Liquid Red [Selena]

[Julian Holt]

Leaning back in his seat, Julian started cracking his knuckles as he watched the current new show starting on the stage area. Cracking his knuckles was something he did often without even realizing what it was he did. It was just a habit had he picked up, whether it was somewhere he saw someone else do and started doing for himself, or simply a habit he just started doing himself. Whatever the reason for having this kind of habit, Julian wasn’t aware of it until Selena came into the picture. She had been completely annoyed with his habit the young woman ended up grabbing his hands the moment he started doing it. It seemed that before the no one else really had much of a problem. Hell no one seemed to have a problem with anything he did. Since the young Hispanic woman came into his life, however, his flaws have been pointed out in detail to him. Whether it was complaints about him cracking his knuckles or the mess on his floor that he called a laundry bin. Regardless of the nagging, Julian knew one that, that Selena wasn’t worried about getting him upset by complaining about some of his habits. It was one of the things he liked about her because this way he knew she wasn’t there for his money or for the fact that he was able to turn people immortal.

Flexing his fingers, Julian grinned as he continued watching the show, as the dancer changed. He didn’t have much of a preference at the place. Over the years he had been coming to the blood bar and knew most of the girls that works there. There were nights that new girls were featured and Julian often enjoyed the show, only to have a taste of the new women just to see if they would be put on his list of woman for his next visit. Devon’s comment on him watching the show only got him to chuckle again. “There is always something to look at.” he replied watching the woman Devon was interested in coming their way. There were some that worked hear that would hope to run into a vampire for the sheer thrill of being drunk from. It was quite sad if one thought about it, but it made finding a meal that much easier. It was one of the reasons the owner of the place was a vampire and with other vampires investing, it just made the whole place that much better.

Letting Devon have his way with the woman he called over, Julian focused his attention on the new act up on stage. It had been a year since he had been at the place but some of his favourites were still there. It also seemed like there were new ones as well. The woman currently dancing around the pole up on stage was quite appealing to the young hybrid. He was reminded of how his life had changed since the last time he was here. Going over to Ilsa the young man hadn’t thought he would come back with his wolf being more dominant, let alone a mate. With how his life was and the lack of actually love or anything in it, he hadn’t expected to find anyone that would actually feel anything for him. Sex was different, it was done for seer need and entertainment and that was one of the reasons he often came to the blood bar before. That and to feed.

His attention was drawn over to his friend in the booth when he finally spoke, seeing to be taking a break from feeding. “I’m sure we can get us some more… care to sample here or take a tour to the back..” he asked grinning before winking at the woman still sitting in their booth. Getting up, he headed towards the back room behind the stage. While he did, Julian’s eyes drew to a familiar stripper he had enjoyed himself with many times before. “Tammy darling, did you miss me?” he asked a mischievous grin on his face as he kept his arm around the young exotic woman while heading to the back with her. ”Well speak of the devil sug, where you been at?” the young stripper asked while taking him into the back where the rest of the woman were changing for their next show or rounds working the floor. Leaning against the door to the changing rooms, Julian grinned at the women there enjoying the view. “Been traveling, back for now.” he explained keeping his hold around the woman’s waist while his eyes traveled over the others there. “Ladies, who’s up for a bit of fun tonight?” he asked wondering how many he could get to go back with him. It would give him and Devon and interesting array to sample.

[Selena Torres]

Life at a vampire mansion was far more stressful than anything Selena had anticipated when she had arrived in New York with Julian. Her life on the island had given her misconceptions about what was in store for her. There were constant fights when council members weren’t looking, feedings happening right in the hallways, and the sounds…she shuddered to think what and why there were constant screams coming from the basement rooms. The basement was completely off limits in Selena’s mind. There was no need for anyone to warn her not to go down there. It was only that day she had glimpsed a woman being dragged down there by a vampire, dragged down there like some animal to be lead to the slaughter. It was that very sight which had caused Selena to run out of the mansion for fresh air along with a sense of normality. The need to see regular people had risen up to attempt to counter the vile image of what was about to happen to the woman. She felt helpless, powerless and she needed to reconnect with actual people.

So for the past five hours, Selena had been roaming New York without a care. Her eyes absorbed the sights around her, the people bustling to and fro, the smell of corner vendors selling hotdogs. The air didn’t hang with tension from all the servants trying not to step out of line or the stench of blood. So, Selena had lost herself in the mist of New York. From window shopping to talking to dancers who were trying to earn a few dollars, she took the time to simply enjoy herself. Every worry or fear was thrown from her mind. She knew if she got into any serious trouble, Julian would find her. However, no such thing had happened.

But those five hours quickly passed and before Selena realized it, the sun had set and she was more than a little turned around in New York. Stopping, her flip flops stopped snapping at her heels while her large brown eyes glanced around. Nothing looked familiar. “Oh hell…” Now she had done it, gotten completely lost in a large city without a clue how to get back. It didn’t help she had no clue what the address for the mansion was so flagging down a taxi was out of the question. “Maybe…this way?” Shrugging, she took off once more down the street hoping she’d locate something familiar. If she was still lost in fifteen minutes, she could simply call Julian. He was bound to have some clue which way she should go or be able to give her the address for the mansion.

About nine minutes later, Selena was still as equally lost and was about to break down to pull out her phone. In fact as she was reaching down to locate the little device; a very odd sight caught her attention. Her mate…was entering a building. It wasn’t the sight of him that was odd…it was the establishment which he had entered. Unless she was wrong and her sister had misinformed her, the blood bar was easy to point out as long as you knew what to look for. Removing her hand from the back of her pocket, the young woman with the crazy curly hair followed after her mate. Why did he needed to go to a blood bar?

“Dancers enter through the back.” The guard at the door caught Selena by surprise. Did she look like a dancer for this trashy place? Not wanting to fit or argue with the 6’5” mountain, she merely smiled as if suddenly remembering. “Oh! Sorry, I forgot.” Replying back, she laughed softly before making short work of entering from the back door. The bouncer at the back easily let her slip in and brought the dressing room into her sight. Pursing her lips, she wondered past the women gushing and gabbing about who was there this evening and who had the biggest appetite. Where they proud of this life style? Her lunch almost came back up to greet the world.

Just as she left the dressing room, Selena was greeted with a less than appealing sight. Julian had made himself very cozy with some sleazy woman to the point he was taking her blood. There were times she could easily say she was temperamental. Times where her anger got the best of her…times just like this. Rather than make a step closer though, Julian was headed back to the dressing room. Whatever his reasons, she quickly ducked behind a nearby mirror, hoping that maybe he was here for a very good reason and she might over hear it.

Shutting her eyes, Selena struggled to calm her pounding heart while straining to hear his words over the music. Her mate’s words asking who wanted to have fun caused the Hispanic woman to see pure red. Stepping out from her cover, she made her voice heard, “I’ll bite.” Selena’s words cut through the air as she stood less than a foot away from the bastard. Rage was written across her face and if she had been a lycan there would been no stopping her from growling. A few women turned to see who was talking and were clearly confused by Selena’s presence. Rather than speak up, she quickly walked passed Julian…rather shoving his shoulder hard to head back to the main room.

Her eyes glanced at the now empty stage then back at Julian. An idea sparked in her mind, maybe not her smartest once, but she never said she was smart. Walking over to the guy who was directing which gal was to go up next, Selena asked, “May I?”, while nodding her head at the stage. He seemed baffled for a moment, glanced her up and down before nodding dumbly. Her movements were swift as she mounted the stage and stood near the back just as the lights dimmed down to shine a spotlight on her. As the music started, she kicked off her flip flops to crash into someone’s drink causing them to spin around to notice, much like the rest of the room that someone new was on stage.

This time was no different from any other dance. The beat quickly over took Selena’s body and then…she moved. Her lush round hips swirled from side to side as her fingers began to unbutton her shirt; each button came undone until her shirt lay open for the audience. And then…the whistling started. Each pulse from the music had her hips thrusting and her legs dancing under the spotlight.

[Julian Holt]

Surveying the dressing room, Julian could tell there were quite a few appealing women they could choose from. There were those that would satisfy his thirst and the few that might be able to capture Devon’s attention. The council master definitely needed something new after so many years with the same two women. Not that being with one woman for so long was necessary negative over, but in Devon’s case it was. The two women were either bat shit crazy or simply overwhelming in a sense. How the older vampire had done it for so long was beyond him. This outing was a good thing for him and so were the giggling women that were volunteering to entertain them for the night.

Seeing the hands that went up as well as the few that stood about to make their way with him, Julian’s excitement rose at this finally being a night he could forget. However, before he could get a word out about the volunteers being perfect, an all too familiar and highly unexpected voice added to the conversation. This was not expected and it caused Julian to stand up from the leaning position he had been in as the familiar Seniorita appeared in the room. ”Luna! What the hell?” he managed staring in shock at the smaller woman. Not only was the blood bar not a place for Selena, he still wanted to know how she had managed to find it on the one night he had decided to visit after being away for over a year.

The women in the back blinked in confusion, whispering to one another as to whom the woman was seeing as none of them had seen her before. When Selena stormed passed him the hybrid moved after her, his eyes widening when she looked at the stage before glancing at him. He might be slow on some of her more obvious hints but this was like a danger sign smacking him full on in the face. She wanted to dance and this was not the place to do it. ”Selena...” he groaned running after the smaller woman cursing. Storming on stage was not an option; instead the hybrid ran out to the main room continuing to curse as the music started and Selena did what she was best at.

Folding his arms in front of him, he stood there at the corner of the stage, glaring at Selena while she danced pissed off that the woman didn’t think before she acted. The stage at a blood bar was far different from that of a regular strip club but alas it did have a similar purpose. It allowed the clientele to get a preview of a woman they wanted to sample later on in private. Now that was what his mate was doing and he didn’t like it one bit. His eyes scanned the crowed for a moment hoping no one was paying much attention to her, unfortunately he knew how much attention Selena could generate when she wanted to most of all when dancing. It was how they had met after all.

”You need to stop right now, the rules here aren’t the same.” he half yelled at the side of the staging hoping she would listen to him and stop. He didn’t mind her dancing but the moment the clothing started coming off his wolf half came to life, protesting.

[Selena Torres]

The evening really hadn’t been going according to Selena’s plan since she had left the mansion. Fresh air and talking to people with pulses had been her only goal. Once that had been accomplished she had originally intended to return back without a single complaint. However, getting lost then seeing her mate enter a blood bar had thrown her plan right out the window. Along with that plan went her brains as well it seemed. Honestly, she should have known better than to hop on stage in a BLOOD BAR. She should have realized there were rules beyond that of a traditional strip club. Should have…but didn’t.

Nightlife had never been Selena’s expertise. She knew how to dance and frequently did. It had been her side job on the island. However, outside of dancing, she never did much actual clubbing. So stripping was a completely new concept for the young woman. Did that stop her fingers from working the buttons out from their loops? Hell no.

Oh she could hear Julian’s voice perfectly well. Her ears were always well in tuned to his voice. But between him having sampled another woman’s blood and then asked for others, in a way that made it clear this wasn’t his first time at this particular site, she was far too heated to bother actually listening to his words. Rather, she continued on down the path of destruction by slowly sliding her shirt off her shoulders, exposing all her golden tanned skin neck down to her navel. That sure seemed to get the crowd stirred up quite a bit at the sight of her pale pink bra.

Turning her back to the crowd, she flipped her hair back bring life to her blazon mess of locks to tumble down her back. The music’s strong rhythm had Selena’s fingers trailing down her belly, past her white gold belly ring, as she spun on her heels to show she was beginning to work on her skin tight jeans. As she unhooked the button and slid the zipper down, she stopped to run at the stripper pole. Her fingers grabbed the bar so she could jump and spin as her leg hooked around it. For a moment, she seemed to simple hang in midair while twirling around the pole using the one leg and her hands. The jeans were left on however, leaving the audience both human and vampire craving a little more flesh.

Untangling herself from the pole, she threw a glance back at Julian while blowing him a kiss. A very sly smirk sat on her lips while mischief resided in her eyes, clear signs she was enjoying herself. If Julian was going to run around town biting whoever without giving a damn about her feelings, she was going to dance without a damn about his. The music had come to a perfect end as she removed herself from the pole, her jeans hanging low on her hips after the movement, letting the matching thong play peek-a-boo for the audience. Rather she had stayed away from the edges of the stage, that hadn’t prevented a few men from showing up with fistfuls of cash at the ready. Nor did that stop the silent bidding war from taking place amongst the vampires for first dibs on her blood.

[Julian Holt]

Julian’s blood felt like it was at a boil as both his wolf and vampire started fighting inside him. One was pissed off that his mate was going around shedding her clothing in front of a group of horny men as well as eager vampires. The other half was raging at her inability to listen to his warnings when it came to his world. It wasn’t a place that a human survived easily when they weren’t a blood slave. Sighing, Julian pinched the bridge of his nose watching his mate realizing that his words were not getting to her. At least not in the way that she would stop her dancing and leave the place before something serious happened.

As much as he was enjoying the show, he knew that none of this really was a good idea. While the song continued to play and his mate continued to expose more of herself, the hybrid’s blue eyes scanned the room. He could tell the humans in the establishment had already lost it completely, given how much money they were throwing onto the stage. The vampires on the other hand were a lot harder to read. His eyes stayed on a few hew recognized as regulars. Some might request Selena for a taste; a few he knew preferred a different flavor to say the least. Which made it only a fraction better on his part to say the least.

While his continued looking around assessing those he could see. The sight of few new vampires had him on edge. He just hoped that none of them decided that Selena would be something new for them to try. Why did he need to have a stubborn and impulsive mate that needed to throw herself into unruly situations that only caused him more problems and headaches? Had it been so much to ask for a night out at a blood bar without having to deal with something? Whether it was his sadistic brother getting in the way, the council needing another rogue eliminated or Selena not understanding just how dangerous his world really was.

When the song finished, Julian headed to the back once again, waiting for Selena to return after her performance. The girls in the back were already whispering about the different bids they had heard going for the new act which only angered him all the more. ”Would it have killed you to for once wait to be pissed at me at home? Where you’re not putting yourself out to be the next hot menu item?!” he asked once his mate was close enough.

[Selena Torres]

The dance was over, and despite a small feeling of disgust at herself, she bowed coyly for the audience. This would go down as the night she did the one thing her mother had feared she would do. Strip for money. While no money had touched her hands, Selena still felt ashamed at her own actions even if Julian had started this mess. There were somethings she had promised herself she would never do. Stripping on stage had been one. Her type of dancing never involved removal of any clothing. The amount of skin shown was all any would see…until this evening. The saying, ‘this might bit you in the ass’, kept playing over and over in her mind as she turned to head back down the steps. More than one moan of protest greeted her ears while she walked away. Along the way, her eyes skimmed for her blouse and much to her annoyance came to realize someone had pulled a 5 finger discount.

Huffing, she didn’t even bother trying to locate her flip flops. They were likely half way to Pluto by now. The sight of Julian standing at the bottom of the stairs at the edge of the dressing room only made Selena roll her eyes. “Would it have killed you not to stick your fangs in some puta after just having your mate a few hours ago?” Selena’s snappy words equally matched Julian’s fiery ones. Shoving past him once more, his second sentence finally seeped into her brain which had clearly acted impulsively by running on stage. Was he bluffing by saying she had been put on the menu or was she hearing things? Julian never lied to her, not even when he had been on the island to ruin the Prince’s wedding. He had completely admitted to her he hated his half sibling and with that came the underlined wish to throw as many obstacles in the way as possible before the vows were spoken.

Turning back to face Julian, Selena opened her mouth to speak but stopped at the heavy weight which suddenly landed on her shoulder. A bouncer greeted her large brown eyes and spoke the truth of Julian’s words, “Table 25, miss.” A collective gasp echoed in the dressing room. The shock written on her face only began to surface as she was slowly tugged by the bouncer in the direction of the table. “J-julian…?” Peeking back at her mate, Selena was at a pure loss of what to do, the tremor in her voice gave away just how scared she was. Lycans didn’t feed from humans, didn’t require blood slaves or blood bars so whatever she had gotten herself into was a pure first for her. Hell, giving her blood to Julian was still a more than startling experience for her.

Digging her still bare feet into the carpet, Selena’s protest went unnoticed as the bouncer easily herded her back into the main room to be welcomed by the sounds of whistles as the next act was already on stage. Table 25 quickly came into view and the man sitting there held the more smug expression she had ever come across. It didn’t help he held both her flip flops and blouse hostage on the table. “Come, darling, I promise not to drain you dry…but the pain, I fear, won’t be to your liking.” His words sure as hell didn’t relieve the fear growing in Selena’s stomach. The bouncer shoved her hard enough that she fell to her knees at the vampire’s feet, practically knocking the breath out of her. If she still had the air to spare, she might have screamed.

Well, this hadn’t gone as planned. Of course, for it to have gone as planned there would have had to be a plan. Instead, she had managed to lose a shirt and her flip flops in the span of four minutes and have been won in a vampire blood donor auction. Not one of her better nights. Selena really wouldn’t have put it past Julian to let her be responsible for the consequences of not listening to him. He had tried to warn her, no matter if he had gone to a blood bar when he had a perfectly good mate at home.

[Julian Holt]

Fighting in public seemed to become somewhat of a usual assurance for them, making what was happening right now nothing new for the hybrid. Confrontation was not something he hid from, however, when it came to certain issues it would have made more sense for them to have waited until they were elsewhere with how Selena reacted to things. That woman seemed to have a need to counter act his actions or flaws in order to try and show him what he was doing to her. However, in this particular case it seemed that her tactics only got her into more trouble.

Part of Julian felt like leaving the smaller woman to deal with the mess she was making for herself. She needed to learn that when he told her something was stupid to be doing that it wasn’t because he wanted her to feel bad, but because it literally would endanger her. Maybe this would be a way to finally get her to listen to him when it came to his world. It might help him later on if a situation ever became worse than the one she was currently in. ”I need to feed and I don’t take from you as much as I need.” he pointed out as she snapped before shoving past him yet again.

Before he could reach out to grab a hold of the smaller woman, Frank, the bouncer greeted her instead. It was his job to take the ladies to whatever table had ordered them if the client didn’t make the request personally. Staying where he was, he simply kept his arms crossed just watching Selena, hoping she understood the situation she was getting herself. However his resolve didn’t last long. When she finally got to table 25 he was already regretting having let it get that far. As much as he wanted Selena to realize he wasn’t trying to keep her on a leash like it seemed, this wasn’t going to be how he did it.

Crossing the bar, he was at the table just as the client finished off his explanation of the experience not being as pleasant as she might expect it to be. ”Alright Franklyn that’s enough. Touch her again and I’ll break your arm.” he told him shouldering the bouncer out of the way. Get your money back Kondrad she isn’t on the menu.” he explained, his arms sliding under the smaller woman’s body to pick her up off the floor. Franklyn for his part took a step back but stayed by the table in case something worse started.

[Selena Torres]

Selena loved to do the opposite of whatever Julian said, not out of spite. Rather, she didn’t like to be told what to do. There were far too many years of being independent to rely on another person. Her stubbornness had gotten her into more than one bad situation when it could have been avoided by listening to a sibling or a wiser being. Like right now, the situation had been completely avoidable if she had stopped when Julian had shouted at her from the side of the stage. It sure didn’t help that she had a strong since of giving someone what they dished out to her. In this case, Julian neglecting to see how she felt as his mate about him drinking from another woman.

Truly, Selena regretted her actions only because of where she had landed herself. She didn’t regret trying to show Julian what he was doing to her, just the outcome. Such as ending up on the floor, staring up at the obvious vampire without a clue how to react to his words. She was sure she had never worn a more dumb expression then right then. All she wanted to do was punch the guy, but she knew better than trying to punch a vampire’s face. Still on her knees, the vampire’s bright red eyes took their time lingering over her body before he began to reach for her. Opening her mouth, she attempted to finally let the scream she’d been holding in out…it didn’t come. Whether it was from fear paralyzing her or staring into those blood red eyes, she could honestly not locate her voice.

The warm familiar voice which ordered Frank - she assumed the bouncer - to never touch her again should have brought a feeling of relief over the young woman. Instead, it dawned on her she was honestly unable to look away from the being at the table. Unable to talk or move – a very unusual thing for the normally vocal and loud woman. Suddenly, she was being helped up, but her large brown eyes were dead set on the hungry vampire who was now drumming his fingers on the table right next to her shirt.

“Julian...good evening.” The vampire, Kondrad, politely greeted him with a smile but he didn’t break eye contact with Selena. The smile flashed those white, sharp fangs at Selena, making her wish she could scream bloody murder. It was official she hated fangs unless they came from her mate. It was stupid really, both sets of fangs could equally hurt her, but she trusted Julian to not cause her pain. Bafflement crept across Kondrad’s face when he was told Selena was not on the menu. “What do you mean? Those on the stage are fair game. She’s not your usual.” Those damn eyes continued to prevent Selena was moving or speaking. It was starting to piss her off which reflected in her eyes.

[Julian Holt]

Keeping an arm around Selena, the hybrid gave his mate a once over to make sure she was okay. It really hadn’t taken him that long to actually get to the table so he knew that much couldn’t have happened within that amount of time. Despite that he was still concerned and watched her for a moment. She seemed to be alright but the lack of words that were coming out of her really did make him curious. Normally, Selena was not someone that would be quiet for long periods of time. This was far too long.

With that realization, his looked at Kondrad, noticing the eye contact he was keeping with Selena. It wasn’t hard for him to pick out what the vampire was doing, compulsion was a great way to keep a victim from creating too much of a scene and that was what it seemed he was doing with his mate right now. A protective growl escaped him as he spun Selena around so she was facing away from the vampire. The last thing they needed was to have her doing things against her will. ”You’ve had your fun Kondrad.” he explained making sure to keep his hold around his mates waist in case someone else decided to take a fancy to her while he was dealing with table 25.

”I’m aware of the rules, unfortunately she is new and isn’t. I’m sure you can find yourself someone else to sample. I heard good reviews about Scarlett. Give her a taste.” he offered leaning over to grab Selena’s things off the table before turning around. Nudging Selena forward, he moved them away from the table and to the back again. His best bet right now would be to get Selena out of the bar before anyone else might find interest in her and start another bidding war. He knew he would be paying Kondrad’d debt for his purchase of Selena but he wasn’t going to be mentioning that to his mate. The less she knew about that the better.

Once they were in the back, he stopped and offered the smaller woman her things back. ”Has the compulsion worn off?” he asked knowing she’d probably snap at him if he asked if she was okay.

[Selena Torres]

Having her will to talk taken away was infuriating the young woman. Her tongue was sharp and she used it when people got on her nerve. To not have a voice when she was utterly scared only added to the inner freak out she was having. The inability to look away at anything but the less than charming sight of glowing red eyes sure didn’t help the tremble running down her spine. Julian’s presence should have eased the fear, but she was only starting to realize the situation she had put them in with her stupid actions.

Finally! Being spun around, Selena was able to blink while she instinctively curled her fingers into Julian’s shirt. There was no hiding the deep quivering her limbs as her head dropped to place her forehead against the solid chest at her disposal. Shutting her eyes, she merely listened to the powerful voice coming out of her mate so she missed Kondrad pouting as the eye contact was broken. “I suppose I can try Scarlett, but you owe me. I don’t like losing out on such a pretty head.” Those words echoed in Selena’s mind and she might have picked over them longer if Julian wasn’t already pushing her back the way they had come.

Each foot step felt like she was trying to shake off cement from her legs. She might even equate it to her first month of ballet. However, she was still very quiet as they moved far away from the table towards the back.

The moment Julian stopped, she followed his movements, halting as well. Selena’s mouth felt as if someone had stuffed cotton down her throat. Opening her mouth, she shut it over and over to attempt to bring moisture back to her lips. “I hate when ya’ll do that.” Licking her lips, she took her flip flops to return to their proper location on her body along. The blouse quickly found it’s place over her chest as well, full buttoned. Taking a second longer, she returned the zipper of her pants back up along with the button there, too.

Turning her large brown eyes up to Julian, the fear still sat in their depths. Without realizing it, her arms wrapped around herself so she didn’t reach out to touch her mate. Dropping her eyes down to the floor, she pursed her lips. As much as she wanted to say she was sorry, she still didn’t full regret getting on stage after what she saw Julian do. “Why didn’t you let him do it?”

[Julian Holt]

There was so much that Julian could have said there and then about everything that had just happened. After all anytime he was wrong Selena would remind him of it several times. He couldn’t live it down anytime he was wrong about something, why should he let her? The mere thought of making her suffer with his bragging and ‘I told you so’ with regards to this particular situation didn’t seem to bring him any satisfaction on the matter. He was glad that she hadn’t been sampled like some piece of meat. He was still pissed about her not listening to his warning, but he the relief he felt about her being out of the situation was causing the anger to subside.

The girls in the back simply looked over at them for a moment some having heard the commotion that had gone on at table 25. Those that hadn’t heard it were getting caught up while Julian and Selena stood in the back trying to fix the situation. He knew she was still probably pissed at him for being here and sampling blood from one of the women. To him it wasn’t like he had cheated since drinking from Selena would drain her dry completely since she wasn’t linked to him as a blood slave. It was why he only took a small amount anytime they were together. That amount would not be enough to sustain him and the younger woman should realize that. It wasn’t like he was taking it from the neck or anywhere else. He was being civilized enough to only take from the wrist, a highly non personal area on the body.

Thinking about this had the man sighing as he realized there was a great deal they needed to discuss, but a blood bar was not the place to do it. ”He wasn’t even trying with his compulsion. That was just to get you to warm up to him.” he explained knowing that if a vampire was fully fed his compulsion was that much stronger. Seeing Selena licking her lips, he turned around to the girls in the back giving them an apologetic smile before taking one of the girls unopened bottles of water. ”You can bill me for this Tessa.” he added to the woman before his attention was back on Selena while he handed her the bottle of water.

Her question as to why he hadn’t let Kondrad have his way with her had Julian raising an eyebrow at his mate. ”Did you want to be his meal? Because if so you are welcome to go back I am sure he would be trilled.” he pointed out giving her a look wondering what was going through her mind to ask such a question. ”I might not say it often but I was under the impression you knew I love you.” he added before heading towards the exit of the club stopping at the back door waiting to see what Selena would choose to do.

[Selena Torres]

What Julian kept forgetting was that Selena had no clue about his world. She knew Tristan was a complete a-hole who ran the vampire world like a tyrant. She clearly knew getting a small cut was asking for trouble in the mansion. From experience, she knew vampires could make their prey shut up and be still along with making their bite pleasurable or painful. However, when it came down to the important things that might prevent her from ending up on someone’s table for dinner, she was nothing more than a little child. Such as this case in point. How was she supposed to know dancing might finally get her in trouble at a blood bar? She’d been pissed and rather than slap her mate like a lunatic, she had danced…while removing a few items of clothing.

Oh, she could hear the whispering and feel the stares aimed at them from the other women. She hoped they were enjoying the sight because the odds of her ever stepping foot near the blood bar were pretty much zero.

“If that was his idea of a warm up, I’d rather not find out what he thinks is second base.” Grumbling under her breath, she struggled to control the rage which was finally able to be voiced. However, hearing Julian say the name of the girl he took the water from, almost had Selena throw the damn thing right back at his head. Fuming on the inside, she snatched the bottle from his hand to take a quick swallow from it. If she was lucky maybe the thing would be poisoned so this night could end.

His quizzical expression was met with a dark glare from the fiery young woman. “Oh sure, I’m going to walk right back to the guy who wants to purposefully inflict pain on me so he can drink my oh-so-precious blood.” Selena’s words dripped with sarcasm in response to going back to Kondrad. Now that was a stupid thought. “And I was under the impression you had stopped coming to these kinds of places. Looks like we’re both lacking information.” Alright, to be fair, Selena knew Julian loved her. Those very words didn’t always come out that way, she knew in his actions and those sideways looks he gave when she was distracted for a moment.

Head up, she kept walking through the damn dressing room to go right past Julian into the clean night air. Like hell she was going to hang around there any longer. A hand reached up to run over her face as the exhaustion began to kick in. “I’m not saying I’m sorry.” With her will back in her own hands, Selena shot a glare at Julian. “But I will say thank you.”

[Julian Holt]

Throwing his hands up in the air in a defensive manner, he tired to hold back a chuckle at the reaction he just got out of his mate. ”Hey I don’t know what you might do next.” he offered given she seemed to be highly unpredictable tonight. First she had found her way to the blood bar, then instead of thinking she had thrown herself onto a stage that was more of a menu instead of an actually place to dance, and now she was still yelling at him about something or another. Julian just couldn’t seem to get a break tonight. Not from Selena or the bloody council. ”I came here with Devon he needed to get away from his crazy wife and blood slave. You can’t expect me to survive without feeding Selena. Its irrational thinking and you know it. Besides it’s not like I was having sex with them. I just fed.” he protested wondering if she’d be able to understand that.

Letting Selena walk past him, he rolled his eyes at her attitude but said nothing about it. If she wanted to go about showing him here and there he would let her. It was better if she was shoving him and not some power hungry vampire that might cause her harm if she took the wrong attitude around them. Walking out behind her, he let the door close behind him as she continued to follow after his mate. ”I never asked you to apologize.” he pointed out before shrugging his jacket off and plopping it around her shoulders since it was cooler now that it was later into the night. ”So does this mean you are done yelling or is there still something left you need to get out?” he asked walking down the alleyway to the parking lot where he had left the car. He’d send it back with a servant to pick Devon up, but for now he didn’t think that Master Vampire was going to be heading anywhere else anytime soon.

Despite knowing that Selena was obviously still pissed at him, he snaked an arm around her waist before slowly maneuvering her towards the parked car. ”How and why did you end up here in the first place? This place isn’t exactly close to the mansion. “ he questioned wondering how she had made it inside the bar as well. He’d need to have a chat with the bouncers to make sure they weren’t just letting whatever pretty girl walk in off the street into the bar. That would be bad for business and it might cause some unwanted conflict.

[Selena Torres]

This had to be one of the more strange nights for Selena. However, it seemed that the loca part of the evening was winding down to a dead halt. After walking the vast majority of the city, she wasn’t in the mood to come up with a witty remark to his teasing her about being unpredictable this night. When he finally brought up the reason why he was there, she turned her large brown eyes up to his. The hurt was impossible to hide as she spoke while trying not to let her emotions over take her voice, “I get it. You have to feed to live. It would have been nice if you had bothered to ask my opinion on the matter, but it’s done now. It’s just…just.” Sighing heavily, she ran a hand through the mass of thick curls on her head. It took a moment but she finally just blurted out, “Couldn’t you have picked someone ugly? I think I would have felt a little less threatened.”

Truly, the night air hadn’t bothered her at first. The air in the club had been stuffy, heated with lust. The cold air felt wonderful after making an ass of herself on the stage. But the adrenaline was wearing off and with that returned the tremor down her legs. The damn things felt like Jell-O mashed up by an angry child. Once the jacket was draped over her shoulders, her arms quickly slipped into the sleeves. “I wasn’t yelling…only voicing my opinion loudly.” Flashing her characteristic smile at her mate, she could help but take a deep breath in to catch the faint trace of his scent on the jacket. The sound of her flip flops snapping in the air broke the silence as she mimicked Julian’s steps towards the alley. She hoped he had a car cause if she had to walk back to the mansion she’d politely protest by sitting on the pavement until dawn came.

It was a struggle not to remain pissed at Julian after he’d saved her butt back in the bar. It was even harder to keep up the appearance of being angry when the arm wrapped around her waist causing her to lean into his body for support. All her energy was spent. “I saw something at the mansion. Rather than react impulsively, I went for a walk. It was daylight then though…” Seeing the car Julian was clearly herding her to, Selena sent up a soft thank you under her breath. Her feet would finally have a moment to breath and not feel like they were about to snap off. “Seemed I used up my self-control at the mansion which kind of led me on stage.” While she spoke of the day, her head had dropped to rest on Julian’s chest, struggling to keep pace with his longer strides.

“I spotted you when I was trying to get my bearings for where I had ended up. Guy at the front told me to enter from the back and I was too curious to say I wasn’t who he thought I was.” She gave him a sheepish smile.

[Julian Holt]

The words that came out of her about his feeding had Julian surprised as an eyebrow quirked. So it wasn’t about him feeding off another woman it was simply that she had been attractive. Really? This was what she was annoyed with? Even after so many years being alive, he was still finding it hard to understand the female species. It was as if there were some crossed or missing wires that just made them completely unreasonable. The hybrid couldn’t help but chuckle once he let her words sink in.”If that is the problem, why don’t you pick out my donor next time? That way you can be sure she isn’t too good looking. Just no HIV or aids please. Rather not have to pass that through my system. It’s nasty.” he explained making a face as her remembered his first taste of tainted blood and the nasty after taste it had.

”You have nothing to worry about. No one can compare to the loca that you are.” he added teasingly playfully poking Selena’s side to make a point. She was crazy and they both knew it but it was that aspect of her that he liked about her. When he finally got a smile out of the smaller woman, the hybrid chuckled again before placing a kiss on her temple. ”That is basically what it means to yell.” he added knowing it would only get him a smack of some sorts, but he didn’t move away from her. It was just too hard to pass up the opportunity to point that out.

Hearing her explain she had seen something that caused her to leave the mansion and wander this far into the city was a bit unnerving. He wondered what had happened because something small wouldn’t have gotten such a drastic reaction, or at least he hoped. ”What got you so rattled you ended up almost on the other side of the island?” he asked curiously, his embrace tightening around her waist. It was supposed to be in a comforting and protective manner. Stopping at the car, Julian plucked Selena off the ground before setting her down on the hood, leaning closer to the smaller Hispanic woman.

”Despite everything that dancing of yours… I’d rather you keep that for my eyes only. Got it?” he asked a low possessive growl escaping him. He wolf was still annoyed at the display she had put out for everyone in the bar.