In the Dark (10 page)

Brennan shook his head, honesty compelling him to reply, “I used to be, I think. But, well, I'm still here. I haven't left yet. Know what I mean?”

“Not really.” One more step. Her eyes looked luminous and impossibly large in her pale face.

“Well, if you have to ask the question, then it means you…oh.” His voice trailed off as the change in her appearance registered. Her eyes were glowing with that liquid-metal sheen that seemed to pick up every particle of light. Needle-sharp points were clearly visible between her parted lips. His own eyes widened. “Y-you're one of them too?”

She pouted at that, sharp white teeth catching at her lip. “Aww, disappointed, are we?”

“Just surprised,” he countered, bringing an unexpected smile back to her face.

“Oh, is that all? Well, you definitely get points for diplomacy.” She looked him up and down, as though sizing him up, then gestured at the gatehouse. “Tell me, is there a chair in there, by any chance?” Brennan nodded, slightly mystified by the question until she took hold of his arm and nudged him toward the door. “Good. Show me.”

Once inside, she wasted no time ordering him to sit. He did rebel a little, however, when she immediately straddled his lap without even pretending to ask if it was something he wanted. He clasped his hands atop her jean-clad legs, and leered at her. “You know, last time I had a woman sit on me like this I was about to get a lap dance.”

Julie's eyes narrowed. “Is that supposed to be a suggestion?” she asked, her voice cold.

“Just an observation,” Brennan replied, backing down quickly when it occurred to him that the last thing he wanted to do was to give her the idea he could maybe service her in more ways than one. Thanks, but no thanks.

“Uh-huh. Well, maybe you ought to keep those to yourself.” She pointed at his neck. “So, may I?”

Brennan shrugged and looked away, resigning himself to the inevitable. “Help yourself.” Hell, it wasn't like he hadn't known about this part of the job. There were perks, sure, but they came at a price.

Julie pulled his collar aside and leaned in close. Brennan flinched involuntarily as she lowered her mouth to his neck—aiming for the exact same spot Drew had already made tender.
Oh, yeah, that's gonna hurt
. His fists clenched. His heart began to race. He held his breath and waited for the pain he knew was coming, for the feel of sharp teeth lancing through his already too-sore skin.

But she didn't bite him. Instead, her tongue skated lightly over his bruised flesh, leaving a cool, tingling trail of relief in its wake. He blinked in surprise. “Wh-what are you doing?” he asked as the raw ache in his neck began to subside.

“Making things better for you,” she murmured, as she continued to lick his wounds.

Better.
You can say that again
. He sighed in relief as his breathing returned to normal and his heart slowed its frantic pace. Yes, indeed. She was making things much, much better.

Gradually, his hands unclenched, his fingers slowly uncurling until they were spread out across her thighs. Moments accumulated but he was barely conscious of them. The stroke of her tongue on his neck was a drug that took him to a place of total relaxation and beyond.

Only marginally aware of his actions, Brennan canted his head to the side, exposing more of his throat to her tongue, craving its touch. His breathing stalled and something akin to panic caused his stomach to bottom out when he realized he was craving a whole lot more than that. “So, are you ever gonna get around to feeding on me?” he asked, embarrassed by his bone-deep need to let her to do just that. “Or did you just bring me in here so you could play nurse?”

Julie sat up and eyed him crossly. “Could you be any more annoying? You know, I gotta tell you, your friend does a lousy job of cleaning up after himself.”

Resisting the urge to pull her back against him, Brennan nodded. Inside, he was shaking like a junkie in need of a fix. He was willing to agree to anything she suggested—even the ridiculous idea that he and Drew were friends—if that was what it would take to get her to bite him.

“It…offended me,” she muttered, her lips curling into that same look of vague disgust he'd seen there earlier. “And it looked like it was bothering you, too.”

He nodded again. “Yes.”
Anything. I'll say anything
.

Julie shrugged. “I just thought, seeing as maybe it was
my
fault for showing up when I did and interrupting him, that I should be nice and make it up to you. But yours isn't the only blood in the city, you know. So, if you're gonna be all pissy about it, I'll go feed somewhere else.”

“Don't do that.” Quickly tightening his grasp on her thighs, he pulled her hips flush with his. “I've got what you want right here. Why would you go anywhere else?”

He could see the hunger rising in her eyes. Her breath quickened, but still she hesitated. “So, no more stupid lap-dance jokes?” she asked, looking suddenly just as young as he'd first imagined her to be.

Brennan was all at once vividly aware of her firm, supple flesh, warm beneath his fingers, of how snugly the two of them were pressed against each other, crotch to crotch. “Well, now, I can't promise that,” he said, partly to tease, partly to challenge her, partly because it was true. She continued to gaze at him, her eyes shadowed by uncertainty, but he was pretty sure he knew how to fix that. He angled his head to the side once more, tempting her with his neck.

His breath caught at the suddenness with which she surged forward to take his throat in her teeth. He never even felt her bite. Perhaps his skin was still numb from her ministrations. Perhaps it was just too quick for the pain to register. Euphoria hit him fast and hard, like nothing he'd been expecting, with a jolt that would have dropped him, had he been standing.

“You've done this before,” he muttered, when he found his voice.

She snorted, inelegantly, her mouth still wrapped around his neck. “A few times, yeah.”

“How come I haven't seen you around before now?”

She didn't answer right away, but the pull of her lips gradually slowed to a stop. She laved his throat with her tongue and sat up, her expression grim. “We're not from around here, that's why. My brother and I…well, we're just here to see Conrad, but he's gone off somewhere, no one seems to know where, and…and I guess we're kind of stuck here, waiting until he gets back. You know what I mean?”

Brennan nodded. “Sorry I can't help you find him,” he said, not really sorry at all. If Conrad's return spelled her disappearance, he hoped he never came back. “I haven't seen him all week.”

Julie's eyes widened. “You saw him that recently? When exactly?”

“I dunno.” Brennan shrugged disinterestedly. “I mean, he's usually around somewhere but, now that you mention it, I guess it has been longer. It's been maybe two or three weeks ago, since I saw him. The last time…I remember because it seemed kind of strange. He was on his way out and I was just coming on duty and I asked if he needed me to drive him somewhere, 'cause I do that sometimes, but he decided to walk, which he doesn't usually do.”

“Do you know where he went?” Julie pressed. “He didn't say where he was going, did he?”

“Not really. Just that he was going for a walk in the park.”

“Which park?” she asked, pressing harder.

Brennan frowned. “Why? Is it important?”

“No, not at all.” Julie shrugged and dropped her gaze, fidgeting slightly. “I was just curious.”

“Better be careful,” he said, watching with amusement as she chewed on her lip. “That's how the cat got dead.”

“So, you really don't know which park?”

“I didn't say that, did I?” He smiled, intrigued by whatever it was she wasn't telling him and definitely enjoying the feeling of, for once, being in the driver's seat with one of the vamps. Right up until the moment she brought her gaze back to his face.

That look in her eyes could have seared steak. “Which park, Brennan?”

“
The
park. You know, Golden Gate? Which, like I said, is why I remembered it at all. It seemed so out of character.”

“Why's that?”

“Because usually he avoids that place like you probably avoid mornings.”

“He does?” A frown creased her forehead. “How come?”

“I wouldn't know something like that, would I? It's just something I noticed. Most of them don't seem to care one way or another. Some of them hang out there all the time, seems like. But not Conrad. He won't even let me drive through it—not even if it's the most direct route to wherever he's going. He and that other one—the guy with the red hair. Armand? He's just the same. The two of them will go miles out of their way to avoid the place. The way they act, you'd think it was cursed.”

Chapter Six

“Wait a minute. He told you the park was cursed?” Marc frowned at his sister. “Even if that were true, how's that supposed to help us?” It was enough of a challenge just trying to hear what she was saying over the din of a thousand hearts beating, he really didn't need her being cryptic on top of it. He glanced around hungrily. It was also possible there weren't really that many human hearts in the club tonight, but the amplification sure made it seem like that was the case.

On the surface,
Akeldama
appeared very much like any other nightclub, aside from the row of curtained alcoves set into the walls for unobserved feeding. Which was one of several things it had in common with the other two clubs they'd already visited tonight. And, just like those other clubs, and like Conrad's mansion too, now that Marc thought about it, it was clear that certain aspects, the lighting and sound systems for example, had been designed specifically with vampire sensitivities in mind.

“That's
not
what I said,” Julie snapped. “Would you listen? He said Conrad always
acted
that way—right up until the night he disappeared. So, I'm thinking, what if I asked Armand what
his
deal is with the park, since apparently he's the same way. Maybe that'll give us a clue as to where Conrad might have been going.”

“Better check with Damian first,” Marc cautioned. “Before you get too cozy with Armand. He told you to stay away from him, didn't he?”

“What's the problem? I'm just gonna ask a few questions, same as I did last night. Which, by the way, was your idea. Remember? Besides, I don't know how else we're supposed to learn anything if we don't talk to people.”

Well, that was certainly a point. “All right. Just be careful.”

The pulsing crimson lights that bathed the club in a sanguine glow altered their rhythm, subtly, in time to the music. Julie frowned. “Do you think they have clubs like this all over? Or is it just in the big cities?”

Marc shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.” It was hard to imagine a place like this could avoid detection in a small town. On the other hand, he couldn't understand how the feat was accomplished here, in the heart of San Francisco, only steps away from Union Square. How did they go about keeping uninitiated humans from noticing the place and perhaps stumbling into it unaware?

Or was he missing the point? Perhaps they didn't. Perhaps the possible presence of accidental tourists was one of the main reasons for the club's location, as well as a big part of its appeal?

“Uh-oh.” Beside him, Julie stiffened and turned quickly around, putting her back to the room. “Don't look.”

“Where?” Marc asked, automatically doing just what he'd been told not to do. “I don't see anything.” His scan of their surroundings picked up nothing of interest, other than a single, hawk-faced man at the bar whose attention Julie had obviously snared. It wasn't the first time that had happened, his sister never did lack for snacks, but it had never before been cause for complaint. Marc watched as the man spoke quietly to the bartender, then headed in their direction. “Do you know this guy?”

“See what you've done?” Julie grumbled, watching his approach out of the corner of her eye. “I told you not to look. Now he's coming over.”

“Oh, that's my fault?” Marc studied the stranger with renewed interest. “Who is he, anyway?” Medium height, medium build, indifferent brown hair, undistinguished features; there was nothing remarkable, or even particularly memorable about him, as far as Marc could tell, apart from the confidence in his stride as he made his way across the room. He looked like a guy who could take care of himself, the kind who wouldn't run from a fight. Or, more to the point, like the kind of guy who would, perhaps, look for fights to run into.

“That's the guy I saw outside the house tonight,” Julie hissed “With Brennan.”

“What, the one you said had a lousy dismount?” Like he hadn't already heard enough about that.

Julie sighed. “That's him. I think his name is Drew.”

“Greetings,” the stranger said as he came to a stop in front of them. His tone was strangely formal. Marc half expected to see him click his heels and bow. “I don't mean to intrude but you both look familiar. Have you been in here before?” Though he'd addressed them both, it was still Julie at whom most of his attention seemed directed.

“'Fraid not,” Marc replied. His protective instincts coming to the fore, he subtly altered his weight so that his shoulder partially blocked the man's view of his sister. “As a matter of fact, this is our first trip to San Francisco. We just got into town last night.”

The man's gaze shifted to Marc's face. His eyes narrowed. “Is that so? Well then, welcome. I'm Drew Geiger. And you are?”

“Marc Fischer. My sister, Julie.”

“Fischer,” Drew repeated thoughtfully. “I don't recognize the name. Whose House?”

“Quintano.”

“Ah.” At that, Drew's expression relaxed into a smile. “As am I.” Extending his hand, he clasped Marc's forearm. “Well met,” he said, clapping him heartily on the shoulder, leaving Marc with the uncomfortable feeling they'd just wandered into Renaissance Territory. Could huzzahs be far behind?