After Dark (8 page)

“Oh, yeah?” Xander replied. “Well, we Orlocks might not be much to look at, but at least we can
read
above a third-grade level!”

“Shut up, Exo!” Jules snapped, his eyes flashing genuine anger.

“Did you say Jules can’t read?”

Lilith had returned from the bar, drinks in hand, and was staring at the bickering cousins, her mouth hanging open in amazement. The look in her eyes was enough to make the pit of Jules’s stomach drop away.

Xander nodded. “I do
all
his homework assignments, and he simply recopies them in his own hand. He’s barely able to read and write.”

“That’s not true!” Jules protested. “I
can
read!”

“Yeah, in
English
,” Xander retorted. “When it comes to chthonic script, he’s functionally illiterate. He’s barely able to sign his name.”

“
I said shut up!
” Jules shouted, lunging at his cousin, fangs bared.

Xander moved so fast Lilith didn’t see it. One minute he was standing there, the next his over-long fingers were wrapped tightly about Jules’s throat. His cousin’s feet dangled inches above the floor.

“You might have been able to get the best of me in the nursery,” Xander growled, his blue eyes burning with a strange inner fire as he watched his attacker struggle in vain to break free of his grip. “But we’re not kids anymore, Jules! I’m tired of being the de Laval whipping boy. I don’t like it coming from your father, and I
despise
it coming from you!”

“Sweet hell! What is
wrong
with you kids tonight?” Sebastian cursed, pushing his way through the crowd of onlookers. “Can’t you party for fifteen minutes without trying to kill each other?”

Xander let Jules drop to the floor like a bag of wet cement. As he watched his cousin and oldest friend gasp for air, the blue fire in his eyes died and was replaced by self-disgust.

“Jules! I’m
so
sorry!” he said, moving to help his kinsman to his feet. “I don’t know what came over me—I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Don’t touch me!” Jules snarled, slapping away Xander’s hand.

Suddenly aware of the eyes focused on him, Xander hurriedly left the converted choir loft, a pained expression on his face. As he shouldered his way through the packed dance floor toward the exit, one of the drunken partygoers grabbed his forearm.

“Hey, buddy! Who do you think you are? Pushin’ people around like that?” The drunk’s eyes widened in amazement when he saw Xander’s mouth. “Holy shit—what’s wrong with your teeth?”

Xander jerked himself free of the human’s grasp and, covering his fangs with one hand, fled the club.

“I can’t believe he would do something like that to me!” Jules wheezed in stunned disbelief.

“You
did
attack him first,” Sergei pointed out.

Lilith shook her head in disgust. “I’ve had it with you, Jules! I’ve put up with you cheating on me with my friends and sneaking around with the Monture girl and embarrassing me in front of everyone. But I will
not
tolerate weak blood! And neither will my father!”

“Lili, wait! Don’t go!” Jules begged, grabbing her by the hand. “What Xander said isn’t true!”

“Let go of me!” Lilith snapped, jerking free of his grasp. “It’s
over
between us, Jules! I mean it this time!”

Jules watched as Lilith stormed out of the club. Over the course of their lengthy promisement she had threatened to break things off once and for all on more than one occasion, but now, for the first time, he was afraid she genuinely meant it. Saying he had weak blood was like a curse. As he wondered what to do, there was a timid tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Carmen standing next to him, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

He didn’t reply but instead shrugged the redhead off like a badly fitting coat. Carmen gazed after Jules as he walked away, hoping against hope that he might stop and turn to motion for her to join him. But he kept on walking without a backward glance. As she watched him go, the last tiny flame Carmen had kept kindled in her heart for Jules guttered and died.

“Can I see you home?”

Sergei wasn’t an Adonis like Jules, but he was certainly handsome, in a dark, boho poet kind of way. Sure, he was a total dog, but at least he was honest about it. And he at least seemed to
want
to be with her. In the end, it was all about not being alone, wasn’t it?

“Sure,” Carmen said with a shrug. “Why not?”

Lilith was on her way to her bedroom on the second floor of her family’s penthouse when her father stepped out of the shadows at the head of the stairs.

“What in the name of the Founders is wrong with you?” Victor Todd barked. “I permit you to go out and spend time with your friends only to end up receiving an irate phone call from Count de Laval
screaming
in my ear about you publicly humiliating his son! Lilith, did you break your promise to Jules in front of an entire
nightclub?
”

“Oh—that,” Lilith said with a shrug. Her head was swimming from so much alcohol, she had to grip the banister to keep herself upright.

“By the Darkest Powers! Have you lost your mind, Lilith?” Victor asked, clearly exasperated. “You know perfectly well since Jules is of aristocratic blood, only
his
side of the family has the power to break the marriage contract. And even if you
did
have that power, you certainly don’t do it in front of a group of drunken ne’er-do-wells!”

“Why should I care if Jules’s precious little ego is crushed in the presence of an audience?” Lilith replied defiantly. “He doesn’t seem to care that he’s humiliated
me
in front of everyone I know. If you ask me, he can dish it out, but he can’t take it, the big crybaby.”

“You’re the one acting like a selfish, spoiled child!” Victor retorted. “It doesn’t seem to matter to you in the least that your poor mother and I worked hard to arrange this union with the de Lavals! Do you think you can just stroll off and find yourself another noble of Jules’s rank and potential? We’re lucky the de Lavals are still willing to go through with the marriage now that your mother’s bloodright is no longer part of the dowry. Now you go ahead and do something as foolish as
this?
Over what? A silly affair with your best friend?”

“Carmen’s
not
my best friend!” Lilith slurred. “Why do people keep calling her that?”

The tycoon shook his head in confusion. “I don’t understand fledglings today. When I was your age, things weren’t this complicated.”

“When
you
were
my
age, Beethoven was rocking the charts,” Lilith sneered.

“My point exactly! Your generation has been brainwashed by the clots and their culture! It’s always been a threat to our people, but now it’s so
pervasive,
so
instantaneous
—it’s impossible to keep our children from being corrupted! I’ll admit, sometimes I am sorely tempted to side with Mauvais and his Purist claptrap! Honestly, Lilith—to expect Jules to act like a
human
boyfriend is ridiculous!

“It’s in his DNA to be with as many females, vampire and otherwise, as he can possibly manage. After all, our entire race sprang from just
thirteen
males! Monogamy is not a natural instinct among the males of our species. That’s something you simply have to learn to accept. At least take some comfort in knowing his bloodright is yours and no other’s. That’s the best you can expect from your mate.”

“Ha! That’s rich!
You
complaining about clots being a bad influence! You’re the one who had a child by a human mistress! I’ve got news for you, Dad: my ‘poor mother’ might have put up with you constantly running around on her, but that doesn’t mean
I’m
going to tolerate it!

“Nor am I going to put myself through what she did and suffer decades of miscarriages simply to produce an heir—only to end up incapable of bonding with whichever child finally survives. Times are changing, Daddy dearest. You should know—you helped kick off the social revolution. And FYI: I didn’t dump Jules because he was fooling around on me—I did it because he’s weak-blooded.”

“What?” Victor blinked in surprise. “That’s ridiculous! The boy is one of the finest athletes Ruthven’s has ever produced!”

“Yeah, but he can’t read chthonic script any better than an eight-year-old! He’s functionally illiterate. Xander told me so. He’s been doing Jules’s schoolwork for him for years. It’s a pretty good joke, though, don’t you think?” She giggled. “What with Count de Laval being
so
obsessed with keeping the Old Blood traditions alive and preserving our culture—and here’s his only son and heir, unable to read and write in his own language!”

“Still, that’s no excuse for what you did tonight, Lilith,” Victor replied sternly. “You’re going to get on the phone and call Count de Laval and apologize, right this minute.”

“I don’t care what you want. I
refuse
to apologize to Jules! You can tell Count de Laval the only way I’ll take his son back is if he comes crawling to me on his hands and knees, admitting he was wrong to treat me the way he did. And if you pressure me about this, I swear I’ll tell Count de Laval about Cally being my sister.
That
little tidbit of information should be enough to guarantee he’ll tear up the contract himself, don’t you think?”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Just try me,” Lilith said, looking her father in the eye. “I don’t give a damn about anyone but myself. I guess you could say I’m a chip off the old block. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to bed. Tomorrow
is
a school night, after all.”

F
or the first time in her life Cally had access to any fabric she wanted, not just those she could afford. Although Baron Metzger had offered to buy her a top-of-the-line computerized machine, She insisted on using the same old mechanical Brother sewing machine her grandmother had given her for her twelfth birthday. The Baron had also graciously allowed her to turn the second of his apartment’s three bedrooms, the one usually reserved for his son whenever he was in town, into a makeshift studio.

The last week had been something of a blur, what with her time being split between school and putting together several new designs for the upcoming show. She was still two short of her intended goal. Although the pace was grueling and left her little time for anything besides school, she was grateful for the distraction, since it kept her from thinking about her mother and Peter.

She was interrupted while making a delicate cut in some jade shantung by the entrance of Baron Metzger’s undead manservant.

“Miss Cally?”

“Yes, Edgar?”

“A Jules de Laval to see you.”

“Jules? What are you doing here?” Cally asked as she walked into the living room. She was surprised to find the young nobleman already making himself at home on the sofa.

“I heard you were living in the Plaza with your dad, and I thought I’d pop by and say hello. I haven’t seen you since the Grand Ball—what’s been happening?”

“I’ve been…busy,” Cally said cautiously as she sat down beside him. “To tell you the truth, I’m surprised to see you here. Your father doesn’t approve of true-bloods associating with hybrids. He wanted the Synod to declare me a threat to the Blood!”

“I can’t help how my dad is,” Jules said with a shrug.

“I won’t hold you responsible for what your father does, just like I don’t blame Melly for anything
her
dad says, but what about you?” Cally asked. “How do you feel about me now that you know I’m half human?”

Jules smiled and leaned forward. “When I first met you, Cally, I realized right then that you weren’t like any girl I’d ever known. Maybe the fact that you have human blood explains it. Now that I know the truth about you, I find you even more attractive than before….”

“That’s really sweet of you to say, I guess,” Cally replied uneasily, removing his roving hand from her knee. “Is that why you came to see me?”

“To be honest, ever since the Grand Ball I haven’t been able to get you out of my head.” He flashed his trademark smile as he leaned in closer. “I can’t forget how you felt in my arms when we danced that night or how your eyes sparkled when you looked at me….” Jules moved in closer, his irises glowing in the dim light of the room like those of an animal. “I keep thinking about the kiss we shared at the club that night…how good it felt…how
right
it felt….”

Cally could feel Jules’s body heat radiating from him, mingling with the musky scent of his cologne. He kept leaning toward her as he spoke, his voice pitched in such a way that it was necessary for her to move in closer in order to hear him clearly. Cally was on the verge of being mesmerized by his voice when she felt his hand traveling too quickly up her thigh.

“I think you’d better go now, Jules,” she said sternly, getting to her feet.

“There’s no need to look so frightened!” Jules laughed as he stood up. “Are you worried about Lilith? Don’t be! We broke up.”

“Yeah, I know,” Cally replied. “I heard all about it at school.”

“Really?” he asked, instantly dropping the smooth seducer act. “What else did you hear?”

“That you and Xander Orlock got into a fight at some club. Look, Jules, I like you. You know that. But I’m not interested in being used like Carmen, understand? I know you only want to be with me because you know it will make Lilith nuts.”

“That’s just not true!” he protested, caught off guard. “And even if it was, you have no reason to be afraid of Lilith. You don’t have to be afraid of
anyone
! You have the Shadow Hand!”

Cally gave Jules a disappointed look. “You just don’t get it, do you? I don’t
want
this power, and I certainly don’t relish it! I never want to use the Shadow Hand ever again. And I certainly don’t want to have to use it against Lilith!” Seeing the blank look in Jules’s eyes, Cally realized that she had no choice but to go straight to the bottom line with him. “Even if I
didn’t
have the Shadow Hand, I still wouldn’t want to get involved with you. I’m coming out of an intense relationship that ended very, very badly. It was with someone I never should have fallen in love with, and I’m not ready to put myself back into that kind of situation. I’m sorry, Jules. Really, I am. I’m willing to be your friend, but that’s as far as I’ll go.”

“You mean I’m stuck in the friend zone?” He tried to make a joke of it.

“Afraid so. And because you are, that means you do not get to pass Go, you do not get to collect two hundred dollars, and you definitely do not get to second base.”

“Cally—I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to come on so strong.”

“Well, you
did
,” Cally said, pointing to the door. “Please leave now.”

The speakeasy was in the subbasement of a trendy, upscale boutique hotel on Sixty-second that catered to Japanese executives visiting the heart of the City That Never Sleeps. With its dim lighting, dark wood paneling, and maroon velvet draperies, it looked like any other cocktail joint in the city, except there was no mirror behind the bar and no liquor to be seen.

“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked, barely bothering to look up from the glass he was cleaning.

“B neg and scotch.”

“You sure you’re old enough, kid?”

“My friend Andrew here can vouch for me,” Jules replied, pushing a crisp twenty across the counter.

“Well, if Andy says you’re cool, that’s fine by me,” the bartender said as he palmed the bill. He poured the drink into the glass he’d been cleaning and handed it to Jules.

As he slid into one of the horseshoe booths, Jules tried to figure out where he’d gone wrong. He had smiled, used eye contact, and said all the things girls seemed to want to hear and done it in as nonthreatening a manner as possible. He’d even told her that she was special, and for once it wasn’t actually a lie.

So how did he end up sitting by himself at a vampires-only bar instead of rolling between the sheets with Cally Monture? The only other time he’d struck out this badly was with Melinda Mauvais. What went wrong?

He was pretty sure the thing about her ex-boyfriend was just an excuse. If she’d been that into someone else, she wouldn’t have been so willing to dance with him at the Viral Room. Maybe Cally’s lack of interest had to do with what she’d heard at school. What if Lilith was telling everyone he had weak blood? He certainly wouldn’t put it past her, the vindictive little minx.

“My, my, my! If it ain’t Little Lord Fauntleroy!”

Jules looked up from his drink to see Lucky Maledetto standing in front of him. Elegantly dressed in a tailored Armani suit, Lucky wore the telltale black silk shirt and crimson Strega tie. Standing next to him was a huge block of undead muscle with fists like sledgehammers and a neck the size of a bull’s.

“Oh, hey, Lucky,” Jules said, inwardly cursing himself. He should have known better—almost every vampires-only bar in the triborough area belonged to Vinnie Maledetto.

“Mind if I sit down?” Lucky asked as he slid into the booth alongside Jules.

“I guess not….”

The man mountain slid into the other side of the booth. “I guess you won’t mind if my bodyguard Bava here joins us?” Lucky said.

“Sure.” Jules was trying hard not to look intimidated as he sipped at his drink.

“So, Jules—what brings you to my fine establishment?”

“I just happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to stop by for a drink, that’s all.”

“Just in the neighborhood, huh? You wouldn’t have been visiting our mutual friend, Miss Monture, over at the Plaza, would you?”

“So what if I was?” Jules replied, prickling under Lucky’s prodding.

“No need to get testy, Your Highness. I’m just saying, okay? It’s a free country, right? People are free to come and
go
as they like. They’re even free to disappear, if they keep coming back where they’re not welcome. That’s what’s great about this country. You get me?”

“Yeah, I got you, Lucky.”

“Good. Now get outta here. You’re too young to be in this joint, anyways.”

“I’m off,” Jules said, downing the last of his drink.

“Don’t worry about the tab.” Lucky smiled, patting Jules on the shoulder as he slid back out of the booth. “The drink’s on me. It’s the least I can do.”

Although he lost interest in Carmen long before Lilith discovered their affair, Jules didn’t want to spend any more time alone. Knowing her parents were away, Jules made his way over to Carmen’s Park Avenue high-rise. The doorman nodded in welcome, recognizing him from previous visits.

Jules pushed the buzzer on the front door of the Duivel apartment. He knew Carmen was home because he could hear music playing inside. When no one answered, he leaned on the buzzer again. The volume of the music dropped suddenly and he could hear the sound of bare feet on the hardwood floor.

“Who is it?” Carmen asked, her voice muffled by the door.

“It’s me. Open up.”

There was a lengthy pause before the door finally opened to reveal Sergei Savanovic standing on the threshold, barely wearing his black leather pants. Jules looked past him and saw Carmen sprinting into the kitchen, naked as a baby bat.

“Sorry, dude,” Sergei said with an apologetic shrug. “Carmen’s busy.”

Jules was completely at a loss to understand how, in just a matter of days, he had gone from Mr. Popularity to having no one to hang or party with.

While he was accustomed to Lilith getting mad and dumping him, what he wasn’t used to was her staying mad and refusing to take him back. Not only had Cally shot him down, Lucky Maledetto had made it plain that he was better off not trying anything further with her. Now, adding insult to injury, Carmen had not only moved on—she had taken his closest friend with her.

Oh, and he could forget about hanging with Oliver or Xander from now on, too, thanks to Lilith. The other Old Blood girls he could hit on were all Bathory students, so whatever Lilith was saying about him at school, odds were they had heard it, too. What if they
all
knew the truth? What if they
all
laughed in his face and called him stupid? What then?

As he walked down the street, he spotted a couple of young coeds sitting at a patio table outside a nearby bar. They were giggling over their apple martinis while not-so-secretly checking him out. The world was filled with women who found him desirable and would do anything to be with him. He returned their interest with a cocky smile, and they invited him over. In a sudden flash Jules realized his girls didn’t need to be Old Bloods—or even vampires, for that matter. If he kept his cool and his distance, Lilith would eventually weaken and come back to him, like she always did. If she thought he was going to beg her to take him back, she had another thing coming.