Felix's POV

She's right there. Right in front of me.

Two years. I've been looking for her for two years.

And now, there she is. Standing in this shady club, looking determined and out of place. My stomach turns. My heart, close to stopping altogether. Every nerve in my body on fire. Every part of me wide awake and in disbelief. I don't even think I'm breathing.

I stumble towards her driven by need, flooded with old feelings, forgotten aches and pains buried no longer. To reach out and touch her; to speak to her and hear her voice for the first time in what feels like a lifetime; just to make sure she's real.

But a hand on my shoulder, a firm grip, stops me.

Isa Vasquez, one-half of the notorious hybrid twins, materialises from behind me. He circles in front like a shark, cutting my path to the girl – the girl who once stole my heart.

Not that I'd ask for it back.

It belongs to her.

"Felix, such a long time since you've graced us with your presence." Isa's amber eyes, flecked with gold under the artificial light, look me up and down. He smiles at me, languid in that of his, and leans on the bar beside me. "Won't you join me for a little something sweet?"

He waves at the bartender who carries out his unspoken order smoothly, as though he was waiting all along to do just that. Two shots of a dark red liquid, laced with vodka, appear before us. Most times, I would stay and drink, try to decipher his intentions. Isa never does anything without a reason. But my mind has flown. I see myself acknowledge him, just, only to peer back to where she stood seconds ago.

She's gone, to my eyes anyway. Even with the music, being what I am, I'm able to follow the sound of her. But the melody is faint, moving deeper into the club. I'm losing her.

"You seem distracted Felix-" Isa comments, in a low voice. I have to switch my focus just to hear him. "-trouble in hell? I hear something has you vipers running scared."

"Not at all Isa." I say. My eyes must betray most of my attention, ignoring him, scanning the room. Desperately seeking any small hope, any whisper, she was really there.

"You don't seem pleased to see me, Felix. I'm wounded," Isa grumbles, his irritation clear.

I drag my line of vision back to the host as his mood becomes petulant, an inferno ready to boil over just beneath the surface. Isa looks at me like he wants to strangle me, then slides the pretty-red-liquid shots in front of us both. He gestures for me to take one.

"Either drink up or run away if you must. I saw you eyeing that little human girl. Is she more your taste these days?"

He cocks both brows and holds up his own shot. Serpent-like eyes, mostly jovial and amused, are dark, empty. Isa hates losing control, or an audience. My best bet is to let her go. Find her later. Showing weakness to a hybrid is never a good thing. They are heartless bastards - hyenas to the lions of our kind. Although, Isa would no doubt pout if I voice my comparison. He's always been a little sensitive of his roots.

That, and Isa is a friend.

"Nowhere to be but here. Let's drink to your ever dazzling wardrobe and my dashing good looks." I smile as I reach for my own glass. Pushing aside everything that just happened. As though it didn't.

My host is immaculate as usual. We toast to my friend's attire - a stark white shirt, framed with a silver bow and blue silk waistcoat. On his shoulders is an embroidered, purple and jade green, velvet smoking jacket. Where he gets his jackets from I've no idea, but I swear I've never seen him in the same one twice.

Isa grins, though his eyes are still guarded, and clinks his glass into mine.

As we down our shots, I take note the ruby red liquid is blood. I grimace and set it back on the bar empty. The metallic after-taste stirs forgotten memories I've never had. Not for the first time do I feel a tinge of regret my species chose to abstain from drinking blood. Not from a glass, sometimes we still do that, but alive and throbbing from a jagged vein.

Isa slams his glass and licks his lips, tongue red and bright. He indicates the bar staff for a refill for us both. We down a second. It's a sweet vintage, creamy almost. Despite its cool temperature I sense a fair amount of power from just one tiny glass.

No ordinary human then. An EVe.

Already, I feel the effects. If Sati were here, breaking down her shields would be child's play. There is nothing on earth compared to the rush of power from evolved blood. Nothing at all.

Energy radiating off Isa makes my spine tingle, in a way I've come to associate with all hybrids. My father says it's their blood answering my blood. Maybe I can't subjugate hybrids, in the same way I can do with my own species, but they are partly us. Only half of them is human, the other half is all viper. It makes sense we share some sort of connection.

But this time, there's an intensity that wasn't before, from the shared blood we're both drinking. I lick my own lips and stare at the second empty glass, wanting more.

Who did this belong to?

My desire must show because Isa smirks and orders another round. I let him, knowing I shouldn't have too much but caring very little at this point. Best not to know whose blood it is. I could get addicted so very easily.

In fact, I probably already am.

***

A/N - Apologies for the short update today. My writing mentorship is kicking my ass ><

So meet Isa, yet another boy to love. Tell me, who is your favourite so far? ^^

Thanks so much for all the lovely likes, subs and reads in the last week! I was grinning like an idiot every time I opened the app! 

☆☆☆ I've been listed as 'noteworthy' oh my gosh!☆☆☆

Thank you lovely Tapas team for reading my story. ♕ And big thanks to you all, my readers. You're all amazing. ☼ Thank you ALL for reading and just being so nice! ❤❤❤

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Lisxx