“I’ve never heard of a drug that made you stronger,” I said. “Or smarter, for that matter.”
“I know about a lot you’ve never heard of,” Danni said, flicking her auburn hair away from her neck.
Wanna bet?
“Where’d you get it?” I asked.
“A dealer,” she said. “Just like everybody else.”
Something in the overt nonchalance of her tone made me believe that Danni knew exactly what she had in that little bottle. “But that’s not a regular drug. It looks like blood.”
Don’t give too much away, Faith.
Danni examined the tiny bottle between her fingers. “It’s dyed to make it more appealing. Like Gatorade.”
I smiled despite myself. “Yeah, except Gatorade doesn’t make you high.”
Danni closed her finger over the end of the bottle and turned it over. She held her finger out to me. A bead of red liquid shone on the tip. A drop of poison. “Take it,” she said, eyes never leaving mine.
“You first,” I challenged.
Danni’s mouth quirked. “Nah,” she said. “I don’t use. I just supply.”
My smile hardened. “Then you’ll have to excuse me. I don’t think I’ll be doing any drugs that even the supplier won’t use.”
This didn’t seem to bother Danni at all. She held her finger out to Heather instead and said, “It’s yours, babe.”
Heather took Danni’s wrist in an instant and stuck her finger into her mouth.
“Heather!” I exclaimed. “Come on, you’re already high. Let’s just get out of here.” Forget this. Three of these blood bitches looked like they were going to go into a drug coma, and Danni was either too smart or too ignorant to tell me anything useful. It was time to go.
But Heather wasn’t going anywhere.
“You can never be too thin or too high!” she said, eyes going in and out of focus.
I threw my hands onto my hips. “We’re not going to wait all night for you,” I warned, even though I would have if it meant her getting home safe.
“Okay,” she said dreamily.
I stared her down as she turned the water faucet on and off, giggling inanely. I looked around at the dazed blood bitches and Danni smiling coyly. “Fine!” I burst out. “Come find me when you’re done being completely idiotic!”
“’Kay.”
I stormed out, cursing under my breath. This was the most ridiculous and frustrating night I’d ever had, and suddenly, I was sick of it—sick of all the supernatural bullshit. Of being paranoid all the time and always,
always
being the responsible one. Katie had gone and gotten drunk off her ass; Heather had just taken the first step to becoming a blood bitch; and Derek . . . he was too busy being an assbag to do anything dumb, but he hadn’t listened to me about Paula and I was pissed.
I wanted to let loose, too. I wanted to forget about all the awful things that were going on around me—the things I had no power to change. That was the whole reason I’d gone out tonight. I wanted ... I wanted to
dance
.
I went to our table and found Derek and Katie deep in conversation. They both turned when I came up. “Heather’s not coming,” I snapped. I tossed back one of the remaining shots and winced as it burned my throat. “I’m going to dance.”
“But I thought we were leaving?” Katie said.
“Leave if you want.” I stalked off to the dance floor.
I danced alone for a while, only semi-enjoying myself amidst my anger. Then some random dude came up and started dancing with me. I tried my best to be nice, but when his hand wandered to my butt cheek, I slapped it off, totally appalled and repulsed at his forwardness.
“Hey,” he said. “What was that for?”
I started walking away and didn’t even bother to turn around.
Why is everything a pain?
I felt a hand on my shoulder and it spun me around. Random Dude was looming over me. “Why’d you hit my hand away?” he asked, slurring.
I pushed his hand off of my shoulder and said, “Because I don’t appreciate you grabbing my ass when you don’t even know my name.”
“So tell me your name,” he said, guffawing.
“No,” I said with a sneer. “Go dance with someone else. I’m leaving.”
I started to turn around but Random Dude grabbed my wrist. Hard. I tried to yank it away and ended up wrenching it, which hurt like hell.
“Let me go, jerk!”
That’s when a wall of white flew at us with the speed of an aerial missile. Derek. He drew back and punched Random Dude so hard he went flying through the air and crashing into the bar. His back splintered the wood and he was knocked unconscious.
For a moment I could only stare at Random Dude lying in a pile under the bar. I was unable to completely stave off the rush of vindication upon seeing him drooling uselessly on the floor. Then I realized that everyone else was staring—not at Random Dude—but at Derek.
Oh, fudge.
I grabbed Derek’s hand and quickly towed him away from the stunned crowd.
“What the hell was that?” I screeched. “What were you thinking!”
“He was hurting you!” Derek said defensively. “You’re my responsibility tonight. I wasn’t about to let that guy break your wrist off.”
“I’m not your responsibility; I’m Katie’s. She’s the one that’s supposed to protect me if anything happens. And nothing
was
happening. You completely overreacted.”
“I just defended you and you’re yelling at me?”
I sputtered for a moment. “Couldn’t you have at least
tried
to act like a normal person?”
“That
was
me trying. If I’d had it my way I would have changed right there and ripped his slimy skull off.”
I gaped up at him.
“Sorry,” Derek said, seeing my reaction. “I guess I should have been more subtle.” He looked around, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Do you think anyone noticed?”
“Um, yeah!” I looked over at the exit and saw the bouncer on his cell phone. “We have to leave,” I said. “Now. I think the bouncer is calling the police.”
Suddenly Katie was at Derek’s side. “What is
wrong
with you?” she all but shrieked.
Derek rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah I know. I lost it, all right? Like it never happened to you?”
“I never did it in the middle of a human club!”
“Where were
you
anyway?” I shot at her. “You’re supposed to be controlling him.”
Katie held her hands up helplessly. “He was gone before I could even react! How am I supposed to know he can move that fast?”
Derek looked a little too happy about that.
“Don’t even start,” I warned him, stabbing a finger in his face. I turned to Katie. “We can’t leave Heather here, but I can’t get her out of the bathroom.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Katie said at once. She seemed to be trying to redeem herself for letting Derek slip through her guard. “You guys get out of here—quick. I hear sirens.”
“Okay, but make sure Heather goes home with you. Haul her over your shoulder if you have to.”
“Got it.” Katie started to leave and then stopped short, giving Derek a worried look. “Maybe I should walk you to the car.”
Derek looked ready to protest, but I nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Katie waved us toward the back of the club. “This way.”
Derek and I followed her, slipping in between the crowds like eels. People were freaking out all around us. I heard phrases like,
He came out of nowhere
, and,
Threw him across the room and then vanished!
As we reached the side door I saw a bouncer the size of a grizzly bear standing guard over it.
“Damn,” I muttered.
“Come on,” Derek said, striding forward.
The bouncer put his beefy hand on Derek’s chest. He was at least three times as big as Derek and threw his weight out like a puffed-up gorilla. “Nobody in or out,” he thundered. Derek grabbed the guy’s hand and twisted it away, slamming him into the doorframe.
“Go,” Derek said to us, and I scurried through the door followed by Katie. Derek trailed after us, leaving the bouncer staring after us in wonderment and rubbing his hand.
We entered into a slim, dank alley beside the club that smelled faintly of vomit. Katie began walking briskly toward the street, Derek and I keeping pace behind her, when suddenly she stopped. She turned to face us, and her eyes were like flashlights in the dark alley—iridescent yellow.
“Get back inside,” she said.
“Why?” Derek asked, looking around.
Katie’s body shook violently.
“Vampires.”
13
HUMAN SHIELD
D
erek pinned me to the wall in an instant. His arms braced agaisnt the side of the building like steel bars, his hard body pressed flush against mine.
He cursed as a rush of wind hit the side of my face and Katie yelled, “
Derek, get her inside!
”
I peered around Derek’s waist and saw that three people had appeared at the mouth of the alley—all tall, beautiful, and distinctly vampire.
Derek’s hand clasped to my arm so tightly I felt sure it would leave bruises as he hauled me toward the side door of the club. I ran and just barely caught sight of Katie angling herself between us and the vampires. In her hand was a wooden stake, much like the one Lucas had given me when we’d hunted together, but fancier and without the silver end. She crouched low, shaking and ready to fight or change—whichever came first. I’d never seen this side of her before, fierce and fearless. She was completely focused on the vampires, body tensed for the slightest sign of attack. I was in awe of her. She was ready to die right there defending us.
One of the vampires, a tall, dark guy with greasy hair, pounced on Katie and sunk his teeth into her arm. She grunted and raked the point of the stake across his face. He withdrew and she swept her leg out to knock his feet out from under him. He was too quick, though, and hopped her kick, only to make a fatal lunge for her throat.
“Katie!” I screamed, terrified. But she was amazing. She dodged the attack with impossible speed and rebounded off the wall to leap on top of the vampire like a lioness. She dug into his abdomen with her stake, and his angry hiss filled the night air. He shook her off, and she rolled away, coming to her feet in an ultrafast movement. Immediately, the vampire flew at her again.
Just then, Derek stopped dead, and I stumbled to a halt, hitting my head on his arm. I looked around and saw that the side door to the club was now blocked.
By Paula.
“You,” Derek started, gaping at her.
Paula propped her hands on her tiny hips. “How observant,” she said. “I thought I’d find you fleeing the scene.”
“Get away from the door,” Derek demanded.
“I can’t do that.” She pointed a silken finger at the vampires fighting Katie. The other two had joined in now and were helping to force Katie back toward us. We were going to be cornered. “They need to have a word,” Paula said primly.
“Too bad. Move!” Derek swatted Paula away like a paper doll, and she fell to the ground. Katie tripped over her, almost falling, too.
Derek shoved me toward the door when one of the vampires—a slim dude with tawny hair—dove forward to snatch Paula out of the way. At the same moment, Katie spun around on him, taking the miniscule moment of opportunity as the vampire reached for Paula, and plunged her stake at his chest.
In a blink, the vampire picked Paula up by her arms and held her in front of his chest like a shield. The stake squelched into Paula’s heart, and she let out a ragged groan. Blood gushed from the wound, and we all froze for an instant.
Was it vampire blood ... or human?
The vampire eyes around us all blackened with the crave—even Derek’s eyes were like inky pools.
Shit. Human blood.
But still, nobody moved. Derek was holding his breath—completely motionless and staring away from the body as though in pain. I could feel his vibe lashing at him like barbed wire—urging him to drink the blood in front of him. He only kept it at bay by thinking of me. How he
wouldn’t
bite me. How he loved me.
It lasted only a breath of time.
And then the female vampire dashed for the bleeding corpse. Katie pried the stake from the body and whirled around on her with a vicious growl. The female stopped, eyes still locked hungrily on the dead body. Her vibe was ten times stronger than Derek’s. She was
insane
with bloodlust—she could think of nothing else.
The tan-haired vampire who was holding Paula seemed more controlled. He released the dead body with a flourish and smacked his gloved hands together as if dusting them off. “Go on,” he said to the female. “Take her.”