Page 3 of Blood Descendants
I step around him, away from that door. I aim for the bar, the opposite end from the man in the red suit.
“You ever seen this woman around?” I ask as I show Ophelia’s picture to a woman sitting there.
When she looks over at me, she seems slightly dizzy. I scan her neck for bite marks but find none. She blinks hard, as if trying to clear her vision. But she takes my phone, taking a closer look. “Maybe,” she says. “She looks kind of familiar.”
“These parties are a semi-regular thing,” I say as hope flashes through me. “Did you go to one three weeks ago?”
The woman starts tipping sideways, and I lunge forward to steady her. She giggles stupidly and pushes her hair out of her face. “I really should stop coming to these things. But forgetting? Nothing else makes the voices stop like the bite.”
Shit. She’s not even trying to hide anything. Have vampires always been this obvious, and I’ve just somehow been oblivious?
“Did you go to one of these parties three weeks ago?” I ask again, removing my hands from her when I’m sure she won’t fall over again.
“I did,” she says as she leans against the bar, her elbow to the wooden surface, her chin resting in her hand. “I think. I don’t know. These things all kind of blur together. You should ask Felix. He’s always at these things.”
“Who is Felix?” I ask as adrenaline starts burning in my blood. Finally. We might be getting somewhere.
“The one who looks like Apollo and Hades had a love child,” she says, waving in the direction of the man in the red suit.
Great.
“Thank you,” I say. “And you should probably head home, don’t you think? Do you want me to get you a cab?”
She offers a smile, one that’s kind of sad and hopeless. She shrugs one shoulder. “There’s no one waiting for me there. At least here, I’m not alone.”
My heart breaks for her a little. And I understand what she’s saying just a little too well.
There isn’t much more I can do for her, though. So, I turn and, with a determined, deep breath, head down the bar toward Felix.
The adrenaline in me spikes harder when Felix catches my gaze, and he has a cocky smile that curls his lips. He’s shameless as his eyes drop down the length of me again, and he stands.
I don’t know exactly how much stronger a vampire is than a human. I can defend myself better than just about any woman in this city. It’s the only reason why I have the guts to walk into a party where I’m sure my friend went missing. But a vampire? I’m not so sure I can take him down if he decides not to take no for an answer.
When I’m just four steps away, a massive body steps between Felix and me. Mr. tall, dark, and tatted glares at me with dark eyes.
“Unless you’ve got a death wish, it’s time to call it a night,” he growls. And then his hand clamps around my upper arm, and he steers me toward the front door.
“Get your damn hands off of me,” I seethe. I try yanking out of his grip, but it’s like steel.
“You don’t know what the hell you’re getting yourself into here,” he says, low and cold. “Trust me, if you knew the truth, you’d be thanking me.”
He shoves the door open and hauls me out onto the sidewalk.
“What truth, that this is a party full of vampires looking to feed off of idiots with some seriously twisted kinks?” I bark as he lets me pull out of his grasp.
His expression goes tight and cold.
He didn’t expect me to know the truth.
“Or that you’re one of them?” I ask with ice in my voice. I walk up to him, determined he’s not going to push me around, even if he is a dangerous supernatural being that shouldn’t exist. “So why pretend you’re any different from them? You think you’re some savior? That you’re saving a sweet, innocent girl from being bitten unknowingly?” I shake my head as he stares down at me darkly. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“Who is she?” he asks. And his tone is more even than I’d expect, but there’s a surprising amount of regret and maybe anger in his tone.
I hesitate for a moment. I don’t know this man. I don’t know what he’s capable of. Everything in me tells me he’s dangerous, that he’s no knight in shining armor. But he did think he was protecting me by making me leave the party. Do I dare tell him the truth?
“Ophelia Bennett,” I answer. “She’s my best friend. And I’m pretty positive she went to one of these parties three weeks ago. She’s been missing ever since then.”
“You know what kind of party this is, and you still walked in there after her?” he asks. He’s impressed. Shocked. Maybe a little horrified. He doesn’t hide any of the emotions from his tone.
