“Line cutter!” I heard a few clubsters shout.
“My best friend dates the owner!” Scarlet shouted back.
Scarlet grabbed my arm and we quickly ducked inside so as not to make any more enemies than I normally had.
I spotted a handsome guy with purple hair talking to Jagger by the dancing cages.
We pushed through the crowd of dancers and snuck up behind them, eavesdropping on their conversation.
“I saw the crop circle,” Phoenix said. “So I came to check out your place.”
“Uh. . we got rid of that. The plans for the club have changed,” Jagger said.
“This place looks cool!” Phoenix continued. “What are you serving?”
“I really must tell you—”
“This club might be better than the Coffin Club,” Phoenix said, slapping Jagger on the back.
“You think so?” Jagger was overcome with the attention. He beamed like a star. “Romeo — get this man a Lethal Injection. It’s the house special,” he said. “So, how did you hear about us?”
“Like I said before, a crop circle. I figured you were starting a new vampire club. But this town isn’t known for vampires. So I thought I’d come and check it out.”
“Well, there are a few here among us. But that’s what I need to tell you about. I made a deal with my buddies,” Jagger said. “This club will be slightly different from the Coffin Club.”
“What do you mean by ‘different’?”
It was as if Jagger was afraid to admit that the club would be mortals only. “You think this should be like the Coffin Club, with a Dungeon, too? My friends persuaded me. . I was a fool to listen. You have to see what I have here.
Let me give you a tour.”
I followed behind so as not to be too conspicuous. When they passed the Covenant room door, Phoenix stopped.
“What’s this?” Phoenix asked. “Another club?”
“That’s not just another club — it is the club. The Covenant,” he said proudly. “More private than the Dungeon.”
Phoenix’s eyes lit up. “So this is where the vampires are?”
“Yes. They’ll be here.”
“So you have planned another vampire club? Something you can’t share with your ‘buddies’ but you can with me, your old friend?”
“It’s only for special members.”
“Vampires? Does anyone else know?” he pressed.
“No, it’s a secret. No one knows. I was waiting for a special occasion to open it.”
“Ah. . the element of surprise,” Phoenix said.
“Exactly,” Jagger said.
Phoenix scanned the crowd of mostly mortal dancers and put his hand on Jagger’s shoulder. “Some surprises are best left undone.”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Jagger said, confused.
“Look around here, Jagger,” Phoenix said. “This town, this club. It’s full of mortals. No vampires live here. You could put us all in danger by inviting indiscreet vampires here,” he charged.
“Well, a few vampires and their friends do live here.”
“It’s not safe for you to run a vampire club in a town this small.”
“And it’s not safe for you to come to my club and tell me how to run it.”
“You know what happened between us at the Coffin Club. It can happen here, too,” Phoenix pressured.
Jagger was really heated. His face flushed red like the fiery dyed tips of his white hair.
“You don’t know the truth. That club isn’t meant for you. Maybe in the beginning I thought it would be cool to have a second Coffin Club. But you know, I think this one will be unique, too. It’s meant as a special club for my friends to celebrate their birthdays in. A surprise. One they’ll never forget. You’ve come all this way, and you were lucky I let you in. But this club and the one below are for mortals only,” Jagger said, “unless you are one of my closest vampire friends, which I’m sorry to say you are not.”
Jagger waited, poised for a fight. But when Phoenix smiled, Jagger’s body relaxed.
I couldn’t believe it. I’d done so much sneaking in and asking questions, but it had taken only seconds for Phoenix to get more answers than I had in a month.
“Then I guess my work is done here,” Phoenix said like a cowboy in a Western movie.
But Jagger continued to soften. It was unlike him to send someone out of his club with a bad taste in their mouth.
“Second round is on the club as well,” Jagger said. “It was good of you to come this far to check us out. Tell your mortal friends about it. And if I do ever open it to vampires, you’ll be the first to know.”
Phoenix made his way back to the bar, sipping his Lethal Injection. I wanted to go and hang out with my boyfriend’s alter ego, but I knew I would look like I was flirting with someone other than Alexander. Several girls sidled up to him and batted their eyelashes at him, doing their best impression of femmes fatales. It took all my strength not to clobber them. I couldn’t tell Scarlet who he really was, so instead we hung by the bar sipping sodas and discussing Phoenix and Jagger’s encounter.
“What kind of surprise do you think Jagger has planned down there?”
“Maybe a big birthday cake.”
“I love cake,” Scarlet said. “Or maybe he’ll turn you into a vampire.”
“I think that’s Alexander’s job.”
Just then Phoenix turned around. Hearing the name Alexander was natural to him.
I winked at him, and suddenly Luna was standing before him.
“My brother told me about you,” she said. “Would you like another drink?”
“No, thanks,” Phoenix answered in his British accent. “This one’s plenty.”
“How about we split one?” Luna tried to entice him.
I walked up to Luna, who had now linked her arm with my boyfriend’s.
“Where is Sebastian?” I said loudly. “I thought you two were inseparable. I remember you telling me all about your wedding. When is it, again?”
She shook her head. “There’s no wedding,” she retorted. “I mean, not now.”
“That’s okay. I was just leaving,” Phoenix said.
“So soon?” Luna asked.
“I have some friends to meet at the Coffin Club,” he said.
“Will you be back?” Luna asked, flashing her pink lashes.
“I might. With pretty girls like this one,” he said, putting his hand to my chin, “it will be hard to keep me away.”
Luna shot me a deadly gaze.
Phoenix put his drink on the bar and left the club through a maze of gawking girls. He could have had any girl in the Crypt; he was that magnetic. And I was one of those girls who was hypnotized. I wasn’t sure when I’d ever see Phoenix again. At the last moment, I couldn’t help but follow him out of the club. I knew he was not going to be returning anytime soon.
My heart was racing as fast as my feet. He was climbing on the bike when I caught up to him.
“Funny,” I said. “Now that I know who you really are, I like you even better.”
“Me, or Phoenix?” he asked.
“Both.”
“Maybe now I can get that kiss that I didn’t the last time?” he asked in his sexy British accent.
Phoenix stood up. His purple bangs hung over his forehead and gently brushed his eyes.
“It’s okay. No one’s looking,” he reassured me. Phoenix drew me into him. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell.”
I could feel his leather-clad legs against my naked knees.
He leaned in and gave me a long, deep kiss. It was so riveting I thought I’d lost all my wits. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I was kissing Phoenix or Alexander.
When we pulled apart I saw a figure lurking in the shadows.
Then I noticed blonde dreadlocks.