What he’s really doing is blending some of my blood with other blood to make it more desirable. I’ve never let a vamp feed directly from me. Lucius has honored our agreement and never told anyone who I am, other than Selene. Since she’s the closest thing I have to a bestie, I’m fine with that.
I think it’s also because Lucius doesn’t knowwhatI am any more than I know what I am, and that fascinates him. Besides, I don’t challenge anyone for power or land or control, so no one sees me as a threat. Hell, I won’t challenge anyone for a goddamned parking space. That kind of bullshit will draw attention to me.
That’s the last thing I need.
Not drawing attention of any kind is one of the reasons the various players in the area leave me alone and use my errand and courier services when needed. I’m neutral.
I mean,completelyneutral. Including my scent, apparently. Lucius and Selene admit they can smell me, but sort of like you can smell rain, or a hot burner on an electric stove. It’s there…butnotthere. Garrett Green said the same thing when I asked him.
During my period every month, which oddly lasts only three days and hits just like clockwork every four weeks, I take those days off from the club with Lucius’ blessing. Last thing I need to be is advertising that in a fricking vampire club, right? More attention I do not want or need. I usually hit the grocery store the day before and don’t set foot outside my apartment for those days.
The only time I step into a conflict and risk drawing attention to myself is when someone tries to fuck with me or one of my servers at Club Toxic. Apparently, I’m scary, according to the household humans who also work there. Especially if any of the vampire customers get a little too pushy with the humans upstairs at the club and try to coerce them downstairs to the dungeon against their will, or by using vamp powers on them instead of legitimately gaining their consent.
Although I’ve been in Tucson longer than anywhere else in my adult life and have put down what passes as roots for me, I suppose, I live light, a result of my nomadic existence for most of my life.
As I drive toward the club, my hand drifts to the front of my T-shirt, touching my father’s ring, where it lays hidden underneath. I wear it on the same silver chain my mother used to wear it on.
It’s literally all I have of his.
Mazbushka.That’s what he and his friend Zuzu used to call me. They said it meant “sweet little angel,” but I’ve yet to discover in what language.
Or maybe they made it up. Who knows?
The ring is my talisman now, I suppose. My good-luck charm. I touch it like this all the time without thinking about it. The only time I take it off is when I take a shower. It’s a labradorite stone, dark grey with flashes of blue, green, yellow, and orange, depending on the kind of light it’s in and how you tip it. The ring itself is gold, with symbols embossed on both sides and around the stone.
I haven’t been able to decipher what they mean, even after years of research.
When I reach work, I park in my reserved spot and head inside, letting myself in the back entrance with my key.
I don’t even need to look at the alarm panel to immediately know I’m the first and only one here. Being able to sense people around me—mortal or otherwise—is one of those weird little things I can do, and something I’m carefulnotto let others know I can.
Only two other human employees have keys and alarm codes, even though there are close to a dozen household humans who work here at the club full-time and even dozens more who are part-timers. None of the vampire employees will be in until after dark, obvs.
Lucius and Selene will arrive when he’s damned good and ready. We all work onhisschedule. Even the bookkeeper works night hours. Theophilus, a vampire who works for Lucius and who is part of his inner circle, is actually the club’s general manager. Buuut, he’s a vampire. Meaning he can’t be here during the day when we need to handle maintenance or repairs while we’re closed.
Benny is one of the other humans who has a key, but he works directly for Lucius rather than the club. While he’s not technically club staff, he frequently accepts shipments from suppliers, goes on shopping runs, deals with maintenance or repair issues, things like that. Sometimes, I’ll come in on a day off and handle those tasks then take a night off later in the week, but it depends on the schedule. Lucius and Theophilus are very careful to not over-schedule me, since they know about my other part-time job.
I also keep Lucius apprised of any rumors I hear among shifters or other vamps in the area.
Heading upstairs to the second floor, I let myself into the office suite and make my way past the security console of video monitors to where my desk sits along the far wall behind a divider, giving me privacy. Most of the human staff aren’t allowed up here unescorted and only come up here at the beginning and end of their shifts to count their tills. I have an actual desk in a private alcove at one end of the main outer office, with my own sofa.
When I lock my things in my desk, I retrieve my name tag. After I peel the masking tape off it, where it still saysPINKin black marker from my last shift, I apply a new piece of tape and writeBLUEon it, and then pin it to my shirt, over my left breast. When I wear one of my blonde wigs, I go byBlondie.
The employees and regular customers know to call me by whatever color wig I’m wearing on any given night. The name tag is for everyone else, and for my amusement when I’m feeling like fucking with someone. Only Lucius and Selene know my real name. They’ve promised never to use it, and to prevent anyone else from knowing it.
Helps that I’m paid in cash and have a good fake Arizona driver’s license Lucius obtained for me. In the computer system, for the purpose of my security logins and the alarm, I’m known as Connie Doe, the same name on my fake ID.
Has a little more panache than Jane Smith, and my real name, Eilidh Connover, isn’t anywhere in their system, where I can be tracked through it. I do have a passport and ID in that name, in case I ever need them.
With that completed, I boot the computer server that runs the club’s POS payment system and make sure it’s up and running. Then I lock the office behind me and head downstairs to the first floor. It’s not unusual for me to end up in the office on my night off if I’ve been out running errands and I’m too far from home to make it there before dark. Plenty of times, I’ve spent the night sleeping up here curled on my couch, wrapped in a blanket, knowing I’m completely safe.
Lucius has issued standing orders to leave me alone and let me be, if that’s the case.
Next, I go through the first floor, turning on lights, checking supplies, booting the POS terminals, and making sure the closing crew from the night before cleaned everything, including the bathrooms. I don’t bother going through the small kitchen because that’s not my domain. I replenish anything behind the bar that wasn’t restocked before closing last night, make notes for Lucius and Theophilus of anything we need—or things not properly taken care of—and then take a deep breath before I head downstairs, to the basement.
The private BDSM club area is accessed through a secret passage of sorts, a staircase hidden behind the coat check area near the front entrance. Access is for vampires and staff only, and for any human guests the vampires bring downstairs. Most people don’t even know there is a lower level. The occasional shifter will go down, usually as a guest Lucius has invited, but that is extremely rare.
Every once in a while, Lucius has a shifter who works for him or who owes him a favor, and they’ll show up at the club. I don’t get involved in any of that, because it’s not my business.
