Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
The inside of the club was even more luxurious than the lobby—he saw the muted gleam of gold and platinum everywhere and the walls were covered in the same net of densely packed, tiny scarlet blossoms which gave off a subtle scent that spoke of wealth and decadence and privilege.
At last they arrived at the entrance of the Flower Lounge.
“If you’ll just slip in and have a seat, you’ll be able to watch the last part of Sonya’s act,” the manager told him. “And I’ll be back to introduce the two of you a few minutes after she finishes.”
Davrik nodded and opened the heavy Treal wood door to slip into the lounge. His heart was pounding as he stepped into the darkened area, where most of the light was provided by the shimmering footlight glows which hovered around the bottom edge of the circular stage.
Sonya’s back was to him as he slid into the lounge and found a seat in the shadows to one side of the stage, but Davrik recognized her at once. Her full curves were encased in a sleek red gown which glittered in the dim light and contrasted with her velvety brown skin tones. Her long black hair, which hung in natural ringlets, cascaded down to the small of her back and her lovely, ethereal voice filled the air. She was singing what she called a “torch song”—a yearning love ballad filled with longing.
“Each time I see a crowd of people,
Just like a fool, I stop and stare.
It’s really not the proper thing to do,
But maybe you’ll be there…”
The song was one Davrik knew and it sent a shiver of pure emotion down his spine. This reminded him so much of the very first time he had seen his mate!
Sonya had been singing in a club called The Speak Easy in Ybor City. Davrik had stopped in for a drink on a whim, because he’d heard that there was live music there. He worked for the Kindred Mother ship as a scout, looking for new worlds to explore, but music was his passion. One of the things he loved to do was experience the music of other cultures and peoples and Earth had a very rich musical scene to explore.
The moment he had heard Sonya’s beautiful voice, Davrik had been mesmerized. She had a three-octave range that could growl a low, sultry contralto or soar into a dizzying soprano. She took his breath away before he even saw her and then, when he did see her, well…
The humans had something they called “love at first sight.” The Kindred called it “the lightning strike.” Davrik had felt it the very first time he had seen his future mate and he felt it all over again now as Sonya turned to face him. Gods, she was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her and yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away!
Her eyes slid over him in the darkened lounge and came to rest on another male who was sitting a few tables away. A look flitted across her face—a look that Davrik had seen before, but only when he woke her from the nightmares that stalked her in her sleep.
Terror. It was there for just a moment, in the widening of her brown eyes and the set of her lush lips, and then gone again, but her gaze remained glued to the male at the other table.
Davrik cast a sidelong glance to see what had upset her and felt his heart stop in his chest.
It was a Trollox—a really huge one with three heads and yellow, slitted eyes—all of which were trained on Sonya.
He understood at once why the sight would upset her. She had told him of the origin of the night terrors that ruined her sleep so often. It was a book of stories for children called “fairytales”—though why the humans would write tales that would terrorize their young, Davrik couldn’t understand.
This particular book had a picture of a mythical creature called an “ogre” in it—a great, lumpish brute with more than one head who lived in the dark forest. The story associated with the picture had been a bloody one, about how the evil creature loved to catch and cook children for dinner, grinding their fragile bones between its sharp, jagged teeth.
Of course, the end of the story had a plucky human child defeating and killing the monster, but that hadn’t been nearly enough to mitigate the fear it had caused in Sonya. She’d had dreams of an evil creature that looked like the ogre in the fairytale book coming after her for years afterwards. The night terrors had even followed her into adulthood and disrupted her dreams on a regular basis.
Now as he watched, Sonya’s eyes stayed fixed on the Trollox in the corner. The Trollox stared back with all three heads…and then a thick, slimy tongue slipped out and the middle head licked its chops. The message was clear—hunger and lust mixed in a sickening combination. The Trollox used smaller humanoid species as a source of food and to gratify their sexual needs—though said gratification often killed the much smaller female.