Flutter

“What do you want then?” Violet tried to look strong and angry, but without the confidence behind it, she just looked like a whiny child.

“I don’t know.” I chewed my lip. “Before, when you were chasing after me, what did you want?”

“I didn’t want anything with you,” Violet said. “I mean, at first, I went after you as a joke because you were so tasty…” She lowered her eyes. “But Lucian, he wouldn’t let it go. I think he liked the idea of stealing you from another vampire.”

“Well, now he’s gone and she’s a vampire, so that’s settled then,” Jack interjected with a clumsy smile.

“How old are you?” I asked, ignoring Jack.

“I don’t know why that matters,” Violet said, but she looked flustered. “I was fourteen when I turned, and that was like two years ago.

“Look, it wasn’t my idea.” A strand of blond hair fell into her eyes, and she looked at me, as if daring me to defy her. “Not going after you, not turning into a vampire. It was all Lucian. He thought this was all some great big fantasy, and he had somebody turn him, and then stupidly, I had him turn me.

“But he’s dead. And I’m over it. So…” Blinking hard, she tried to keep me from noticing the tears in her eyes. “Are we through?”

“Yeah. Sure,” I nodded, unable to think of a reason to keep her talking to me.

Violet brushed past me, disappearing into the dance floor. Even after everything she had put me through, I felt this strange sadness for her. To be so powerful and young, and yet so confused and alone. She had been a dumb kid playing around with Hot Topic makeup and got in way over her head.

“You okay?” Jack touched my arm.

“Yeah.” I remembered we weren’t here to check up on my enemies. Jane was here somewhere, probably losing blood as we spoke. “Sorry. Let’s go.”

“Who was that girl you were talking to?” Milo asked when reached them, and Bobby craned his neck around to see.

“Nobody. Where’s Jane?” I asked.

“I haven’t seen her yet, but we’ve just been waiting here.” Milo gave me an irritated look, so I pushed past him into the adjoining room.

The light above glowed dull red, the kind of lighting that was most pleasing to vampires’ eyes. This room was smaller than the last and dressed more like a coffee shop than a club. Soft couches filled the room, and a small bar in a dark corner served drinks, but only ones of the type AB variety.

A lot of doors and darkened hallways led out of it, and while I had never been in one of the rooms, I knew exactly what they were for. Some vampires required more privacy when they were with the bloodwhores, while others were camped out on the couch, drinking openly from their human donors.

With one quick scan of the room, I knew Jane wasn’t there. Her heart and her scent were almost as familiar to me as Jack and Milo’s, and they were nowhere in this room. I turned back to Milo, and he had come to the same conclusion.

“She was here before,” Milo said.

“She was with a guy,” Bobby added.

Jack walked around to look more closely, in case we missed something. I had taken too long getting ready or staring at the people outside or randomly talking to Violet. I had been wasting time when I should’ve been tracking down Jane. I still had her phone number, but she hadn’t answered my calls since I turned into a vampire.

“Alice! He finally did it!” a voice purred, and a vampire got up off the couch and walked over to me. She left a girl discarded on the couch behind her, a thin trail of blood drying on her neck, and she moaned softly, reaching out in the empty space where Olivia had been.

With long black hair past her knees, Olivia had ageless beauty, but she had been in her forties when she had turned, which had probably been a very, very long time ago. Her clothing was entirely tight black leather, and I had never understood how she was able to move.

While we weren’t exactly old friends, Olivia had been the vampire who had first rescued me from Lucian and Violet. There seemed to be a wisdom lurking below her hazy grin, and even though she had the slow, slurred movements of an aging junkie, she still had the killer instincts of a vampire.

“What?” I tried to return her smile, but I was too frustrated over not finding Jane.

“He turned you,” Olivia said, and she reached out, caressing my cheeks. Her eyes were glazed, but her voice was low and surprisingly seductive. “And what an exquisite creature you are.”

“Thanks,” I replied uncertainly, and Jack appeared at my side.

“Maybe you can help.” Milo walked over to us. Bobby trailed after him, and Olivia looked at him with disdain. Her interest apparently didn’t go past human girls, or probably girls in general. “We’re looking for a girl, a friend of Alice’s.”

“She’s a bloodwhore, we think,” I said. “She’s tall and thin, and very pretty, like a model. Her hair is short and dark, and she’s always dressed to the nines. Her name is Jane, and I think she’s in trouble.”

“If she’s the girl I’m thinking of, she definitely is in trouble,” Olivia nodded gravely. She licked her lip and pointed down the hall. “She’s been coming around here a lot more than any one person should, and she went down that hall an hour ago with a vampire.”

“Thank you,” I smiled and turned down the hall.

The hall was pitch black, but I saw the outlines of the doors. I smelled the blood and heard the erratic heartbeats and happy moans, and I had to concentrate on it without thinking about it. I had to find Jane without giving into my own thirst.