CREAM (On the Hunt) by Zenobia Renquist Page B

fingers over her necklace. Teaghan had told her to keep it on tonight. He also told her to stash her pouch of necromes in the car glove box. Neither of them wanted a repeat of last night.
    The club parking lot was packed and the door had a line curved around the building when they arrived. The gruesome battle of the night before hadn’t hurt the club’s popularity in the least. True, most of the guests had been gone when Jeliyah was attacked, but she figured word would have spread.
    The only thing spreading in that club were the legs of the women who flocked Teaghan the second he stepped foot on the premises.
    No need to be jealous, necromancer. Teaghan’s deep voice rumbled through her mind.
    Shut it. No telepathy either , she snapped.
    He pointed Nessa in Jeliyah’s direction.
    The blonde asked in annoyance, “Again?”
    Jeliyah wanted to smack the woman. What did Nessa have to be pissed about? Jeliyah didn’t want to borrow her clothes.
    Teaghan smacked the woman’s ass, which made her giggle. “Go to it. I’ve got work to do.”
    Rather than try to fight it like the night before, Jeliyah followed the woman.
    Jeliyah vetoed anything that showed her ass. That left her with a close-knit fishnet, ankle-length dress. Strategically placed horizontal strips at her chest and waist made it the best option. It came with a matching bra and panties. Nessa tried to get Jeliyah into the thong instead of the panties but Jeliyah threatened to get her gun and shoot the woman. Panties it was.
    Jeliyah wanted a more substantial outfit. She was wearing less than the night before and hadn’t even known that was possible. Given the wardrobe options and her need for clothing that didn’t push her comfort boundaries, Jeliyah knew she would be shopping with Teaghan tomorrow after all.
    His smug laughter filled her head. She gave him the mental equivalent of the finger. The shopping trip was self-preservation. She didn’t want to see what Nessa would put her in tomorrow if the woman was forced to dress her again.
    The dress got Jeliyah all the attention Teaghan said it would. Men fell over themselves all night to buy her drinks—strong drinks—and food. They were more willing to get her drinks than food but gave in when she resorted to batting her eyelashes and asking in a cutesy voice.
    It wasn’t Jeliyah’s usual style to flirt but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to do it and when. Besides, the food at the club was worth it. Teaghan hadn’t mentioned that when stopping to get her burrito. Then again, he was a vampire. He wouldn’t have known the club’s food was good.
    Between drinks, the men convinced Jeliyah to dance. She figured she owed them that much since they weren’t going to get anything else out of her no matter how many drinks they bought. Necromancer metabolism—she couldn’t get drunk. The same thing made poison ineffectual as well.
    Correction—a necromancer could get drunk but it took a rare, very expensive type of alcohol to do it. She doubted the club had it. Even if they did, her admirers didn’t have pockets deep enough to afford a capful let alone the full glass needed to get her tipsy.
    The night wore on and Jeliyah’s admirers left one by one as they realized she wasn’t going to sound the “easy-girl mating call” any time soon. She would have felt bad for them if they hadn’t been planning to take advantage of her.
    “Poor idiots don’t know a necromancer when they see one,” said a man close to Jeliyah’s shoulder.
    She glanced back at him but knew already he was a vampire. That didn’t surprise her. The club had a substantial vampire population. What did surprise her was that he spoke to her. The other vampires had been keeping their distance all night.
    She said, “Most humans don’t. We’re not easy to spot like vampires.” She tapped her lip to indicate his fangs. They got longer when a vampire was preparing to feed but the non-feeding fangs were still longer than a