Page 44 of Bane of Hate and Silver (Primordial Inheritance #1)

Night-life in the City

J ules pulled up in front of an extravagant hotel. A valet was waiting to take her car keys from her. She took the ticket, thanked the young man and walked straight to the elevators in the lobby.

She knocked and waited a few moments for one of them to answer. When Gabriel did, he looked frazzled and very concerned. “Eileen?”

“Nope.” Jules moved past him into the room. She saw the splintered door was actually the one to the suite’s bedroom, not the hallway like she’d expected. “Why did you think I was Eileen? Where is she?”

“I don’t know. I… ” His voice trailed off. “We had a fight.” His head hung low, a look of pure shame on his face.

“I heard,” she said, looking around the abandoned room.

“She left.”

“Why didn’t you go after her?” Jules was astonished. Eileen was young and untrained. There was no telling what havoc she could wreak on the city if she fell into temptation.

“Everything is falling apart Jules.” Gabriel looked at the floor as he spoke.

He sounded hopeless. “I lost you. Eileen left me. The media is pinning a woman’s murder on me.

” When Gabriel raised his face there was blood dripping from his eyes and sliding down his cheeks.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen him cry before.

Jules walked to the side table, grabbed a tissue, and handed him the rough, thin, paper to wipe his eyes.

“Stop catastrophizing.” Jules placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You haven’t lost me. Eileen likely only left because she needed some space.

But we both know she didn’t leave you, she loves you.

And the murder thing, we’ll figure that out too.

We’ve never seen a challenge we couldn’t overcome together. ”

“True.” He still looked crestfallen.

“So that’s enough self-pity,” she said sternly. “Wash off your face, grab some sunglasses and a hat, and let’s go find your wife. You can tell me about the dead woman while we search.”

“Sunglasses? It’s dark outside. It will be for hours yet.”

“Nighttime or not, your face was plastered all over the news. I recommend taking some sort of steps to obscure your identity before intentionally entering the local populace.”

A sad chuckle emitted from him, but he nodded as he moved toward the bathroom to wash the blood off his face.

Nick approached Incognito with a hand still resting on Eileen’s back. She was definitely a skittish one. As Nick and Eileen walked up one side of the long line, he met the bouncer’s eyes and nodded silently. They were waved through without any spoken word.

“Where are we?” Eileen asked breathlessly as they breached the blood-red velvet curtains, revealing the scene within.

Incognito was teaming with people. A mass of humans and vampires alike.

Some dancing, some drinking; both whiskey from a glass and blood from the source.

Dimmed lights set the mood, while an odd assortment of music from many eras played at random.

“A club, of the vampire variety,” he said, putting an arm over her shoulders. “They exist in every major city in the world.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You don’t have to hunt unsuspecting humans to drink blood the way real vampires should. And these people get compensated generously.”

She glanced up, a look of incredulous astonishment on her face. Obviously, whoever her puritan coven leader was, had decided that by keeping this vampire in the dark about the world of which she was now of a part, they were protecting her humanity.

“You poor thing,” Nick said and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve never drank from a human before, have you?”

“Of course not! I am not a monster,” Eileen said, but it lacked venom. She was listening to him.

So, he continued with a smile, “I mean, I am one due to an unfortunate genetic predisposition for addictive behavior. However, not all vampires are monsters. There are ways to live that don’t include murder or abstinence. It is possible to drink from a human directly and not end their life.”

Eileen again looked surprised but nodded for him to continue.

“It’s a skill that takes practice, but it can be learned. Places like this provide a sort of safeguard. You see those two men over there?” He pointed towards the blood guards, standing near the black leather couches.

Eileen nodded.

“It’s their job to make sure you don’t drain the club’s human patrons. Not even I end up draining my drink in this place.”

As if on cue, the two men in black moved toward a couple along the far wall.

A female was obviously drinking the blood of the middle-aged man she had in her clutches.

One of the black-clad men leaned over to whisper something in the vampire’s ear.

When she didn’t release her prey, each man clasped down on one of her arms and pulled her away from her now quite dazed looking meal.

The woman sat back a little and wiped at the blood that was dripping down her chin.

She then stood and was safely escorted to the other side of the club.

“I see,” Eileen said after a few silent moments.

Nick smiled peevishly.

“Who’s, your friend?”

Nick and Eileen turned at the question. A round vampire that Nick knew in passing was sauntering over to them with wide clomps. Here we go, Nick thought to himself.

“Carlos, old man,” Nick greeted with false cheerfulness. This vampire may be twice Nick’s age, but he was a pain in his dead ass.

Carlos ignored Nick like a fly on the wall and bent over Eileen’s hand, kissing it. “Who, may I ask, am I addressing?”

“Eileen Prentiss,” she said skeptically, yanking her hand back. “And you are?”

“Carlos my dear. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” A wide smile spread across his face while his nose lifted into the air.

Nick rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“Sorry, I haven’t,” Eileen said, taking one step closer to Nick.

“Surprising,” Carlos said, reaching for her hand again. “Well come and I’ll educate you.” He placed one hand on her lower back, brushing her ass with a couple fingers as he did so.

Nick was about to step in when Eileen shifted out of his reach and replied. “Not interested, sorry.”

“Excuse me?” Anger flashed in Carlos’s eyes. He was not used to being rejected by those beneath him.

Eileen looked questioningly up at Nick. He couldn’t interpret if she was unsure what to do now or if she wanted to know if this guy was for real.

“Okay Carlos,” Nick said, stepping in front of her. “The lady isn’t interested.”

“Step aside, you insignificant worm,” Carlos instructed, shoving Nick to one side.

He bumped into a nearby table, knocking it, and all its contents, to the floor.

One of the humans occupying it stumbled backward.

Hands outstretched she slammed into the glass littering the floor.

More than one vampire turned toward the miniscule cut on her hand, Nick and Eileen included.

However, in a fraction of a second, one of the men wearing black, picked the woman up and whisked her away to some back room, assumedly to get her cleaned up.

“The excitement’s over. Everyone go back to your drinks and dances,” called Cleo, who had just immerged from the back room.

Nick turned back and balked. While he’d been knocking over a table and watching Cleo, Eileen had broken Carlos’s hand and he now knelt before her. “Never touch a woman without her consent.”

“Is there a problem, children?” Cleo asked the copper-skinned vampire who was kneeling at Eileen’s feet.

“Not on my end Cleo,” Nick said, still staring at the scene.

“This flea is my problem,” Carlos told Cleo, standing and shoving Nick for no apparent reason.

“Carlos, dear one.” Cleo put one hand on the older vampire’s arm. “You know very well that I don’t tolerate fighting within these walls.”

“It’s that bitch who hurt me!” He thrust his hand towards Cleo as proof. “This insolence shall not stand.”

Cleo’s heels clacked against the stone floor as she moved closer to Carlos, stepping right into his physical space. “You may be the second oldest thing in my bar at the moment Carlos, but you put your hands on the woman and shoved Nick here. He may not look like much...”

Nick scoffed at Cleo, who ignored him.

“But, he has very powerful friends. You don’t want this fight.”

“This may be your bar missy, but my age will grant me the respect I deserve,” Carlos snapped.

“In the grand scheme of time, you are nothing,” Cleo said, nonchalantly examining her long, neon nails. “His ‘friends’ are twice your age and have eyes you’ve only dreamt of.”

Nick couldn’t help it. He smirked as those eyes flashed through his mind.

Carlos snarled, the recognition of what Cleo spoke was seeping slowly into his expression.

Nick relaxed, knowing that the situation was again under control.

Carlos looked from Nick to Cleo to Eileen, whom he looked all the way up and down. “The infant’s not worth it,” he finally said and then sauntered off the way he had come.

Cleo turned towards Eileen. “A drink on the house, for that little move you pulled back there.” She motioned in the direction Carlos had gone. “He’s a pig.”

“Thank you,” Eileen said. “Men like that will never learn.”

Cleo nodded.

“I brought her here. Don’t I get a free drink?” Nick asked.

“Nicholas, darling. You’ve gotten more than enough free drinks from my establishment.” Cleo stood on the toes of her stilettos, placed long nails against Nick’s arm, and raised one cheek towards him.

“Fair enough.” He bent and kissed the woman on the side of her face, smiling at her.

“I’ll have a martini,” Eileen said as Cleo walked back the way she had come, lusciously round ass swaying all the way.

“She doesn’t mean that kind of drink,” Nick told her. His mind back on why they had come.