Then she noticed him. Even in the sea of very pretty humans and stunning preternaturals, he stood out. Tall and lean in his stylish designer clothing with his intense eyes and pouty lips, Sebastian Young was the poster child for unnaturally beautiful vampires. The only thing that didn’t quite fit was his hair. Instead of black like the images of Dracula or other gothic undeads, his hair was mussed and blond like a surfer—or maybe an Abercrombie & Fitch model.
She had heard that he was a gorgeous creature, but even with that knowledge, she hadn’t been prepared for her first sighting of him earlier this evening. When he’d approached the bar with his entourage of mortal women, she’d actually been physically stunned by his beauty.
Wilhelmina considered herself very practical and hard to impress, so she hated to admit it, but he was impressive. It was little wonder mortals couldn’t resist him.
He now danced with one of the women he’d been with at the bar. He held the blond woman against him, her back pressed to his front. Wilhelmina watched as his hands caressed the mortal through the thin material of her dress, stroking upward, moving slowly over her belly, then up her ribcage to stop just under the curve of her full breasts.
Wilhelmina swallowed, telling herself to look away. Yet she couldn’t tear her gaze from him, and what he was doing. He nuzzled his cheek against the woman’s silky hair as his hands moved back down over her midriff. His pouty lips parted as he pressed them to the curve of her bare shoulder. His tongue tasted her golden skin.
Wilhelmina’s own lips parted as she breathed in a sharp breath.
“He’s something, isn’t he?”
Wilhelmina jumped, then glanced guiltily at Nadine.
“Wh—who?”
Nadine smiled, obviously not believing Wilhelmina’s attempt to sound unaware of who she referred to.
“Our employer,” Nadine clarified anyway. “The one you were eyeing as if he were good enough to eat.”
“I was not.” Wilhelmina frowned. That was ludicrous.
Again Nadine didn’t seem convinced. Her smile widened further, her teeth gleaming white against her lovely, dark skin.
“I will have to introduce you.” She glanced to where he danced with the lovely blonde. “Later, though. I’d say he’s busy for the night. You know, after being away.”
Wilhelmina glanced back, too. Another woman joined them on the dance floor, her hands slipping around him from behind so he was sandwiched between the two women.
“Very busy,” Nadine said, with a wry, yet almost fond chuckle. She began to place drinks on Wilhelmina’s tray.
Wilhelmina watched the antics of the dancing threesome for a moment longer, then determinedly picked up the tray.
So she’d finally seen the Sebastian Young. She knew she would eventually, and she wasn’t going to be shaken by his presence. The goal was to stay focused on why she was here. Why she had picked this nightclub and this vampire. Sebastian Young disgusted her. He was everything she despised in a vampire.
And she planned to destroy him.
Chapter 2
Wilhelmina delivered her tray of drinks before slipping into the backroom. Given what she intended to do, it seemed a little silly to worry about the patrons getting their cocktails. But she needed to appear like a good employee. She couldn’t afford to get fired. If this attempt didn’t work, she still needed to stay here. For her sabotage to work, she had to have access to the internal workings of Carfax Abbey.
Carfax Abbey. Even the name of the club was pompous. The lair of the world’s most legendary vampire. Did Sebastian consider himself as legendary? From all that she had heard about him, she didn’t doubt it. The Society said his hunger was insatiable. He was a real threat.
She crept farther into the storage room, pausing occasionally to listen. She couldn’t hear anyone near, but she knew she would still have to act quickly. She looked up at the ceiling. Every six feet or so, a silver sprinkler head jutted down from the drywall.
She headed to the back of the room, where a large metal barrel was used to store recycling. Carefully, she lifted the barrel and positioned it under one of the sprinklers. Then she scurried back to where she’d stashed some broken-down beer boxes and other cardboard behind cases of liquor. She placed it in the metal drum and rummaged through her pocket for a small box of matches.
Sliding it open, she paused, staring at the matches, the head of each matchstick red like droplets of blood in her hand.
What was she doing? She couldn’t go through with this. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She just wanted to protect the humans who naively came here thinking the club was nothing more than a happening nightspot.