A wave of noise hits me like a battering ram, and I squint while my eyes adjust to the dim room. Everything is exposed wood, including the floor, which feels sticky under my boots. My senses are overwhelmed with bass blaring through speakers and a toxic mixture of alcohol, sweat, and body spray.
It’s hard to tell how big the space is with so many bodies dancing, drinking, laughing. From what I can tell, there aren’t any other vampires here, but there are several fairies and shapeshifters. One blue-skinned female is showing off in a booth—her power manifests in dancing wisps of blue and pink, as if her hands are spinning cotton candy from the very air.
The noise and movement is almost overwhelming as I hurry after Nina, who’s charging toward a table in a corner. She stumbles once when a green-haired girl shoves her in trying to get to the bar, but Drew’s sister just shoves her back and keeps moving. I arrive at the table a moment later. Nina says nothing to me. With a sharp gaze scanning the room, she slips off her glitter-encrusted jacket and hangs it on the back of her chair.
Feeling out of place in my NEW VEW UNIVERSITY sweatshirt, I pull it off—along with the long-sleeved shirt—and drape it over the chair beside hers. Underneath, I’m wearing the silky, lace-trimmed top I’d worn to bed the night before my Awakening. Hopefully it’s only obvious to me that it’s part of a pajama set. I’m just sitting down as Drew approaches our table. I catch his gaze flick down the length of me, taking note of the tank top.
“Thirsty?” he shouts over the music.
Why, are you offering? I almost ask, eyeing the vein at his throat.
Jesus, where the hell did that come from? Seeing him with Hannah must’ve chipped away at whatever calm I’ve managed to achieve. It doesn’t matter that I’ve only known this human less than a day—it’s a vampire’s nature to hoard, possess, consume.
Fighting the instincts clawing at me, I push my tongue against my gums and run it over my canines, and wince inwardly. Damn. I should feed again soon. Not on Drew.
“Charlie?” he says, close to my ear this time, as though he’s worried I didn’t hear him before.
Holy shit, he smells good. Like blood and boy and eucalyptus-scented deodorant. Smiling tightly, I nod at him. “Thanks. Whatever they have on tap is fine.”
Drew leans close so he doesn’t have to shout. “Do you have a blood preference?”
The question makes me feel warm. “They serve blood here?” I ask, faintly surprised. Who knew Oldbel was so accommodating toward vampirekind? When Drew nods, I give him my usual order. “Half O-positive and half A-positive, please.”
He winks. “Coming right up!”
He disappears into the crowd. I peek over at Nina, anxious that she’s going to be glaring, as if she can hear my thoughts about the brother she just warned me away from, but she’s still scanning the crowd.
Drew comes back with the drinks a few minutes later—he ordered me a cocktail instead of a beer, apparently—and plops down into the seat beside me. Some liquid sloshes onto the table. Blood, I recognize a second later, when the smell greets my senses. My mouth waters. I try not to appear too eager as I take a sip from the glass, and the familiar taste of blood explodes on my tongue.
“What do you think?” Drew asks, gesturing at the room around us.
It takes every shred of self-control I have left not to down the rest of the cocktail. Clearing my throat to buy myself time, I cross my legs and swirl the drink around in my hand, listening to the ice cubes clink against the sides of the glass. “It’s a little more… rustic than I’m used to, but I like it.”
“You’re too serious, Charlie. The discovery that everything is shit is the most important revelation of all time. Now, you’re free.” As Drew finishes speaking, a tall human approaches our table. Drew turns to him, flashing his unstoppable grin, and shouts a greeting. They shake hands before the redhead’s eyes shift to me. “Oh, shit. Yeah. Simon, this is Charlie.”
Simon extends his hand, something straightforward in his manner, and I don’t hesitate to shake it. “What are you doing on this side of town?” Drew asks, drawing Simon’s attention back to him.
He groans, tugging at the collar of his white dress shirt. “Saffron has been bitching at me to bring her here for months. Figured her birthday was finally a good time to do it.”
Drew laughs. “Probably. Tell Saff I said happy birthday.”
“Will do. I better grab our drinks and get back.”
“Catch you later, man.” Drew turns back to me and starts talking about how he met Simon and Saff. I have some trouble listening, because once again, I find myself admiring him. Getting caught up in how the dangling light over our heads casts down on his features. The more time I spend with this human, the more comfortable with him I get. He has the kind of charismatic personality that can make anyone feel as if they’ve always known him.
I realize that Drew has stopped talking. I blink at him and scramble for something to say. “He seems nice.”
“Yeah, Simon is cool.” He leans back, casually draping his arm along the back of my chair. It brushes against me. “You know, there’s a TV at the boardinghouse—we could watch a movie on Sunday. That’s our day off, in case no one thought to tell you.”
“Sure,” I answer, feeling warm again. “I’d like that.”
We’re both smiling like maniacs. To avoid Nina noticing this, I watch the dancing for a while. I get lost in the movement as I sip on the cocktail Drew ordered for me. My brows tug closer when a section of the crowd parts and a familiar figure walks in. She walks with such confidence that people literally move out of her way.
Sylvia, Drew had called her. The bounty hunter.
And this time, Sylvia isn’t alone—another vampire follows her toward the bar. His hair is dark as onyx and brushes the back of his neck in soft-looking curls, complimenting olive-toned skin. He scans the crowd with green eyes so penetrating they shake me to my core. For once, I’m glad to have the eyesight I do, as there’s no way a human would be able to see him so clearly in this room… but he’s all I see right now.
“You’re staring,” Drew teases, his mouth close to my ear.
I jump, then turn to him with a scowl. “I’m not staring.”
“That’s Noah,” Drew informs me, ignoring this. “He’s another hunter. Bounty hunter, not vampire. In case you were worried he’s going to break into the boardinghouse with an axe.”
His eyes are on the vampire, too, so I turn back around. Two human women walk up and start talking. From the shy, appreciative expressions on their faces, I can guess what their motives are for approaching him—some humans actually prefer sex with vampires over their own kind. I can hardly blame them, since the bite makes everything more pleasurable. But Noah humors the humans only for a few seconds before turning on the stool, effectively putting his back to them. He says something into Sylvia’s ear, and she tips her head back, laughing.
“Are they… together?” I ask, noticing for the first time that a blood bottle glints at the hollow of Sylvia’s throat.
Drew tosses a peanut into his mouth. “Not sure. They mostly keep to themselves.”
Nina chooses that moment to take interest. “They aren’t together. Word on the street is, they’ve known each other forever, but they’ve never been romantically involved.”