Page 10 of Coven Relics
Balthazar just shrugged.
“It’s kind of like drugs.”
“It must be different for us. First, I was hot, then cold,” Killian said.
“My father was a Frost Giant, and I have the power of fire,” Loki said. “Different gods, different powers. Shall we?”
I threaded my arms through Killian’s and Bjorn’s since they were closest to me. I’d never been in this bar before, but I knew of it. Some human development company bought the land when I was still at the academy. I’m not sure how because this area was a supernatural safe haven. It was close enough to the academy to be considered sacred to us. I was a little shocked no one had snatched it back yet. I didn’t really understand why the owners hadn’t sold either instead of trying to make fetch happen with different themes.
It was pitch black outside and looked abandoned. This wasn’t my first rave rodeo, and Balthazar was the one who had gotten the invite. Vampires liked to keep their parties on the down low, and you were only getting in if you were invited or were with someone with an invite. Plenty of supernaturals thought the more, the merrier with their parties, but many didn’t want justanyonethere.
Vampire parties tended to get pretty intense. There was drinking, drugs, fucking, and a lot of biting. They only wanted people there who could handle their shit. No one wanted the party to stop because the Paranormal Investigation Bureau crashed it.
Balthazar led us to a side door on the other side of the bar and knocked. It barely opened a crack.
“Tangerine,” Balthazar said.
Many of the passwords for these things were like safe words for sex. I might have even used tangerine in the bedroom once when experimenting. Then, a massive vampire with a purple mohawk stuck his head out the door.
“I recognize the big one from his videos, and there’s another like him with you. Can you vouch for them, Balthazar?”
“They are better behaved than I am, and you have no problem letting me in.”
Loki snorted. I really hoped he didn’t take that as a personal challenge to get us banned from every vampire party in the world for the rest of our lives. I planned to be a very hot ninety-year-old bumping and grinding in glow-in-the-dark paint with people half my age. I pinched his bottom to warn Loki to behave. He gasped and pretended to be surprised.
“Later, little witch.”
“You can all come in. The paint station is to your left, and anything that glows is to the right. The bar is stocked with shit that will get you drunk from every supernatural race. If you’re looking to get high, ask for Sparkle. She’s the only one authorized to sell tonight because we’re tired of people bringing tainted shit into parties, and we trust her. You’ll know her because half her head is shaved, and she had some body mods done. The other half of her head is sparkling with jewels. If you don’t want your nose bitten off, you won’t comment if you’re a prude and don’t like it.”
“I’m a piercer,” Bram said. “I’d actually love to see it.”
“She’s a shifter freak, so if your witch is going to start a fight about that, you’d better not.”
Ripley wouldn’t because she knew Bram was devoted and wouldn’t cheat on her. I couldn’t say the same for Reyson. He was particular about his people. Ripley’s arrangement wasn’t all these guys were sharing her. Balthazar, Bram, and Reyson had a group thing, too. My twin was totally into watching and participating in that. Ripley wouldn’t kick a drug-dealing vampire’s ass for hitting on her Hellhound, but Reyson might.
“We’re just here to celebrate, not start anything,” Reyson said.
Maybe both of these gods could behave themselves at a vampire rave. I wasdyingto see what the vampires had done to this place.
Chapter8
Killian
They just didn’t throw parties like this back in my day. Or maybe they did, and I wasn’t invited to the delicious ones because of my title. Cowboy wasn’t even in our vocabulary. I knew what they were now, but humans seemed more obsessed with the Wild West than the supernatural community. Ravyn was into that human showWynonna Earp,and I enjoyed it, too. This bar looked like some kind of tribute to Wyatt Earp, and unless human college students were also into that show, I was pretty sure this pub would have failed if it was in an area they lived.
The vampires had transformed it into something extraordinary. They had replaced all of the lightbulbs with black lights, and there was a DJ off to the side with a table. The humans had just left most of their things behind. They’d taken everything from behind the bar because I was sure most of the alcohol had been unopened and could be sold if they decided to try this nonsense again.
That wasn’t really a problem. The bar in here was massive. Several people were working it, and the shelves were now filled with every kind of supernatural liquor possible.
I didn’t hit up the paint station, but Bjorn and Sleipnir did. They looked amazing, and as soon as Balthazar and Bram saw it, they wanted them to paint their faces too. Reyson and Loki hit up the paint as well. I didn’t think I could pull it off or do it with the same skill Bjorn and Sleipnir did. They looked like Vikings ready to make a sacrifice to their gods, and it looked surreal with the black lights.
Ravyn dragged us to the dance floor. I’d seen her dance from my perch on the wall when I was a bat. She always looked so free and happy. I always enjoyed watching because joining wasn’t an option. I could dance with her now. Not choreographed court dances either. I could dance freely like everyone else.
Sleipnir and Bjorn didn’t know Ravyn well enough yet, and I knew Sleipnir still had reservations about the whole thing. We could focus on that later. I just wanted to enjoy myself tonight. Ravyn was smashed between Loki and me. We were bumping and grinding together, and Ravyn had no problem pulling us down for kisses when she wanted them.
Somehow, she’d maneuvered it so that I was now between her and Loki. They were both kissing me, and I don’t think I’d ever felt so cherished in my entire life. But then they pulled away. Everyone was leaving the dance floor, and I couldn’t figure out why until I saw Sleipnir and Balthazar dancing together. We immediately found a booth and sat down to watch.
Sleipnir was totally primal. If I didn’t know he had been born to a god and spent a lot of time around them, I would have thought this was some savage prayer to one. Balthazar was playing off of him and keeping up perfectly. I completely understood why fate sent him to Ripley. It wasn’t just that he was a fantastic hacker and was vital to stopping the mess with Dorian Gray. He was adaptable, open, and totally free. She needed that.
