Olivia caught her arm before she could leave. “I think we should listen to Loren and stick together.”
Sable took Olivia’s hand off her arm. “I’ll bring you back a beer.”
Olivia looked lost and then rebounded, plastering on a smile. “She has been here quite a lot. I’m sure she’ll be okay.”
She didn’t sound sure, or feel it. Loren moved closer, wanting to reassure her but unable to bring himself to lie.
“I count six humans total in this club,” Bleu said, shattering Loren’s chance of breaking it gently to Olivia.
She gasped and turned wide eyes on Bleu. “Are you serious?”
He ignored her and leaned closer to Loren. “I’m going to tap a siren.”
“Be careful, and do not go too far.” Loren didn’t like the thought of Bleu placing himself in the firing line of sirens, but it was a good strategy and would be beneficial if Bleu succeeded.
He nodded and drifted into the crowd, standing a good four inches taller than most of the males. A string of female heads turned to follow his progress, curious murmurs rippling through the crowd. Speculation. Loren smiled at some of what he could hear. They were wondering what species he and Bleu were, and many were miles off the mark. He was definitely not an incubus, although the way Bleu prowled through the throng of people, his gaze seeking out females, was the way one of that species would behave.
Olivia sidled closer. “Did he mean tapping like for information or like a keg, but with blood in it not beer?”
He shifted his gaze down to her and she didn’t look sure whether she wanted to know the answer.
Loren took hold of her bare arm. A shiver arced along his nerve endings and set them alight as his fingers closed around her soft flesh and his markings shimmered into life beneath his armour. He lured her away from the main thoroughfare and towards a quieter corner near the end of the long bar to his right that occupied nearly the entire wall opposite the dance floor.
He was sure Sable would be able to find them there, and he wanted Olivia away from the curious and sometimes heated gazes of the males skirting the edge of the dance floor. He was reaching the limit of his patience already and was calculating the outcomes of either kissing Olivia to show the males that she was mated and belonged to him or killing them all.
Olivia would not be impressed either way.
“Sirens are telepathic.” He brought his mouth close to her ear so he didn’t have to shout for her to hear him over the volume of the music. There were humans in the club and alerting them to the existence of non-humans would bring not only his council down on his head, but the main demonic and fae council too. “Elves gain short term use of the abilities of a blood host if they are demonic or fae.”
“Bleu wants to use telepathy to listen in on everyone and see if they’ve heard anything about Vail?” she said and he nodded. “Fascinating. You can do this with all fae and demons?”
Loren nodded again. “We drink a small quantity of their blood and gain those abilities, but it lasts only a limited time. We have to find another of that species and take more of their blood to renew the ability.”
“Why not just bag the blood? That way you’d have it on hand whenever you needed it. You could carry a package of vials around with different types of blood in it.”
He shook his head this time and drew her closer when a passing male glanced her way. He growled and flashed his fangs at the young demon, whose eyes flickered turquoise in response to the act of aggression. Loren held his ground, his own eyes vivid purple, warning the demon what he was. The young male snorted and took off, preening the small horns curling behind his ears and concealed by his wild blond hair.
Loren turned back to Olivia to find her staring after the male. He snarled and she gasped, tensing beneath his fingers, and her eyes shot back to him.
“I was just wondering what he was,” she snapped and he felt as though she had rekindled the dying hope in his heart with those words.
Olivia wasn’t interested in the males here. She stared up at him, her brown eyes almost black in the low lighting, and he forgot what they had been talking about before the male had interrupted them.
She had painted her lips a dark shade of pink and had run black kohl around her eyes, bringing out their intricate colour, awakening every thread of gold in the rich brown. He wanted to kiss the paint from her lips and see them flushed dark pink from it.
“Loren?” she said and he shook his hungers away, aware that she was picking up his desire and it was putting her on edge.
“We can only gain abilities from blood taken from the source. It must come from a living creature.”