This man’s suit was bespoke, but it looked worn out and threadbare, which gave me a little comfort. He leaned in, and I took in his long face, dark hair, skin that hadn’t seen the sun in ten years, thick plump lips, and were those—fangs?
I almost startled off my barstool.
What the actual fuck?
I did not smell the chalky death scent of vampires, but this guy was, clear as day, a blood-sucking fiend.
“You okay?” the vampire asked, reaching out toward me, but he was smart enough not to grab me.
“She just got off the bus today,” Nerdy-Sexy said as he set a glass on the bar. He poured a shot of vodka and then added a viscous red liquid to the top before garnishing it with a celery stick. As he passed it over, I got a whiff of the rusty penny smell of blood.
“Remind me not to order a Bloody Mary,” I muttered with a wince.
“This is a Mary Bloody.” The vampire smiled at this before taking a sip. “So, if you just disembarked into our beautiful unique city, where did you come in from?”
Nerdy-Sexy slammed a fist on the bar, making everyone in our vicinity jump. Even the Chad Jameson impersonator missed a note before picking up again. “Clive,” the bartender growled in a low rumble, “It’s none of your business where she came from. Save her the effort of making something up to tell you.”
Clive didn’t seem fazed by the sudden outburst from Nerdy-Sexy, the vampire only smiled over his Mary Bloody and said, “Apologies if I was intrusive.”
“It’s fine,” I said with a shrug.
When I didn’t elaborate, Clive took a small sip of his pungent beverage and set it back on the counter. “If you just arrived today, and your bag is here with you, where are you planning to sleep tonight?”
“That’s yet to be determined.” I ran a finger over the rim of my glass. “Do you have any suggestions?” I asked, even though I would probably do the opposite of whatever he recommended.
“I do.” A smile unfurled across his blood tinged lips. “I run a small Inn with a couple… let’s call them friends. We offer generous payment options.”
The implication was clear. Clive and his vampire buddies took their payment in blood, but I’d rather take my chances on the street.
“I wouldn’t accept if I were you,” Nerdy-Sexy said as he dried tumblers across the bar. He gave me a small wink. “You’d get a better deal from the demons.”
Clive’s head twisted toward the bartender in a completely inhuman way that had the little hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. “The demons would make you pay twice.”
“Demons?” I asked.
Every word that came from these men’s lips was so shocking, my mind was barely keeping up. First, vampires were out in the open. Had I been so oblivious that the vampires had revealed their existence to humans, and I didn’t even notice? And Nerdy-Sexy seemed to think nothing of it. He also mentioned demons casually even though in my ten years of being supernatural, I’d only come across one demon, one time, but that was a fucked-up story I wasn’t going to think about right now.
“Down the bar, there, with all the leather.” The bartender nodded back to the group of road-weary bikers.
The vampire twirled his celery stick around his Mary Bloody. “And now that you’ve had a look at them, should we start payment negotiations?”
“Thank you, Clive, but no thank you,” I said, firmly, before turning on my barstool and focusing on my beer, deciding to take only the barest sip. Usually, I could smell any kind of drink tampering a mile away, but my senses were obviously on the fritz in this strange town.
Clive the vampire hadn’t taken the not-so-subtle rejection of his offer, because he made his presence known by leaning in much too close. Finally, I got a good whiff of his chalky death scent as he whispered, “Ours is the nicest hotel in town. Unless you want to pay the incubuses in far more than a pint of blood, the Sanguine Inn is your only choice. You should press your advantage now. When you’re desperate, the price of a room will go much higher. You don’t want to sleep on the streets in Grayhaven.”
A chill ran down my spine at his words, because they sounded a hell of a lot like a warning along with a threat.
“You’ve gone too far this time, Clive. Back away now if you know what’s good for you,” Nerdy-Sexy growled before he nodded to someone deeper in the bar. I felt them before I saw them. Three werewolves surrounded me, their power crackling off my skin. Only when they were feet away did I scent them. They smelled like woodsmoke, and ferns crushed under paws. Their presence felt like the rejuvenating wind on top of a mountain and tasted like the fresh blood of a downed prey. My body screamed that I was home and with my pack. But it was a lie. It had always been a lie.
Panic surged through me as they moved in and surrounded me on three sides, and the taste of metal coated my tongue so strong, it was like my mouth had filled with bullets.
My wolf nature connected with theirs, strengthening them. Their dominant instincts were sharpening. Werewolves always felt glorious near me. I was the built-in spiritual ego boost of wolf-kind. Their instincts urged them to claim me as part of their pack and protect me, but they always handed me back to Kane.
The Alpha of North America was the boogeyman that even the nastiest monsters feared.
Kane Shipman was probably already on his way to Grayhaven.
Chapter Two
A tear slipped onto my cheek. I couldn’t help it. Blood soaked my vision, and the image of claws and teeth ripping apart flesh flashed through my mind. The fire that raged in my heart when I was on the run sputtered, ready to go dormant for another immeasurable stretch of time. Kane was getting better at controlling me. With this more recent capture, it had been three whole years before I found a way to escape.
“Fuck off, Clive. This werewolf said she wasn’t interested in your mothball vampire fuck club,” a low voice growled from beside me. The werewolf leaned between me and the vampire.
“How good to see you, Jasper,” Clive said over his drink with a lascivious smile. “Just for full transparency, sex is not included in the amenities at the Sanguine Inn, but many of our staff will throw it in at no extra charge. Can I buy a round for the pack? Do you serve drinks with dog food in it, bartender?”
“You can fuck off, Clive,” the werewolf named Jasper growled. His wrist was thick. Even through his leather jacket, I could see that this werewolf was ripped—not that he needed to be to control me. I was an omega. Any fucking wolf could control me. It was why Kane hunted, stalked, and turned me into a werewolf in the first place.
“I’ll catch you all later then.” Clive smiled serenely, turned with a flourish of his hand, and walked away, and I wanted to call after him. Sure, I’d feed him my blood in exchange for a place to stay. I’d give him more than my blood if only he’d help me escape this werewolf, Jasper, and his two werewolf cronies. What was a few pints of blood and one fuck to avoid years of Kane? Nothing.
“Fucking bloodsuckers,” a low, male voice said from behind me. “Hey, are you okay?”
He was talking to me. It probably seemed like I was in shock. My whole body was shaking, and I fucking hated it, but I couldn’t stop either. Any second now, they would dominate me and take me to wherever they’d arranged to meet Kane. My abductions always followed the same script.