Sinking down on an empty barstool, I scanned the edge of the room as casually as possible. No one stood out, but that didn't mean anything. In a place like this, everyone looked a little…inhuman.
A trio of sidhe drifted by, their faces an ever-changing morph of features. The constant shift coupled with the strobe lights was downright nausea-inducing. The three of them ignored me, which was odd. Every sidhe in existence knew who I was. What was Morgana up to?
I eyed a gentleman in one corner. He was dressed in a snazzy black suit with a shiny silver tie. There were three different women draped all over him while several more hovered, entranced by his every word. I narrowed my eyes. Could be the vamp. He was excessively pale. But vampires didn't care about sex. They only cared about feeding. Blood. A vamp might select one person to entrance, but only so he could get her out of the club as quickly as possible. He would not collect an entire harem of fawning women. Nor would he be as clearly aroused by the attention as this man appeared to be. I axed Snazzy Suit off my list.
"What can I get you, miss?"
I swiveled on my stool to face the bartender—Axel, I believe his name was. He hadn't raised his voice. He hadn't needed to. I could hear him easily over the loud thumping music, and he knew it. I eyeballed him carefully. His shoulder length brown hair was pulled back in a queue and thick muscles rippled beneath his simple black T-shirt. He could have passed for ordinary, but his eyes gave him away. The icy blue orbs where anything but human. Wolf's eyes. I bowed my head a little, and he acknowledged with a wink. He knew what I was, and I knew what he was. We were cool. What I didn't know was if he realized he had a vamp running amok in his nightclub. I doubted it. He seemed far too calm. His kind wasn't known for calm where vamps were concerned.
"Just a ginger ale, thanks." Getting drunk was the last thing I needed. Hard to hunt vamps when you're three sheets to the wind, but I needed a prop to avert suspicion.
Axel shook his head and grabbed a glass. Filling it with ice, he added ginger ale and a twist of lime, and slid the glass across the counter. I started to pull out my wallet, but he stopped me.
"Hunters drink free," he said, his voice a low rumble I could feel in my chest. "Especially when they're on the hunt. You should know that by now."
So he did know there was a vamp in the club. Or at least he knew I was hunting one, which pretty much amounted to the same thing.
"How did a vamp get past the wards?" I didn't raise my voice, either. He could hear me as easily as I heard him. Super hearing has its benefits.
He carefully wiped down the counter in front of me with a white bar towel. "No idea. Somebody with magic and a knowledge of the wards had to have let it through."
Shit. That wasn't good. "Any idea who that would be?"
"Lot of people know about the wards."
It was true. Anyone who walked through the door would feel them. I changed tack.
"Have you seen him?" I asked, taking a sip of my ginger ale.
"I'm guessing that's him." Axel nodded ever so slightly toward the back door. "Or, rather, her."
I turned around cautiously, not wanting to alert my prey. I spotted the vamp instantly. She was barely dressed in a shiny silver lam&eactue; thing with matching stilettos studded in rhinestones. More pale skin on display than cloth. Her white-blonde hair hung nearly to her waist as she sashayed toward the exit, showing off just a hint of cheek with every stride. It was a good thing she waxed before she died. She pulled a young man along behind her. He looked barely legal. His eyes were wide as if he couldn't believe what was happening. He really wasn't gonna believe it when she sank her fangs in his neck. They stepped outside, and the door slammed shut behind them.
"Thanks," I said, hopping off the barstool. I didn't wait for the Axel's reply, but headed across the floor toward the back exit. I must've looked like a woman on a mission because no one bothered me this time. In fact, people seemed to be in an inordinate hurry to get out of my way. Fine with me.
As I approached the door, I pulled my machete from the sheath across my back. When in Portland, I pretty much went everywhere with it. Tonight that certainly proved to be a good policy.
Cautiously, I pushed open the exit door and peered around the corner. I spotted the pair next to a rather smelly dumpster, writhing and moaning like a couple of animals in heat. They looked like they were necking, but I could smell the copper tang of blood. Shit. I was already too late. If I grabbed the vamp, she'd rip the kid's throat out. I needed to make her let go willingly. How to do that? I grinned as a thought came to me. I stepped outside, closing the door cautiously behind me so as not to alert the vampire.