Chapter Nineteen
Night-life in the City
J
ules pulled up in front of an extravagant hotel. A valet was waiting to take her car keys from her. She took the ticket, thanked the young boy and walked straight to the elevators in the lobby.
Once inside, she pulled her phone from her back pocket to confirm the room number Gabriel had texted her. She punched the button for level sixteen and waited. The door slid open twice before reaching her desired floor. She stepped out into the hallway and moved down the hall to the left, stopping in front of door number 1617.
She knocked and waited a few moments for Gabriel to answer. When he did, after a few long moments, her instinct was to hug him. However, a barrier of tension seemed to be floating between them. He stood rigidly to one side of the doorframe to allow her to enter.
Jules walked into the room and dropped gracefully onto the elegant and hard sofa. “Tell me what happened. What do you know about the killer?” Jules looked around the room, realizing for the first time that she and Gabriel were completely alone. “Where is Eileen?”
“We had a fight,” Gabriel said speaking for the first time. “She left.” He closed the door and walked over to sit in the straight-backed chair to one side of the glass coffee table.
“What do you mean she left?” Jules said astonished. “You didn’t go after her?”
“Everything is falling apart Jules.” Gabriel looked at the floor as he spoke. He sounded hopeless. “I lost you. Eileen left me. The media is pinning a woman’s murder on me.” When Gabriel raised his face there was blood dripping from his eyes and sliding down his cheeks. Jules didn’t think she’d ever seen him cry before, but he was crying now.
Jules handed him a tissue and leaned forward, placing a hand on his hunched shoulder. “You haven’t lost me. Eileen likely only left because she needed some space. But we both know she didn’t leave you, she loves you. And the murder thing, we’ll figure that out too. We’ve never seen a challenge we couldn’t overcome together.”
He sat up and leaned against the back of the chair. Her hand dropped from his shoulder.
“So that’s enough self-pity,” she said sternly. “Wash off your face, grab some sunglasses and a hat, and let’s go find your wife.”
“Sunglasses? It's dark outside. It will be for hours yet,” Gabriel said as he stood.
“Nighttime or not, your face was plastered all over the news. I recommend taking some sort of steps to obscure your identity before intentionally entering the local populous.”
Gabriel chuckled lightly and smiled sadly but nodded as he moved toward the bathroom to wash the blood off his face.
NICHOLAS
Nick approached an unmarked building in the underbelly of the city. This was a place one could only find if they knew where and what it was. It had been intentionally well-hidden and very exclusive for decades; as it catered to a very specific clientele. It was obviously a club, as the long line outside nightly could attest. The only truly conspicuous thing about it was that the bouncer would turn away even the wealthiest and well known of humans if they didn’t know the passphrase. He was currently rejecting admittance to three humans whom Nick recognized from a movie he’d seen recently.
As Nick and Eileen walked up one side of the long line, he met the bouncer’s eyes and nodded silently. They were waved through without any spoken word at all. Age did come with perks.
“Where are we?” Eileen asked breathlessly as they breached the blood-red velvet curtains, revealing the scene within. It was a mass of human’s and vampires alike. Some dancing, some drinking; both whiskey from a glass and blood from the source. Dimmed lights set the mood, while an odd assortment of music from many eras played at random.
“A club, of the vampire variety,” he said, putting an arm over her shoulders. “They exist in every major city in the world.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You don’t have to hunt unsuspecting humans to drink blood the way real vampires should. And these people get compensated generously.”
She looked up, a look of incredulous astonishment on her face. Obviously, whoever her puritan coven leader was had decided that by keeping this vampire in the dark about the world of which she was now a part, they were protecting her humanity.
“You poor thing,” Nick said and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve never drunk from a human before, have you?”
“Of course not! I am not a monster,” Eileen said, but it lacked venom. She was listening to him.
So, he continued with a smile, “I mean, I am one due to an unfortunate genetic predisposition for addictive behavior. However, not all vampires are monsters. There are ways to live that don’t include murder or abstinence. It is possible to drink from a human directly and not end their life.”
Eileen again looked surprised but nodded for him to continue.
“It’s a skill that takes practice, but it can be learned. Places like this provide a sort of safeguard. You see those two men over there.”
Eileen nodded.
“It’s their job to make sure you don’t drain the club’s human patrons. Not even I end up draining my drink in this place.”
As if on cue, the two men in black moved toward a couple along the far wall. A female was obviously drinking the blood of the middle-aged man she had in her clutches. One of the black-clad men leaned over to whisper something in the vampire’s ear. When she didn’t release her prey, each man clasps down on one of her arms and pulled her away from her now quite dazed looking meal. The women sat back a little and wiped at the blood that was dripping down her chin. She then stood and was safely escorted to the other side of the club.
“I see,” Eileen said after a few silent moments.
Nick smiled peevishly.
“Whose, your friend?”
Nick and Eileen turned at the question. A round vampire that Nick knew in passing was sauntering over to them with wide clomps. Here we go, Nick thought to himself.
“Carlos, old man,” Nick greeted with false cheerfulness. This vampire may be twice Nick’s age, but he was a pain in his dead ass.
Carlos ignored Nick like a fly on the wall and bent over Eileen’s hand, kissing it. “Who, may I ask, am I addressing?”
“Eileen Prentiss,” she said skeptically, yanking her hand back. “And you are?”
“Carlos my dear. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” A wide smile spread across his face while his nose lifted into the air.
Nick rolled his eyes and scoffed.
“Sorry, I haven’t,” Eileen said, taking one step closer her Nick.
“Surprising,” Carlos said, reaching for her hand again. “Well come and I’ll educate you.” He placed one hand on her lower back.
Nick was about to step in when Eileen shifted out of his reach and replied. “Not interested, sorry.”
“Excuse me?” Anger flashed in his eyes. He was not used to being rejected by those beneath him.
Eileen looked questioningly up at Nick. He couldn’t interpret if she was unsure what to do now or if she wanted to know if this guy was for real.
“Okay Carlos,” Nick said, stepping in front of her. “The lady isn’t interested.”
“Step aside, you insignificant worm,” Carlos instructed, shoving Nick to one side. He bumped into a nearby table, knocking it and all its contents to the floor. One of the humans occupying it stumbled backward. Hands outstretched she slammed into the glass littering the floor. More than one vampire turned toward the miniscule cut on her hand, Nick and Eileen included.
However, in a fraction of a second, one of the men wearing black, picked the woman up and whisked her away to some back room, assumedly to get her cleaned up.
“The excitement’s over. Everyone go back to your drinks and dances,” called the bar’s owner.
In less than a second, Nick was between Carlos and Eileen once again.
“Nick let’s just…” When Eileen began tugging on his arm, his attention was pulled to yet another vampire.
“Is there a problem, boys?” asked the copper-skinned vampire, that had spoken to the bar as a whole moments ago. Her hair was stick straight and glossy black. Her four-inch heels clacked, and her A-line skirt restricted her steps as she glided toward the trio.
“Not on my end Cleo,” Nick said without backing down from his stance against Carlos.
“This flea is my problem,” Carlos told Cleo, shoving Nick again. This time no catastrophe followed.
“Carlos, dear one.” Cleo put one hand on the older vampire’s arm. “You know very well that I don’t tolerate fighting within these walls.”
“His insolence shall not stand,” Carlos said, getting even more aggravated that the proprietor wasn’t taking his side.
Cleo’s steps sounded as she moved closer to Carlos. “You may be the oldest thing in my bar at the moment Carlos, but Nick here is not someone you want to mess with.” She motioned to him. “He has very powerful friends.”
“This may be your bar missy, but my age will grant me the respect I deserve,” Carlos snapped.
“In the grand scheme of time, you are nothing,” Nick said. “My ‘friends’ are twice your age and have eyes you’ve only dreamt of.”
Carlos snarled, the recognition of what Nick said seeping slowly into his expression.
Nick relaxed, knowing that the situation was again under his control.
Carlos looked from Nick to Cleo to Eileen, whom he looked all the way up and down. “The infant’s not worth it,” he finally said and then sauntered off the way he had come.
“Speaking of important vampires, where is your other half?” Cleo asked, addressing Nick as if the whole mess hadn’t even happened.
“We sort of broke up,” he told her honestly.
“Think it will stick this time?” Cleo asked laughing.
Nick shrugged, smiling down at her.
“Well regardless,” Cleo began, “a drink on the house, for you and your friend.” She motioned toward Eileen.
“Thanks, love,” Nick replied, kissing Cleo on the hand. He managed to do this without the creep factor that Carlos had used on Eileen.
“I’ll have a martini,” Eileen said as Cleo walked back to do something bar-owner related.
“She doesn’t mean that kind of drink,” Nick told her. His mind back on why they had come.
GABRIEL
Together, Gabriel and Jules had checked the streets and every darkened corner near the hotel but had had no luck finding Eileen. Originally, he’d thought that she’d just gone down to the pool or bar. He hadn’t imagined that she was angry enough to go out on the streets by herself. He was also finding that sunglass at night were a real problem. He might have been drawing more attention with them on than if his face was clearly displayed.
While they searched for Eileen, he told Jules all he knew about the Fort Miles Phantom, which wasn’t very much. He looked to be in his late teens, close to Jules’s human age, and yet he was at least several centuries old. Gabriel couldn’t remember any distinguishing features beyond that. It was over so fast, and he’d been focused on the one losing blood, not the one doing the drinking.
“Great, thanks again,” Jules said into her phone and then replaced it in her back pocket.
“Anything?” Gabriel asked. Jules had been on the phone with a vampire acquaintance that lived here in the city.
“Yes. There is a place on the north side. A blood club?”
“That’s a waste of time. She doesn’t even know they exist,” Gabriel said.
“But someone there might have seen her,” Jules countered. “This way.”
Jules turned down a lesser populated street. Gabriel was watching her with new eyes. She raised her face to the moon and sighed. She seemed so calm, more at peace than he had ever seen her before.
“Jules.”
“Hmmm?” Jules turned toward him while still moving steadily forward.
“About the werewolf…”
“Gabriel don’t,” Jules said sternly. “Please,” she added more softly.
“Can you just tell me why?” he asked, pressing on even though he wasn’t sure he would like her answer.
“Why did you choose Eileen?” Jules asked. “Yes, I know she was dying. But before that. Why did you fall for Eileen in the first place?”
“Her kindness,” Gabriel said. It was the first thing he’d noticed about her, after her striking looks.
“And after you turned her, you were under no obligation to marry her. Why did you?” Jules continued.
Gabriel thought for a moment. Life with Eileen just made sense. He loved her. He loved all of her.
When Gabriel didn’t speak Jules answered for him. “Her personality fit yours. Though you are two whole people alone, she enhanced who you are, didn’t she?”
Gabriel smiled slightly. He knew what she said was true. Then he put together what she was telling him. “Are you saying that this wolf completes you? But he’s an animal!”
“And we are demons,” Jules said, keeping her tone level. He knew that she didn’t feel this way. That she knew they were more than that. Not all vampires were demons, therefore, not all werewolves were animals. He wanted to believe it, he just didn’t know how too.
“Alright,” Gabriel conceded. It was clear that Jules was not going to back down about this. Gabriel decided that he would have to let her learn the truth the hard way. Hopefully, it didn’t end up getting her killed. But if he couldn’t talk her out of this madness, it was a risk he’d have to allow. “I won’t say any more about it.”
“Thank you.” She smiled at him slightly and he smiled back. At least the fight between them was over.
“Did you know that when you first brought Eileen back, I didn’t like her either?” Jules asked.
Gabriel looked at her skeptically.
“It’s true.” She chuckled a little. “I spent months wishing things would just go back to normal.”
“But you didn’t ever say anything.”
“No, I didn’t. You were so happy,” she stated.
“It’s true. I was,” he said, smiling toward the sidewalk, thinking of his incredible wife.
“And now, I love Eileen. She’s part of our family.”
Gabriel nodded. He knew where this was going. It was leading back to the werewolf.
“And that never would have happened if I hadn’t given her a chance.”
Gabriel sighed. “I don’t know if I can learn to like him, Jules, but I will try to give you space to be with him.” He stopped walking. Following his lead, she turned to face him. He reached his hands out, took her head between them, and brushed her forehead with his lips. “I love you. And I do want you to be happy.”
“I know,” Jules replied. “Come one we’re almost there.”
NICHOLAS
Nick’s lips were pressed against the woman’s neck. Her head lolled back, not in death but pleasure. He knew why most human’s frequented clubs like this. Some because they liked the mental blackout that came after the bite, it gave them a kind of escape. Some simply did it for the money. While others were hoping that some vampire would turn them. All that was required was for the human to consume blood from a vampire and the change would begin. However, this occurrence was rare. Vampires generally didn’t like to share, for whatever reason.
Just then, Nick saw something he hadn’t wanted to. An image. A memory, belonging to a woman whose blood he was drinking, slipped into his mind. This dark-skinned beauty and another woman, happy, in love maybe. Nick fell into the trap and pulled the woman closer until he saw the tragedy of her lover’s death, the event that brought her to this moment.
He felt for her. He also felt for himself. Her blood was rejuvenating him, exciting him. He wanted to finish her. He wanted to drain every drop of her blood and set her free from her pain.
A hand clamped down on Nick's shoulder tightly. He knew this was the first warning for him to stop. He wanted to shake it off but that’s not how things were done here. You stop drinking when you’re told to or you get thrown out for good.
He pulled back and removed his fangs from her neck. Her blood dripped down his lips onto his chin. He rested her head in his hand. Her dark skin glistening where his fangs had punctured her neck. He wanted the rest of it now, all of it. But he couldn’t have it.
With difficulty, he retracted his fangs and licked off his lips. Then he laid the beautiful woman down gently on the bench they were both sitting on and stepped away.
Nick looked at the pair who had been sitting next to him. Eileen was delicately sipping from her partner’s wrist. The countenance of a vampire in complete control of her own desires. A twinge of jealousy swept over him, and then it was gone. It was what it was. His father had been an alcoholic, Nick was cursed with an addictive nature and he had to live with that. He walked over and tapped Eileen gently on the shoulder.
She pulled back easily and looked up at him, temporarily-red eyes, fangs, blood and all. “What’s up?” she asked.
“If you don’t want to become an addict like me, you’d better stop.”
She whimpered, stuck out her lower lip for a moment, then thanked her woozy host, and wiped off her mouth. “You didn’t tell me it would be like that!” Eileen almost bounced in place. “Normally I just feel peaceful, comfortable. But that was a rush! I mean, wow!”
Nick chuckled. “Come on, let’s wash it down with a whiskey.” He held out a hand for her, and she took it, standing.
“Why could I see his memories?” she asked as they approached the bar.
He waved his hand at the bartender. “Part of drinking from the source,” he replied. “It gets pretty intense at times, but you’ll learn to block it out eventually.”
The bartender hurried over. Nick ordered two shots and waited. They arrived in front of him moments later, two small shot glasses of whiskey with a drop or two of blood in each. “Drink this.” He handed her one of the glasses. “Won’t do anything for you, but it tastes good.” Nick tossed back the shot.
Eileen copied him and then sputtered, her face contorting in disgust. “That so does not taste good.”
“To each their own,” he said shrugging.
“I want more blood,” she blurted out just as the red in her eyes began to fade away, exposing her original color once again.
“Take it easy, tiger,” he said, patting her on the arm. “Pace yourself, the next one we have to pay for.”
JULIANA
Jules and Gabriel approached the unmarked building, walking to the back of a long line of humans to wait. After a few seconds, however, they were waved forward by the bouncer. Jules approached tentatively. Silently, he inspected both Gabriel’s and Jules’s eyes, determining their approximate age and species. He nodded low to Jules and waved them inside the club.
The sights and smells hit Jules hard. A long bar sat to the right while to left was a crowded dancefloor. Lights flashed, loud rock music blasted over the speakers, humans and vampires surrounded them. Across the open space was a section set apart by velvet ropes. Inside it were vampires consuming fresh, human blood. Jules could smell it from the front of the club. It burned her nose and made her mouth dry out. Her body tensed. Her fingers twitched. Jules took a step toward that part of the club. Gabriel’s hand on her shoulder held her in place.
“We’re here for Eileen remember,” he whispered sharply in her ear.
Jules swallowed against her dry throat but nodded. This was about her coven and trying to stop an out of control vampire.
“Gabriel.”
Surprised, they both turned toward Eileen’s call.
“And Jules, you’re here together.” She approached, smiling widely at them. Jules was unnerved by the relaxed and happy expression she wore. She looked at ease in this place that was making Jules’s skin crawl.
“We were looking for you,” Gabriel said, sounding exasperated. But he could just be yelling to be heard over the music. Jules couldn’t tell for sure.
“Well here I am,” she said, throwing out her arms. Gabriel looked her over, presumably making sure she was unhurt.
“You missed a spot,” he said down his nose, pointing to a blood drop that had run down her white top.
“Oops,” Eileen replied.
“Never mind all that,” Jules said, stepping between Gabriel’s tense expression and Eileen jovial one. “How did you get here? Did someone bring you or…”
“Nick did.” Eileen pointed nonchalantly toward the dance floor.
“Nick who?” Gabriel asked.
Eileen considered the question for a moment. “You know, I don’t know.” She turned back to the dance floor and scanned it. She zeroed in on a couple grinding together to the music. The red-haired vampire’s back was turned toward them.
“Nick!” Eileen shouted.
He turned at her call.
If Jules’s heart had been beating it would have stopped completely.
“That’s the murderer,” Gabriel hissed.
Jules barely heard him. The vampire on the dance floor mirrored her frozen expression. He had her eyes, her hair, even her lips.
Gabriel stepped out in front of both woman, and in a flash, punched Jules’s twin brother square in his matching nose.
NICHOLAS
“Gabriel, stop!” The person Nick thought was long ago dead, shouted at the man who had just punched him in the face.
Nick barely registered that Eileen ran up and put a hand on his assailant’s chest, holding him back from repeating the punching.
He was too focused on the tiny vampire running toward him to even address the blood gushing from his nose. Before he knew what was happening, he was holding his sister in his arms, his twin. The part of him that had been missing for centuries. His arms grasp her desperately. After a few seconds, that felt like years and yet the briefest of moments, he set her back on her feet and looked down at her. She was just as she had been the last time he’d seen her, except she was a vampire like him. Four-hundred years and the memory of her face hadn’t faded.
“Juliana?” he asked breathlessly, his hands in her hair, hers on the sides of his neck.
“How?” she asked him.
“Well, I’m a vampire of course,” he teased with a wide smile. He didn’t think he’d ever been this happy before. “As are you, obviously.”
She punched him on the shoulder hard. He flinched but the identical smiles on their faces widened.
Red tears of joy streaked down his sister’s face. “You disappeared,” she said in a quieter tone.
“I know but I came back for you. As soon as I knew that I wouldn’t accidentally kill you, I came back,” he said. “But they told me that Aunt Millie had been murdered. And that you…” his voice trailed off. He thought she was dead. He never would have left England if he hadn’t.
“Jules, what are you doing?” The male said as he and Eileen approached the twins. “This is the murderer!” Gabriel shouted.
“Murder?” Nick asked. Looking at the man.
“You’re the Fort Miles Phantom.” Jules took a step back from him, her expression one of confusion and pain.
“That’s what they call me,” Nick admitted.
Eileen looked shocked while Jules was looking at him like their parents had died for a second time.
“Julie…” The joke fell from his next comment as he put two and two together. She’d come for Eileen. If they were in the same coven then she didn’t drink from humans either. It made sense. She would be one of those vampires. The ones that abstained.
“Jules,” she corrected, the look on her face hardening into resolve. She looked from him, toward Eileen, and then the other guy.
“Jules let’s go,” the guy said, stretching out a hand for her to accept. Nick felt panic grip his un-beating heart. She couldn’t leave like this. This couldn’t be the end of this insanely miraculous second chance.
JULIANA
Her heart breaking, Jules took Gabriel’s hand and turned from the one person she’d always loved above all others. The other half of herself.
She felt a hand grasp her arm. He spun her, his grip tightening. “Don’t leave me. Please, Jules.” The tone of voice Nick was using meant that he felt as if his life being was ripped apart, again.
“Jules…” she heard Gabriel's voice call, but it felt far away.
Looking up into her brother’s eyes, pure silver, like her own, she saw only him. His face was just as she remembered it. He still looked like an angel, or maybe he was a ghost now.
“Please…” he begged softly.
As he held her gaze, she saw all the gentleness and love she remembered so clearly. This was her twin, her blood. She loved him. Despite all of his faults, she always had. He was a murderer, but so was she. Yes, she’d found a way to control it, but could she blame him if he had not?
As she worked through the tidal wave of emotions drowning her, she heard Gabriel walk out from behind her. In the blink of an eye, he was standing threateningly in front of Nick.
“Get your hand off of her,” he said firmly.
“Gabriel,” she said, throwing an arm across his chest, restraining him.
“Who the hell are you?” Nick spat.
“Back down. Both you, now!” Jules ordered.
Both her blood and chosen brothers took one step back. Jules looked around them, they were drawing quite a bit of unwanted attention. A woman was approaching them, her arms crossed, looking livid.
“We can talk about all of this back at the hotel. The sun’s coming up and we’re making a scene. Let’s go.”
“Really Nick…” the irate looking woman began.
“We’re going, Cleo. I’m sorry,” Nick said but Jules found that he hadn’t taken his eyes off of her as he spoke to the woman.
Gabriel took another step back, putting an arm over Eileen’s shoulders and guiding her from the bar.
Jules’s hand found its way into Nick’s. She felt that if she let him go, he may just disappear into thin air. Phantom or not, she wouldn’t go through the pain of losing him for a second time.
He looked down at their hands a moment and then whispered in her ear. “Did you miss me?” he asked.
“Every day.”
Hand in hand, she left the vampire bar, her life forever altered.