Fangs And Fame Page 7

“I miss you, too,” he said before he hung up.

  I smiled and put my phone in my purse, checking to make sure all my paints were put away. I locked up behind me headed home just long enough to change and freshen up. When I pulled up to the club, I saw that the sign out front was new. I wondered what else had changed. I sat in the car for a few minutes longer than necessary. I don’t know if I was bracing myself, or what, but the last time I’d been here, Trey had been forced to carry my broken body out of the club. I suddenly wished Trey was with me. Then I recognized Mark’s car across the parking lot and realized they’d be waiting for me inside. I shut the car off and headed for the doors. There was a good crowd on the dance floor, and as my eyes passed over the area where my fight with Malena had occurred, it was with a new perspective that only comes from being away from something for a long period of time. If it weren’t for Mark, I wouldn’t have even come tonight, but now that I was here I sensed that I needed this.

  Closure, maybe? That might be pushing it, but this time when all the curious vampire eyes met mine as I passed, at least it was for completely different reasons. I hadn’t seen any tell-all flyers plastered near the front door, either, which I took to be a good sign.

  Sure enough, Mark and Hana were hanging out by the bar when I walked in. Mark hugged me when he saw me, and I realized just how much I had really missed him. I hadn’t been away for a long time, but I was starting to appreciate exactly what I had left behind.

  “It’s so good to see you,” Hana said, pulling me in for a hug, as well. I was pleasantly surprised at her enthusiasm, and I hugged her back.

  “You, too,” I said. “You know, it made leaving easier knowing that you’d be here to keep an eye on this one.” I gestured to Mark with a nod of my head and he laughed.

  “Me?” he said, feigning insult. “I’m not the one who needs looking after.”

  “That’s debatable,” I insisted, smiling.

  “Come on,” Mark said, offering Hana one arm, and me the other. “Antonio’s waiting for us upstairs.” I realized then that Antonio would have been running the club himself ever since Malena had been exiled. I wondered briefly why he hadn’t found a replacement for her, but then I thought about how hard it would be for me to replace Kacie if she ever left for any reason. It would probably take some time to find someone he could trust to manage things. Mark led us across the dance floor and toward the small circular stairway that led to the owner’s suite. Once at the top, Hana opened the door to the only room, and I followed her inside. Antonio was sitting behind a large mahogany desk in the spacious office. He got to his feet, coming over to give me a hug as Mark closed the door, and the blaring music from downstairs became more of a dull bass pounding instead.

  “I like the new sign,” I told him.

  “I’m glad,” Antonio replied, holding me at arm’s length to look at me. I stood there for a second until he was satisfied. “You look good,” he said, smiling.

  “So do you,” I added. “Haven’t aged a day.”

  He laughed and walked behind his desk again, saying, “Well, what are we waiting for?” He pulled out a bottle of expensive blood-laced wine and removed the cork. “This is a celebration, after all.”

  “Pour me some of that,” I said, grinning. Once we all had a glass in our hands, we toasted to family, and Antonio expressed his desire to have the entire Brood together again sometime soon, including Trey and Beck, who was currently out of town on assignment from the record label.

  “What’s it like?” Hana asked me. “Touring, I mean.”

  “It’s somehow chaotic and predictable all at once,” I said with a small laugh.

  “Just imagine,” she said to Mark. “Being on the road like that. I can’t decide whether it would be a great adventure, or just exhausting.”

  “Both,” I said, grinning. “Depends on the day.”

  “I saw that magazine article,” Hana added. “Of course I knew it wasn’t true, but I don’t know why people have to write things like that.”

  “Gossip sells,” I said.

  “Still no clues as to Trey’s moon-given talent?” Mark asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe there are, but I’m just missing them.”

  “It will manifest itself in time,” Antonio reminded me. “Be patient.”

  “Have you met me?” I joked. “Patience is not my thing.”

  He grinned and rolled his eyes. “I haven’t forgotten.”

  The four of us talked and drank Antonio’s expensive blood-laced wine until three in the morning, and then I decided to call it a night, mostly because Kacie had things planned for me the next day. I said my goodbyes and made Mark and Hana promise to schedule some time off to come out and see Trey and I on the road. They actually seemed excited about the idea, and I left them believing they might actually do it. I let myself in the house and climbed the long marble steps to the second floor, changing into something comfortable before I collapsed on the king-sized bed alone for the second night in a row.

  I missed Trey. I missed the sound of his heartbeat, slow and steady like a soothing metronome. I fell asleep imagining it beating against my palm.

  Chapter 13

  Trey

  I WALKED STRAIGHT PAST the door to the next room and kept going until I found an empty room down the hallway. Actually, it might have been like a big janitorial closet, but I couldn’t be picky just then. I called the first person that came to mind who might be able to give me some perspective. Mark answered on the third ring, and I was grateful he wasn’t elbow-deep in a trauma at the hospital.

  “Hey Trey,” he said. “How’s the great life treating you?”

  “Great isn’t the word I would choose to describe my situation right now,” I muttered. “I could really use some advice.”

  “You do realize I’m not that kind of doctor,” he teased. “I could recommend a good therapist.”

  “Funny,” I said. “The rest of the guys in the band are all sick, and I thought I’d play along so they wouldn’t think it was weird if I didn’t catch it, but now our manager’s got a doctor here to check all of us out.” I spoke in hushed tones, not wanting anyone in the hallway to hear the conversation. “What am I supposed to do? He’ll hear my weird vampire heartbeat and know something’s up. Best case scenario, he thinks I’m having heart failure and calls an ambulance. The press would have a heyday with that.”

  Mark didn’t hide the amusement in his voice when he answered me. “I thought any press was good press for you celebrity types.”

  “You’re no help at all,” I retorted.

  Mark laughed and said, “Okay, well, there’s no reason this doctor can’t leave the room believing whatever you need him to believe.”

  “Which is what, exactly?”

  Mark considered me briefly. “That you have a slight fever and your glands are swollen, but you don’t have major congestion or throat pain, and everything else was normal. That should be believable enough.”

  “Fever, glands. Right.”

  “You can do this,” he added, his voice a little more reassuring now. “It’s not that different from manipulating a train of thought while you feed from someone.” Not the whole feeding thing again. My silence was loaded with enough information to clue him in. “You have been feeding, haven’t you? From the vein?”

  “It’s complicated,” I said. “Aurora’s been having me feed from her. I haven’t exactly spent time de-railing trains of thought.”

  “That’s too bad,” he said. “That would have made things easier.”

  I sighed. “I’m screwed.”

  “I’m sure Aurora has told you what to do.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “Do a shot of blood from your stash before you see this doctor if it helps you pull your focus in.”

  I shook my head, as if he could see me. “There is no stash,” I said miserably. “Our bus is still broken, and you can imagine why hiding blood on a bus with the other guys would be co
mplicated.”

  “You’ll figure it out,” Mark added, trying to build some hope in for me. “Good luck,” he added. “Call me later.”

  “Thanks,” I said as I closed my phone. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway just as Chase and the doctor did the same a little ways down. I turned left and started walking, but I didn’t make it far before Chase said, “Hey man, where you off to?”

  “Trey, right?” The doctor called, addressing me by name.

  I paused, swearing under my breath, and reluctantly turned back around to face them. “That’s me,” I said, trying to cover the exasperation in my voice.

  “You’re up,” the doctor said, gesturing for me to step into the room behind him.

  “Great,” I plastered a smile on my face and reluctantly followed him into the room and closed the door behind me. If I was going to do a Vulcan mind-meld on this guy, I didn’t need any witnesses.

  “I’m Dr. Clark. Welcome to my office,” he said, gesturing with a sweep of his arm to the mostly empty room. A stool and table were about the only things occupying the space. The doc was no more than thirty. He was dressed casually, which led me to believe he hadn’t come straight from an actual office, or a hospital. In fact, the only clue to his profession hung around his neck in the form of a shiny stethoscope. He gestured with a nod for me to take a seat, and I sat down on the table, my legs dangling off the side.

  “So, the rest of the guys in the band seem to have a pretty nasty head cold,” he said. “Do you want to tell me about your symptoms?”

  “I, uh, I’ve had a bit of a fever,” I started to say, but then my mind went completely blank when I saw him reach for his stethoscope. He nodded for me to continue while he put the ear pieces in and stepped closer. My vampire heart thumped in my chest in anticipation of being found out. If I let him put that thing anywhere near me he’d realize he had more than just a singer with a head cold to deal with. I couldn’t let that happen. Screw having a shot of blood from the stash. Desperation only fueled my preternatural speed as I caught the doctor’s arm while he reached toward me. I spun him, getting to my feet in the same swift movement. I sank my teeth into his neck, shocked by my own reaction.

  I pushed only one word into his thoughts: relax.

  The instant his blood passed over my tongue, I knew everything would be all right somehow. My vampire mind quickly conjured up a scenario in which the doctor had discovered my swollen glands and slight fever, but not much more. I willed the false scene to replace the real one in his mind, pushing it with all my mental strength until I was satisfied it would stick. I drank only briefly, but he stood motionless until I’d finished. I healed the bite marks, licked my lips clean, and stood back to look at him. I placed his stethoscope back around his neck where it belonged. It took a moment, but he blinked away the confusion in his expression and looked up at me.

  “I really appreciate everything you’ve done to help us out, Dr. Clark,” I said to him. “I’ll get some rest, like you said, and I’m sure we’ll all be on the mend a lot sooner, thanks to you.”

  “Yeah,” he said, not quite sounding sure of himself. “You’re welcome.”

  “You know,” I added. “It’s probably all in my head, but I’m feeling better already.” I offered my hand to him, and he blinked twice more before reaching out to shake it. “I hope you’ll stay for the show,” I added. “Neon will get you a great spot on the floor if you’re interested.” Not wanting to push my luck, I opened the door and got out of there.

  Had I really just fed from the doctor? That hadn’t been my plan at all, but I’d panicked and let my instincts take over.

  Mark laughed hysterically when I recounted what had happened with the doctor.

  “You were worried about him figuring out that you weren’t human,” he said with a laugh. “So you just decided to unleash Treycula, because that’s a safer bet.”

  “It wasn’t my best moment,” I admitted, fighting a smile.

  Mark finally got control of himself long enough to speak again. “Hey, I’m not judging. To each his own. At least you got your fangs wet.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said. It had been risky, but I couldn’t say I regretted it. Aurora had been trying to get me to drink from the vein for a while now, and I finally understood why. The doctor’s blood had tasted incredible. Not like Aurora’s, exactly, but no less intense. Just satisfying in a different way. Vampires were meant to drink human blood, after all, and I had done just that. I could just imagine the look on Aurora’s face when I told her.

  Chapter 14

  Trey

  AURORA MET ME AT the venue when she got to town. We went to the bus to catch up, and I was so excited to see her that I almost forgot to tell her how I’d been forced to see the doctor last night.

  “What did you do?” Aurora asked, eyeing me with more than mild curiosity.

  “I may, or may not, have bit him,” I said.

  Her green eyes widened, and a laugh burst from her lips as she realized I was dead serious. “You’re not kidding.” It was more of a statement than a question.

  “Does this look like my kidding face?”

  She laughed again and I grinned like mad, enjoying the sound. “If I had known all I had to do to get you to feed was leave town, I might have been tempted to do it weeks ago.” She smiled and took a step toward me, placing her hands on my chest. “Admit it,” she said. “You liked it.”

  My hands dropped to her hips. “It wasn’t half-bad,” I conceded, resting my forehead against hers. “I mean, you set the bar pretty high, but I guess I get it now.”

  “So, now that you can get along without me,” she said slowly, looking up at me from behind those dark lashes. “Did you even miss me at all?”

  “Like crazy,” I said, leaning down to plant a soft kiss on her lips. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I felt her smile against my mouth. I groaned as she kissed me harder and then pulled back.

  “Go ahead,” she said. I sighed and pulled out my phone to find a text from Neon. “It might be important,” she said, urging me to open it. I kissed her one more time and opened the message.

  Just got off the phone with Rolling Stone. They want 2 do a feature. Meet me in lounge in 5.

  “Where are the guys?” I asked as Aurora and I walked into the lounge finding that it was empty apart from Neon.

  “Last I saw they were pretty absorbed in a game of Halo on the bus,” Neon said casually.

  “Figures,” I said with a grin. “I’ll call O’Shea.”

  “No need,” Neon said. “This is about you two.” Aurora shot me a questioning glance, but I was just as confused as she was. “Don’t look so surprised,” Neon said, but apparently our expressions were enough to convince him that we were completely lost. “You guys should Google yourselves every now and then.”

  “I make a point not to do that,” I said as Neon handed me his iPad. I glanced at the screen and saw a bunch of search results for Trey and Aurora. There were blogs, Facebook fan pages, and Twitter accounts dedicated to the Aurora and I. I scrolled down, surprised at the sheer volume of things based on the two of us, and from what I could tell, they were mostly positive. Aurora held out her hand and I passed the iPad to her, shrugging at Neon. “I had no idea.”

  “We’ll chalk that up to newlywed bliss and ignorance.” He grinned and sat down on the couch. I lowered myself onto the couch across from him, but Aurora remained standing as she scanned the search results.

  “It’s cute how you manage to look pleasantly surprised and terrified all at once,” I said to her. “Do you practice that?”

  “Watch it, Decker,” she retorted, but I saw the traces of a smile on her lips.

  “Okay,” I said to Neon. “So, Catalyst has the best fans in the world. No news there. What does this have to do with Rolling Stone?”

  “The fans are great,” Neon agreed. “I’m sure they’re at least partly responsible for this, but it’s not just the fans that are taking notice and falling in l
ove with your little storybook romance.”

  “Funny, I don’t think I read that story as a kid,” Aurora said, smiling smugly.

  I grinned and stretched to get comfortable, and she sat next to me. “You’re living it, babe,” I said to her as I draped my arm across her shoulders.

  Neon checked his phone briefly and then put it in his pocket. “I’m not going to ask what you do all day on that bus of yours-”

  “Smart man,” I interjected.

  “But watching TV obviously isn’t a priority.” Neon paused, maybe for dramatic effect. “There’s been a media buzz surrounding you two ever since the impromptu wedding. The thing is, it doesn’t really seem to be going away. In fact, stealing kisses from your wife in the front row of the shows is just fueling the fire.”

  I grinned at Aurora and she smiled back, kissing me on the cheek, (most definitely for dramatic effect.)

  Neon rolled his eyes, but he was chuckling. “If you guys give me a cavity, you’re footing the dental bill.”

  “Done.” I agreed.

  “Seriously, though, Rolling Stone wants to do a feature on you both.”

  “Feature? That sounds kind of loaded,” Aurora said.

  “It is,” Neon continued. “We’re talking an interview that turns into a three-page spread. That means a photo shoot and your faces on the cover of the magazine.”

  Aurora forgot to keep breathing just then, but Neon didn’t seem to notice.

  “Hey,” I said to her, squeezing her shoulders lightly. “We won’t do this if you don’t want to.”

  She looked up at me, unable to hide the deer-in-the-headlights expression in her eyes.

  “Well, normally as your manager I’d say you should go for it,” Neon added. “But, since this is more of a probe into your personal life than just band stuff, I’m going to roll with whatever you two decide.”

  “I don’t know how the guys would feel about-”

  “They were there when I got the phone call,” Neon said. “They’re totally cool with it.”