Page 90 of Bent Out of Shade
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Tatiana didher best to use the crowds in Blood Alley to keep us separated on the way back to her car. It wasn’t even 9PM, so the popular attraction was nowhere near as crowded as it would grow later, but there were enough people to carry out her plan. Her behavior was hilarious, but she wasn’t deterring me from my many follow-up questions about her love affair. Besides, if I couldn’t tail an eighty-year-old, I had other problems.
I sidestepped two men coming out of one of the bars where a small crowd of humans and vamps were “interacting.” Compared to the nightclub, this was tame: some of the undead fed off their companions, but others just chatted. One of the parties caught my attention and I backtracked to the door.
Celeste sat chewing gum and perving on some other vamp feeding from a blond guy. The vamp lifted his head and my eyes widened.
Ian Carlyle had quite the set of new fangs. Good for him, but wow, of all the people I’d expected to jump at an offer of immortality, Ian wasn’t it. He’d even admitted to being too much of a coward to go for it, too scarred from his time in the Human Race. Something must have changed.
Celeste laughed, removing a smear of blood from Ian’s mouth with her thumb with the look of a proud parent. Creepy as fuck, but pretty much what I expected from a siring vampire caring for their new charge.
Blond Guy swayed toward Ian with a dreamy look. Carlyle looked at Celeste uncertainly, but at her nod, he grabbed the man and bit down once more with a ferocity that made me and Celeste flinch.
She put her hand on Ian’s shoulder, but before she could say anything, Ian threw the human aside, and smashed his own head into the table.
Celeste’s mouth dropped open and her gum fell to the floor as all the patrons turned to stare.
Two other vamps were immediately on them. One strong-armed Ian toward a back door, Celeste trying to stop them, while the other checked on the young man.
An older female vampire close by me smirked. “I told Zev she was too young to sire anyone. So, there’s a few less vamps? So what? Better that than scrape the dregs to join our ranks.”
Her companion applied some lipstick. “He already did that when he turned his granddaughter.”
They laughed cruelly.
Celeste stiffened and glared at them, then at me too, when she saw me.
I turned away with a pang. Poor Ian. Was he stable enough mentally to survive this transition? Either way, I was glad he had Celeste taking care of him, though I wished that Sabrina had a mentor in her corner.
Even with my delay, I caught up to Tatiana before she made it back to the car, however, I paused before getting in because a thought hit me. Did every Sapien who was turned survive the transition? Statistically they couldn’t, especially not if in the rush to create more vamps, the vamps weren’t being as picky about their candidates as usual.
Had one of Zev’s replacement vampires not made it, leaving “the three” that Rodrigo had mentioned? With Ryann’s edict, he wouldn’t be able to make any more, at least not for a while.
I opened the car door. I’d been so busy ascribing violent motives to Sabrina’s abduction that I’d missed an important alternative. What if Sabrina’s sire changed the lawyer because they wanted to curry favor with Zev? Sheesh. Talk about backfiring.
When I clicked my seat belt in and stretched my legs out with a sigh, Tatiana narrowed her eyes.
“No third degree?” she rasped.
“Really?” My mood improved eighty-seven percent. “How’d you meet? How long were you together? Did Samuel know? Hypothetically, do vampires make good lovers?”
Tatiana turned on her ignition with a grunt. “Aren’t you seeing my nephew?”
“Don’t deflect.”
“Quid pro quo. If you’re not going to comment, I don’t have to either.” She jerked the gold monstrosity of a vehicle back and forth even though there was no longer anyone else parked on the block before pulling onto the road.
“Yes, but your story is ancient hist—ouch!” I rubbed the arm she’d smacked. “Not current. Mine is. Plus, you’re his aunt so that’s weird.” I opened a browser on my phone, trying to find what she’d called Zev.
“L’vionak,” she snapped and plucked the cell out of my hands, since keeping her eyes on the road while driving was, once again, optional.
I snatched it back, before grabbing the “oh shit” handle above the door. “Car!”
She swerved sideways back into our lane.
“If you’re going to kill me, then at least satisfy my curiosity before I die so tragically young. What does ‘l’vionak’ mean?”
Tatiana heaved a sigh. “Russians use animals as terms of endearment. It means ‘little lion.’ That’s all you get, so stop bothering me or I’ll magically seal your mouth shut.”
