“Stay close,” he ordered.
Hard not to when he was tugging me along. Fuck. Focus, Fee. Look for bad guys. But it was hard to concentrate on anything else but my hand and the feel of his fingers against mine. I blew out a breath, ignoring the dumb flutter low in my stomach, and focused on faces.
We were looking for dark pits for eyes and pale skin. Heck, with the damn lights in here, pallor was going to be hard to check. Eyes it was. We reached the stairs that led to the upper floor and began to climb. I used the vantage point to look down on the masses. The dance floor was already heaving.
“Not down there,” Grayson said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“My senses don’t lie.” His jaw tightened, and he flicked a gaze my way.
It was a predatory glance, and something primitive in the back of my mind whispered run. But his grip on me tightened as if he sensed my intention, and then we were on the first floor. It was quieter here. A small dance floor, a bar, sofas, and booths. People lounged, kissed, and probably did more in the shadowy nooks. The smell of sex was potent in the air.
“You can let go of my hand now.” I tugged, and he released me.
We walked toward the bar, scoping out everyone. There were no vampires here.
“It’s still early,” Grayson said. “What would you like to drink?”
“Drinking on the job?” I cocked a brow at him.
“Blending in,” he replied.
“Just a Coke.”
I was not putting alcohol in my system around this guy. Reducing my already tenuous inhibitions was not a good idea.
The bar wasn’t busy, and we got our drinks and were about to step away when a wiry guy with a receding hairline joined us.
“Grayson.” He smiled, showcasing too much gum. “What brings you to my humble establishment?”
Grayson blinked down at the man. “Just a little leisure.” He slid an arm around my waist and tucked me into his side a little too possessively.
Shit, he was a total hard muscle beneath that shirt, and it was all pressed up against me. I inhaled, and my head was filled with the scent of pinecones.
Focus.
The man glanced at me but only briefly. “I assumed you were checking up on me.” He shrugged. “I don’t blame you. I did some research of my own on the murders. I was shocked to discover that many of the victims were last seen here.” His mouth tightened. “It’s why I installed extra security cameras and hired more security staff. I won’t allow those filthy vermin to use my club to hunt.”
“What I want to know, Killion, is how they get in,” Grayson said smoothly. “Your bouncer is an outlier. He should be able to see them for what they are.”
“I have no idea,” Killion said. “Trust me, if I did, those bastards would be dead.”
Grayson offered him a small, tight smile. “Well, let’s hope your security cameras help. Although I’m not sure how they would when vampires can’t be picked up on camera.”
He didn’t wait for Killion’s reply before steering me away from the bar and toward one of the shadowy booths that had an awesome view of the whole floor.
I glanced back at Killion, but the lights made it difficult to read his expression. “You think he’s lying?”
“I know he is,” Grayson said.
“You think he’s in on it.”
“Yes, but without proof, there’s little I can do.”
Except catch the fuckers himself. He was protecting his territory, keeping it safe, and it was my job to help him.
The booth was the perfect spot to watch for vampires, but my mind kept wandering to Grayson’s thigh pressed to mine, and the way his shirt hugged his bicep or how his throat bobbed when he took a sip of his whiskey. He smelled of pine and woods and sex. Fuck, he smelled of sex. I couldn’t help it. I cracked my shields and almost bit my tongue as my clit went into meltdown, throbbing and aching. Crap. I slammed the shields down and took a gulp of my Coke. How was he sitting there so calmly when he was so turned on? Wait … was I turning him on? I was still throbbing even with the shields back up. I couldn’t work like this. This was insane, and there had to be a reason for it. But right now, I needed to focus on vampires.
I nudged him. “I need to get out.”
He turned his head. “No vampires yet.”
“I know. I need the ladies’.”
He chuffed and then slid out of the booth. He didn’t move far, so I had to brush past him to get out. He cupped my elbow to steady me, and I swear the heat from his hand penetrated the material of my jacket. Penetrated … Oh, get a grip, Fee.
“Have you not heard of personal space?” I pulled away, suddenly annoyed, and strode off before he could answer.
What the fuck was he doing crowding me with his abs and his pecs and all the fucking pheromones? It had to be a Loup thing. Maybe it was like a wolf period or something where they just leached sex.
Or maybe it’s you, the annoying little voice in my head said. Maybe you’re just horny.
Yeah, me and Errol were going to have a nice night in after this was over. The neon light for the ladies’ was up ahead. I was almost there when my attention was pulled to the left. A couple stood up against the wall. Guy with his palm braced just above the woman’s head, chin tucked in while she peered up at him. Red light splashed across her face. Her blank, slack face. Shit. Behind them, two guys hovered by the sofa with pits where their eyes should be. Where had they come from? I scanned the floor and spotted another set of stairs leading up.
Another floor?
The guy by the wall pushed off and took the woman’s hand. They headed up those stairs, and the other two guys followed.
Vampires.
I’d found some vampires.
Chapter Fourteen
We crowded onto a narrow corridor that lived at the top of the stairs. Grayson hadn’t doubted what I’d seen, and neither had the crew, thank goodness. So maybe we were in time to save the human woman. But caution was key. We had no idea how many vampires were up here.
There was a turn up ahead, and I strained to listen for sounds of activity.
“You didn’t really need the ladies’, did you?” Grayson asked.
I frowned. “Hush.”
Sariah made a strange sound. I glanced at her, and her eyes were wide. She looked from me to Grayson.
Grayson slipped ahead of us. “Hang back,” he ordered. “Let me scope it out.”
He went ahead and paused at the turn to glance back at us. Our gazes locked, and a frisson of awareness shot through me right down to my toes, but then he was gone.
Sariah grabbed my arm.
“What?” I mouthed to her.
She leaned in. “You can’t tell the alpha of the Regency Pack to hush.”
“I was trying to listen for activity. Besides, he isn’t the boss of me.”
She blinked slowly at me, her cat’s eyes assessing as if she wasn’t entirely sure what she was dealing with. “This is his territory. There are protocols and etiquette. We’re here because they allow it.”
“Well, he hasn’t ripped her throat out yet,” Nix said dryly. “So that’s a positive sign.”
Nox chuckled. “He wants to have sex with her.”
Sariah made a choking sound.
Nox rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, you can smell the pheromones too.”
Grayson wanted to have sex with me, and I wasn’t sure the feeling wasn’t mutual.
“Loup Garou do not have sex with demons,” Nix said. “Our scent repels them.”
“Well, maybe he didn’t get the memo,” Nox said. “Did you not see him sniffing Fee earlier?”
I didn’t have time to focus on their theories. Grayson hadn’t returned. How long did it take to scope out the corridor? Worry prickled my scalp. “I’m going to check on him.”
“He said to wait,” Sariah reminded me.
“And he is not in charge of this operation.” I skulked up the corridor and paused at the turn. Back to the wall, I slid forward and peered around the corner. An empty cream corridor with light brown laminate flooring and an intersection up ahead. No sign of Grayson.
I turned to call to the reapers and bit back a yelp to find them right behind me.
Nix grinned. “You don’t get to go solo, Dominus. We’re a team.”
“Grayson’s gone.” Sariah looked worried.
Foreboding itched at the back of my mind. “So let’s go find him.”
What the fuck was this place? A maze? Corridors melted into one another as we took turn after turn and not a single door in sight. And that smell, sharp and acrid, hitting the back of my throat made me want to cough.
“Can you smell that?” I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand.
“Smell what?” Nix asked.
“It smells like a dying bonfire.”
Nox cursed.
“It’s magic,” Sariah said. “This floor is spelled.” She looked at me strangely.
“What?”
“How can you smell that?”
“How can you not?”
“Vampires don’t do spells,” Nix reminded us. “They must have paid a witch to do it.”
“Fuck,” Nox said. “We are so fucked.”
Sariah chewed on her bottom lip. “The vampires are probably using this floor as a portal to their hideout, grabbing humans and taking them to another location via this floor, but anyone who shouldn’t be up here gets stuck.”
“They probably nabbed Grayson,” Nox added.
Great. “Then how do we get out?”
All three turned to look at me, mouths turned down as if to say, we don’t.
No. I refused to accept that. “If there’s a way in, there’s a way out. Think about it. The spell can’t make this place bigger than it is, right? I mean, it can’t literally manipulate matter.”
“Some spells can,” Sariah said. “But you’d have to be an extremely powerful witch.” She pondered for a moment. “I doubt the vamps would have access to anyone like that, let alone the money to pay them.”