If I kill him, the pessimistic part of me added, but I didn’t say it out loud because I was trying to sound confident. I was also trying not to show how much it would hurt when Ian turned around and walked away. But Tenoch had long prepared me for people being unable to accept what I was. Watching millions slaughter each other over far fewer differences during the thousands of years of my life had proved Tenoch correct.

I was so sure of Ian’s rejection, it took a moment for me to register what he was saying. “. . . don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Feels like I haven’t had a decent meal in days.”

“What?” His reaction to this momentous revelation couldn’t be something as simple as hunger.

He also pulled a coat from a dead guard, shook it so the worst of the gore flew off, and put it on. Then he walked over and gave me a light whack on the ass.

“Half deaf as well as half demigod, hmm? What, your ears didn’t fully regenerate along with the rest of you? I’ll say it louder, then: Follow me. I’m peckish and I know the perfect place where we can indulge in a feeding splurge.”

Chapter 25

I did a warding spell on the Simargl so that Dagon wouldn’t be able to track him from his blood anymore. Thank you, Nordic vampire, for spilling that important detail. Then I covered his cage with another dead guard’s coat so his wings didn’t attract stares when we went outside. Several blocks later, Ian banged on a side door labeled “Crimson Fountain, employee entrance.”

The door opened and a young woman with purple hair and dark eye makeup appeared. “Job interviews don’t start for another hour,” she began, then stopped when she got a good look at Ian. “But you can wait inside,” she added, her scent changing until lust covered the heavy chemical tang from her perfume.

“Grand,” he said, walking into the building. I followed, which made the corner of her mouth curl down in disappointment. Then Ian’s gaze captured hers and his eyes turned green. “Gather together the rest of the employees and bring them here.”

She turned around without another word. Minutes later, about half a dozen people shuffled into the narrow hallway. “Is this everyone?” Ian asked the purple-haired girl.

“So far,” she said. “More’ll show up after six when the main shift starts.”

“Bring them to me as soon as they come in. As for the rest of you,” his bright green gaze landed on each until they were all under his thrall. “You don’t see me, this woman, or our creature until we tell you that you do. You don’t hear us, either. Now, go about your business as usual.”

They turned and walked away, some wondering out loud why Dahlia had asked them to come see an empty hallway.

“Cancel the interviews for today,” Ian told Dahlia next. “But before you do that, show us the VIP section and turn the music on. It’s quiet as a tomb in here.”

She nodded, and we followed her through what was obviously a club. I was surprised to see wooden coffins set up around the stage. Then I noticed large glass fangs over the bar, mock headstones making up the backs of chairs, and stakes for some of the beer taps and understood. Now, the cheesy name for the establishment made sense.

“You brought us to a fake vampire bar?”

Ian set Silver’s cage down beside the bar, then threw a grin at me. “The owner and I are friendly, though he thinks I’m another poser instead of a real vampire. Doesn’t know a bit about the undead world, either, poor fellow. That’s why Dagon would never think to look for us here.”

He was right. I’d expected us to either flee the city or run to an ally’s house. Not go to a club that was a bad stereotype for everything humans normally thought of when they heard the word vampire.

“Think it’s safe to let him out? Or will he eat the staff?” Ian asked, tracing the bars on Silver’s cage.

“Simargls are vegetarian,” I replied, offended on Silver’s behalf.

“Bring him whatever veggies you’ve got,” he told Dahlia when she came back after turning the music on. She’d turned the house lights down and the club lights on. Now, the club was mostly dark except for multicolored beams that crisscrossed over the empty dance floor and the occasional fog or strobe effect.

“VIP section’s over here,” Dahlia said, walking up a flight of stairs. After I petted Silver and told him to stay, I followed Dahlia to the second floor. In the far corner, ropes and curtains cordoned a room with long black couches, its own bar, and a great view of the dance floor, if you kept the curtains open.

Ian didn’t. He closed them and took his coat off before lounging on the nearest couch. Dahlia’s gaze swept over Ian’s bare upper body as if he’d compelled her to memorize every detail of how his creamy skin stretched over muscles that rippled with his slightest movement. When she licked her lips, I found myself bristling with what could only be jealousy.

Ridiculous. I’d promised Ian an orgy on my dime as soon as this was over. How could I be resentful of someone merely looking at him? But I was, so much that my scent soured, until I might as well have sprayed myself down with a bottle labeled Jealous Bitch.

Ian’s gaze touched mine. I quickly glanced away. He couldn’t know about my latest irrational flash of possessiveness. By the gods, I still needed to have some secrets from him!

“She’s obviously into you, so you should start your feeding splurge with her,” I said, trying to prove I didn’t care about anything that might happen between the two of them.

Ian’s mouth curled into a slow grin. Great. He’d probably sensed my possessiveness and was amused by it. You’re being a fool! I told myself sternly. It didn’t matter. After everything that had happened, I was out of the reserves I normally drew from to hide what I was feeling.

But I didn’t have to stand here and be mocked for it. I spun around. “I’m going to check on Silver—”

“Wait.” It wasn’t the command in Ian’s tone that stopped me. It was the dangerous amount of intensity in his gaze when I turned back around.

We stared at each other. An electric jolt went through me when his smile faded and naked hunger overtook his expression. “Come back here, Veritas.”

The new throatiness in his voice beckoned me more than his words. Once again, the smart move would be to walk away. Instead, I found myself walking toward them as if I’d been hypnotically compelled. I didn’t even have Red Dragon to blame my actions on anymore.

His gaze filled with green. I didn’t need to see my eyes to know that mine had probably started glowing green, too. An unbearable need swept over me, drowning out everything else. Yes, I should turn around and leave. But I didn’t want to.

“Go,” Ian told Dahlia, the vibration in his voice telling me he used his power on her. “Close the drapes behind you. Don’t come back or even think about us until I summon you.”

Dahlia left at once. Seeing her go gave me a brief moment of sanity. I started to follow her, but Ian got up and grabbed me. I stared at the pale hands gripping my arms instead of at him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked in a low voice.

“This.”

I gasped when he yanked me down onto the couch. All my nerve endings jumped at the feel of his hard body on top of mine. I considered saying what a bad idea this was, but discarded that when his mouth covered mine.