Cassius lifts Jaspers’s heavily tattooed arm and drags his nose along his skin. “This will work fine. You’re a juicy one.”
“Cas, dude,” Mac complains.
Cassius ignores the comment, instead tilting his head back as his fangs drop. I’ll never stop being fascinated by the vampire. Unlike the rest of us—excluding Drax, of course—our physical transformations when we shift are noticeable, but vampires look like everyone else if you’re not paying attention to the glowing eyes, long, sharp nails, and the deadly fangs.
He lifts Jasper’s wrist to his mouth and sinks his teeth in. The bartender hisses in pain, but it’s only a few seconds before his body slumps against Roman. A dopey smile spreads on his face, and his eyelids grow heavy.
Cassius, true to his word, doesn’t indulge, and he pulls off the bartender quickly enough, snaking his tongue along the two bloody pinpricks left on the bartender’s skin. The droplets of blood cling to Cas’s tongue, and the wound heals instantly, thanks to the vampire venom.
Roman gently smacks Jasper’s face to snap him out of the vampire’s thrall.
He startles, standing straight up and clearing his throat. “Well?”
“You weren’t drugged,” Cassius says. “It’s worse than that. You were spellbound.”
Jasper looks confused for a second, then angry. “Spellbound? That’s against the rules. Who the fuck did that?”
“I can’t tell, but the magic still lingers in your blood. That must be why you can’t remember what happened last night.” He glances at me. “The magic is dark in nature.”
“That’s not allowed,” Jasper mutters again, somewhat deflated and sounding tired. “What did I do while I was under a spell?”
Looking up, I notice a blinking red light above the bar. “Is that a camera?”
Jasper’s expression lightens. “It is. I’ll have to ask Aneska to look at it.”
“Who is Aneska?” Mac asks.
“She manages the bar. She must not have noticed anything off about me last night, so hopefully I didn’t cause too much trouble. I just can’t imagine why someone would do that to me.”
“Can you ask Aneska, please?” I ask, my heart pounding now. “We’re looking for someone and we’re pretty sure he was here last night.”
“What’s the name?”
“Rune.”
Jasper’s eyes glaze over as soon as the word is out of my mouth, and he sways.
“Shit,” Cassius mutters. “I think the magic was aimed at Rune.”
“If they used a bartender,” Mac says, turning to me, “maybe Rune was drugged.”
My stomach twists unpleasantly. “We need to know.” I shake the bartender. “Jasper, are you okay?”
He visibly shivers, blinking rapidly. “What the hell was that?”
“Rune,” Drax says, closer to Jasper’s ear, and sure enough, he has the same reaction until I say his name again.
“I need to get back to the bar.” Jasper sounds shaky now.
“Aneska?”
“What about her?”
“We need to see footage from last night when you were spellbound,” I explain. “Remember?”
“Oh.” He shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it, then nods. “Yeah. One second.”
Jasper hurries behind the bar, lifting a phone and speaking into it, then he focuses on the several customers waiting for drinks.
