Page 95 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

“Scream for me,” she demands, her voice as deep as the night that stretches out around us.

And I unleash a primal, guttural scream, piercing through the still air of the cabin. Something unlocks inside of me, and I let go…allowing my mind to empty, allowing myself to surrender completely to the moment, to the feeling of being filled, to the delicious pounding of that sweet button of pleasure deep inside me…

Stars fill my eyes, and I’m lost, drifting through the sky.

CHAPTER 33: THE RESPITE HOTEL

Paige

Crimson chuckles. “We’re almost there, Paige.”

My nose is practically against the glass of the window of our car. Silverlake City is similar in size to Midnight City, and it’s bright and bustling on this weekend evening. But the hotel where the magical conference is taking place is in the heart of downtown Silverlake City, unlike the more secluded mansion where Crimson and the Night vampires reside.

It’s so exciting! But there’s also a twist of anxiety in my stomach. What are the Silverlake City vampires going to be like? Do they have human donors, too? Will there be other magical people there? Crimson mentioned witches and mermaids, which seemsimpossible, but I’ve experienced so many unusual things in the past several months…

Then a flash of lightning illuminates the block ahead of us, and I can see it.

The Respite hotel. It sits like a palace on its own city block, a castle of washed stone and bright windows. It’shuge, even bigger than the mansion, enclosed by a stone fence all around.

As our car enters the long, gravel driveway, I have to resist the urge to lower the window to get a better look. When we pull up to the front entrance, its tall doors gleaming with polished brass, I don’t wait for the driver to get my door before I hop out.

There’s no rain, but a clap of thunder rings through the heavy, heated air and I jump.

Murad comes out of the car behind us. We landed within twenty minutes of each other, so all of Crimson’s vampires are arriving in the same convoy. “It’s all right, Paige. It just means the evil witches are already here.”

“Evilwitches?” I ask, not sure how that’s supposed to make me feel like everything is all right.

“And it looks like the conference has booked the whole hotel out,” Crimson adds as she steps out of our car. She nods at something in the air behind me.

I twirl around, and have to catch my breath.

There’s a flash of blue and purple in the sky as two figures on broomstick circle around the exterior of the hotel, soaring through the air. They’re laughing and shouting, and seem completely oblivious to the arriving vampires.

“Oh mygod,” I gasp, watching them as they disappear into the dense trees of the courtyard beside the hotel. “I can’t believe it…”

“Thatisodd, isn’t it?” Sabina says with a frown, joining our party at the entrance of the hotel. “Wasn’t that one of Tudor’s progeny?”

“I think it’srefreshingto see vampires riding brooms,” Murad counters thoughtfully. “Must be Amrita’s magic academy.”

“We should start training our younger vampires in magic,” Crimson says, grimacing at where the broomstick-riders disappeared. “We don’t want the northern vampires to have too much of a strategic advantage over us.”

“For once, I agree with you,” Sabina replies coolly.

Murad shakes his head at the other vampires. “We’re here for a magical conference. We should be thinking about how to develop cohesive partnerships, how to work together, not how to get a leg up on Celine and the northern vampires. This week is about magicalcommunity.”

“You seem to have forgotten what happened at thelastmagical conference the hotel hosted,” Sabina says pointedly to Murad.

He rubs the back of his neck. “Well, I’m sure all of that is behind us.”

I look up at Crimson nervously. “Um, what happened at the last…?”

“Good evening, members of the Night clan,” says a richly-attired doorperson, coming up to our party and giving us a deferent nod.They gesture grandly toward the doors of the hotel’s entrance. “We’ve been awaiting your arrival. Please, come inside and we’ll check you in.”

There are about two dozen of us, mostly vampires, with a few favourite donors who are easily identifiable by the unconcealed bite marks on our necks and wrists. I stand to Crimson’s right, feeling shy but excited. Bellhops in red uniforms collect our luggage from the dark limos we arrived in.

Crimson leads the way, of course, flanked by Murad and Sabina. I follow them dutifully, wanting to stay close to Crimson. The other vampires and donors arrange themselves in some sort of complicated vampire pecking order as we walk through the hotel’s ornate double doors.

The lobby gleams brightly, a stark contrast to the dark night outside. I gaze around in wonder and surprise. I was expecting the hotel to be similar to Crimson’s mansion, with gothic hues and dim lighting. But this could be any luxury hotel. At least, I assume it could be. I’ve never stayed in a hotel before, although I’ve seen pictures from Blake and Amanda’s travels.