Murder in Vein (2010) (25 page)

Madison shook her head. "Mike yells at me. Colin can't stand
me. And Samuel was pissed enough to want to bite me. I hardly
think I'm making a great impression." She paused as she reached
for her leather jacket. "And I'm not sure I want to make that
kind of impression. Mike's as big a mess as I am, and the others
are ... well, vampires."

"I dated Doug before I was turned," Dodie pointed out. "And
Jerry married Kate."

"Uh-huh," Madison said, heading for the door. "Thanks, but
no thanks."

Colin was waiting outside on the motorcycle for Madison.
Parked in front of his bike was Samuel's sedan. Gordon stood
straight as an arrow next to the open rear passenger door. The
two vampires were talking when Madison bounced out the front
door and down the walk. The Dedhams came out behind her.
Mike Notchey had already left.

Colin appraised her outfit. "Going grunge, are we?"

"It's my nightgown," Madison quipped.

Colin grinned. Samuel studied her in silence before walking
to his car. Before climbing into the back seat, he turned to Dodie.
"I thought about your request, Dodie. My answer is yes, providing circumstances play out as we expect."

Dodie slightly bowed her head toward the head vampire.
"Thank you, Samuel."

loodlust was very different from Fang Me and Bat Beauty.
For one, it was packed with people, even on a Wednesday
night. The placard at the front door proclaimed Wednesday
as fang night. Every person who wore fangs of one kind or another got half off the cover price, which was fairly steep to begin
with.

After leaving the motorcycle and helmets with the valet,
Madison and Colin stood in line behind scores of young people
mostly dressed in various shades of black, gray, and red. Most
of them had wax fangs that they flashed at the person collecting
the cover charge. Once at the head of the line, Colin paid the full
price for the two of them.

Inside, the place was throbbing with energy, and the decor
and music were glitzy goth, as opposed to dark and depressing
goth. It was Transylvania gone Hollywood.

As the two of them entered the club, Colin took Madison's
hand and guided her through the throngs of people. Along the
way, several people said hello to Colin. There were even a couple of people they'd seen in the back room at Bat Beauty the night
before, and Madison was surprised to receive greetings of her
own.

"Colin," she whispered, getting close to him. "There are
people here from Bat Beauty. Do you think they don't know
about Geoff yet? Seems odd they would be here when their friend
was murdered. I hardly knew him, and I feel funny about being
out partying."

Colin shrugged, his face impassive. "Difficult to say. Maybe
they weren't close."

The club was on two levels. The lower level was mainly for
dancing, with tables and booths scattered around the edges on
various levels to give people seated in the back a view of the
dance floor. Upstairs, there was a large loft area with more booths
and tables. The music was still loud upstairs but better for customers who wanted to have some shot at conversation.

"I don't have the same contacts here since it's fairly new," Colin
said to her. "We'll just have to mingle like regular customers."

They were working their way toward the stairs to the loft
when they heard someone call out Colin's name. Turning, both
of them saw Miriam.

Wilhelm's handmaiden had left her long, dark frock at home
and was dressed in a black leather-looking mini-dress and boots.
Her hair, worn in a single, long, demure braid the night before,
hung loose down her back. Her demeanor was also not as meek
as it had been at Bat Beauty.

When Miriam reached Colin and Madison, she only had eyes
for Colin. "I didn't know you came to Bloodlust" The girl spoke
to Colin with shiny, eager eyes.

"I've only been here a couple of times before," he told her.
He held up his hand, in which he still clutched Madison's. "You
remember Madison, don't you?"

Miriam gave Madison a side glance and a perfunctory nod,
then returned her adoring gaze to Colin. "There's, like, this huge
multi-coven party going on upstairs. Follow me."

They followed Miriam through the crowd and up the wide,
curved staircase. A large group had commandeered the far corner
of the loft area. Madison recognized a few of the people clustered
around from the night before-some from Dark Tidings, some
from Bat Beauty. She felt someone watching her and turned to
see Lilith seated in the middle of everything, her eyes glued to
Madison. Next to her was an attractive bald man with a goatee
and glasses, whom Madison recognized as Ethan Young. With her
eyes glued to Madison, Lilith's head was tilted toward Ethan and
she was saying something to him. He turned to watch Colin and
Madison, but Madison felt his attention riveted on her.

"Look who I found downstairs," gushed Miriam as she presented Madison and Colin to the main table, at which Ethan and
Lilith sat like reigning royalty.

Ethan Young stood up and held out a hand to Colin. "You
must be the Colin Reddy I've heard so much about. I'm Ethan
Young, high priest of Bloodlust."

Ethan wore a loose white silk shirt only partially buttoned. As
he bent to shake hands, it gapped enough to show off part of the
large tattoo Lilith had mentioned.

"It's nice to finally make your acquaintance," Colin said, shaking Ethan's hand. "And this is Madison."

Ethan held his hand out to Madison, but not in shaking position. Instead, he held it out palm up. With a brief hesitation, Madison placed her right hand palm down in Ethan's. He bent
over it and kissed it gently. "Lilith was just telling me that she
had the pleasure of meeting you last night," Ethan told her. "Welcome, both of you. Please join us. Here, Madison, sit next to me."

Following a jerk of Ethan's head, the others at the table
cleared out, leaving it a private party. Ethan had Madison sit next
to him on his right side. Lilith was on his left. But instead of sitting down himself, Ethan excused himself.

"Please pardon me for a moment," he told the table, "but I
have to check on something." Ethan left, but he returned less
than two minutes later.

"So what brings you two here tonight?" Ethan asked, settling
himself back into his seat.

Colin leaned slightly toward Ethan to be heard over the music
and other conversations. "We heard you attract quite a crowd on
Wednesday."

Ethan looked out over the club and smiled. "The half price
helps. Weekends, at full price, it's standing room only. Of course,
the current frenzy over vampires is what really brings them in.
Every time a new vampire movie or TV show comes out, my
profits soar." Ethan picked up a bottle of beer from the table and
hoisted it in the air. "May the fang fad last forever."

"Your coven as active as the club?" Colin asked.

Ethan nodded and cut his eyes back to Colin. "I'm happy to
say both have been growing by leaps and bounds. A lot of people
are curious about vampirism these days." He glanced at Lilith. "I
was just trying to convince the Lady Lilith to merge her coven
with mine. Together, we could bring true vampirism out into the
open.

All eyes turned to Lilith, who was watching the exchange like
a crouched black cat. "We'll see," she said with a sly smile.

Madison couldn't resist the urge to taunt Lilith. "I've heard
that most of your coven's members have already moved over
to Bloodlust." She made the comment with a straight face, as if
delivering boring news about a traffic tie-up.

Lilith's eyes flashed. "Fang Me has been around a long time.
Don't think it's dead quite yet."

Colin put his arm around Madison's shoulders and discreetly
squeezed, signaling her to behave. Ethan's eyes danced from
behind his glasses as he sensed and enjoyed the tension between
the two women.

"There's champagne in the bucket next to the table," Ethan
announced to them. "Grab a glass and help yourself. Me, I'm
more of a beer drinker." He indicated the bottle in his hand.

"Neither of them drink, Ethan," Lilith informed him, taking a
pointed gulp from her own champagne flute. "Maybe they should
sit at the kiddie table?"

Ethan laughed. He had a thick, easy laugh. "Then what can I
get you both?"

Colin stood up. "Thanks, but I'll get our drinks. I see someone at the bar I'd like to say hello to anyway." Before he left, Colin
nuzzled Madison's ear and whispered, "Buddy up to Ethan. Find
out what you can about him and his coven." Madison played
along and let out a giggle as if he'd said something naughty.

As soon as Colin left, Ethan slid closer to Madison. "You're
certainly a fresh face around here."

Madison looked him directly in the eye. "Fresh face or fresh
blood?"

Again, Ethan laughed. He turned to Lilith. "You're right. I am
going to enjoy this girl."

At his comment, Lilith aimed a smug smile past Ethan toward
Madison, which put Madison on red alert.

Ethan turned his attention back to Madison. "You into that,
Madison? You into having your blood sucked?"

His words woke the memory of Wilhelm nursing at her neck.
She blushed, both in embarrassment and disgust.

The rise in her color was noticed by Ethan even in the dim
light of the club. He leaned close to Madison. "Methinks the
elegant Mr. Reddy already enjoys the fruit of your veins." Ethan
chuckled and winked at her. "He may not drink spirits, but I'll
bet he enjoys a fine red of another kind."

Madison almost laughed at the irony and wondered what
they would think if they knew the truth about Colin. Knowing
a real vampire was in their midst, would they be titillated-or
scared out of their minds?

Lilith, overhearing, had her own comment. "Seems Mr. Reddy
likes variety."

When Ethan and Madison looked her way, she tossed a glance
at the bar, where Colin was chumming up to a very tall and willowy blond in tight leather pants and a black lace camisole. She
was as drop-dead gorgeous as Colin, and together they made a
striking couple. They had their heads together, talking discreetly.
Colin's wavy black hair contrasted against her short platinum
hair like piano keys. The woman said something to Colin that
made him laugh and flash her a wide smile of white teeth.

"Stunning, isn't she?" Ethan's voice puffed with open
appreciation.

"Who is she?" asked Lilith. "I've never seen her before."

"Name's Isabella Claussen," Ethan told them. "Comes around
from time to time, but I haven't seen her in a while. Heard she
travels a lot, something about international consulting work."

Madison knew the name. Isabella Claussen was on Samuel's
vampire council. She was also the vampire he was going to assign
to watch Lilith. Madison wondered if that was why Isabella was
here tonight. She also wondered what kind of relationship she
had with Colin to look so cozy.

"Looks like Colin's trading up," hissed Lilith with a look so
smug, Madison wanted to slap it off her face.

Instead, Madison smiled at Ethan, knowing full well how
to charm him. She'd made decent money conning lonely men
in bars in and around Boise, batting her eyelashes and offering
promises she never intended to keep. In the end, they wound up
with their pants down, their wallets empty, unsatisfied and too
embarrassed to call the cops. Except for one. That was the time
she'd been arrested.

"Colin and I don't have an exclusive relationship," Madison
said, keeping her eyes on Ethan.

"Well," he replied with an answering smile, "that's information worth having."

Turning to Lilith, Ethan said, "From what I hear, Isabella
swings both ways, just like you, Lilith. Maybe the two of you can
become BFFs? Or maybe Colin is trying to line up a threesome
with Madison here." His grin was wide at the thought.

Lilith's eyes narrowed as she watched Colin and Isabella like
a hungry tigress on the hunt. "If Colin and that woman have a
threesome, it won't be with Alice in Wonderland here. It will be
with me." She nearly smacked her lips at the thought.