The Elixir Maidens: Crimson Read online

  “Ruby had it made for me. He has a friend who’s a designer. You want one?”

  “A friend who’s a designer?” she teased.

  “No. A dress like that.”

  “Come on, Richie.” She raised her eyes to heaven. “Like I’d be seen in the same dress as you.”

  “Why not? Maybe we could do a sister act.” He chuckled. “And yes, I’m only pulling your leg.” He stood, looking extremely tall in silver platforms and a purple and silver fringed dress. A beaded bandana accented his frizzy auburn wig. “How do I look?”

  “Beautiful in a demonic flower child kind of way.”

  He grinned. “Perfect. It’s show time.”

  They left the suite and met Ruby and Greg in the hall.

  The club area of Burgundy Peak had been turned into a replica of a ’70s disco, complete with tacky ball-shaped lights. Almost all the patrons and staff were dressed in ’70s attire.

  “I haven’t seen this much polyester in like thirty years.” Ruby wrinkled his nose.

  “I think that guy over there is actually wearing a shag rug,” Greg said.

  “No, I think that’s his own hair,” Sondra teased.

  “We’re only on for a couple of hours.” Richie squeezed Sondra’s hand. “Our table is over there.”

  He nodded toward a corner table where Andrew and Hagen already sat, sipping drinks. Sondra joined them while the Maidens took the stage.

  The show went great, and after an hour they took a break between sets. Ruby and Greg sat at the table and ordered drinks. Richie took Sondra’s ginger ale and finished it, then offered her his hand.

  “Want to dance?”

  The DJ had taken over during the break and a disco song blared throughout the club.

  “Sure.” Sondra grinned and walked with Richie to the dance floor. “Which one of us leads?”

  “Honey, nobody leads to this kind of music,” Richie teased in his falsetto, then dropped to his normal deep tone. “Just get out there and shake your ass.” He playfully slapped her bottom.

  “Richie!”

  “What?”

  When the song ended, they returned to the table while the Maidens finished their break.

  Partway into the Maidens’ final set, Mel approached the table and took the seat near Sondra.

  “The party is going great,” Sondra told her.

  “I’m glad. I hate planning this stuff. I can’t wait until Zigor gets back tomorrow. Running this club is a pain in the ass, even though Onan does a lot. I’m just glad the Maidens agreed to perform tonight.”

  Sondra chuckled. “They seem to like what they do.”

  “Yeah, and they’re damn good at it. By the way, how’s it going with Richie?”

  “Oh, Mel.” Sondra turned to her friend. “I’m in love.”

  “Yeah?” Mel’s eyes glistened with amusement. “He has got a certain charm.”

  “Yes he does. He’s funny, sweet, gorgeous.”

  “I’m happy for you both. Excuse me a minute. I need to go check on the kitchen staff. Have fun.”

  Mel left the table and Sondra continued watching the show. Afterward the Maidens joined Sondra, Andrew, and Hagen. Ruby and Hagen decided to dance while Andrew excused himself and headed toward the men’s room.

  “I’m going to get a glass of water,” Greg said.

  “Me, too.” Richie stood. “Anybody else?”

  “No. I think I’ll run to the ladies’ room,” Sondra said and kissed Richie’s cheek. “Be right back.”

  He wrapped an arm around her and purred in her ear, “I’ll be waiting.”

  With another firm pat on her backside, he released her. Sondra walked away, glancing at him over her shoulder, pleased to find him staring after her.

  Once Sondra disappeared down the hall toward the ladies’ room, Richie joined Greg at the bar. It was a busy night, so the bar was crowded. While waiting their turn to order, Richie turned toward the entrance and noticed a guy who looked very much like Sondra’s Creator, Nigel -- or at least what he remembered of him from that night at Burgundy Peak a month ago.

  Nah, he thought to himself. It’s a coincidence. Nigel is in France.

  The man walked toward the bar and took an empty stool near Greg. The bartender placed glasses in front of Richie and Greg, then said, “That was a great show tonight. It was nice to have The Elixir Maidens here again.”

  “Nice to be here,” Greg said, smiling graciously. He picked up his water and turned to go, but accidentally bumped into the man beside him. “Oh! Excuse me.”

  The man glared. “There is no excuse for you.”

  Greg cocked an eyebrow then glanced over his shoulder at Richie. “Neanderthal man at three o’clock.”

  “What?” The man stood, using his height and size advantage in an attempt to intimidate the much slighter Greg.

  “Hey,” Richie growled, “I don’t know what your problem is, but keep it to yourself.”

  “Richie, it’s okay,” Greg said. “I can handle my --”

  Before he finished speaking, the man slammed his fist into his face, knocking Greg backward onto the floor. Blood gushed from his nose.

  Blinded by rage, Richie slugged his offspring’s attacker so hard the man knocked into several patrons behind him. Richie jumped at him, but the man’s reflexes were surprisingly fast, even for a vampire, and he kicked Richie in the stomach. Richie staggered, but didn’t go down.

  “Stop it,” Greg bellowed. “Richie, don’t!”

  Too furious to pay attention, Richie continued trading blows with the man. His wig flew off and he tasted blood, but he didn’t give a flying fuck. Within seconds he’d pinned the instigator face down on the bar and twisted his arm to the point of breaking it.

  “Let him up, Richie,” Greg shouted. He and Ruby both jumped on him. Onan joined them and they finally managed to pull him off the panting, bleeding man.

  “Oh my God!” Sondra screamed, shoving her way through the crowd. To Richie’s horror, she stooped beside the man who was on his knees, glaring at Richie, his face streaked with blood. “Nigel!”

  “Nigel?” Richie demanded. He would have wiped the blood from his lips had Onan and Ruby not still been restraining him by both arms. “I thought he was in France?”

  “Richie!” Sondra leapt to her feet and reached for his bleeding face. “Are you okay?”

  “Richie?” Nigel growled. “Sondra, what the hell is going on?”

  “Everybody clear away!” Onan bellowed and the crowd scattered.

  “Sondra, you didn’t tell me your Creator was a fucking asshole!” Richie snapped.

  “Silence!” Onan pointed a finger in Richie’s face.

  Nigel pushed himself to his feet, his shocked gaze still fixed on Sondra and Richie.

  “What’s happening?” Andrew strode out of the men’s room. His face paled when he saw Greg holding a wad of napkins to his bloody nose. The armorer tenderly cupped his lover’s chin. “Who did this?”

  “He did.” Richie jerked his head in Nigel’s direction. “He fucking clocked him for no damn reason.”

  The armorer’s eyes glowed vampiric red and his enormous fists clenched at his sides as he approached Nigel.

  “No! Andrew, don’t!” Greg jumped on Andrew’s back in an attempt to stop him, but the action was in vain.

  “Netherby, do not do this!” Onan commanded. “You will regret --”

  With a savage growl, Andrew picked up Nigel over his head like a barbell and hurled him through the air. The man crashed into the wall of glasses and bottles behind the bar.

  “Netherby!” Onan lunged at the oversized armorer and after a moment wrestled him to the floor. The security chief held Andrew down while another member of security assisted Nigel.

  Mel, who had just run out of the kitchen, stared at the mess and murmured, “Zigor is going to kill me.”

  * * *

  In a back room of the club, Sondra sat with Nigel, helping him clean several lacerations that were already hea
ling quickly due to his vampiric nature. Mel stood nearby.

  “I can’t believe you have been dating a creature like that,” Nigel said. “I am deeply disappointed.”

  “Yes, you’re disappointed,” Sondra snapped, her stomach twisting with anger, sadness, and guilt. If she had been honest with both Richie and Nigel, this terrible incident might never have happened. “Why do you think I’ve hidden the most meaningful relationship I’ve ever had from you? Because I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

  “How do you expect me to understand this?” Nigel held her gaze. “It goes against everything I’ve ever taught you. Everything that is right.”

  “Who says? You? Some macho pigs from a thousand years ago?”

  “Sondra, that is enough! You will show me the respect I deserve.”

  “When you show me the same,” she stated, her heart pounding. She had never spoken to Nigel like this before.

  His jaw clenched visibly. “I gave you everything, girl. Everything. I loved you like my own child.”

  “Then love me now.” Sondra took his hand and held it to her cheek. “I love Richie. Please try to understand that.”

  “You love him.” Shaking his head, Nigel cast his eyes down. With a sigh, he met her gaze again. “Then you must choose, Sondra, between him and me.”

  “Nigel, maybe you should calm down and think about this,” Mel suggested.

  “This is not your affair,” he snapped.

  Onan stepped into the room and said, “If your injuries are tended, Nigel, I will ask you to leave Burgundy Peak. When and if you wish to return, you must speak to Zigor.”

  “You’re banning me?” Nigel looked aghast. “What about that ox with fangs who nearly killed me?”

  “Andrew has also been asked to stay away until Zigor approves his return. You will leave now.”

  Nigel walked toward the door and paused before stepping out. His back to Sondra and the others, he asked, “Sondra, are you coming with me?”

  She swallowed hard, feeling almost as devastated as she’d felt as a mortal child who had just lost her family. “No, Nigel, I’m not.”

  His back stiffened even more and he strode out of the club.

  Resting a hand on her shoulder, Mel asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Not really,” Sondra whispered. “I need to see Richie.”

  “I believe he’s in his room.”

  Sondra glanced from Mel to Onan and said, “I’m sorry about what happened.”

  “Wasn’t your fault,” Mel reassured her.

  Onan nodded slightly and Sondra hurried up to Richie’s room.

  She knocked on the door and Ruby answered.

  “Is Richie…”

  Ruby opened the door wider to allow her inside and asked, “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. Thanks, Ruby.”

  The Elixir Maiden left quietly to give them privacy. Richie walked out of the bedroom. Shirtless, barefoot, and wearing loose jogging pants, he had washed off his makeup and his lip was only slightly swollen from the fight. The other injures had almost completely healed.

  “Richie, I’m so sorry.” She approached and he took her in his arms.

  “It’s okay.” He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. “No wonder you told me he was in France.”

  “Nigel just… he has a problem with alternative lifestyles.”

  Richie took her chin in his hand and tilted her face to meet his gaze. “Baby, he’s a vampire. How much more alternative does it get?”

  “You know what I mean, Richie.” She sighed. “He’s very… traditional.”

  “He hates people without even knowing them. Greg didn’t do shit to him and he punched him in the face.”

  “I know. I can’t make an excuse for his actions.” She turned away and wrapped her arms around herself, torn between her powerful new love for Richie and her loyalty toward Nigel.

  “Hey.” Richie wrapped his arms around her. “In a way it’s good this happened. I mean, we couldn’t keep it from him forever.”

  “He doesn’t want me to see you anymore, Richie,” she murmured.

  “But that doesn’t change anything, does it? I mean, how do you feel about it?”

  “I love you.” She turned, tears filling her eyes. Damn, she didn’t want to cry like a fool, but she didn’t want to choose between the two people who meant the most in her life. “I really love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “But Nigel said if I continue seeing you, he won’t have anything to do with me. He’s my Creator, Richie!”

  Richie drew a deep breath and released it slowly. Nigel was a real bastard. Imagine a Creator threatening to disown his offspring because he didn’t like her choice of partner. He would never do anything that painful to his vampiric children, especially not over something as trivial as how a person chose to dress.

  “Richie, I don’t want to lose you.” She flung her arms around his neck and held him tight.

  “But you don’t want to lose Nigel, either,” he said. “I get it. Say I wasn’t an Elixir Maiden. Would he be cool with that?”

  “You’d do that for me?” She lifted her gaze to his, her eyes gleaming.

  “If we’re planning a long term thing, I’ll certainly have to consider it because I love you, too, Sondra.”

  “No. It’s your career. More than that. Crimson is part of who you are. I know you tell me dressing like a woman is only a job, but it’s got to be more than that. Crimson is like a whole other person and I like her. A lot. Nigel has no right to decide whether or not she lives or dies.”

  Her words touched Richie more than he imagined possible. “Wow,” he breathed and walked to the couch. “I need to sit. That was… profound, baby.”

  A slight smile touched her lips and she joined him on the couch. He wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

  “I can’t ask you to break away from your Creator. That’s a serious thing.”

  “He’s doing the breaking away. Not me. Maybe I can talk some sense into him.”

  “Would it help if I came with you?”

  Sondra gave a wry laugh. “No. I don’t think beating him up again will help.”

  “I wouldn’t --”

  “He probably wouldn’t give you a choice.” Tenderly she brushed his mouth with a kiss. “I’ll be back by dawn, Richie, whether Nigel likes it or not.”

  * * *

  Once Sondra left, Richie went to Ruby’s hotel room and knocked. Hagen answered the door and invited him to join him and Ruby for a cup of coffee. While the couple sat on the couch, Richie stood by the window and gazed out at the city street below.

  “I can’t come between her and Nigel. It’ll break her heart,” Richie said after explaining the situation.

  “It sounds like the only one intent on breaking hearts is Nigel. The vamp is an asshole,” Ruby said.

  “But she’s already lost enough people she loves,” Richie continued. “I don’t want to complicate her life.”

  “Relationships are always a complication,” Hagen offered.

  Ruby wrinkled his nose. “Oh, thanks a lot, lover.”

  “Let me finish,” Hagen said. “They are a complication, but also the greatest experience in the world. If you and Sondra are soulmates, you will never be complete without each other.”

  “Richie, I’ve known you for years and never seen you act this way about a woman,” Ruby said. “You’re like a completely different person around her.”

  “I thought fooling around and living the bachelor life was the way to go,” Richie said. “But Sondra changed all that. I can’t imagine a future without her.”

  “Then you and she need to stick together,” Ruby said.

  “But I keep thinking about what it must be like for her. If my master disowned me -- or if one of my offspring did -- it would be like losing part of myself. I can’t let that happen to her.”

  Sighing, Ruby reached for a cookie from the plate on the coffee table. “Then why don’t you take a
break from the group for a while?”

  “Huh?”

  “We can find a replacement while you and Sondra work things out. I’m sure Greg will agree.”

  Richie chewed his lower lip and furrowed his brow. That was a good idea.

  “Okay. I guess that couldn’t hurt. Besides, we don’t have any gigs coming up for a few months.”

  “Take longer if you need it.”

  “Hey, are you looking to get rid of me?” He tried to sound teasing.

  “Not on your life.” Ruby stood and walked toward Richie. He placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re like family, remember? If one of us needs something, the others are there for him. Settle this with your girlfriend, then we can talk business another time.”

  Chapter Five

  Several nights later, Sondra stood in her kitchen with Richie who was showing her how to make a gourmet dinner. She caught Nigel’s scent before the doorbell rang, and she froze, her heart pounding.

  Richie touched her arm. “It’s okay. I promise no violence this time.”

  “Don’t worry.” She forced a smile. “You have permission to defend yourself. Just do me a favor and wait here while I talk to him first.”

  Richie nodded, though she felt his gaze upon her as she left the kitchen and walked to the front door. Drawing a deep breath, she opened it.

  “Hello, Sondra,” Nigel said, sounding reserved, his gaze more uncertain than she’d ever seen it.

  “Nigel. How are you?”

  “Thoughtful.”

  “Um, Richie is here…”

  “I know. Can we talk for a moment?”

  “Of course. Come in.” She stepped aside and he joined her in the foyer.

  “I spoke with Zigor yesterday.”

  “Are you allowed back in the club?”

  “Yes.” He folded his arms behind his back and paced, not meeting her gaze.

  “Good. So is Andrew.”

  “I see.”

  “Nigel, is something wrong?”

  “Every now and then Zigor gives some useful advice. He told me something that made me think.”

  “What is it?” Sondra began to worry. Never had she seen Nigel quite like this. “Is something wrong?”

  “He suggested that if I continued to enforce the ultimatum I gave you, I might lose you.”