Page 288 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“Hi gorgeous,” Stella said, sidling over and leaning across the bar to kiss Kate's cheek. “I like the Marilyn thing.”

“Do you? I wasn't sure,” Kate said doubtfully, her personality as enigmatic as her look. To watch her, you'd think she was full of confidence, but when you actually spoke to her she was completely unassuming.

“No, you look hellagood,” Stella said, making a show of licking her lips. Stella went both ways and made no bones about her interest in Kate.

Kate laughed. “Thanks.”

“Looks like a good crowd you have here tonight.” She was talking to him, looking nervous about making small talk.

“They come for you, sweetheart. They come for you,” he said easily.

She looked up at him and he could have sworn her eyes went straight to his canines. “Ha. Yeah, right. Thanks for the drink,” she said, not meeting his eyes before she slid off the stool and headed toward the back. It would be an hour or two before the Morphs went on stage.

“She wants you,” Stella said. “And you want her back. Why don't you jump on that?”

“I don't do mortals.”

“You don't do anybody, and that's your problem. If you don't go for her, I will.”

“Yeah, you've been trying for her since the day she started singing here. Look how far it's gotten you,” Fox muttered. “She doesn't really do anybody, so back off of her.”

“She knows, doesn't she?” Dom asked Fox, a serious edge in his voice.

Fox whipped his head up to meet Dom’s eyes. Guiltily. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, but I didn't tell her.”

“You didn't clear it from her mind, either.”

“Look, I've cleared her too many times already. But I made it so she can't tell anyone, so it's cool. And Stella, she's totally afraid of the fangs, so drop any ideas you have for her.”

Stella shrugged.

“I don't like it. I'm holding you responsible for her,” Dom said. Fox had broken one of his important codes: laying low with the mortals. He didn't want any more needless deaths. He had left that life behind him.

“I know, I will absolutely take the check on this.”

Raised voices and an increased throng of bodies alerted him to a skirmish in the middle of the club. Dom called over to the bouncer at the end of the bar. “Jim.”

“I'm on it,” his bouncer said.

“Get them out. But don't make a scene.”

“I know, I know, Jedi mind trick, right?” Jim grinned at him, tapping his temple.

“That's right.”

He didn't like to have any kind of drama go down in his club. He'd taught the bouncers to treat offenders suavely, giving them the greatest possible chance to leave with dignity, even if they did have their arms held by two huge ex-military guys while they walked out. He watched as Jim and James—yes, his two regular bouncers had the same name—cut through the crowd, separated the two belligerents and led them out, one through the front door and one out the back. He could only hope they'd wait to be sure a fight didn't pick back up in the parking lot. The last thing he needed was the kind of trouble a drive-by cop car would spot.

The stilettos were driving her nuts. What had she been she thinking? Standing in the women’s bathroom, putting lipstick on before her first set, Kate was having a hard time balancing. Stressed out with writing the proposal for her master's thesis, she'd ingested three Starbuck's Venti Lattes earlier in the day and now she was having a near panic attack from all the caffeine.

She rubbed lipstick off her canine tooth. Her fang. She shivered, remembering seeing Fox's bloody fangs last week. She had ended up calling him several times that week, firing questions at him like, “How old are you?” (179 years old) and “How old were you when you were turned?” (20) and “Why are the three of you rogue vampires?”

That was the most interesting answer. “Dom had a spiritual crisis in the 1970's and swore off killing,” Fox had said. “Then he packed up and moved to Tucson.”

“And you and Stella followed?” she'd asked.

“Yeah. I like the way I feel when I'm with Dom. I feel more like my mortal self. Less soul-less,” Fox had explained.

She wanted to grill him more about Dom, but didn't want to make her interest that obvious. Now that she knew, she could see how all the clues had been there: Stella, Dom and Fox's relationship was so odd for one thing, with all three living together in one compound like a family. Tighter than family, really. They had pale faces and felt cooler to the touch. And Fox could never rehearse before dark.

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