CHAPTER 4
Half an hour later Adrien’s temper had eased a little as he flew Lily slowly in the direction of the Paris club called La Nuit, or The Night. He was still angry that he’d been forced to use his captor for his blood-and-sex needs, and even more so because she was human. But the chains had made the whole aftermath worse because he’d felt her humiliation, which then triggered a sense of guilt about the whole damn thing.
As for La Nuit, the club had a bad reputation.
Hundreds of vampires around the world owned profitable businesses, open at night to serve the clubbing clientele and to give those vampires disposed to either having fun at a night scene, or tasting humans, the opportunity to do so.
Paris had a few clubs, running the gamut from chic to seedy. And there was at least one sex club he and his brothers had raided, freeing a number of human slaves each time.
A variety of enthrallment skills kept the vampire clubs below the radar. Adrien often marveled that more incidences of vampire world exposure didn’t occur given how much interaction there actually was between the species.
Adrien had never cared much for the human-oriented clubs, since he preferred his kind, but there were many vampires who’d acquired a taste for human blood and sought it regularly.
And he had to admit that after Lily’s blood, he understood why. He still didn’t get it totally, though. He’d tasted humans before, once as an experiment but more often than not when he was stuck out in the world, policing some extremist group, and couldn’t get back to his kind for days on end. So yeah, he’d tasted human blood, but between his prejudice against the greedy human race and the usually weak nature of the blood, he’d never once been tempted to go back.
Now all he could think about was sinking his fangs into Lily’s neck again, or into other more exotic regions, and taking her once more. Desire rippled through him, but he clamped it down. The damn chains would expose him if he kept it up.
He’d been furious with Lily after the blooding, but only because the whole experience had left him craving more.
And the bonding chains weren’t helping, because each hour he stayed bound to her, he grew more sensitive to what she was feeling at any given moment. Sure, she felt a mountain of rage against the vampire world, but laced through her fury ran ribbons of pure desire, something that happened just about every time she looked at him.
He wasn’t exactly surprised. He knew what he looked like and he pumped iron to keep himself fit, so he understood her interest in the same way that her toned body, narrow waist, and full br**sts kept his c**k in a state of inappropriate movement.
As he flew her slowly in the direction of La Nuit, therefore, he focused on what he might find at the club. He packed a Glock beneath his leather coat, along with a couple of fighting chains and a dagger. He was sufficiently armed, but his greater concern was for Lily, keeping her alive if things went south, remaining free enough to move given the short functioning length of the blood-chains.
He set up a disguising cloak as he dropped to earth in a darkened side street and set Lily to walking as soon as he touched down. He said in a low voice, “Movement helps give the impression we’ve been here as the disguise dissipates.”
“I figured.”
Well, she didn’t lack for intelligence. He’d give her that.
“You feel queasy or anything?” he asked, because he didn’t sense anything from her.
“My head hurts a little, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“Good. And remember, if this gets ugly—”
“I’ve got it, Adrien. I’m to find a place to hide, preferably beneath a table or something. But do you really think we’ll face fanatics at this place?”
The club he took Lily to catered to the darker elements of the city. Rumors of drugs and rival gangs made it the last place he’d usually take a woman, even a human.
His size helped. As he led Lily into the club, the crowd parted for him. He went straight to the bar and spoke to the bartender in French, asking to speak with Rumy’s friend Hardesty.
The bartender jerked his head to Adrien’s left. Across the room, Adrien saw a bouncer, similar in size to Adrien. Taking Lily’s hand, he wended his way through the smoky room and among about a dozen tall round tables until he stood chest-to-chest with a vampire he’d never met before.
“I need to see Hardesty. Rumy sent me.”
The bouncer glared, but extended his fist to the door he protected. He rapped three times with his knuckles, never once taking his eye off Adrien.
“Entrez.”
The bouncer opened the door and let them into another smoky room. Lily coughed and waved her hand through the air.
When the door closed, a tall thin man sat down in a chair near the fireplace but said nothing.
“Rumy said I should see you, that you might have information. Are you Hardesty?”
A slight inclination of the head. The vampire took a drag on a cigarette then released a thin stream of smoke. “What is the famous Adrien doing in my club? This is the kind of establishment you’re usually famous for shutting down.” His accent was British.
“I have no complaint with you, or any club that keeps our world safe. You’ve never crossed that line.”
“You and your brothers continue to perform this tireless service, but aren’t you weary of battling forces bigger than yourselves? Daniel owns the Council now, and I’ve always had the feeling he’s been intent on opening up our world to human interaction for a long time.”
“Daniel will only do what he believes will benefit him. Right now, I don’t think he’s prepared to go that far.”
Hardesty glanced past Adrien. “You have a woman with you. A human. That’s singular. Let me see her.”
“She is of no concern to you.”
But Hardesty’s gaze fell to the chain at Adrien’s neck. Though he had it tucked inside his shirt so that only a small portion showed, Hardesty laughed. “What has happened to you that you got bound to a human? Never mind. I see the whole thing unfolding in front of me because last I heard you and your brothers were hanging from Himalayan chains. Lucian and Marius still there?”
Adrien ground his back teeth together. He didn’t like or trust Hardesty, and he sure as hell didn’t want to get into a chat about his recent imprisonment. “I need information.”
Hardesty rose, pulling in a long drag as he did so. He moved to the side of the chair as well, farther into the room, his gaze fixed on Lily.