Page 5 of Craving Darkness

“Oops.”

I wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk right off his pretty boy face. Instead, I gave a small, tight smile before squatting down with my knees together, carefully doing my best not to flash everything I had to the room. “No problem,” I muttered. “It happens.”

I gingerly picked up the jagged pieces of the beer bottle and piled them carefully into my left palm, wishing I had brought my tray with me and hoping I didn’t end the night with a trip to the ER.

“You’d look good on your knees. Maybe you should put your mouth to good use while you’re down there.” His hand reached for me, making me jerk back with a quiet shriek. The no-touching rule went for more than just the dancers. I had always felt safe working at the club, knowing that it was against the rules and that Syn didn’t put up with any type of manhandling of her staff. The bouncers always did a good job keeping a close watch on everything. It had lulled me into a false sense of security.

As I jerked away from the man’s touch, I lost my precarious balance, the high-heeled shoes not helping the situation any, and threw my hands back to catch myself before I fell on my ass in an undignified heap. As soon as my left hand hit the floor, I knew I had made a grave mistake. Pain lanced through my palm, this time making my shriek much louder. I ended up on my ass anyway as I rolled to the right, trying to take pressure off my aching palm.

As the men sniggered loudly above me, I scooted back far enough away from the table to avoid more of the broken bottle and carefully maneuvered to my knees. I had to use the table to brace myself as I climbed back to my feet. My eyesight was blurry with tears as the pain radiated through my hand and up my arm. Fuck. I couldn’t go to the hospital. I didn’t need any records of my whereabouts to enter the system. I blinked down at the floor that already had a small puddle of blood on it and grimaced at the thought of all the germs that were probably making their way through my system as I stood there bleeding all over a strip club bar table.

A hand reached out so fast it was nearly a blur. I gasped as my wrist was grabbed roughly and yanked toward the blond. With wide eyes, I watched in terror as he brought my hand to his face. There was no mistaking the yellow glow this time as he stared down at my bloody hand with an expression I could only describe as hungry.

With mounting horror, I watched as he gripped the large sliver of beer bottle glass that was still embedded in my skin and yanked, dropping it to the floor without a second thought. Then he lowered his nose and sniffed, inhaling deeply.

“What the fuck?” I screamed as he opened his mouth, sharp white teeth much longer than ordinary human teeth flashing in the light. “Stop! Let me go!”

I glanced around frantically, searching for any of the bouncers, relief immediately filling me as Tiny stormed closer, murder in his eyes. I was glad to see he had noticed, since nobody at the neighboring tables seemed to realize there was anything wrong. I looked back at the man holding me firm, knowing I was about to be rescued. These psychos were going to be thrown out of the club and banned for the rest of their lives. My struggles were utterly useless as he held me steady in his grasp. Revulsion filled me as I watched him stick out his tongue and lap at the pool of blood that filled the open palm of my hand.

Growls seemed to rumble from the other two as they pushed closer. I whimpered as the two men I had almost forgotten about in the struggle leaned in, crowding my space as if they were about to take a lick—or a bite of my body. I whimpered, wanting to close my eyes but unable to as my gaze trained on the sharp teeth that the two other men sported as well. Their teeth were exactly like the blond’s, who licked up my blood and was now sliding his disgusting tongue across the cut as if he were trying to get every single drop.

The blond lifted his head long enough to growl a warning at the other two men, his eyes flashing yellow at them. They didn’t back away, but they stopped coming closer. I watched as their nostrils flared wide as they inhaled.

“I want a fucking taste,” one of them growled, his voice deeper, as if he were on the verge of becoming an animal. My mind was screaming at me, and I was frantically denying it even as I watched it play out right in front of me.

Finally, Tiny arrived, a thunderous expression on his huge, round face. “What the fuck?” he yelled at the blond. “No fucking touching. Ever! You’re out of here, asshole!” Before he could say or do anything else, the blond struck out with the hand not holding my wrist and rammed his fist into Tiny’s chest.

Screams erupted from around us as people finally noticed the havoc happening. The closest scrambled away from where we were while staring with wide-eyed shock. Some people ran straight for the door while the dancer on stage stood under her spotlight, her hands covering her mouth as Tiny stumbled backward. He came to a stop and raised his hands as if he were going to go after the blond guy again, but then they dropped heavily to his sides as if his strength had left him entirely. Tiny looked down at his chest before falling to his knees, the impact hard enough to make the floor tremble under my feet.

It wasn’t until I followed his line of sight that I noticed the glistening wetness on Tiny’s black STAFF T-shirt. It took me several heartbeats to comprehend what I was seeing. Then, as Tiny fell face-first to the floor, I looked up with dazed eyes to see the blond holding something dripping and red in his fist.

“Oh, my god,” I whispered as I watched the man toss the heart over to his friends. One of them snatched it out of the air and immediately brought it to his mouth.

“Take her to the house,” the blond snarled, shoving me to the other guy as a second bouncer came up to our group. “But don’t fucking drink from her. She’s mine.”

“What about the Master?” one of them asked as he snatched my arm.

He snapped his teeth seconds before he grabbed the hand of the second bouncer and bent it backward so fast the bones breaking were audible. Blood immediately began to pour from the open wound in his arm as he screamed in pain.

“The Master owes me. Just do it,” he snarled.

Tears were running down my cheeks as I struggled to catch my breath. These guys were monsters. They shouldn’t exist, but they did. And they wanted me. Seeing what the blond guy was doing to the bouncers I had always trusted to keep me safe, I had no hope of surviving whatever they had planned for me. For the first time in a year, I actually wished I hadn’t run away from home.

Chapter 4

Valen

“What the fuck?” I growled as we came to a stop in a posh office that was reminiscent of Victorian era boudoir.

I tugged on my hand and frowned as Syn’s grip tightened for the briefest of seconds before she allowed my hand to leave hers. She clenched her now empty one into a fist and gave out a low hiss of frustration before spinning away from me and heading toward a small bar set up in the corner.

I took the time to glance around, listening as crystal clinked against crystal. It was obviously Syn’s domain. There were rich red curtains that matched the throw pillows on a settee that I would have bet my life was an antique and was likely one that she’d owned when it was still new.

In the corner of the room sat a small high-backed chair, also antique, with a filmy black lace robe draped over it. I turned back to Syn with one eyebrow raised, eyeing her as she lifted a delicate looking glass of clear liquid to her lips. If I didn’t know her, I might not have spotted the slight trembling of her fingers as they tightened on the glass.

She gave me a grim smile, then picked up the second tumbler with her free hand and walked it over to me.

“The finest vodka, a gift from Alexander Romanov after, well…” She cleared her throat while holding the crystal filled with what was likely one of the most expensive vodkas in existence. I folded my arms over my chest and waited.