Shiver (Night Roamers) (21 page)

I licked my lips.
“Oh.”

He opened the front door and turned back to look at me. “You
belong to me and God help anyone who tries to stand in my way.”

Then, in a flash
he was gone, leaving me hot, breathless, and as always, worried.

I sat at the table and stared outside into the darkness.
It seemed like it had been hours since Ethan had left the cabin and I was now terrified that something very bad had happened. He was immortally fast and this was taking much too long. Several times, I considered leaving, but something inside of me urged me not to. There were many things lurking in the darkness around Shore Lake and I would be easy prey. For now, I would continue to wait; at least until daylight. As I stared at the moon and thought about the night’s events, my eyelids began to get heavy, and eventually I nodded off.

“Nikki,” whispered a
soft, feminine voice into my ear.

I opened my eyes and raised my head from the table.

“That sleeping position doesn’t look very comfortable,” teased Celeste.

I wiped a little
drool from my chin and cleared my throat. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

She sighed. “Ethan sent me here, there’s been a problem and I’m supposed to bring you to him.”

“A problem? What about my mother?” I asked. “Is she okay?”

Celeste nodded. “Your mom is fine. She’s with Caleb.”

I wasn’t sure how fine that was, but at the moment, I had no other choice but to leave with Celeste and go to Ethan. I licked my lips. “Okay.”

She grabbed my elbow. “Come on, we must go quickly.”

I stood up and followed her to the door. “How did you get out here anyway?”

She smiled.
“I drove.”

I sighed
in relief. “Good, because I’m getting tired of all this flying.”

“Not your thing, huh
?”

“Yeah. Makes me
too dizzy. I’d hate to throw up all over you.”

She cringed. “Well, it’s a good thing
I drove then.”

It was still dark as we
stepped off of the porch and walked to the car.

“Where’d you get the Mercedes?” I asked
, admiring the pearly white vehicle.

“Oh, it’
s my dad’s. He just purchased it recently,” she said.

“So,” I said as
I got in and she started the engine. “What’s happening?”

“I
’m not at liberty to say. He just told me to bring you back into town. He’ll tell you everything.”

“In
town?”

She nodded. “Yeah, we’re supposed to meet him at Club Nightshade.”

“Isn’t that place closed at this hour?” I asked, looking at the time. It was just past three in the morning.

She smiled.
“It’s okay. We know the owner.”

“So, have you talked to Nathan or Duncan?”

She shook her head. “No… I um…haven’t spoken to either of them.”

I ran a hand through the tangles in my
hair and studied her profile. Her red hair was curled and every piece looked strategically placed. She always looked perfect. It was annoying as all hell.

“
Seriously? Neither of them showed up at your house?”

She shrugged.
“Tell you the truth I haven’t been home much. So, I guess it’s possible that one of them may have made an appearance.”

“Oh.”

“Music?” she asked.

I nodded and she turned on the radio.

As she cranked up a song from Green Day, I stared blindly towards the woods, thinking about Taryn and how terrified she must have been as Faye hunted her down and finally ended her life. It was a horrible way to die.

“I found a body tonight,”
I said over the music. “A girl from school.”

Celeste turned down the radio.
“Really?”

I nodded
and looked at her. “I know it wasn’t any of your Roamers, though.”

She gave me a teasing
smile. “You sure about that?”

“
It was definitely Faye who killed her. It wasn’t pretty.”

Her eyebrows went up.
“Really?”

I shuddered.
“It was horrible. She ripped the poor girl’s throat out.”

“
And, how do you know it was Faye?”

I told her what had happened and she frowned. “I wonder why she allowed you to
live. It doesn’t sound like her.”

“All I know is that Ethan is set on keepin
g me hidden and as far away from her as possible.”

“Why?”

I smiled. “I guess he sort
of likes me.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I’m starting to get that.”

I sighed. “Celeste, do you know what’s going on between him and Faye?”

“
Ethan? Well, he’s Faye’s boy-toy.”

My eyebrows shot up.
“Excuse me?”

She shrugged. “What don’t you understand? Ethan belongs to Faye
and she doesn’t like to share.”

It was becoming very obvious to me that none of these creatures liked to share.

“So, they’re lovers?”

Celeste smiled. “They’re more than that. They’ve known each other for centuries. You can’t come between something like that.”

I stared at her, wondering how she knew so much about their relationship. “So, she would be pissed if he fell in love with someone?”

“Ethan doesn’t know what love is,” said Celeste
, with a smug smile. “He likes the thrill of the chase, but once he thinks he has you, it’s over. Not only will he break your heart, but he’ll eventually kill you in the end.”

I brought my hand to my throat, where his lips had been earlier. “He’d kill me?”

“If he wouldn’t, she definitely would. In fact, if Faye knew there was something going on between you two, she’d skin you alive.”

I stared out the window.
“She’s a monster.”

Celeste didn’t say anything, just
turned up the radio and continued to drive. As we entered the town, it seemed ominously quiet. The club, on the other hand, was still lit up and going strong.

“Here we are,
” she said, pulling into the parking lot. She parked on the side of the building and turned off the engine.

“
Wow, I thought they’d be closed by now,” I said.

“I think there’s some kind of after-party.”

“Oh.”

She grabbed her purse. “Let’s go.”

I’d passed the impressively designed building many times driving through town but hadn’t given it much thought. I wasn’t into clubbing, and from the rumors I’d heard about the place, I was better off not knowing what went on behind the doors of this particular place.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” breathed Celeste
, as we walked through the parking lot.

“Lots of willing
donors for you in there I’ll bet,” I mumbled.

“You have no idea,” she replied with a smirk.

We walked up the steps where a bald-headed, muscular bouncer opened the doors for us. “Hey, Celeste,” he said, holding the door open for us.

“Hey
, Trevor,” she replied, brushing past him.

Trevor gave me a once over and nodded. Not sure what to do, I nodded back.

“Follow me,” hollered Celeste over the booming music, which only grew louder as we walked down the long mirrored hallway. When we reached the main level of the club, I was stunned. Hundreds of people were on the dance floor, grinding and moving against each other, as if they were all alone in their bedrooms.

“Whoa,” I said, stopping in my tracks
, having never experienced anything quite like it.

She turned to me and smiled. “I know, right? It’s fucking beautiful.”

I didn’t know about beautiful. From the way everyone was groping each other and making out on the dance floor, I felt like I’d walked into some kind of prelim to an orgy. It gave me the chills.

“What have we here, Celeste?” smiled another bouncer
with long, red hair and a multitude of piercings lining his eyebrows. “Fresh meat?”

Celeste threw her head back and laughed. “You wish. No, we’re going downstairs.”

His eyebrows shot up. “With her?”

“Yes,” she replied, grabbing my hand and pulling me away. “We’re expected.”

As we moved towards the other side of the club, I tried not to gawk at the couples. Many of them had their hands under each other’s clothing, some were even partially naked.

“Is that legal?” I asked, noticing a girl sitting on a
handsome guy’s lap. She was wearing a short, loose skirt and I could tell from the way she was moving her hips and moaning that they were having sex right out in the open. Before I could tear my eyes away, I met her lover’s gaze and there was a flash of feral vampire lust glowing brightly.

“
Legal? Probably not, but I won’t tell if you won’t,” teased Celeste.

Embarrassed to be caught looking, I looked away
from the couple and kept moving.

As we continued
through the club, I noticed right away that they weren’t the only couple having sex. Some of them were doing it so blatantly that I felt dirty just being near them.

“This is nuts,” I whispered, lowering my eyes until I could only see the floor. Watching
the other couples doing their deeds out in the open made me feel like I needed to go directly to church and confess
their
sins. As far as I was concerned, the place was creepy and I’d never be back, especially after hours.

“
We’re taking the elevator,” said Celeste as we moved to another hallway.

“Okay,”
I said, following her. Soon we came upon a single mirrored elevator and she pushed the button to go down.

“
So, what do you think?” she asked as we waited.

“The club? I guess it’s not really my thing.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” she asked as we got into the elevator.

I sighed
. “If you ask me, it’s disgusting.”

“Duncan didn’t seem to think so. He’s always been a very willing participant,” she said, her eyes beginning to glow.

I frowned. “Did… did
you
have sex with him, here?”

“Do you really want to know?” she asked, with a wicked smile.

No, I didn’t.

I looked away and was silent as we took the elevator down several floors. When
we reached the bottom, the door opened up into another long hallway.

“Where are we going?” I aske
d, following her.