Moon Thrall Read Free Page B

sorrow of being a LaRue in love.
     

C HAPTER T HREE

    Skye kept her clothes simple and plain. She wanted to blend in and observe, not draw attention. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt with a cowlneck and black jeans. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. She wore no jewelry other than her thick silver necklace, and she didn’t carry a purse. Her cell phone was in her pocket, along with a few twenties.
    “Still nervous?” Matthew asked from beside her.
    They stood across the street from The Viper’s Nest, a known vampire hangout. She gave Matthew a dark look, but inside, she was a shaking bundle of nerves.
    She was petrified, though she would never let Matthew know just how much vampires scared her.
    “A brave face,” he murmured. “You’re going to need it in there.”
    Skye took a deep breath. Humans went into the Viper’s Nest all the time. Most came out just as they had gone in, but there were others who never came out at all. Some went in knowing exactly what the Viper’s Nest was and were ready to willingly give their blood to a vamp.
    She gagged at the thought. Why did movies and TV shows make vampires out to be sexy, romantic figures? They were monsters that fed off blood. And killed.
    Without a conscience.
    After waiting for a car to pass, Skye crossed the street and strode to the door of the Viper’s Nest. Matthew reached the door before her and held it open.
    She walked inside and was deafened by the music. It was hard rock, the kind where the singers screamed rather than sang. Matthew guided her to the left as she looked to the dance floor where a number of people were gyrating sexually.
    Matthew suddenly jerked her to the right. Skye whirled around, ready to tell him not to be so rough, when she realized he’d moved her out of the way of a group of males who surrounded a young woman with blond hair. She was completely naked and letting them touch her. Everywhere.
    Skye was shaking by the time she and Matthew reached the bar. She thought it would be a safe place, but there was no safe place in this club.
    “We can leave now,” Matthew leaned down to say in her ear.
    She wanted nothing more than to get to the door as fast as she could, but she’d promised Helen an article on the vampires. What had she been thinking? Oh, Skye knew exactly what had led her to agree to such a thing. It was seeing her name and picture next to the words she had written.
    It was a heady thing, having a dream come true. Though it might very well lead to her death.
    Skye shook her head. “I have to stay.”
    “It’s a mistake,” Matthew mumbled and ordered her a draft beer.
    She knew it was a risk. Her editor knew exactly where she was going though, and there was a file that would automatically be sent to Helen if Skye didn’t key in the password by eight A.M.
    Journalists who went into the middle of a combat zone knew they might die. Skye was in the middle of a war herself. Only hers had supernatural beings such as vampires, Djinn, and witches. So far, she had steered clear of the Voodoo faction, and as far as she knew, she had yet to see any werewolves.
    But both were on her list to get to know.
    Skye made sure not to put her beer down. She drank it slowly as she made mental notes of everything about the club and the people in it.
    She had no idea how long she’d sat there before she realized that Matthew was gone and her beer was empty. Skye set the glass aside and looked for Matthew, but he was nowhere to be found. She was about to get up and leave when two large men boxed her in. An uneasy feeling overtook her as she looked up into their faces.
    They were dangerous looking, rough. She knew without having to be told that they were vampires. And, unfortunately, they had taken an interest in her.
    Skye belatedly realized that one of them had been drinking from the neck of a Creole woman earlier. However, there was no sign of that woman now. The vampire’s hair was black and thick as it hung to his chin. His