Page 36 of Nexus
I was puffing from my quick pace by the time I reached the Den. Slowing down to catch my breath, I nodded at the bouncer. Big, blond and musclebound, he nodded back. “How’s it going, Saige?” A weretiger, he was well over six feet tall and sported a short beard. All of the bouncers knew me by now.
“I can’t complain,” I replied with a smirk, then he returned to watching the street.
As always, the dancefloor was packed with people when I stepped inside. Couples would be utilizing the rooms upstairs for sex, if they could afford to rent one. Every vampire in the room flared their nostrils, then I was suddenly surrounded by the undead. I didn’t have any disposable wipes in my kill-bag tonight and I was still splattered with blood.
“Can we lick you?” a pathetic leech begged me. Almost my height, she had pale blonde hair and sad brown eyes. She was wearing a short black dress and her legs were fish belly white. “We haven’t fed in a few days and we’re starving.” The blood that had splattered on me was still warm from my exertion for them to be desperate enough to want to devour it.
The other three bloodsuckers implored me speechlessly. Their master must be strict to deny them from feeding. “Okay, but be quick,” I said in resignation. Blood was sacred to them. It would be an insult if I ducked into the restroom to wash it off. “No biting!” I added before they could get carried away and try to sink their fangs into me.
Four tongues began lapping the blood from my hands and arms, twisting and turning them so they could reach every drop. The blonde gave me a sweet smile, then leaned down to lick the top of my boob. “There, we’ve got it all,” she said in satisfaction.
“Great,” I said in a disgruntled tone at having a female’s tongue on my breast. “Thanks for cleaning it all off me.” Drifting away with dreamy looks in their eyes, they returned to the table they’d abandoned.
Feeling sticky from vampire saliva, I nodded at the people I knew by face, if not by name as I made my way to the restroom. Two women were kissing passionately in a corner when I pushed the door open. They didn’t pay any attention to me as I washed my hands, arms and boob. “That’ll teach me not to fight with humans,” I muttered wryly, then returned to the main room.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I’D HIRED A ROOM ON the second floor to have sex with my infrequent conquests a few times by now. Lenny’s private quarters were somewhere on the top floor. Bouncers patrolled all three floors, making sure trouble didn’t break out.
Not in the mood to find someone to have a quickie with tonight, I wended my way over to the bar. Three bartenders were working as usual. Lenny hired a few lackeys from different species. As always, the zombie was in the middle where he could be the center of the action.
Lenny had his one remaining ear to the ground and knew everything that happened in the supernatural community. If anyone would know about a possible plan from the overlords to invade earth, it would be him. I reached the bar and a patron vacated his seat at a nod from Lenny. “It’s good to see you, Saige,” the zombie said.
“Hey, Lenny,” I said. “How’s things?”
“Mostly intact. One of my toes almost fell off the other day, but I got a doc to stitch it back on for me,” he replied with a wink of his milky eye. “What’ll it be?” he asked.
“I’ll have the usual.”
Knowing my preferred brand of beer, he expertly poured a glass for me from the tap. “Where’s your undead sidekick?” he asked, plonking the beer on the bar.
“Ruen’s probably lurking outside Lord Gilden’s office, waiting for his next order,” I joked. In truth, we never hung out socially. I had no idea what the vamp did when he wasn’t with me.
“Guess again, Ms. Sterling,” the vampire said from right behind me just as I took a sip of my drink.
Swallowing the beer down the wrong tube, I pounded my chest and hacked out a cough. “Nice one, Ruen,” I scolded him. “You get a kick out of trying to scare my pants off, don’t you?”
“You’re wearing a skirt,” the leech pointed out irritably. Just to be different, he was wearing a black suit.
Lenny grinned at our antics, finding us both highly amusing. “Can I heat up a glass of blood for you?” he asked.
Ruen’s fangs descended before he could control himself. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” he said, mustering his dignity.
Lenny glanced at the customer sitting next to me and she reluctantly gave up her stool for the vampire. The zombie ambled over to the fridge and bloodsuckers in the room began to salivate as soon as the door opened and they saw the bottles of blood. Ruen had to be nearly starving to fork over a couple of hundred bucks for one drink.
I watched in amusement as Lenny poured the thick red liquid into a tall glass, then heated it in a microwave. He carried it back to Ruen and handed it over with a flourish. “Our finest vintage, my good sir.”
Ruen inclined his head in thanks, then hissed at a fellow leech when she suddenly appeared beside him. Hunching over the glass, he quickly gulped it down before any of his kin could try to steal it from him.
It was always hilarious to see the usually tightly controlled minion lose his cool like that. Sighs of disappointment sounded from the vamps once the glass was empty.
“Can I lick the glass?” the leech begged him. Far too thin, her dark skin was almost gray from malnourishment.
Ruen fought with his instincts and dignity won this time. “Enjoy,” he said and handed it to her.
My nose wrinkled as she snatched it from him and began swirling her tongue around inside it, searching for every last drop. Ruen paid for his drink and I sipped my far cheaper beer, glad I didn’t have an unholy thirst like he did. “What brings you here tonight?” I asked. My undead assistant wasn’t the partying type. I wasn’t even sure Ruen knew how to have fun.
“A job has come up and Lord Gilden wants us to look into it immediately,” he informed me.