Page 40 of Blood Magic

Remy smiled. “I’m sure you have room for us.”

The bouncers were big. Huge. But somehow, I knew they wouldn’t stand a chance against Remy—let alone Remy and Joe. Or me, if it came to that.

The bouncers pulled guns.

“Whoa,” I said, stepping back, hands up. “Joe, Remy, let’s go. We’ll come back another time.”

“I don’t think so,” Remy said. “I feel like dancing.”

Bastien appeared suddenly, as though he’d been standing in the shadows watching for us. Surely he’d known I was going to show up. He was the one who gave me the name of the club, after all.

“Both of you,” he said to the guards, his voice calm, “Put the guns away.” He didn’t wait to see if they obeyed him before he turned to me. “You can come inside.” He jerked his head at Remy and Joe. “They can’t.”

“We’re coming in,” Joe said, grimly. “I’m not letting her go in there without someone at her back.”

Remy folded his arms and stared the vampire down, and there was a distinct gleam of hatred in his eyes. He really could spot a vampire. He knew what Bastien was. He said nothing, however, just waited to see how it would play out.

“I will have her back,” Bastien said. He took my arm and led me to the doors. He didn’t turn around to see if Joe and Remy stood still—he knew they didn’t. He stopped at the doors. “I can have three dozen guards out here in fifteen seconds,” he said. “I do not care what you’re armed with or what you think you can do. I promise you, they will put you in the ground.”

“Guys,” I said sharply, turning to face them, “Go back to the car. I’ll be out in ten minutes.”

And finally, they did as I asked. I didn’t know for how long I could trust them to stay put, but for now, at least, they were listening.

“You should not have brought them here,” Bastien said, but whatever else he said was lost beneath the crushing music when he opened the door.

“I don’t get it,” I shouted. “Vampires have sensitive hearing. How can you bear this noise?”

“There is a quieter place,” he said, almost smiling. “Only those with passes go below, and it is much more vampire friendly.”

“He’s not here tonight, is he?”

“No. If he were here, I would not be.”

“What does he have against you?”

“My inability to follow blindly. My disregard for authority. And my refusal to believe that he is infallible.”

“So he punishes you. Does he know you’re no longer in the ground?”

He didn’t answer me. “Come. I would show you something before your two companions grow impatient and ignore their orders to wait for you outside.” He led me through throngs of people—dancing, drunk humans—and I spotted the girl, Farrow, sitting on a table in the corner watching us dully. I lifted a hand in acknowledgment, but she didn’t smile or wave or even change her expression. But she watched us until we were out of sight.

“Frederick is not the only one involved in the attempt to control humans,” he told me as we walked. “But if you take him out, the others will fall.”

Bastien looked different tonight, and I didn’t want to think that it was because he had recently fed. But I knew he had. He had an energy about him that had been missing earlier when he’d been in my office. He had more color in his face, his eyes were bright and sparkly, and unlike Farrow, he seemed almost happy. And that was weird, considering, from what I’d heard, that vampires had lost the ability to feel joy long, long ago.

“Who are the others?” I asked.

“I do not know. The only reason I know Frederick is involved is because he is the county master. Nothing goes on here, at least where the vampires are concerned, that he does not know about. No one would dare experiment on humans, or create such a power, without coming to him for permission first.”

“You don’t think that he is the one who created this…thing?” I asked.

“No, I do not.”

“Come on, Bastien,” I said. “You have to know something.”

“There are many who surround him,” he told me. “I cannot know which ones are guilty.”

“Why do you care so much?” I looked at him. “I mean, don’t you want the vampires to rule the world?”