Coming to a vampire's house at 9AM was like booty calling an ex-boyfriend in the middle of the night for humans. But unlike having casual sex with an ex-boyfriend, I thought not even the Devil himself could make me step into the elegant pre-war mansion on Riverside Drive, Upper West Side again.

From the outside, the three-story brick and limestone building looked like it only hosted balls or tea parties. On the inside, one of the most secretive clubs in all of New York City found its home.

The Club was a nameless place where anything went – a boudoir of depravity and sin and hedonism, all neatly tied in red velvet, much like the interior of the Lion's Den. If NYC never slept, The Club suffered from severe insomnia. Just like its owner, as far as I knew.

Drums thudded as I moved through the dark hallway, its floor covered with dark crimson carpets and walls dressed in velvet of the same colour. The dim lighting did not flicker – it slid from colour to colour, almost lulling in its seamless smooth change.

The entire place smelled like herbs, blood and sex.

I blamed Lucia for forcing me to come here. Admittedly, I should have handled the first meeting better, but I've sworn so many times I would never come back. Lucia didn't understand how low I stooped by breaching that oath.

Once I reached the puffy velvet door, I reconsidered this decision.

It had rained the last time I was here. A thunderstorm had formed above New York City, just like the thunderstorm that now drummed in my heart, and I had begged the rain to wash away my footsteps, I had begged the gods above to make me forget the path that led here. Not the rain, nor the gods made my wish come true, and I knew the way here in my sleep.

My heart suddenly felt too big for my chest. The scents and the velvet overwhelmed me with memories, which I tried to ignore as I pushed the door open. My hands still remembered whether to push or pull. Funny.

A circle-shaped room, with a round bar in the middle, opened up in front of me. Booths lined the walls, filled with people: drinking, dancing, and doing a whole lot more than that. Vampires and humans mingled together, caught in acts that could only exist in sketchy, underground clubs.

Some were feeding; blood sliding down the girl's necks, moans escaping their lips each time a tongue lapped on the two puncture wounds. Some have moved on from necks to loins. One handsome, muscled man half-lay on the couch, his legs spread wide. A vampire woman fed off his thigh, stroking his cock with her free hand. The man's eyes rolled back with each pump, and I could almost feel him balancing right on the edge of ecstasy.

On the other side of the club, a woman was getting fucked form behind. Her knees were on the booth. The vampire had his hand around her throat, but he entered her slowly. She caught my gaze in the middle of a moan. An exhilarating smile spread across her lips.

Wherever I looked, someone was either getting fucked, fucking or doing drugs. Lines were snorted, pills taken, and drinks chugged, and all the while music thudded in my ears, loud and seductive and obnoxious.

"Enjoying the view?"

My head snapped in the direction the voice came from.

Dorian sprawled in the large booth behind me, right next to the door. A woman was in his lap, kissing his neck. His arm was around her, his long fingers forming circles on her bare shoulder, but aside from that, he paid no attention to her. He stared straight at me, a self-satisfied grin etched on his lips.

Dressed in black, with red hues falling over his silver hair and his eyes, and his legs spread wide in an assertion of dominance, he looked like the incarnation of the Devil.

I hated him. I hated him with every living cell in my body. So much I couldn't form words as I watched him stroke the blonde's skin with his thumb. Her pretty face was flushed and covered in sweat; her heavy breasts almost slipped out of the little loose top she had on. She snuggled closer to Dorian and let out a content sigh, and I hated her too.

"I can't believe this place is still open." My lips twisted with disgust.

"Some places are too good to close." Dorian offered a small shrug, his dusk-coloured eyes observing me so intensely I felt the urge to look away.

But wherever my eyes jumped, the sight caused another wave of heat flowing through my body. Part of me craved sex, yes, but most of me just craved blood. I haven't been eating properly, and this felt like a buffet of another sort. Pain spread through my gums, and I had to bite my own cheeks to keep the teeth from showing.

"We need to talk." I came closer, even though every nerve-ending in my body wanted to bolt.

Standing there felt awkward, like I should either be drinking or fucking to fit in. I was an outsider, a crack in the thin layer between this place and reality, a reminder that the outside word existed.

Dorian grabbed the girl by her chin and looked deep into her hazy eyes. Instead of telling her to leave, which I expected him to, he kissed her. His lips opened against hers, and I saw his tongue slip inside her mouth with passion, hunger, urgency. The girl leaned into it with everything she had, letting out sounds too inappropriate for the public eyes. Her small white hand slid down Dorian's chest to the band of his black pants. I looked away then.

"Do you want to leave, Cherry?" He asked her.

I rolled my eyes. Cherry, right.

"No." The girl's voice sounded so overly sweet, I had to look back at her. Her plump lower lip popped out and she shook her head like a naughty child.

I wanted to throw up.

"Alright." Dorian chuckled, planted a small kiss on her pout and looked back at me. "Anything you say in front of me, you can say in front of Cherry."

I raised my eyebrow, "Aren't you engaged to my sister?"

"Shh." Cherry looked at me, her finger on her lip, her green eyes wide, but lost. "We don't talk about that."

I gritted my teeth, suddenly annoyed and frustrated. The heat did not roll off my body, it stayed and built, twisting into anger.

"Calm down, Ette." Dorian's use of my nickname pissed me off even more. "You are the one who requested a conversation. I assume you realised losing your temper in Lion's Den wasn't a very good idea and you're here to make amends."

The jerk was, as always, absolutely right.

But I couldn't stand the way his thumb latched the band of Cherry's lace panties and stroked the skin underneath. Cherry squirmed on his lap and pushed her butt against his thigh, as if her very soul begged to be touched.

"I want you to change your vote, allow me to speak to my father." I squeezed through my teeth, unable to tear my gaze off Dorian's finger moving the blonde's panties aside.

"And why would I do that?" His lips fell on Cherry's breasts, and he nudged the top away with his teeth, taking her nipple inside his mouth.

I couldn't help it, I snapped, "Is this because I made out with Jax at the Den?"

Dorian grinned, his teeth scraping Cherry's nipple, "You made out with Jax at the Den?"

"Dorian." Cherry complained, squirming on his lap, inappropriate whimpers leaving her lips.

"Shh, sweetheart." Dorian dragged his finger along Cherry's wet slit. "I'm having a business meeting."

The sounds of sex burst through the shield I imagined around me. My face felt hot and flushed, and I didn't know how to react. How far would he take this? Would he truly fuck her right here in front of me?

"You can take her place if you want, I don't mind." Dorian grinned at me.

My eyes widened and another wave of pain spread through my gums.

"Dorian!" Cherry raised her voice, her perfect face twisting with anger.

I put my hand on my hip, "I'd rather die in a fire."

"Your eyes are betraying you, dragă."

My gaze jumped from Cherry's exposed pussy to Dorian's eyes. In an attempt to cool down, I laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

"You're so fucking pathetic." I said through laughter. "There are vampires hunters at our heels and you're hosting parties with humans?"

To be fair, their minds were so wiped out due to drugs, blood loss and glamour that they barely knew where they were, but still.

Dorian's finger stopped moving inside Cherry, much to her dismay.

"Dorian-"

He patted the girl's thigh, "Time for you to go."

"But Dorian..." Cherry dragged out what seemed to be the only word in her vocabulary and squirmed in protest as Dorian took the finger out.

"Later." He planted a small kiss on her forehead, "I'll come find you."

Cherry strolled away barefoot, her gaze lingering on my face as she walked. Something shined inside her green hazy eyes, some clarity, recognition. She scowled, her plump lip pouting again. Then, to my surprise, she looked at Dorian.

"I don't like you being alone with her." Her voice lowered, the childish screech gone, and for a moment it seemed like she wasn't just a sex slave.

"Neither do I." Dorian glanced at her briefly.

I rolled my eyes, "Bye, Cherry."

"Follow me." Dorian took the drink off the glass table and walked away from the booth. My spite did not allow me to follow without complaints.

"You're engaged to my sister." I uttered as we moved through the club to the door on the other side. "I don't think she'd be pleased to learn you're fucking Cherries."

"I fuck a Cherry." Dorian's back was turned to me, but when he reached the door, he looked at me, "She's the Cherry. And I can be engaged to your sister a thousand times over, I'd still keep my Cherry."

A pang of unexpected jealousy took me aback. Gosh, I've been alone too long.

"Let's get this over with." I walked past him and entered an equally dimly lit area with a large lounge couch against one wall and a liquor cabinet on the other.

Dorian gestured towards the two brown leather armchairs and the chess table between them, then strolled to the liquor cabinet and took out whiskey. The music was muffled in the room, but the thudding still reverberated through the floor. I sat.

"Whiskey?" He asked, though he probably wanted to kick me out.

The rumbling in my belly made me swallow my pride, "Do you have blood?"

Dorian looked up from the fridge, amusement glinting in his eyes, "There's plenty of blood outside. You could have taken a sip."

I could smell it everywhere around me. In the air, on Dorian, in the fridge. And I barely had enough to survive this month.

The words hurt my soul as I spoke, "I'd like some blood."

"I enjoy the sound of that word on your lips." He chuckled, and before I managed to change my mind, he took out a blood bag.

"I'll take whiskey too."

"So demanding." Dorian put two glasses in front of me.

I watched as the red liquid slid from the blood bag, viscose and thick. This was a mistake. Nothing good would come out of begging Dorian for money, or for the vote. He would find a way to use it against me, and he'd destroy my life just to see me suffer.

"So," Dorian sat in the armchair, "Beside wasting my time, what are you doing here?"

"You sided with Edmond." I kept my voice as calm as possible, even though I wanted to jump from the armchair and strangle him. "Edmond."

Dorian took a sip of whiskey, while I stared at him, hoping my lingering gaze might affect him, but the only one I made uncomfortable was me. My eyes flew to his unbuttoned black shirt an the perfect, smooth skin underneath. I looked up until I met his unwavering stare.

He's always radiated just a bit of chaos, like something underneath the surface wasn't quite right, like he might snap the next moment and burn the entire city to the ground.

"You're not sleeping." I realised what I had said a moment too late.

Something flickered in his eyes, "Neither are you."

I crossed my legs, "Why did you side with Edmond?"

"I haven't seen you in two years." Dorian's shoulders straightened. "Ever since you said you never wanted nor needed anything from the family-"

"You're not my family." The words escaped me before I could stop them. "You might think you're now rich and fancy enough to appeal to my father, but he's never going to consider you part of the family-"

"Well, I am marrying your sister, aren't I?" Dorian's grip on the glass tightened. "And considering you're the one knocking on my door, begging for help, I suggest you get yourself under control. I might tolerate your antics in front of your brother, but you're in my house now."

I grabbed the glass of blood and downed a few gulps, hoping the taste would tame my anger, but it only made me feel like I wanted to snap Dorian's neck.

"My point is," I inhaled sharply, "I didn't come to talk to my family. I came to you."

Dorian raised an eyebrow, "Am I supposed to be flattered?"

Gosh, I hated him so much.

"Vampire hunters are on our trail, Dorian." Saying his name out loud felt ashy and weird, like tasting something bitter and poisonous.

"Vampire hunters have been after us since the dawn of time." He leaned against the backrest, as casual as ever, "Also, you should be happy, you're the one who wanted us out of the coffin. Your wish came true."

"I didn't-" I stopped myself before saying something I would later regret, "I thought we would be better off coming out after that unfortunate Times Square incident, but if the hunters are after us, that doesn't make me happy."

Dorian leaned against his knees; the gesture so familiar it made me uncomfortable. There was a time when Dorian Darascu was the first person I came to whenever I had a problem. A time long forgotten.

"Alright." He shrugged, an amused smile dancing on his lips, "Give me proof."

Some young, naive part of me still remembered what it was like to share everything with him. That same part still thought I could trust him, but the older, wiser Odette knew better.

I most certainly couldn't tell him about Lucia, but I also found myself incapable of sharing everything I found out about the hunters.

Four hours.

Jax and I had spent four hours together, and I already couldn't sign his death warrant.

"I don't have any." I said with a sigh.

Dorian's smile disappeared, and I found myself staring into the depths of his dark blue eyes, filled with unfamiliar emotions and sleep depravity.

When he spoke, my heart skipped a beat, "You must really like him when you don't want to tell me he's a vampire hunter."