Lev then offered the flask to my sister. “No thanks,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s gives me a stomach ache.” I didn’t think Lilly had ever tried booze before either, but at least she had a good excuse.

With a sigh, Lev positioned the flask in front of Walter. “Don’t let me down, Wally Boy,” he said.

Walter accepted the bottle, shooting an apologetic look in my sister’s direction, and then took a modest sip. After which, he grimace a little as the liquor slid into his belly. Lev grabbed the flask back from his friend and took another big slug out of it, just to show us how it was done.

After putting the cap back on the bottle, Lev said, “Come on. Let’s check out this Barnet fellow.” Grabbing me by the arm, he steered me through the crowd. “I’m ready to dance.”

The ballroom was very large, with two art deco chandeliers overhead that started with a ring of crystals in a large circle and cascaded into smaller and small circles until the crystals came to a point. The band was at the far end, just finishing up a song. The room was full, but not overly crowded. There was still room to breathe. I hoped there wouldn’t be many more people arriving after us. I didn’t want to feel squashed.

“My boss should be here, somewhere,” Lev said, scanning the crowd. His eyes must have encountered a presence in the room he didn’t like because he frowned. “Would you look at that pretty boy in the tuxedo? Does he think he’s at a coronation or something?”

I turned to look in the general direction that Lev was sneering and locked eyes with Jessie Vanderlind.

Chapter 30

Jessie

I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to follow Colette to the dance. It would be the height of foolishness. And I would be putting Colette, and everyone at the dance, in danger. I kept telling myself I wouldn’t go as I requested that Mrs. Denkler find my tuxedo and have it pressed. I was still a fledgling vampire, after all, which meant I had less self control than someone who had been a member of the undead for a century. I kept reminding myself I wasn’t going to attend the dance as I ordered a boutonniere from the local florist shop. If I was unmasked as a vampire, it would put my entire family at risk, and that was something I would never do. I even kept telling myself I wasn’t attending the dance at the Mansfield Country Club as I dressed in my tuxedo, launched into the air and made my way across the countryside.

“Tickets please,” a man at the door said as I mounted the front steps to the club. His nose was misshapen and had obviously been broken more than once.

“Oh,” I stammered. I had been so busy convincing myself that I wasn’t attending the dance that I had forgotten about tickets.

The tough guy at the door gave me a steady look. “You can’t get in without a ticket.”

I gazed right back at him, fixing him with my eyes. “I’ve already given you my ticket,” I told him. “You were just about to tell me that I could go inside.”

The man blinked twice and then said, “You can go on inside.”

I liked the Mansfield Country Club. It was a nice, open space with a band shell at the far end of a well-lit ballroom. The floor was already filling up by the time I arrived. There were lots of attractive females present, all dressed in varying levels of finery. But I only had eyes for one girl.

My timing was perfect because it was only about ten minutes before I caught a glimpse of Colette Gibson entering the dance. Her escort noticed me first, for some reason, saying something derogatory about my attire. But then Colette and I locked eyes. She immediately blushed and put a hand to her cheek. A new song started and I had to resist the impulse to take her in my arms and twirl her across the dance floor.

Her date must have noticed my longing gaze, because he flashed a warning look in my direction and then led Colette to another section of the room. I tracked him with my eyes. Setting aside my instant jealously, I observed that he was obviously a man up to no good. I could see the faded marks of a fight on his cheeks and smell the coagulated blood under his skin. I noticed his knuckles were covered in plasters as he hooked a possessive hand through Colette’s arm. I had to wonder why Colette’s parents would allow her to go out with such a brute.

Colette’s eyes lingered on me as her date dragged her off to be introduced to some older gentlemen and their wives. I was immediately glad that I had ignored every argument I’d made against going to the dance. I didn’t trust Miss Gibson’s date. He had an air about him that smelled like trouble. While I stood at a discreet distance from the couple, I began to pay more attention to the crowd. There were a lot more older people at the dance than I had expected. And some of them were quite garishly dressed. Several of the younger men were concealing recent wounds, which told me that perhaps there had been some kind of brawl. Tables ringed the room, out of the way of the dance floor, and I took a moment to glance at the cover of a dance card someone had set down next to her purse. The dance was apparently for members of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Lenox Avenue Corporation. The name meant nothing to me, but I had my suspicions about their business. I doubted they were part of a pipefitters union or some other legal operation.

When the next song started, Colette was led by her date onto the dance floor. I could tell she was reluctant to go. Her eyes kept darting around the room and I wondered if she was looking for me. It wasn’t fair of me to show up and throw a wrench in her evening, so I concealed myself in the crowd, but where I could still keep a watchful eye.

Much to my distaste, her brute of a date was a rather good dancer. He was much smoother than I would have been on the floor. Colette did an admirable job keeping up with him, but it was obvious the fellow was a bit of a showoff.

Colette’s sister seemed much happier with her date, even though the fellow wasn’t nearly as light on his feet. They were hanging onto each other in a manner that bordered on immodest. Lettie frowned a few times while looking in her sister’s direction. But besides too high of spirits, Lilly and her date weren’t actually doing anything inappropriate.

After an hour of dancing non-stop, Colette begged to be allowed to catch her breath. Her face was pink and she was breathing heavy. I could smell the perfume of her sweat and it was sweet. I sent up a silent thank you to the good people of Tiburon who had been consistently donating their blood to help poor Arthur. It kept our family well supplied. We even had enough to help out some of the regional hospitals. We were too isolated in Tiburon to share the wealth with any of the other vampire families, but I was grateful that my belly was full and I had a flask in my breast pocket in case of emergency. I felt completely under control.

Colette’s date excused himself and headed off in the direction of the men’s room. I fought the urge to go over and ask her to dance. It would have been heaven to hold Colette in my arms, if only for the length of one song. But I knew it was wrong. I knew I couldn’t ask her. She more than likely only thought of me as one of her employers. I’d probably ruined her evening by showing up to the dance.

A middle-aged man with a big belly and a pronounced scar across his cheek approached Colette. It was obvious from his stagger that he’d been spending most of his time at the bar. “Hey there, cutie,” he slurred.

Colette appeared a little startled to be addressed by the man. “Hello,” she said, rather hesitantly. Then she quickly scanned the dance floor for her sister.

“What do you say you and I twinkle our toes a little out on the floor?” he asked, swaying slightly to the left and then straightening up again.

“No thank you,” was her reply.

“What’s the matter?” the guy asked, immediately taking offense. “You think you’re too good for me or something?”

“No,” she assured him. “It’s just that I’m waiting for my escort. He said he’d be right back and that I should wait here.”

“Awe, he won’t mind,” the man assured her. “Not when he sees who you’re dancing with. I’m a big name in these parts.”

“Thank you, but I think I’d rather wait,” Colette told him, still trying to be gracious.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me properly,” the man snarled, turning quite red in the face. “I asked you to dance.” And then he grabbed her arm.

“Hello, darling,” I said, immediately appearing at Colette’s side. “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

“Oh,” Colette said, her eyes as wide as saucers.

“Who’s your friend?” I asked, smiling at the drunk.

“My name is something you don’t need to know,” the man slurred. “Now, excuse me, we were just about to hit the dance floor.”

I frowned a little. “There must be some confusion. I’m afraid the young lady promised me the next dance.”

The man’s face puckered up like he’d just licked a lemon. “Do you know who I am?” he demanded.

I looked him dead in the eye. “I think you are a very nice gentleman who was kind enough to converse with my date. But now you are feeling tired and you’d like to go home. You no longer wish to dance.”

“As a matter of fact, I don’t want to dance. Not anymore,” the man said after digesting my words. “I’m tired. To hell with this shindig. I’m going home.” And then he staggered off.

“Shall we?” I asked, extending my elbow toward Colette so that I could lead her onto the floor. The orchestra was just starting a slow song. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

As I put my arms around her, I could feel Colette tremble. If I was being honest, I was trembling slightly, too. Not from the confrontation, but just from being so close to her. “I’m sorry if that man frightened you,” I said.

“No, I…” Colette stammered. After a moment she tried again. “I’m fine,” she assured me. “But what are you doing here?”

I swirled her across the floor and it was like dancing on air. “I wanted to hear the band,” I said. “They’re quite good. Don’t you think?”

Colette looked at my feet for a moment. “Your ankle,” she said. “Is it quite better?”

“It troubled me for a day or two, but it’s all healed now,” I told her. She was so very close, I felt like I could get lost in her emerald green eyes.

“I just can’t believe you’re here,” she said in a very quiet voice. “It’s like something out of a dream.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. This beautiful creature in my arms couldn’t possibly feel the same way about me as I felt about her. It was my turn to stammer. “You mean to tell me…”

“Hey, buddy.” I felt someone slap me aggressively on the arm. “You’re dancing with my girl.”

I knew without looking that it was Colette’s brute of a date. “We’d just like to finish this song,” I told him, never letting my eyes leave Colette. I had to have misunderstood her. I just couldn’t believe there was any chance that all the feelings I had for her were mutual. I had to find out.

Unfortunately, it was right then that the song drew to a close. “Before you go back to your escort,” I began as I reluctantly removed my hand from her waist. “I just wanted to ask you if…”

But it was too late. The brute was right there, glaring at me like he’d caught me stealing from his father’s store. I could smell the liquor on his breath. Colette’s eyes flicked nervously to her date and then back to me. “Thank you for the lovely dance,” she said.

I made a small bow. “It was my pleasure.”

And then the brute took her roughly by the arm and pulled her through the crowd. I wanted to go after him and explain to him in detail the proper way to treat a lady, but I knew that was unwise. He thought he was a tough-guy and that probably meant he was always spoiling for a fight. If he took a swing at me, then I doubted I would be able to stop myself from shattering his spine. But I decided to follow them at a discrete distance, anyway. Drink was causing the young man’s temper to flare. I didn’t want him to take his bad mood out on Miss Gibson.