Waiting in the Wings

Chapter Six

Stopping her from reading the file was an instinctual choice. He wanted her to know their life but he didn’t know what it actually contained. It could be lies, a carefully wedged play on the part of the casino to keep them apart. The lack of response from the Overseers rang his internal alarms, but it was more than that. He wanted Kristina to remember their love, not be told.

Her eyes darkened at his declaration, and he smiled. Her arousal perfumed the air around them.

“But why wait? I’ve been here for years.” The poignant question stabbed him.

“Because I was a thoughtless, self-centered prick.” The criticism—even self-directed—stung. But he couldn’t escape the truth of his actions. No matter his reasons or belief that she would come back—he had let her go and he hadn’t chased her.

Never again.

Kristina tilted her head. She picked up the Blooded Mary and wrinkled her nose when she found the glass empty. Richard caught the succubus’ eye and pointed to the drink. The woman bowed her head in acknowledgement. The fresh-blood drink had done wonders for her color, returning warmth to her pale cheeks and diminishing the sharpness of her features. No matter what else he did, he wanted her fully blooded before that curse broke. Starvation could drive the natural born vampire mad—the turned suffered a worse fate. Desiccation of the body led to destruction of the mind until only a revenant remained. Whatever curse held her bound kept her starving body alive.

The succubus delivered the drink, and Kristina picked it up with delight. She drank down nearly half of it before setting the glass down again. “Okay, I’m confused and I don’t mind admitting it. We knew each other before I woke up here. But I don’t remember the times before the casino. For me, I’ve always been here. This is my home and my family.”

The words hurt, but he ignored the abrasive scrape to his soul. He was her home and her family. The only family she needed—or wanted.

“And I wish I could explain that. But I can’t. I don’t know what happened to earn you this fate.” His internal clocked ticked loudly in his mind. So little time remained in his agreement with Andrew. The rest of this night and all of the next—a few scant hours. “We disagreed, as we often did. You left, as you always did.” He softened the words with a smile. “It was your habit to storm off in great dramatic fashion—just as it was your habit to return, and we would make up.”

“But I didn’t come back.” She licked her lips, as though tasting the truth of those words.

“No.”

“And you didn’t look.” The accusation rode a gentle tone, but still staked his heart.

“Not at first.” His pride curdled on his tongue. “I thought you were trying to teach me a lesson and were simply being stubborn.”

“Wow. I sound like a bitch.” Kristina sat back, withdrawn and introspective.

“Absolutely not.” He swallowed back the urge to yell. “Occasionally insecure, over the top, radiant with laughter and verve for life—but never a bitch.”

“I walk out and disappear for fifty years? Sounds pretty bitchy to me.” She wrinkled her nose and traced a finger over the manila folder. “And if it took you fifty years to even look—why now?”

“I didn’t wait that long. I swear that to you. I began discreet inquires within a few months—the longest you ever left me before was two moons. But no one knew where you were. We tore the city apart, and you weren’t there. I sent hunters out, and not even a whisper of you came on the wind.” His heart clenched. One of the hunters had suggested she had walked into the sun, but he’d refused to accept that no matter how many years passed.

“So I walk out, disappear for fifty years and you just happen to show up in Vegas, and I just happen to run into you in a bar?” Skepticism ripened in the statement. “I’m really not buying that.”

“Malcolm Reynolds brought me a picture of you. One you texted to your friend, Jeannie.” This was not going at all well. They needed to be alone—at least there he could seduce her at his leisure and quiet the uncertainty in her expression. “Would you care to come upstairs with me again? We can—”

“Yeah, no.” She shook her head swiftly. “We’ll go upstairs and have monster sex and, while that’s really hot, I don’t think that will solve any of this.” She rubbed a hand against her face. “Jeannie left here with a vampire. It was really romantic, and she’s having a blast out there, but she remembered her life, and I don’t. I don’t think I really want to go back to a place or a person that I walked out on so regularly he didn’t even realize something happened.” She drained the last of her drink and stood.

Richard rose with her. “Kristina…”

“Seriously? I want to be called Kiki. If you love me as much as you claim, you could at least show me that much respect.”

Taken aback at the anger boiling in the words, he nodded. “Very well, Kiki. Please don’t go.”

“I want to go for a walk—out of here. Maybe around the casino. I need to think.” She withdrew further, retreating from the playfulness. The blood humming in her system restored her strength and with it the ability to reject him.

It burned him to ask, but he pressed on anyway. “May I join you? You don’t remember, and I do—the woman I remember is Kristina. But you are right. You’re Kiki now. I would very much like to know Kiki.”

She bit her lip. “And if I open this file folder?”

He curled his fingers into his palms, fighting the urge to drag the folder away. “That is your choice. I have told you why I didn’t want you to read it—”

She flipped the folder open and stared at the page. His gaze dropped to it with a sigh. Kristina laughed, the damn-near unfriendly sound carrying very little humor. Glancing from her to the page, he frowned.

That’s cheating—do your own dirty work.—H.

She flipped through the blank pages and laughed again. “Apparently Heidi is not on board with this.”

Eyes narrowing, he scooped up the lot and scanned the pages. They carried no hint of magic or scent at all. They were exactly what they appeared to be. “I’m sorry.”

Kristina shrugged. “It’s okay. I liked the idea of cheating, so I guess she’s right about that. I don’t like not remembering.”

Setting the file down, he rubbed her arm. “I don’t like that you don’t remember either. If I could give them back to you…”

“You tried.” She tipped her head up to study his face. “Last night, you told me to remember in that deep and spooky voice.”

Uncertain of how to react to his voice being called deep and spooky, Richard sighed and nodded. “Your blood—it answered mine when I called you. I thought surely your memories would do the same.”

Kristina slid her arm through his, the comfortable intimacy in the familiar gesture filled him with hope. Anton took care of the check, and Richard guided her to the exit. Awareness simmered over him—the salt-and-pepper haired guardian followed. He spared the man a hard look.

“It’s okay. I told Heidi I wouldn’t do the runaway game again, so Stan can tag along. You have your guards. I have mine.” Playfulness erased the disappointment on her face. They were halfway across the lobby when she glanced up at him. “Wait, if your blood called mine, and I answered—dude, am I a vampire too?”

No way to soften this answer. “Yes.”

Excitement struggled with resentment over his answer. Kiki squeezed his arm, and swept her gaze across the throngs of people entering and exiting the casino. Women hung on to their men or each other, laughing carelessly. Hardened gamblers walked with determination, while dabblers traveled in various stages of enthusiasm from profound disappointment to quivering excitement.

They were all on their way to or arriving from somewhere. They knew who they were, who they were with and what they were doing.

“Kris—Kiki?”

“Shh.” She shook head, unwilling to talk yet. A vampire. She was a vampire. How the hell did a person forget that? How did I forget? I love vampires… Was that the key though? Or at least the reason for her passion for all things vampire? She loved them all—regardless of their mythology or abilities. Give a character a pair of fangs, a lust for blood and some sexy times, and she was all in.

Because I am one? I don’t drink blood…

They were inside the casino proper, just strolling arm in arm with their little entourage fanning out behind them. She barely noticed the blinking lights, soft sighs of disappointment or quivers of excitement rippling through the players they passed. Every one of the dancers came from somewhere. Some remembered, while some chose to forget. She didn’t know any other life.

She’d awoken that first day in her cell, and Heidi had introduced her to the dancers, and she went to work. It was what she did.

Night in and night out.

For fifty years…eighteen thousand nights…and I never really wondered why I didn’t remember. I didn’t care. Troubled, she ran her tongue against her upper teeth. The flat surfaces didn’t provide any answers. She explored her gum line, and despite the faint aching throb, no fangs popped out or descended or whatever the hell they actually did. Richard stopped abruptly, and she glanced up from her inner musings to see a blond gentleman blocking their path.

The tension flaring in the space between the two men was palpable. Glancing from Richard to the stranger and back again, Kiki gave him a nudge. “We can go around.”

“No. He can.” Richard rubbed her hand where it rested gently on his arm.

“Or you could introduce me.” The blond man took a step forward. Kiki didn’t see so much as feel Richard’s bodyguards close the gap behind them. Suppressed violence rippled through the air.

“She doesn’t need to know you.” The politeness in his tone didn’t conceal the disdain—or the dismissal.

“And maybe she would like to make that determination for herself.” Considering they both referred to her like she wasn’t present, she tugged her hand free from Richard’s arm and held it out to the blond. “Kiki.”

“Charming, Kiki. I am Andrew and very pleased to make your acquaintance.” He cupped her hand, his cool touch trailing ice over her fingers and, like Richard before him, brushed a kiss to her knuckles. But unlike Richard, his gaze didn’t lift to her so much as taunt the vampire at her side.

“Not sure how pleased I am, Andy.” She took her hand back. The undercurrent flowing between the two teamed with antagonism. “Please excuse us, we were off to—”

“I’m sorry, my dear. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Andrew straightened, and three other vampires drifted out from next to the slot machines and tables to form a semi-circle behind him.

“Are you really planning to break your own word here, Andrew?” Richard’s laconic tone was a lie. Steel, finely honed and razor sharp, slid along the bottom of his words.

“Tsk tsk, Richard. Your paranoia is showing. I’m actually here by invitation to greet the new lead dancer of the Midnight Mystery Lounge.” The blond vampire edged closer, and Kiki pinned him with a glare.

“Seriously? You’ve never greeted a lead dancer in all the years I’ve been here.” Jeannie would have said something. Pandora’s often-requested presence among the high rollers was common knowledge. Anthony, however, was wildly possessive of Roseâtre, and despite the pricks of envy Kiki felt for Pandora and Roseâtre’s success and happiness, she never longed for their mates.

“You rarely venture out so publically unless you’re playing, Kiki. You wouldn’t know. And Pandora arrived here long before you did. I dined with her after her first night taking lead—didn’t I, Stan?” Andrew looked past them both to the guardian.

The salt-and-pepper haired man gave the vampire a bored look. “Do not invite me into this game of bait-and-switch. You are making the other casino guests uncomfortable.”

He wasn’t wrong. Several players at the local slot machines gathered their coins and moved away. In fact, they and their respective guards were virtually alone in the alley created by the slot machines.

“Boring man, really. I don’t know why that stage manager keeps you around.” Andrew dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “So, Miss Kiki—if you will join me, we can discuss your performance.”

“Hmm, no.” She shook her head. The subtext flying back and forth irritated her, but beyond that, she wanted to spend the time with Richard.

The other vampire didn’t seem to take the hint, reaching out to take her arm and tugging her forward. Richard’s hand caught his wrist before she moved an inch, and the potential for violence stormed through the gathering. The bodyguards surged forward on all sides.

“Release her.” Richard’s words collided with Stan’s. Guns appeared in the guards hands, and an actual sword blade pressed into Andrew’s throat—and she was sandwiched between them all—the bone about to be pulled apart.

Shadows surrounded them, pressing in from all sides. Andrew released her immediately, and Richard drew her back as a shifter—because nothing human was as large as the man—stepped between them.

“Problem?” His voice was a growl, low and menacing.

“Yes.” Kiki announced before Richard could shush her or anyone else could speak. The man turned to look at her. Wild heat burned in a pair of yellow eyes.

Wolf.

Her nostrils flared. Wolf. She didn’t question how she knew. At this point, she was just going to roll with it.

“What is the problem, ma’am?” The wolf offered her a polite, if somewhat feral, smile.

“That vampire assaulted me.” She pointed at Andrew. “Apparently he thinks that just because I star in a show, he has the right to manhandle me. Richard and Stan were defending me.”

The wolf flicked a look from her to the guardian and Richard and then slowly turned to face Andrew. “You have no authority here, Prince. You realize that, right?”

“You have no authority out there either, dog, but I allow you to do your job.” The blond straightened and arrogance flowed over him like some dramatic cape.

“Fantastic. Then you’re really going to appreciate this.” The shadows converged on Andrew and his party and escorted them away.

Kiki bit her lip when her gaze clashed with Andrew’s cold one. This wasn’t over.

The wolf shifted, blocking the vampire’s line of sight and looked at her again. “You should return to your theatre. It might be safer there.”

“I feel perfectly safe now.” She dredged up a smile. What a completely insane night. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He ignored Richard and nodded to the guardian before striding after his men. “Stan.”

The bubble of tension burst with their exit and allowed the sounds of the casino to rush back in. Exhaling a shaky sigh, she looked at her wrist and sighed. A bruise matching Andrew’s fingers blackened her flesh. Dammit.

“Are you hurt?” Richard lifted the damaged arm to look at critically.

“No, not really. It’s just ugly.” Maybe she should go back before more trouble occurred. Go back, drink and try to figure out what the hell was going on.

“Why don’t we go upstairs? I know you wanted to walk around, but we can be comfortable, and you won’t have to worry about any other incidents.” A reasonable alternative, and she didn’t want to leave him. Or did she?

Haven’t I already left him? Left him so hard and so long I forgot… Pivoting on a heel, she looked at Stan. “Do you remember when I arrived at the casino? The first time?” Because she had to have visited the Arcana Royale to be trapped here—that made sense. Maybe the first thing to make sense since Heidi announced she would be dancing lead in Roseâtre’s absence.

“Yes.” Stan nodded slowly.

“Do you know what happened to me?” She tried to read his expressions, but his absolute neutrality revealed nothing.

“I do.”

Hope swelled within. “Will you tell me?”

“No.” No explanation, no terseness, just a simple, kind no.

“But you have to. Heidi won’t tell me. Richard doesn’t know.”

“I’m sorry.” The contrition sounded real but hardly helped her situation.

“Don’t be sorry—tell me!”

Richard’s arm wrapped around her middle and pulled her back to his chest. The strength in the embrace warmed and enveloped her in security. “Sweetheart, he may not be able to tell you. As Minion was not able to give you the answers you crave. I think we are on our own in this, and it is up to us to solve the puzzle.”

A flicker of a nod from Stan confirmed the vampire’s words, and Kiki sighed. “Fine. I hate this.”

“You are not alone. I swear that to you—you will never be alone again. We will figure this out. Together.”

The promise helped, but it didn’t take away the feeling that she should know all of these answers. She should understand why this happened. Sadness crashed through her—it was her debut night, and instead of celebrating and dancing with her girls, she stood out in the middle of the casino amidst a sea of strangers—alone.

Richard pressed the gentlest of kisses to the side of her neck. The intimate little caress sent another spiral of light to battle the darkness filling her.

No, she wasn’t alone.

“Okay, upstairs.” Despite agreeing with the idea, disappointment unfurled inside of her. She wanted to play and to celebrate. But even the walk to the elevators dragged, sedate and controlled. Stan rode up with them, but like the two guards, he remained outside when she and Richard entered the suite.

She walked three steps inside and turned. “Look, I don’t know where to start—” But Richard’s mouth slanted over hers in a hungry kiss that curled her toes. She forgot about thinking and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands roamed over her body, and the banked excitement from the performance burst free.

Okay, this was a good place to start.