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“It’s fine. I wiped his memory,” Vlad said, brushing off my concern. I was right to be concerned. Vampires and other supernaturals had been undiscovered for centuries, thanks to Three Families. All of whom were supernatural. Misthaven gave us the space to be who we were, what our natures made us, and we’d survived here for a long time with humans none-the-wiser. It was part of the deal with the monarchy. They gave us the city, and we remained in the shadows. Naturally, Misthaven became a safe place for all supernatural creatures, but they all had to follow the rules. Otherwise, we might find ourselves on the receiving end of riots and pitchforks.

“Good. I don’t want to wake up tomorrow to stories of vampire sightings.” I turned to Byron. “Did you get patched up?”

“Yes, Boss,” he replied with a grimace. “The doc smelt like cheap beer and whisky. Couldn’t even put my stitches in properly.”

“Well, we don’t have much choice.” Our resident medical man was a drunk, but he was well versed in both human and supernatural anatomy. “You find me someone to replace him with, and I’ll get rid of him. Until then, you’ll have to deal with him.”

“Or not get shot,” Vlad crooned.

Byron bared his teeth like an animal. I was already in a shitty mood, and this wasn’t helping. I needed a distraction, and, luckily for me, I had a nightclub full of them. “I’m going for a drink. Vlad, reach out to Dara Rowan and see if she will help us locate Charlie.”

“I don’t think you’ll need a spell for that,” Aleksey said.

“What? Why?”

Aleksey peered closely at the CCTV monitors on the back wall. “Because he’s sitting at the bar.”

“Nobody’s that stupid,” Vlad said, his eyes widening.

But clearly Charlie was because he was sitting at my bar, glass in hand, chatting away to a guy and smiling like he didn’t have a care in the world.

I fixed Vlad with a firm stare. “Let’s go have a chat with him.”

Chapter Five

Benji

Music pulsed all around me. The rhythm of a hundred bodies moving and swaying alongside mine as we lost ourselves to the pounding thud of the music. Lights flashed in time with the beat in an array of colours. Pink. Green. Blue.The Cryptwas heaving with people. But I didn’t care. I grabbed Maya and pulled her closer, bringing my lips to her ear.

“I’m going to grab a drink. You want one?”

“No,” she shouted back before pointing to the hulk of a guy behind her with a waggle of her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes and blew her a kiss. “I’ll be back in a few.”

Elbowing my way off the dance floor, I headed over to the bar. I hitched myself up onto an empty stool and ordered myself a Long Island Iced Tea. I took a long sip and enjoyed the tart zing that the drink left on my tongue. Despite the promises of getting shitfaced with Maya tonight, I actually hadn’t drunk that much. I’d had just enough that I could feel the buzz of the alcohol in my system, but not enough that I was wobbling everywhere. I was definitely at the happy-go-lucky stage where anything was possible, and life was great. If I didn’t think about today too much.

“Is this seat taken?”

I turned to my right and found a man pointing at the stool beside me. “Um, no.”

He was good looking in a preppy kind of way. Brown hair swept back from his forehead, neatly styled, a soft blue jumper paired with navy slacks and eyes the colour of chocolate. But there was a tight pinch to his mouth and a frown curving his neatly trimmed eyebrows. “Thanks. It’s just for a minute. I…”

“That’s okay. Have a seat.”

He gazed at the stool for a moment before scanning his eyes over the crowd. Maybe he was just waiting for someone. After a long moment, he finally sat down and got himself a drink. Not that he drank it. He just traced the lines of condensation on the glass.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“What?” His eyes met mine, and they were blown wide.

“I asked if you were okay. You seem on edge.”

“I’m fine.” He smiled tightly. “Just waiting for someone.”

“First date?” I asked, leaning on the bar top. That would explain the nerves.

He huffed a laugh. “No.”