Page 11 of Santa's Wish
Fuck. He really was a man after my own heart. "Pick your poison."
"Black Velvet?"
"Gods, why? That stuff is terrible," Colette said. "I don't want to lose all respect for you."
"That's the only kind of whiskey I know!" He sounded so cute when he whined.
"Let me pick the whiskey," I said. "On the house." I didn't normally pay for more than one drink, but he needed an education, and I would give it to him. It worked to my advantage, since I wanted an excuse for him to see the fully furnished apartment two floors above mine. Purely business reasons. He would have a steady income from the empress, and I had an apartment for rent, simple as that.
Except it got complicated, the more Boz drank. With lowered inhibitions came animated expressions and arm movements so wide he almost fell off his bar stool.
Colette had asked him a question about accounting.She was still staring at him like he spouted the secret of life.
He'd lost me somewhere between ledger and data sort, but he mesmerized me with his gestures and gorgeous eyes peeking above the wire rims of his glasses. Yes, I was the vampire in this relationship, but he had fully charmed me.
Some bar patrons took notice, and not in a good way. A pushy vampire I recognized but couldn't place shoved his way through a bachelorette party. The screaming women didn't slow Boz down. He continued with his story, even as the vampire reached for his shoulder.
The world blurred around me as I hopped the bar and grabbed his wrist. I shoved him back toward the shouting women, and Jameson caught up to us, grabbing him in a full nelson.
"I wanted to buy him a drink." The sound of his gravelly voice was enough to jar my memory. This was the same vampire I'd kicked out of the bar the other night.
"Hands off," I said.
"There's nothing in your bar rules that says we can't touch a human to get their attention, worm."
Worm was definitely worse than whore, in my opinion. At least I was a whore. I’d never been and never would be a worm.
"No," Jameson said, "but there is a rule aboutcausing commotion, and you've upset these lovely ladies."
They were still swearing up a storm. Apparently, he'd disrupted a dance routine they were filming.
"Let me take care of this riffraff, and then we'll ask the DJ to play your song again," Jameson reassured them. He nodded at me, and I returned to the bar.
"Wow," Boz said. "What was that all about?" He didn't recognize his admirer from the other night.
"Do you know that guy?" I asked Colette while Boz downed his last shot of five I'd poured for him.
She shook her head. "No. Could be a newbie who thinks they can fill a power vacuum. The new council's hands are full."
"Another round?" Boz asked. After five shots and an attitude adjustment, he already slurred his words.
Colette rolled her eyes and finished her glass. "I've got to get going. I have a meeting with the council to discuss the empress's plans for the next election. You'll make sure this one gets home?"
I grinned and passed Boz another seltzer. "Sure thing."
Thanks to the earlier scuffle, I scared off vampires and humans alike from getting too close with only a glare. Boz ignored everyone around him, telling his beguiling tale of spreadsheets and group projects to me alone.
I poured and served drinks on automatic, noddinghere and there to show him I was still listening. I was, but I had no clue what he was going on about. It had been at least twenty years since I'd last graced the halls of an academic institution, and that had been to drain the coeds of their blood.
Twenty years. That's how long the synthetic stuff had been around. It changed our eating habits, hell, our lives, completely. We'd come out of the shadows and let humans know of our existence. With that came willing donors and places like Blood Drive.
There had always been vampire bars, but now we served alcohol, too. Once, this place had been a juice bar, a front for human/vampire hookups. Now, the humans came to be entertained without being on the menu, and that was fine with me.
I wouldn't be draining anyone of blood tonight, especially not Boz. He was the only interesting human seated at the bar with me, and he was too intoxicated.
By midnight, the dance floor was almost empty, thanks to the bachelorette party moving on to another establishment and most of our usual patrons making their way to the tables and booths. Jameson surprised me by snatching the bar towel from my shoulder. He gave me a playful swat on the ass with it. "Take your little genius home."
"Genius?" I asked.
