Authors: Ella J. Phoenix
response, giving him more access to her lean, gorgeous body. Another
groan, but this time Hikuro realized it was coming from him. He had to
have her
now
!
‚I’m sorry,‛ she whispered faintly against his ear.
‚Wha
shoot down his spine. His muscles spasmed in response, and then there
was only darkness.
Dyam was tired of this nightclub. After Hikuro had strangely
deserted him and carried the blonde woman up to his private quarters,
Dyam had returned to his whiskey-infused blood and finished the chess
game by himself. He got their waitress’ attention and gave her the
international signal for ‚one more‛ with his index finger. She promptly
obliged, bringing him another triple dose of Springbank diluted in the
same amount of fresh blood. Dyam took a nice sip of the dark golden
liquid and sat back on the couch. He did not understand why his friends
enjoyed this place. It was full of desperate humans looking for a cheap
escape from their miserable empty lives and vampires looking for easy
targets. Contrary to popular belief, vampires could not turn humans; one
was either born a vampire or not, just like any other being. There had been
some cases among sujha families where the vampire gene remained
dormant and skipped a generation or two, scaring the hell out of the
unsuspecting non-vampire parents. Vampires did not have to kill a
human to get their nourishment, either, but there were a lot of vampires
who lost themselves to bloodlust, and that’s when things got complicated.
And places like the Cascade offered the perfect conditions for
complications.
Killing humans was strictly prohibited because it attracted too
much attention to the vampires’ existence. Dyam had once asked Hikuro,
who was much older than him, why the vampires hadn’t conquered the
human race and lived freely on Terhem Viahta. It’s not like they depended
on humans; vampires could survive off any kind of blood as long as it was
taken from a body with a beating heart. Hikuro had explained that
thousands of years ago when all the races roamed freely on Earth, the life
scale tipped when vampires and dragons started battling for world
dominance. There were no restraints when it came to feeding the vampire
and draconian armies. Large animals, like aurocks, giant deer, and sea
cows were the first choice on the menu, mainly because only one of them
could feed an entire brigade. When those beasts were hunt down to
extinction, the other supernatural communities started to put pressure for
a truce on the two battling races. After realizing that if they didn’t stop
they would probably extinguish all life on Earth or maybe because their
mighty armies could not fight for long off small animal or human bloods,
the dragon lords and vampire kings agreed on a peace treaty and returned
to their lands.
By then, humans had evolved and defied their natural inferiority
with cleverness and ingenious inventions. They had built entire cities
made of stone and lived off plantations, a feat never seen before, for even
the magical creatures survived on what the environment provided them.
Dragons and vampires, blinded by their arrogance, realized what was
happening a little too late—humans had discovered an incredible weapon:
steel. And so the supernatural races like the vampires, the dragons, and
the fae wisely decided to draw back to their nests and observe the strange
race that dared defy the natural laws of life. They were all dumbfounded
by the humans’ clever ways of changing the environment to suit their own
needs: building cobblestone streets for better access and multi-story
edifices to maximize space; creating amazing inventions like the steam
train, electricity, and the telephone. So instead of fighting the humans, the
magical races slowly started to live inconspicuously among them and
enjoy the benefits of human inventions.
Dyam took another sip and closed his eyes to enjoy the delicious
amber liquid burning down his throat. He could feel the music vibrating
in his body cells, hear bodies rubbing against each other, and smell the
scent of sweat, a jungle animal, and lust in the air.
Jungle animal?
Opening his eyes, Dyam sat up straight and inspected his
surroundings.
What the fuck?
He tried to shake it off and remind himself
that there was no way a jungle animal could have been in a nightclub in
the middle of Soho, and it was probably just the whiskey talking, but no,
he wasn’t mistaken. His Cherokee inimă,
his soul, could sense it, smell it
faintly in the air. He took another deep breath and stood up.
Going to the balcony, he scanned the dance floor below, then the
bar, the fake waterfall, and the swimming pool. Nothing. He could not see
any jungle animal or any animal for that matter, not even a bird. And then
he turned his attention back to the second level and saw her. A tall,
olive-skinned woman with short spiky hair wearing a crimson top and
matching miniskirt talking to the vampire bouncer by the elevator. She
was just inches away from the guy. A dim light green radiance seemed to
be glimmering off her eyes. The vampire bouncer with all his mass of
muscles did nothing to stop her when she whisked by him and got into
the elevator.
Turning on his heels toward the back of their VIP area, Dyam
spotted Joel, who was now enjoying the redhead’s mouth on his cock. His
friend was not going to like him very much, but they had to find out what
the fuck was happening.
‚Joel, we gotta go.‛ Joel didn’t even flinch. Dyam tried again. ‚Joel,
something’s not right. We gotta go.‛
This time, his friend opened one eye. ‚Dy, buddy, this is not a good
time.‛
‚I know, but I think there’s a jungle animal inside this nightclub.‛
Okay, even he could see the insanity of his remark.
‚What?‛ Joel sat up straight but did not motion the girl off his cock.
‚What do you mean there’s a jungle animal in the club?‛
‚She was getting inside one of the elevators. I think she is going to
the third floor.‛
‚She?‛ Joel asked, with an impish smile on his face. ‚Dy, my man,
it is probably the remains of your Cherokee inimă begging for some
release.‛ Joel leaned back on the couch with his hand on the girl’s head,
encouraging her to go deeper.
Joel was probably right, but Dyam could not shake off the certainty
of what he had sensed. Deciding he could not just sit around and forget
about it, he started toward the elevator. The bouncer was still on the same
spot.
‚Did you see who she was?‛ Dyam asked while checking which
floor the elevator had stopped on.
The bouncer looked at Dyam, blinking fast. ‚Who?‛
‚The woman, the tall woman, wearing a red top and mini who had
just passed by you.‛
The bouncer looked up to the nothingness and smiled broadly—he
actually smiled! Dyam was overwhelmed by a smell of fresh rain on
autumn leaves.
‚Oh, that woman. Yeah, she
said.
What a waste of space he was.
Taking a deep breath, Dyam walked past him and took the stairs.
When he reached the door to the third floor, he stopped and unlocked his
senses again. Yes, she had been there. Opening the door slowly, he put his
head out into the hallway and checked the surroundings. The coast was
clear. Closing the door soundlessly behind him, he scanned the long
corridor. There were only four apartments on that section—a true
testament of how exclusive that part of the nightclub was. A small
pathway at the far end lead to the south wing. The area was dimly lit by
long amber lights. The black carpets and crimson walls added a ‚what
happens here, stays here‛ feel to the decor.
Dyam took a few steps to the right with the intention of checking
the doors for suspicious sounds, but the soft
thud
coming from the south
wing stopped him midway. Silently, he started toward the sound, but
when he got to that section, it was empty. The smell of rainforest was
stronger there. Following it, he realized the scent draw a direct line
between the fire exit, located at the end of the corridor and one of the four
exclusive apartments on that wing. Looking up to see which door it was,
Dyam’s heart went straight to his mouth.
It was Hikuro’s private quarters.
Without a second thought, Dyam burst inside the room, his knife
steady in his hand, ready for battle.
Hikuro was sprawled on the floor by the couch, motionless.
Fuck!
He scanned the room for potential attackers hiding in the shadows; then
he went to check on his friend. Hikuro’s head was still attached to his
body.
Thank the Soartas
.
Dyam released the breath he had not realized he was holding and
tried to wake his friend up. Nothing. Hikuro was out cold. That was when
Dyam saw a small envelope on his lap. Pulling his phone out of his back
pocket, he punched the numbers. Joel had better take this.
After a few more tries, his blond friend decided to pick it up.
‚There better be a whole fucking jungle invading the club, buddy.‛
‚Hikuro is down, unconscious in his private quarters.‛
‚I’ll be right up.‛
The phone disconnected, and in record time, Dyam heard footsteps
in the corridor. A second later, Joel was by the door, his Heckler & Koch
9mm positioned to put a nice hole in the middle of any motherfucker who
dared cross his path. ‚What happened?‛
‚I don’t know. She was gone when I got here.‛ Dyam rolled his
unconscious friend to the side to check for any injuries.
‚Are you sure it was the woman you saw?‛
‚She was not a human female. She was a jungle animal. I’m not
sure which one because I never got to look into her eyes. But I followed
her distinct scent of rain forest leaves here.‛
‚How the fuck did that happen? A female knocking Hikuro out?
That’s impossible.‛ Joel helped Dyam lift their unconscious friend up.
‚I know. It is a disturbing thought. The other piece of this puzzle is
why.‛ Together they put Hikuro on the chaise lounge. ‚I think we should
go to the king. Look what I found.‛ Dyam took out the small envelope
and handed it to Joel, who opened it and read the note inside.
‚What the fuck? What’s this supposed to mean?‛
‚I don’t know. But I think we were not supposed to know.‛ Dyam
held Hikuro’s hand and dematerialized out of there.
One a.m. He had been waiting in the stupid alleyway for thirty
minutes already. If his brainless associate did not show up in the next
three minutes, he would make sure he regretted not being punctual. The
hell with it, he would make sure his associate paid for it regardless. The
alleyway stunk of human feces and dead animals, typical in this part of
town. East Flatbush, New York, was not known for having rose-smelling
streets.
Headlights blinded his vision, and he had to turn his head slightly
to see his associate heading his toward him. When the green sedan was
just a few feet away, he stepped out of the threshold he had chosen to hide
from the view of curious neighbors and waved for his associate to stop the
car.
‚You’re late,‛ he said bluntly. He regretted having chosen a
half-human to do the job. He usually hired vampires or dracos, but this
one had shown an interesting extra keenness for his bounty-hunting
assignments.
A short plump man nearing his forties stepped out of the car and
closed the door with a
thud
. ‚The bitch was harder to get than I thought.‛
His associate had the audacity to open his unbuttoned flannel shirt and
show his torso which bore a number of scratches. ‚She put up a hell of a
fight.‛
Ignoring the exposed torso, he walked toward the back of the car.
‚I wonder what gave you the erroneous idea that I give a fuck. Open the
trunk,‛ he commanded, accentuating the dark vibrato in his voice.
His associate obliged with a small ‚Yes, sir‛ and opened the trunk
to reveal a female vampire inside. She was gagged with a cloth that
looked like it had been taken from a mechanic’s office, her hands and feet
were tied up with silver chains, and she had an ugly black eye and a few
bruises on her arms that were already healing. Her wide eyes were staring