Kindling Flames—Gathering Tinder (21 page)

“It’s Goth Night!” Beth squealed in excitement.

Vicky looked over at the pirate costume Vanessa was dressed in.

“It was the best I could come up with on such short notice.” Vanessa shrugged as she settled a tricorne hat on her head.

Vicky had wanted to go clubbing to get her mind
off
vampires, not go hang with humans pretending to
be
them. She sighed and shook her head. Loud music and dancing was still loud music and dancing, no matter what the atmosphere. “All right,” Vicky acquiesced. “Let’s go before it gets too late.”

Beth bounced in delight, and the three friends stopped long enough to pick up Beth’s steampunk jacket from the couch. Vicky slung the messenger bag over her shoulder.

Beth frowned at the bag. “Why are you bringing that thing?” It was ruining the line of Vicky’s dress again.

“I told you last time.” Vicky grumbled at her friends as she opened the door. “I’m on call and have to have it in case Mr. Ritter needs it.”

“So you’re at his beck and call?” Vanessa laughed.

Vicky blushed at the lewd implication. “It’s not like that,” she hissed, locking the door behind them.

“I’ll gladly be at his beck and call,” Beth said breathily as she thought about Vicky’s boss. “He’s hot.”

“Stop it,” Vicky hissed again, causing her friends to giggle. “I don’t want to think about him that way. He’s my boss.” The incident in the elevator popped into her mind, and she was glad it had started to get dark. It made the red on her skin harder to see.

“Does he work you too hard?” Vanessa teased, and Beth giggled.

Vicky let out an exasperated sigh and grinned at her teasing friends. “Sometimes,” she said, and her girlfriends oohed at her. She rolled her eyes and covered her face as they went into all the ways they would like her boss to work them.

***

“You two are perverts,” Vicky sighed, as Vanessa parked her car in the lot next to the club. “Now, would you cut it out so we can dance?”

Vicky tried to calm the heat from her skin, but there was no way she was going to get rid of the smile cracking across her face. Both Beth and Vanessa had very active imaginations, and the two girls had come up with a plethora of perverted things as they drove to the club.

“But, we were just offering suggestions you could try out the next time you’re alone with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome,” Vanessa teased.

More like Mr. Tall, Dark, and Fangy
, Vicky thought to herself. “Please, I just want to forget Mr. Ritter for the moment and have a good time,” Vicky begged her friends.

Beth and Vanessa could see this topic was starting to bother Vicky, so they dropped it. “Let’s go pick up some hot guys who can’t fire us,” Beth teased, and the three girls crossed the parking lot and disappeared into the thumping music issuing from the club.

***

The empty bottle clinked against the table as Vicky set it down and went to stand at the edge of the dance floor. Her eyes found her friends mixed into the crowd, swaying to the music. Vanessa had one guy pressed to her back and another rubbing against her front. The guys’ pirate costumes were identical, and they seemed to be twins. From the action on the floor, Vicky was sure those two scurvy dogs were going to steal her ride home tonight. Vicky’s gaze kept wandering until they found Beth hanging out with the steampunk crowd. She had a guy wrapped around her, and they were grinding on the dance floor.

Sighing at her lack of luck, Vicky stood at the edge of the floor and swayed in time to the music. There had been several men who had started her way, but all of them had been intercepted by someone else, or they turned away before they reached her. She looked down at the formfitting dress she was wearing. Yes, it was long, but it hugged her in all the right spots. She shook her head as she tried to figure out why her luck was so bad tonight. Normally, she could find at least one person willing to dance with her.

She was just thinking about getting her fourth beer, when she felt a hand on her hip.

“You would be surprised to know how many phone calls I got, telling me you were here.”

Vicky looked up at the familiar man pulling her into the line of his body. “Mr. Ritter!” she squeaked, completely shocked that he was standing in the thumping club. Too astonished to pull away, Vicky let Darien lead them back to the table where she had been sitting.

He placed her in one side of the booth and waved at the waiter for two more beers before sitting down opposite her. “You look very nice tonight,” Darien complemented her.

Vicky was still too dumbfounded to think as she looked over her boss. She couldn’t believe that he was in a dark, peasant shirt and black leather pants with a lace-up fly. The ends of the pants were tucked into black, knee-length plainsmen boots held in place by a cord wrapped around them. His rich, brown hair was artfully messy and hung into his face. Vicky gawked at the roguish air rolling off her boss as he lounged back in the booth. One arm was stretched across the back of the seat as the opposite leg kicked out across the opening of the booth. It wasn’t far enough out in the aisle that someone would trip over it, but it did prevent Vicky from an easy escape if she chose to run. Her mouth flapped as she tried to respond, but nothing came out.

Cocking an eyebrow at her, Darien worked to keep his amusement off his face. Their bubble was broken when the waiter set two bottles on the table. Darien nodded his thanks, and the waiter made himself scarce.

Vicky took a swig from the bottle Darien slid in front of her. “What are you doing here?” she finally found her voice as she looked at her boss in surprise.

Darien picked up his bottle by the neck and took a sip of the ale. “I told you. I got several calls telling me you were here by yourself, so I came.”

Vicky gawked at his words. “I’m not here by myself,” she informed him, “I’m here with Beth and Vanessa.”

He looked back at the dance floor, where Vicky’s friends were hidden. “I see.” A smile cracked across his face as he took another sip of his beer.

Vicky huffed at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “I usually have better luck than this.” Relaxing, she picked up her beer again and looked out at the sea of men who refused to dance with her.

“I have to apologize to you for that one.” Darien looked a little guilty. “It’s not because you don’t look nice, I assure you. You look ravishing by the way.”

She squirmed in her seat. “Thank you.” She took another sip of beer to cover her unease at having his eyes on her. Once the drink was clear of her mouth, Vicky voiced the thought that popped into her head. “If it’s not what I’m wearing, then why is everyone avoiding me?” She looked up at Darien. “What did you do?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled. “I didn’t have to do anything.”

Vicky cocked her head, pondering his words.

He could see the confusion in her eyes, so he went on to explain. “Goth Night is when the vampires and their minions hit the clubs.”

She whipped her head around to look at the throng of people gyrating on the floor.

“Most of them are either vampires or have some connection to vampires.”

Swallowing hard, Vicky raised her hand to her throat as she thought about his words. “Will my friends be okay?” she asked as concern filled her.

“They’ll be fine,” Darien snickered. He had already spoken to the masters in the room to ensure that her friends were off the dinner menu for the evening.

She sighed with relief. “But that still doesn’t answer why I couldn’t find someone to dance with.” She pouted in her beer.

Darien chuckled again and took another sip. “They’re afraid of me,” he whispered. Vicky’s eyes widened a little at this.

“I’m sure every one of them has heard about the incident this past weekend. That’s why none of them have approached you. They’re under the impression that you belong to me.”

She gaped at him again. “But I
don’t
belong to you!” Vicky objected.

“True.” Darien sipped his drink again as he explained. “You are your own person and do as you please, but I have offered you my protection. Twice. First, with the werewolves, and now, with the vampires. These people see life by a different set of rules. Since I have given you my protection, they view you as mine and off limits.”

“Well, there goes my social life,” Vicky huffed and slouched back into her bench.

Darien tilted his head to look at her thoughtfully as a smile slipped across his face. “Only if you plan on dating a vampire or werewolf.”

Vicky picked at the label on her bottle as she thought about this. Sitting up, she took another drink of her beer and looked back out at the people populating the club. Now that she was looking at the crowd more closely, she could see eyes watching them. The owners of those eyes still danced and chatted with their partners, but their attention was focused on the master vampire drinking beer in the booth. Laughing out loud, Vicky dropped her head to the table to giggle herself silly.

Shocked by this reaction, Darien sat up to make sure she was all right.

She rolled her head over to look back out at the crowd once her mirth subsided. Sighing, she sat up to talk with Darien again. “I actually wanted to go out tonight to get my mind off everything,” Vicky admitted as she took another sip. “It was Beth’s idea that we come out for Goth Night. I never expected to run into a…” she waved, looking for a name for the large group of vampires.

“It was originally called a murder, but you can call it a kiss,” Darien offered.

Vicky gave him a confused look. “A murder?” she asked.

“It comes from the name for a flock of crows,” he explained.

“Oh.” Vicky filed this bit of trivia away and went back to what she was saying. “I never expected to run into a kiss of vampires.” She took another pull on her beer. “Is this going to happen every time I go out clubbing?”

“No,” Darien replied. “It’s true that vampires and their crews run the clubs, looking for those willing to donate blood, but they usually don’t come out in the numbers here tonight. Goth Night at any club is seen as a chance for the different broods to get together and mingle.”

Vicky nodded as he educated her.

“Vampires are a common theme in gothic culture, so it’s not an unusual topic. That’s why we can sit here and chat about vampirism so openly.”

“So, no Goth Night.” Vicky nodded, making a mental note.

“Not unless you want me to come with you,” Darien added, toying with his beer bottle. “You may also want to avoid raves. Those tend to be the preferred hangout of the werewolves.”

Vicky’s eyes widened, and she drained the rest of the beer from her bottle.

Darien took the empty bottle away from her and pushed his partial beer towards her. “I’m not going to finish it,” he explained as she looked at the offered drink.

She shrugged and rolled the bottle between her hands. She was drunk enough that she wasn’t going to let some swapped germs bother her. “Thanks for coming out and explaining things.” Vicky swirled the beer around in the bottle before taking a sip. “I’m sorry if I pulled you away from anything important.”

“Nothing that needed my attention.” Darien grinned. They sat in silence for a while as Vicky picked at the label on her bottle. Darien leaned back in his booth and sighed. “It’s still fairly early in the evening, and you came out to dance, so why don’t you go have a good time? I’m sure you’ll find someone to dance with, now.”

She gawked at him again. “I can’t leave you sitting here by yourself,” Vicky gasped at the idea. “It would be rude.”

“I’ll be fine,” Darien waved her concern away. “Besides, this isn’t my type of music.”

Vicky sat staring at him for a moment, torn. She did want to get up and dance, but she didn’t want to leave him by himself.

Darien moved his leg back so she could get out of the booth without falling over it. “Go. Have a good time.” His words were gentle, but the command in them left no room for argument.

Taking one last pull from her drink, Vicky slipped from the table.

Darien relaxed back into the booth and watched the hem of her dress swirl around her feet as she headed to the dance floor. She stopped at the edge of the wooden surface and looked back at him one more time.

He shooed her on, and she stepped into the mass of people and disappeared into the writhing bodies. Darien could feel the asking eyes of the other vampires in the room. He nodded his approval before leaning his head back and losing himself to the thumping rhythm of the music. Watching through half-lidded eyes, Darien smiled. He could understand why Vicky would choose such a place to unwind. The heavy beat was almost primal, yet relaxing to the mind.

***

As soon as Vicky stepped onto the dance floor, she was swept away by the movement of the crowd. Before Darien had shown up, the crowd parted when she came out to dance. Now it engulfed her. Vicky felt the soft touch of fingers shepherding her farther onto the dance floor. She never saw the hands or their owners in the mob around her, but they led her to the center of the floor. Closing her eyes, Vicky gave herself over to the music, and it didn’t take long to get properly lost in it. When she opened her eyes back up, she found herself in a group of six of the hottest guys on the floor.