Page 8 of Always Eros
He releases me, laughing before grabbing me around the waist from behind and dry humping me.
“Seriously, Thorn?”
“It’s me or an incubus unless you find your own fun.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I answer, already knowing his attention will shift off me onto his own pleasure five seconds after we enter the club.
The doors open and we’re greeted by two vampires. Yves decided when the club was proposed by the Council that we’d put it in New Onyx given its central location, and consider it neutral territory along with a two-mile radius around it. Outside of that, we expect to be told about visiting vampires. Something Dimas needed reminding of.
Thorn dutifully approaches the table where the rest of our brothers sit. Yves’s expression is tense, and a sinking feeling settles over me.
“What happened?” Thorn asks, obviously picking up on the tension too.
Yves lifts his cocktail and takes a sip. “Our gang-free reverie is already over,” he says. “Dimas did a bit of digging with his crew about the men from Malice we found dead.”
“The ones that smelled like vamps?” Midnight asks with Tru perched on his lap.
“Those are the ones,” Yves says. “It explains a lot actually, so I’m thankful for the information. Apparently, Vinni thought he would attempt to expand the Malice territory and went to Sable Cove, straight into rival gang territory.”
“Sable Cove?” Bowie says. “That’s so far from here.”
“It is,” Yves continues. “But Dimas was told Vinni thought he could get in on a trafficking racket up there since he has some connections in the Dominican Republic. It backfired, obviously. That’s why Vinni was panicking and attempting to get cash. He was trying to go into hiding.”
“Greedy fucker,” Tru mumbles while Midnight rubs his back.
“So the other gang is settling here now?” I ask.
Yves nods. “Unfortunately, Vinni’s antics enticed them to infiltrate New Onyx. They call themselves Dread.”
Syn scoffs. “Do we know how many there are?”
“No, but Dimas heard they are much more organized and stealthy than Malice was. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll stay out of our way. We’re not here to wipe out crime, after all.”
A mumble of agreement washes around the table.
“But why did we scent them?” Raphael asks.
“Excellent question,” I add.
“That is still a concern,” Yves says. “Perhaps one of them is one of us.”
“Fucking great,” Syn mutters.
“At least it’s not another Mafia group,” Raphael notes, glancing around the club. “Those assholes are not easy to deal with.”
“Agreed,” Yves says. “But keep your eyes open. They’re new here, so we need to learn how they conduct themselves and whether we need to intervene, especially if there is a vamp in their ranks.”
“I’m all over it,” Thorn says, cracking his knuckles. “If they’re into trafficking, I know where they might hang out.”
“Let us know,” Yves says.
With that, Thorn is off, disappearing into the crowd, no doubt looking for a playmate for the evening. I wish I had an ounce of his carefree hedonism. At least his attention is off me.
I thank the server as he places a drink in front of me. I always have the same thing: a dirty pomegranate martini, the dirty being human blood of course. As I sip it, the agitated energy I felt since we walked in starts to slip away, and I relax.
Unfortunately, it’s brief. I swing around in my chair, focusing on the front door as if waiting for something or someone to burst through it, but no one does.
“What’s wrong, Eros?” Yves asks.