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“You clean up pretty good yourself.” I didn’t hide my stare as I looked him up and down hungrily. He was gorgeous, even if he didn’t seem to realize it. For a second, I let myself imagine what sex with him would be like. Would he be bossy and dominating, or would he prefer to be more submissive? I couldn’t wait to find out.
Chapter 9
Viktor
After making up with Eli, I stopped and really looked at him for once. The dark circles under his eyes had grown since we lost her. He was exhausted and nearing his breaking point. For some reason, that did more to reign me in than any of his words. I told him we could take the night off. I knew it was a lie when I said it. I’m pretty sure he did too. I couldn’t help feeling like something was wrong. We needed to find her now. If Eli couldn’t help, I would do it myself, and I wouldn’t give him shit about it this time. Maybe if I had realized how this was wearing him down, we’d be closer to finding her. We had spent days searching with no real clues. The city was big but not big enough for no trace of her. I went back to the deli on the west side. I planned to start there and work my way around the area.
I didn’t expect to end up at a club that reminded me a lot of what I wanted Midnight to become. I couldn’t help being drawn inside, telling myself that perhaps I would find Delilah there. I knew better. I was simply trying to feel closer to her by surrounding myself with memories. The outside was dark, with all the windows covered. I wondered if there was more to that than just the fact it was a nightclub.
The inside was beautiful. The purples and blues mixed perfectly to compliment the decor. The lighting was dim but on point for dancing. The place was packed, and it seemed like everyone was waiting for their turn at karaoke. The clientele here seemed to have more musical talent than Midnight had seen. The dark-skinned vixen at the microphone belted out a song of misery that matched my mood. Maybe taking a small break would be good for me too. I took an open seat at the bar, ordered a drink, and turned back to watch the performers. Over the past few days, I had begun to see Delilah everywhere. It came as no surprise when I thought I saw her walk in with a red-haired vampire that I didn’t recognize.
“It’s not her. I’m seeing things again,” I whispered to myself as I watched them cross the room to a table near the front. Undoubtedly, it was just a girl who somewhat resembled my lost love. There was no way this could be my Delilah, my Myshka. Even if she’d survived being shot, which was unlikely, she wouldn’t be healed enough to pour herself into the red dress her doppelganger was wearing. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her, even though I knew my imagination was playing tricks on me. If I had a soul, it would have been screaming for her. This girl looked so much like Myshka that I almost called Eli. I shook the thought from my head and turned my attention back to the stage. The golden-voiced woman had just finished her song, and a new entertainer would be taking the stage in a moment. The crowd cheered for her as if they’d come only to see her performance. I clapped along with them but stopped suddenly when I saw who was taking the stage.
The girl in red. She was going to sing. Myshka had always wanted to sing, but Vinny found ways to keep her from it. He said it was for her protection, but I knew better. It was to keep her from realizing that she had talent. If she had more confidence, she would have left him long before Midnight had been blown up. I wondered what taking over the bar would have been like if she hadn’t been there. I shook the thoughts from my head again and focused on the beauty standing shyly on stage. The red-haired man had walked on stage with her and took the microphone from the host. “Okay, okay, settle down,” he began as he looked around the room. “This is my friend, Delilah, and she would like to sing for you all tonight. Be nice.” His warning was pointed at a table in the front row where some ladies in tight dresses had already begun to snicker. I turned to the bartender who was standing behind me.
“Did he say, Delilah?”
“Yeah, why, you know her?” The large man eyed me suspiciously.
“Maybe. Who is that guy with her?” I knew that the question could get me punched or worse, but I was desperate to know if that was her.
“Declan Roarke. He owns this place and most of this area of the city. If you want to know anything else, I suggest taking it up with him.” Before I could say anything else, the guy glared at me and walked away. From experience, I knew that he would tell his boss about me. If this operation were anything like mine, I’d probably get my ass kicked before the night was over.
I decided to stay a while longer and see if I could talk to Delilah after she sang. Maybe Declan would step away, or she would go to the ladies’ room, and I would have a chance. I needed to make sure it was her and figure out how to save her. There was no way Delilah would just leave Eli and me. She had to be here as a prisoner. I kept an eye out for security while waiting for her to start singing.
The instant her sweet voice hit my ears, I started to cry. I knew this was my Delilah. How was she here? How was she fully healed? Why couldn’t I smell her anymore? I had so many questions. I knew that I should call Eli, but I wanted to see if I could be alone with her first. As she finished singing, I wiped my eyes, laid money on the bar to pay for my drink and the information, and walked toward the bathrooms. I planned to wait in the shadows to corner her. I needed to talk to Delilah. I needed answers.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long for her to walk by. I didn’t expect her to be escorted by another woman. I would have to try something else. “Girl! You didn’t tell me you could sing! And I’m impressed with how much control you’re showing. Most baby vamps would have already attacked half the club by now.”
‘Baby vamp’? What did that woman mean by that? Had Delilah been turned? Was it her choice, or did someone decide for her? Now I had even more questions than before. I was too caught up in the ramifications of what Delilah’s friend had said that I wasn’t paying attention to anything else. I didn’t see the right hook until it was too late.
I woke up in my car, a few blocks away from the club. Groaning, I looked in the rearview mirror. The bruises and broken bones would heal, but until they did, I would have a constant reminder to be more careful when I was looking for information. I shot Eli a text letting him know I was coming to talk to him. Delilah was alive, and I knew just how to find her.
Chapter 10
Eli
“Slow down, Vik. You’re not making any sense.” I repeated the exact phrase I’d said a dozen times since Viktor Maxwell showed up on my doorstep claiming to have found our girl. “You went to a club and had a few drinks, then suddenly Delilah showed up with another guy? She wasn’t even injured, and she sang karaoke? That sounds crazy.”
“You’re forgetting that the guy owns the club and that his henchmen beat me up for asking questions.” Vik took a deep breath and gestured to the bruises covering his face. His jacket was ripped, and his dress shirt was torn open. Someone had pounded on him. I had no idea why, though.
“I would love just to take you at your word, Vik, but you’ve been seeing her everywhere. It’s just not possible for her to be healed already from a gunshot wound that bad. She lost a lot of blood. Maybe it was just someone who looked like her.” It had to be. There was no way Delilah was in perfect health this soon after being shot. Unless the rest of Vik’s ramblings were right, and Delilah had been turned into a vampire. “You said the woman who was with them called her ‘baby vamp,’ right?”
“Yeah, and the guy is Declan Roarke, the same guy we tried to see, but he was ‘busy.’ I’ll bet he was busy with our girl.” Vik’s thoughts strangely made sense, but I couldn’t believe it. Jealousy poured off him and seeped into me through our empathy bond. I hated that I let him influence my feelings that way.
“Why would he turn her? She never told us that she knew any other vampires. Delilah didn’t even know what we were until we showed her. Why wouldn’t she have asked for one of us?” I mused, hurt that our girl could have abandoned us like this. I sat down at my computer and pulled up every file I had found on the man who held the west quadrant of the city. There wasn’t much to discover. He’d taken power recently, and no one had been able to dig anything up other than a list of businesses he owned and who his top security personnel was. “This guy is practically a ghost. Except for the fact that he owns several businesses in that zone, he doesn’t exist digitally.” It seemed odd to me for someone to be off the radar like that.
“Not everyone likes tech the way you do, Eli. I’d rather know why she was with him. Jones kidnapped her. Maybe he brainwashed her too. Or maybe she was in on it. She could have been working with him and just stringing us along. I bet they both were working for that Roarke guy. We have to meet with him.” Vik sounded crazy, but there was no way to know unless we met with Declan. Or ran into him in public and made him talk to us.
“What if we go clubbing tonight? We could check the place out and see if Delilah is there. If we can corner one or both of them, we’ll find out what’s going on. It can’t be as bad as you think, Vik. There’s no way she could pretend to feel the things she projected at me. Something else is going on here.” I despised being the voice of reason, but Vik left me no choice. Since he’d gone off the conspiracy theory ledge, I had to play devil’s advocate and argue the opposite of whatever he said. All I wanted was Delilah back in my arms. And to punch the person responsible for taking her from us. If that turned out to be Declan Roarke, so be it.
Vik wasn’t thrilled with my idea. After all, we had no idea if Declan and the girl who could be Delilah would be there tonight. I was reasonably confident they wouldn’t still be there now, and I knew that it would be impossible to keep Vik away if they were. He was out for blood, especially after being attacked by Declan’s men. I figured there would be no harm in slipping him a sleeping pill. He needed rest, and I needed time to prepare for finding our girl. “Here, drink this,” I coaxed as I handed him the mug of blood with the pill’s contents in it. He eyed me curiously but took the mug from me. Vik didn’t break eye contact as he brought the cup to his lips and drank gingerly. He must have decided that I wasn’t trying to poison him because he drained the cup and settled back on my couch. The sleeping pill was fast-acting which had him passed out a moment after the realization that he’d been drugged hit him.
I should have felt bad about drugging my best friend, but I didn’t. When it came to Delilah, I didn’t regret anything except not keeping her safe from Jones. I vowed to spend eternity making up for it and ensuring that Vik did as well. We may have spent decades as enemies, but I can’t ignore how important he is to Delilah. I checked Vik to make sure he was sleeping soundly before heading down to the pool. I needed a workout to clear my mind and prepare for tonight.
A few hours later, Vik and I were headed to the club he’d told me about. I had heard of Nightwalkers before, but I wasn’t much into the karaoke scene, even if I had briefly tried to set up a bar to compete with Midnight. Crimson Mist didn’t last long as a karaoke bar but did much better once I started hosting live bands.
My eyes met hers the moment we entered the bar. There was no doubt this was Delilah, our Delilah, but something was different. I couldn’t smell her the way I had before. Her emotions were there but seemed more confused and intense than I’d ever felt from her. My mind knew I should stay back and watch from across the bar, but my body craved to be near her. I barely registered Vik being stopped by security. I shot him a glance before I continued to follow the pull toward the woman who had my heart. Somehow she was even more stunning than she had been when I’d seen her last.
