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“Why didn’t you tell me you were working with Noah?” I shrieked as soon as Blade and I left the hotel. He came to make his delivery and stuck around for the first half of the show. Probably because he wanted something from me. There was no way in hell he was going to get what he was looking for tonight. Sparks trailed from my skin, dripping on the pavement. I had to get this out of my system before we got in the car, or else I’d blow that Mustang sky high.
“Because I know how much he upsets you.” Blade leaned against his car, completely oblivious to the storm he stirred inside me. He did horrible things every day, but he wasn’t beyond emotion. “This way I can keep an eye on him.”
“Upsets me? Are you kidding me? He raped me!” I clenched my teeth to keep from screaming. “And you gave him a job. It doesn’t matter what depravity a vampire reaps. Rape, murder. You all drink evil like nectar.”
Blade rubbed his forehead in frustration. Oh, he had no idea what frustration was. “That’s what vampires do. They take what they want.”
“I can’t believe you’re siding with him.” Fire seeped from my skin, searing my clothes. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you.”
Blade raked his hands through his hair. Something got through to him. At least that’s what I convinced myself for my own sanity. “I’ve been honest with you about what I am the entire time I’ve been with you. But I need this guy, Holly. Let me use him. I’m trying to rebuild a clan. I don’t have a lot of options right now.”
“There is no way you can fuck him as badly as he fucked me unless you destroy him,” I growled and headed back to the hotel, trailing flames behind me. Blade caught me, and the oxygen moved too fast. We ignited in the middle of the parking lot.
A tourist screamed from the next aisle over. A small crowd gathered.
“That’s Holly Octane!” one of them exclaimed. “And she’s really on fire!”
Cameras flashed, and once again, I was left completely exposed by Noah.
“Go away,” Blade roared, fire spilling from his mouth like a dragon. The crowd cowered, screaming as they ran back into Circus Circus.
I latched on to Blade, embracing the rage. I let myself go back to that horrible night. I wanted Blade to experience it through my eyes. Noah pinning me down so I couldn’t move, ripping my clothes from my body. Laughing at me as I tried to fight him. Telling me I didn’t know what I wanted.
He was wrong. I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to see Noah burn. The same way I did when he forced himself inside me. I wanted his bones to be nothing but a puddle of marrow at my feet.
The flames died down, but Blade and I still held each other, charred and bare in the middle of the parking lot.
“You want to destroy your ex because you didn’t want to be a vampire.” My voice was hoarse. “I didn’t want that, Blade. I died that night, too.”
He wouldn’t look at me. Now he knew what it meant to be dominated. “I’m so sorry, Holly.”
I covered my body with my hands. I revealed enough of myself for one night. “So am I.”
**
WHOEVER PICKED THE sacrifice tonight made a horrible choice. She wasn’t going down without a fight. She squirmed under the guard’s hold, punching and twisting to get away from him. Cash grinned, all the better when he dominated her. She fell into the puddle of Sally’s blood. The more she screamed, the louder the crowd cheered.
“Take her! Take her!” they chanted.
Cash whispered in her ear. Most of the victims went practically catatonic from the sound of his voice, but that didn’t work right away, either. Finally, she accepted her fate and nodded. She stood and stepped toward him. I wanted so badly for her to run. He stripped her to the waist, one of his arms at her hips, the other on her jaw. She jerked her chin, then froze. I thought I was going to pass out when a bone in her neck crack. The girl stilled, and Cash’s eyes grew wide before he sunk his fangs into her flesh. When he sucked the last of her life from her, she fell at his feet in a heap, and Sally slid down the silks. Another night at Cirque Macabre.
I hid backstage after I cleaned up from my encounter with Blade, avoiding Lennon. I hadn’t expected her to bring a friend tonight. A young girl with tanned skin and wild honey blonde curls caught back in a barrette. This was the first time I’d seen her in person, but I knew right away she was a vampire. Not just any vampire, in ripped jeans and a fringed kimono—she was Blade’s ex. The Mistress of the Las Vegas clan. The eye of his hurricane. If I could be thankful for anything after our fight, it was that he wasn’t here to run into her. One person dying a night in this theater was plenty for me.
A curtain shielded me from their sight. The vampire, Callie, tugged at Lennon’s arm in panic, pointing at the stage. I couldn’t hear what she said, but I could read her lips well enough to make out the word dead. Lennon looked back at her and shrugged, like she was high as a kite. Cash made sure of that. Her friend’s frustration grew, and she chased after the guards who carried the girl’s limp body backstage.
Callie wrestled the girl’s body away from the guard, then sliced her wrist open, positioning it over the unconscious girl’s mouth.
Lennon’s heels clicked down the hall. “What are you doing?” She gasped when she saw the blood pool on the Callie’s arm.
“Callie, no!” Cash roared. He appeared behind Lennon. Callie met Cash’s glare with one of her own, accepting his challenge. For a little thing who’d only been a vampire for a couple of months, she showed absolutely no fear. She was prepared to do what no one else had. Fight for what she thought was right.
No wonder Blade wanted to destroy her. There was no chance of dominating her.
“She’s going to die,” Callie pleaded with Cash. She thought she could reason with him. She was new at this. Cash marched toward her, pulling her away from the dying woman by her shoulders. He jerked her wrist away from the woman’s mouth and licked the wound to accelerate its healing.
Cash kissed Callie’s cheek, catching her totally off guard. Me, too—I had no idea he knew her. What else had I missed?
“The last thing we need is another female vampire in this town. And that’s what you almost created.” His voice was soothing, but condescending. He didn’t take her even a little bit seriously. “You don’t need anyone else to take care of. You have your hands full already.”
The dying woman moaned as Callie looked down at her. “But you almost killed this girl. For no reason.”
“The crowd loved it.” Cash tipped Callie’s chin up to him. “She was a prostitute. If I didn’t get to her, your ex would have finished her off soon enough.”
It took everything I had to stay hidden behind the curtain. Blade had made no secret that it was a high for him to kill people. But to hear Cash say it as if it was some sort of consolation made my head spin.
“Why do you guys need blood so much?” Callie asked, and it was an excellent question. The male vampires all had carnal needs that I didn’t understand.
“It’s the only way we’re superior to females,” Cash told her. Interesting. Cash talked down to Callie like she was a child, yet this newborn immortal was the only one who showed any dignity. “We can’t best our female vampires, but the female humans are all too willing. Especially the whores.”
His glance slid to Lennon, and my stomach flopped. I knew he was up to something with her. Sex might sell in Sin City, but Cash Logan wasn’t buying.
“It’s stupid,” Callie countered. Her eyes followed Cash’s over to Lennon.
“It’s survival.” Cash wasn’t swayed. “You need to stop thinking in human terms.”
The same words he said to me.
“It’s all I know.” Callie slammed her fists against Cash’s chest, and he stumbled back against the wall. That little vampire was stronger than him. I didn’t expect that. She dropped to her knees, slicing open her own wrist, separating the almost dead woman’s lips so blood could drip inside.
“You can’t do that!” Cash roared. I’d never seen anyone defy him before. His eyes glowed red as Callie continued to feed the girl, ignoring him. “You can’t even take care of yourself.”
Callie rolled her eyes at him. Oh, boy. I’d done it many times in jest, but this would not end well. “I don’t want to create another vampire. Just enough so she doesn’t die.”
“She doesn’t deserve to live,” Cash growled.
“I’m sorry that you seem to have something against prostitutes. I don’t know what Talis did to you, but that was over a hundred years ago. Get over it.”
My mouth dropped. If she could see what happened at Bethlem, she’d understand he’d never get over it.
The woman gained strength, and some of the gray had faded from her skin. Callie encouraged her as she drank. Once Callie took her hand away, the woman scrambled away from her, aware of what had happened, terrified.
She was still weak and an easy catch for the guard who snapped her neck.
Lennon should have never seen any of this. It didn’t matter what she thought she could handle, she was human. Breakable. She cried against Callie’s shoulder.
Cash pointed at Lennon’s back and clearly mouthed, “She’s next.”