Murder in Vein (2010) (26 page)

"Well, here's your chance," Ethan announced as Colin, with a
beverage in each hand, returned to the table with Isabella in tow.
He made introductions. "I hope you don't mind, Ethan, if my
friend Isabella joins us."

"Not at all." Ethan got up and gallantly welcomed Isabella as
he had Madison. "Welcome, beautiful lady."

"Why don't you sit next to me," Lilith purred.

If Isabella Claussen had been sent by Samuel to keep an eye
on Lilith, it was going to be easy pickings. Isabella gazed into Lilith's eyes, and the high priestess of Fang Me nearly drooled. With
fascination, Madison watched Isabella work.

"Not to change the festive mood," Colin said, taking his seat
next to Madison again, "but did you hear about that young bloke
that was killed this morning?"

"This is Los Angeles, Colin," Ethan commented dryly. "Young
men are killed here every day. So are young women."

"But this was one of Wilhelm's people," Madison added. "His
name was Geoff Baxter. We met him last night at Bat Beauty."

Ethan and Lilith exchanged glances before Ethan answered.
"Geoff? A young, good-looking kid from somewhere in the
Midwest?"

Colin and Madison nodded almost in unison. "He come
around here?" asked Colin.

"Yes," answered Ethan, the earlier mirth in his face now gone.
"He was here quite often. Even talked to me about joining our
coven.

"He was going to leave Bat Beauty?" Madison was surprised.
"He seemed so devoted to Wilhelm."

Ethan took a drink from his beer before answering. "While
Lord Wilhelm has his charms and his knowledge of vampirism is second to none in this town, he's not very progressive. Young
people coming into the culture today want more than ancient
rituals and feast days. They want fun. They want excitement." He
took another drink.

Madison sipped her own drink. It was a combination of
cranberry and orange juice with lime. Another just like it sat on
the table in front of Colin. Across the table, Isabella played with
a thin straw in a glass of clear liquid and lemon, but Madison
never saw her take a drink. She wondered if the others noticed.

"Like Miriam over there," Ethan continued. "She's still an acolyte at Bat Beauty, but it's just a matter of time before she converts to Bloodlust. She's blossomed since coming here."

Miriam, sitting at a table across from them with several others, never took her eyes off of Colin. Whenever they looked her
way, she would stretch her neck and lick her lips. Ethan caught it
and laughed.

"Seems she's hot for you, Colin," Ethan said.

Lilith stopped mooning at Isabella long enough to snap with
disdain, "She's hot for anything in pants with a taste for blood."
She left off her seduction of Isabella to study Colin with amusement. "Though I do recall, Colin, that you're quite handy with a
lancet. One of the best. Maybe you should do Miriam a favor and
taste her before she explodes." She cackled. Ethan and Isabella
joined in the laugh.

Madison reached up and touched the spot where she'd been
sucked. She had no idea so many people were into it. She looked
over at the cow-eyed Miriam. She'd been sucked on by Colin and
craved more. Lilith wanted more of him, too. But it would be
different between them if Madison allowed it to happen, because
Colin wouldn't have to hide who he was with her. The thought frightened Madison to her core. She remembered his fangs and
Samuel's ... and she remembered Dodie's first-aid kit. The vampires were wild wolves easily mistaken for well-behaved German
shepherds.

"What about Dark Tidings?" Madison asked, getting her mind
back in the groove. "Are its members coming here?"

"We get a lot fewer people from Dark Tidings," Ethan replied.
"Mostly because that's more the intellectual, artsy set. Their
members tend to be a bit older and more settled, less interested
in dancing and drinking."

After a short lull in the conversation, Ethan stood up. "May I
dance with your lady?" he asked Colin.

Colin looked at Madison. "If the lady would like that,
certainly."

Ethan held out a hand to Madison. With a look of encouragement from Colin, she took it and followed him downstairs to the
dance floor. The music was neither fast nor slow. Ethan gyrated
to the beat, sometimes against her. She followed along. The band
played something a little slower, and he took her into his arms
and moved them through the music with ease.

"You should come around more often, Madison." He pulled
her close so she could hear him. "Without Colin"

"To the coven or to the club?"

Ethan grinned. "To both. You belong to a coven?"

She shook her head. "I'm kind of new to the whole vampire
scene.

"I thought you might be."

"Tell me, Ethan." Madison looked up at him. "Do you believe
in real vampires? You know, the kind in the Dracula movies? Or
just in the worship of blood and darkness?"

"How do you know I'm not a real vampire?"

"Vampires are dead. Do the dead drink beer?"

"Guess we'll never know until we die, will we?"

But Madison already knew the answer. The dead, or undead,
didn't eat or drink.

"You didn't answer my question, Ethan. Do you believe that
vampires exist or just that some people have a thirst for blood?"

He leaned in, his breath warm and damp against her ear.
More the latter, but if you repeat that, I'll deny it." He winked at
her, gave her a spin, and brought her back close. "I'm a businessman, Madison. I've followed vampirism for years-long before
it became the rage. But I'm a businessman first. I simply found a
way to turn a passion into a gold mine."

When the song ended, a young man approached them and
whispered something to Ethan, then melted back into the crowd.

"Seems someone is here to see me," Ethan explained to
Madison.

"Go ahead. I'll find my way back upstairs."

"Not at all," he told her. "Come with me. Shouldn't take but a
minute or two. Then I can show you the office and coven meeting room-give you the grand tour."

Taking her hand, Ethan directed her through the crowd as
Colin had done earlier, but instead of heading upstairs, they
went through a door to the right of the bar, marked Private. This
led down a long corridor with other doors along both sides, all
closed. They stopped in front of a door marked Office. Ethan
opened this one and directed Madison inside.

Inside the room, pacing impatiently, was the man Madison
had seen at Dark Tidings.

xcept for his clothing, the man looked exactly the same as he
had in the hallway outside the bathroom at Lady Harriet's.
He'd worn jeans and a dark turtleneck jersey that night.
Tonight he had on nice slacks and a V-neck sweater, both in
black. His brown hair was nearly to his shoulders, with one side
caught behind an ear. When he saw Madison come through the
door, his thin-lipped mouth dropped open slightly and his eyebrows shot up above the upper rim of his sunglasses. It was the
only way Madison could tell he was surprised to see her.

"Madison, this is Ben," Ethan said once they were inside the
office with the door shut.

Before Ben could say anything, Madison approached him.
"We sort of met last night at Dark Tidings, but not officially." She
held out her right hand to him and he took it, giving it a quick
shake and a short grunt.

Madison was going to ask him where they might have met
before, but Ben cut off any further pleasantries by jerking a thumb in her direction. "What's she doing here? This is a private
meeting."

"And so it will be," Ethan assured him. "So stop being rude to
my guest"

He turned to Madison with a smile and held out both hands
to her, palms up. "This won't take long; please wait." Madison
placed her hands in Ethan's. As he gave them a warm squeeze, he
turned her hands over and released her right one, still holding
her left. He took it in both hands and caressed it gently.

Madison glanced up at Ben. His mouth was still open slightly
in surprise, but his brows had relaxed. In seconds, his mouth did,
too, changing from a look of annoyance to a small, tight smile.
Ethan was showing Ben her bloodline, she was sure of it.

Madison was on guard yet curious at the same time. Ethan
had shown no interest in her hand before, but he'd obviously
noticed it. And the bloodline meant something to both him
and Ben. It occurred to Madison that Ethan had manipulated
her down to his office for the purpose of meeting Ben. No, not
to meet him, but to be seen by him. She had the strange sense
of being on display, like a pork chop under plastic wrap at the
supermarket.

"I have some business to attend to," Ethan told her as he
squeezed her hand one last time and released it. "Why don't you
go back upstairs and relax with the rest of them. When I'm done
here, we can continue our dance. Shouldn't take too long."

Not wanting to show alarm, Madison smiled. Taking a step
closer to Ethan, she placed a hand on his chest, over his heart,
and poured on the charm. "Sounds good to me. Besides, you
promised me the full personal tour."

Ethan flashed her a wide smile. Ben just stared at her from
behind his sunglasses. As Madison headed out the door, the two
men disappeared through an internal door marked with another
Private sign and closed it behind them.

Madison wondered what to do. She wanted to hear what Ben
and Ethan were discussing. She knew they saw her bloodline, and
from their behavior, she was pretty sure they both knew what it
meant, or thought they knew. She wanted to tell Colin about it,
but if she left and went back upstairs now, she might not get the
chance to eavesdrop.

The two men had been so sure she'd follow orders that they
hadn't waited for her to leave and shut the outer office door
before they went into the inner office. Madison waited a few
moments before tiptoeing carefully back into the office and
toward the closed private door.

Madison strained to hear something, wishing she had the
vampires' keen hearing. It was then she realized she could hear a
lot of what the men were saying. Snatches of conversation were
finding their way under the wide gap at the bottom of the old
door. The space between the door and the floor had probably
been allowed for clearance over carpet. Now the floors were bare,
but the door hadn't been replaced. Madison scooted closer and
almost stopped breathing.

"How do you like your present?" she heard Ethan ask.

Ben chuckled. "She was right under my nose last night, but I
never saw the bloodline. How'd you know?"

"Lilith told me when she saw the two of them walk in the
door tonight. I called you immediately. One less you and your
paid goons will have to find." Ethan paused. "You're sure it will
work this time?"

"No, I'm not. All we know is that people with those bloodlines are key to turning vampires. Drinking the blood does it, but
you need to drink a lot to turn yourself without an actual vampire doing it."

The hair on Madison's arms rose like spikes as she glanced
down at the fake bloodline in her hand. That was it. These creeps
thought that you could become a vampire by drinking the blood
from a bloodline carrier. They had no idea that only those with
bloodlines could become vampires. If she didn't get out of there,
they would do to her what they'd done to Evie and Geoff. She
swallowed back the memory of the photos.

"And if it doesn't work again?" asked Ethan. "Nothing happened after those first few."

"Then we'll keep trying till it does." Ben's voice was tinged
with amusement. "The bloodline is the key. That we know for
sure.

There was some mumbling that Madison couldn't hear, then
she heard Ethan say, "Should be easy enough. She's a lightweight,
and the music should cover any sounds of struggle. You have
your van outside?" There was a slight pause and more mumbling
before Ethan continued. "Good. I'll bring her down here for the
tour." He laughed. "You be waiting with the chloroform."