I pulled the bus up in front of the club. I didn't see any place to park it so I pulled over to the right lane and turned off the ignition. I could see a line of cars piling up behind me but I figured they would figure it out. I looked over at Al and saw that he was back to looking like Peirce, eyes and all.
I looked at the front door. Crap. There was a line a mile long and a bouncer was turning people away at the front door. I got out of the bus and sauntered my way past the line to make my way to the bouncer. He was a living vampire who looked somewhere between pissed and bored. I didn't really have a plan. When dealing with a living vampire, I would typically drop Ivy's name. Her reputation would be enough to get me in most places but I didn't want to blow her cover if she was using one. Time for Plan B. What was Plan B?
I looked over to a flyer taped to the wall and saw that a DJ was playing tonight. "Hey," I breathed in what was hopefully a sultry voice. "I'm with the DJ. How about you let me and my friend inside?" It was an overused ploy but I didn't really have anything else to work with. The bouncer looked down at me and I tried to strike a sexy pose.
"I don't think so, back of the line," he said without a second glance.
"Wait, look. He's right there. You can ask him," I said.
The vampire fell for it. He turned around and I pulled out my splat gun and dropped him. The other patrons in line gasped and I dashed into the club. I turned around and saw other people following behind me. I guess they weren't that concerned. Good, I could use the extra distraction.
The club was dark with strobe lights flashing. Fast dance music was blaring and people were moving provocatively on the dance floor. There were tables against the walls where people sipped drinks and ate bar food. I felt adrenaline pulse through me and I shivered. The added excitement mixed with my high from the run had my blood pumping and I looked around the room for Ivy. There were too many people. It would be impossible to find her. I looked back at Al. He was eyeing the clubbers with a sneer of disgust.
"You don't see Ivy, do you?" I asked him.
"All I see is a bunch of over-sexed children," he muttered.
A living vampire girl who looked barely old enough to be in the club came up to Al and wrapped herself around him. She whispered in Al's ear and I saw a devious smile cross his lips. I don't know what she said but I doubted she knew what she was in for.
Al slid an arm around her back and whispered something back. I saw the girls eyes widen and she pressed back slightly against Al. A few years ago the vampire would have scared me but she looked like prey in Al's arm.
"Come on, Al," I said. I grabbed his elbow and pulled him away from the vampire. "We don't have time for this."
I heard a deep female voice in my ear. "You made it." I spun around and saw Ivy standing there, dressed in her leathers and looking like a model fresh off the run way. "They have her in the back room. There's three living vamps plus Marco, an undead vamp. I wasn't expecting Marco to be here but it seems there was a change of plans."
I hadn't seen Ivy in nearly two days and despite the situation, I was happy to see her. I reached out and gave her a quick hug. The vampire looked startled and quickly wiped her face of any emotion before hugging me back. "It's good to see you too," she murmured.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked. If I knew Ivy, she probably had schematics with this sort of contingency already mapped out.
"Marco's going to have to leave the club before sun-up. I say we just watch the entrances and see who leaves. If we can get him away from the girl, the other living vamps shouldn't be a problem," said Ivy. I nodded to show my understanding. "There are two doors to the room," continued Ivy. "One's right there." Ivy made a small gesture to the corner of the club and my eyes shifted to see a door marked "Employees Only." "There's another door assessable by a hallway around the back of the stage. I can't watch both at the same time but a waitress has been giving me periodic updates. Do you have your cell phone?"
I grimaced. "No, the battery was dead."
Ivy sucked in a breath. "Okay, how about you stand near the back door and watch who comes in or out. Don't do anything, just watch. If someone sees you, just pretend you are looking for a bathroom or something. You should be able to spot Marco. He's the only vampire who looks over 30. If you see him, circle back and let me know. Then we make our move."
It sounded easy enough. "Okay," I said. "Don't you do anything without letting me know first either." I looked back at Al. He was watching the clubbers and didn't seem the least bit interested in our conversation. His arms were crossed against his chest but I think I saw his foot tapping to the music. Could a 5000 year old demon like rave music?
Ivy pointed me to the hallway and I started to make my way across the dance floor. It was crowded and I had to pick my way through the moving bodies. I felt Al's hand wrap around my arm as he followed me. There were a lot of vampires in the club and I could feel myself starting to get a little giddy. Great, just what I needed. Now wasn't the time to get sugared.
Suddenly, the gentle buzz coming from the crowd broke when a flare of desire raced across my scar. It startled me and I stumbled. I felt Al's grip on my arm tighten and I looked up. A living vampire with a black cowboy hat was grinning down at me. He must have been 6'4" and looked like he could use every inch of his lean, muscled body if he wanted to. I fought the urge throw myself at him and snarled.
"Stop being a pig," I yelled over the music. "I need to keep moving."
The vampire's smile widened. "How about we move together," he said. He traced a finger along my scar and I shuddered.
Al nudged his way between us. While he was disguised as Pierce, he was shorter than usual and stood several inches below the vampire. He looked up at the living vampire. "Hands off," he growled.
The vampire rolled his eyes and tried to wrap an arm around my waist. "No need to worry mate. I'll get her back to you in one piece."
Al's eye twitched and the vampire fell to the floor convulsing. The dancers moved away from him and someone bent down to see if he was okay.
"Al," I exclaimed. "What did you do to him?"
Al ran his fingers through his hair and looked around the club. "Nothing much itchy witch. He'll be fine."
My view of the living vampire was already being swallowed up by the crowd but I thought I saw him sitting up. Good, hopefully Al hadn't done any permanent damage. I kept making my way through the dancers and we finally made it to the hallway. It was mostly deserted except for a werewolf slumped against one wall. His eyes were half closed and I knew what that look meant. He was strung out on brimstone.
Al and I walked down the hallway and came to a doorway. There was only one so it had to lead to the back room were the vamps were keeping the kidnapped girl. I moved back away from the door and stood. Great, now we had the exciting job of waiting. I checked to make sure that my splat gun was out of view. As I looked around the hallway, the cover story of "we were just looking for a bathroom," seemed a little weak. It was obvious there wasn't a bathroom down this hallway.
Al must have been thinking the same thing. "Hmmm, do I get to grab you and kiss you if someone comes by love?" he asked.
"Al, this isn't some spy movie. Keep your hands to yourself," I said. I looked up and down the hallway and tried to think of some other story. Maybe we could say we were looking to score some brimstone. Yeah, that would probably work. This hallway seemed to be the perfect place for scoring drugs and having sex. I'd rather play the role of the druggie with Al standing next to me.
Al took a step closer to me and put a hand against the wall next to my head. "You didn't seem to mind kissing me last night," he said.
I sucked in a breath and looked at him. I could feel my face growing warm. "I appreciate you not taking advantage of the situation," I said. Al wore the same blue eyes as Peirce and they were watching me intently. My mind flashed to the day Peirce and I had hidden from Trent's dogs. The dark hallway we were standing in now had a similar feel to the underground hideout.
I realized suddenly, that I was anticipating Al kissing me. He had kissed me before so it wasn't strange to think that he would do it again. The strange thing was that a part of me was longing for it. Thinking back on it, Al had always had several of the typical characteristics of being Rachel candy. Namely, he was dangerous. Boy, was he dangerous. Not to mention, he had a body built like an Olympian athlete. But, there were easily a dozen other nasty character flaws of Al's that kept my hormones at bay. Why weren't those crossing my radar today? Crap, did it have something to do with creating the constructs? I didn't think so.
Al leaned towards me and paused with his mouth inches from mine. I didn't stop him and I felt a quiver of excitement run through my body. Al smiled. "Itchy witch, I do think you are enjoying yourself, yes?" he asked in his perfect English accent. He reached up and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead.
The door behind us opened and I felt Al's lips press to mine. His kiss was unexpectedly gentle, almost a question. It's probably too late to go with the brimstone story, I thought. I hooked my fingers in the belt loops on Al's pants and pulled him closer. I felt him hesitate for a moment. I think I had just shocked the hell out of him. Al recovered quickly and pressed more firmly against me. I opened my mouth and allowed him to explore further. I closed my eyes and focused on our kiss. Al's tongue slid across mine then licked at my lips. It felt incredibly intimate, as if he had known how I liked to be kissed for years.
"Hey, what the hell do you two think you are doing?" came a loud, rough voice.
With some effort I pulled myself from Al and looked up to see a young living vamp with blond hair glaring at us.
Luffy fan: I'm back (finally). Sorry it took so long to update. I was on vacation for a week and it was hard to get back into the habit of writing. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and release at least one chapter a week. Another thing that was making it hard to keep writing is that I am getting all sorts of crazy ideas about things I would like to add and it is sort of overwhelming. I'm going to try to sort through them and keep moving forward. Thank you for all the reviews.