“Being here with you brings back memories,” she says, her eyes flicking over the bar again. “Not all of them are pleasant.”
“Maybe it’s a good thing that we host the variety show here,” I suggest, trying to pull her away from deeper things. Just because I said the words, doesn’t mean she’s ready to say them back. She’s right – she’s given me so much of herself already. “You can do over shum of the bad parts with a shappy— Er, I meanhappymemory.”
My words sound slurred, drunken.
You can do this. Just stay awake a few moments longer.
Arabella scoffs. “There is nothing happy about listening to Isis Meriwether warble her way through show tunes.”
“Fair, but won’t it be nice to shee La Petite Mort full of people again? I know it son’t be the wame. I mean, won’t see the game. I mean, won’t be the shame, but—”
She rests her head on my chest. Behind her head, the lights swim in my eyes, an aurora of colour against her dark skin. “It’s going to mean a bunch of humans traipsing unbidden around Sanctus Estate. Our members won’t appreciate it.”
“They’ll get over it.” It sounds like I’m speaking with my mouth full of soap. “This killer wants humans to know their place. They believe Upyr are so superior that we can do whatever we like. Winnie and Alaric have already made people shee that we can change, that maybe humans and Upyr can be closer, more intimate. Maybe the variety show is the start of something beautiful. What do you think?”
“I don’t think anything. Iknowit’s going to be a disaster.” Arabella tilts her head to the side. “But it shall be amusing. Are you feeling all right? Sun not too bright?”
“I feel like a man who’s getting his second wind.” I tug her to her feet. “Shall we have another dance?”
I reach out my arms to her. Arabella steps towards me, but then she tilts away, and with aTHWACKthat jerks through my body, I find myself embracing the floor.
It takes me a moment to comprehend that I’ve fallen.
I try to lift my head, but my neck is made of jelly and won’t cooperate. At first, I think I must be drunk. I’m assaulted by vivid, blurrymemories of dragging my father to bed after he’d collapsed from drink, of carrying my brother home after he got into drunken brawls.
No, I can’t be drunk, because I don’t touch alcohol, and I’m a vampire. A vampire who has stayed up far, far too late, and is now caught on the edge of his dreamless sleep…
“Ah—” I try to speak, but my jaw won’t work.
Arabella leans down to inspect me. “Only a few moments more.”
What does she mean?
I try to pull her against me, but she flinches away.
“I’m sorry about this, Gideon. Truly, I am.” She does look sorry. At least, I think she does. Her face has gone all wobbly. “You may have the power of two vampires in your veins, but I can still outlast you. I don’t want to do this, but I have to protect my friends, and you have to protect your reputation for Sanctus. This is the only way it can be. Consider this payback for taking what’s mine.”
Payback? But…
Everything goes black.
40
Arabella
Alyra:I’m going to insist you leave that delicious toy boy and see me. I’m going to try your house again and then I’ll see if that snooty Thrall will let me up to Gideon’s apartment. If you don’t want me to burst in on you dressing Gideon up in a meerkat costume and pulling his tail, I suggest that you answer my messages!
Celeste:I’m outside in the car ready to wolf out if you need me. I want it on record that I disapprove of this plan. You should have just asked him for the hard drive.
IDRAGGIDEON’S BODY BACKonto the sofa. A small stain of blood dots the edge of his lip. I resist the urge to swipe it away with my finger.
Instead, I give him a swift kick between his legs.
His body jerks from the force of my blow, but he doesn’t react.
He’s out cold. I glare down at him as I pull on my dress, but my gaze is drawn from his sleeping form to the glitter and velvet of Sanctus Club. Framed Toulouse-Lautrec posters adorn the walls, including a very familiar print in pride of place above the bar.
It’s me, smiling down from the past, over the bar that should have been mine.
