"You don't need to apologize for telling the truth." I slump back in the seat. "I just wish we were stronger. Or, at least had an emperor or empress on our side."
"Unfortunately, that'd require being friends with one of them," Anders says, fiddling with a gauge in his ear. "And that doesn't sound like very much fun."
"They're not all bad," I tell him. "My mom's one of them."
"Fuck, I forgot about that." He frowns. "I'm sorry. Again."
"Stop apologizing for silly things," I say. "Besides, most empresses and emperors aren't like my mom. They're big-headed and arrogant like Rhyland and Kingsley, so what you said is sort of right."
Effie tucks a strand of her chin-length purple hair behind her ear while checking her reflection in the mirror on the visor. "I still think it's a little weird that Kingsley and Rhyland were being mean to Nadine. They've always been nice to her, at least from what I've seen."
"I know," I agree. "She's had them wrapped around her little finger since we were kids."
Anders' face contorts with disgust. "But she seems so vile."
"She is vile," I tell him. "But so are Kingsley and Rhyland."
"They're like three peas in a juicy blood pod," Effie says as she steers the car into the back parking lot of the club.
The spacious area is crammed with cars and people dressed in various edgy, dress code appropriate outfits. Music is booming from inside the three-story, glittering midnight blue building, vibrating through the air. Glowing stars and swirling ribbons of violet and silver float above, a mirage painted by magic.
"God, this place is gorgeous," Effie remarks in awe as she parks the car. Then she shuts off the engine and twist in her seat, glancing between Anders and me. "You know what I think? That we should say to hell with Kingsley, Rhyland, Nadine, and their evil games, down one of these little suckers"-she holds up a plastic bag full of small glass vials that she retrieves from the console-"march into that club, and dance until every single goddamn part of our bodies ache. Until we're delirious on fun and dancing and laughing and living our goddamn lives without worrying about anyone else."
"What about Austin?" Anders questions with a crook of his brow.
Effie shrugs. "I'll deal with that cheating bastard when the time comes. Right now, my BFF is in desperate need of a forgetful night."
I scoot forward in the seat and rest my arms on the console. "A forgetful night?"
"Yeah, a night so fun you can barely remember it." She grins at me as she opens the bag of vials. "Trust me, it's a rite of passage everyone needs to experience at least once." She plucks out a vial.
Inside the glass, a silvery black liquid shimmers in the starlight filtering through the windows. I've never seen anything like it before and don't immediately take it.
"What is it?" I ask warily.
"A blood boost." She urges me to take the vial.
"What kind of a blood boost?" Because I've taken a couple of blood boosts before, usually when I'm tired and need an extra energy jolt. But with how excited she looks right now, I have a feeling the vial in her hand isn't an ordinary blood boost.
"A boost of … emperor blood," she answers with reluctance.
My eyes pop wide. "How the hell did you get ahold of emperor's blood?"
She lifts a shoulder, shrugging. "I know some people who know some people. It's not really that strange if you have the right connections."
I cast a glance at Ander, wondering what he thinks about all this. He shrugs, seeming a little perplexed, but not as wary as me.
"Don't worry; I've done this a couple of times before." She presses the vial into my palm. "You'll have a blast, I swear." She hands a vial to Anders then takes one for herself. "Besides, if we were rich and wealthy, we'd be upstairs in your mom's club drinking this from the vein."
"I'm sure she'd let us go up if we asked." I pull a face at my own statement. I act like I want to drink emperor's blood, which I don't. Well, I sort of do.
Okay, truthfully, I've always been a tiny bit curious what that sort of power tastes like. But after what happened when I left the house, I feel like I've been around emperors too much for one night.
I shake my head at myself. Look at how you're already letting them affect you? A night ago, you would've been into this. You need to let it go, and not let them ruin your night, your week, your life.