Page 46 of Fallen

She drew me around a corner and down a short passage. We turned left, then left again. A couple more turns and we reached a shiny red door.

“Welcome to the Bite Club,” Eden said with an ironic little smile and pushed it open. Dance music spilled into the hall.

I snort-laughed. “The Bite Club?”

“Yeah.” Eden’s smile widened into something more genuine as she urged me inside. “It’s where we hang out until the guys want us.”

“Wow.” I gave a low whistle. “This is—”

“Nice, huh?”

Jasper slipped in the door after us. The other thralls said hi, then ignored him, so I did the same.

“Very nice,” I agreed with Eden.

Actually, the club was a decadent fantasy world in scarlet and purple and black. Small colored spotlights roamed over a large dance floor encircled by couches and other furniture, including a round velvet couch wide enough to have an orgy on. There were a number of dark nooks partially concealed by heavy silk curtains, and a bartender stood behind a hammered-metal bar.

Lesa rose from a fainting couch and sauntered toward us in a clingy gold dress that set off her olive skin. A matching gold headband was wrapped around her short dark curls.

“Want a drink?” she asked me in a faint French-Canadian accent. “Chad here makes the best margaritas.” She smiled at the hunky blond bartender.

“Yeah?” Resting my forearms on the bar, I grinned at him. “Hi, Chad. I’m Twilight, and I’d love a margarita.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said with a wink. “Strawberry jalapeno? I was just mixing up a batch.”

“Perfect.”

Pinky appeared from another corner of the room in a glittering sequin mini dress. She draped an arm around my shoulders and told Chad, “Make one for all of us. This is a welcome party.”

* * *

Lesa was right about Chad’s margaritas. The first one was practically a mouthgasm. I drank it down a little too fast, letting the sweet but spicy beverage coat my worries.

“Another one?” Chad asked when I set my glass on the metal bar.

I started to refuse. A slayer needs to keep a clear head. But then, I wasn’t a slayer anymore, was I? I could get as wasted as I wanted.

“Why not?” I returned. “I’ll help.”

I joined him behind the bar, and he put me to work washing and de-stemming the strawberries, which I accomplished along with a great deal of laughter.

When we were finished, I bumped my hip against his. “Thanks.”

“Have a taste,” he said.

I complied, then licked my lips. “Yum.”

His gaze went to my mouth, and I blinked and edged back. Okay, maybe I had been flirting, but that was the margaritas talking. I hadn’t expected him to take me up on it, especially under the video cam’s watchful eye.

He stiffened and turned away, busying himself with refilling Pinky, Lesa and Eden’s glasses. More thralls arrived, a half-dozen women and a trio of men. Eden introduced me around, and we started dancing. I learned that there were about two dozen thralls in the castle altogether.

“We almost never see the primus’s thralls, though,” a tall redhead named Hanna said. “He doesn’t allow—”

Another thrall frowned and shook her head at Hanna, and she bit her lip. “Anyway, this is pretty much everyone.”

I pretended I hadn’t noticed the awkwardness. “Seems like a fun group.”

“You have no idea,” drawled another woman.

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