Page 24 of Skin Trade

In the early days when she’d first been taken into Creven’s care, she’d expected every new visitor to be her father. She’d waited tirelessly for him to come and get her, for him to pay Creven and tell him it was a mistake, or worse, to drag him before the Nosferatu where he would be punished for taking young girls.

Maybe she couldn’t leave this place, but maybe there was a way she could find her father herself and get to him.

Whoever had knocked, had gone. When she came out of the bathroom, the corridor was empty again. There were no sounds either way. If the club was in full swing, the sounds didn’t make it all the way into this part of the building.

Instead of going towards the dining room to find the lift and perhaps go back to her room, Payton went the opposite direction and carried on along the new corridor she had discovered. Most of the rooms here had signs on them. Men’s room, storage, staff only, and at the end, a flight of stairs that went both up and down. She was on the third floor if she remembered. Though her sense of direction was a piece of shit. She was lucky she retained the knowledge of what was left or right.

The stairs going down took her to a set of large glass doors. There was no other way to go. Either through them, or back the way she came. The doors opened up to the foyer of the building. The opposite side of where she had run through with that thing following her before.

“Hmmm. Well, that wasn’t where I expected it to be.”

The big glass panel where the creature had smashed through had been replaced. Not even a boarded-up door to show that anything had happened. All signs on the floor were gone too. She thought the glass would have at least scratched the immaculate flooring, but there was nothing. It was left shining and unscathed. But what had they done with the creature’s body? It was huge. The size of a bear.

“Not planning on leaving again, are you?”

“Huh?” Payton searched for the light familiar voice. Sky was sitting behind the reception desk, pen in her hand, writing something. This time her hair was back. Tied into two plaits that ran down either side of her head. It had been what? Two hours? “Sorry. I was just …” Just what? Feeling lost and helpless.

“I said, are you going to leave again?”

“No.” She shrugged. “I just wanted some air and thought I would have a walk around. That’s okay?”

“Dinner is finished already?”

Her face reddened at the innocent question as the memories of Seth flooded her brain. He was like a switch she couldn’t turn off. Even in the bathroom, when she tried to wash him away, he was something she couldn’t get rid of, and it made no sense to her.

He was just another vampire, and she was just another blood slave, a toy for him. Something for him to play with when he wanted to. She’d have to find a way to fight down her emotions and become this numb thing that didn’t react to what he did.

Then, and only then would he grow bored and give up.

“I thought he and Tasha would prefer to be alone,” she said and turned her back on Sky, so Sky couldn’t see or hear the tremble in her body and voice.

A large man stood beside the door. He was big, too big, with broad shoulders and a neck so thick, she’d need ten hands to reach all the way around. He stared at her with dark eyes, watching her the same way Seth watched her. Vampire. He had to be.

There was something dark about him. The kind of man who, if he walked behind you in the street, you’d duck into the nearest busy place just to let him pass. Still, despite that, Payton stepped towards the front door. Not that she had any intention of going out there. She’d seen enough outside to last her a lifetime. But aside from when she’d been in Seth’s car, she’d not seen the outside at night.

The doors to Skin Trade were open. Guards stood beside them, ushering in or stopping a small line of people waiting for access. The street around them buzzed with life. People walked together in groups. No one walked alone. A couple walked together. The woman had a powerful stride, and the man with her, maybe not noticeable to others around her, took a step behind. Showing power between them. She was probably vampire and the man her blood slave and lover.

“You should not go out there,” the man said. His voice thick, like treacle. She imagined if this man were to shout, his voice would carry up through all the floors of Seth’s building and make them rattle. He had an accent too, similar to Seth’s with that London perfection to it with the way they said some words. “You’d not last long.”

“Isn’t it okay to go outside at night?” she said. Not that she wanted to go out there. Not yet at least. But what she had seen in the drive here was vampires outside, vampires and humans. It was the thirsty who posed the risks.

“Not alone,” Sky said. She’d come from the reception to stand beside Payton. “Not if you don’t want to get snatched up. Those bastards out there would have someone like you in a heartbeat.”

“Like me?”

“Young, attractive. Someone who is fertile enough to do their bidding, and young enough to be broken to their will. You’d be prime meat out there.”

Payton narrowed her eyes at Sky. “Is that why I’m here? Because I’m prime meat?” Because he’d be able to break her to his will and have her as a total slave.

“You’re here because he wants you here,” the man said. “Best not to forget that.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “He clearly doesn’t need me.”

The man’s lips formed a hard line. “It isn’t about need. It is about want.”

“If Sir wants something, he gets it,” Sky added, her tone tender compared to the man’s.

Creven never had a dedicated blood slave, but she had seen a vampire who did. An older vampire who’d come to Creven’s place a lot with business. His blood slave had always been by his side, and every time Payton had seen him, he’d looked more drained, like he’d been hanging onto his life by the faintest of threads. Permanent blood slaves were never a good idea. All the drinking, and draining, it never left the slave enough time to recuperate what had been taken.

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