Freak Show (9 page)

“Game of strategy, huh?” Jenner’s laughter rang with satisfaction. Slapping his cards down on the table, he snickered. “You’ve lost your touch, my friend.”

A straight flush mocked us from the tabletop. I watched with growing horror as Arys’s chances of winning grew smaller. He stared in disbelief. Jenner was kicking his ass. If Arys didn’t win a few hands, it was over.

Jenner toyed with his chips, picking up a stack and letting it slide through his fingers. The sound they made grated on my senses, an endless clink that quickly got under my skin.

“Maybe it’s karma,” Jenner offered, sliding the chips faster, louder. “You fucked me over, and now it’s your turn, Arys. Let’s end this.”

“Yeah, why not?” Shaz chimed in. “Some of us don’t have precious time to waste.”

Arys met my gaze. Other than the muscle twitching in his clenched jaw, he was unreadable. I half expected him to touch my mind, to say something. He didn’t.

Instead, Jenner asked me, “What do you think, sweetheart? Feeling lucky?” Confidence oozed from him.

I ignored him and his cocky smile. Intimidating me wasn’t necessary. I was already afraid. However, I was also ready to fight. The wolf paced inside me, certain she’d get her shot at Jenner yet.

Everyone stared at me, awaiting my response. My head swam from the booze and blood. The noise and lights assaulting my senses had begun to dull. All things considered, I was feeling pretty good.

To Arys I said, “Do whatever you gotta do, babe,” staying committed to our united front.

Arys flung ten grand in chips down, a challenge adorning his handsome face. I didn’t know what cards the dealer had dealt him, but he seemed happy with it. Waiting for Jenner to decide if he was bluffing had me on pins and needles. Unable to stay seated, I paced the length of the table. Jenner’s eyes flashed in irritation so I shot him a snide smile. Perspiration greased my palms. Calming breaths did nothing to help.

They played a few more hands with neither vampire sustaining much damage. Then, the cards stopped in a long pause as decisions were made.

I didn’t have the patience for this shit. The waitress brought me another whiskey, which I eagerly snatched. A cloud of perfume surrounded her, taunting me with a hint of musk and human. Our fingers touched as I accepted the drink, and my gaze fell to her neck.

“Can I offer you anything else?” She asked, tilting her head to reveal two bites hidden beneath her hair. Jenner must pay these people damn good.

“No,” I snapped, more forcefully than intended. “Thank you.”

It took a moment to regain my composure. The heady atmosphere of the club made it difficult. Talking myself down from the ledge became a lot easier when Jenner’s triumphant shout broke through my thoughts.

“Victory has never felt so fucking good!” he crowed.

The cards said it all. Arys stared in stony silence at the pair of kings in his hand. They were shitty cards, especially compared to Jenner’s flush. Arys’s arrogance had been the driving force behind his decision to settle it this way. He had never really believed he would lose.

It was over. Jenner had his vengeance victory. Hooray for vendettas.

Chapter Seven

I wanted to be surprised. Really, I did. But I wasn’t.

“Fina-fucking-lly,” Shaz muttered. Tipping his beer to his lips, he settled back into his seat with an uncharacteristically sly smile. “What a boring way to settle a score.”

My jaw dropped. Where the hell was this attitude coming from?

“The excitement starts now.” Like a kid on Christmas, Jenner was unable to contain his glee. His fang-flashing smile was so wide I thought his head might split in two. Icy blue gaze locked on Shaz, he cackled, “In fact, it can start with you.”

“Alright, Jenner, you made your point.” Arys tried quickly to intervene. “I owe you. Fair enough. Leave him out of it.”

“You married my fiancée! And killed her. Your wolves killed Harley.” The dangerous vibe seeping from Jenner had the little hairs on my arms standing on end. Pointing a finger at Shaz, he barked, “You’re going in the ring.”

I stood back and watched the vampires dissolve into slinging barbs and threats. Chairs abandoned and power raging, they took turns promising one another a slow, painful death.

Searching the crowd for Jez, I spotted her near the stage with Sloane. The two of them were draped all over each other, giggling and talking. I didn’t trust Sloane’s intentions, but I had no time for that now.

“Boys, boys, boys,” I tsked, stepping in between the raging vampires. “There’s got to be a better solution.”

Despite the knot forming in my stomach, I stayed calm, refusing to let my emotions show. Putting Shaz in the fight cage was cruel in the worst way. It couldn’t happen. There was no way I could allow that. As my mind raced, struggling to come up with an amicable alternative, Shaz blew that plan to hell.

“I’d be happy to show you how I tore Harley’s throat out,” he proclaimed, slamming his beer bottle onto the poker table. He sneered at Jenner. “I wasn’t afraid of Harley, and I’m not afraid of you. Put me in the ring.”

Everyone fell quiet. Forgetting Arys entirely, Jenner slithered over to Shaz, eyeing him up like a prize-winning piece of meat.

“Well, look at the balls on this one,” Jenner mused. “I’m tempted to put money on you myself. Too bad I don’t want you to actually walk out of that ring alive.”

 “I guess you’re going to be disappointed then. Might as well place your bet.” Arms crossed, the wolf shining in his eyes, Shaz stood relaxed, ready even. Not a shred of fear emanated from him.

Arys looked as stunned as I was. Our eyes met, and I shrugged. This side of Shaz was new to me too.

“Shaz, you don’t have to agree to this,” Arys said. “I won’t let him force you into anything.”

Shaz scoffed, looking insulted. “Did I stutter? I said I want to do it. Don’t talk down to me, Arys.”

“Are you out of your mind?” I asked, incredulous. There weren’t words enough for the flurry of questions I wanted to hurl at him.

With a snap of Jenner’s fingers, three vampires from his security team surrounded Shaz. Both Arys and I took a defensive stance, but the blond wolf waved us away.

“My guys here will take you down to get ready for the fight,” explained Jenner. “Drink, shower, beat the hell out of one of them, I don’t care. Do whatever you need to do to be at your best. I want to see a good show.”

“Oh, you will.” Shaz went with them willingly. The wolf was heavy in him, creeping close to the surface. His green eyes almost glowed.

I stepped in front of him, refusing to let him just walk away like this. “Wait. There has to be another way. You don’t have to do this. Why would you want to?”

Shaz touched my cheek; something almost wistful crossed his face. Then it was gone, and I saw only wolf. “Don’t do anything to stop this, Lex. I mean it. Consider that a command from your pack Alpha.”

He leaned in to press a brief but surprisingly deep and sensual kiss to my lips before following the security guys through the crowd. I gaped after him, speechless and a little pissed off.

“I don’t have a pack,” I mumbled when I found my voice, but he was already beyond earshot.

I looked to Arys for help. He merely shrugged and sat heavily in the chair Shaz had just vacated. I was torn, wanting to go after him. Did he really expect me to just sit back and let this happen? And more importantly, did he seriously just give me an order?

“Let him go, Alexa,” Arys said. Like many times before, it made me wonder if the mental wall between us was more transparent than I thought. “Shaz came back with something to prove. Like any other animal, he’s going to run around marking his territory and generally ticking everyone else off. And you have to let him.”

I looked longingly after Shaz, knowing I had to let him go. He was an Alpha wolf. He’d be fine. Right?

Remembering my drunken leopard friend, I searched the crowd for Jez who had vanished from sight. In her inebriated state, she’d never be able to fight off a vampire, especially not one like Sloane. No vampire made by Harley could be trusted.

“I should find Jez. How long do I have until Shaz fights?” I couldn’t believe I was asking so casually with such acceptance. This was so wrong.

Jenner perched on the edge of the poker table, watching me fidget with my whiskey glass. “Your friend will be safe with Sloane. I promise. In fact, she’ll have the time of her life.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Swirling the deep gold liquor in my glass, I grasped my power, making my eyes bleed to wolf and then to glow Arys’s vampire blue. I peered into Jenner, hoping he saw the resolve in my eyes. “If anything happens to either Jez or Shaz, I will kill you. And if I go down trying, I’ll still find a way to take you with me.”

We shared a moment then, Jenner and I. For a brief space in time, I think he truly believed I could and would be the one to end him. Then he shrugged off the dazed wonder and replaced it with a smarmy sneer.

“Your wolf fights next. So we should probably head down there. I like a ringside view.”

Without waiting, Jenner headed for the elevator. Angry and cursing up a storm beneath my breath, I followed with one last glance back for Jez who was still missing with Sloane.

Re-entering the fight arena made my knees shake. I walked in a surreal haze. The harsh sting of reality sought to cut through the remains of the euphoric buzz. It had faded along with the effects of the whiskey like a short-lived illusion shattered by impending doom. The usual.

I did my best to tune out Jenner’s gloating. He led us to a VIP section near the fight cage where we sat on velvet sofas and watched the current fight while waitresses offered their blood to us.

“Spit it out,” Jenner said to Arys. A cheer from the crowd drowned out his words. “There’s something you want to say. I can see it all over you.”

Arys sat stiffly, his arms crossed, eyeing Jenner like a snake in the grass. “Harley kept the shady activity much quieter than this. How do you do this every night without the FPA shutting it down?”

“Harley’s activity was filthy. That blood ring was too dirty, even for me. And I like it dirty. The FPA was happy to let me do whatever I wanted with the place after his death. I have a little arrangement with them. I withdrew from the blood ring, and they leave me and the club alone.” Jenner was pleased with himself.

Arys had tried to shut down Harley’s blood ring soon after his death. He’d failed. I found it hard to believe Jenner was able to dissolve something so many vampires were determined to hold onto.

“So Harley’s death worked out quite nicely for you. How convenient,” Arys said with an eye roll. “Must be good for business to have the FPA on your payroll.”

“You’re having problems with your local sector, I presume. A little bargaining can go a long way. Try it.”

“If only it were that easy,” I interjected, reconsidering the whiskey.

“Oh, but it is.” Jenner was just so sure of himself. Arrogant as all get out, he spoke with condescension. “Everyone needs something they can only get from someone else. It’s business.”

“What about demons?” I countered, knowing he wouldn’t have a smarmy answer for that. “Is there much demon activity here? Seems pointless. Everyone is already sinning.”

His gaze dropped pointedly to the black dragon wrapped around my forearm. “I don’t associate with them. Nobody with any sense would get caught up with demons.”

The slimy son of a bitch didn’t know a damn thing about my deal with Shya. My temper flared, and I was contemplating slashing Jenner’s throat with my claws when Arys cut in. “How did you dissolve Harley’s blood ring?” he asked. “Claire and Maxwell were desperate to keep that going. I can’t imagine they were the only ones.”

A shadow flickered across Jenner’s face. “I took care of it.”

 He was being purposely vague with good reason, I was sure. The blood ring Harley had been running was vile, a twisted supply and demand of victims for fetish kills. Children, virgins, redheads, whatever a vampire wanted in a victim, they could find. It was truly sickening. Discovering that Jenner had hated it would have made me muster an iota of respect for him if he hadn’t just endangered my wolf.

“And what does Hurst say about all of this?” The name dropped from Arys like a bomb, causing Jenner to stiffen. It was familiar to me, though like most of Arys’s memories, everything about Hurst remained buried.

“He doesn’t say much of anything these days.” There was, for the first time, a crack in Jenner’s tough exterior. He held Arys’s gaze, but it seemed hard, as if he wanted to turn away.

“Who’s Hurst?” I looked back and forth between them. I hated feeling out of the loop.

“He sired Harley,” said Arys. “He’s old, much older than me or Jenner. It’s been several decades since I’ve seen him.”

“It’s been decades since any of us have seen him,” Jenner added. “Hurst is the oldest, wisest vampire I know. He’s also a recluse, unwilling to deal with the irritation of humanity any longer.”

I waited for further explanation but received none. “So,” I prodded. “Where is he?”

“Yes,” Arys nodded. “I’d like to know that as well. It would be nice to speak to him.”

“Nobody sees Hurst unless he initiates it. He’s close enough to stay aware of the goings on of the city without being part of it.” Jenner held his hands out and shrugged, dismissing the subject.

I ran a finger around the rim of the whiskey glass, pondering what it must be like to have lived so long as a vampire that one tires of existence. It was as fascinating as it was tragic. Many questions danced on the tip of my tongue, none of which Jenner would answer. I didn’t bother to ask.

“Does he know I’m here?” Arys asked. There was visible tension in his shoulders. His restraint was going to break at some point. It wouldn’t be pretty.

“He probably knew it before I did. Nothing slips past him.” An uncaring shrug from Jenner conveyed that he wasn’t close with Harley’s maker.

Another loud cheer went up from the crowd. The fight announcer’s voice boomed through the arena. He pronounced the winner; the fight was over. A dead wolf was dragged from the ring, the victor barely on his feet. Shaz was next.

Dread filled me, and my stomach flipped. Desperation seized me. “Jenner, please, let’s work something out, strike a deal of some kind. Shaz doesn’t belong in that ring.”

He leaned forward, pressing his fingertips together while giving me a thoughtful once over. “I beg to differ. You don’t sound too confident in him. Funny considering you were confident in his ability to help you murder my sire. Tell me, Alexa, would you like to take his place?” Raising a dark brow, he flashed a cocky smile at me, but his gaze strayed to Arys for a reaction.

Arys appeared unruffled, but I could feel the hate-filled rage he held tightly reined. With an eerie sense of calm, he said, “He’s going to kill anything you put in there with him. Don’t think for a minute that we’re even after this. I’m going to make you wish I’d never come back here.”

“I wish many things. That is already one of them.” Jenner was flippant, but his fingers dug into the tabletop. “Don’t forget, Arys, we’re only halfway done here. I’ll have your lady on stage before the night is over.”

Before either Arys or I could snark back, the announcer drew our attention back to the ring. His voice thundered through the place, and my strength crumbled.

“Are you ready for the next fight?” He asked, receiving raucous jeers and applause in response. “You know the drill. Take a good look at each opponent and place your bets.”