I have to stop to catch my breath.
Nowthislooks like it was designed by a family of ancient vampires. Even though it’s daytime, it’s incredibly dark, lit solely by red and purple lights. There’s a huge dance floor in the center, surrounded by seating areas with standing tables and plush velvet couches. There are sets of stairs going up to a second-floor balcony, which wraps aroundthe entire club so that you can watch the dance floor beneath. Under the balconies, there are intimate booths with heavy curtains that can be drawn to hide all sorts of illicit activities. Bass-heavy music reverberates throughout the club.
Right in the middle of the dance floor is a long, oval bar, with a gleaming black countertop.
I’ve spent the last hundred years working at a cozy bakery in a tiny rural village.
This is theoppositeof that job.
“It’s not as scary as it looks,” says Xia, unconvincingly, as she leads me across the dance floor and up to the bar.
It’s early and the bar is empty, so at least I can have my panic attack privately. Xia ducks behind the bar, shuffling through some boxes. She pulls out a silky garment and hands it to me.
“This looks about your size,” she says.
I grimace at the crimson fabric. “I’m more of anautumn…”
“Aren’t we all,” she chuckles. She puts her clipboard down and pours two shots of whiskey, then hands me one. She drinks her’s quickly and pours herself another. Not super professional, but I’m not surprised. I’m sure it’s not easy working for a notoriously dangerous vampire family. I can’t help wondering how much she knows. If I can get some information out of her, maybe I won’t need to get close to Tudor or any of his progeny. Xia is definitely alive, and she doesn’t seem too bad.
“So…what’s it like working here?” I ask, before downing my shot quickly.
“It’s all right. But probably pretty different from where you used to work. It was a bakery, right? I have to admit, I only skimmed your resume.”
“That’s ok. Yeah, it was a bakery. In a really small town, you wouldn’t have heard of it.”
“Around here?”
“Well, a couple of hours north.”
“Around Houndsville?” she asks amicably.
“Um, yep, it was Houndsville,” I reply with a nervous smile. I can’t tell her I’m from Hemlock Haven. If she knows anything about the Hecate coven, she’ll immediately know that I’m a witch. “I just moved here, actually.”
She pushes a strand of silver hair behind her ear. Her hair is short and jet black, streaked with silver.
I’m glad she’s not a vampire, so she can’t hear my heart thumping nervously in my chest. My palms are sweaty, and the shot glass slides through my fingers, tumbling to the hard floor and shattering.
“Oh my Goddess!” I gasp.
Xia looks at me curiously and waves her hand. It’s a familiar gesture, but not one I was expecting to see here. In a twinkle of red, the shot glass reassembles itself and levitates to rest back on the counter top.
I stare at Xia through wide eyes, genuinely shocked. Red energy magic is an unmistakable sign of an evil witch. Now that I’m looking for it, I realize with a horrible start that I’ve seen this witch before. She was one of the evil witches I fought against during the Wicked Wars. What onearthis she doing working for Tudor Thornblade?
Xia gives me a similar expression.
“Do I…know you from somewhere?” she asks.
I chuckle anxiously. “No, I don’t think so. People say that to me all the time, I’ve just got one of those faces!”
“Mmm-hmm,” she says, taking her second shot smoothly and putting the shot glass back down on the counter. But there’s a suspicious shadow over her face that wasn’t there before.
“Well, I should really get going!” I say. “Thanks for the tour, I’ll be back at 4pm sharp on Thursday.”
Before she can say anything, I turn and speed-walk back to the elevator.
I knew this was a terrible idea. The first person I met at the hotel is an evil witch who could possibly recognize me!Whydid I think it was a good idea to use my real first name? I thought it would be easier, because I wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting it. Lavinia was so convinced that nobody would know me, we thought I would be able to get away with it.
As the elevator doors shut with aping, I press the “L” button for the lobby, eager to get out of this building as fast as my legs will take me.
