We Own the Night (The Night Songs Collection Book 3) (13 page)

“That feels good,” I said softly. “I used to hate it when I woke up in here, alone. Now this is where I come to get away from you.”

“There are things I can’t explain to you about this world, but you’ll understand it once it happens to you,” Tristan continued twirling my hair between his fingers, and I wrestled with consciousness. “I know it drives you crazy.”

I turned towards him, resting my head in the nook on his shoulder. “What do you know about Cash?”

“Not much.”

Shouldn’t Tristan know something about the other vampires in town? Maybe that was asking too much. It’s not like they handed out an updated directory every year. “Do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I’m sure we’re going to find out.” Something about the way he said it, he seemed a million miles away.

Before I had a chance to ask anything else about Cash, our lips met and we were speaking a whole other language. Tristan pulled me in close, his fingers so tangled in my hair I thought we may have to stay like this forever. My hands found their way down to his ass, his hips grinding against me in a way there was no question what he was thinking about.

I couldn’t think anymore tonight. And I just didn’t care.

T
he debacle known as “Soul Divider: Revamped” started tonight at the Riviera. For some insane lack of reason, I insisted on going. Already heated from fighting with Tristan about it, I walked through the lobby as fast as I could without making people stop and stare, and also in an effort to lose Tony, my babysitter.

Honestly, I didn’t mind Tony’s company at all. He’d always shown me kindness, even when I first arrived in Las Vegas, and then I wasn’t any different to him than the rest of the throng of girls vying for Tristan’s attention. Tony actually seemed to give a shit about all of us. But I still resented Tristan for thinking I needed Tony’s protection. He was human. It had its limitations.

Nothing had changed at the venue since Fire Dancer played there, not even the crew. Changes cut into profit, and Blade was all about the profit. No one paid me much mind as I pushed through the crowd up to the side of the stage. Melanie didn’t see me, or anyone else for that matter. Her eyes were glued on Ryder, watching him like she’d never seen anyone pick up a guitar and make it sing before. In that moment, knowing every thought and feeling swirling around her, picking up on the pure adoration she felt towards Ryder, I could forget how much she hated me. And I could almost forget that I didn’t trust her. Anyone who could look at another person like that couldn’t really be evil, could they?

I realized that was completely untrue as Noah caught my eye, squatting down in front of me, looking at me like he was Jesus and I’d been placed in front of him at The Last Supper. As I always did around him, I felt naked and filthy, and fought the urge to run as far away as my legs would take me. I hissed at him, feeling the heat rise and I knew my eyes must be glowing. The people around me gasped and stepped away as much as space would allow. For a second, I was mortified, but then I realized that was exactly what I wanted. It was just the wrong people I’d scared.

It didn’t take long for my bubble to fill in. Someone moved out of Melanie’s shadow, and jumped down next to me. The other female vamp. In my Blade/Noah/Ryder/Melanie haze, I’d forgotten all about her, but she hadn’t forgotten about me.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, incredulous.

I nearly laughed in her face. “Checking in on this disaster, I mean, the new venture.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with you.” She smiled at me, wide and fangy, obviously thinking I was an idiot.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever this—thing—is,” I motioned towards Noah. His eyes lit up and he fell to the ground, grinding in front of me. He looked more like he was auditioning for a porno than singing a song. “--has everything to do with me.”

“Soul Divider wouldn’t follow you out of Hell.” The vamp laughed in my face. I wanted to throw her across the room, but I’d already made a scene, and we were drawing more interest than was probably good for us away from the stage, fangs bared and eyes alight. “I’m more powerful than you, Callie. So isn’t Blade. The whole city is starting to realize it. You’re nothing.”

“That’s bullshit. You don’t scare me. I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Rachel.” She leaned in close. “And I don’t mind being called Mistress.”

Blade emerged through the crowd and wrapped his arm around Rachel. “Don’t tease the animals, sweetie.” He glared at me as he pulled her in. Jealousy twinged in my chest, watching his hand move up and down her arm as they disappeared in the swarm of people.

Maybe Blade had a new girlfriend and would forget all about trying to torture me. But wasn’t she with that other guy in the band? We all knew how Blade felt about sharing his girlfriends with musicians.

Alright, so this placed sucked. Big surprise. The energy in the room was all wrong and I felt dizzy. Time to go. I fought my way through the crowd, hissing at drunk tourists that wouldn’t get out of my way. I found Tony at the bar. I didn’t blame him one bit for drinking on the job tonight. He didn’t ask any questions about what happened. It didn’t take a genius to figure out my plan had been a disaster.

I stopped on the sidewalk for a minute, letting the gaudy neon light wash over me. The giant clown on the sign across the street welcoming all to Circus Circus beckoned me. I’d always thought that clown looked evil. Now, if nothing else, I knew it held the secrets of Cash Logan.

Evil it very well may be.

“What time are you working until tonight, Tony?”

“Sun down to sun up.” He raised an eyebrow. Tony had to belong to the Vegas Mafia. How else would he wind up with a gig like this? But yet, there was something fatherly about him. As much as I hated being assigned a babysitter, I didn’t want to be left alone when I least expected it. “Why? Aren’t you going to meet up with Tristan after the show?”

“We live together. We’re not attached at the hip.”

“It would certainly make my life easier,” he sighed.

“You wouldn’t want to be around when we’re attached.” I laughed when Tony blushed. “Come on, let’s go across the street.”

He looped his arm for me to put mine through and we weaved our way through the sidewalk traffic to the crosswalk. “The boss is going to hate this.”

“He’s your boss. Not mine.” I had to keep reminding people of that. “We’ll be back to the Alta Vista before Tristan has a chance to get into any trouble.”

But how much trouble would
I
get in by then?

I was glad I didn’t need to breathe anymore, because walking under the awning of Circus Circus, oxygen fled and desperation rushed in to take its place. Gone were the cute girls that swarmed the Alta Vista, or the rocker guys from Riviera. In their place were shabby looking tourists with unruly young children, looking sickly and tired in the orange glow of the building, pissed that they had somehow screwed up their vacation so royally and wound up here.

I needed a minute to adjust to this place. The low ceilings and old school gaudiness made the walls feel like they might close in at any minute. Brand new signs led us to the All New Cirque Macabre featuring Cash Logan. They looked obscenely out of place in here.

“How long has this show been in town?” I asked.

“A long time,” Tony said, his hand still on my back. Did this place creep him out as much as it did me? Was it the big clown sign? “But it was pretty low rent entertainment for years. I don’t know why this guy took it over.”

Interesting.

“Do you know anything about Cash?” Had I overlooked my best resource all this time?

“He had a TV show for a long time, based out of New Orleans.” Tony stopped to check his cell phone. “I’m not surprised he’s a vampire, because a lot of his illusions looked awfully familiar. He can levitate, move quickly, and he’s really strong and cunning. The general public has no idea what they’re seeing. It’s funny that the community got so up in arms about Immortal Dilemma when Logan’s been shoving it in people’s faces for years.”

Good point. “But instead of pretending to be a vampire, he was pretending to be normal. I guess that’s okay.”

Tony left me to pick up our tickets at the box office. Inside the theater had a whole different energy, like a long overdue cup of coffee would feel. Man, I missed coffee. I even missed making coffee for other people. The things you’d never think you’d long to do again once it could never be an option.

It looked like we’d stepped right back into the Alta Vista. Young girls dressed in black frills and boys in makeup milled around the lobby. Some of them caught my eye, looking for an invite to approach me, but I looked away quickly. Guys who looked like that did nothing but get me in trouble. Industrial music blared from tinny speakers. Tarot readers, face painters, jugglers, and mimes dotted the room. I’d never actually been to the circus; my mother refused to bring me because of the way the animals were treated. I didn’t think we’d see any animals here, and I was really excited about the show. I’d had no idea what to expect, but this certainly hadn’t been it.

Lennon emerged from the crowd and ran over to me, wrapping me in a hug. She was a lone ray of sunshine in the room, radiating with her blonde and red hair in a retro updo, fastened with a flower, and her citrusy perfume pushing away the cigarette smoke. I was so relieved she was that happy to see me, I didn’t want to let her go.

“I thought I’d see you across the street at the other show.”

She shook her head. “I just can’t do it. All I can think of is Jacey when I hear Noah sing. I mean, I probably shouldn’t be here either, but Cash’s just got this spell over me, doll. It’s never been like this before. He barely talks to me at the bar, but I can’t get him out of my head.”

I shrugged. “Magic.”

Lennon fanned herself. “I can’t wait to find out,” she laughed. “I can’t believe after all these years I’m acting like some sort of crazy groupie.”

“Cash wants to help me.” I motioned to Tony. “Why don’t we all get our seats?”

“He does?” Lennon grabbed on to my arm. “What did he say?”

“Well, he wants something from me too.” I frowned. “He didn’t say what.”

“God, anything he wants, I’m on board with this one.” Lennon practically skipped as we made our way to our seats. We just had regular admission, nothing special. Only a few people in the crowd did double takes when they saw me. Most of them had no idea who I was without the context of Tristan. “Are we going to go talk to him?”

Good question. “I don’t know. I had no idea I was doing this tonight.”

“It’s not like he’s going to refuse the Mistress.”

“Don’t call me that!” I’d rather the whole word called me Calliope than one person called me Mistress.

“It’s not a bad thing. You don’t have to be Talis, you can be you, and people will respect that. Don’t think you have to fill her shoes. Just get cuter shoes, doll.” Lennon was always my voice of reason.

As the bleachers filled in, I sat and thought about what Lennon had just said. Was that my problem, that I was trying too hard to be something I wasn’t? I wasn’t scary, and I probably never would be. I didn’t want to be. But it didn’t mean I couldn’t make decisions that benefited the clan and the people who depended on us for their livelihood on my own terms. First, I had to start making those kind of decisions for myself. And talking to Cash was the first step in the right direction.

Distorted accordion music pumped through the PA system, signaling the start of the show. A spotlight trained on a walkway, lit up with birdcage lanterns. Clowns that looked more like supermodels, with long lanky bodies, traditional face paint, crazy hair, and skimpy carnival appropriate costumes strutted down the walk way. They had choreographed their walk to the music, stopping and spinning sheer veils around their bodies on their way down and back. Was this a fashion show or a circus?

The music changed, softened, and a woman came out, singing in a language I didn’t understand. I didn’t need to know what the words were to sympathize with the emotion as a lithe girl in a leotard came out on to the stage and wrapped herself into long strips of fabric that had fallen from the ceiling. She climbed the fabric effortlessly, tangling herself in the strands and then flipped her body upside down, confident that the fabric would hold her. She sat up with the same ease as if she was in a chair, and climbed higher in the sky. Hanging upside down, she covered herself with the silks like a superhero cape. Her strength and grace were breathtaking, as she tumbled roll by roll back down to the ground.