Club Dead 3 by Charlaine Harris

Author:Charlaine Harris [Harris, Charlaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

I HAD THE shivery, shaky feeling that precedes walking into danger. This was the last night that Alcide

could go to Club Dead: Terence had warned him away, very definitely. After this, I would be on my own, if I were

even allowed into the club when Alcide did not escort me.

As I dressed, I found myself wishing I were going to an ordinary vampire bar, the kind where regular

humans came to gape at the undead. Fangtasia, Eric’s bar in Shreveport, was such a place. People would actually

come through on tours, make an evening of wearing all black, maybe pouring on a little fake blood or inserting

some cheesy fake fangs. They’d stare at the vampires carefully planted throughout the bar, and they’d thrill at their

own daring. Every now and then, one of these tourists would step across the line that kept them safe. Maybe he’d

make a pass at one of the vamps, or maybe he’d disrespect Chow, the bartender. Then, perhaps, that tourist would

find out what he’d been messing with.

At a bar like Club Dead, all the cards were out on the table. Humans were the adornments, the frills. The

supernaturals were the necessity.

I’d been excited this time the night before. Now I just felt a detached sort of determination, like I was on a

powerful drug that divorced me from all my more ordinary emotions. I pulled on my hose and some pretty black

garters that Arlene had given me for my birthday. I smiled as I thought of my red-haired friend and her incredible

optimism about men, even after four marriages. Arlene would tell me to enjoy the minute, the second, with every

bit of zest I could summon up. She would tell me I never knew what man I might meet, maybe tonight would be the

magic night. Maybe wearing garters would change the course of my life, Arlene would tell me.

I can’t say I exactly summoned up a smile, but I felt a little less grim as I pulled my dress over my head. It

was the color of champagne. There wasn’t much of it. I had on black heels and jet earrings, and I was trying to

decide if my old coat would look too horrible, or if I should just freeze my butt off out of vanity.

Looking at the very worn blue cloth coat, I sighed. I carried it into the living room over my arm. Alcide was

ready, and he was standing in the middle of the room waiting for me. Just as I registered the fact that he was

looking distinctly nervous, Alcide pulled one of the wrapped boxes out of the pile he’d collected during his

morning shopping. He got that self-conscious look on his face, the one he’d been wearing when I’d returned to the

apartment.

“I think I owe you this,” he said. And handed me the large box.

“Oh, Alcide! You got me a present?” I know, I know, I was standing there holding the box. But you have to

understand, this is not something that happens to me very often.

“Open it,” he said gruffly.

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