B Positive by Jewel Killian

Three

Boundingacross midtown from roof to roof got me to the compound moments before the guards closed the gate. I hadn’t planned on Superman-ing it, but a lady does what she must.

Security was always extra-tight at vamp-only events. They couldn’t risk humans accidentally wandering in. Not if they wanted to keep the delicate balance between vamps and the human officials who kept our secrets. I didn’t stick my nose too far in that mess, just enough to know I didn’t want to know any more.

A tall, rail-thin guard with salt-and-pepper hair took my invitation and ushered me through the street-facing entrance as he locked the gate behind me. Another guard, this one just as tall but with a haircut that reminded me of a K-pop star, silently escorted me down the stone path to the double front doors. We went through the Carrara marble entryway, through two rooms, then took a left down another marble hallway before he finally deposited me at the entrance to the internal courtyard.

I didn’t need to pay attention to the details of the study and great room we’d walked through.

I’d already memorized them.

I knew every room, including how many windows, doors, and hiding spots there were, and what the room was generally used for in the royal compound.

I even knew about the secret passageways built into the walls.

Unfortunately, those Prohibition-era passages only led from room to room, never to the outside. The external exits were boarded up sometime in the late 80s.

Even so, if the worst came and I was caught, I knew this place like a drunk knew their drink order.

And yet, despite knowing each of these rooms, it was still shocking how different they were from what my mind’s eye had conceived.

I’d expected austere, new-money, minimalism. White walls and black furniture with glass tables might look good on Pinterest or Instagram, but were clinical and sterile in real life.

These rooms were far from clinical. They had a lived-in, inviting feel. The books of the study weren’t all leather-bound tomes that had never been read, though I caught sight of a few classic first editions, spines creased and all. But there was also genre fiction, philosophy, and even a few graphic novels tucked away on the shelves.

Color me surprised.

Impressed, even.

The chairs and sofas were arranged for both conversation and reading, with plush earth-toned pillows and throws on each.

I could totally see myself, nose in a book, with my legs tucked under me, all wrapped up in one of those throw blankets.

Even the great room, with its sprawling marble tile, multiple chandeliers, and open concept, had still stayed cozy because someone had the foresight to divide the room with rich, jewel-toned area rugs and comfortable furniture.

The king had hired a talented designer.

Arriving in the courtyard, I suppressed a tiny gasp. Again, I knew the layout of this space, but I hadn’t expected it to be so…

Magical.

Tucked so deep within the compound that midtown street noise didn’t reach it, lay a breathtaking, open-air courtyard. I gazed down at the recessed garden with cobblestone paths, topiary sculptures and exotic birds perched on stone pillars.

Only the crescent moon illuminated the gala, making the champagne flutes of blood look black and the vampire guests look their most magnificent.

I was a firm believer that Lafayette was the only vampire allowed to sparkle, but moonlight lit our kind from within, as if the moon knew we were creatures made only for her light.

The darker-skinned vampires glowed in shades of gold and copper, ochre and sienna, all the way to deep indigo and umber. The lighter-skinned vamps lit up the courtyard with silver and ivory and cream and blush.

We were our own light.

Vamps gathered around tall tables three and four at a time, sipping blood and munching on hors d’oeuvres provided by the king.

I spied a few of my nest mates—the vampires I should be living with—toward the stone pillars separating the courtyard from the interior space. But before going over, I checked the other courtyard exits. There were seven in total, none of which led outside. Instead, they all branched into the seven wings of the compound.

The only way out was the way I came in.

I took stock of the security vamp stationed in front of each courtyard exit. All of their stares remained fixed on the partygoers. What was this party for this time? A new library opening? Breaking ground on an addition to the compound? I hadn’t bothered to check the invitation. All I knew was this was my ticket out of here.

It was going to be a cinch.

I zeroed in on the wing entrance at approximately seven o’clock. The one I needed, and also the one with a huge blockhead vamp goon standing in front of it.

An unmistakable hired gun. Not part of the king’s regular rotation.

He didn’t have the thousand-yard stare of security with too little to do because their employer—the king of Laurel Cove—was the most powerful vampire on this side of the river. Nope, he was a brand-new hire, which meant he’d be extra-vigilant. His suit jacket had the shadowy outline of a firearm, which I had personal knowledge contained enough tranquilizer to take out a vampire rhino. The other security guards didn’t.

Bingo.

It was so nice when a plan came together.

The goon would be easy enough to distract. Just a wink and a nod in the right direction and he’d be putty in my hands. After that? That’s when the real work began.

But I couldn’t just beeline for the prize. That was too obvious. I had to mingle and bide my time.

And I had to make the hired vamp goon with big dumb dick energy believe I was actually interested in him.

Big dumb dick energy—coined for my first boyfriend, whose dick was so big it diverted too much blood from his brain and made him real dumb. Pretty. But real dumb.

Excellent in bed.

But again…

Real dumb.

I averted my gaze before BDD felt it and headed across the courtyard to my nest mates.

“Hey, guys,” I said with false cheeriness.

Chantal rolled her big green eyes at me, skin glowing the palest shade of pink. “Eden, how nice of you to make an appearance.” Her voice drew out in a long, whining sigh as she angled her lithe ballerina body away from me. Even the flowing folds of her soft pink dress seemed to float away from me.

Rude.

The rest of them followed suit, turning their bodies away.

“Eeds, you really shouldn’t be here,” Carisa, the closest thing I had to a friend in the vamp community, whispered over her shoulder. Her short brown pixie cut and turned-up nose always made me think of her as my own personal Tinkerbell. Even her skin glowed golden, like Tink’s magic fairy dust.

Not that I would ever tell her that.

She’d kick my ass from here all the way back to the east part of town.

“You’re only barely out of bloodlust,” she scolded. “No one wants a scene tonight.”

She did not know how true that was. “You and me both, Carisa.”

When I threatened to make Roofie Dude a himbo for my nest, not only did he not know what a nest was, but he also didn’t know that I was bluffing my ass off.

My nest and I were kind of on the outs.

It’s a long story.

Let’s just say, early in my vampire life, I took some liberties with their kindness.

That is, I was a bloodthirsty fiend.

“You reek of humans.” Chester, the alpha of the nest, threw off a silver glow and stepped further away. His penchant for dark three-piece suits with tails always made me think of Batman’s butler Alfred.

Again, not that I would ever say so.

“Well, I can’t really help that, Chester. I live and work with them, since you haven’t seen fit to let me back in the manor.”

He sneered at me over his shoulder and focused his attention on a Dracula parrot preening its inky feathers.

Carisa threw me a quick, consoling glance. One I probably didn’t deserve. Chester was right to kick me out for my behavior, and since vampires have exceptionally long lives, my punishment was for an exceptionally long time.

Thirty-three years.

I was supposed to stay away from them and their manor for thirty-three whole years.

And I would.

I should have tonight.

But I still had to follow formal protocol. Despite my exile, they expected all vamps in attendance tonight to stay grouped by nest. It kept things from getting messy and territorial.

Lots of vampires in an enclosed space was never the best idea, but the nest groupings helped keep outbursts to a minimum.

Exiled or not, I had to stay right where I was.

Luckily, enough time had passed since my “incident” that I’d stopped drawing attention to myself just by existing.

I wouldn’t be able to pull this job off if that were still the case.

I just had to bide my time until the moment was right.

Not that I ever had any idea when that moment would be. It was more of a gut feeling than anything else. I couldn’t plan for it. I could only go with the flow and see where the night took me.

A hush fell over the murmuring, glowing vamps and all gazes snapped to the main entrance. The one the guard led me through.

My nest mates stood straighter, their attention fixed on a hulking figure.

The king stood in the doorway, framed by his compound, and glanced over the vamps below him.

My mouth dried out.

I had never seen the man so close before.

Never noticed how he exuded power and dignity. How the planes of his face seemed carved and immovable. Or that his gaze captured, examined, and eventually discarded everything it fell upon.

I openly gawked at him, but only for a moment, before shifting behind Chester and Carisa. I couldn’t help it. Some instinctual part of my fight-or-flight response did not want his gaze on me.

Examine someone else, fucker.

Unable to keep myself from looking, I caught his golden profile between my nest mates. I watched him spread his arms wide and take a breath. “You do not know how thrilled I am to see you all here.”

His deep voice stole my breath away, mixing silk and rasp, pleasure and pain as it rattled through me, reverberating and vibrating shit it had no business vibrating.

Asshole.

What right did he have to a voice like that?

Deep and rough, just like the things I’d let him do to me.

Whoa! Eden! Get it the fuck together.

Stay focused. Stay on mission. Just get through his speech and look for your opportunity to sneak off.

Sneak off to a secluded hallway and let him rip my dress off and—

What the fuck was wrong with me?

Get your fucking head in the game!

It had to be his magnetism. Maybe he didn’t have it fully veiled. Yeah. A vampire as powerful as him probably couldn’t keep from leaking sometimes.

That had to be it.

Except I’d never heard of vamp magnetism affecting another vamp.

I snagged a flute of blood from a passing server and downed it, hoping to clear my head. It took the edge off, but my body still hummed with fiery need. My skin burned, and my lady bits throbbed. Even my damn nips were hard, saluting the whole courtyard through my dress.

Shaking my head, I forced myself to focus. Whatever was happening, I didn’t have time for it.

I tuned the king’s voice out as best I could, and headed toward Big Dumb Dick, making sure my movements stayed smooth and keeping behind someone at all times.

The last thing I wanted was the king’s undivided attention on me.

By the time I made it across the courtyard, the king was wrapping up his speech about who the fuck knows what.

I gazed up at BDD, hands trembling. “I’m not feeling so well,” I said, meaning it.

He took my complaint at face value, thankfully not bothering to use his sense of smell to discover I was putting out pheromones like the world was ending and he was the last dick on it. “Do you need a healer?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. Just a restroom, please.”

He nodded and shepherded me inside, taking me to the closest bathroom, which I happened to know was three floors below and two rooms to the right of the room my jackpot was in.

This was not at all the way I thought tonight would go down, but when BDD didn’t stay stationed outside the door, I had to shoot my shot.

I slipped off my Choos, hid them behind the toilet, and snuck out of the bathroom on silent footfalls.

First stop, goodie bag.