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bottle and a sprinkle of crushed chili. Deep old scars showed white on his shoulder blades as he slid the short glass over to me and popped in a pink straw, his oceanblue eyes glinting merry. “Shitty night?”
    “Ain’t over yet. Gimme another one.” I tossed the straw away and swallowed half the drink in one gulp. Chili stung my tongue, and bourbon and rich vampire blood slid like boiling honey down my throat. It hit my stomach and frothed like a witches’ brew, and right away that rich slinky darkness spread in my veins.
    I sighed, deep, relaxing. The stuff felt good, caressing my nerves like a slow, deep kiss. Drinking infected blood was supposed to be like kissing someone with HIV—you’d have to be very unlucky. If you wanted the virus, you really had to persist, and most people didn’t live long enough. Good thing for us, or there’d be fucking vampires everywhere.
    So yeah, it was safe, so long as you didn’t overindulge. Right?
    Live music tonight, the crowd packed and warm, thundering guitars over a frenetic panic of drums and bass. The skinny singer tossed long ink-dyed hair over her jewel-pierced face and screamed of tunnels in the dark and the black canker in the depths of her heart.
    Automatically my ears filtered harmonics, nuances, spikes in amplitude and wavelength, flaying the melody to bare emotional truth. Flashes of hard flesh piercing her body as she screams, laughter, a metal pistol butt smacking into her face. The air swelled tight with her raw-skinned pain, and sweet agony stretched my eardrums rigid.
    I gulped my drink, and my belly heated. Right on, sister. Share the hurt. Make them feel as you feel. That’s the only way you’ll ever live again.
    A glass rang sweetly against mine. “Cheers.”
    I jerked, fumbling. I hadn’t heard him approach, and the deep smooth frequencies of his voice vibrated to my core. I flushed, and cursed under my breath, hoping he hadn’t noticed my concentration wandering. “Um, yeah. Yourself.”
    Joey sipped and offered me a shattering smile, green lights flashing on his pale hair.
    His smile was hard to take, cold and perfect like an evil djinn’s, inviting but sinister. He used it to scare people away. But it made me think of flesh, warmth, a sweet poison kiss, the shiver of hot lips caressing my spine.
    Tall-blond-and-scarred slid me my second drink. I drank, alcohol and virusflesh sharp on my tongue. Sounds swelled and faded, the music swirling like ocean water. “Finished talking about me?”
    “It’s business.” Joey sucked an ice cube into his mouth and crunched, leaning his elbow on the bar and glancing around like I bored him, his gaze lingering on a busty blond vampire slut with her tight black skirt up around her butt. Immediately, I wanted to punch her.
    His attitude rubbed acid into my hurt. God, I hated how my confidence relied on him, how desperately I needed him to make me feel safe and important. I hated that I wanted things from him I had no chance he’d ever give, that the only man I ever respected had no respect at all for me.
    Vampire blood whispered hot distraction inside my skull, staining my vision scarlet, dizzying me and dragging words onto my tongue that would never otherwise have made it. “Yeah, it’s business. Everything’s business to you, right?”
    I tilted my glass again, my bloodseduced mouth already watering for more.
    He grabbed my arm, stopping the glass an inch from my mouth. Sweat shone on his lean-muscled wrist, his grip light but steely. “You shouldn’t drink that shit.”
    “Why not? Afraid I’ll embarrass you?” I yanked my hand away, half-hoping he’d hang on and drag me closer. But he let go, and I shook my wrist and downed the rest of my drink, defiance scorching my veins.
    “It fucks up your brain, Mina.”
    “What do you care?” I wanted to provoke him into revealing something, anything, even disgust.
    “I care because I need you first thing tomorrow. Breakfast with Delilah down at