Undying Embrace Read Online Free Page B

against the pavement began to fade, drowned by the music rolling in waves off the exterior walls.
    As she neared the door, what had to be a three-hundred-pound man with a purple Mohawk stepped in front of her. His gaze slid down her body, then back to her face.
    She lifted a brow and held his stare. “Do you approve?”
    One corner of his mouth curled. “Yeah”—his head bobbed into a slow nod—”I do.” He eased aside. She darted around him and into the dim corridor, releasing the breath trapped in her lungs.
    Music thumped inside her chest like a heartbeat as she headed into the club. Farther inside, the scene was right out of the set of Underworld . Blood-reds and metallic blacks coated every surface that wasn’t mirrored. Strobe lights bounced off half-naked bodies writhing in blatant sexual innuendo on the dance floor. Welcome to nympho hell. Or heaven, depending on your point of view.
    As a human who’d lived with vampires for the past seven years, she was accustomed to life on the dark side. But this… These kids had no idea what game they were playing. The reality of what they mimicked was no movie set. There were no dress rehearsals allowed. And there was no going back home to Mommy if you didn’t like what bit you. Literally.
    Elle spotted an opening at the bar and shimmied onto the seat. A guy with arms that could probably bench-press Vin Diesel slid himself between her and the next seat. Tattoos covered his bare chest, depicting every colorful fetish imaginable. His hip brushed the exposed flesh of her thigh. She tugged at the hem of her leather micro, suddenly wishing she’d chosen to wear something more than what amounted to a matching bra and panties.
    He leaned in, his bald head and multiple piercings glinting under the strobe lighting. “I haven’t seen you here before,” he said, the black loop jabbed through his lower lip bouncing with every syllable. Even though he hovered close enough for her to smell the beer on his breath, she had to strain to hear his words over the music.
    “That’s because I haven’t been here before.” Smiling, she slid her sister’s picture from her purse and placed it on the counter beside her. “I’m looking for someone. Maybe you can help me?” She held the photograph up and tattoo man shoved away from the bar. “Hey, where are you going?” He walked away without a backward glance and blended into the crowd as Nine Inch Nails hit their chorus, declaring their intent of wanting to fuck like an animal. She groaned. Shit. She hoped not everyone was going to be as helpful as he was.
    “What are you drinking?” She swung her head around at the sudden hoarse-sounding voice behind her. The bartender leaned toward her, both hands braced on the bar separating them. Wearing a buzz haircut and lacking piercing holes in his face, he didn’t fit in with the rest of the dark and creepy crowd.
    Elle flipped up the image of her sister. “You ever see her around here?” His eyebrows shot up, followed by his eyes, which went up and over the photo and straight into her face.
    “Why you want to know? You a cop or something?”
    “She’s my sister. And no, I’m not a cop—or something.” Elle wiggled the photo. “Have you seen her?”
    He shrugged. “Lady, I just serve ‘em the booze. I don’t babysit. Couldn’t tell you if I saw her or not.” He grabbed a bar cloth and mopped up the wet rings off the bar. “So are you drinking or wasting my time?”
    Yeah. She was drinking. “I’ll have a Bud Light.” He nodded, headed toward the cooler, and she slipped the photo back in her purse. Strike two . At this rate, she’d end up with a serious case of whiplash.
    Two pasty-white girls, dripping in chains and draped in black, crowded next to her in the spot tattoo man had vacated. They ordered beers, then in loud, overly excited voices started gushing about a hot guy who’d just sat down at the bar a few seats away. Each wanted to be the first to get a bite of