In fact, Kia realized as she scanned the room, a lot of people were checking her out. She had never been the object of so much lustful attention before. It was a serious rush.
Kia finished her drink and smiled at the two swashbucklers. “Let's dance,” she suggested to Hecate.
“You got it.”
They moved onto the dance floor. Kia could feel eyes on her and it made her dance harder, more provocatively. Hands over her head, her spine supple, her head flung back, she tingled with what felt like promise, like hope, like absolute and total abandon.
She felt breath on her face and opened her eyes. One of the swashbucklers was dancing right in front of her, not touching her, but moving with her. Hecate was dancing with the other swashbuckler.
Kia wriggled up and down in front of her swashbuckler, and he imitated her movements. She let him put an arm around her waist and pull her into him.
Her eyes flicked to the console and the halo of fair hair above it. Damon's eyes roamed all over herâa body scan as palpable as if he were actually touching her. Kia licked her lips and thrust her hip at the swashbuckler, sliding her leg between his and arching back. He brought her back up to standing and kept his hands on her hips.
As the song changed, the swashbuckler moved a hand up to her throat, and only then she slipped out of his reach. She grabbed Hecate's hand and pulled her toward the bar, purposefully avoiding looking at Damon. Without the cover of the dance, her attraction to Damon felt too naked.
“I want another drink,” Kia said, settling onto a bar stool with her back to the DJ console.
“I'll get those.”
A handsome man with shoulder-length brown hair pulled some bills from his wallet. “Whatever these two want,” he told the bartender.
“Yes, Lord Thanatos,” the bartender said, his fangs hanging slightly over his lower lip.
“Two more bloodbaths,” Hecate ordered.
“Right,” Kia said. “And some water.” The space was warm and close, and the dancing had heated her up.
“I am known as Lord Thanatos,” the man said in a deep, rumbling voice. He had a strong square jaw and blue eyes outlined in black eyeliner. Kia judged him to be among the older group there, late thirties maybe. He wore a floor-length leather coat and a black turtleneck. His skin was pale, though Kia could see his pallor was achieved with thickly applied makeup, and his fangs were quite pronounced.
“I'm Hecate, and this is Kia.”
The bartender placed the dark red drinks in front of Kia and Hecate. Lord Thanatos watched them, smiling, as they clinked glasses and took sips.
“Thanks,” Hecate said.
“My pleasure,” Lord Thanatos said. “It is always my goal to provide lovely young ladies like yourselves with anything they desire.”
Hecate smirked. “Anything?”
Lord Thanatos smirked back. “Anything.”
How about getting Damon the DJ to talk to me instead of you?
Kia thought. She concentrated on her drink while Hecate and Thanatos chatted. She stole looks at Damon, hoping she wasn't being too obvious.
His head was bent over the console, his soft hair falling over his face. His tall, slim body swayed in time to the music, and he seemed completely in his own moment, oblivious to anything but spinning discs and enjoying the sounds. Then he glanced up and Kia found herself locked into his intense black eyes.
He smiled.
Kia forced herself to not look away.
She smiled back.
“Want another?” a voice said beside her.
Startled, she broke away from Damon's nearly hypnotizing gaze. “What?” she asked.
One of the swashbucklers from the dance floor was standing beside her.
“Your drink. Want another?”
“Sure.” Then, feeling bold, she added, “And for my friend too.”
“But of course,” the swashbuckler replied. Once again, drinks appeared in front of Hecate and Kia.
Kia felt her third drink warming her veins, slowing things down, loosening her limbs. Swashbuckler was asking Kia about music and bands, but she had trouble hearing him over the loudspeakers, and besides, Damon had looked up again. It demolished her ability to concentrate on anything else.
He really was beautiful. Impossibly beautiful.
Kali, the woman with the purple-red hair, approached the console. Once again, she was dressed completely in white, and Kia noticed that the crowd parted to let her through. She and Damon spoke briefly, and then she circulated through the room again, people greeting her, trying to get her attention. She vanished into a back room.
Who is she?
Kia wondered. She could tell by how the crowd was treating the woman that she was important, the center of ...
something.
The music changed again. Kia pushed herself away from the bar and strode onto the dance floor. Never taking her eyes off Damon, she danced.
She ran her gloved hand down the side of her face, along her neck, and across her chest. She bent her knees a little and rolled her hips. A guy came to dance with her, but she ignored him. He danced around her, and Kia felt as if she were some kind of goddess to be worshiped. It was incredible, like nothing she'd ever felt before.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Damon continued to watch her, but he also watched the console. She didn't have his undivided attention.
Kia began to pay attention to her uninvited dance partner, hoping it would make it less blatant who she was
really
dancing for. The guy was kind of gawky, really tall and skinnyâhe reminded her of a vampire version of Aaron. Together they finished out the song.
“That rocked,” the geek vampire said, his fangs creating a slight lisp.
“Yeah,” Kia said. She was windedâthe room was spinning slightly, making her wonder how many drinks she'd had, and she was sweating. She glanced at the console, but Damon was gone.
Disappointed, Kia lifted up her long hair to cool off the back of her neck and scanned the crowd for Hecate.
Suddenly something icy cold touched her neck and Kia let out a surprised yelp as chills ran down her spine.
A pale hand reached around from behind her and ran an ice cube along her forehead. Kia felt breath on her cheek and soft hair touching her skin. “This should cool you off,” a deep voice said.
She twisted in the man's grip to see who he was and her legs went wobbly. Damon pressed against her back, holding her around the waist, pulling her into him. He lifted her long hair and brought the ice cube around to the nape of her neck again.
“I like how you dance,” he murmured into her ear. “But I don't want you to faint from heatstroke. It gets very hot in here.”
“Y-yes,” Kia whispered.
He used a strong, cool hand to tilt her head, exposing the side of her neck. He ran the ice along her neck to her collarbone and back up again.
If his arm wasn't around her waist, she'd topple over. She tingled from the cold ice, his cool touch, and most of all his nearness. He was tall enough to lean against and even in her high-heel boots, her eyes only came up to his mouth.
His lips. They were so close to her.
“Open,” he instructed, holding the ice cube above Kia's lips.
She did as she was told, and he slipped the nearly melted cube into her mouth. She rolled it around with her tongue, letting it cool her down even more. Only then did Damon release her.
“I'm Damon,” he said.
“Yes, I know,” Kia said.
He looked at her a moment, then grinned. “And youâ?”
Kia flushed. “Oh. I'm Kia.”
“Have I seen you before?” he asked.
“Last night. At Vampyre Central,” Kia said. “You dropped red confetti on me.”
He cocked his head as if he were trying to connect her to that girl from the previous night. “But you're new,” he persisted. “To this scene.”
Kia nodded.
“You seem to enjoy our dark world,” he said.
Why was he talking to her? Could he actually be interested in
her?
Kia caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind the bar. She barely recognized herself and realizedâyeah, maybe he could be interested in the girl she saw looking back at her.
She couldn't see Damon's reflection. He had to be standing in a blind spot. She wished she could see how they looked together.
She brought her attention back to what Damon was saying as it hit her that she hadn't heard a word. She was too distracted simply gazing up at him. Feeling him look at her. She couldn't remember ever being looked at with such intense focus before.
He must have been talking about some event because he pulled a card from his back pocket and handed it to her. Kia took it just as Kali came up behind Damon and tapped him on the shoulder.
He turned and she whispered in his ear, then he stepped away from Kia. “Break's over,” he told her. She watched him follow Kali back to the console.
The world started up again. People moved around Kia, the music blasted from the speakers, and she worked her way back to the bar.
Hecate grinned. “That was some meet-and-greet Damon gave you,” she said.
“I know,” Kia murmured. She could still feel his hands on her, her hair and neck damp from where he'd stroked her with ice.
“He must be into you,” Hecate said. “I've never seen him pay so much attention to anyone new before.”
“Really?” Kia's heart thudded. She looked down at the card he gave her. It was the same flyer Kali had given her the night before, to the “invitation only” party. “He gave me this.”
Hecate nodded slowly and let out a little whistle. “Those are usually pretty hard to come by,” she said. “Damon and Kali host some pretty serious stuff.”
“Is she his girlfriend?” Kia asked, suddenly remembering how quickly Damon stepped away from her when Kali showed up.
“I think so, but I'm not sure. It's hard to tell sometimes. I've seen her give some pretty wicked bites to other people; him too.”
Kia licked her lips. They felt dry; she felt fuzzy. The drinks had definitely been strong.
“Hey,” Hecate said, leaning in close to Kia. She was talking a little more slowly and loudly than she had at the beginning of the night. “NightTimes is looking for another salesperson. You interested?”
“Really?” Kia turned to look at Hecateâthe room tilted again and she clutched the bar. All better.
“Sure!” Hecate said. “It doesn't pay a lot, but you get a decent discount and everyone drops off their flyers there, so you always know what's going on.”
“Does Damon go there?” Kia asked.
“Yeah, he comes in sometimes.” Hecate smiled. “Other cute guys too.”
Kia looked around the room. They were all so beautiful. So intense. It was hard to imagine there was any world other than this dark place, this time set apart from everything and everyone else. This place where even death was not permanent, but a transition to another realm.
A woman moaned nearby and Kia turned to see a man in a long cloak biting her on the neck. The woman's head was thrown back, but Kia could see the rapturous expression on her face. On her other side, a girl about Kia's age was nibbling on a guy's wrist; each had their eyes closed in extraordinary concentration.
“Man, I think I need to go,” Hecate said, wobbling a little. “You ready?”
Kia nodded. They wove through the crowd, past gleaming fangs and necks being offered and taken. A few people nodded at Kia and she realized they had probably noticed Damon paying attention to her. A gaunt man with long stringy hair grabbed Kia's wrist. “You are one of us now,” he whispered hoarsely.
She slipped out of his grasp and followed Hecate outside. She felt assaulted by the outside world, by the rushing cars and the crowded buildings. They all seemed out of placeâor maybe she was the one who didn't fit aboveground. The club was like a secret hideout, a place where she belonged.
“Do youâ” Kia hesitated, not wanting to seem naive. “Do you think any of those people are real vampires?” As the words came out of her mouth, she knew how stupid they sounded. But she couldn't help itâeverything that had happened in the last two nights had seemed completely real to her, no matter how many times she told herself it couldn't be.
But Hecate didn't laugh. She just shrugged. “Who can tell?” she said, weaving a little as she walked. “Maybe it's all about belief. Besides, if it looks like a vampire and acts like a vampire, isn't that enough?”
Maybe, Kia thought, stepping over a broken bottle. She thought about what Carol had said that time, about the laws of physics.
Belief.
Maybe that was all anyone needed.
SEVEN
K
ia surfaced painfully from a groggy sleep to a room that was much too bright. Her temples pounded and her mouth felt as if she'd been chewing on socks. She squinted, saw the room spin, shut her eyes, and covered her face with her sheet.
She lay perfectly still, trying to hold back the whirlies, and thought about the night before. Maybe it was all the alcohol, but she couldn't remember feeling that light, that relaxed, that fully alive in a long time. And it wasn't just Damonâit was the whole thing. The dancing, the music, the costumes, the way she felt in her vampire attire. Bold, and proud, and as if anything she did was all rightâwith herself and with everyone there.
And Damon.
Kia rolled over and regretted it. She put her hand on her night table to steady herself and giggled. She knew it was just a hangover, but the idea that simply thinking about Damon set her spinning just seemed so ... right.