Four Centuries (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (7 page)

"I tried to stop her," Kate said, standing in the doorway.

"She did," Victoria said.
 
"So, don't get mad at her.
 
Who's in charge?
 
I just want to talk."

The mortal leaned closed to the vampire.
 
His voice was low, but Victoria heard clearly.

"Consider this an audition."

The vampire stalked forward, a smile on his face.

Victoria sighed.
 
She was getting tired of beating people up.

"Talk," she said, her sarcasm obvious.
 
"With words.
 
C'mon.
 
We can accomplish so much more by talking."

The vampire said nothing.
 
He clenched his fists in an attempt to be imposing.
 
Victoria lowered her head in an attempt to hide laughter.
 
She didn't know how old he was, but he didn't move like a newborn, like Thomas Sanders.
 
They were both aware they were vampires, but the toddler moving toward her insisted on using his fists.

"Kate, go back in the lobby.
 
Shut the door."

Kate didn't need to be told twice.

Victoria tried one more stab at diplomacy.

"Let's not do this," she said.
 
"We both know fights between our kind can get messy.
 
Look, I'm Victoria.
 
What's your name?"

The vampire said nothing, with the mortal watching intently.

"Stop with the silent, brooding crap.
 
It doesn't help you.
 
Listen to me—"

He drew into striking range, still saying nothing.
 
His right shoulder twitched, and there might as well have been a huge blinking light, telling Victoria when to move.
 
She ducked the punch easily.

A punch.
 
She smiled while dodging to the side.
 
A vampire punching a human could go a long way.
 
A vampire balling up a fist at any other supernatural creature was just plain silly.

They had more effective weapons.

"Last warning—"

Another punch.
 
Another miss.

Victoria dropped low and raked a claw across his knee.
 
Then his thigh, ripping through jeans and flesh.
 
Her other hand went down his torso, starting at the top of his chest down to his stomach.
 
He grimaced, showing surprising control of his pain, and tried to bring his fists down on her.
 
She nimbly rolled behind him and raked across his calf, working her way up with blinding speed.
 
The back and shoulders, and when he finally fell to his knees, the back of his neck.

"Stop!" the mortal shouted.
 
He ran toward them, waving his hands frantically.
 
"For fuck's sake, stop!"

Victoria stood over the quivering vampire, who lay in a growing pool of his own blood.
 
She didn't leave any damage a delicious drink wouldn't cure, except maybe psychological.
 
He took slow, deep breaths.
 
His eyes were wide as he felt the various wounds all over him.

"Ahhh, son of a bitch," the mortal complained.
 
"This is brand new carpet."

She glanced at the spots of crimson on the walls, dripping slow streaks, but decided to say nothing.
 
She also ruined another nice shirt, but her pants made it through unscathed.

"Just…who the hell are you?" he asked.

"I'm Victoria.
 
I actually said that, before your friend took a swing at me.
 
Are you ready to talk now?"

"Yes."
 
His patience was barely under control.
 
He looked at the vampire on the floor.
 
"Back in my office, that tiny fridge in the corner.
 
It's full.
 
Knock yourself out."

The wounded creature of the night pulled himself to his feet and limped away.
 
Blood continued to drip on the brand new carpet.
 
The human waited until they were alone before speaking.

"I'm Frank.
 
Now that that's out of the way.
 
What do you want?
 
I wasn't telling my people to feed you lies.
 
We really have nothing scheduled for the night.
 
And busting up my place isn't the best way to get an appointment."

"An appointment for what?
 
What is this place?"

"If you don't know what we are, then what are you…?"
 
Understanding flashed through his eyes.
 
"Ah.
 
You've heard about us from someone else.
 
I knew you'd show up eventually."

She raised an eyebrow.
 
"Oh, did you, now?"

"Of course.
 
Every city has someone like you.
 
A vampire that thinks they control everything, that everything has to go through them.
 
Okay, what number are you thinking?
 
Three percent?
 
Just to leave me the fuck alone?"

"I don't want any of your business.
 
But I would like to know what you're business is."

Frank gestured for her to follow.
 
He grimaced at the carpet, and opened the first door he came to.
 
Inside was another room set up identically to the one Victoria had seen before.

"The Vermilion provides a service to vampires and humans both."
 
With that one sentence, everything clicked.
 
Frank didn't need to say another word, but he did anyway, going into full-blown salesman mode.
 
"Believe it or not, I know a thing or two about vampires.
 
They need blood.
 
It so happens there's a small culture of people out there more than willing to give it.
 
For their own perks, of course.
 
We're kind of like a matchmaking site.
 
The vampires don't have to hunt.
 
There's no risk of getting caught.
 
The regular people, well…I'm sure you know what your fangs do to us common folk."

Indeed, Victoria did.

"Everybody wins," Frank went on.
 
"And, I won't lie, we do too.
 
We charge humans and vampires both.
 
We've only been up and running a few weeks, but it's definitely been a hit."

Of that, she was quite sure.
 
She wondered how many bodies crossed the beds in the Vermilion already.
 
Emma had obviously graced the sheets more times than was healthy.
 
The entire concept set her on edge.
 
It was essentially an underground site for the supernatural.
 
But she'd done many questionable things in her life.
 
She wasn't one to throw moral darts at others.

The idea also was an old one.
 
A consensual, social feeding ground.
 
She'd seen them before.
 
Some worked out rather well, for a time, while others devolved into mere animalistic orgies.

In the end, they all failed.

The secret to a long life for a vampire was quite simple.
 
Keep a low profile.
 
It was also good advice for a witch, and she'd been trying to constantly beat the message into Kevin's head since they first became friends.
 
Social feeding was many things, many of which were pleasurable.
 
But
low profile
was not one of them.

Still, it was not her place to tell Frank or anyone else how to live their life.
 
If they wanted to rent a room in the basement of a dance club, feed, and have sex, that was their right.

Victoria had her own blood supply, and still enjoyed the hunt.
 
But if she were ever in a bind, maybe she'd schedule an appointment at the Vermilion.

"You have a place we can sit down and talk?"

"You're not going to beat me up, are you?"

"Not unless you try to beat me up first."

"And, you're…not going to put your fangs in me?
 
I'm sure I'd enjoy it and everything.
 
But my heart isn't like it used to be."

She smiled.
 
"I'll keep my fangs to myself."

Frank nodded.
 
"Yeah, in my office."

She followed him to the room at the end of the hall.
 
As they approached, the vampire opened the door, nearly bumping into Frank.
 
He nursed slowly from a dark bottle of blood.
 
His wounds had already healed, with only his ruined clothes serving as a reminder of his encounter with Victoria.

"You okay?" Frank asked.

He nodded, avoiding eye contact with Victoria.
 
Old mortal hang-ups could work their way into the psyche of a young vampire.
 
Whether he was embarrassed by being humbled by a woman, his own lack of life experience, or looking foolish in front of Frank, she didn't know.

He gently touched her by the shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, uh…I'm Michael."

She smiled.
 
"Pleased to meet you, Michael."

He gestured to her hands.
 
"Would you show me that one day?"

"Certainly."

"Would you check on Kate?" Frank asked.
 
"Make sure she's not shitting herself up there?"

Michael nodded and left them alone.
 
Frank led her inside his office.
 
He sat at a desk identical to Kate's and gestured to the seat across from him.
 
He put a hand on the tiny fridge behind him.

"Drink?"

Her first instinct was to decline, but she was thirsty.

"Please."

He pulled out a dark bottle, about the size of a water bottle, and handed it over.
 
She unscrewed the cap and closed her eyes as she put her nose to the top.
 
She never used to accept blood from strangers, but she'd learned every fragrance of the tasty nectar, every nuance.
 
She could smell any blood that had been tainted or tampered with.

She took a deep drink, savoring the taste.
 
Feeling it course inside her.
 
Making her stronger.

Opening her eyes, Frank sat silent, frowning.

"It's still a little weird for me," he said.
 
"Watching someone drink blood."

She crossed her arms on the desk and leaned forward.
 
It wasn't her intention to draw attention to her breasts, but Frank glanced down momentarily anyway.

"Let's talk business."

He leaned back and twirled a pen through his fingers.

"Okay.
 
I'm always willing to talk to a possible investor."

She laughed.
 
"Nice try.
 
I'm going to replace your carpet out in the hall.
 
Since I had a hand in ruining it."

"Uh,
had a hand
?"

"Yeah.
 
And I don't want any percentage of your business.
 
I'm not a mob boss."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah.
 
But—"

"Ah.
 
Here it comes."

"If you want to do business in my city, you're going to have to change a few things."

"Like what?"

"Safety.
 
There's a woman that's been coming here a little too much.
 
Her name's Emma."

He didn't flinch.

"I can neither confirm nor deny.
 
Our customers' privacy is something I take very seriously."

She nodded, impressed.
 
"Fair enough.
 
Let's just say you have a customer that needs to take a break from this place for a while."

"She's an adult, isn't she?
 
Responsible for her own decisions?
 
I'm not a babysitter.
 
I'm not going to turn away a customer.
 
If someone goes to a liquor store, the guy behind the counter's job is to sell liquor.
 
Not debate the customer on the perils of drinking."

Victoria frowned.
 
In the minutes she'd known Frank, it was amazing how he could say the right thing one sentence, and make her bristle the next.
 
Besides, he was dead wrong.
 
Part of a bartender's job was to know when to cut off an inebriated patron.

"Well, guess what?" she said.
 
"It's part of your job now.
 
Keep an eye on your human customers, send them away if they need it."

"Hmmm," he said, stroking his chin.
 
"Kate said there was a young girl that worried her.
 
Room two is her favorite.
 
A little bit more daring than the rest, always wants two vamps at the same time."

The fact that Emma passed through the Vermilion multiple times, was noticed, but ignored, infuriated Victoria.
 
But it was a mistake that could be corrected.

"No more, okay?"

"Yeah," Frank said, having a change of heart.
 
"It wouldn't be good for business if word gets out that we're letting people get
really
fucked up here.
 
Vamps wouldn't care too much, but we'd lose a lot of humans."

She didn't like being lumped in with vampires that didn't care.
 
There were plenty of vampires out there like Thomas Sanders, that viewed humans as a McDonald's.
 
Victoria liked to believe she was on the opposite end.