“I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on Wes,” my companion said. “He got me out of my dorm room for a few hours.”
“You go to UCLA?” I asked him.
“Yes. You?”
“I just moved here from Oregon, and I’m still trying to decide what I want to do with my life.”
“Aren’t we all?” He held out a hand. “Adam.”
“Beth.”
I gave him my hand, and he surprised me by lifting it to his lips and kissing the back of it.
“I’m delighted to meet you, Beth. I’ll have to thank Wes for making me come with him.”
I smiled as I eased my hand from his. The college boy had moves.
“What are you studying at UCLA?”
“Finance. I promise not to bore you with the details. I’d much rather hear about what you do.”
Adam wasn’t overly flirtatious, but he didn’t hide his interest in me either. He seemed like a nice guy, so I made sure I didn’t send him any mixed signals as I gave him a story about me staying at my friend’s place while I decided what I wanted to do.
“Leave it to you to find the prettiest girl in the room,” said a silky voice.
Adam and I turned our heads toward his friend Wes, who had left his dance partner to join us. Wes was taller than Adam by at least two inches, with olive skin, dark eyes, and a smile that could melt the heart of every girl in this place. Well, almost every girl. I was most decidedly off men at the moment.
“Beth, this is Wes,” Adam said.
“Pleasure to meet you, Beth.”
Wes shook my hand, and I couldn’t help but notice the Cartier watch that peeked from beneath the cuff of his Armani shirt. Adam dressed like a hip college student, but his friend had money and liked to show it off.
“Do you go to UCLA with Adam?” I asked him.
“No. I live in New York. I’m just visiting for a few weeks and trying to make the rounds with all my friends here.” He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of, we’re supposed to be meeting up with some people in thirty minutes.” He looked at Adam. “I’ll get the car and meet you out front in five minutes.”
“Okay,” Adam replied, looking like he’d rather stay here.
Wes said goodbye to me and left. I watched him go and turned back to Adam, who gave me a hopeful smile.
“Would you have dinner with me tomorrow?”
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Coffee then?” he pressed.
“I would, but I’m kind of involved with someone.”
I almost laughed at my choice of words. Involved. That was putting it mildly.
Adam’s face fell. “He is a very lucky man.”
“Thank you,” I said, hating the way my heart constricted.
Alicia ran up to us. “Beth, have you seen Mei?”
“Not since I saw her with you. How long have you been looking for her?”
“Ten minutes.” Alicia craned her neck, searching the crowd. “She went to the restroom and never came back. I checked, and she’s not in there.”
“It’s a bit warm in here. Maybe she went outside,” Adam suggested.
Alicia shook her head. “No. Mei wouldn’t do that, not without me.”
Warning bells started to go off in my head, but I didn’t want to scare Alicia. Not yet.
“Come on. I’ll help you look for her. Jordan’s over by the bar. Maybe she’s seen her.”
I said a hurried goodbye to Adam, then Alicia and I went in search of Jordan. She hadn’t seen Mei either, and the look she shot me said she and I were thinking the same thing. We had another missing girl, and this one had disappeared right beneath our noses.
There was no sign of Mei in the club, and the man at the door said he didn’t remember a Chinese girl leaving. Jordan and I went outside to be sure. Across the street from the front entrance of the club, Chris stood, leaning against his bike, and he straightened when he saw us. I didn’t want to talk to him, but a girl was missing and time was of the essence.
“What’s wrong?” he asked when we ran over to him.
“A girl’s gone missing from the club,” I said in a rush. “Have you seen a Chinese girl come out in the last twenty minutes?”
“No.” He pulled out his phone and made a call. “Brock, anyone leave by the back door in the last half hour?”
He shook his head at us as he continued talking to Brock. “Not sure yet. No, stay there for now.”
“If she didn’t come out through either door, she has to be in there somewhere,” Jordan said. “Beth and I will go in and find her.”
Chris held up a hand, and I thought he was going to argue against me going back to the club. He surprised me when he said, “Are you girls armed?”
“Did you really just ask me that?” Jordan scoffed and showed us the blade tucked into her long boot.
“Beth?” he asked.
“I have a knife.”
“Okay. Be careful in there, and stick together. Call me if you get into trouble.”
Jordan and I went inside the club and worked our way from one end of the building to the other. Near the back door were an office and a locked door that read “Staff Only.” I made short work of the lock and discovered a flight of stairs to the basement. We listened, but no sounds came from below.
Jordan waved at the stairs. “After you.”
The stairs led us to what was obviously a storage area. Past that was the furnace room and one with nothing but wiring and electrical boxes. It was in the last room that we found what we were looking for. Dread coiled in my gut at the sight of the low-heeled shoe lying next to an open grate in the floor.
I looked at Jordan. “You want to go first?”
She grinned wickedly and pulled out her knife. “This is what I live for.”
And then she jumped into the hole.
Chapter 8
Beth
I landed lightly beside Jordan in a tunnel lit by a single light bulb. The tunnel disappeared into the darkness in either direction, and I looked at Jordan for guidance.
She looked in one direction and then the other, her mouth pressed together in concentration.
“If we knew what we were dealing with, I’d suggest we split up. But we’d better stay together for this one.”
“Which way do we go?”
A shuffling sound echoed down the tunnel, but I couldn’t tell what direction it had come from. Jordan cocked her head and nodded to her right.
“This way. Stay close.”
We ran down the tunnel, our demon sight allowing us to see in the dark stretches between the lights, and our enhanced hearing picking up the faint sounds of footsteps in the distance. Whoever was up ahead, they were walking at a steady pace, so they had no idea they were being followed. Or they didn’t care.
We slowed when we came to another tunnel. Jordan put a finger to her lips then pointed to the left to let me know we were close.
I nodded, my heart racing as adrenaline surged through me. A voice in my head told me we should have called Chris and waited for him, but the thought of Mei down here, frightened and helpless, spurred me on. Gripping my knife tighter, I followed Jordan down the new tunnel.
It wasn’t long before we sighted our prey. Anger and relief made my blood roar in my ears when I saw the man with Mei draped over his shoulder, her long black hair swaying as he walked. From here, I couldn’t tell if she was hurt, but her lack of movement said she was probably unconscious.
My foot kicked a loose piece of concrete, and I swore silently as the man spun to face us. He was young, no older than twenty, with dark hair pulled back in a short ponytail and a small goatee.
His eyes widened at the sight of us. I waited for him to open his mouth and show us a pair of fangs. If he was a young vampire, we could take him easily. If he was older, we might have trouble. But there were two of us, and we were highly trained.
We stared at each other for a few heartbeats, none of us moving. He sized us up, and then he turned and ran.
He didn’t get far. Carrying the girl slowed him down, and Jordan tackled him before he made it ten yards. I reached them as they went down, and I was able to catch Mei before her head slammed into the concrete floor of the tunnel.