Page 23 of Double Shot

Both vampires looked over. Neither of them seemed impressed. Vampire One’s brow rose as his lip curled again.

“That’s your date?”

I stiffened, a touch offended on Clarence’s behalf. “He’s… interesting.”

“I can smell him from here.” Vampire One’s nose wrinkled.

Vampire Two nodded. “Wet goat. Must be a faun.”

“I can’t smell anything!” I bristled, now getting a little offended over the idea of these two thinking I’d date a guy who smelled so bad that his stench reached the other end of the bar. “You’re only picking up on that because you’re vampires.”

“Yes, well, he’s also eye-fucking that werewolf’s ass, sweetness,” Vampire Two told me. “Look at you. You deserve better than that. You’re…” He sighed, shaking his head, running his tongue over his regular human canines, clearly wishing for his fangs. “Sublime.”

“We could take you to the club,” Vampire One murmured, shifting a touch closer and giving me a wide and toothy smile.

If they hadn’t been total jackasses, I might’ve been tempted. Besides, Vampire One was already off-limits. I’d heard him talking about his partner less than five minutes ago, and here he was, hitting on me after a minute of conversation.

What was wrong with people? Why didn’t they appreciate what they had? I would’ve killed for my own Marianne, even if she did send me to the crappy guest coffin when we had a fight.

“Never mind.” I gave them a tight smile and took a step back. “Sorry to interrupt your conversation. Have a good night.”

The two vampires exchanged a quick look as I turned back toward the bar. Then Vampire One, his tone ingratiating, said, “Oh, don’t be like that, sweetness. We’ll tell you where it is. And maybe we’ll see you in there, hmm?”

“Yes,” Vampire Two added quickly. “Come to the club. Then see how much you want to stay with the faun for rest of the evening.” The pair of them snickered.

I didn’t answer, just waited as Vampire One pulled out a business card and scribbled an address on the back. I took it with a curt “Thank you.”

“And feel free to call me while you’re in there in case your date… doesn’t work out,” he slyly said.

I chose to ignore that, and instead of waiting at the bar any longer, I turned and beelined for our table.

“Clarence.” I waited until he tore his gaze from the werewolf’s ass before continuing. “I just heard about this club. It sounds fun.” Waving the card in my hand, I glanced at the address scribbled on it and added, “It’s just a couple streets over. What do you think?”

“A club?” He cocked his head thoughtfully. “What kind of club?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Just that it’s one for… you know, people like us.” In a whisper, I clarified, “Non-humans.”

“Ooh.” He seemed intrigued. After popping one more olive in his mouth, he stood and wiped olive juice from his beard. “Does that mean we can shift? I’m dying for you to see my hooves, Niko. You are going to go wild for them.”

Was I? Was I really? I doubted that very much.

“I’m not sure.” I smiled at him tightly. “Guess we’ll see when we get there. Shall we?”

I would’ve much preferred going to a cool secret club with Nat, not Clarence, but I had the address and the password for tonight—which suggested it changed daily, which was so awesome—so I figured I could go, scope it out, and get friendly with whoever could give me the passwords for other nights. That way, I could take Nat. He would love a club so exclusive it required a different password every night. He’d be in his element.

Plus, I really was hoping that a more lively venue would improve this date. Maybe Clarence was an incredible dancer. Maybe, when he was in his true faun form, he relaxed more and didn’t feel the need to talk so much. Maybe he’d chill out and actually listen. And finally stop calling me Niko.

I could only hope. It was literally all I had left.

So hope it was.

Chapter 8

Club Cratos

Klaus

Club Cratos was located behind an unmarked metal door down a dark, poorly lit alley just a street over from Gargy’s. It seemed to be a side entrance to the large, dark warehouse that loomed over the street, and the only reason I knew we were in the right place was because I’d seen two ghouls slink down this alley just before us, and now they were gone, despite the dead-end brick wall just up ahead.