The New Girl Read Free Page A

awareness even as he fought against it.
    He chugged the rest of his beer. “We ready to go?”
    The last few patrons were stumbling toward the door in a tight bundle. Grig slammed his empty beer bottle down and popped to his feet, scanning the small crowd. A fleeting grimace flashed over his handsome face and then he turned back to them.
    “Let’s go out the back.”
    Em pulled away from Cat and cocked a dark brow at Grig. “Former conquest?”
    “Come on,” Grig growled. Answer enough. Em chuckled as he lifted Cat off his lap and stood. Cat pouted a little, but she snickered at Grig’s aggrieved face.
    “Out the back is fine. Then we don’t have to wait on the drunk girls, anyway.”
    Em tugged a lock of her dark hair. “Does that mean you’re not drunk?”
    “Like you need to get me drunk?” She toyed with the edge of Em’s t-shirt, looking coyly up from beneath her lashes. Drei rolled his eyes and hopped down off the VIP platform, the heels of his boots clacking on the hard floor.
    He was across the dance floor and halfway down the hall that led to the back door by the time Em, Cat, and Grig caught up to him. Cat was hassling Grig about the girl he was trying to avoid at the front entrance. The two were laughing and shoving. Em was grumbling at his younger brother about keeping his hand ‘off his woman’.
    Drei pushed through the back door into the cool night air. The sky hadn’t yet begun to lighten. The smell of sour alcohol and fruit momentarily overcame the scent of Cat’s waning arousal.
    And then the soft, sweet, powdery smell hit Drei like the swing of a pillow to the face. He growled. Em and Grig smelled it a second later.
    “Cat, get back.” Em’s voice was a harsh whip. He pushed Cat into the corner of the building, back behind one of the dumpsters.
    “What the hell –” But then she saw them.
    The vampires.
    Drei felt the bristle of fur beneath his skin, the push of claws beneath his nails. The growl that rasped at the back of his throat tore out into the night, echoing off the brick walls.
    There were three of them, faces ghostly white in the bright security lights. Their snarling lips revealed the long, yellow curves of their fangs. Drei felt an electric zing of awareness as he recognized the one in the middle. It was the skeletal fucker who had tried to kidnap Cat two months ago. The bastard’s red eyes were trained on her again now.
    What the fuck?
    But Drei didn’t have much time to think. The middle vamp Iced toward them, popping up a mere foot from his face. He felt the shiver of heat over his skin that presaged a shift, but Grig barked a harsh ‘No!’ behind him.
    “Civilians too close!”
    For once, his jokey younger brother was being the cautious one. And Drei knew he was right. They couldn’t completely shift so close to the patrons on the other side of the club. The sound would no doubt draw attention. He had to try and keep this under control, get it over with as quickly as possible.
    Drei leapt at the skeletal fucker, clawed fingers reaching for his narrow throat. He heard Em and Grig on either side of him, heading for the other two. They were just as thin and pale as the bony one who was attempting to toss Drei aside. Not normal, run-of-the-mill vamps. These guys had bonuses. Skeletor here could Ice.
    Based on the hissing and spitting going on beside him, Drei guessed that the one Grig grappled with was venomous. Like fucking snakes. A bite from them was not pretty.
    He had no clue what extra ability the cadaverous vampire Em was fighting might have. It was kicking and punching at his brother much as any vamp would, no special tricks in sight. Didn’t mean it had none, though. It would be stupid and deadly to assume that.
    Em wasn’t, thank goodness. He was fighting back ferociously, teeth bared. He grabbed the thing’s narrow head by its silver blond hair and barreled into its bony chest with both feet. The look on surprise on the vamp’s face as the white skin of