We Own the Night (The Night Songs Collection Book 3) Page 8

  “Who the hell is that?” I motioned back towards the table.

  “Well, if you had called me—“

  “I didn’t call you back because--” I had to speak quickly. Lennon’s pursed lips and crossed arms told me exactly what she thought of my excuses. Tristan squeezed my thigh under the bar. “I didn’t feel the need to explain my decision about Melanie. What I think of you has nothing to do with Melanie.”

  “If you had called me back, as I was trying to say, I could have told you what was going on around here. But you’re right, doll, you don’t need my help.” She walked away before I had a chance to say anything else. I took a hard swallow of my drink and looked down at the bar. Her words crushed me. I needed her, more than ever. I just didn’t know how to tell her anymore.

  I turned my attention back to the gathering in the middle of the room. As predicted, Noah’s eyes were fixed on me. As mine met his, I felt the burn rise from the pit of my belly and release, locked in his gaze.

  “I knew I could make the fire rise in you, lover.” He still moved faster than I could see, or maybe I was just blind with rage. I sure as hell wouldn’t be asking Ryder. Time to figure things out on my own.

  “Get away from me,” I growled. “And by away, I mean Phoenix.”

  Noah laughed. Tristan had turned around, glaring at him as well. Noah smiled back at him with all the bravado of an asshole that had slept with someone’s girlfriend.

  Tristan crushed the glass in his hand, sending broken shards and spilled booze all over the three of us. Blood ran from his palm, distracting me as he pinned Noah down on the bar by the neck. Right, Tristan, cat fights wouldn’t solve anything.

  Noah’s face turned burgundy from the lack of blood flow and Tristan’s blood spilling on him. Tristan leaned in, from the sound of Noah’s grunt, pushing down more weight on his throat. “Leave her the fuck alone. And get that other bitch out of here.”

  Ryder pulled Tristan away from Noah by his hair. “What the fuck, Tristan? He didn’t do anything.”

  “This time,” Tristan practically spat. “But give him a chance. He’s a slippery fucker. Don’t trust him around your girl.” He looked over Ryder’s shoulder at Melanie.

  “I don’t trust your girl. Period.” Ryder’s words were icy. He didn’t look at me at all, his eyes fixed on Tristan. “We’ve decided, as a band, that it makes better sense for us to support Blade.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” I shrieked, grabbing at Ryder’s arm to get it away from Tristan’s hair.

  “You’re weak, Callie. And you’ve already told us where you stand. If you can’t help us, you can’t expect us to help you.”

  My heart pounded in my chest. Noah looked so satisfied, I just wanted to slap him. I looked back at the table, more smug smiles. I had to keep my cool. Falling apart wasn’t going to prove my strength.

  “You’re making a big mistake, man,” Tristan said. My mouth dropped at how he took this in stride. It was like he just told Ryder he ordered the wrong sandwich. “We could have had a great partnership.”

  “There’s nothing you can do for us, man. We don’t need your female vampire. We can train ours to be strong,” Ryder spat, looking at me like I was a rat. “You need us more than we need you.”

  He turned around and went back to the table without another word, glaring back once to make sure he got his point across. Noah made a show of pushing away from the bar, blowing me a kiss before he turned away and back to his band.

  “That’s it?” I grabbed Tristan’s arm as I spoke through clenched teeth. “You’ve made a big mistake? We’re so screwed. Everyone is turning against us.”

  Tristan rolled his eyes. “They’re has-beens. No one cares about them. And there’s a lot more vampires in town that are going to see Blade for the lunatic he is. We have nothing to worry about, beautiful.”

  “Nothing to worry about? They have that other bitch that they’re going to train to be some bloodthirsty lunatic just like the rest of them!” I kicked my foot against the bar so I didn’t take my anger out anyone in this room. “Ryder’s right. I’m weak. And I don’t have anyone to help me with that. He knows everything I don’t know. And it’s just a matter of time before everyone else does, too.”

  “Beautiful. Calm down.” Tristan cupped my face in his hands. I fought the urge to push him away. “You don’t need to be engaging in combat every time you leave the house. You own everything. The important people know that. They’ll do your dirty work for you.”

  “If anyone ever told me anything, maybe I wouldn’t be freaking out right now.” This time I did take his hands away. “Who are these important people?”

  “Tony, for one. And his staff.”

  “Tony who couldn’t keep up with Blade?” I crossed my arms and spun my stool away from Tristan. At some point, Lennon had refilled my drink. Okay, so she was still on my side. I picked it up and sipped at it, looking out over the room. Quite a few of them seemed aware of my argument with Tristan.

  “You think Talis never had any of this shit to deal with?” He spun me back to face him. “This never goes away. You need to relax.”

  “Relax? Like you? So everyone can tell me how useless I am?”

  Tristan’s lips formed a hard line as he processed my words. I was sorry I said it. Sort of. I was sick of having to save everyone else’s feelings when no one gave a crap about mine. I needed him to stand up and embrace what he was if we had any chance of survival.

  Since he already broke his glass getting pissed at Noah, he had nothing left to destroy. “Let’s just go.” He barely spoke above a whisper. “Although I should just fucking leave you here and let you figure it out on your own.” His eyebrows rose as my insides shattered. “I guess I’m not so useless after all.”

  Great, I thought as Tristan pushed through the front door without me. Now I was going to have to chase after him, past Blade, Ryder, Melanie, and this other chick, to make sure he wouldn’t actually leave without me. My heart pounded, reminded of the night Blade did the same exact thing, pushing past me after a show, leaving me at Santa Fe Station, and reemerging as this monster. And even worse, Blade would get to watch history repeat itself.

  It never bode well for me when the men in my life disappeared.

  I turned back to Lennon, desperate for a kind face. She looked away from me, pursing her lips. Her shoulders rose and fell.

  What would the table behind me do, now that they had me alone? I had to get out of here.

  I pushed myself away from the bar, casually like we meant to do this. Just come in, have a drink, stir up shit, and leave separately. Yeah, that’s exactly what I had in mind for tonight.

  I didn’t acknowledge my rivals as I walked to the door. Instead, I stopped and hugged one of my favorite regular patrons. I missed my old life, the one that had seemed so crazy before and now I wished to have its normalcy back.

  The desert breeze whipped my hair in my face, tickling my skin. I shoved my hands in my pockets, looking for Tristan. The tail lights were on in the Viper, and he revved the engine while still in the parking spot.

  He was still here.

  Elated, I practically floated towards the car. Not that I needed to be saved, but that he kept his word. He might be pissed off, but he supported me. He didn’t leave me behind.

  A red sports car almost ran me over. Jumping so high I landed on the hood, I had to hold on to the windshield wipers to not be thrown off.

  Cash Logan got out of the car once he guided it into the spot with me still on it, shaking out his hair and pushing up his dark glasses. “Well hello, Mistress.” He laughed, offering me a hand. “Let me get you back on your feet.”

  “You drive like a frigging maniac,” I spat as I took his hand to climb off the car. “And don’t call me that.”

  Still holding my hand, he jerked my body close enough to his that his long hair tangled in mine. “If you want people to start treating you like the leader, you have to accept what you are.”

>   His words echoed in my head, slamming against the sides of my skull. How many times had I said those same words to Tristan? Yet I did the same exact thing. I swallowed hard and nodded, looking up at his light eyes. I could understand why Lennon had a thing for him. Something about him truly was magical.

  “I can help you, Callie.”

  “What do you want from me?” Why beat around the bush, right?

  Cash burst out laughing. He ran his free hand through his beard and looked off towards the road. “I’m not sure yet, but when I have a favor to call in, I’ll know who to ask, won’t I?”

  I needed allies, and I was starting to run short on options. “Okay.” I hardly could do more than mouth the word.

  He looked towards the Viper, as Tristan revved the engine long and hard. “Your creator is waiting for you.”

  “I know.”

  “I like him,” Cash said. “This comes easy to him, and that’s why they all hate him, Callie. That’s why I’m helping you. You’re meant for this.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not.”

  “Nobody wants to help you, Callie, because they’re afraid of you. They know you have something they don’t. Focus on their energy. That’s why they’re trying to keep you down.”

  I tried not to lose myself in Cash’s hazel eyes as I met his gaze. “But you’re not.”

  “No.” He didn’t clarify if he meant he wasn’t afraid of me or not. I didn’t want the answer.

  Tristan leaned on the horn of the Viper. I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to give him the finger.

  “I have to go. He’s already pissed at me.”

  Cash let go of me. It was harder than I thought to walk away from him. It didn’t take long to fall under his spell.

  “Don’t let them hold you down, Callie.”

  Tristan peeled out of the parking lot like he was qualifying for NASCAR. Hopefully, even in an exotic sports car, we still moved faster than human eyes-- most notably, police officer’s eyes-- could see. “Are you going to fuck the magician, too?” Tristan growled, not even bothering to look at me.

  Was he kidding? “What’s wrong with you tonight? No. He wants to help us.” I held on to the door handle as we passed Industrial Boulevard in a blur.

  “I bet.” I swear he pushed the accelerator even harder.

  “Do you have some pissing contest with him, too? Because if you do, you better tell me now. And get over it. I don’t have any other options. You created this mess. I’m going to get us out of it.”

  “Oh, save me, Mistress,” Tristan laughed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have been fucking around with Noah.”

  I wanted to squeeze his neck so hard his eyes popped out of his pretty face. “If you hadn’t been fucking around with Talis, no one would be in this mess. I’d be home on Martha’s Vineyard, leading a normal life.”

  Tristan pulled into the parking spot in the garage below the Alta Vista, and once he cut the engine he finally looked at me. “Then go home, if that’s what you want so bad.”

  Bastard. I could never go home again. It was the loneliest feeling in the world. “I can’t. I’m dead, remember? You think my mother would find that amusing when she wanted me to work the opening shift? If I frigging exploded all over the cappuccino maker?”

  Tristan’s eyes widened, and his cheeks puffed, trying to hold in his amusement. A few seconds later, he gave in and burst out laughing. “Calliope,” he mocked my mother. “Clean up that mess. There’s a line waiting.”

  I laughed too, despite being so pissed at him I could barely see. “See? You’re stuck with me.”

  “No,” Tristan held my hand as we headed to the elevators. It felt like the first time after this awful fight, making me all tingly, and slightly madder because of it. I was teetering on the top of a roller coaster, as usual. Just waiting to fall. “You’re stuck with me.”

  I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips while we waited for the door to open. “I’m happy you like me again, but I have to ask you about something that’s been bothering me.”

  “What?” Tristan raised his eyebrows and stepped into the elevator.

  I lost a little bit of my nerve. “You once said that vampires weren’t meant to be monogamous. Is that really true?”

  Even as hopelessly romantic as I was, I wasn’t sure if anything could really last forever. Tristan had exhausted me in the last few months. Could I keep pace with this for centuries, or even just decades? Would I want to? How much was really going to change about me, as time passed but my body didn’t age? Was Tristan always going to be like this? Would we always feel this way about each other?

  It didn’t matter what other vampires knew about their kind, no one could answer those questions for me. No one could answer those questions for anyone.

  He leaned against the wall, tilting his head to the ceiling and sighing. “I’m going to be honest with you.” I closed my eyes, waiting for the bomb to drop. “I don’t know.”

  It was honest. “Okay.”

  He squeezed my hands. “I’m not trying to be an asshole. I thought it was true, until you came along, but now I don’t want anyone else.”

  “Have you been with anyone else?” Why did I ask questions I didn’t want the answers to?

  He half smiled and shook his head. “I do a lot of things I’m not proud of.” He sighed. “But it’s not the same. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “I don’t know if that makes it worse or better.” I stepped off the elevator into the apartment. I headed straight to the guest bedroom.

  Tristan kept talking, but I didn’t bother to figure out what he was saying as I closed the door. It wasn’t a slam, this wasn’t a tantrum. I just needed to be alone with my thoughts for a while, without Tristan clouding them. He had a way of altering my reality.

  I kept quite a few of my things in here, I needed a haven. I’d changed the bedding to something more soft and vibrant, hung pictures on the walls, and thrown scarves over the lamps. It didn’t matter if outside of this room I was masquerading as a powerful vampire clan leader. In this room, I was peace, love, and flower loving Callie. Some things would never change.

  The peace of my room made me long for Lennon. There was a zen about her nobody else could provide me. I could kick myself for ignoring Lennon, because now she was so pissed at me. No one else got me like she did. She always made everything better, put it into perspective, and damn, I needed that right now.

  But more than that, had she made any progress with Cash? He’d made no bones about the fact he wanted something from me, but what? I found his honesty refreshing.

  Anything he wanted from Lennon, I’d guarantee she was willing to give to him. I pulled my pjs on and slipped under my blankets. I shut all the lights off, except for the icicle lights I’d hung above the bed. I didn’t plan on sleeping, I just wanted to look out at the city and think. Eventually, the safety shades would come down and envelop me in darkness.

  I didn’t know much of anything about Cash, besides what Lennon had told me, and I hadn’t bothered to find any more out. Foolish? Lazy? Maybe. Indifferent, more likely. I knew he was a magician, but was he using vampire powers, or everyday sleight of hand? It’d make sense if he had a supernatural advantage, how else would have an edge on the countless other Vegas magicians?

  I couldn’t have wished for a better teacher.

  But how long had he been in Vegas? No one had ever talked about him before, had they? I didn’t remember hearing about his show. I’d have to look it up, but my laptop was in the living room, and I wasn’t moving.

  I heard the door open softly, but I didn’t turn towards Tristan. He slipped under the blankets and pressed his body against me, draping his arm around my stomach. I didn’t say anything, but I snuggled against him.

  “So many nights, I carried you in here and watched you sleep until I almost burned myself with the sunrise.” He murmured, playing with a curl of my hair. “I miss that.”

  “That feels good,” I said softly. “I u
sed to hate it when I woke up in here, alone. Now this is where I come to get away from you.”

  “There are things I can’t explain to you about this world, but you’ll understand it once it happens to you,” Tristan continued twirling my hair between his fingers, and I wrestled with consciousness. “I know it drives you crazy.”

  I turned towards him, resting my head in the nook on his shoulder. “What do you know about Cash?”

  “Not much.”

  Shouldn’t Tristan know something about the other vampires in town? Maybe that was asking too much. It’s not like they handed out an updated directory every year. “Do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “I’m sure we’re going to find out.” Something about the way he said it, he seemed a million miles away.

  Before I had a chance to ask anything else about Cash, our lips met and we were speaking a whole other language. Tristan pulled me in close, his fingers so tangled in my hair I thought we may have to stay like this forever. My hands found their way down to his ass, his hips grinding against me in a way there was no question what he was thinking about.

  I couldn’t think anymore tonight. And I just didn’t care.

  The debacle known as “Soul Divider: Revamped” started tonight at the Riviera. For some insane lack of reason, I insisted on going. Already heated from fighting with Tristan about it, I walked through the lobby as fast as I could without making people stop and stare, and also in an effort to lose Tony, my babysitter.

  Honestly, I didn’t mind Tony’s company at all. He’d always shown me kindness, even when I first arrived in Las Vegas, and then I wasn’t any different to him than the rest of the throng of girls vying for Tristan’s attention. Tony actually seemed to give a shit about all of us. But I still resented Tristan for thinking I needed Tony’s protection. He was human. It had its limitations.

  Nothing had changed at the venue since Fire Dancer played there, not even the crew. Changes cut into profit, and Blade was all about the profit. No one paid me much mind as I pushed through the crowd up to the side of the stage. Melanie didn’t see me, or anyone else for that matter. Her eyes were glued on Ryder, watching him like she’d never seen anyone pick up a guitar and make it sing before. In that moment, knowing every thought and feeling swirling around her, picking up on the pure adoration she felt towards Ryder, I could forget how much she hated me. And I could almost forget that I didn’t trust her. Anyone who could look at another person like that couldn’t really be evil, could they?