“Last Saturday.”
He could have guessed that. Probably-Hannah was one of his club’s many regulars. Repeat mortal customers who his vampire patrons labeled “Fang Freaks.” Mortals who returned to his nightclub over and over in hopes of hooking up with a preternatural being. Of course, the mortals didn’t understand that was what kept them coming back, nor did they understand the source of their addiction. They just knew that what happened here didn’t happen anywhere else.
Sebastian glanced over Probably-Hannah’s shoulder to see a group of women watching him.
He smiled. They each responded with some form of invitation: a tempting smile, a coy bat of the lashes, an enticing shift of their bodies that readily said, “Here I am.”
He breathed in deeply. Damn, it was good to be a vampire. And the owner of one of the most popular nightclubs in Manhattan. This is where he ruled, where he had control. And his possibilities were so open. But for tonight, he’d made his choice. He might not remember if she was Hannah or Anna, but Sebastian hadn’t forgotten this woman’s reaction to him or her taste on his tongue. His body responded, his fangs distending just a bit.
“Care to dance?” He motioned to the dance area, where muted red and purple lights glowed under the frosted flooring.
She nodded, twining her arms around his and falling into step beside him.
Carfax Abbey, a name taken from his favorite novel, Dracula (of course), was busy tonight. As he stepped into the throng of gyrating dancers, he was overwhelmed by the scent of mortals, warm and musky with a heady undertone of sweet rustiness. Mingling with that was the impression of other preternatural beings. Their presence made the air vibrate as if the molecules and atoms were agitated by their very existence. The sensation was as exciting as the humans’ scents, but not quite as alluring.
He pulled the lovely blonde against him and began to move with the sultry beat of the music. Her arms came up to snake around his neck, her fingers toying with his hair. Her eyes locked with his as she followed his movements instinctively. Their bodies pressed tight together. A delicious friction.
“I love this song,” she said, her lips grazing his ear as she spoke over the music. “I love how you dance.”
He pulled her tighter, more interested in enjoying her body than her small talk. Which could explain the uncertainty on her name.
He dropped his nose to her hair, smelling the fruity perfume of her shampoo and the sweet scent thrumming just beneath the surface of her smooth skin. Maybe one more dance, then he would invite her to his apartment upstairs over the club.
Tonight he was edgy. His hunger barely contained. Sex and feeding were his two favorite pastimes, but this evening his body literally ached for both.
“Hannah, you found him.”
Ha! He’d been right; it was Hannah.
He turned his head to see an auburn-haired beauty in a black-and-red brocade corset and a very tight, very small, black leather skirt. A pair of black boots came up over her knees.
Sebastian started to speak, but paused. He’d slept with her, too, hadn’t he? What was her name? Alex? Alice? Elise? Damn.
“Yes, I did find him. See, Sebastian, you’ve been very, very missed.”
The new woman, whose name definitely did start with a vowel, smiled widely and nodded. “Very missed.”
“Sebastian Young!” Another woman with exotic dark eyes and long black hair joined them. “Where have you been?”
She stepped between the two women and hugged him.
Now, he did know this woman’s name. “Hello, Leah.”
The dark-haired woman pulled back and smiled admonishingly. “Gia, love.”
“Right. Right. Gia.”
“So, Sebastian, why have you been so scarce lately?” The redhead touched his arm as she spoke.
“I had some family commitments I needed to attend to,” he said. Actually, it had been more like family torments. He loved his brothers, but they were newly reformed and utterly fang-whipped. In other words, dead dull.
Not that they’d ever been that much fun anyway.
Which was why he was here. “But enough boring talk. Let me get you beautiful women drinks.”
He herded them toward the bar, his thoughts already on the delights that lay ahead for the night.
The entire length of the bar was lined up a couple rows deep with waiting patrons as two of his bartenders, Nadine and Ferdinand, rushed to fill drink orders. He strolled to the end, which was left clear for the cocktail servers to pick up their orders.
The area was empty, except for one waitress, a rather ordinary-looking woman with her black hair pulled into two messy ponytails/knots on the top of her head and plastic-rimmed glasses. At first he thought she was a mortal, which surprised him, because it was standard club policy to avoid hiring humans. Then as he got closer, he realized she was actually a preternatural. A vampiress.
He frowned, regarding her in disbelief. This creature was a vampire? The vibe radiating from her wasn’t as obvious as it was with most vamps. In fact it was quite faint, but it was definitely there.
He studied her, realizing her faint preternatural vibration wasn’t the only thing strange about her. Not all vampires were beautiful, but they were all striking in some way. This vampiress had nothing remarkable about her. Not looks, grace, style. She truly was plain. The only thing unusual about her was her skin, which was the palest he’d ever seen. Even for a vampire.
As he came to a stop near her, she cast him a wary glance, then rushed to pick up her drink tray, nearly toppling over a few of the glasses in her haste. Without another look, she scurried toward the booths in the corner of the club.
Sebastian frowned, watching her briefly before Nadine’s voice drew his attention away.
“What can I get you tonight, boss?” she asked, a smirking grin on her full, burgundy-glossed lips.
Calling him boss was their joke. At six feet tall, not many people were Nadine’s boss. Add that she was a werewolf, and no one was. That being said, she was his best employee and one of his closest friends.
He gestured with his head in the direction of the waitress. “She’s new. Did you hire her?”
Nadine nodded. “Wilhelmina? Yes.”
“Wilhelmina?” Sebastian grimaced, he should have guessed she would have an odd name. “You’ve got to be kidding?”
“She’s fine. She needs this job,” Nadine said. “And not all of us can be as unnaturally perfect as you.”
Sebastian laughed. Nadine knew she was just as unnaturally perfect as he was. It went with the territory of being preternatural. He glanced back to the new waitress.
She cleared a table, fumbling with an empty glass. She did manage to catch it by the stem just before the goblet hit the floor and shattered.
Okay, that usually went with the territory. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“So what can I get you?” Nadine asked again.
“I’d like to get these ladies a round of drinks,” he said, nodding to the trio, who giggled and twittered behind him.
Nadine raised a perfect, arced, black brow, then chuckled and shook her head. “Only three?”
Sebastian smiled. She loved to give him a hard time about his women—or rather the amount of them. “Yes, three. I’ll wait for mine.”
“Mmm, mmm, mmm.” Nadine shook her head again. “Well, I guess you have been away for a while.”
“Yes,”