Page 34

Finn

Turns out there is a nightclub at Hearts Gate. Well a night club of sorts. Hearts Gate, as I thought, is an old mansion that was repurposed centuries ago when the owner was turned. Since then, it’s been a haven for vampires, remodelling and repurposing its spaces as they’ve been needed.

Our tour begins in the parlours attached to the main entry. The parlours, conservatively decorated, are rooms where the club’s guests can relax and hang out while being served by the staff here.

That’s not exactly how Matteus explains it; he gives us the whole spiel about the history and status of the club while showing us the various sitting rooms and libraries. There is even a games room, with tables set up for card and board games that have been popular over the centuries.

As we venture further into the first floor, we’re shown the dining room. It’s empty when we pass, but over the course of the evening, Matteus tells us that various meals will be set out for the club members and their guests.

The club gets louder as we file through the winding hallways, all lined with artwork worth more than I’ll ever hope to earn even in the afterlife. Jax physically restrains Lusce to keep him from touching a trio of nude statues.

The source of the noise becomes apparent when we reach what would have once been a conservatory back in the day.

At one point or another, it was renovated into a bar, with tables and chairs spilling out into the most spectacular courtyard filled with night blooms. The club has obviously had extensive magic cast over the area as, despite the chill of the evening, the courtyard is as warm as a midsummer night and filled with the scents of jasmine and gardenia. It’s potent enough that I can taste it.

Even with all that classy stuff, it’s a different vibe to the more formal rooms we saw inside.

Whereas they were stuffy and conservative, this area is definitely where the party is at—or where it’s beginning at least. Jazzy, big band music pumps through hidden speakers and the place is filled with all kinds of beings.

Given how perfect the area is, it’s no surprise that the courtyard is busy, and we’ve manage to capture the attention of the guests.

Even as a vamp myself, and even after all my time at Bloody Temptations, it moves something in me to see so many vampires all together.

To see them all together in a place that centres them, and their needs, their desires.

There is something different about the atmosphere here at Hearts Gate, different to anywhere I’ve ever been in my life, and certainly since I’ve been turned.

Matteus seems to sense the shift in me. He catches my eye once again, ignoring my friends and Nikolo and Kai and the thirsty catcalls being thrown our way by the members at the bar. For the second time he gives me that reassuring smile and it feels disturbingly like he can see me .

But before it can get awkward, or too introspective, we’re moving again. He’s masterful like that. Watching his cool, calm professionalism, I have a pang of envy.

“Should I be worried?” Kai whispers in my ear when I’ve stared at Matteus’s back for a little too long.

I roll my eyes and bump my shoulder into him. “No, I was just thinking about how much I miss wearing my old suits. I have a heap of them, just going to waste in my closet.”

Kai, walking slightly behind and to the side of me, crowds me, his body pressed against my back as much as our swift pace will allow.

“Suits? With ties? Like, the whole thing?” He sucks his teeth, and Bedeer turns around to catch us. He winks and nods, before turning back around to nudge Jesminda. This lot has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. “I gotta see that some time. See what we can do with those ties.”

And now I have a boner. Awesome. He chuckles softly, knowing exactly what he’s done to me.

When we near the stairs near the entry once again, Matteus doesn’t take us up, only explains that private rooms take up the second floor.

There is a separate staff member up there, from whom you could request a key to have time with other guests.

The subtext isn’t lost on any of us about what exactly happens in those private rooms.

On the third floor are more private rooms. But unlike the more salacious second floor rooms, they are the suites available for out of town vampires to stay in—at considerable cost, I assume.

“What about the fourth floor?” Lusce, ever curious and rarely subtle, asks with a wicked grin.

Matteus’s mask is rock solid .

“Those are the living quarters of Aristet, the current owner of Hearts Gate. They are protected by not only our security personnel, but also extensive wards and other magical means.”

Judging by the way Lusce’s eyes light up, and the way Jax is once again physically restraining him, I don’t think Matteus’s warnings had the desired effect on Lusce.

The vampire feeding in the hall does.

Matteus leads us to the other wing of the club for the final leg of the tour. But I don’t think this was a planned stop on the tour.

Partially hidden in an alcove, the being is barely visible beyond the vampire wrapped around them. At first glance, it kind of looks like they are just having sex. It certainly sounds like it.

Time stops as we watch the pair. We were told not to stare, but how can we not? I can hear Lusce’s sharp inhale as he grips Jax’s arm like a lifeline. Bedeer’s arm tightens around Jesminda, his hand squeezing her shoulder. They aren’t the only ones affected.

Thinking back on it, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen anyone feed before. Not outside of movies and TV. It’s not even really done at Bloody Temptations. Not for real. Not like this. It’s… is that what we look like? It’s erotic. It’s primal. It’s horrifying.

The vampire completely cloaks the being, almost like they don’t actually exist. Their long coat—not too dissimilar from the formal frock coat that Willan favours—hides everything but the sensual roll of their hips.

I can almost taste the blood, my fangs unsheathing just enough to be uncomfortable in my mouth.

“Come, we have one last room.” Matteus breaks the thrall we’re under. He’s forceful but polite as he guides us away from the feeding couple, leading us to a large set of double doors .

They are sealed shut, with only the softest thudding of sound behind them—more wards keeping whatever’s inside contained.

“The Black Room,” Jesminda reads the tiny plaque hanging above the room. “Sounds terrifying. Can’t wait.”

There isn’t an ounce of sarcasm in her voice.

The tour has keyed everyone else up—though they are desperately trying to keep their cool so they don’t get booted before the fun begins.

I’m right there with them, but I’m anxious too. Or maybe just overwhelmed. I cling to Kai as Matteus leads us to an alcove on the mezzanine level of the former ballroom-turned-nightclub and immediately retreats back to his duties.

The mezzanine circles the room, allowing a perfect view of the dance floor and bar below, already filled with vampires and their guests under the mirrorball and flashing lights.

From our slightly raised position, I can finally see why Nikolo and Kai had been so explicit and plentiful in their warnings.

Because this place is explicit.

And plentiful.

It’s so thoroughly overwhelming to the senses that even Lusce has shut up for once. In his skimpy, metallic silver, retro space girl outfit, he looks a little silly plastered to Jax’s side like he is, stroking Jax’s bare chest. I don’t know if they are horny, or scared. Or both.

And zero judgement, because same. Hard same. Literally.

My eyes feel painfully wide when they drift over the crowd.

A vampire woman is dancing on her own, eyes closed, head thrown back in ecstasy, her arms circling in the air like she is calling on the Gods, her bare breasts and long skirt swaying with her rhythmic movements.

Two shirtless, body-builder type vampires feed from the thick neck of the minotaur between them .

A vampire couple dressed in antique fashions from at least a century ago, dance an equally antique dance in the middle of everything, completely heedless of everyone around them.

The more I look into the dark beyond the dance floor, the more the blurred, obscene shapes become clear.

A vampire on their knees, feeding from the vein in a being's groin.

The bare ass of another vampire as he appears to be fucking and feeding in the corner.

The barest outline of a being under the skirts of another vampire in the long formal gowns of their own modern age.

Sensory overload and primitive, instinctual need has turned what began as nervous goosebumps into painful punctures of the skin.

Unable to tear my gaze away, I reach out a hand blindly for Kai beside me on the small couch of our sanctuary.

On top of it all, I can feel his eyes on me, and the weight of his anticipation.

He would have every right to reject me, but he doesn’t. Our fingers lace together and I feel like I finally have an anchor back to reality. He squeezes my hand, reassuring and firm.

“What do you think?” Kai leans against me to address the group at large.

“I don’t think I can think,” I mumble, when a vampire passes us holding three leashes in her hand. A thin male vampire and two other pretty, horned male beings follow her, her leashes attached to thick collars at their throat.

“No shit,” Bedeer breathes, pulling Jesminda tighter against him. She’s perched on his lap like a shield, which he probably needs. If I’m suffering from overwhelm, he’s probably close to drowning.

“I think I need a drink,” Willan’s voice is uncharacteristically dry. He stands up from the plush armchair he snagged, and snatches up the drink tickets Matteus left on the table. “Anyone else need one? ”

Lusce and Jax are both far too eager to agree and join the masses writhing together on the dance floor.