Wicked Games - Moon Kissed Part 2

"What?" Surprised by that calm statement, Bella shot up on one foot, the other leg still bent on the couch. "You know about vampires?"

The chilling rush of blood leaving her head turned her flesh to goose b.u.mps.

Seth shrugged. "I've been dating one for a couple weeks."

An openmouthed gape was all she could manage.

"Sit down, Bella. You've just discovered that mythical creatures exist, and not in a good way, either. Are you sure you're okay?

None of them put their fangs to you, did they?"

She was still too stuck on the "I've been dating one" part to summon a response. Dragging her leg from the couch, Bella paced around behind the couch.

Seth was her BFF. They told each other everything. Shared good times and bad. He'd been the one to encourage her to begin dancing again. And he was always the first with a hug when she needed one.He'd told her about a new girlfriend a few weeks ago over soup and sandwiches at Panera. Bella had been stunned how quickly he'd started calling this mystery woman his love. Seth never dated long-term and preferred to keep his dating schedule open for late-night pickups after a gig at the club.

And he'd neglected to mention this newest fling was a vampire.

"Whoever it was that grabbed you did good," he finally said. "If those vamps had gotten their hands on you they would have bitten you. I wonder if it was a were?"

"A were-as in werewolf? Seth, you're killing me here. First, you neglect to tell me your girlfriend is a vampire. And now you're so casual about the fact that creepy horror creatures actually exist. I don't know what to think."

"It's a lot to take in, but accept the fact that you have proof vamps do exist and move beyond it, Bella. That's what you do."

"Yes. Yes, I believe. I mean, how can a girl not believe when she's seen proof?"

He turned and propped his elbows on the couch. "And yes, I do mean werewolf. If he was scenting the vampires like you said, it's my best guess. Those things are like bloodhounds times ten. They can pick out a peppermint Life Savers in a city the size of New York. Put them on the scent, and set them loose."

"Oh my G.o.d." Again the nausea rose. Bella gripped the couch. "He said he had my scent in his nose, and that he'd find me again if he wanted."

"s.h.i.+t, Bella, that's not good."

"No kidding. The last thing I need is a werewolf tracking me down to-"

Finish what he'd wanted to start last night in the warehouse?

Bella sank to her knees. Seth bounded over the back of the couch and lifted her so she sat on the back of it. He nudged between her legs, his hands to her hips and his head bowed to her forehead.

"Just lie low, Bella. It's going to be okay. Last night was a fluke. Don't ever go down that street again. And stick to jogging during the day, will you? Vamps don't do daylight."

"Oh, mercy." It was too incredible that the silver-screen stereotypes were true. "And crosses?"

"Kill vamps dead. But only if they've been baptized."

"Christ."

"That's about the point of it. Oh, and stakes work pretty well, too, but from what I understand, you've got to burst their heart or else they'll bounce right back at you. Werewolves, on the other hand, can do daylight. So maybe I don't want you going out for a run at all."

"Seth, I'm freaked that you know so much and are actually dating a vampire. How does that happen? Why does that happen?

Are you her slave? Is she sucking your blood?"

She grabbed his s.h.i.+rt and tugged aside the wide lapel to reveal a purple-and-green bruise on the side of his neck. "Oh, no, you are a slave."

"I'm nothing of the sort." He tugged his s.h.i.+rt collar to make it stand upright. Seth was all about fas.h.i.+on and the right haircut. "She doesn't take very much, and besides, it feels good."

"Good? To have some creature bite into your flesh and suck out your blood? Oh, Seth." Bending and putting her head between her knees felt right, but instead Bella wavered before her friend. She wanted to hug him, but at the same time she couldn't touch him. A vampire had bitten him. What did that make Seth?

"It's all cool, Bella. I'm in love."

Panic strummed her voice. "Because she has you under her control."

"Because she is the most perfect woman I have ever met. She makes me happy, and I make her happy. Now, I want to be sure you're safe tonight, so this ticket will go to someone else."

"No, I want to go to the show. I've written it on my calendar."

"Heaven forbid, Belladonna Reynolds wavers from her schedule," he mocked grandly.

"Seth! I'm not going to hide in the dark like a mushroom. I can deal with this. Maybe. After I've wrapped my head around it.

Vampires? Really?"

"Yes, Bella, really."

"Right. Really." She tucked her forefinger in his jeans pocket, where she suspected he kept the ticket. "I want a ticket, Seth.

Please? It'll be good for me to dance the night away and not think about other stuff."

He shoved a hand in the pocket and produced a Day-Glo green ticket and relented before she could take it. "Promise you'll take a cab to and from?"

"Maybe."

"Bella."

"The club is down the street, less than a mile. The street is well lit, and there are always clubbers and cars out well past midnight, so it's not like I'll be alone."

"Bella, among those clubbers are vampires. They are out there. And so are werewolves and demons and faeries and all other sorts."

"Oh, just stop, Seth. I haven't gotten sick yet, but you keep talking like you're such an expert on all those woo-woo things and I may hurl. b.u.t.ton up your s.h.i.+rt. I can't believe you'd let someone do that to you."

"Don't worry." He tossed her a charming wink as he tugged at his lapels. "She's very careful. If she took too much, I'd die."

"What?"

"That's not going to happen. She may even give me immortality. But that's my choice."

"You're not helping my need to hurl."

"Right. So tonight?"

"Is she going to be there?"

"Maybe. You want me to introduce you?"

Come face-to-face with another vampire after last night's adventure? "No." "I understand." He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. "So you should go shower again, and maybe once more before you go outside today."

"Why?"

"I'm thinking you can wash off whatever scent you were putting out last night. Or, I know, wear that s.e.xy perfume you have, the one that smells like cloves."

"You think the werewolf will smell me from...anywhere?"

"Don't start to cry, Bellybean. I just think it would be a good precaution."

His hug felt great, yet at the moment Bella felt her arms would never be able to grasp the rea.s.surance she needed. Everything in her world had changed. How could she return to the cheery, stress-free, well-ordered life she enjoyed?

"Wh-what do werewolves do to people, Seth? I mean, if vampires suck blood, what about..."

"I'm not sure. They wolf out when the moon is full, I know that, which makes them into hairy creatures. Or so I've been told. I think they're real s.e.x freaks, too. But again, it's only hearsay."

"s.e.x freaks," Bella muttered mindlessly. "When's the next full moon?"

"Couple weeks. Look, should I try to find out more info? Maybe I'll ask around if anyone knows a wolf in the area, see what you're dealing with."

She nodded. "That sounds good. But maybe it would be better to drop it all. Maybe he didn't like what he smelled."

Not judging by how he had groped her last night. And that kiss, so hard, and yet wanting. If she hadn't been freaked out of her gourd, she might have found it alluring.

An alluring werewolf?

"I think I do need another shower," she added.

Seth kissed her on the forehead. He was in entirely too good a mood after everything they'd just discussed.

Bella wondered if being bitten by a vampire released endorphins into the man's bloodstream. He had been extremely happy of late, so much so that she had briefly wondered if he'd been doing drugs. Seth was so against drugs, she'd not dared ask him about her theory.

The truth was worse than drugs.

"Come up and bang on the gla.s.s when you get to the club," he called as he strolled toward the door. "Love you, Bellybean!"

She waved him off and headed toward the shower.

What kind of scent had the wolf picked up from her? She'd been a sweaty mess last night.

And really, did she believe Seth's guess? The man had been a man. He wasn't a werewolf. Wouldn't he have seemed wolflike to her? Although, he had a beard and lots of hair...

"No, he wasn't. Couldn't be," she said as she turned on the shower.

But if she could buy the vampire bit, that meant she had to get on board with the werewolves, too.? Uploaded by Anggun ?

Chapter 3.

T he music pummeling the innards of club Silver leaked through the open back doors. Graffiti scrawled across the brick walls had gotten a recent freshening up, and the bold colors glowed in the night.

A small group who couldn't gain access danced in the lot behind the elite club. The bouncers kept watch but seemed to approve.

It was this way every evening. The management was even considering serving drinks outside to the unchosen.

Severo paused at the front corner of the three-story brick building to watch the line out front as some were gifted admission and others slunk away, pouting, yet determined to return another day for another go at admittance. The back-lot dancers were too gauche for those who wished entry through the front.

Slipping a hand in the pocket of his brown leather jacket, he tried to catch a few words of the song, but the beat was about all he could discern. Didn't matter. He wasn't a fan of the erratic music the clubs played. Lynyrd Skynyrd was more his speed. But he did like the atmosphere. The noise and crush of bodies put him out of his thoughts and into a mindless place where nothing really mattered.

But until he entered the club, he was anything but mindless.

He strolled down the front avenue and noted the black stretch limo parked across the street. Vamps, no doubt. They scoured the clubs, but in a subtle send-out-the-troops manner that brought potentials back to the horde. The higher-ranking vampires couldn't be bothered to go inside and mingle with the lesser humans.

Nasty longtooths. Severo hated them all, save a select few with whom he had the opportunity to establish trusting relations.h.i.+ps over the decades.

The August air stirred a frenzy of gasoline, heat-softened tarmac, spilled booze, cat p.i.s.s and perfume. When so many odors combined, he could easily acclimate and move above them, so to speak. They faded into the background as murk, allowing distinctive scents to rise.

One scent in particular surfaced. It was familiar, rich and enticing. He'd gotten but a taste of it, and he wanted more.

The s.h.i.+very little rabbit who had fled the vampires and run right into his arms. She had seeped into him on an intoxicating c.o.c.ktail of fear, adrenaline and-though she would deny it-arousal. Sweet, she still lingered on his tongue and in the pores of his flesh.

Bowing his head and marching forward, Severo gained entrance to Silver with a mere nod to the bouncers.

Seth spun Jayne's latest diatribe against the tabloids; she was the current "it" girl on the techno-funk scene. The crowd bounced, s.h.i.+mmied and jumped on the stainless-steel dance floor beneath epileptic-fit-inducing strobe lights.

Bella pushed her way down the entrance ramp, hung with thick black velvet curtains, and weighed the chances of getting up to the DJ's box. The dance floor was body to body. Seth was in his groove, fists pumping and head bopping. But she did manage to catch his attention with a quick wave.

She needed this night to lose herself in the loud music and redirect her thoughts from other things. Things that had stabbed at her brain all afternoon. She was still shocked at Seth's confession. But tonight it was all good.

As soon as she sipped her first cosmopolitan.

The shortest route to refreshment was straight across the dance floor. Finding the beat seductive, Bella slinked her way into the crowd. Ballroom and flamenco might be her preferences, but she could shake it with the best of them.She inched her red spangled skirt up at her thigh and s.h.i.+mmied before a s.e.xy dancer. He matched her move with a suggestive shake of his shoulders. It was all in fun. And man, did his teeth sparkle.

Spinning, Bella insinuated herself between two women. They b.u.mped their hips to hers and that made Bella laugh. She raised her arms above her head and decided the drink could wait. Surrendering to the beat took her to a great place.

Masculine hands stretched down her arms, and she rotated her hips. Together she and Mr. White Teeth rocked in a wide circle. It was overtly s.e.xual, but she didn't feel the threat level she had last night. Even the flutter of fingertips tracing the swinging hem of her short skirt didn't offend her.

She was in control here. No one was going to chase her or try to take advantage of her. Not unless she wished it. And she would never ask to be controlled. Control was hers. Her life didn't function without it. And tonight she intended to take it back.