Chapter 12: The 'angel'

Since her shopping spree and running into Lenny at the bar, Esme found herself working more and more in the VIP rooms. This was a job meant only for Niko and the vampires from the bar below. But two of all those occasions, Esme had been serving Lenny.

He specifically asked for her and only listened to the live music he requested and made her sit with him while he asked her personal questions. Those questions were either answered with a lie or easily evaded. Lenny showed signs that he knew she was lying but did not push her further on it.

Esme was at the bar in the VIP room that she now related with Lenny. It was one out of the rooms, meant most likely for couples with their 'mood lighting' and dark red decor. She leaned her back against the counter, arms crossed, as she watched Lenny's security guards pack up the cards they'd been playing with and Lenny himself stroll towards her, his hand reaching for the ashtray. He dabbed the end of his cigar in the crystal glass tray and winked at Esme. "I'll see you next time, kid."

"If it's soon, I'll bring the rent money," She replied, retrieving the beer bottles from Lenny's security guards.

Lenny nodded and smirked, "Sure you don't want a new place?"

"Nope, I told you before. I don't need any headaches," Esme smiled and threw the bottles in the bin before saluting him in farewell. Lenny chuckled and shook his head before leaving the room.

With the mafia boss and his henchmen gone, Esme relaxed a little. She wasn't fearful of him, far from it, but she was feeling a little agitated and knew it was because she hadn't shifted in a while. Before Esme was ordered to work in the VIP room, she was close to arguing with a customer who wanted a discount after they spilt their drink on themselves from being too intoxicated. Luckily for them, Niko had called her away.

But the wolf within her was on edge, and if Esme didn't let her loose soon, she was afraid of how she would act. After cleaning Lenny's table, Esme left, her high-heeled ankle boots clicking on the floor as she returned to the main human bar. On entering, she saw Leo's face beaming at her and the woman on the other side of the bar scowl at her. Esme glared at her, then looked away quickly after seeing her face pale. Her eyes accidentally glowed, meaning the human saw her brown eyes change to amber.

The woman blinked and rubbed her temple, turning back to the bar and asking for some water. Esme smirked. She believed herself too intoxicated and seeing things. Most humans were like that; their minds sought out logical reasons for seeing the illogical or supernatural. Something that was not real in their world.

"That was reckless. Leo was watching!" Isana snapped with a low growl vibrating in her mind. Esme winced at the headache slowly occurring from her wolf's mood. She glanced at Leo, but he acted normal and didn't seem to see her eye colour change and glow.

"You know if Lenny keeps asking for you, I'm gonna start getting jealous," Leo winked at her. "I can only imagine how Niko feels."

Esme snorted at how ridiculous he sounded. "I'm sure more than enough girls can keep you company, Leo. And Niko is probably happy business is going up; it reflects well on him after all." She looked at how quiet the bar was now, but she knew how much customers paid for the VIP rooms.

Esme's head was starting to pound now, and she knew being at work was not a good idea right now. "I need some fresh air," She muttered loud enough for Leo to hear while she poured herself a drink and exited through the back without waiting for his response.

She walked through the staff room and didn't stop even after glancing in Paul and Nathan's direction. There was increased pressure in her head, silencing any sounds around her, so her reaction was instant when she felt someone's hand wrap around her hand and stop her from walking to the fire exit. Esme growled, whipping her head to the side to glare at who dared to touch her, her claws already elongated and now against Paul's throat.

"Nath, can you hear a puppy whining over there?" He sneered, not taking Esme's threat seriously.

"Hmm, what's one less vampire.. It is not like you are a pureblood," Isana had merged her voice with Esme's, briefly taking control as her eyes glowed brightly, tilting her head to the side. "You are easily replaceable."

"Guys.." Nathan, the other bouncer, stepped forwards, his face looking nervous as he glanced between the pair.

"Pfft, come on, Nath, she can't take me on. Not a weak rogue like her. This is just foreplay.." Paul tightened his grip on her hand, her fingers were being crushed, and the bones started to crack from the pressure, and he raised his hand to her face to caress it. "Ain't that right, sweetheart?"

Esme smiled sweetly at him, her claws cutting into his skin spilling a bit of blood. Paul smacked his arm down on hers, breaking free from her hold and stepped closer to her. Esme moved her face away from his hand and kneed him in the groin.

"Esme? Paul? What is going on here?!" Leo's voice rang through the room; Esme instantly broke away from Paul, who was now hunched over. She looked at Leo's concerned face, his muscular body tense and his hands fisted by his side as he strode towards them.

But Nathan stepped in front of him. "Go back to the bar. Forget what you saw here; you never came to the staff room," He said in a slow, calm voice, his eyes locked with Leo's, who repeated after Nathan in an almost hypnotic tone of voice before turning around and leaving with the door shutting firmly behind him.

"You bitch!" Paul reached for her again, but this time Nathan held him back. "You think you're all that for working with vampires.."

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Esme turned her back on them and escaped, pushing open the fire exit door, somehow still holding onto her glass of whiskey. "You're nothing but a disgrace to your own kind!" She heard Paul still shouting after her. She rolled her eyes and stopped at the steps to the back of ONYX, the only light coming from the staff room and the streetlamp across the parking lot.

Esme closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet fragrance of the recent rainfall. The cold night air cooling down her overheated body, she stepped forwards and lowered down, sitting on the only dry step left. Could she really relax there with Paul in the building still cursing about her?

"Es, we need to shift more. It's not good for us or others around us. We aren't in a pack who will understand what is wrong," Isana chastised her. Esme spread her legs down the steps and stared at her black jeans where some of her drink spilt on them as she nodded in agreement.

"We will go for a run after work," Esme whispered aloud and stared in disgust at the blood under nails, then looked at the dark bruising on her fingers from where Paul crushed the bones beneath. The pain was endurable, but she would need to rest her hand for a few hours. "Seriously though, what is his problem?" She asked in her mind. Esme knew Paul could hear her and didn't want more of a headache and getting into a fight.

Esme looked up from her position on the ground after hearing slow footsteps of shoes on the concrete. She raised the glass to her lips as she drank in the sight of the man who was now approaching her. Sipping on her whiskey, she relished the burning sensation down her throat as the ice clinked in the tumbler from where she lowered it.

Esme knew if she hadn't taken a sip from her drink, her mouth would have gaped open at the model of a man standing before her. One look at his flawless skin and the red specks in his crystal blue eyes, and she knew, even by vampire standards, this man had to be the devil because nobody should be walking around looking that damn fine.

He was looking divine in his black trousers, waistcoat and a thick golden tie along with a band on his arm, his white hair dishevelled, the top two buttons of his white shirt undone, revealing a chiselled chest.

Too damn fine..

Even Isana was checking him out and couldn't help but agree with her. Vampire or not, he was not good for anyone's heart.

"Rough night?" He asked. His voice made her gulp and her mouth go dry.

The white-haired vampire tilted his head to the side with a slither of a smirk on his lips after she failed to answer him. That small notion snapped Esme back into reality and what his question was.

"Nothing I can't handle," She replied nonchalantly; she was not embarrassed by openly gawking at him. It was only natural, and she suspected he was used to it. This was the 'angel' named Gabriel. Quite fitting, really, she smirked at her inner thoughts. His powerful presence alone alerted her to who he was before seeing his bright moonlight hair.

Esme looked at her glass, listening to Paul now discussing her attitude and 'sweet ass' with Nathan. She narrowed her eyes slightly before raising the glass back to her lips, her eyes drawn back to Gabriel's against her will. She can't NOT look at him. It was as though he had bewitched her, and everything that was not him fell into the background, minuscule in comparison to the very fine-looking vampire who had not moved from his spot.

It seemed he, too, had been taking his time to watch her. Though she wasn't sure if he liked what he saw or not, his face was as hard as diamonds, handsome and terrifying and hard to read. Had he intentionally gone there to see her?

Why would he see you? You are nothing. Her doubtful inner voice whispered to her like a snake ready to attack. She took a sip from her drink in response.

"Is there something wrong with the staff room?" Esme looked back at the vampire, who was now only a meter in front of her. She was not taken aback by his quickness; she was more than used to his kind by now.

She sighed and looked at him tiredly, "What do you want?"

"To have a conversation," Gabriel replied in his velvety voice. That was hard to believe; he was probably curious that a werewolf was working at a vampire bar. But much like with Lenny, she would not be revealing anything about herself, no matter how good looking and charming he was.

"I'm not interested," Esme said in disinterest. She was very restless tonight, and her attitude was bitchier than usual.

"That's too bad, little wolf," The vampire replied with a dazzling smile. Esme paused briefly, then rolled her eyes and knocked back the last of her drink before standing up. Even in her heels and on a step, she was still smaller than him, craning her neck back to hold his striking gaze. She turned her back on him, expecting him to call out to her again, but he didn't.

Esme paused, holding onto the door. "The staff room is a little too crowded," She muttered before letting the door close slowly behind her, revealing the two vampire bouncers who pissed her off the most.. She can't say why she felt obligated in responding to his question, but it wasn't his fault she was cranky.

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