Four Centuries (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (22 page)

They were touching shoulder to shoulder as they leaned against the second floor railing, staring at the dance floor below.
 
Victoria said very little, her eyes darting everywhere.
 
Zoey decided to dance in place a while, if only to distract herself.
 
She did feel good, sexy even.
 
The dress fit her perfectly, showing off curves she didn't know she had.
 
In fact, she possibly didn't have some of them when she was human.

As she danced, moving her hips and stretching her arms over her head, she glimpsed the stamp on her wrist informing employees at the club she wasn't old enough to drink.
 
The irony wasn't lost on her.
 
Technically, she would never be old enough to drink alcohol.

She caught a few young men staring and smiling at her.
 
It was amazing what just a tiny amount of confidence could do.
 
More men ogled Victoria, but she certainly didn't feel bad about the attention she was getting.

"We couldn't do our thing at a library, could we?" Zoey joked.

"Have you ever been to an actual library?"

"No," she admitted.
 
"But I hear they're quiet."

Victoria frowned, studying Zoey, and the teen enjoyed the fact that Victoria couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"Victoria, you're freaking me out," Zoey said.
 
It was nice not to have to shout.
 
"You look like a lion getting ready to jump on its prey."

Victoria smiled.
 
"That's actually pretty close."
 
She gestured to the dance floor below.
 
"Tell me what you think.
 
You tell me who would be a good choice."

Zoey didn't want to, but knew there was no sense fighting it.
 
She rolled her eyes as she assumed a position against the railing, their shoulders touching once again.

"There," she said, pointing.
 
"And him, too."

She proceeded to point out five different men.
 
The last one spotted her, and smiled as he admired her.
 
Zoey blew him a kiss.
 
The simple flirtation felt good.

"Interesting choices," Victoria said.
 
"I can't help but notice they're all young, attractive men."

"I'm only looking out for them," Zoey said, smiling mischievously.
 
"I don't want to give some old guy a heart attack.
 
Right?"

"For your own selfish reasons aside, you're not wrong.
 
You want to feed from healthy mortals, for their own sake."

"Well, that settles it, then.
 
Let's get to sucking."

"Not so fast.
 
That second guy you pointed out.
 
He's stone-cold drunk."

"And that's bad?
 
We shouldn't drink from him?"
 
Zoey took a guess.
 
"We can't handle the alcohol in the blood?"

"That's not it.
 
Actually, a little
tipsy
is okay.
 
It helps with them forgetting the experience.
 
But drunk people, it just doesn't always work out for the best."

"Okay, got it.
 
If everything does work out like it should, are one-night-stands okay?"

Victoria laughed when she realized Zoey was joking.
 
Zoey hoped humor would ease her mind with what was to come.
 
So far, it was working.

"All are good choices, except for the drunkard," Victoria said.
 
"But remember, tonight is not about sex.
 
Ignore everything your body tells you when you feed, at least until you get more practice.
 
Do not go inside yourself, and don't forget that you are dealing with a living, breathing mortal, whose life is in your hands."

"Wow.
 
Okay.
 
At least there's no pressure or anything."

"You're going to do fine," Victoria said, with a reassuring smile.
 
She read Zoey's eyes, saw that she was a bundle of nerves.
 
"But first, fun.
 
I like this song."

Not only did Victoria start dancing, but she started dancing
well
.
 
The elder vampire shifted once again, and Zoey nearly forgot she was watching a woman that she'd been drinking blood with on a daily basis.
 
Victoria signaled Zoey to join her, and she happily agreed.
 
They danced as they moved, all the way to the stairs to the first floor.
 
They wiggled onto the floor and joined the rest of the mortals.
 
Zoey still heard things she didn't want to.
 
An argument on the other side of the club.
 
A woman suffering from diarrhea in the bathroom.
 
A bartender sneaking money out of the register and slipping it into his own pocket.
 
She closed her eyes and did her best to tune everything out, focusing only on the music.

She could sense eyes admiring them from all directions.
 
Not just Victoria, but
them
.
 
She even heard someone across the club tell his friend to check out the sexy jar of mayonnaise in the black dress dancing with the nice rack.
 
While the
jar of mayonnaise
line didn't appeal to her, the rest of it did.

The song changed several times, and the pair continued to dance, even talking briefly and smiling at the people around them.
 
For a short time, Zoey forgot she was a vampire.
 
She was just a young woman spending time with her friend in the city.

She leaned close to talk with Victoria.
 
She didn't need to, but old habits were difficult to break, and she did have something for Victoria, and not the space between them.

"I actually feel…hot."

"We can feel temperature, just like everyone else.
 
It just doesn't affect us quite as much."

"No.
 
I mean
hot
.
 
Like sexy."

"You are very gorgeous, Zoey."

Somehow, coming from her, the words had more meaning.

"I also feel normal.
 
It's been a while since I felt that."

Victoria grabbed her shoulder and stopped dancing, giving Zoey her full attention.

"You
are
normal.
 
This may be a mortal world, but we belong in it just as much as they do."
 
Victoria gave Zoey a nod and returned back to her seductive dancing.
 
"And I hate to admit this, but I might have to steal some of your moves."

"It's okay," she said, dancing as well.
 
"Youth wins out."

"But, I hate to burst your bubble," Victoria said, laughing.
 
"But my legs are still better.
 
They've seen a lot more action."

Zoey wasn't going to argue.
 
Victoria certainly knew how to move them.

They danced another song before a man carrying a beer convulsed as he made his way to Zoey.
 
It took her a moment to realize he was attempting to dance.
 
She backed away, not liking the vibe he gave off.
 
His smile was a little sleazy for her tastes.

Victoria moved in and danced with the man.
 
Zoey watched as she expertly danced ever so close, touching his chest slightly.
 
She turned and pressed her back to him, swaying her hips back and forth across his pelvis.
 
Arching her neck back, she moved her lips close to the stranger's.
 
He laid a hand across her stomach, under her shirt.
 
Zoey was shocked at first, but wondered if she found the man attractive.
 
She didn't really know what got Victoria's engine running.
 
All the guy talk so far mostly revolved around Zoey.

The man followed Victoria's movements, under her spell.
 
He tried to move his hand up further when Victoria spun around, wrapping her arms around his neck.
 
She pressed her hips against him and hooked her foot behind his knee, drawing him in further.
 
He held her in return, the beer bottle against her back.
 
He was several inches taller than Victoria, and leaned down for a kiss.
 
Zoey was amazed and repulsed by the display.
 
She wondered if there was a hotel room in her future.
 
Victoria's lips were less than an inch from the stranger's.

They never touched.

Victoria slid underneath his jaw and pressed her lips to his neck.
 
There was no violence, no sudden, jerky movements.
 
Only subtlety and grace.

Zoey didn't even have an idea of what was going on until his eyes shot open, the supernatural sensations nipping at his alcoholic buzz.
 
She glanced at the mortals around them, wondering if any of them were suspicious.
 
Not many even gave Victoria much thought, except to admire her figure through her tight skirt, and to gawk at what they thought was a public make-out session.

The stranger's knees buckled, and Zoey thought he'd collapse at any moment.
 
Victoria wrapped an arm around his waist and held him up easily.
 
Without even looking, she nimbly grabbed the beer bottle from his hand just as he dropped it.
 
The look on his face told her he was in another realm of pleasure.

She didn't know how much time had passed before Victoria loosened her fangs from his neck.
 
All she knew was she'd stopped dancing, mesmerized by the display.
 
Victoria's tongue lashed out quickly, like a serpent's, licking the tiny wounds.
 
She returned the beer bottle to his grip.
 
In one smooth motion, she backed away and took Zoey's hand.
 
Victoria spun her friend like a professional dancer before dragging her through the crowd.

"Let's go shoot some pool," Victoria said.

Zoey nearly stumbled trying to look behind them.

"Shit!
 
Victoria?
 
Did you just…?"
 
She couldn't finish.

"I did.
 
Tell me, does he look hurt?
 
Traumatized?"

The stranger looked anything but.
 
It was difficult not to notice the erection in his jeans.

"It looks like he's going to cream in his pants."

"Then I stopped just in time.
 
No sense ruining his night by giving him a wet spot."

"I'm not sure he'd agree with you."

Zoey and Victoria found an empty pool table and started a game.
 
It wasn't long before a group of young men and women joined them, wanting to take turns on the winner.
 
Victoria was still thirty-years-old, her smile big and bright as she beamed.

"Sure!" she said.
 
"Although I'm not very good at pool.
 
My cousin here shoots me under the table.
 
My name's Sherry.
 
My cousin over there is Jaima.
 
She's from out of town."

"Really?" one of the cuter guys said.
 
"Never been to Baltimore?"

Zoey smiled and immediately played along.

"No.
 
This is my first trip.
 
It's a little scary, to be honest."

It didn't take long before the flirting began.
 
Another guy stepped up.

"Don't worry.
 
We're not all bad here."

Zoey felt a touch of guilt at giving out a fake name.
 
But it was also exciting.
 
It was almost like she was on an adventure, that anything could happen.
 
The group introduced themselves, but Zoey's mind was running all over the place.
 
Most of the names didn't even hit her short-term memory.

They played pool with the group, taking turns and having fun.
 
As Zoey was leaning over the table, lining up a shot, she overheard two of them behind her whisper about her pleasant shape.
 
She stretched just a little further, held her pose a little longer for their enjoyment.

Victoria was shooting a game with one of the women as Zoey leaned against the wall.
 
A guy whose name she actually remembered slowly approached her.
 
They hadn't talked much until that point, only the occasional comment over their only pool game, which she won.
 
His name was Shawn.

"Hi," he said.
 
"I'm Shawn."

Zoey laughed at the reintroduction, and formally shook his hand.
 
It took her a second to remember her alias.

"Jaima.
 
Nice to meet you."

"You shoot a mean game of pool."

"I thought you were just letting me win."

"No.
 
Believe it or not, I was trying to beat your ass."

They shared a laugh.

"You've been my only challenge so far."
 
He gestured to his friends.
 
"It's not hard to beat these clowns.
 
They're all half-drunk."

Zoey noticed for the first time he was the only one in his group without a bottle.

"You don't drink?"

"Can't.
 
I'm the chauffeur."
 
He showed off his wrist stamp.
 
"And a little too young.
 
Old enough to vote.
 
But not drink.
 
Does that make sense?"