Cade sprawled in the dark corner booth of the latest of Raleigh’s watering holes to be bought out by Torsten’s coterie. This one was a little more upscale, more to his tastes for hunting than the wine bar that’d started Maria’s experimental foray into entertainment venues as a source of blood.
Popular music played a little too loudly for his vampiric senses, but the humans seemed to enjoy it. He surveyed them like a shark watching a school of fish as they swayed and flowed, shifting and navigating around each other. A minor glamour effect kept them from being unsettled by his presence and would make them overlook his fangs if he slipped up, not that he had in a long, long time.
He was old enough now to do better. Still, one couldn’t be too careful.
He’d had high hopes for this club. Dressed his best, in a tailored, three-piece suit. Wore his best watch. A little overdone, but he always preferred to go over than under.
All the same, he’d been sat here since sundown, an untouched whiskey neat in front of him, waiting for something interesting. Someone interesting. A gaggle of women had approached him, and he’d taken a few sips of blood from each of them under the guise of a dance before healing the bite, glamouring them into forgetfulness, and sending them on their merry way.
Cade huffed a sigh. This was surviving. He had what he needed, but he wanted more. Something that felt like living. Like thriving.
No. More like power.
He’d been in hiding for years, not using any of the advantages his age offered, shifting from city to city rather than tying himself to a coterie. After the horrors of his first two and a half centuries, freedom and movement had felt like safety.
Cade still wanted safety, but he was starting to feel like it was time for a change in how he achieved it—which was why he was still in Raleigh after eighteen months. The unusual power structure here, with the local coterie balanced by an elven conclave and a joined werecat pride under an Arbiter who ruled rather than simply advising, afforded unusual opportunity to source powerful blood with less risk.
He schooled himself to patience as he reminded himself that the night was barely half over. Time yet for his luck to change.
Movement caught his eye. Not just movement. Presence.
Cade tracked the newcomer as she moved through the room. Slightly above average height for a woman. Built like she practiced martial arts as her workout plan, with cleanly defined muscles and easy movement that said she knew her body. Loose curls were cut short on the back and sides but left to their wild abundance on top, falling to her jaw on one side. A roving spotlight passed over her, illuminating the shimmery gold halter top that complimented her terra-cotta brown skin and the snake tattoo twining around her left arm. Sharp brown eyes scanned the room, lighting up when she spotted the bar.
Humans moved out of her way without seeming to notice they’d done so, seamlessly closing the gap when she passed.
She was an Othersider. Had to be. Not a vampire—he’d met all the locals by now and hadn’t heard of any recent arrivals. Which meant someone might be trespassing on vampire territory.
A smile curled Cade’s lips. This was worth investigating. He had protections as a vagabond. But non-vampires in Torsten’s territory? Fair game for the taking. What luck, with Cade in the market for more powerful blood than what these humans had to offer.
If it came in a package that looked like it could beat his ass, so much the better. He loved a challenge.
The blood he’d already taken earlier rushed through his veins as his heart beat faster at the prospect of a hunt worth undertaking. He didn’t need more tonight, but a connection made now could be sipped from later.
He slipped through the crowd, the mundanes parting for him much as they had for his target but paying him more notice. A few people offered him admiring smiles. One woman went so far as to trail a hand over his chest.
“Another time, beautiful.” Cade put a light push of glamour behind the words as he caught her eyes, and she pouted but went back to dancing.
His target eyed him as he approached and leaned on the bar beside her. The bartender was popping a fresh bottle of prosecco, and a flute was in front of the Othersider.
“Yours?” Cade asked, nodding to the drink. She just flashed her brows, so he took that as a yes. The slight parting of her lips as she took his measure encouraged him. “Put anything this lady wants on my tab, Philip. Leave the bottle.”
The vampire bartender glanced at the woman, waiting for her nod to say, “Certainly, sir.”
“Exploring the other side tonight?” Cade asked.
Her eyebrows lifted. “I had you pegged from the second I hit the floor, but most of you don’t notice little old me. What gave it away?”
Cade offered a small, secretive smile. “Live long enough and you learn a few tricks. I’m Cade.”
“Lya.”
He brought the hand she boldly extended to his lips, not quite kissing it, and enjoyed the quick tightening and relaxing of her features as she evaluated whether he was greeting her or attacking her. More, he enjoyed the faint whiff of rosemary, sage, and meringue he caught from her hand. Elf. Low-blood but close enough to Otherside to work Aether. With that accent, a traveler without House connections to tell her where not to go or an exile nobody would miss. Perfect.
Hunting high-blood elves was a quick way to start an inter-factional incident that would get that bitch Callista involved, but low-bloods who strayed from the safety of their territory were fair game by virtue of being human-blooded.
With one of his more disarming smiles, Cade said, “Join me?”
“Seeing as you’re buying, why the hell not.”
Confident. He liked that. A lot. She had to know what he was, being in this part of the Triangle—and it wasn’t like he was going easy on the glamour either. Cade’s new question was whether it was because she had a more powerful backer or because she was confident she could handle a vampire. Or both.
A worthwhile challenge.
He snagged the ice-filled bucket and the second glass Philip had left, leading this mystery woman back to his table. They settled into the booth, knees bumping in a way Cade suspected was purposeful on Lya’s part from the flirty look she gave him.
“Before we get this party started, I have one ground rule,” she said after she toasted him and sipped her drink.
“And that is?”
Her smile stopped his heart and froze the stolen blood in his veins, equal parts mischief and violence as she touched her purse in a meaningful way. “If you try to glamour or drink from me, I’ll cut your balls off and force feed them to you. I can be very convincing when it comes to bouncers, and I don’t come to Raleigh without silver.”
Cade mentally thanked Hekate for sending this delightful hellion his way. With a smile that matched hers, he slowly reached out to cup her jaw. Her expression hardened even as she carefully avoided his eyes, and he lightly ran a thumb over her lower lip. “I don’t take Othersiders without their consent and humans only as necessary to hunt, feed, or maintain the Détente.” He let that sink in then leaned closer to whisper in her ear as he let his hand slip to her neck. “Besides, why would I force a glamour on you when it’d be so much more fun to make you beg for it?”
The pulse under his fingers sped up. “It takes a lot to make me beg.”
“Is that a challenge?”
Finally, she met his gaze. Lya’s pupils had dilated, and Cade suppressed the urge to pull her under, determined to win by the rules he’d just set. Something hungry swam up behind her eyes.
“Give it your best shot,” she said.
“As my lady commands. Shall we dance?” Cade rose, extending a hand.
His pulse restarted at the quick flash of delight in her expression before she downed the rest of her prosecco, shaking her head at the bubbles, then took it. He pulled her out to the dance floor, pleased when she spun to press her back to his front and began moving to the music in a way that made his cock stir.
His earlier consideration to let her slip away unfucked and untasted shattered as she moved against him. Lya made the blood throb through him like the music did, even before she bent forward and ground that sweet, tight ass against his crotch. When he ran a finger down her spine, she snapped upright and slithered down his front, brushing his cock on her way down and back up in a way that was maddeningly direct.
“You’re going to kill me a second time.” Cade gripped her hips to keep her in place and give him a break for one Goddess-damned minute. Humans were never this sure of their bodies, this joyful in their movements, and he hadn’t been with an Othersider in at least half a century.
Lya just swiveled her hips, arching back to kiss the corner of his jaw. Her breath sent tingles over his skin as she replied, “Keep up, old man.”
“You saucy little minx.” He spun her, pressing her body into his with a hand splayed at the small of her back before lowering his lips to her neck and teasing himself by gently nibbling with his incisors.
Rather than being scared by the possible threat of his sharp canines, the woman laughed.
Laughed, a bubbling of sound that turned heads.
The scent of lust spiked in the immediate area.
Cade pulled away and gave her a spin before pulling her back to him. “Let’s sit down before you cause a riot.”
Before I break my word and bite you here and now.
Amusement sparkled in her gaze as though she could hear his unspoken thought, but she allowed him to lead her back to their table. She poured herself another glass of prosecco, nodding at his empty one. “You’re not having any?”
“I could. But no.”
“That old, huh?”
Cade just smiled at the hint of wariness that realization sparked, glad that she wasn’t a complete fool. Fools were boring, too easy to use and discard. Otherside blood offered power, but so did intelligence.
All vampires could hypothetically eat or drink anything they wanted. They still had human physiology, after all. But the virus that gave them long life, accelerated healing, and supernatural senses and reflexes was best sustained by avoiding anything that accelerated cellular degeneration or destruction: sunlight, fire, refined carbs, alcohol, and so on. Blood had the optimal proteins and nutrients to sustain the virus, so blood was what they subsisted on to keep their undead systems running as long as possible.
Not that they told the rest of Otherside that, allowing them all to believe that only the oldest vampires, those who’d reached a level high enough to be sent to negotiations with other factions, could eat or drink anything other than blood.
Lya studied him as she sipped her bubbly. “Your self-control is encouraging.”
“You were testing me?”
Again, the flash of eyebrows signaling a yes as she took another sip.
“What would you have done if I’d slipped?”
“Made you regret it.” She smiled again, that blend of deviltry and seduction that made him want to pin her to the padded bench they were sitting on and have her in front of everyone.
That piqued his interest further. “Your cousins are arrogant fucks, but they have the sense not to tease one of us.”
“My cousins are boring. Me, I like a little excitement in my life.” Another up-and-down look. She finished her prosecco and set it aside before sliding closer to him, running a hand under his suit jacket as she leaned closer to whisper. “If it’s too much for you, I can always go find someone else to play with.”
“No.” Something almost like desperation ripped through him. Cade wanted this woman all to himself. Tonight, preferably. Soon, if she slipped him.
Boldly, she met his eyes again. “You sure?”
“Yes.” He swallowed, trying to get his raging lust under control before he made an ass of himself. Fuck it. “I want to kiss you.”
“Then do it.”
Forcing himself not to use his full strength to cup her jaw and press his lips to hers was the hardest thing he’d done all night, especially when she skimmed her hand up his body again and dragged her nails down his neck.
When he growled a warning, she groaned. Her tongue darted over his lips, brushing tantalizingly past his canines. It didn’t count as biting her if she cut herself, did it? But she didn’t, somehow taking control of the kiss he’d initiated with a skill that made his already hard cock ache even more.
When they broke for air, Cade was flustered enough to actually need to breathe.
“You’re a damn tease,” he said hoarsely.
“You have potential,” she shot back.
“Just potential?”
“Mmm…maybe a little more than that.” Her gaze darted down to the evidence of his interest, making a bulge in his expensive trousers. With a smirk, she said, “I’ll be right back.”
Lya threaded through the crowd toward the ladies’ restroom. He didn’t miss the way she shook herself, as though coming down from a high. All he could hope was that the feeling she kindled in him was mutual.
Leaning back in the corner of the booth, he tilted his head back and tried to find calm again. Cade prided himself on slow, controlled hunts where he drove his prey to desperation. A little sadistic, maybe, but he never pushed beyond what was explicitly asked for.
This time, he feared he might be the one begging.