Page 8 of Death Deals

The heebie-jeebies rocketed through me just at the thought.

I needed Andre’s help as much as he needed mine.

I sighed. Looked like I’d made up my mind.

When I opened the bedroom door, I jumped at the sight of Andre standing there. Heart racing, I clutched my chest. “Christ man! You scared the shit out of me.”

“I was just waiting for you,” he said and held out his bent arm, offering it for me to take. “I wanted to escort you down to dinner.”

Dinner?

My spine straightened. I hoped he didn’t meanIwas for dinner.

May have seemed like a silly thought, but you never knew with vamps. Could never be too careful.

When I didn’t take his offered arm, he dropped it and looked me over. “You don’t need to worry,” he assured me. “We eat regular food, also.”

I didn’t say anything.

Andre leaned closer to me, the smell of his cologne filling my nose, and lowered his voice. “You’re not on the menu.”

Laughing nervously, I pretended like I hadn’t been thinking that very thing a second ago.

He didn’t seem convinced. “I will warn you, though, the young ones will have a harder time with their self-control than the older.”

“W-What are you saying?” I tried to hide it, but my nerves revealed themselves in my voice.

“It’s better to stay by me,” he said instead of answering the question.

Great. Super. Awesome. Totally made me feel better.

“The most important thing is for you to meet Hector,” he went on as we stepped further into the hallway. “That way we can discuss the details.”

I said nothing as he led me down the stairs and onto the main floor of the club, which was bustling with the evening’s guests and entertainment. Music boomed from the DJ’s speakers and strobe lights flashed on the dance floor. Like before, girls in skimpy outfits shook their asses inside cages suspended from the ceiling and on poles all around the room.

Seeing it again, after discovering that I had been an exotic dancer during my life, made me queasy for a different reason—it reminded me of my failed Ascension and the bubbles containing my memories bursting before my eyes. The deep sense of emptiness that’d come after was all-consuming, and even though I hoped my assumptions about it were wrong, I had a terrible feeling I’d lost them all. Permanently this time, with no way of getting them back. And if that truly was the case, how was I ever going to be the Archangel Eli, Michael, and everyone else needed me to be?

At least my last living memory was still there whenever I reached for it. The one with the bodega, Ricky, Murphy’s Play Room, and Ed. At least I had something.

I had to hold on to that.

Andre led me past the bar, which was bustling with guests—supernatural and non—to a door labeledEmployees Only. He punched a code into the keypad and held it open for me to step through. I did, finding descending stairs into darkness on the other side. Only a hanging red exit sign above us provided some light. Not much but just enough to cast even more suspicion on an already tense situation.

Anxiety pricked at me. Following a vampire into a dark cellar? Seemed unwise.

“You’re safe with me,” Andre said in a whisper as he came up to my side. “You have my word.”

“I heard you the first time you said it,” I replied.Doesn’t mean I believe you.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I stared into the inky blackness below, unsure.

“Is there a light switch anywhere? A candle or a medieval torch?” I asked, glancing around but finding none of those things on the walls.

“I did just have the clapper installed,” he said and clapped his hands twice. When nothing happened, he smiled.

“Ha-ha. Very funny,” I said. “You’re fucking with me.”

“I am.” The rosy glow of the exit sign tinted his hair and skin, giving him the illusion of being more alive than he was. His aristocratic demeanor, sharp handsome features, and hooded grey eyes… It would be so much easier to resist him and his blood if he wasn’t so damn good looking!

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