City of Blood

13

When Callum's driver drops us off, he reiterates that he does not want Helen finding out. The driver nods, and I'm honestly not sure of the relationship between Callum and Helen and their assorted employees because I'd assume they all report to Helen. However, they seem to also have Callum's back, so maybe he's closer friends with a couple of them?

I don't have time to dwell on it because Callum guides me away from the car and to the long line into the building. We don't have to wait long; thankfully the bouncer doesn't recognize us and guides us to the entrance door after eyeing us up and down and looking at our eyes.

The inside is impressive, honestly. It does have a small dance floor in the center of the room and there are already vampires dancing on it, though the dancing is more rubbing against each other as closely as possible. A side effect of the scent blocker is that I cannot pick out scents as easily, so I'll have to pay closer attention to pick out Ramsay.

Around the dance floor are assorted tables, all of them built like booths for the purpose of privacy. There are tall walls that surround the booths, even in between them. We're here a bit earlier than Ramsay should be here in order to put our plan in action.

Callum leads me to a booth and taps the wall beside us that blocks our view of the other booth. "He sits there. I'll go order us drinks," he says, clicking a few buttons on his phone and taking a roll of duct tape that he brought in the small backpack he likes to carry around when it's necessary. "And I'll put this into place."

Tonight is one of those necessary times.

I stay in my seat, tapping my foot impatiently. This place gives me a bad vibe and I really hope that Callum and I are overreacting and Ramsay just wanted more vampire friends. Besides, he's allowed to come in here without an ID, so it must be nicer for him.

While I'm alone, I survey the club and watch as the dance floor slowly gets busier. No one looks like they're dancing how the people do at Vampieress' Dungeon. There, they all dance with the look in their eyes that shows it's for the sole intent of getting laid, but here they dance, get close together, and then disappear to tables for conversation.

Callum returns with two old fashioned glasses with a red liquid inside of them, but it's thankfully too transparent to be blood. I'm not sure if this place serves blood but I wouldn't put it past them based on the vibe it's giving off.

"What is it?" I ask, wrinkling my nose.

"Mine is a vodka cranberry and yours is just cranberry juice."

I frown. "Rude."

"You're underage and it's human vodka, so it's not like it'll do much anyway."

"Why would they serve human vodka?" I ask, my voice hushed. "It's an exclusive club and I doubt they actually let humans in."

Callum shrugs, taking a sip of his drink before sliding it to me and letting me take a sip. We sit in the booth and hang out for a half and hour before Callum nods toward the door and slides me one of his wireless headphones.

I put it in and then turn to follow his gaze, my eyes finding Ramsay as he enters the room. I'm wearing one of Callum's jackets, but it doesn't have a hood so I make sure to keep myself mostly concealed within the booth and just peek out at him.

He isn't alone; the blond guy from the restaurant isn't here, but there are two other guys accompanying him. Well, it looks more like he's the one accompanying another vampire, as he's standing on his left side and is slightly behind him. Despite this, he doesn't look demoralized or agitated; he looks kind of smug.

The man on the other side of the leading vampire looks how I would have expected Ramsay to. He looks demoralized and anxious, his hands writhing together as he stands beside the leader and keeps glancing up to look around before he refocuses on the floor. Honestly, calling him a man feels like an overstatement; he can't be older than myself or Ramsay.