Blood and Guitars (14 page)

“I have an idea,” I said, bolstered by the
adrenaline of the kiss. “Come to the studio with me tomorrow.” She
opened her mouth to speak and I could see the hesitation in her
eyes. Not wanting to give her a chance to refuse, I interrupted
her. “Just say you’ll come. I’m recording the vocals for a song the
band is working on. I just … I’d love it if you could be
there.”

She bit her bottom lip and glanced down for a
heartbeat before meeting my gaze again. “Okay. I’ll come.”

I sighed in relief, grinning like an idiot.
“Great,” I said. She finished wiping the majority of the paint off
of me, and what little bit I had managed to get on her. I checked
my watch and saw that it was almost midnight.

“You’re more than welcome to leave your
painting here to dry and get it later. It’s probably best,” she
said, as if she’d read my mind.

“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. It would
just give me an excuse to come by and see her again. “I should
probably get going. I’m sure I’m putting a damper on your creative
process anyway. I’ll pick you up at five tomorrow? We’ll probably
order in dinner from the studio with the guys if that’s okay.”

She nodded and said. “Sounds like fun. Do you
remember how to find my place?”

“I think so, but maybe I should get your
number in case I get lost like an idiot.” That was a lie. I could
have driven straight to her house right then if I’d wanted to. But
she didn’t need to know that. She laughed again and the
irresistible sound echoed off the walls in the loft. “Wow. This
place has great acoustics,” I mused while retrieving my cell phone
out of my pocket to trade with her. We programmed our numbers in
the phones and handed them back to each other.

“Thanks for tonight,” I said. “I had a lot of
fun.”

“Me too, and you’re not a horrible painter,
either,” she added, grinning.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I said. I
stepped toward her again and left a soft kiss on her cheek. Then I
turned and made my way down the stairs, letting myself out the back
door of The Waking Moon and into the moonlit night. Only one thing
was keeping Aurora from really knowing me, and that was all going
to change tomorrow night when I introduced her to the band and my
life.

I stopped pacing long enough to glance at the
clock on the wall and realized that Trey would be here any minute
to pick me up. I put my phone, keys and wallet into my little grey
purse and checked my appearance in the mirror. I had decided on a
green sleeveless blouse and black skinny jeans with grey ankle
boots. I sighed and realized with some mortification that I was
actually nervous about going with Trey. It’s sort of ridiculous for
a vampire to feel much of anything as far as a human is concerned,
much less nervous, but I couldn’t think of a better way to describe
the butterflies in my stomach. I was finding it hard to think past
the kiss we’d shared last night. It was unlike anything I’d ever
experienced.

The moment our lips had met, I was overcome
with a surge of emotion, except that the emotions weren’t my own.
That was the confusing part. After a second I’d realized that I was
experiencing Trey’s feelings. Some aspect of the kiss had given me
a direct link into what? His mind? No, that wasn’t quite it.
Although the moon had definitely been out I hadn’t been reading his
thoughts. No. This had been something else. Something deeper. And
my reaction to the kiss had been completely out of my control. It
was like a part of me I hadn’t known existed had taken over,
allowing me to enjoy the unexpected.

Then there was the undeniable fullness of
Trey’s human heartbeat, which differed greatly from any vampire
heartbeat. Trey’s was warm and rich and pure, whereas mine is
hollow sounding with an echo-like quality. When Trey had kissed me,
it was the first time since my change that I had taken a moment to
really appreciate the untainted sound.

Then the panic had set in. I realized as I
let myself get lost in the kiss that I was risking exposing my true
self to him. If, in the heat of the moment, I let the adrenaline
overtake me it would mess everything up. My eyes would take on
their supernatural luminescence, and my fangs unsheathe themselves.
It would be pretty impossible to hide something like fangs while in
the middle of kissing a guy. Trey had seemed surprised when I’d
pulled away from him, but he hadn’t asked me to explain. It made it
that much harder to see all of the reasons why I shouldn’t be
kissing him to begin with when he was being all patient and
understanding.

I sighed longingly and glanced at the clock
again, knowing he’d be here soon. When he’d asked me to go with him
to work on his music tonight, I hadn’t been able to resist taking
him up on his offer. For one, I was enjoying spending time with
him. And since Mark and I hadn’t spoken since our little
disagreement two nights ago, I needed someone to hang out with. And
second, I really, really wanted to know if the emotional link we’d
shared during that kiss had been a fluke, or if it would happen
again. I couldn’t help myself.

Thankfully, the sound of a car pulling up
interrupted my thoughts and I picked up my purse and turned out all
of the lights while his footsteps came up the walk. His heartbeat
sounded in my receptive ears and I waited for him to knock on the
door (only because opening it first all of the time would be a
little suspicious by anyone’s standards) and then pulled it open to
find him smiling at me. The blue color of the t-shirt he was
wearing made his eyes even brighter, if that was possible.

“Hey beautiful,” he said with his half-smile.
“You ready for this?”

“Ready as ever.” I pulled the door closed
behind me. He led me over to his car and opened the passenger door
for me. I’m not going to lie; it was a little strange letting a
human open doors for me. Vampires are nothing if not capable and
independent creatures. It seemed I was relinquishing more and more
control with every minute I spent around Trey. I wasn’t sure I
liked that, but Trey made it seem so natural that it was hard to
question. Trey walked around the car and climbed into the driver’s
seat, starting the engine. His Mazda was a fancy sports car, which
wasn’t a total surprise considering Trey was a single guy who could
probably blow most of his income on a car payment if he wanted to.
I was fairly comfortable in that assumption as we busied ourselves
with small talk while he drove. It wasn’t until I realized he was
pulling into the driveway of a huge mansion that I began to
question my theory. Maybe he had rich parents who were supporting
his music habit? He pulled around the enormous house and parked in
a space in a separate parking lot around back.

“Well, here we are,” he said casually,
turning the car off. I forgot to debate whether or not he might be
planning to open the door for me or not and climbed out. He didn’t
seem to mind.

“Do you live here?” I blurted out.

“Uh … not exactly. Although, I think I might
as well lately.” Trey took my hand, which was something else I
hadn’t expected, and led me toward the smaller building. I didn’t
know what to make of his answer, but I didn’t have long to dwell on
it before he was opening the door of the building and gesturing for
me to step inside. “Everyone should be around here somewhere.” He
reached for my hand again, leading me down a short hallway and into
a little lounge where a middle-aged man with short brown hair was
sitting on a sofa, bouncing a baby on his knee.

“Karatz,” Trey said, greeting him. “I brought
someone along for the ride today. This is Aurora Evins. Aurora,
meet Ken Morris, our producer. This is his place.”

The man called Karatz gave me a genuine smile
and said, “Nice to meet you, Aurora. You can call me Ken.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I replied. “I’m
sensing a story behind the nickname.” Ken waved a dismissive hand
in the air but Trey laughed and turned to me.

“You’ll understand when you see the size of
the rock his wife wears on her finger.”

Okay, so the parents supporting the music
habit theory was quickly going out the window. Obviously this whole
band thing was much bigger than I had originally anticipated. How
big, I didn’t yet know. If only I could read Trey’s mind. If the
moon had been out yet I would have been seriously tempted to. The
suspense was killing me.

“Oh, and this little guy is Joshua.” Trey
waved at the baby who was staring up at him with wide-eyes from
Ken’s lap.

“So you’re the one who tried to give Trey
painting lessons, then?” Ken asked me.

“Hey, I managed to paint something that at
least resembles Liza,” Trey defended lightly.

“Liza?” I asked.

“Trey’s secretly in love with his guitar,”
Ken stated. “I don’t pretend to understand it.”

Trey shook his head at Ken and grinned at me.
“You can’t believe a word he says. Where are the guys?”

“They’re messing around in the live room,”
Ken said. “I let it slip that I had an old foosball table in the
garage and of course they insisted on hauling it in here.” Trey’s
face lit up like a child at hearing this and I had to stifle a
laugh.

“We gotta try it out,” he said, grinning at
me.

“You go ahead and do that,” Ken said. “I’m
going to school all of you.”

“Whatever you say, old man.” Trey laughed and
pulled me toward another hallway to the left. “Come on.”

“Serena will be out to get Joshua in a minute
and we’ll get started,” Ken called out as we walked away.

I had heard the ruckus going on in the back
of the building before we’d walked inside, but of course, Trey
didn’t know that. I let him lead me toward what Ken had referred to
as the ‘live room’.

“There’s one thing you should know about
these guys,” Trey said as we approached the source of the noise. “I
can’t be held responsible for them in any way.” Just talking about
his band mates had him grinning. I could tell right then just how
important they were to him.

“Noted,” I said agreeably.

We walked into a large room, with wooden
floors that matched everything else I’d seen so far. There was a
drum set in one corner, and several guitar stands with guitars and
a few amplifiers and microphone stands along the right wall. But
all of the activity in the room was centered on the old foosball
table, which had been placed dead center. Trey paused just inside
the doorway, shaking his head and smiling. Then he brought his
thumb and finger to his lips and let out a sharp and quick whistle.
The three heads leaning over the foosball table jerked up to look
at us.

“Impressive,” I said under my breath.

“Guys, this is Aurora,” Trey said. “Aurora,
meet Catalyst.”

“Hey Aurora,” one of the guys called out
cheerfully. I immediately recognized him from the memory I had
pulled from Kacie’s mind as the guy who had been with Trey the
first time he’d stopped by The Waking Moon. He had jet black hair
and was built a lot like Trey. “I’m O’Shea, by the way.”

I waved and said, “By all means, don’t let us
interrupt the big game.”

“I like her already.” He winked at me and I
felt like blushing.

The game ensued and Trey and I approached to
get a better look. One of the guys who had only been watching the
game looked up when we approached. He was wearing a black beanie
but the hair sticking out from under it was blond.

“Hey, I’m Chase.” He gave me a flirtatious
smile and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Chase plays drums,” Trey added from beside
me.

“But I’m so much more than that,” Chase
added.

“That’s true. He also plays the field a lot.”
This earned Trey a jab in the ribs. He rubbed his side for a second
and then gestured to the tallest guy with light brown hair who was
battling it out on the foosball table against O’Shea. “That’s
Jonas. He’s our bass player.”

“Hey,” mumbled Jonas without looking up. Then
with a deliberate flick of his wrist, he sent the ball flying into
the small opening just opposite him with a crack.

“Nice shot,” I muttered.

He looked up at me then and said, “Thanks.”
His gaze lingered on my face for a few seconds before he grew shy
and looked away.

“Time to hit the booth, Trey,” called Ken
from the doorway.

“If you say so,” Trey replied. He turned to
face me and added, “I think you’d better come with me. These guys
can’t be trusted.”

The foosball ensued behind us as we left the
live room and I followed him to a smaller room nearby where there
was a leather couch and a big mixing board, dual computer screens,
and some other equipment that reminded me of something out of a
music video. A gorgeous blond woman was standing near Ken and
holding the baby I’d seen him with earlier.

“Hi. You must be Aurora.” She gave me a
genuine smile. “I’m Ken’s wife, Serena.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I returned the
smile, unable to resist a glance at her hand to see the large
diamond she was wearing. Trey was right. Ken’s nickname was
definitely justified.

“I hope you’ll come around more often.”
Serena said. “It would be nice to have another woman around. The
testosterone levels in this place get a little out of control
sometimes.”

“Awe, but you love us.” Trey gave her a dopey
grin.

She sighed and shrugged. “It’s a good thing,”
she teased. “Well, it was good to meet you. Don’t let these boys
drive you crazy,” she added for my benefit. It was a little strange
for this human woman to be so kind to me. Of course, she had no
reason not to like me. I’d just been away from typical human life
for so long that it was weird being thrown back into it so
suddenly. And I’d never really gotten along with other girls much,
but Serena seemed genuine.

“I’ll remember that,” I said.