"Club Vampire," I blurted.

He laughed. "Come again?"

I chuckled nervously as if I had made a joke. "Uh, the club on Chester and Fourth." I realized only then that I didn't know the real name. All that time, I had been thinking of the place as a vampire club. I'd have to take notice.

The cabbie nodded and we were off with no more questions to my relief.

Chapter Seven

I jumped from the cab and begged the driver to wait with the guy still out of it in back.

"Please? I'll be just one minute."

With effort, I kept myself from accelerating because I could just feel the driver's eyes on my rear as I ran inside the club. The noise was high, the lights low as usual. Still, I could see everything, including the vamp digging into the human's neck in the corner. I smacked my lips, feeling jealous. A guy I a.s.sumed was a bouncer approached the couple.

And like magic, my hearing zoomed in on what he said to them.

"You know that s.h.i.t ain't allowed up front. Take it to the back," he commanded.

My eyes widened. The back? So vampires didn't suck their victims dry up here. There was a special place for it. I had visions of rooms with bodies piled high, waiting for the right time to dump them. My stomach churned, from a need to feed or revulsion. I wasn't sure which.

I jetted at human female in heels speed across to the bartender and reached out to catch his sleeve. "Andreas here?"

He shook his head. "Nope, had to make a run. You want alcohol again, baby?" he asked with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes. "Look I need his help. Any idea when he's coming back? Or can I use his office for...um...something."

He gave me a strange look. I thought fast. If I didn't explain, I might not get any help at all. And this bartender didn't look too bad. When he didn't encourage me one way or another, I confessed.

"I fed off this guy and I didn't want to kill him, but he won't forget, and I'm not sure what to do. So I just knocked him out, and he's waiting in the cab. But I'm scared the cabbie will wake him up, and then I'll really be in for it. You got me?"

Like he was reviewing my top speed speech, his lips moved and he was dipping his head to and fro. Finally, his eyes narrowed in anger. "Don't bring that s.h.i.t around here. We don't want trouble, and we have strict rules about," his voice dropped low, "feeding on humans."

"In other words, you don't give a rat's a.s.s!" I shouted. A hand dropped on my shoulder. I looked up to see the same bouncer that had reprimanded the couple in the corner. I was not about to get tossed out of a club. Ree does not roll that way.

I shook his hand off and spun on my heel. Moving at top speed-humans and vampires who didn't like it knew what they could kiss-I flitted across the room and out the front door. I paid the cabbie and hauled my human out of the back. When the cab had turned the corner, I surveyed the front of the club. A neon sign said, Andreas' Haven.

Imaginative. Not! I was feeling real p.i.s.sy. The bartender said the action was in the back, and I remember pa.s.sing a few doors on the way to Andreas' office. Maybe there would be a rear entrance for vampires who just wanted to feed in a safe place. That sounded like something out of a movie, but maybe it was true.

After circling around to the rear of the building, I came to a heavy duty door that didn't seem to match the suave decor of the front or inside of the club. I couldn't imagine what the vampires were keeping out with that thing.

I knocked twice and waited. Nothing. I knocked again, and then began to hammer on the door. Someone opened it slowly. My favorite bouncer.

I groaned. "Let me in please. I...need...to feed." Maybe he would have compa.s.sion if he thought I was just bringing my own bag lunch.

He eyeballed the man wedged to my side. "He's not dead?"

"You hear him breathing don't you?" I snapped.

With a dirty look he swung the door wide and I stepped inside, dragging my human. The bodyguard led me to an empty room, with comfortable furnishings and softer music than could be heard out front. I noticed a lock on the door. I cringed, wondering who that was for-the human or the vampire.

By now I was nearly out of my mind. Tasting the blood made being thirsty far worse. It made me crave it all the more. I dumped the human on the couch and began pacing the floor. Finally, I couldn't bear it. Just a little something to tide me over until Andreas got back, and when he did, I would demand he teach me the trick to make the guy forget.

Having made my decision to feed from the human again, I went over to him and climbed atop his body. For the second time, I was p.i.s.sed that his d.i.c.k wasn't hard, for I craved s.e.x almost as much as blood. I considered rubbing him until he grew, but that would be like rape since he was still out, and I wasn't that kind of woman. Never mind that I was stealing his blood.

I leaned down to sink my teeth into his neck, but before I could, I heard someone turn the lock in the door. I paused. In the doorway was Andreas, looking yummy for my tummy.

The man had pink undertones to his skin and I could almost see the warmth. He had recently fed. Fresh blood was right here beneath me, but I wanted it from Andreas.

He stepped into the door and shut it. I saw the anger on his face and the stiff way he held his shoulders. He was ticked that I had brought a human to his domain without asking. I could care less. I slid off the man, and almost saw Andreas' temper rise at the position I had been in. That didn't faze me either.

I zipped across the room to bang right into his body. I stood on tiptoes to reach his neck, but he held me down. Fighting against his hold was like trying to lift a boulder with my bare hands. I hissed. "You're not going to let me feed?"

"Why do you only want to take blood from me?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Why won't you teach me what I'm supposed to do, like hypnotize humans?"

I thought he might shrug like I did, but he ignored me. He twisted me in his arms and held me at his side. We moved to the hall and he snapped his fingers. A man appeared from nowhere it seemed.

"Take care of him." Andreas indicated the human I had left in the room. With a nod, the man went into the room and shut the door.

Andreas and I strolled down the hall to his office. As soon as the door shut behind us, he glanced down at my dress. "I'll replace that."

I frowned, confused. A couple days after I left the club that first time, I got a knock on the door and this guy I'd never seen before was delivering shoes. Not one, but three pairs of Jimmy Choos. I was in heaven. Andreas had kept his word about replacing my ruined pair, and had gone one better.

What that incident had to do with my dress wasn't clear, that is until he caught hold of the top of my dress and just ripped straight down. I shrieked in shock. My cute little dress fell in pieces on the floor and I was standing before him in bra, panties and heels. His eyes lit up.

"That bra is so sheer, I can see your nipples through it." The man was almost salivating.

"Your nipples are pieced!" he accused.

I laughed. "Yeah, and what? I got it done the other night."

He kept staring, running a hand through his hair. "You're too much woman for Haven."

Chapter Eight.

Imagine Andreas had a fully equipped bathroom in his office, complete with a gigantic Jacuzzi tub. What the h.e.l.l did he need with that? I didn't care too much because in a few minutes, we were b.u.t.t naked and wriggling around in warm bubbly water in there together.

My nipples fascinated Andreas. He rolled his thumb gently over them, teasing my peaks until I trembled. "Does it hurt?"

I shook my head no and smiled. "You like them?"

"Very much."

I moved over to him and kissed his lips. Perfectly kissable, warm and thick enough to hang onto. He was so like Haven, but different. Andreas was more mature, more powerful and self-a.s.sured. I had seen him as an arrogant jerk, but he was more. I couldn't imagine why he would present himself as uncaring. After all, he did save my life. I had to wonder if he spent centuries cleaning up his brother's messes.

When I leaned back from teasing the corner of his mouth with the tip of my young, he muttered yes. I blinked. "Yes, what?"

"I do spend more time than I should cleaning up the mess my brother creates. Every other decade, he's in love and wants the woman he's been seeing to be his forever. To make things more complicated, he prefers humans, so he can drink fresh warm blood while he's f.u.c.king her."