Fresh Blood (8 page)

Max hesitated just a moment and his hands
tightened on Erica’s waist. “This isn’t good. Benton Carlisle
shouldn’t have any interest in me.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

Max sucked in a breath and leveled a
stone-cold gaze at Erica that made her heart rise into her throat.
“You’ve been disobedient tonight. And I’m going to have to punish
you for that. I’d say if you want to get out of here in one piece,
you’re going to have to keep it up.”

* * * *

The Round Room was a universe apart from the
rarified atmosphere of Gregori’s first floor dining rooms. Here,
the walls were painted black, and like After Dark, a pulsating beat
rattled Erica’s bones when she stepped over the threshold.

Inside, a complex lighting system created
dizzying effects on the walls and the floor. Swirling spirals of
color, stark white strobe lights and prismatic arcs illuminated the
patrons who were oddly transformed from the elegant personas they
wore downstairs.

Everywhere Erica looked, there were vampires
feeding. Rather than tables and chairs, the room held couches,
divans and banks of oversized pillows. Much like Club Dead’s
grotto, the scenes taking place ran the gamut from a couple locked
in a lover’s embrace to orgies involving several humans and
vampires trussed in tight leather, chains and spiked collars.

She pressed herself back against Max, and she
felt his hesitation. In here, he might not be able to protect her
from the others if they wanted her. That thought terrified her.
Giving herself over to Max was one thing, but to a group of
ravenous vampires--she could never do that.

“We won’t be here long, I promise,” he said
close to her ear. He nudged her forward a step just as Vera Nighe
appeared. The lovely woman Erica had met in the ladies’ room looked
different in the fractured light. Her skin looked much paler and
her eyes seemed sunken. The delicate buttons on the front of her
cream-colored dress were open, exposing the deep valley between her
breasts.

She smiled at them and offered her hand to
Erica.

“Come with me, sweet one ... I’ll get you a
drink.”

Erica looked back at Max. His expression was
stony. “No. She stays with me.”

Vera pouted and surged closer, shimmying
forward to bump her hip against Max’s. “Now’s not the time to be
selfish.”

“Maybe later.” Max pulled Erica away from
Vera and led her toward an unoccupied couch. He drew her down to
sit next to him then gently eased her body across his. Cradled in
his arms she felt another conflicting surge of emotions. Had they
been alone, she would have felt cherished, and desirable, but here,
on display in front of so many others, she felt exposed. She
stiffened when Max lowered his head to her neck.

“Please don’t,” she said when she felt the
tips of his fangs against her skin. “Not here.”

“I have to--”

Erica struggled against him and he held her
tighter. The feel of his hands commanding her to mold against him
would have been irresistible if she wasn’t suddenly so afraid.
“No.…”

“Maxwell. I’m glad you decided to join
us.”

Erica looked up as Benton Carlisle’s shadow
fell over them once again. Also transformed, he’d become a
frightening caricature of his former self. His elegant suit jacket
and crisp white shirt were gone, replaced by a leather vest and
pants. In one hand he held a coiled whip and in the other a leash
that connected him to a woman who wore nothing at all.

“Mr. Carlisle.” Max’s voice was low and
steely. Erica tensed as he pushed her gently off his lap.

“Max ... why don’t you come with me for a
moment? There’s some business I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Business? Now?”

“It’s rather important. It involves security
here at the club, and I know your department often looks into
private affairs if there’s a special request.”

Erica stared up Carlisle, entranced. It
shocked and amazed her to see this man, who only a short time ago
looked like the consummate corporate executive, now dressed in
leather and leading a naked woman around on a leash. The absurdity
of hearing him discuss business with Max made Erica’s stomach
turn.

She cast a sympathetic glance at the woman,
who responded by bearing bloody fangs in a vicious snarl. The
vampiress, apparently bored by the proceedings, tugged on the chain
that dipped from her slender throat to Carlisle’s fist.

Her reward for impatience was a tap with the
handle of Carlisle’s whip. She pouted, but with her red-tipped
fangs protruding the expression looked dangerous rather than
demure.

Erica looked away.

“We’ll only be a moment, Maxwell. I promise
not to keep you from your lovely lady very long.”

Erica’s heart twisted when Max rose. He gave
her a grave look that would have melted her heart if he’d held it
longer than a second. As she watched, his expression morphed
dangerously and his fangs grew.

“You stay right here. Don’t move, no matter
what.”

She nodded. She had no intention of moving an
inch. As long as everyone else in the room kept their distance,
she’d be fine ... for a few seconds at least.

Max moved off with Carlisle and Erica wrapped
her arms around her herself. She folded herself up on the soft
couch and forced herself to scan the room for a sign of Elena. With
so many people writhing in the darkness, she couldn’t focus on any
specific features. Her gaze fell inadvertently on the sparkling
chains, the spiked collars and the undulating flesh all around her.
She shivered as the image of the naked vampiress tethered to Benton
Carlisle played through her mind.

“Good! You’re alone!” Vera’s voice broke
through Erica’s reverie and she looked over to find the other woman
kneeling before her. In Vera’s hands rested a wine glass full of
what appeared to be the same dark liquid Max had sipped during
dinner. “I brought you a drink.”

Erica eyed the glass. The sumptuously sweet
smell reached her and her mouth watered for a taste, but Max hadn’t
given her leave to accept a drink.

“I’d better not.”

Vera pouted and swirled the liquid enticingly
in the glass. “It tastes like candy. It will help you relax. I know
this place can be overwhelming the first time.” Vera smiled at her
and swayed to the insistent beat. “Once you get used to it, you’ll
love it here. You can be completely free.” She held the glass up
for Erica to sniff the sensuously sweet aroma again. The bouquet
was so strong Erica could almost taste it. She wanted to so
badly.

Erica looked up from the depths of the wine
and gestured toward another vampiress who wore a dress that looked
like chain mail. The female’s narrow hips were girded with a heavy
leather belt to which her arms were tethered with cuffs. Two men
who appeared human led her across the room to a collection of
pillows. When they pushed her to her knees, Erica looked away.

“She doesn’t look very free to me.”

Vera laughed. “She’s a vampire, darling.
She’s in complete control of that scenario. In time you’ll learn.
You have all the power.” The woman made a sound like a purr and
settled herself on the floor at Erica’s feet. “Max needs you much
more than you need him.”

Erica took another look around the room. In
the distance she thought she saw Max and Carlisle but she wasn’t
certain. She leaned closer to Vera and tried to whisper over the
pounding music. “Have there been a lot of new feeders around
lately?”

Vera nodded. “Take a sip and I’ll tell you
more.” She tapped the rim of the glass and held it up to Erica. As
Vera looked up, the heavy curtain of her dark hair fell back to
expose fresh bite marks just under her left ear. “It’ll give you
strength.”

“Strength for what?”

Vera grinned. “Whatever Max has planned for
you.” Mischief sparkled in her eyes. “It’s fortified with herbs
like those energy drinks they serve at the human bars now.”

Erica looked at the wine again. She wondered
why Max hadn’t offered her any during dinner. “Maybe when Max comes
back.”

Vera sighed and took a deep sip of the wine
herself. With a shrug, she set the glass down on the floor and
rose. She held out her hands to Erica. “Do you want to dance with
me?”

“Dance? With you?” Was beautiful Vera coming
on to her?

“Just for fun, come on!” Vera pulled Erica to
her feet and tugged her to an open section of the floor where
several couples swayed to the music. A moment later, as a
comfortable haze descended over Erica’s vision, she found herself
swirling around in time to the beat. Vera’s hands on her hips,
guided her in an undulating rhythm that made her forget Max and
Elena ... and everything else.

Max kept his eyes on Erica from across the
room while Benton Carlisle asked him mundane questions about
security. He didn’t need to wonder if this forced separation from
Erica was planned.

When he saw Vera try to give her a glass of
wine, he bared his fangs. “I’ll report your concerns to my
superiors, Mr. Carlisle,” he said as evenly as possible. “It’s
nothing we can’t handle.”

“Of course, of course,” Carlisle grinned back
and tugged on the chain of his captive vampiress. She growled.
“Would you like to join in some of our private activities tonight?
Your new feeder looks especially interesting.”

“She’s not ready.”

“She looks ready to me.” Carlisle inclined
his head to the dance floor where Vera was dancing in sensuous
circles around Erica. When the other woman leaned over and kissed
Erica on the lips, Max growled, too. “I’ve got to go. I’ll get back
to you in a few days.”

Carlisle nodded absently. “I’m sure you will,
Maxwell, I’m sure you will.” He laughed and pulled his captive
female to him as Max walked away.

Walking across the dance floor took forever,
and by the time Max reached Erica, she swayed in a dreamy haze
while Vera ground their bodies together. She smelled of vampire
wine.

She giggled when he grabbed her wrist and
dragged her toward him. “You were supposed to stay on the
couch.”

“I wanted to dance!” She delivered her
protest through a feathery laugh. Wrapping her arms around his
neck, she pushed her hips against him. Vera tried to sidle between
their bodies, but Max shoved her aside.

“She’s finished,” Max told Carlisle’s woman.
“Hands off.”

“So selfish. Couldn’t we share?” Vera tried
again to come between them and Max pushed her aside once again.
This time he pulled Erica away, toward the Round Room’s grand
entrance. She stumbled after him with a mild protest.

“Do we have to go? I was actually having
fun.”

“Yes, we do. There’s nothing more we can
accomplish here tonight.”

Erica giggled again. “Okay.”

When they reached the door he had to
physically push her through it. Out in the corridor, he had to hold
her up. This wasn’t normal. He hadn’t seen her drink the wine.
She’d had nothing except her meal and the drink he’d ordered for
her with dinner.

Max draped Erica’s arm over his shoulder and
hoisted her onto his hip. “Come on. Time to go home.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I’m sure you don’t. But you need to sleep
this off.”

She looked up at him and with adoration in
her eyes. It stung him. If she’d looked at him that way when she
was sober, he’d probably have fallen in love with her on the spot.
“Are you going to punish me, Max? I was so bad.”

“We’ll talk about that later. Right now,
let’s concentrate on keeping you on your feet.”

* * * *

The trip back to Erica’s apartment was a
struggle. Though she dozed during the car ride, she woke as giggly
and unsteady as before and he had to carry her to the front door.
He searched her purse for the keys while she leaned on the doorjamb
and fixed a seductive gaze on him. When he opened the door and
pushed her inside, she lurched toward the couch and fell across the
fluffy cushions, kicking her shoes off as she did.

“Oh, it feels good to get those off!” She
laughed again as Max closed the door and shrugged off his jacket.
He crossed the room and looked down at her, sprawled on the sofa,
the hem of her dress cresting on her thighs just above the band of
her stockings. The sliver of pale skin exposed above her garter
beckoned him. Had he been a lesser man--a lesser vampire--he’d have
been unable to resist a taste.

“What am I supposed to do with you?” he asked
as she rolled on her side to make room for him on the couch. “I
can’t leave you like this and by the time you sober up it’ll be
daylight.”

“Sober up? I’m not drunk, Max. I only had
that spritzer with dinner and ... hmmm ... What else did I
have?”

“It’s not how much you drank, it’s what you
drank. Someone drugged you tonight.”

Erica’s response was a sensuous sigh that
rasped against Max’s heightened senses. She rolled onto her stomach
and gave him a seductive grin over her bare shoulder.

“I don’t believe you.”

He sighed. This wasn’t how he’d pictured the
evening ending.

“Come on.” He grabbed her wrist and dragged
her to her feet. She fell against his chest and slithered one hand
inside the front of his shirt.

“Take this off, Max. Let me touch you.”

“Maybe later. Right now you need to go to
bed.” He held her up and guided her gently toward the bedroom, but
halfway there she dug her toes into the carpet and stopped.

“Let’s do it right here, Max, on the floor.
Make love to me right here.”

With her warm and pliant in his arms, how
could he resist? He wanted her, in fact he’d wanted nothing else
since the moment he saw her at After Dark. Why couldn’t he just
give in and do as she asked?

“You don’t know what you’re asking, love. If
you did, you wouldn’t have to say it twice.”