RockMySenses (2 page)

“I’m in a taxi going home,” I said.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Instinctively I reached for my neck. It had stopped bleeding
but I felt dried blood over two tiny bumps. When Nike had kissed my neck, sharp
points pierced me and I cried out, but such a flood of pure pleasure followed,
I didn’t stop to question it. After the blond guy had pulled her away, I was
still overcome with such pleasurable sensations, it didn’t dawn on me to be
afraid at all. It hadn’t been until Chee carried me out of there and pointed
out the blood on my neck that I started to come out of a fog, as if I’d been
entranced. Something really fucked up had happened.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“Good,” she replied. “Hey, this may be a weird question, but
have you seen Mike?”

“Who?”

“Chee Keydood,” she corrected herself. “Knowing him, he
probably left with some girl, but Nico’s looking for him.”

“Um yeah,” I admitted through gritted teeth. “He’s with me.”

“Get out!” she squealed. “You little slut!”

“No, Lily, it’s not like that. At all.”

“Yeah, okay,” she said in an unconvinced tone.

“Can you grab my coat?”

“Yeah, I see it on the chair. No problem. Have fun, kids.”

“Lil—”

It was too late. She hung up the phone.

“Nico’s looking for me?” Chee asked.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“She was practically shouting. I heard every word.”

“She’s in a club. She had to yell.”

Chee pulled out his phone and began texting.

“Your name’s Mike?” I asked.

“Guilty.” He tilted his head, appraising me, and I knew
exactly what he was thinking.

“What’s my name, rock star?” I called him out, batting my
eyelashes.

“Um.” He bit his lip. “It’s um…” he began again and stared
out the window.

“Wow,” I exaggerated my disbelief. “You’d sleep with a woman
and not remember her name.”

The taxi driver who had been focused on the road peered back
through the rear view window. Even he knew Chee/Mike was in deep doo-doo over
that one.

“It was a long time ago. And I had a lot to drink that
night,” he said.

“But you remembered what we did in my apartment.”

“Yeah.” He leaned in closer, raising an eyebrow.

I inhaled his aftershave, an intoxicating musk that spiked
heat between my legs.

He whispered, “Of course.”

I squeezed my thighs together, hoping he wouldn’t notice how
he’d affected me. “Dick.”

When we arrived at my place, I pulled out some cash to pay
the driver, but Mike stopped me. “Go on, I’ve got it.”

“Thanks,” I muttered and climbed out of the taxi.

A moment later, he caught up to me and the taxi drove off.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Making sure you get home safe.”

“O-kay,” I drew out the syllables. “I’m safe. Thank you for
your concern.”

He walked with me up to my door. “You’re welcome.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “There are plenty of women back at
the club waiting for you to slay them with your rock star sex appeal.”

“Slay,” he repeated with a laugh. “I like that.”

“You’re wasting your time with me. I’m not sleeping with you
again.”

“That not why I’m here. But now that you bring it up.” His
eyes widened with mischievousness. “Oh wait, you’re into girls. Should we find
one to join us?”

What was with this guy? He was decent one minute wanting to
get me home safe and a dick the next. Probably just took me home to sleep with
me.

I unlocked my door, but there was no way I was letting him
in. “Thank you for making sure I got home okay. Good night, Chee. Or Mike.
Whatever your real name is.”

“Good night.” Dark brows tightened over inquisitive eyes.
“What is your name, anyway?”

I entered my apartment and shot him a look of pure venom
before I slammed the door on him. Throwing my keys across the room, I shouted.
“Bastard!”

Danton

My lover, Tracy, finished clearing up behind the bar and
cashed out.

“Ready to go home?” she asked.

“I’ll meet up with you. There’s something I need to discuss
with my brothers.”

She peered at me with an inquisitive glint in her bright
eyes. “Can’t you communicate with them like this?”

“I’d have to turn to stone. But I’d rather talk to them
face-to-face.”

“Is it something you want to tell me?”

“Not yet, my love. I’ll see you at home.”

Since I’d taken the gargoyle oath with Tracy, my powers had
grown stronger, so much so I could now switch from stone to man at will. And as
the ancient magic filled me, I could also help my brothers come over, although
the process drained me.

She kissed me and flashed a naughty smile. “I’ll be
waiting.”

“I won’t be long.”

“I hope not. It’s a cold night. I need you to warm me up.”

I pulled her into my arms. She leaned in, pressing her full,
round breasts against me. My cock immediately responded. Her delicious scent
filled my nostrils. I gave her a kiss, deep and slow, enough to heat her up and
leave her wanting more.

“I trust that will warm you enough to get you home.”

“From my head to my toes. I’m all tingly with heat.” She
leaned in to whisper, “Especially one place in particular.”

“One of my favorite places to warm up.” I grinned.

“I’ll be waiting.”

She put on a long black duster, which covered all her sexy
parts in a seductive package I couldn’t wait to unwrap. Tracy wore tight vinyl
dresses or fetish outfits fashioned in leather and lace to bartend here at the
club. With her pink hair and luscious figure, she commanded the attention of
all men who came into the bar, and most women too. I knew as I was one of them,
watching through stone eyes for many moons. Fantasizing about her night after
night, a futile delusion. She was flesh and I was stone. It wasn’t until she
was in danger one night that I was able to transform into human form and reveal
myself to protect her.

“Don’t forget your hat,” I reminded her, pointing to the
hook it hung on behind her.

“What would I do without you?” she said.

“Freeze?” I teased.

She grabbed her purse and blew me a kiss. As she walked out
the door, my eyes followed every move of her body. Even after all the months
that had passed, I hungered for her with as much intensity as I had in stone
from afar. More so now that I’d had a taste and touch. I still couldn’t believe
she took the oath to be with me forever.

I was the luckiest being of any shape or form to have ever
lived.

After she had left, I turned my attention to the next order
of business, changing my brothers. “Mattias, Lucan,” I addressed two particular
stone gargoyles perched in the club, the way I had been for many years. “I’m going
to transform you.” I gave them a warning before I summoned the magic. “We need
to discuss something.”

I inhaled deeply and exhaled, drawing the ancient power into
my body. At first I barely registered a tingle of its presence. The more it
flowed into me, the stronger it grew. Within moments the magic spread through
my body, flowing in my veins, tingling every nerve.

Summoning such power could be dangerous if not used
correctly, for a particular purpose. I respected the power derived from the
elements within me and focused on directing the magic to bridge my brothers.
The air shimmered, its energy pulsating between us. First the gargoyle near the
entrance, opposite where my shell remained, animated from the stone. I could
sense his transformation from stone to flesh as much as I could see it before
me. His gray stone took on the color of an olive-skinned human and his stone
wings unfurled into black feathers. He stretched from a hunched posture and
grew as he stood on two legs. The overlarge features of his face minimized to those
of a human male and black hair sprouted from his head, extending past his
shoulders. Mattias was as dark as I was light. The sensation of the magic
leaving my body made me heady.

As Mattias completed the transformation, I directed my
attention close to the ceiling at the rear of the club. Lucan preferred to
perch high on the wall, watching the patrons from overhead, while Mattias and I
had been positioned at an eye-to-eye level with the humans. Like Mattias, Lucan
shifted from gray stone to flesh. From his position above, Lucan flapped his
wings to slow his descent to the floor.

“Aye,” Lucan said. “What is it, brother?”

“Something peculiar happened backstage tonight.”

“It must be important for you to use your magic to change us,”
Mattias said.

“I met a man back there.” I motioned to the rear of the
club. “He was watching two women. One of them was Nike. She bit a woman.”

“She’s not a vampire,” Lucan asked. “Is she?”

“No,” I responded. “But she is adopting the behavior of one.
And doesn’t seem to be in control of her actions. We need to watch her.”

“Is she a threat to humans?” Lucan asked.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I believe so.”

“What about Michel?” Mattias posed. The former owner of the
club, Michel was in fact a vampire and he had brought us gargoyles to protect
those in the club, including him. “Does he know what’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but I will tell him what I witnessed.” I
paced before them and rubbed my chin, still bothered by what happened back
there although I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “Something else happened.”

“Go on, brother,” Lucan said.

“A man witnessed the encounter with Nike. I tried to clear
his memory but my magic had no effect on him at all.”

Matthew said, “He’s especially strong-minded, perhaps?”

“Yes,” Lucan agreed. “But it was more than that. A
strong-minded individual would fight to block the intrusion. It didn’t even
have an effect on him.”

“Hmm,” Lucan said. “That is peculiar.”

“What do you think caused this?” Matthias asked.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I tried to ascertain what
he was and there’s definitely something different about him.”

“Gargoyle magic wouldn’t work on a vampire,” Lucan said. “Or
a shapeshifter for that matter.”

“I don’t think that’s what he is,” I said. “I believe he’s
human, but there’s something more there.”

“Any idea what?” Mattias asked.

I shook my head. “I want you both to keep an eye on him
too.”

Mattias nodded. “Describe what he looks like.”

“He’s easy to spot,” I said. “The guitarist for the Velvet
Cocks.”

“The rock band Maya books to play here often?”

Maya, girlfriend of the club owner Tristan Stone, booked
many of the acts and by the number of times she had the Velvet Cocks and danced
near the front of the stage, she was a fan. “Yes.”

Lucan’s mouth twitched into a smirk. “Is he the one who
wears the crazy outfits? Like he’s from the Middle Ages?”

“That would be the one,” I agreed. Chee Keydood was as
recognizable for his outfits as for his antics onstage.

“What shall we look for in particular?” Mattias asked.

“Anything at all,” I answered. “I think there’s more to him
than even he’s aware of.”

Ally

“Check you out at the gym on a Sunday,” Lily said the next
morning after I taught a yoga class. “Miracles do happen.”

“Don’t remind me,” I said as we walked the paths through the
pine trees near the gym. They filled the air with their scent, reminding me
that Christmas was coming soon. Snow still clung to the ground and the air was
cool, but it felt soothing after working our muscles with yoga. “I’m doing a
favor for the instructor. She had a wedding last night and begged me to cover
for her. I have half an hour until I teach Pilates.”

“Sooo,” she began in a singsong voice. “How did you end up
with Mike last night?”

“We didn’t really end up together,” I protested. “We just
ran into each other and he wanted to make sure I got home okay.”

“Aww,” Lily said. “Sounds sweet.”

“Ugh, no,” I clarified. “He didn’t even remember me at
first. What an ass.” The sting was still fresh.

“So was he trying to sleep with you again? Is that why he
went home with you?” Lily took a swig from her water bottle.

I chewed my bottom lip, trying to make sense of everything.
“Probably. He’s a guy. And his reputation as a womanizer is well-known. He’s
not like Nico at all.”

Lily began seeing Nico several months ago. And they moved in
together rather quickly if you ask me. She quit her job to start consulting,
sold her sweet condo, and they bought a townhouse.

“He’s not so bad, Ally,” Lily said. “I thought he was a jerk
at first, I really didn’t like him. But he’s just wary of new people, I think.”

I snorted to show my skepticism.

Lily gave me a sympathetic look. “I think he inflates the
bad boy image to fit the role of a rock guitarist.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because he’s different when he’s hanging out with Nico and
John. Nico told me how smart he is. No matter how much they dig each other, the
guys respect him. Apparently, he’s a brilliant software engineer at work.
Skipped a couple of grades at school and went to MIT.”

“That’s kind of cool,” I admitted.

“You know how some guys like that can be,” she continued.
“Super smart, but lacking in social skills.”

A pang of empathy hit me. It must have been tough to not
only go to a super selective and competitive school like MIT, but to be two
years younger than everyone else. As a fan of the Velvet Cocks, I knew they
were a bunch of self-proclaimed computer geeks who made a rock band for fun.
Starting out as a parody at first, they created an outrageous band name and
stage names and were as surprised as anyone when they took off and grew a
following and got recording deals.

I’d had a thing for Chee Keydood, their brazen guitarist who
sported sexy leather, medieval-style tunics, a belt with plates of armor, and
enormous boots. I’d also seen them a few times live so was familiar for Chee’s
stage presence. While Nico took on the punk rock, bad boy role, wearing torn
camouflage, combat boots, and a scowling expression, and their drummer Dorian
Black took on the dark, brooding role, hiding among the shadows, Chee relished
the audience’s attention. He played up to them with his guitar riffs and a
naughty-boy smile and the crowd ate it up.

Chee was known for his wild outfits. Some nights he sported
a fantasy costume of tunics and boots, like from out of a role-playing video
game with knights. Other nights, he wore leather pants with some type of fur
covering his torso. And he might wear any number of costumes in between,
whatever mood struck him. Most of them included giant boots and silver
accessories. Occasionally, he even surprised the crowd with a nod to his day
job. A software engineer by day, sometimes on stage he’d wear a button-up shirt
and glasses with casual pants, a similar style to Angus Young of AC/DC. As he
played, the clothes mussed up, his shirt lost buttons, and by the end of the
set the women were practically tearing his clothes off him.

The last time I’d seen them was on Halloween, months after
we’d slept together. Chee went all out, wearing a pirate outfit that could put
Johnny Depp to shame. A long brown leather duster over tight cropped pants and
with no shirt underneath. He was lean, not overly muscular, but not soft like
you’d expect from a guy who spent all day in front of a computer. And the
boots. Big brown leather boots with huge silver buckles. He wore a large,
brimmed hat over his mussed sandy-brown waves that fell around his shoulders.
By the end of the night, he was dripping with sweat. I was so turned on
watching him that I almost approached him again. I had to stop myself. We’d had
a one-night stand, that was all. Anything more with a rock star was asking for
trouble. And our one night would have been just peachy if my friend hadn’t
moved in with his band mate and coworker. Talk about awkward. The last thing I
wanted was to hang around him while Nico and Lily mooned over each other. Since
that night, I’d avoided situations where we might run into each other.

“He’s doing a convincing job in his portrayal of a
womanizing jackass,” I said as we turned onto a path to head back to the gym.
“He didn’t even remember my name.”

“Oh, Ally. You’re one of a kind.” She nudged my shoulder.
“I’m sure it was just in the moment. You’re such a hottie that you make guys
forget simple things like words.”

“I doubt that. Besides I totally expect a guy like him, who
sleeps with so many women, to forget names.”

“Do you regret hooking up with him?”

I thought of that hot summer night in Vamps when I asked
Nico to introduce me to Chee. Our flirty banter took on a more seductive tone
and we were all over each other by the time we left the club. “No, not at all.
I got what I wanted that night and so did he. Case closed.”

“So what happened with you two last night?”

I remembered flashes of the night. The part about the woman.
Throughout the night, I had erotic dreams of being with her. But why did she
bite my neck? Did she have a weird vampire fetish like Mike had suggested? Her
eyes had taken on a reddish hue that I didn’t notice at first…probably just
contacts. I’d seen people glue on vampire fangs a few times at Vamps as well as
wear unnatural-looking contacts, like indigo or red cat’s eyes. That stuff was
easy to come by these days at any Halloween store or online. “Something kind of
strange,” I admitted.

“What?”

“I kissed a girl.”

“Get out!” Ally shrieked. “That was the last thing I thought
you’d say. Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. I’d never done that before. It just
happened.”

Ally raised an eyebrow. “Too much to drink?”

I shook my head. “I only had one drink, even though it
packed a punch. Tempting Fate, I believe it was called.”