Chapter Twelve

TYSON tried to get that night out of his head. The night he was supposed to help Donovan deal with some trouble that had been skulking around his bar, but ended up getting into a brawl with Clara’s leech goons, who just wouldn’t give up. The original pair had returned with backup. He was glad Dan and Donovan were both there, because he would’ve been toast without them. Still, it was an awful night, and Tyson, despite how it probably looked to Avery lately, had led a fairly calm life. He didn’t like brawls; he didn’t like blood. He’d rather read than watch some violent sport. He just had this one niggling problem in his life that cropped up every so often and caused trouble. And he was sure he hadn’t heard the last of her yet. She’d eventually figure out her leeches had been put away, and she’d either hire more or come for him herself. Tyson hadn’t had to deal with her on a serious level in almost two hundred years. He supposed he was due a good battle with Clara. It was the worst timing possible, though.

“Hey. Come here.”

“Hmm?” They’d been in the library, Avery grading and Tyson reading a book, when Avery pulled his attention up. And it wasn’t hard. Tyson loved looking at Avery. He’d do it as often as he could.

“Let’s go watch a movie. I’m tired of grading, and I want to relax.”

Tyson had always liked Avery’s method of watching a movie. It usually involved cuddling, hand-holding, and quite a few kisses. He wasn’t about to complain. However…

“Why don’t we go out instead?”

“Go out?”

“Sure.” It might not be smart, but Tyson needed a distraction, and a few hours of scripted superheroes or espionage weren’t going to do the trick.

“Yes. My black jeans will fit you. I think I’m going to take you to Chandelier.”

“What’s that? A club?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

AVERY sure as hell did see.

Chandelier was like Donovan’s club in a way—hidden from the public, another world behind closed doors. But that was where the similarities ended. If Avery had followed Macy there the first night, he’d have bolted the minute they walked through the door. It was almost like Donovan’s club was the starter club, the place where he went to get used to the world Tyson lived in. Chandelier was… not.

“I don’t even understand how this exists,” Avery whispered to Tyson as they walked in.

“Stick with me. I’ll show you.”

Chandelier was enormous—impossibly enormous. Where Donovan’s club seemed a bit too big to fit behind the façade of the building it inhabited, Chandelier was too big to fit in any building in the Quarter. Yet somehow it did. The place was cavernous, like some emptied-out theater with ornate carved wood, velvets, and gilded details. Every surface was luxe, and the room was filled to the brim with light bouncing off crystals. They entered onto a wide mezzanine that floated above a ballroom floor with tables surrounding it. Already there were hundreds of people. If people was taken in the broadest of terms.

Donovan had made some effort to blend in with the average person, dressed in normal clothes, kept his hair long but still passably modern. The inhabitants of Chandelier made no such effort. Avery felt like he’d just walked into a scene right out of a Anne Rice book—corsets and top hats, fangs out, every single terrifying, incredible thing Avery would have somehow hoped vampires to be.

Avery followed Tyson the rest of the way in, clutching his hand and quite terrified to let go. The thrill pulsed thick underneath his skin.

“Don’t lose me. This place can get a bit debauched.”

It looked mannerly and Victorian at the moment, fangs aside, but Avery took Tyson’s word for it.

“What happens?”

“This is a vampire bar only. Not like Donovan’s, which is open to everyone.”

“Are we supposed to be here?” The last thing Avery wanted was to piss off a room full of vampires.

Tyson chuckled. “The vampires like me. Half of them still assume I’m one of them. The rest of them know I’m friends with Donovan. We’ll be fine.”

“Is this where Marie Laveau is?” he whispered. He had no idea how well the people, vampires, surrounding them could hear.

Tyson chuckled. “No, she’s definitely not a vampire. That’ll be for another night. Tonight’s for observation. But… discreet observation. Don’t stare.”

It was nearly impossible not to. Especially after a few drinks from a bartender who’d obviously learned some tricks from Dan.

Eventually, Tyson pulled Avery onto the dance floor. It was crowded and warm, smelled of perfume and that sweet musk he’d smelled on Donovan before, but as soon as Tyson wound his arms around Avery’s waist, everything else disappeared.

They swayed to an otherworldly melody and a haunting voice singing about being with someone for always. Tyson pulled him closer to nip gently on his neck, kissed his way up Avery’s sensitive skin, and ended with a soft kiss to his lips.

The music swirled around them, Tyson’s pale hair glowed in the light of huge crystal chandeliers, and his heartbeat thumped gently beneath Avery’s. He nudged his fingers under Avery’s shirt and Avery shivered from his touch. It had to be magic. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to it.

Tell me that you’ll kiss me forever….

“A lot of vampires really like to party,” Tyson said when they’d returned to their seats with a drink. “It’s why Donovan doesn’t hang out in places like this very often. Not his scene. They can be fun when you’re in the right mood.”

Avery was still reeling from their moment under the lights, but he managed to take a long look at the crowd, hopefully a discreet look. He didn’t want to be rude. Clothes had been partially removed, and the air reeked of champagne and the metallic tang of blood. There were no boundaries that Avery could tell, groups of bodies swayed together, touching and kissing and downing sparkling drinks. Avery noticed he was far from the only human in there. In a way he wasn’t surprised. He’d expected something like that from years of movies and television. There was something hypnotic about the vampires, even if they were terrifying in their excess. He imagined the people were drawn to them. It didn’t look like the vampires were all that attached in return. Avery watched one female vampire take a short drink from a man’s neck and then push him away, giggling as she watched him sway toward the bar.

“Do these people know they’re… snacks?”

Tyson nodded. “Of course. Some of them are here for a night, some are like junkies—they get introduced to this world and get addicted to the feeling. It’s something I would only advise trying once, because it’s easy to get sucked in. I’ve heard it feels incredible to have a vampire drink from you.”

Avery stared at him. “How about I try it zero times?”

He wasn’t tempted to have some stranger’s teeth in his neck.

“I’d be okay with that.”

“How the hell do these places exist? You’d think….”

“I’m sure you can guess we’re very good at hiding—even somewhere this big has enough protections around it that a normal person wouldn’t be able to find it. It’s better that way. I think pop culture is a bit optimistic about us mixing in with regular society.”

“You’re not a vampire.” Avery looked out at the crowd and was grateful to remind himself of that.

“I’m not. But I am part of this in a way—far more at times in the past than now, but still….”

“It’s incredible.” Scary, but amazing all the same.

They stayed for another hour or so, watched the party get louder and the clothes and inhibitions disappear. They left when Tyson noticed a few female vampires looking at Avery like he was something they’d like to eat. He whispered that he wasn’t in the mood for a fight, and he handed Avery his coat.

As far as introductions went, it was fascinating and exciting, but Avery was very happy to return to the quiet of Tyson’s mansion.

TYSON and Avery were in the middle of a movie a few days later when Tyson’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Cell phones were something he’d learned to love in the modern world—much more than other technology that he could sometimes take or leave. He loved his phone and kept it on him most of the time. Avery knew that and teased him about having the damn thing attached to his hand. For someone who’d grown up in the cell phone age, Avery actually didn’t love them. He often left his on another floor of the house and forgot all about it.

Tyson shuffled on the couch in his lounge and pulled the phone out of his pocket. Avery looked over, and Tyson smiled reassuringly. Then he read the message and was immediately on guard. There was a picture of scattered passports, all with his face and various names, birth certificates, death certificates, all forged of course. Proof that he’d lived multiple lives throughout the centuries, or at least a collection that made him look like some sort of con artist. There was a message underneath the picture.

I’m back in the states and I have some things you might want to take a look at. In fact, if you’d just go ahead and bring me the rocks and the deed to your mine? These things might not see the light of day. See you soon, darling. xoxo.

Fuck. Tyson knew who it was. Even though the last time they’d talked cell phones hadn’t existed yet, he still fucking knew. Clara. She’d sent her leeches twice, and apparently the fact that they hadn’t gotten anything from him hadn’t been a good enough reason for her to seek what she wanted elsewhere. They were a small community, but there were others—people she could get it from, people who’d purchased minerals from him a few times in the past couple of centuries, or others with their own huge stash who would probably have extra to sell to her. He bet Clara didn’t feel like actually paying when extorting from the source was so much easier. And a lot more fun.

“What is it?” Avery asked. “You’re all tense all of a sudden.”

“My old… friend just hit Stateside. I’m not very excited about it.”

Tyson wanted Avery to have nothing to do with her. Ever.

“Is this the same friend who sent the goons to the club to look for you? Is this the same friend behind that fight the other night?”

“Yeah, babe. Her. I really don’t want you to get involved. She’s trouble.”

“You’ve hinted rather heavily, yes. I love that you used to date her.”

“It was a really, really long time ago.”

“How long?”

“Before this country was a country.” The sad thing was, Tyson still had so many memories of her—when he’d found her fascinating and fun, before he started to see how twisted she was. What she was capable of.

“I’m going to need a drink.” Avery knew Tyson was old but didn’t know quite how old. It obviously still hit him hard when he got reminders of just how many years Tyson had been on the planet.

“I think I’m going to need to go deal with her. It wasn’t how I wanted to spend the next couple of days, but I guess there’s really nothing I can do other than get it over with.”

He hated being forced to see her. He also hated giving her what she wanted, which was attention above all else. Clara was a thorn in his side, and he’d successfully avoided her for decades. Apparently his grace period was up. She should also still have years left of the last stash he’d given her. She probably took extra because of the power boost that he never opted to experience. He only took enough to stay young. The mineral could do quite a bit more if someone dosed themselves high enough. Problem was, it ran out quicker that way, and that kind of power had the potential to cause problems mentally. Tyson wanted to avoid the second part for sure, even if the first one never became an issue for him.

“Where is she?”

Tyson sighed. Another part of the equation he wasn’t thrilled about. “Her favorite house in the US is in New York. I’m guessing she’ll be holed up there, waiting for me to cave and come see her.”

“Is that how she sees this? You coming to see her?” Avery made a pissed-off face. Tyson thought if he could, he’d hiss.

“She never quite let us go. She hates me, but I think she needs to remind herself that I’m out there at the same time. I don’t know how to explain it. She’s a mess. Somehow she’s become my mess.”

“When were you with her?”

Tyson didn’t want to answer that question specifically. “A hundred lifetimes ago. More, really. She’s just hard to shake, no matter how much I want to. I thought I’d lost her, really. I guess I stayed here too long.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“No. Absolutely not. I don’t even want her knowing your name. The less she knows about my life and the people who are important to me, the better.”

Avery looked like he wanted to go into battle for Tyson, and Tyson adored him for it. But he wasn’t going to get Avery involved in his bullshit. He needed to take Clara’s power away. Get whatever the hell she thought she had on him.

“When do you think you’ll leave?”

“I’ll see what Mrs. Peggs can arrange. Probably the morning. Maybe even tonight if she can work her magic.”

Avery rubbed his face into Tyson’s neck. “Will you please be safe? I want to go with you, but I get that this is another part of your life and I’m not involved. Don’t get killed.”

Tyson sputtered out a laugh. “She won’t kill me. She might knock me around a bit if she gets the chance to take out her aggression, but she won’t kill me. Who else would she mess with if I wasn’t around?”

Avery gritted his teeth. “I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I.”