Life in Shadows (26 page)

“So
I’m the scout?” asked Alex. “Or the back-up?”

“No,”
said Lorelei. “You’re the distraction. Lester works with a temptress. I do not
know her name. Not a succubus like myself—a lesser demon, hiding within human
flesh like Lester. I’d rather not deal with two demons at once. I hope to
divide and conquer.

“You
no longer enjoy the direct protection of Heaven. Rachel looks after you, but
technically, you have no guardian angel. Demons can sense these things. It will
make you an appealing target. This is also why I have not touched you since
yesterday. I don’t want her to sense my connection to you, either. She might
leave you alone if she smells competition.” Lorelei favored him with an
affectionate, sultry grin. “I want her to see only a vulnerable, attractive
young man. You’ll be irresistible.”

“For
what?”

“Temptation.
Seduction. She’ll want to enthrall you into her service, again like Rob did to
others with money. Wealth and carnal pleasures aren’t sins in and of
themselves, but they offer powerful lures. We’ve had that talk, though.”

“Yeah.”
Alex frowned. “We have.”

“A
temptress needs her victim to come back over successive encounters to gain a
solid hold over his soul. Her charms cannot do you lasting mystic or spiritual
harm in a single night. You may well resist her supernatural charms entirely.
You are far more aware than the average mortal, and your will is strong. Besides,
even if you should succumb, I will have no trouble rescuing you from her
clutches. All you need to do is play along until I come for you. It will not be
long. Perhaps half an hour at the very most.

“Or
I can apologize,” she offered, watching him carefully, “and we can forget this
entire matter. I was unsure how to approach this, and unsure how you might
react.” Her hand stretched out across the table. “We can tell Rachel, let her
handle Lester and his temptress her way, and go about our night together. I do
not wish to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do.”

Though
much of him wanted to take her up on the offer, Alex pulled his hands back and
held them up. “No. No, I want to help. Demons running a strip club can’t be a
good thing, right?”

“It
seems unlikely, yes.” She watched him carefully. “You are willing, but what
troubles you?”

“How
far does ‘playing along’ go?”

“As
far as you choose. Alex, we both understand what our bond does to your
appetites. We also know our boundaries. Push her away and I will still have my
head start with Lester. Follow her into some private room for much more than a
lapdance and you will only empower me further. There is literally nothing you
could do with this woman that would make me upset, Alex. You aren’t capable of
it.”

“And
if anything goes wrong?”

“Then
we’ll have to improvise. Errands like this always carry risk. I would not
suggest this if I didn’t have faith in your…” She stopped, and then smiled.

“What?”
he asked.

“’Faith’
is not a word my kind use often. But I have great faith in you, Alex. And in
us. As I say, there is always risk. I believe it to be minimal here, or I would
not suggest it. I believe we can handle whatever may come. It’s up to you. I’ll
not pressure you.”

He
considered it for a moment more and slowly nodded. “So what’s her name?”

“I
don’t know,” said Lorelei. “She’ll have a new name and a new face from our last
meeting. It’s their way. But you’ll know her when you see her, or when she sees
you.”

* * *

Lorelei
wasn’t wrong.

Performances
and audience interaction followed a clear pattern. A DJ with a booming,
enthusiastic game show voice introduced each dancer as she arrived, and the
audience showed plenty of appreciation. The newcomer would come out and perform
on one of the poles to the left and right of the stage, then move to downstage
center for the next song to collect tips from the guys in the pit, while
another performer came out to take her previous place. With the tips cleaned
up, the dancer would slip offstage, get dressed—more or less—and then circulate
through the audience until she found a customer for a lap dance or whatever
else went on in the private rooms.

The
system made sense to Alex. He thought it strange that dancers came out wearing
so little to begin with, often hardly more than a bikini or a costume that
covered about as much. He’d always figured a striptease would start with the
performer having something to actually take off, but then, his only experience
was what he’d seen in film and TV, and it wasn’t as if he wanted to lodge a
complaint. On the contrary, he found the whole thing all too appealing.

He
never lacked for sexy funtime anymore. Alex had better companionship than he
could dream of. He had enough of that in his life. Much more than enough. His
head knew it. His heart knew it.

The
succubus curse that formed part of his bond with Lorelei disagreed in strong,
persuasive terms. It often joined in a chorus with his natural libido to
declare that “enough” was a damn, dirty lie. Tonight that chorus came through
loudly along with lustful hip-hop and shameless rock songs as every single
performer claimed his attention.

Alex
had little trouble keeping it in his pants as long as nothing encouraged him.
One other aspect of the succubus curse, though, was that he found constant
encouragement, and that proved true in offices and classrooms and even standing
on line at the Department of Licensing. He’d worried at first that it created
some sinister emotional influence, but now he understood that it worked more
like a magnet for desires that already existed—and it worked in both
directions. A place like Vixens made his desires all too welcome, all too
strong, and
oh god she’s doing splits vertically against the pole this is
the best place ever!

No.
Stop it,
he told himself.
Demon strip club. Freakin’
demons. All these tough guys don’t know how small and weak they really are in
here. Every one of these chicks could’ve signed her soul away. Or be possessed.
Or be a soul-crushing monster.

A
seriously hot soul-crushing monster. Wow, that ass and that smile, I can’t…Stop
it! Demons!

As
if to prove the point, the lights dimmed and the music faded into steady,
ominous bass beats. Alex missed almost everything in the DJ’s booming intro,
picking up only the tail end: “…blah blah blah Seattle, give it up for
Destiny!”

The
other dancers seemed to almost bow in deference and then melt away to cede the
stage. She strutted out in fishnets, purple lingerie and stiletto heels, her
sunglasses creating an air of confidence and mystery over her gorgeous Asian
features. Everything from her attitude to the music and the lights marked her
as the clear master of this domain.

 “Destiny”
strutted, swayed, and spun across the stage to a thumping beat and a suggestive
melody. Cheers, whistles, and catcalls gave way to almost reverential cries of
love and devotion as she began to dance. At first, she seemed to fixate on him,
keeping her head turned toward him as her costume corset came off to reveal a
swimsuit model belly. A purple lace bra still concealed her breasts. Another
minute passed before she threw the sunglasses into the crowd. After that, Alex
could see her eyes, and he knew without a doubt she danced specifically for
him.

Part
of him hated how good it felt to be the deer in someone’s headlights. Conscious
thoughts reminding him of her true nature and her danger of this place couldn’t
drown out tempting thoughts of
yeah, but I wish I could
.

His
heart beat heavily. A familiar hardness tightened his slacks. Destiny stared at
him from across the stage as she swayed, one hand coming to her back to
unfasten a clasp and finally reveal her beautiful—
oh God damn it she has
another tiny bra under that!

A
minute later, she pulled almost exactly the same trick with her panties:
another dancer slipped up behind her to slowly pull them down, revealing more
skin but also a tiny thong. Alex saw it coming a mile away. Anyone could. It
still only deepened the sense of anticipation through denial.

Men
howled in joyous frustration. The music continued. Through it all, Destiny
danced and watched the face of one specific young man across the room.

Alex
didn’t know whether or not Destiny used any sort of supernatural compulsion to
draw out his attention or his lust. With a face and body like hers, she hardly
needed it. Still, Alex slipped one hand under the table to ensure the iron nail
in his pocket hadn’t gone anywhere. Molly and Onyx called it a basic occult
ward. It required no technique or magical skill. He wondered how he’d feel
right now without it. He also wondered if it even mattered.

By
the end of the song, he thought less about his fight for self-control or the
potential danger Destiny presented. Mostly, he thought about his desires. He
wanted her to come over. He’d have gotten up and gone to the stage if he didn’t
infer from the sudden lack of men standing in the pit that this was forbidden
while Destiny performed.
Demon
, he reminded himself, and then,
hot
demon
. Smoking hot. Literally.

No.
That’s not smoke. That’s fog from the wings…what?

Another
song began. It blended into the end of the previous number with a low,
anticipatory beat. Destiny strode to the end of the stage, then slid down and
took up a seat on the edge with her lovely legs on display. She watched Alex
all the while.

She’d
have kept his full attention, too, had it not been for the shapely silhouette
that came out onto the stage, stepping into the light in red leather, jet black
hair, and a wicked grin.

Aw
hell
,
Alex thought with rising desires and wavering resolve.
There’s two of ‘em
.

* * *

They’d
pulled this trick before, though Alex didn’t know it at the time. Lorelei
waited in her car around the corner until she could feel his first real
pleasures through their mystic bond. That happened in short order as someone
began caressing his shoulders and neck. Knowing nothing more than that, Lorelei
stepped out into the night. Most of the neighboring buildings were warehouses
or small businesses, all of them closed for the night. Still, Lorelei wrapped
herself in demonic enchantments to ensure that no one would see her. The
arousal of her prey more than returned the effort spent on supernatural
stealth.

Nothing
seemed out of place. Cars parked in the back lot largely matched those she’d
seen before in earlier scouting. Lights, video cameras, and locked doors all
remained in place. No one lurked about. Lester understood the value of mundane
security measures. Lorelei also sensed the infernal wards that lined the
building. She would feel their wrath once she stepped inside, but nothing
Lester could conjure up would seriously harm her. She also had Alex to help
with that, as he did the first time they pulled this trick. Then again, Alex
took that particular incident much further than he would likely go tonight.

Lorelei
wondered if she pushed this plan harder than she’d intended.  The succubus
still wasn’t used to considering other people’s feelings, though she got better
every day with Alex and his friends. Boundaries weren’t so easily measured. Nor
were all of her own emotions. All these centuries, yet sincere guilt felt so
fresh and new. Unpleasant, but new.

She
felt a little guilt along with the sudden rise of Alex’s lust. Lorelei knew her
cue. Smiling at the rush of desire, the demon strode up to the front entrance
without further use for concealment. She couldn’t walk through walls, nor open
doors without breaking the enchantment. Nor did she have much hope of slipping
across the wards without their creator sensing the breach. Best to be
straightforward about this.

Immediately
inside the building, Lorelei felt the biting chill of the magic that protected
Lester’s domain. The short, pretty hostess and the dark-toned bouncer stationed
in the foyer felt and sensed nothing of the sort, but the wards weren’t aimed
at mortals. To a demon like Lorelei, the strip club might as well have been
inside a glacier.

She
had her own powers to keep her warm, though. That and the arousal of her dear
victim. Chances were he’d reject the advances of any temptress demon, knowing
her for what she was, but that would still leave Alex spun up by the
encounter—and Lorelei with him. They’d both need relief soon.

“Hello,”
Lorelei said pleasantly, unsurprised that hostess and bouncer alike needed a
moment for a double-take. “I’m here to see the owner. Privately. Would you
take
me straight to him
, please?” she asked, focusing her eyes and a small
measure of her power on the bouncer. She watched the big man’s jaw slacken as
her supernatural suggestion and his enthralled desires overrode any conflicting
protocols or loyalties.

“Uh.
Sure,” he mumbled, shaking his head and then gesturing for Lorelei to follow.

Lorelei
noted the hostess’s surprise. “Do you need to check my ID or take the cover
charge?” she asked politely.