Zane's Tale by Jill Myles Page A

off his
jacket and spread his black wings, flexing them wide with an almost
orgasmic feeling. The wind brushed against his feathers; it was one
of the best sensations in the world. Perverted and dark his
existence might be, but not without a small perk. The blood gave
him wings, and in the end, he did not regret the blood.
    He only regretted that the queen kept
him from Jackie.
    To his surprise, Caleb was still there
at his side, cigarette in hand as he watched Zane prepare to fly
off.
    “ Something troubling you,
brother?” Zane asked in a light tone, distracted. Maybe tonight he
could feed quickly and head back to New City. Check in on Jackie
over at her apartment. See how she was doing without him. Was she
happy? Sad? Was she even thinking about him? These were answers he
wanted, and he wasn’t above spying in windows to get them. Jackie
would never have to know he stopped by – nor would Nitocris. Quick
and brief, and take the edge off of his longing for her. No one
need be the wiser.
    Caleb’s face twisted in a wry grin, the
circular tattoo around his eye contorting as his eyes crinkled.
“You aren’t yourself, brother. It’s concerning to me.”
    Concerning in that Caleb wanted to be
the prince, and was looking for an angle to support his own cause.
Zane smirked at the other vampire. “And who am I, if not myself,
Caleb?”
    “ That’s what I’m trying to
figure out,” Caleb said easily, grinning as he took another drag on
his cigarette. “I thought you were done with that piece of tail you
left to that fuckface Noah?”
    His entire body tensed, but Zane forced
himself to slowly flex his wings, as if testing the wind. “She’s in
the past. A momentary diversion, that’s all.”
    Caleb flicked his cigarette onto the
ground. “You keep saying that, but I don’t know that I entirely
believe it.”
    “ I don’t care what you
believe,” Zane said in a tight voice. “My loyalty is to
Nitocris.”
    “ Only because she has your
balls in a vise. I’d be curious to see what happens once she loses
control of you.”
    Zane said nothing.
    Caleb just grinned. “I’ll be watching
you.”
    “ You do that.”
    *~*~*~*~*
    Club Midnight was crawling with the
usuals. Zane knew this even before he gave a quick nod to the
bouncer and stepped past him into the club. It was early yet – the
sun had set only a short time ago – so the dance floor was only
lightly populated. That was fine, as he wasn’t interested in
dancing. He gave the bartender a fist-bump in greeting and touched
the door behind the bar, stepping into the antechamber that weeded
the posers from the vampires and their chosen female snacks for the
evening. It was completely black in the antechamber, but he didn’t
need light to see – vampire eyes could see just fine in darkness.
He nodded at the vampire on door duty and moved past, descending
into the secret basement of Midnight, where the real action
happened.
    Like every night, the downstairs was
packed. The room down here smelled of vodka mixers, perfume, and
the undercurrent of sex and blood. The air was thick with a haze of
cigarette smoke. Vampires lounged in the booths or hung out at the
bar. A few played pool at nearby tables. There was a dance floor
down here, but it was empty, and the heavy bass thump from upstairs
was a mere suggestion. Women – vampire groupies – flitted back and
forth between red-eyed men in trench coats. The girls laughed and
flirted, a mixed drink in hand, clothed in indecent outfits that
would make strippers pause. Most of the women wore their hair up,
the better to expose a long, pretty neck.
    There was a well-stocked bar and
bartender just for the patrons of this secret room. As was his
custom, Zane headed to the bar and lifted a finger. He didn’t have
to order – he’d been coming to the same place almost every night
for the past three decades and always ordered the same thing. The
bartender passed him a shot of jäger, and went back to serving