Fangs And Fame Read online

  “I’m going to stick with the same one,” I said confidently.

  “You’re sure?” she asked.

  “It’s all still too new,” I said. “I’m not ready to be cut off from our silent communication just yet. Not while I’m still trying to figure out how to be a vampire on tour. Most nights it’s the only thing that keeps me sane.”

  She straddled my legs, sitting on my lap. “Hey,” she said, taking my face in her hands and forcing me to look at her. “This is all new for me, too,” she said. “I’m still not sure I’m cut out to be anyone’s maker, but we’re going to figure this out together.” Then she leaned in and her lips met mine again. Her kiss was deliberate, like a jolt of adrenaline, and my vampire heartbeat shifted gears accordingly. It was a reminder that I had absolutely no control over my reaction to her. Somehow, I knew it would always be so. Something like that doesn’t fade with time, not centuries worth of it.

  I was counting on that.

  She pulled back and gazed at me unabashedly with luminescent green eyes, her razor sharp fangs glinting behind her lips in the false candlelight. I still felt that same sense of wonder I’d experienced the first time she revealed herself to me. My fangs had unsheathed themselves during the kiss, triggering my night sight, as well. “It’s a shame your fans will never see you like this,” Aurora said, running her thumb along my bottom lip, brushing it lightly against my fangs. “You’d really cause a scene.”

  I caught her wrist in my hand, bringing it to my mouth to kiss softly. “They can have every other part of me, but this ... this is just for you.”

  She grinned victoriously and kissed me again, this time soft and slow. There was no doubt in my mind that she was taking her time with me, savoring the emotional link our kiss brought to life. I kissed her back, my mind reeling with the taste of strawberries on her lips. This time when she pulled back she took a deep, unnecessary breath and said with absoluteness, “It’s time.” I nodded, and when she stood again I pulled the cord to retract the blinds until the night sky was in full view out the window next to me. Aurora came back with a champagne glass for each of us, filled with blood from our stash. I held my glass as she settled herself on my lap again, facing me. I was just starting to think about how I could get used to having our own private full-moon rituals. Nothing against Antonio or Mark, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing just then.

  “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Aurora said, admiring our view of the moon.

  I meant to follow her gaze, to look upon the source of my new-found powers, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Her full lips were parted slightly, a shade not unlike the blood in the glass her slender fingers cradled. I ran my thumb back and forth across the texture of her jeans, enjoying the pleasant, almost insubstantial weight of her on my legs. As I watched her staring at the moon, I had a feeling – almost like I was witnessing a private moment between the two of them. I knew with certainty then that Aurora’s affinity with the moon – to her vampire heritage and the power she called to her so effortlessly – was as strong and tangible as any connection she had with me. The realization was both humbling and fascinating. Her eyes closed, and she brought the glass to her lips, slowly sipping the life-giving liquid from it. Then she lowered the glass and was still for a second before opening her piercing green eyes to meet mine.

  “Your turn.”

  “How do you do that?” I asked, my voice just above a whisper. I couldn’t help it. The words left my lips without permission. Of course, I knew something like that couldn’t be taught. There was no way Aurora realized just how incredible she was, but I had no idea where to go from here.

  “You’ve done this before,” she said. “It’s even easier when you’re body isn’t ... dying.”

  I chuckled at her hesitation at the word. “I know,” I said. “It’s just a little like being asked to go on stage right after watching Mick Jagger bring the house down.”

  She gave me a knowing smile and said, “We just left behind an arena full of people who would say you’re their Mick Jagger.” She ignored my eye-roll and slid forward on my lap, closing the small gap between us. “Your connection with the night is unique to you.” With a twist on our usual gesture, she took my free hand and pulled it to her heart. I closed my eyes as her heart fluttered against my palm. An image of the moon, as clear and bright as it shone outside the window, was forged in my mind. Aurora’s doing, of course. I focused all of my senses on her; on the sound and feel of her heart as it guided my thoughts like a bass drum carrying the rhythm of a song.

  “It’s you,” I breathed, looking up at her. “You’re my connection to the night. To the new me. To all of this.”

  “I might be a part of it now, but your connection with her has always been there.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Close your eyes again,” she urged. I did as I was told, taking a breath just for the calming motion of it. “I want you to imagine yourself before you met me. Put yourself in a place where you felt at peace. A place where you felt free. Just pull the image into your mind and hold onto it.”

  I imagined myself standing front and center on stage, a guitar in my hands. I was alone on the stage, and the crowd was almost muted, their shouts muffled so as not to distract me from my objective. I felt a slight jump in the hum of Aurora’s power, only noticeable because of my increased awareness. She was in my head, viewing the same image I had created.

  “Good,” she said softly. “Now peel back the entire roof of the arena,” Aurora encouraged. “What do you see?” I did as she asked, mentally stripping the top of the arena from its walls to reveal the night sky. The moon hung just above me, watching. “It’s always been there,” she said. “The night served its purpose for you as a human, and it will continue to do that for you as a vampire. You’re just now learning to take advantage of it in new ways.”

  She was right. I’d always had a connection to the night in my own way. It was just changing, evolving like I was. I felt Aurora’s power ebb from me. As I stood on the stage in my mind, I lifted my eyes to the moon and spread my arms in a gesture of openness. I welcomed the opportunity to stand there, awash in her silver glow. Grant me the ability to read the minds of others, I asked, repeating the phrase over and over in my mind until I was satisfied. I opened my eyes and Aurora smiled, clinking her glass with mine. I brought it to my lips and drank. The blood went down smooth, renewing me one burning swallow at a time. The warmth spread from my chest outward, reaching the tips of my fingers and toes, and all the way to the top of my skull.

  “I’ll never grow tired of this.” I breathed, enjoying the rush.

  “Not bad for our first tour bus ritual,” Aurora said.

  “Not bad at all, Mrs. Decker,” I said to her. “And you thought you weren’t cut out for all this maker stuff.”

  She grinned at me and took another sip from her glass. We sat in comfortable silence for a moment, finishing off the blood, and enjoying the moon in the night sky, as we rolled along on the freeway.

  “Have you thought about what you want to do for your birthday?” she asked.

  I sighed. “I haven’t put much thought into it, to tell you the truth,” I admitted. “We have a show that night.”

  “Yeah, but we’ll be in Vegas,” she added. “I’ve never been to Vegas.”

  “We’ll have to figure out a way to celebrate somehow,” I said, smiling at the childlike excitement in her voice. “I wonder how long we’ll-”

  “We’ll get there a day early to shoot the ‘Mirage’ video, and you have that night off. I already checked the schedule,” she answered, anticipating my question. “Maybe you and I will celebrate that night.”

  “That sounds amazing, actually,” I said, smiling at the thought of a night off in Vegas with the most beautiful woman on the planet. My short-lived fantasy was interrupted when the bus jerked slightly, and we quickly lost speed. Aurora raised her eyebrows at me for a heartbeat, and then she was off my lap, both of us heading t
o the front of the bus to see what was going on. I threw open the curtain that separated the driving area from the rest of the bus just as Jerry was pulling over on the side of the road.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as Aurora had killed the music.

  “No idea,” Jerry said. “But something ain’t right.”

  Chapter 9

  Aurora

  TREY PULLED HIS PHONE out long enough to glance at the time.

  “I think it’s the engine,” Jerry said as he looked over the gauges on the dash.

  “So what now?” Trey asked.

  “We radio the rest of your band and get you two on their bus,” Jerry said frankly. “Crosstalk left before we did, but I think your bandmates are behind us. I’m no mechanic, and I have no idea what it’s going to take to get this thing running again, but you have a show tomorrow, and that means you can’t wait around.”

  Trey nodded. “Right.”

  “I’ll get in touch with them,” Jerry offered. “You two gather up what you need.”

  Trey looked up at me, but I was one step ahead of him. We both returned to the back of the bus where I cleaned up any evidence of the ritual that had just taken place while Trey starting packing the essentials into our suitcases.

  “Not the best time for bus-hopping,” he said with a grin.

  I shrugged. “Could have been worse. At least we’re done here. How long do you think it will take to get this thing fixed?”

  “Not long, I hope.”

  That translated into my packing enough for several days, just in case. I saw Trey glancing longingly at the wine fridge, and I didn’t have to reach out with my power to know what he was thinking. We couldn’t take any blood with us. Finding a way to keep it cold would be the least of our worries on a bus full of humans. It definitely complicated things.

  “It’ll be okay,” he said out loud, like he was trying to convince himself.

  I nodded, trying to do the same. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Jerry had set up flashing cones outside to alert oncoming traffic of our location on the side of the highway. He was just stepping back inside when we set our luggage near the door.

  “All set?” he asked.

  “We’re good to go.” Trey answered.

  “Your ride should be here any minute.”

  It was more like twenty minutes, which wasn’t a long wait, but I could tell Trey was anxious to get on the road again. He walked me out to the other bus. Chase greeted us at the door from the jump seat. He stood up and gave a little bow.

  “Welcome to our humble abode,” he said with a grin, reaching out his hand for me. I smiled back and took it, letting him help me up the short set of stairs to the main level.

  “There’s nothing humble about these abodes,” I teased as I glanced around. I hadn’t been on this bus, yet, and I was surprised at how different it was from ours. Aside from the jump seat and the driver’s seat, nothing was the same. That made sense, considering there were more of them on this bus, and they probably preferred not to share a big bed in the back like Trey and I did.

  “I’ll get our stuff,” Trey said to me before heading back to our bus.

  “How about a tour?” Chase asked.

  “Why not?” He gestured for me to go first and I slipped past him, taking another step up into the kitchen/dining area.

  “It’s a little roomier when the slide out is out,” he said.

  There were two small booth-style tables, one on either side of me. A TV was mounted in the space behind the jump seat. The kitchen center was beyond that on the left, with a long leather sofa directly to my right. The space was pretty narrow, as Chase had pointed out, but that sort of came with the bus territory.

  “Bathroom is here,” he said, pointing to a closed door as we moved forward. “We’ve got twelve bunks.”

  Twelve bunks seemed like a lot until I saw how small they were. Most of them were holding bags of clothes and other personal belongings. “O’Shea and I threw our luggage on Jonas’s storage bunk for now to clear up some beds for you guys.”

  “Thanks,” I said, suddenly appreciating the luxury of the closet space on our bus.

  He opened the curtain on two middle bunks, one on either side of the aisle. “The bedding is all clean. It’s not much, but it works.”

  “At least I don’t have to climb to the top,” I said with a grin.

  “Nah. Jonas sleeps up there, though.” He tilted his head to gaze at the top bunk to the right. “He’s secretly Spiderman.”

  We kept moving until we reached the back of the bus. If things had seemed unusually empty and quiet up to this point, it all made sense now. A roomy lounge took up the entire rear of the bus. A sofa that was built around the entire outer edge in the shape of a horseshoe occupied the space A coffee table, complete with beverage holders, was in the center. The guys were all watching a football game on a screen mounted to my right.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey Aurora,” O’Shea said casually, gesturing to an empty spot on the sofa next to him. “Pull up a seat.”

  I shrugged and got comfortable, just as Neon got off his phone and greeted me with a smile. “Glad we were behind you guys,” he said.

  “Me, too.”

  “Chase, how about some more popcorn while you’re up?” O’Shea asked, batting his eyelashes playfully. Chase frowned but turned on his heels to fetch the refill.

  “I think that’s a new record,” Jonas said without taking his eyes off the football game. “We usually make it at least halfway through the tour before we have bus problems.”

  “Yeah, what did you guys do to that poor bus?” O’Shea jibed, poking me lightly in the ribs with his elbow.

  That was when Trey sauntered into the back and glanced up at the TV. “Who’s winning?” he asked.

  “Apparently they weren’t watching the game,” Jonas added for O’Shea’s benefit.

  I rolled my eyes, and Trey raised a curious eyebrow at me, but he knew better than to ask.

  “Hey,” Neon interjected. “I just found out the single is at number ten on the charts.”

  “Seriously?” Trey asked.

  “Not bad,” Jonas offered.

  “We’ve just got to keep at the radio interviews. That’ll really help the song climb,” O’Shea added.

  “Several of those scheduled for tomorrow,” Neon said in agreement. “They definitely pay off, but only if you get some sleep tonight, or you’ll all be completely worthless in the morning.”

  O’Shea saluted Neon. “Yes, sir.”

  Half an hour later Trey and I were following Neon’s advice and hitting the bunks. We lay in our own tiny beds, facing each other across the small gap that separated us.

  “Cozy,” Trey said with a laugh, making me grin.

  “You should be used to this,” I told him. “It wasn’t long ago you were living like this.”

  “You came along and spoiled me,” he admitted. “I just want our giant bed back. Soon.”

  “Amen to that.”

  “Although, this is the first time in a bunk I’m guaranteed to wake up without a kinked neck, or a sore back, so that counts for something.”

  “Definitely a perk. I’m sure this will make a great story someday.”

  “We’re on a bus with three other guys who get bored all too easily. Sleeping in these tiny bunks won’t make the short list of stories we tell all of their children later.”

  I nodded in agreement and gazed at him, his hair already sticking out in several places from rubbing against the bottom of Jonas’s bunk directly above him. He was staring back at me, his head propped up on one elbow. “This is how I always imagined feeling at summer camp,” I gushed. “Sleeping in a little bunk and wishing you were closer to the cute guy you were madly in love with.”

  “Did they have summer camps where the guys and girls could room together?” Trey teased. “Man, did I get totally ripped off as a kid.”

  “You did not go to summer camp,” I insisted
, refusing to believe it.

  “Twice,” Trey added, making me giggle out loud. “O’Shea can testify to that. We won’t talk about those summers, though. Nothing good comes from summer camp.”

  “I have this great image of you in short shorts paddling a kayak,” I snickered. “You’re never going to hear the end of this one.”

  “Remind me to burn any of the pictures my mom might still have.”

  I bit my lip and wished he was close enough for me to run my fingers through that muddy brown hair. Instead, I settled for reaching my hand out to him. He squeezed it affectionately and said, “Sweet dreams.”

  “In my dreams we’ll be in a real bed,” I said with a smile.

  Chapter 10

  Aurora

  TREY WAS STILL HUMMING with adrenaline from tonight’s show when I caught him as he came out of the shower room.

  “Follow me,” I said. “This way.” He grinned at me, that lopsided half-smile that could melt an iceberg, but he followed without asking questions. I led him around the corner to the third door on the left. I’d scouted out this room earlier, knowing it would be perfect. Once inside, I closed the door behind us. He raised an eyebrow at me as I slid my jacket off and let it fall to the hard floor. I grinned back at him, gathering my hair to one side and exposing my neck. “We don’t have all night,” I said.

  The sound he made was a mix between a moan and a whimper. “I-I don’t want to-”

  “Yes you do,” I countered. It didn’t matter what words were coming from his mouth, I could see the desire in his eyes, the thirst. He stared at me with those tortured blue eyes, but I could tell he was losing his conviction as his gaze fell to my throat. “We’re about to get on a bus with the rest of the guys,” I reminded him. “I got away to feed tonight, but I’m flying out tomorrow and you have no way of storing blood on that bus. There’s no guarantee we’ll get another moment alone, and you need this before I leave.” He stepped toward me, surprising me by kissing me on the lips, long and hard. Then, just as I was completely absorbed in Trey’s whirlwind, he pulled away in one swift movement and was drinking from my neck. “Take what you need,” I whispered to him. “I can handle it.” But I wasn’t convinced he’d taken enough when he healed the bite marks and pulled back.