Page 3 of Threads of Crimson

Rafe blushed prettily at Ronan’s words before the blond disappeared, and the redhead leaned toward me. “I know it’s freaky at first, but this is a top-notch place. They don’t put up with any bullshit, I promise.”

“But they’re…” I shook my head, not wanting to say what I was thinking. Batshit crazy. Not right in the head. Mental. Gross.

I tried my hardest not to judge other people after all the judgment I’d received since I turned eighteen and the government said, see ya, with a side of, fuck you, to go with it.

Rafe’s green eyes lit up, and he clapped his red hand towel between his hands. “I know, isn’t it cool? I never believed in the supernatural. Like, not at all.”

“Me neither,” said a feminine voice to my side. Looking over, it was the girl who’d been that dude’s juice box. “Hi, I’m Sadie.” She held out her hand.

“Benji,” I replied automatically, shaking her hand, but my thoughts whirled. What did he mean about supernatural? I was starting to feel like I’d entered an alternate dimension where everyone knew the landscape but me.

“This your first night here?” she asked.

“Yep.” First and last, I thought in my head.

Sadie leaned one elbow on the counter. “It’s an adjustment. It took me weeks to wrap my head around everything I thought I knew not being true. Hey, Rafe, honey. Can I have another orange juice?”

“Orange juice?” I asked, surprised. I thought she’d been throwing back something harder, like whiskey, to erase what had been done to her.

“Oh yeah.” She blew out a breath. “I might have a drink later before I leave, but I never have one until after I donate, you know? Some people do, but I get light-headed too easily, so it’s better for them and for me if I hold off.”

Rafe set another drink in front of her, and I realized the glass was tinted a dark amber, which was part of where my assumption had come from that she was drinking alcohol. I took one of the bills from my stack, handing it to Rafe. “Let me buy that for her.”

They both laughed. “No one pays here. The Velvet Vein takes care of everything,” Rafe explained.

The Velvet Vein? Okaaay. That must be what the VV stood for. If that wasn’t freaky. I looked to Sadie. “But I saw you pay him.”

She shook her head. “I gave him a tip because he’s the best.” She winked at him. “And he’s also my brother.”

“Oh.”

Trying to work out what to say next, while also calculating how fast I could get the hell out of here, I noticed a man moving toward us so smoothly it was as if he floated.

Everyone here was dressed like the rich or to impress those with money, but this man…this man was obviously powerful. In all black, his clothes weren’t flashy, and he didn’t look much taller than me, but there was something about how he carried himself. Something predatory.

He moved past us without a glance, but I got a look at his smooth, pale skin. The fathomless depths of his dark eyes, and the bow of his sensual lips. Then he turned, robbing me of the chiseled cut of his jawline and headed for the back wall.

“Um. I’d stay away from him,” Sadie whispered.

“Why?” I asked, feeling like I should’ve stopped him, should’ve asked for his name. No, I should’ve dropped to my knees and worshipped his cock. I’d even let that one engage in this weird blood game they had if it would turn him on.

Rafe dried his hands on the towel, threw it on his shoulder, and leaned on the bar top. “Rumor has it, he’s ancient. He only comes in once a month because he doesn’t need a donor more often than that.”

“And if he’s an elder, then who knows what powers he has or what he’s capable of?” Sadie shivered.

Ancient? Elder? My gaze tracked back to the corner where a lady had joined the guy at a table. She sat demurely in the seat next to him with one leg crossed over the other as he took her wrist in his elegant hands. Damn, I wanted him to be cupping my wrist in his.

From here, I couldn’t make out what he said, but the woman giggled, then he leaned his head back, and I saw it. Just like with Ronan, his canines descended, revealing fangs.

“What the…”

I jumped as he struck, cutting into her skin. She jerked once, but then melted back into her seat. She didn’t look like she was in pain. She wasn’t moaning like she was in an X-rated porno either, but she looked…floaty. Peaceful.

Could it be true? Was it even possible? Had I entered a den of vampires?

Chapter

One