Nancy A Collins-Vamps 02 (8 page)

Look, I realize that this is exceptionally short notice, not to mention a seriously
huge
leap—but I wasn’t bullshitting when I told the rep you’re a natural talent.

Not only do you have the looks, Lili, you have the
fire
.

I can see it in your eyes. You were
born
to be in front of the camera.”

“You think I’m that good?” Lilith said, pretending to hesitate.

“Princess, you are so far beyond good it’s
scary
! Just tell me you’ll take the job, Lili.”

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

She had originally intended to use her mesmeric abilities to beguile Kristof into offering her the modeling job, but it was nice to know that she didn’t have to rely on blatant mind control in order to get what she wanted.

Lilith couldn’t remember the last time she was so happy. The mixture of excitement and elation she was feeling was better than shopping, sex, and feeding combined. Not even looking in a mirror could compare to the rush that came from standing in front of a camera.

But the greatest thrill of all came from pretending she was no longer Lilith Todd, super-rich vampire debutante, but Lili Graves—a girl with no fixed history and no true past, but with a world of limitless possibilities 75

before her. As Lili Graves she was free to be whatever she wanted to be—even a human.

How messed up was that?

“I’m going to go get myself a drink,” Sergei announced.

“Can I get either of you anything?”

Jules nodded and handed him a red-stained glass.

“Yeah, another scotch.”

“Anything for you, comrade.” Sergei smiled crook-edly.

Once Sergei was safely out of earshot, Carmen leaned across the divan, her green jersey halter dress providing Jules with an unobstructed view of her cleavage.

“I thought he’d
never
leave,” she purred as she placed a hand on Jules’s upper thigh. He shifted about uncomfortably but did not remove her hand from his leg. “I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask you this. . . .”

“Ask me what?”

“What do you think, silly?” Carmen replied coquett-ishly. “Do you want to escort me to the Grand Ball?”

“No.” The answer was as bald and blunt as a billiard ball.

Carmen drew her hand back. The look on her face was one of utter disbelief. “
What
did you just say?”

“I said: ‘no,’ as in I do
not
want to escort you to the Grand Ball.”

“But—I thought you
liked
me!” Carmen’s voice 76

wavered, threatening to crack.

“I like
banging
you,” Jules sneered. “Don’t get the two confused, okay?”

Carmen got to her feet and hurried off. Jules heaved a sigh of relief.

“Where did Carmen go?” Sergei asked as he returned with the drinks.

“She went to the restroom,” Jules said. “I think she’s upset because I said I don’t want to be her escort.” Sergei shook his head in disgust. “Chicks! There’s no figuring them out—especially in
this
country! The girls here are too influenced by human media. The Founders had the right idea—it’s better to keep a harem. That way you don’t have to worry about one of them getting too much power over you.”

“Are you insane?” Jules laughed. “If I had multiple brides, I’d be constantly breaking up catfights. I’d never get any peace!”

“Speaking of catfights: where
is
Lilith?” Sergei asked.

“She said she’d meet me at the club, but she didn’t say when. She had some business to attend to first.” Sergei put aside his drink and scanned the room. “I was thinking of checking out this new VIP club I heard about from a friend of mine. You want to go?”

“Sure,” Jules replied, a gleam in his eye. “What’s it called?”

77

“The Viral Room.”

“Let’s take my limo,” Jules said. “You got the address?”

Carmen returned from the ladies’ room only to find Jules and Sergei gone. She hastily searched the dance floor, but there was no sign of them. As it sank in that she’d been ditched, Carmen began to hyperventilate, causing her bosom to heave.

A regulation hipster leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, lady—are you okay?” Carmen instantly regained control of her breathing and smiled, twirling one of her red curls around her fingers. “I am
now
, lover.”

Although the twentysomething in the designer jeans and ironic T-shirt didn’t really look like Jules, even if she squinted, Carmen decided he would make a decent enough stand-in for her rage.

Her prey, being the complete and utter idiot most human males prove to be when an incredibly hot girl way out of their league shows any interest in them, was grinning from ear to ear.

The poor dope thought he was getting lucky.

78

The Viral Room was a two-level club in the trendy Meatpacking District. On their arrival, Jules and Sergei immediately made for the balcony lounge, which overlooked a large, square dance floor decorated with chaser lights.

“I like this place,” Jules said as he scanned the room full of scantily clad women and giggly college girls.

His eyes widened as he caught sight of a well-dressed young Asian man talking to an older African American man with dreadlocks hanging to his waist. “Whoa! Are those what I think they are?”

“They’re weres, all right,” Sergei agreed. “I think the younger dude’s dad runs the were-tigers down in Chinatown. I don’t know the were-lion.” As they spoke, the were-tiger turned to look up at the balcony. Although weres and vampires shared a 79

distant ancestry, the relationship between the species was notoriously tense. The were-tiger studied the pair of fledgling vampires for a moment before returning to his conversation. Jules let out a sigh of relief and resumed his survey of the Viral Room’s clientele.

“Whoa! Who’s the hottie?” Sergei asked, nudging his friend.

Jules looked where Sergei was pointing and felt his heart begin to race. “That’s the new girl at Bathory,” he replied, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. The last time he’d seen Cally Monture, she’d been dressed in her gym suit and trying to sneak out of Ruthven’s School for Boys. The moment he’d looked into her glit-tering green eyes, he’d found himself attracted to her.

She was a fun tease.

“You mean she’s one of us?”

“Not exactly.” Jules shrugged. “She’s a New Blood.”

“Stand back, boy, and watch the master at work,” Sergei leered. “I hear New Blood girls are easy and wild in the sack. Whoever gets to first base wins.” Cally looked around the crowded nightclub as she waited for Melinda to come back with their drinks.

She was wearing the miniskirt she had been working on, made of black silk and embellished with scarlet flowers, a black long-sleeved turtleneck, and a pair of suede Marc Jacobs slouch boots she’d scored at a rum-mage sale. She felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned 80

to find a young man standing at her elbow. He had dark eyes and shoulder-length hair and was dressed in tight-fitting leather pants and a leather bomber jacket.

He was holding a cell phone in one hand.

“Excuse me, miss. But there seems to be something wrong with my phone. . . .”

“Like what?”

“It doesn’t have your number in it,” he replied, flashing a smile that could melt the panties off the frostiest ice princess.

“Nice line, Romeo.” Cally laughed. “Why don’t you try it out on someone who’s more your ‘type,’ huh?

Maybe one of them?” She pointed to a table full of
Sex
in the City
fangirls drinking muddled watermelon mar-tinis and gossiping among themselves.

“I’m not looking to tap some clot, baby,” the pickup artist said as he leaned forward to whisper into her ear:

“Ever make it with a real vampire before?”
Cally recoiled, insulted. “I
beg
your pardon? What do you mean by ‘real’?”

“You know,” he said with a smirk. “Have you done it with an Old Blood?”

Suddenly a familiar face appeared over the pickup artist’s shoulder. It was Lilith’s boyfriend, Jules de Laval. Cally smiled, remembering their last encounter in the halls of Ruthven’s.

“Is this man bothering you?” Jules asked.

“Definitely
.
”

81

“You heard the lady, Sergei.” Jules jerked his thumb over his shoulder in imitation of an umpire. “You struck out.”

“No fair cock blocking!” Sergei growled under his breath.

“Oh? There are
rules
?” Jules stage-whispered in reply. “I must have missed that part. . . .”

“What are
you
doing here?” Cally asked.

“Not much—just checking the place out. Are you here by yourself?”

“No, I came with Melinda. She should be back any minute. . . .”

“You wouldn’t happen to need an escort to the Grand Ball, would you?” Jules asked abruptly.

At first Cally laughed at the suggestion, but seeing the look in Jules’s eyes, the smile on her face quickly disappeared. “Look, I don’t want any more grief from Lilith. After the thing in the grotto—”

“What thing?” He frowned.

Cally gave him a puzzled look. “You don’t know?

Never mind. I just don’t need the aggravation, that’s all.”

“Will you at least give me the pleasure of a dance?”

“I just told you I’m not looking to piss Lilith off.”

“Lilith’s not here, and I promise I won’t tell her if you won’t,” Jules said with a mischievous smile.

Cally arched an eyebrow. “Okay—but just
one
dance.”

82

“I promise,” Jules said, taking her by the hand.

Suddenly Melinda was at Cally’s side, tugging on her arm and glaring at Jules. “I need to powder my nose. Come with me.”

“But—”

“Never mind that! Bathroom!
Now!
” With a single pull, Melinda freed Cally from Jules’s grasp, dragging her down a crowded hallway and into the ladies’

lounge.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Melinda asked in exasperation as the door swung shut behind them.

“I was just going to dance with him, that’s all,” Cally assured her.

“Maybe that’s all
you
were planning to do.” Melinda looked around, checking to make sure no one could overhear them, and then leaned in close. “Look, Cally, I’m going to tell you straight up: you can’t trust Jules.

No
woman can. The man’s a dog.
Worse
than a dog: he’s a wolf. And I’m not saying that just because he can turn
into
one! Jules’s hobby is cheating on Lilith behind her back,
especially
with her friends. Bathory Academy is full of ex-BFFs that Jules has tagged.”

“Did he ever hit on you?” Cally asked, unable to restrain her curiosity.

“Of course!” Melinda laughed. “But he didn’t get anywhere. And don’t let his good looks and the fact that he’s nobility fool you—he’s no Prince Charming.

83

When I shot him down, he started this rumor that I was a lesbian to get back at me. However, he
did
manage to seduce Carmen. Not that he had to try real hard with her. They’ve been screwing on the sly for the last couple of months.”

“Ewwwww!”

“His family likes to pretend they’re above this kind of stuff, but they desperately need the Todd bloodright if they want to survive this millennium. Since Jules can’t dump Lilith, every time she does something that really pisses him off, he starts acting distant and makes a play for one of her friends. She freaks out, thinking she’s losing him, and starts acting all submissive and girlfriendy and they make up. And then it starts
all
over again.”

“But if Jules goes after Lilith’s friends, why is he interested in me? I’m as far as you can get from being Lilith’s BFF.”

“If she gets that insecure when he’s fooling around with her friends, imagine the drama if she found out Jules was fooling around with someone she
hates
.”

“Well, I appreciate the heads-up on Jules, but you don’t need to worry about me falling for his charms.

Granted, he
is
super-hot, but I’m not interested. I’ve already got a boyfriend.”

“Oh, really?” Melinda leaned in close, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “What’s his name? Is he cute?”

84

Cally hesitated for a long moment, trying to decide whether to divulge any more than she already had. But as fearful as she was of exposure, she was eager for a chance to talk about Peter to someone else. “I can’t tell you his name, because we’re not supposed to be seeing each other. He’s a little older than me, but he’s really good-looking. He’s so sweet and understands how I feel—”

“Does he go to Ruthven’s?”

“No, you wouldn’t know him,” Cally said quickly.

“He—he’s from my old school.” Cally paused, realizing she was saying too much about the wrong things. She needed to change the topic without triggering suspicion. “So who was the were-tiger I saw you talking to at the bar?”

Melinda’s smile disappeared, and it suddenly occurred to Cally that she wasn’t the only one whose love life could get her in big trouble. “
Please
don’t tell anyone you saw us together, okay?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” As she squeezed her friend’s hand in assurance, Cally looked at her wristwatch and feigned surprise. “Is that the time? I need to get home! I still haven’t finished recopying those passages for scrivening class. I’ll see you at school, Melly.” Cally hurried out of the ladies’ room and headed toward the door of the club. Just as she came within sight of the exit, Jules emerged from the crowd of 85

sweaty, enthusiastic dancers, blocking her way.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked. “I can give you a ride if you like.”

“That’s okay—I can get back home on my own.”

“Since you’re leaving, can I see your cell phone for a second?”

“Why?” she asked as she handed the cell over to him. Jules did not answer but instead began to punch the keypad. “What are you doing?”

“Giving you my number,” he explained. “That way, if you change your mind about my being your escort, you can call me.” He smiled and handed her the phone.

“There. It’s done.”

As Cally reached to take it back, Jules grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her toward him, pressing his lips against hers. She tried to push herself away, but the heat of his mouth brought her even closer until their arms were wrapped around each other’s waists.