Chapter Twenty-Two

Finally, we were ushered into the main ballroom for dinner. Staff members opened a series of double doors that led to the other part of the ballroom.

We found our table and took our seats. One handed, Vaughn hooked his hand on my chair and pulled it close to his, then draped an arm around my shoulder.

He nuzzled my ear and sent a shiver through me. “How long do we have to stay tonight?”

I shrugged. “Until Mason gets sick of showing me off,” I said. “Or whatever all this is.” I gestured to the ballroom with the over-the-top decorations and invited guests, who were giving me looks whenever they thought I wasn’t looking.

I was relieved that my friends and I had been seated at the same table.

The decorations were very creaky castle chic, with more of the Alicante ouroboros on almost everything.

The chairs were cushy red velvet, which I appreciated, since I had a feeling we’d be sitting for a few hours.

“You may as well get comfortable,” Thorn said. “When Mason plans a dinner and a show, he goes all out.”

A stage with microphones and musical instruments had been set up at the front of the room. A huge Bleeding Hearts banner hung above it.

The boys in the band wore sharp suits again, but this time, they didn’t bother to hide that they were vampires, their fangs out loud and proud.

They were taking requests from the crowd, from big band songs to punk rock and everything in between.

But when the tempo slowed and Armando started crooning a dreamy slow song often played at proms, Vaughn took my hand. “Dance with me?”

“Of course,” I said.

We got a few dirty looks, because traditionally, vampires and werewolves didn’t spend much time together, but I didn’t care.

I wrapped my arms around Vaughn’s neck and pressed in closer. I kissed his lips softly.

“Why are those vampires glaring at us?” he whispered.

“Jealous leeches,” I said. I whipped my head around and snarled at them, and they slunk away.

I was sick of the stares and whispers that, since I had excellent vampire hearing, weren’t exactly whispers at all.

Other dancers crowded us, getting into our personal bubble. This one creepy old dude kept trying to sniff my hair.

“I’m going to smash your face in if you don’t leave her alone,” Vaughn growled, and the man stumbled back.

“And if that doesn’t work,” I added, “I’m going to take my favorite drumstick and ram it up your—”

Someone yanked the man away from us.

“Tansy, I see you’ve met my good friend Jacob,” Mason said, his hand gripping the man’s shoulder.

“You need better friends,” I said.

My father walked off with the man, who was still protesting. “But she smells so good.”

“Vampire?” Vaughn asked.

“I guess so,” I said, watching the man. “But he didn’t smell like a vampire exactly.”

“You do smell good,” Vaughn said. “And you look amazing tonight.”

We held hands as we walked back to our table. When the servers came out, they had huge plates of appetizers, most with some sort of beef or chicken, but there was one dish I didn’t recognize.

The chef had tailored each person’s dish to their supernatural abilities. Rose and Thorn got different dishes, and Rose picked hers up and took a tiny bite.

She did the same with everyone at the table’s dish. “Why are you doing that?” Lucas asked.

“She’s testing for poison,” Thorn explained.

“By being a human guinea pig?” Lucas asked.

Rose ignored him and continued to make her way through the dishes. Finally, she said, “They’re all okay to eat.” Rose was wearing the strapless black dress, and Lucas’s eyes kept straying to the slit up her leg. He was really into her.

“Thank you, Rose,” I said.

But I only picked at my plate. Vaughn noticed and nudged me. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just not hungry,” I confessed.

“Tansy, you didn’t eat anything all day,” he said, shooting me a worried glance.

“I don’t want food,” I said in a low voice, hopefully low enough that the other werewolves at the table couldn’t hear. “I want blood.”

“Here’s your tonic instead,” he said.

I shrugged. “It’s worth a try.” I downed the entire thing and did feel a little bit better.

“You’ve got some tonic on your cheek,” Vaughn said. He started to wipe it away, but I reached out a hand to stop him.

“I’ll get it.”

I was afraid that if he touched me I’d sink my fangs into him next. I used my napkin to dab away the tonic and, if I was honest, a little bit of drool, then sat back in my chair.

Beckett gave Thorn a hot smile. She didn’t return it.

I eyed the guests sitting at the table, enjoying the performance. I didn’t recognize most of their fans, but there was one very familiar face. Natasha, who’d been the president of The Drainers’ official fan club, the number one Bleeder, was sitting at a table in the front.

“Some things never change,” I muttered.

When the band finished playing, they took their seats at the table to the right of ours to enjoy their dinner, aka Natasha and some other fans. Travis was seated adjacent to me, and I turned to glower at him.

He turned so we were face-to-face and stared at me. “I like seeing my mark on you.” He reached out to touch my neck, but Vaughn growled and Travis rethought the idea.

“It’s gone, dumbass,” Vaughn said, smirking. “Didn’t you notice the crescent moon on her neck?”

“Blood bags,” said a vampire seated at the table to our left. He looked a little like a popular actor who played a Marvel superhero. His arms were nearly as muscular as Vaughn’s.

“You’re ordering bags of blood?” I asked.

He shook his head. At my confused look, he added, “Blood bags. Humans.”

“You call humans blood bags?” The revulsion in my tone wasn’t getting through.

He nodded. “Yup. You want one?” I might have to stake this asshole tonight, but I’d try something different first.

I gave him a wide smile, showing my fangs. “No thank you.”

A younger blond vampire smiled at me from next to Travis. “I’m Chris.”

Vaughn grunted at him.

“I didn’t catch your name,” he said, ignoring Vaughn. “I thought I knew all the hot vampires, but I’ve never seen you around.”

“My name is Tansy,” I said.

He gaped at me. “You’re the vampire queen? Tansy Alicante.”

“My last name is Mariotti,” I replied. “I’m not a vampire. I’m a striga vie.”

“You’re Mason Alicante’s daughter,” he said.

An older vampire whose skin showed he’d been turned after spending years in the sun said, “Leave her be.”

Next to the old dude, there was a golden-haired vampire making eyes at Vaughn. She looked like a movie star from the nineteen forties. Maybe she was a movie star from the nineteen forties.

She came to our table. “Would you like to dance?” she asked Vaughn. “Or maybe get out of here?” She slid a hand down his chest.

I snarled at her, showing my fangs. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I said.

She turned to face me, not at all threatened. “And you are?”

“Queen Tansy,” I said. “And he’s not interested in dancing with a stranger.”

“Can’t he speak for himself?” she asked.

“He can,” Vaughn said levelly. “And Tansy’s right. I’m not interested in dancing with people I don’t know. Especially vampires I don’t know.”

The vampire got the hint and turned away, probably looking for easier prey.

A server came by to take our drink order.

“Neither of you are old enough to drink,” she said.

“That’s Mason Alicante’s daughter,” Chris said.

“What can I get you?” she asked immediately.

I smirked. “I’ll have a diet soda,” I said.

“No sodas are allowed here,” the older vampire snarled.

“Just a glass of ice water,” I said, then observed the older vampire again. I realized he had no smell at all, not even the dead and decaying vampire scent.

Then he raised his eyes to mine. What was he?

“I’m a medium,” he said.

“Did you just read my mind?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Let’s just say you don’t have a poker face.”

I smiled back at him. “Is it hard to be in a crowd like this?”

“I use wards,” he admitted.

“Enough chitchat,” Travis said.

My father stood and everyone stiffened. But he immediately zeroed in on our table and came over to me.

“Any news about my mother?” I asked in a low voice. We were worried such a big event would draw her out.

He shook his head. “She’s slippery,” he replied.

“You promised not to hurt her,” I said.

“I promised not to actively try to kill her,” he replied. “Not the same thing.”

“You know what the difference is between a promise and a lie?” I asked him.

“What?”

“Commitment. Follow-through. Results,” I said. “So far, your promise looks more like a lie.”

Someone tapped on a microphone, and then Armando’s smooth voice said, “We’re the Bleeding Hearts, and we’d like to play a couple more songs for you tonight.”

“There are some of The Drainers’ biggest fans here,” Vaughn whispered, his breath tickling my ear.

“I already spotted Natasha. Who else?” I studied the room and discovered there were several humans in the crowd. Some of them wore tees that had a giant heart dripping blood, and others carried homemade signs that read “Marry Me, Armando” and “I’m a Sucker for You, Travis.”

Connor and Lucas came back with Mr. Sheridan in tow. He was wearing something that looked like my father had picked it out. An expensive navy suit with a white shirt, no tie.

“What happened to your tie, Dad?” Vaughn asked gently.

Mr. Sheridan rubbed his neck. “It felt too constricting.”

“I agree,” Beckett said. He took off his tie. “I think it looks better without it.”

The band finally ended their first song of the set, and my father leaned back and smiled at me.

“Why are you really mentoring Travis Grando?” I asked.

“He took something from you. Don’t you want to see him punished?” he asked with a wink.

Oh. Well, when he put it that way…

Part of me did want to make Travis suffer. But I wasn’t going to admit that to Mason Alicante.

“He suffers enough when he opens his mouth,” I replied. “Having to listen to himself sing is punishment enough.”

My father gave me a wry look. “Speaking of punishment,” he said cryptically, “I think it’s time to show everyone that strength I was promising them.” Then he strode onstage and yanked the microphone from Armando’s hands.

That doesn’t sound good.

“Let’s give it up for the Bleeding Hearts, everybody,” Mason said overly brightly.

There was polite applause, except from the band’s super-fans, who screamed and whistled.

“Do you know why I took these three vampires under my wing?” he asked, but there was a new note of menace in his voice. The room went deadly quiet. “It was because of something they did.”

I sucked in a breath. Travis stood there like he was expecting Mason to give him a medal or something, but I knew that’s not what was going to happen.

“Specifically, something their leader, Travis Grando, did,” Mason continued. Travis preened, and I flinched.

Then Mason moved, quick as the snake he was, and, before anyone could react, pried open Travis’s mouth and ripped out his two front fangs before dropping him.

Travis crumpled, falling to the stage, where he lay howling in agony and swearing through a mouth full of black blood.

“He bit my daughter,” Mason said, holding the bloody teeth aloft so everyone could see. The rest of the band scurried offstage, leaving Travis behind, whimpering now.

“This is what happens when you mess with an Alicante. Now, enjoy the rest of your evenings.”

Mariotti. But it’s the thought that counts.

There was complete silence. Mason walked off the stage, wiping his hands on a cloth napkin someone handed him.

Eventually, two staff members got Travis off the stage. Then someone turned on a recorded playlist and people started to get up to dance.

“What just happened?” I asked, still standing there in shock.

“If you ask me, Travis just got what he deserved,” Skyler said. “And from the look in your dad’s eyes, Travis is lucky he wasn’t staked in the middle of a song.”

Connor tugged at his tie, looking half impressed, half horrified. “Good thing I’m not dating Daddy’s Little Girl,” he murmured to Vaughn. “Best of luck, dude.”

“Good thing,” Skyler agreed with a nudge. “C’mon, Con, dance with me.”

Vaughn and I locked eyes. “So,” he started. “Your dad, huh?”

“Yeah, my dad,” I said, still not completely sure how to feel. “Guess he’s making up for lost time.”

He nodded. “Do you think Mason threw a party just so he could get revenge for what Travis did to you?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe it was never about me at all but just about showing his own strength to the supes of Vegas.” His words right before he took the stage came back to me. “I know Mason has to be pretty tough to run the Paranormal Activities Committee, but that was just brutal.”

“Travis is lucky someone hasn’t defanged him long before now,” Vaughn commented, then changed the subject. “You look gorgeous, by the way.”

I smiled up at him. “Thank you.” I tugged on my dress. Dark blue like the ocean at night, it was form-fitting and a little shorter than I usually wore, but the look in Vaughn’s eyes made me glad I’d worn it.

The music cut off, and Mason retook the stage. “Everyone, please take your seats.”

He waited for a minute while the people who had been dancing went back to their tables.

“I have a special treat for you all this evening,” he said. He had a half smile on his face, which was equal to someone else beaming.

“Please help me welcome Phoenix,” he said.

The crowd roared with appreciation and some people got to their feet, clapping wildly.

“Who is that?” I had to shout the question to Rose because the crowd was so noisy.

“They’re amazing,” she said. “A shifter who can impersonate celebrities.”

I wasn’t catching on. That described a lot of the acts in Vegas.

“Phoenix can take on the appearance of anyone,” Rose gushed. “But their show became a hit when they started doing the famous celebrity impersonations.”

“You mean like how Vaughn’s pack can shift from human to werewolf?” I clarified.

“Yes, but this type of shifting is an extremely rare talent,” Thorn said. “Their shows are sold out for the entire year.”

“And into next,” Rose added. There was a note of pride in her voice, and I glanced at her curiously.

“We’re good friends,” she explained. “And they lived at the hotel for a little while.”

“Phoenix is one of Mason’s proteges?” I asked.

She nodded. “Dad gave Phoenix their first job.”

“Which explains why Phoenix is here now,” Thorn said sourly. “Dad never does anyone a favor without expecting something in return.”

I shifted in my seat uneasily. Would Mason want something in return for getting revenge on Travis for me?

Phoenix arrived onstage as Marilyn Monroe. Since we were sitting so close to the stage, I could see Marilyn’s platinum blond hair glowing under the stage lights. Then her body was in a blur of motion, faster than even a vampire moved, and then Marilyn was gone and young Elvis stood in her place.

Then Phoenix morphed into the entire cast of Twilight, which generated both applause and boos. Holy wow. One person could shape-shift into an entire cast of people? I was blown away.

“That movie is a love-hate thing for most vampires,” Thorn explained, mistaking my dropped jaw for Edward Cullen fangirling.

The Buffy cast was next. Drusilla and Spike, Darla, the Master, Willow, Xander, Giles, Buffy, and Angel.

The crowd roared their approval.

“First few seasons of Buffy,” Vaughn commented. “It would take hours to include every character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Then it was the Keanu Reeves character of Jonathan Harker, from the nineties version of the movie Dracula. Then Renfield, then Winona Ryder’s Mina, and finally, the Gary Oldman version of Dracula himself.

Backward into film and television history they went. The crowd howled with laughter when Phoenix became the Count from Sesame Street.

Next Phoenix transformed into Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, then Nosferatu. Finally, they went further back into the original book version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

“The book’s better than the film,” I said to Vaughn, mostly to tease him. My boyfriend was a film buff through and through.

He gave me the smile that was just for me. “Don’t poke the beast.”

“Thank you and goodnight,” Phoenix said, still in the Dracula character. The Eastern European accent sounded legit. As they left the stage, the crowd got to their feet for a standing ovation.

After the cheering died down, Phoenix went to the other end of the room, greeting their excited friends and signing autographs. It was the most amazing show I’d ever seen.

Excitement made me thirsty and I took a big gulp of my glass of iced tonic. Minutes later, my heart was beating simultaneously too slow and too fast.

“Let’s go check out the decorations,” I said. Maybe I needed to walk off some anxiety. It was a big night and wondering if The Executioner would dare to show up had me on edge.

Vaughn and I wandered around the room hand in hand, until he stopped me and then tilted up my chin to stare into my eyes. “I can tell something’s bothering you, Tansy,” he said. “Remember, I’m on your side. No matter what.”

“No matter what,” I repeated, though my words sounded slow, a little slurred together. After Vaughn and I had almost broken up after Halloween, he’d promised me he’d never doubt me again, never take someone else’s side. And he’d kept that promise.

I opened my mouth, wanting to tell him the truth, but the words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t tell my boyfriend that my magic was draining from me like someone was sucking it out like fangs in a vein.

“Are you worried about something?” He ran a soothing hand down my back. “You’re safe here. We’re in a room full of the most powerful supernatural creatures in the world, including the head of the Paranormal Activities Committee, and he’s clearly got your back. Vanessa wouldn’t dare.”

But she would.