Seduction's Kiss (The Allure Chronicles) (6 page)

“Are you sure? We keep
a full bar of liquor, wine, and beer.”

“Great.” Didn’t most
bars? “But I’m fine.”

“Perhaps something
nonalcoholic?” Jeryl gestured for me to take a seat on a stool. “A
club soda? Juice?”

Theoretically, they
could drug any drink. “No, thanks. I actually think I’m going to
get going.”

“But you just got here,
Daisy.” The way Jeryl said my name was creepy. I would have taken
more quality time with Shaun over the shiver inducing situation I
was currently in.

“Yeah, I’m pretty
tired, and I’m not feeling great.” I turned to Duncan. “Thanks for
inviting me.” I eyed the closed door like a life boat. I’d have
much rather been stuck alone in the crowd outside.

Duncan shook his head
“You can’t leave yet, Daisy.”

“Yes, I can. I remember
where the door is.” I tried to shrug off Jeryl’s hand. Duncan had
dropped his.

Jeryl pushed down on my
shoulder slightly. “But we haven’t even finished the tour.”

“Maybe another time.” I
attempted to step forward.

He turned me so I was
looking at him. “Oh, Daisy.” He waved a finger in front of my face.
“It’s impolite to make promises you don’t intend to keep. You’re
from out of town. You’re not planning to come back anytime
soon.”

He could say that
again. No matter how many times I visited New Orleans I wouldn’t be
taking a step into this dive. “Ok, nice meeting you. I’m going to
go now.” I tried to step away again.

I was immediately
pulled back by Jeryl. “I insist you at least let me finish the
tour. There’s so much more to show you.”

“I suggest you let
him.” Duncan wore an unreadable expression.

“I really need to go.”
There was no way I was willingly walking any further into that
place.

“Not yet.” Jeryl
wrapped his hand around my wrist. The contact hurt. My whole body
shuddered. I was in some serious hot water. What was this creep
going to do to me? And why was Duncan just standing there?

“Are you going to join
us, Duncan?” Jeryl now seemed to want his friend’s company.

Duncan nodded.
“Yes.”

Jeryl pulled me along
as he walked toward the back of the bar. His nails dug into my
wrist, and I winced. If Jeryl noticed my discomfort he didn’t show
it. Somehow I wasn’t surprised.

“Here, let me show you
the VIP room.” He leaned in, and he definitely smelled me that
time. “Lovely, lovely Daisy.”

“You have a VIP room
here?” I didn’t bother keeping the surprise out of my voice. I
doubted Jeryl would even notice.

“Of course. Doesn’t any
fine establishment have one nowadays?”

“Fine establishments.
Right.”

Duncan held up a set of
those bead curtains you only expect to see two places—a hippie’s
van or a strip joint. I wasn’t in either, which made their
appearance unsettling.

“Go on in and have a
look around.” Jeryl released my hand and gave me a slight shove
forward. I stumbled into complete darkness. My body went into panic
mode. I squinted and carefully reached a hand out around me.

“What do you think?”
Jeryl asked.

“Uh, I can’t see
anything.” Please let this just be him being weird, I pleaded
silently.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot
about that.”

My eyes stung as a
bright light suddenly blinded me. The change from pitch black to
bright light was overwhelming.

I blinked a few times
before I could fully open my eyes. “Oh.”

“It’s nice isn’t it?”
Jeryl asked.

I glanced around at the
peeling neon pink paint on the walls and the crushed velvet couches
that looked they were straight from the seventies. I guess that
explained the beads. The two poles anchored into the floor and
ceiling made me more than a little uneasy. They had better not have
expected me to be using one of them, but none of that could compare
to the giant cage off to the side of the room. Either they had huge
dogs, or these people were even freakier than I thought. “Oh.”

“I’m glad you like our
VIP room. We don’t let just anybody see it.”

Maybe this was a cult?
A cult of escapees from a mental hospital? I searched for a
rationale for who Jeryl was and why Duncan gave him any
deference.

“Why don’t you take a
seat?” He gestured to a couch. “And maybe you’ve reconsidered that
drink?”

What the hell was going
on? Was this guy for real?

I blurted out the only
thing I could think of that would give me an excuse to leave the
VIP room. “Where’s the restroom?”

“Oh, I’ll show you.”
Jeryl offered.

“Thanks.” Luckily I
didn’t actually need to use the bathroom, because I doubted it was
any nicer than the rest of the place.

“It’s just this way.”
Jeryl pushed me toward a set of spiral stairs.

“The bathrooms are
upstairs?” Could this situation get any creepier?

“Yes. Is that a
problem?”

“Uh, maybe I’ll wait.”
Walking upstairs meant getting further into the decrepit building.
That wasn’t high on my to-do-list.

“I know women, Daisy.
You’re not the best at waiting.” He shoved me up onto the
stairs.

I doubted he knew too
many women, at least not normal ones, but it didn’t seem like I was
going to be able to turn around, so I took tentative steps up the
stairs. Finally I reached the floor above. Once again I was in
complete darkness.

“It’s the third door on
the left.”

“I can’t see any
doors.”

“Let me show you.”
Jeryl’s hand settled on my arm. He led me into the darkness. “It’s
this one. The light switch is just inside the door.”

“Ok, thanks.”

“Want me to hold your
bag for you?”

“Oh, no thanks.”

“Why not?”

“Because I need it.”
Like I was letting my bag and phone go?

“You’re not
menstruating.”

Crazy? No, this guy was
a lunatic. “Ok, I’m going in there.”

“Give me your bag.”

“No. I want it.” I
hurried inside and closed the door. I flicked on the lights,
temporarily blinding myself.

“Your phone isn’t going
to work in there anyway,” he mumbled.

He’d evidently figured
out what I was going to do. I walked into a stall. It was actually
a restroom. A dingy gross one, but at least he hadn’t led me to a
torture chamber or something. I tried to send Reyna a text, but it
wouldn’t send. I checked the signal, no bars. No bars in downtown
New Orleans? Was that possible? Next I tried the internet. Could I
email her? Nothing.

I checked each stall
for windows so maybe I could get to the roof, but I came up empty.
Okay, plan C. Run for the hills.

I thanked my lucky
stars I wasn’t wearing heels, flip flops left my feet open to the
ickiness of the Grounddigger, but at least I could move in
them.

I waited a few more
minutes for good measure, before pushing open the door. I expected
to see Jeryl standing there, but the hall was empty. I followed the
light to make my way downstairs.

“What are they doing in
here?” Jeryl barked.

They? Were there other
normal people inside now?

“They insisted they
knew Duncan and had to come in. They were making a scene.” Another
man I assumed was the bouncer replied.

I tried to quietly take
the stairs so I could get closer. The problem is even in flip
flops, walking down shaky, dingy metal stairs quietly was
difficult.

“That didn’t mean you
should have allowed them in. We’re busy tonight.”

Busy? If a dozen people
was busy.

“What should I do with
them?” the same man replied.

“You have to bring them
back now. Who knows what they saw?”

“Daisy!” a female voice
shrieked.

I knew that voice.
“Reyna!” I tried to take the stairs faster, and I nearly fell down
the last few.

Duncan caught me at the
bottom. “You shouldn’t have told your friends where you were.”

“Why not?” My gut told
me I wasn’t going to like the answer. The dozen patrons were
circling in around my friends.

“No one was going to
kill you because we wanted you. The rest of them will be dead by
the end of the night.”

“What?” I gawked at
Duncan. “Is this a joke, like the Shaun thing?”

“I’m not in charge
here.”

“I’m guessing Jeryl
is.” I turned to look for the creepy guy. “And what do you mean you
want me?”

“You call to all of us,
so we’re going to keep you. That’s why I brought you. It also means
I’m invited back into the nest.” He smiled.

“Nest? What the hell is
this place?”

“Oh, this isn’t the
nest. It’s just our place in the city.” Duncan grabbed my arm.

“What?” Dread hit me
like a fifty pound weight in my gut. What had I gotten us into?

“Reyna!” I screamed her
name. We had to get out of there and fast.

I fought to break away
from Duncan only to find that all three of my friends were being
held by two men each.

“Daisy.” Jeryl broke
into a smile. “Lovely to see you again.”

“Why are my friends
being held against their will?” Of course I realized I was also
being held, but I decided not to go there yet.

“We run an exclusive
club. We can’t have just any riff raff running around.”

“You mean the VIP room
isn’t the only exclusive spot?” I tried my best to sound
genuine.

“Entry to our club has
certain requirements.” He clasped his hands together. “We are
willing to waive those requirements for you, dear, but not for
them.”

“Why? If it’s a female
thing, why are you holding Reyna?”

“She smells like sex.”
One of the guys holding Shaun wrinkled up his face. “Human-human
sex.”

“Uh, yeah I don’t have
sex with non-humans.” Reyna paled. “If you guys are into bestiality
I’m sorry, but you’re sick.”

“Who said anything
about bestiality? We enjoy sex with humans.” Duncan returned his
hand to my shoulder. I recoiled. This was all his fault. Or mine. I
was the one who had insisted on going out with him, wasn’t I?

“So you’re holding us
hostage because we smell like sex?” Shaun sneered.

“You don’t smell of
sex.” Jeryl gave him a patronizing smile. “You smell of
desperation.” The crazy guy got that right.

“Is that so? Then why
was Daisy in my bed last night?” I was about to argue when Shaun
shot me a look. “If you’re looking for a virgin sacrifice or
something, Daisy isn’t going to cut it.”

Was the creep really
helping me?

“She’s definitely not a
virgin,” Reyna added.

I’d never been happier
to have people talk about my sex life.

“She hasn’t had sex in
months.” Jeryl said it as a statement. He was right, but that
didn’t mean I was going to agree.

“Shaun’s telling the
truth. I was in his bed last night.”

“And you jumped out
screaming.” Duncan squeezed my shoulder. “I was there, or did you
forget?”

I groaned internally.
Oh yeah.

Jeryl kept his gaze on
me. “We can discuss this later. We have to move.”

“Move?” I looked to
Jeryl with my question.

“We can’t get caught
with the evidence here.” He reached for my hand, but I pulled it
back.

“Come now, I assure you
we’re going to get to know each other very well.” He licked his
lips.

“No, we’re not.” I
looked him straight in the eye. That’s when I noticed he had this
same weird colored ring in his eyes that Duncan had. I looked at
the other men, they had the same thing. Freaky.

“We are. And right now
you’re going to put your wrists together so I can bind them.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Why would I do that?”
I stepped back. That turned out to be a mistake as I walked right
into Duncan’s chest.

“Because you’d rather I
didn’t kill your friend.”

I noticed he said
friend in singular. Perceptive. Not that I wanted anything to
happen to the guys.

“Please, just let us
go. Is it money you want? I don’t have much, but I’ll give you what
I have.”

Jeryl laughed. “Money?
You think we want money from you?” He stepped closer just as Duncan
wrapped his arms around me from behind. “We want something more
primal from you.” He held his hand over my neck like he was going
to choke me “Much more primal.”

“Don’t touch her!”
Shaun yelled.

Jeryl laughed. “Showing
concern for the girl who rebuffed you? Humans are so
interesting.”

“Like you’re not
human?” Chad asked.

“No. We’re not.”

In a flash, one of the
guys holding Reyna leaned her head back and rested his long sharp
teeth on her neck. Fangs. The guy had fangs.

Jeryl laughed at my
obvious fear. “Hold your hands out behind your back, or he
bites.”

“What the fuck are
you?” Chad struggled against his captors as he tried to get to
Reyna.

Duncan laughed again.
“You’re denser than I thought.”

“Vampires,” I said the
word slowly. I knew they couldn’t actually be supernatural, but
they wanted to be. I’d read about the condition online. People who
want to be vampires so bad that they have sharp teeth implanted and
stuff. Insane, but these guys totally fit the bill. Fake or not,
those teeth could cut Reyna. I held my hands out behind me. “Let
her go.”

“If we let her go
she’ll just call for help.”

“No she won’t.”

“You think your friend
would leave you for dead?” Duncan asked.

Jeryl tied my wrists.
“It doesn’t matter. We can’t take the risk. We don’t need her, but
we won’t kill her if you cooperate.”

“And what does
cooperating involve?” I tried to keep my voice strong, but dealing
with crazy people for nearly an hour was taking its toll. I was
exhausted, and I just wanted to press rewind and be back at East
Madison.

“Don’t scream or make a
scene.”

“We’re not going down
quietly,” Chad growled.