“You son of a bitch,” I hissed.
“You have no idea about the things you speak of, which are much more complicated than you know.”
“Complicated?” I repeated, my teeth grinding. “If that isn’t the biggest understatement of the fucking century, I don’t know what is. You make me sick.”
He reeled back like I had just slapped his face. Then he leaned forward and said in a low tone, but he may as well have roared, “You should consider your words carefully.”
“Oh, I’ve considered them. “My hand tightened around the bottle. “You are a?—”
“We need to go.” Dahlia cut me off but kept her tone casual. She glanced across the room at all the vampires watching us pointedly. “You two can continue your lovers’ tiff at home.”
“He’s not—” I didn’t get my sentence out before her hand gripped my shoulder, her fingernails digging hard into my skin and making me flinch.
“Yes, he is,” she whispered, and her blue eyes were filled with an ice-cold warning.
Karson rose to his feet, hovering over me. “We are going home,now,” he ordered, raising the tiny hairs all over my body. When I hesitated, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.
I gritted my teeth and hefted the bottle. He had it out of my hands before I could even attempt to swing it.
“Do not try and bite off more than you can chew.”
The threat slithered down my spine. “Fuck you. Let go of my arm.”
The people at the table beside us turned to stare. A girl clutched her hand over her mouth and choked back laughter. A male smiled a lazy smile, as if our argument mildly amused him.
“Lovers’ tiff,” Dahlia said to the vampire.
He gave a knowing nod, like he’d been there a thousand times before. Then he took a sip of whiskey, the glass distorting his grin to Hannibal Lecter proportions.
Shaking, I jerked from Karson’s grip and lurched toward the door, but he caught up in a few steps and grabbed my arm again.
“You are being ridiculous, Amelia. Walk beside me and behave yourself.”
I tried to jerk away, but he held tight. Dahlia opened the door, and we strode out.
The hallway wall provided support for the brunette I’d met in the restroom as she gazed into the eyes of a brown-haired vampire, like they held the answer to a universal secret. He cradled the side of her head with all the tenderness of a lover, then he moved his mouth toward her neck and bit her.
I shuddered.
Other vampires stared as we passed. Some seemed to be curious—others openly hostile. A boy in his teens, with stark white hair and eyes of black ice, hissed like an adder. I tensed and fought every natural instinct that told me to run.
“I wouldn’t consider it if I were you, Phillipe,” Karson warned with a dangerous calm. “Or you will not live to see sunrise.”
The boy glared, not at him, but at me with such hatred that my heart started racing.
Karson put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me against the side of his body. It was a protective move, and at this point, the safest place to be. As we emerged from the end of the hallway, a blur of red and blond caught the corner of my eye. On my right, just beneath the stairs, a flaxen-haired woman was flat on her back. Her cherry-red lips were open, and her eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling. Her skin was unnaturally white, devoid of any color—as if all the blood had been sucked from her. With a flash of gut-wrenching horror, I realized it had. The party went on around her body as if she were nothing but a scrap of food tossed to the floor.
Karson yanked me forward. “No,” he said in a low rumble into my ear.
“Jesus, we have to help her!” I protested, trying to duck out from under his arm, but he held me firm.
“It’s too late,” Dahlia muttered, glancing down at the girl with a furious expression on her face. “Bastards.”
Karson tugged me forward, forcing me through the doors and out into the crisp night air. It wasn’t until we’d turned the corner of the alleyway that he let me go. I jerked away from him, breathing furiously. His phone vibrated, and he pulled it from his trouser pocket.
“Ethan, she’s here. I’m taking her home. I’ll bring her back tomorrow.” He hung up.
“I’m not staying at your house,” I argued, crossing my arms. “I’ll stay at the motel.”
