Page 96 of Beyond the Temptation: Vol 2

“How you doin’ tonight, Minneapolis!” the guy holding the guitar onstage asked the crowd, who responded with resounding screams and whistles.

I ignored him and went back to the VIP lounge, where my clanmates sat.

“Get a little snack, Ava?” Orvis, our clan leader, asked. He stared at me with his usual haughty expression, the one he used when he slapped me around.

I hated him so much.

I looked at the two human girls on either side of him—a redhead with ghastly pale skin and a Black girl—and then back at him. I simply nodded.

“What’s that, darlin’? I didn’t hear you,” he said, putting his hand up to his ear.

I stared into his cruel dark-brown eyes. “Yes, I did, Orvis.”

He scowled, hating that I’d used his full name. He preferred we called him just simply, ‘O’. But screw that.

I sat down next to my friend and fellow clan member, Carmela, who handed me a glass with clear liquid in it. I lifted it in thanks, taking a sip, yet knowing the vodka in it would do practically nothing to alter my mood.

I missed being human. I didn’t ask for this vampire life. But it was all my fault I had become this. I thought back to that night, four years ago, when I had wandered the dark corners of the French Quarter… you know, the dank, forbidden areas only locals knew about. Colton had been missing for six years and I was never, ever able to let him go. About once a month, I’d wander around with his photo and ask if anyone had seen him. I honestly should have given up after about a year, but my heart wouldn’t let me. Colton James still held it and I would never heal from his abrupt and traumatizing absence until I knew what happened to him. And now I had paid the ultimate price with my humanity, and I didn’t know where the hell he was or if he was even alive. I’d been so desperate to find him, that when I ran into Orvis in a strip club that provided a lot more than dances, he’d assured me he knew where he was. I was so excited I almost wet myself. I followed him into a back room where he told me to stay put. That he was going to fetch him.

Instead, two men came in, compelled me with their eyes, and told me to hold still. I woke twenty-four hours later in pain and vomiting, forced to drink blood and now a permanent part of this clan Orvis ran. Forced to follow this asshole around the country when we moved every year. He’d told me I had to cut all ties with my family, but no way was I doing that. I did have a burner phone I kept active with a secret bank account so I could text or call my family so they didn’t think I was missing or dead. I knew that horrific pain and no way would I let my family endure it. They thought I was on missionary trips here and abroad with the Baptist church we attended. Obviously, the phone was not registered in my name and I never sent them photos. I was well aware I’d have to make an appearance eventually, but for now, my parents and siblings were not pressing me for one.

Which brought my thoughts back to Colton. He’d disappeared the same I had. Did a vampire get to him, too? If so, why hadn’t he told me he was leaving New Orleans? Made up a story about how he had to go? No. He wouldn’t do that to me. He must be dead. Attacked and robbed, then his body thrown in the Mississippi River, never to be found again.

Tears threatened, but I held them back, instead sipping my cocktail and avoiding eye contact with Orvis, who kept telling me he was going to take what he wanted from me if I didn’t give in soon.

Well, I would never give in. I’ll never give myself to anyone again. Colton had my heart, and if he was truly dead, he was buried with it and that was fine with me.

I sat in my spacious bedroom in the giant house Orvis had rented on the outskirts of Minneapolis. I had thought of running away so many times. Hell, I’d had plenty of opportunities. But where would I go? I couldn’t go home to Louisiana or I’d be recognized for sure, unable to explain my absence and the way I looked. Because I sure didn’t look like that innocent blonde-haired college student with hearts in her eyes. No, I now resembled more a vixen, with bitterness in her soul. I could flee to any other part of the country—or hell, leave the country altogether—but with what money?

The night I was turned, I was forced to go with Orvis and his goons. A prisoner in his house in the Garden District until I got my thirst under control. And once I did, he’d packed us up and moved us to Tampa, Florida, where we spent a year or so. Then to Atlanta. Then Charlotte… and so on. Minneapolis would also be temporary, as I’d heard Orvis mentioning New Orleans next, so I didn’t bother to forge any relationships here except with Carmela. I worked nights at a diner waiting tables just to break up the monotony so I didn’t die of boredom. Orvis made me put my paychecks into “the group” bank account (that was really just his) but my cash tips went straight into keeping my burner phone active. I wasn’t proud to admit I’d compelled a few customers into giving me higher tips when I was running low, but I did what I had to do. I’d rob a bank if I had to in order to keep my small semblance of independence. What I didn’t use on the phone I stashed in a makeup case in my bathroom where I was sure nobody would look.

I got up and went into the bathroom, pulling open the drawer and withdrawing the case. I removed the false bottom and lifted the Ziploc bag, checking the door before I went back to it, counting out the bills. Three thousand dollars. It wasn’t much but it would afford me a bus ticket and first and last month’s rent on a place far away from Orvis and his goons. Maybe some new documents too. I’d changed my name on paper to Amy Smith so I could disappear, but I would never answer to it. Orvis had cut up and destroyed my Louisiana driver’s license and my one and only debit card and somehow got me a fake social security number. I supposed when you lived as long as vampires did, you had a lot of connections to become someone different entirely.

I replaced the cash and items into the drawer and went back into the room. I changed into silk pajamas and lay down, feeling the pull of the sun lull me to sleep, hoping I’d dream of Colton and his beautiful hazel eyes shining with love as he told me I was his girl forever.

CHAPTER FIVE

COLT

A few days later, after getting a full tour of the clubhouse, and an in-house apartment assigned to me, I sat in what the Nighthawks called their “breakroom” and sipped on a warm mug of reheated bagged blood. Venom, the werewolf of the group, sat next to me eating what I assumed was some sort of meat and cheese sandwich while mustard dribbled into his beard. I studied him. He seemed to be maybe in his forties. I also learned over the past week that he had a human wife and two baby daughters. He had a home separate from here with them, but this was essentially his “job” and he hung out here most of the time.

“So… how did a wolf join a vampire club?” I blurted.

The question had been killing me over the past week. I found out the “cells” in the main part of the clubhouse were for him, on full moon nights. And for rogue wolves they sometimes captured. He slept in them, but I learned he wandered around unchained for most of the night, using footpads with words on them to communicate. I’d seen them near the dog cages, they read, yes, no, I don’t know, fuck off, and a bunch of other silly things. I was very much looking forward to seeing him use them during a full moon. I hadn’t had much experience with werewolves, but was told by many vamps, including Lisa, to avoid them. That we were our ‘natural enemies’ and all that. But Venom didn’t seem all that bad, and in fact, was almost fatherly.

“So, you ain’t got no girl?” he asked between bites.

“Nope. Had one before I was turned. That’s over, obviously.”

“She find out what you became?” he asked, raking the palm of his hand down his beard to clear the crumbs and whatever else.

I refrained from making a face. “No. I disappeared the night I was turned. Never looked back. Didn’t have a choice,” I murmured, lifting the mug of blood to my lips. I ignored the fact that it read BITE ME on it.

“So, you just left and she thinks you’re dead in a ditch somewhere?” he asked, incredulous.

I lifted a shoulder before I took a sip. “I guess. Orvis forced me to move with him, and we left the city. But I escaped from him after about a month. Branched out on my own.”

“Orvis Langley?”

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