Chapter 1

1

To the ignorant observer, Sangre didn’t just look closed, it looked abandoned. Jesse eyed the building from the car, shivering beneath his thin blanket. He would have asked Gideon what was happening, but the rules were already in effect, and he wasn’t to speak unless spoken to. He waited in the passenger seat, his hands resting in his lap, as Gideon circled the front of the car. There weren’t any lights to illuminate his face, and his silhouette seemed even larger in the shadows.

Gideon yanked the passenger door open and hooked the chain around Jesse’s leash. A light tug had Jesse easing out of the car, dropping to his hands and knees on the sidewalk. He would have protested this, but the street was abandoned, and he didn’t have the right to protest anything. He had agreed to all of Gideon’s rules before putting the collar on, and that included arriving naked, except for his briefs, and on his knees.

Jesse kept his head down as he followed Gideon to the heavy door. One single knock and it swung open, revealing the rather subdued interior. There was music, as always, and red and yellow lights, but the din Jesse had learned to associate with the club was absent. From his angle, he couldn’t see how many vampires were present, but he knew it was far from the normal amount. Somehow, instead of relieving his anxious excitement, it only made it worse.

Heels clicked across the floor, approaching at a swift gait. Jesse caught long, pale legs, and followed them up to see a vampire he more than recognized. A fall of long, dark waves over slender shoulders. Wide brown eyes that glittered with gold even when she wasn’t in vampface. Nose and mouth just a fraction too wide.

Monique. She had been one of the very first vampires he’d encountered at the notorious vampire club. She was one of the few that insisted on sharing him with Gideon every time they came.

“I have everything set up for you,” she said to Gideon. “Slater’s gone, so we don’t have to worry about him hanging around and spoiling our appetites.” Her nose wrinkled in distaste. “Someone really needs to buy the little cretin out. Sangre would be so much better under different management.”

Gideon scanned the room. “Is everybody here?”

“Everyone but Eric. He had to go to Milwaukee for some emergency.” Her lustful gaze swiveled back to Jesse, while her tongue swept over her lower lip. “He is going to be so upset when he finds out what he missed. This is an absolute treat.”

“Well, Jesse’s deserved it.” Now both vampires regarded him, eyes so hot and hungry they sent shivers through Jesse’s flesh. “Now that he’s home again, I thought it was time to give him a little something special.”

Monique stepped forward and crouched in front of Jesse. She ran a long, plum-painted fingernail over his mouth, down to the throb of his pulse in his neck. “I’ve waited a very long time for this,” she said, her lower inflection directing the words specifically to Jesse. “It’s good to have you back.”

Jesse couldn’t help a small smile. “Thank you.”

It was good to be back. The vampires in the club had obviously been handpicked by Gideon. Kneeling at his feet and knowing that the vampires waiting for Jesse all knew him, all wanted him, all had longed to sink their fangs into his flesh to drink deep, made his attempt at the BDSM club in London before he’d discovered Gideon was still alive seem even more futile. How could he think that some random vampire in some unknown club would ever give him the satisfaction he naturally found with Gideon and Sangre?

“The racks are already set up.” Though she didn’t straighten, the tone of her voice clearly meant she was speaking to Gideon. When her gaze flickered to Jesse’s wrists, however, she frowned. “You didn’t put him in cuffs already? All Slater has is iron.”

“Iron’s fine.” With a tug on the leash, Gideon headed through the various couches dotting the floor to a cleared space behind them. Jesse had no choice but to fall to his hands and crawl along behind him. “The whole point of the racks is to get his blood flowing first anyway. If it chafes a little, all the more for us.”

Jesse shivered at the thought of the irons closing around his wrists and ankles, biting into his skin until small streams of blood traveled down his arms and into the waiting mouths of the vampires surrounding him. The smell of the blood would drive the vamps into a frenzy. Jesse didn’t think any of them knew that he wasn’t a mere mortal. He didn’t want them to know and he doubted Gideon would have broadcast the news.