Life in Shadows (28 page)

Then,
at the sight of Alex’s escorts, one of those bouncers turned to sweep aside a
curtain and open up the door behind it. Alex blinked. It didn’t even have a
window down the side. This was exactly the privacy he didn’t expect. Still
fully aware of this club’s supernatural secrets, Alex half dreaded what he’d
find on the other side of that door.

He
kept walking with the women. Alex didn’t know how much time Lorelei would need,
but he’d only been with Destiny and Chance for a couple of songs. Pulling away
now might seem suspicious. Alex resolved to walk away or even run if he saw
anything outlandish as they came around the doorway. Instead, he found more red
and purple lights, more leather furniture, more mirrors, pillows, and a small
bar off to one side.

Okay.
This I can do
, thought Alex. Then again, maybe that
was his libido talking. He couldn’t be sure.

Destiny
gently pushed him into a chair and immediately straddled his legs. “You’re in
for the time of your life,” she breathed, and he believed her…right up until
the private room’s speakers came to life with grating pop music.

Alex
winced. He glanced over to the bar, where he saw Chance standing with her
finger on the small stereo controls and a proud look on her face. “Wait, is
this a prank?” asked Alex. “Seriously? You’re putting in Justin—”

“Use
one of the playlists the DJ made,” Destiny cut him off with a grumble. Chance
frowned but did as the other woman asked.

Their
guest didn’t know whether to be grateful for the buzzkill or not. It took the
edge off of his desires and gave him a moment of clarity, but still…
Fucking devil
music
, he thought.
What’s wrong with them
?

* * *

“She’s
one of Abbadon’s,” said Lester. “She’s got a little office in downtown a block
up the hill from the courthouses.” He scribbled out another name and a couple
of notes at his desk. “Bail bonds stuff. Ground floor, facing the corner, can’t
miss it.” He snorted. “I think she calls herself Hope ‘cause that’s how her
place smells. If you don’t know any better, anyway.”

“I
believe I’ve driven past that office several times,” Lorelei thought aloud. “What’s
her real name?”

“Fuck
if I know. They usually don’t tell me. If someone sets up business and makes
sure we don’t come to blows where we overlap, I don’t get nosey. Her pockets go
deep. She’s got lawyers on the payroll to make sure she gets the right kinda
business, y’know? Some of her marks wouldn’t normally get bail out of a judge
at any price, but if Hope wants ‘em, they grease the wheels.”

“Who
else?”

Lester
made a face, but then turned back to his sheet of paper. “Got some creepers
living in some of those condemned hotels on Aurora, north of the bridge. Think
they move back and forth. Might spend some time under them buildings, too.”

“How
many?”

“Never
less than three. Doin’ what creepers do, y’know? Plenty of homeless and junkies
and undocumented types in this town to pick off.”

“Lovely.”

“Hey,
one soul is as good as another,” Lester grumbled. “I’ve heard all about succubi
and incubi and your ‘prestige’ bullshit, but we’re all working stiffs up here,
okay? Creepers got their place in the ecosystem, too.”

Her
eyebrow rose. “You’re defending the necessity of creepers?”

“I’m
sayin’ you shouldn’t be all high and mighty. It’s only luck of the draw that
separates us out from you
beautiful people
,” he added with a sneer.
“Accidents of birth or whatever you wanna call it. And don’t kid yourself. I
know how often daddy’s little princes and princesses wind up on their knees.”

“If
it makes you feel better, Lester, I started out far lower than you would
imagine. Now, less chatting and more writing,” she said, putting a finger down
on the growing list on his sheet of paper. “I’d imagine someone must have
started a fitting room in this city by now. Where is it?”

Lester
blinked. “It ain’t like this city’s that big,” he pointed out.

“Compared
to what?” Lorelei asked. “I remember seeing fitting rooms in little more than
frontier towns a century and a half ago. Don’t tell me Seattle isn’t big enough
to hide one now.”

“Yeah,
but something like that’s an investment,” Lester replied, then shrugged.
“Anyway, you want what I know, right? Not speculation.”

“Indeed.”

Lester
nodded. “Then I can’t tell you about fitting rooms. I can tell you about guy
Mammon has in a corner office in a Bellevue tower, though.”

“Please
do. Your cooperation is noted and appreciated.”

The
demon looked ready for another resentful comment, but he bit it back and
returned to his writing. Lorelei didn’t try to drag it out of him. Clearly, he
knew when it was time to keep his mouth shut.

* * *

Destiny
gyrated in his lap, expertly massaging the erection in his pants with her groin
and grinning wickedly all the while. He didn’t expect full-on kissing. A lot of
groping and grinding, sure. He figured their lacy bras weren’t long for this
room, and he was right. They hardly spent much time building further anticipation
before that big reveal.

Chance
leaned over the back of the couch to unbutton his shirt, kissing and lightly
biting at his neck. She was less gentle with his sleeveless undershirt, though,
grabbing at its low collar and tearing it right down the middle. Alex opened
his mouth in protest. The next thing he knew, Destiny filled that mouth with
her tongue until it was Chance’s turn to lean over and kiss him. He forgot
about his complaint.

“Mmm,
I like this,” murmured Destiny as her hands roamed. “Nice definition.”

Chance
didn’t stop kissing, but she verified Destiny’s evaluation with a caress.
“Mm-hmm.”

They
were assertive, confident, and even a little rough. Alex liked all of that. He
didn’t like the woozy feeling he got from Chance’s kiss, though, or the
unnatural echo as Destiny whispered, “
Give in
,
Alex
.”

He’d
never heard a whisper echo before, let alone directly into his ear right in the
middle of a music-filled room. He might not have heard it at all if his guard
wasn’t up and he didn’t have that little nail in his pocket.

Don’t
even need to know magic for this trick
, Molly had laughed.
You
don’t even have to believe
.

Simple
protection
, Onyx had told him.
Like a good coat in a
blizzard. You’ll still feel the chill, but it’s a hell of a lot better than
going out naked.

He
wondered if going naked wasn’t far off. The “private dance” continued through
one song on the stereo and then another as he and the two dancers groped,
fondled, and kissed one another into a frenzy. Still, Alex had the sense and
the willpower to think past physical need. Succubus curse or not, he still
cared about context. Fooling around with a flirtatious, eager stranger might be
okay—he’d done it at least once—but false pretenses lay well out of bounds for
him, at least until now. The compelling voices in his ear, the hands stroking
his bared chest, and that wonderful body in his lap steadily eroded that
inhibition.

I
mean damn,
he thought,
it’s not like I’ve never had sex
with a demon before. Things worked out great with Lorelei! What’s the harm? So
what if I’m on my own in a strange place where nobody here has my best
interests in…

…yep.
Like wearing a coat. Still feel the chill.

“We
want you, Alex,” Chance breathed across his lips. “You’re perfect for us.”

“Exactly
what we’re looking for,” Destiny agreed, her hands roaming his chest. “
You
want us, too, don’t you?
” came that echo again. “It’ll be so good.”

His
self-control rallied, carrying him at least as far as ambiguity. “Got it pretty
good already,” he said.

“That’s
what you think,” Chance taunted. “
She’ll never know
.”

Chance
couldn’t know it, but her suggestion only intensified his conflict. Lorelei
would, in fact, know everything that went on. She knew about this right here
and would feel every moment of escalation. To make it even harder to resist,
she’d already told him she’d be okay with it. And Alex was in no small part
down here to help her.

Two
sets of lips attacked his neck on either side. Destiny backed off on his groin
enough to let Chance unzip his pants and slip her fingers inside. Her grip told
him they were beyond teasing now.

“Don’t
you want it?” asked Destiny.

Words
didn’t come easily. He found it difficult to hold a steady tone, or even open
his eyes up all the way. Honesty fought through the rush of arousal and the
clouds in his judgment: “I wish I could.”

“You
can,” Chance assured him sweetly. “No one needs to know.”

“C’mon,
stud.” Destiny slid off of his lap, taking his hands and pulling him up. “Got
someplace much more comfortable than this. Secret room,” she winked, “right
over here.”

Alex
blinked away the haze as Destiny all but painted herself against him, turning
him toward one of the mirrors. It gave him a double reminder of her hot body.
Chance crossed between the pair and their reflection, slipping over to the
mirror and then putting her fingers to its side. The entire piece swung aside
like a door, frame and all, revealing an inviting staircase leading down.

All
of his alarm bells went off at once: too much too fast with the sexy stuff, a
strange place with strange women, secret rooms, and oh yeah, demons. They had
him turned on. No argument. They didn’t turn off his brain.
Why do they need
a secret room
behind
the private, locked, guarded VIP room?

Incense
beckoned to him as they descended. Destiny kept one of his hands in hers as she
led him down the stairs. Chance stuck close behind him with the lightest grip
on his shoulder. Perhaps as a small demonstration of resolve and resistance,
Alex zipped up his fly again. “
Relax, baby
,” Chance whispered. “This is
gonna change your entire life.”

At
the bottom of the stairs, Destiny spun and kissed Alex again before he could
see anything of the room besides candles and black curtains. He tried to keep
his eyes open, but Chance’s lips at the nape of his neck made that difficult.
He felt her hands rise up his legs.

“
Don’t
think about anything but us
,” Chance told him. Her fingers even traced up
along the nail inside his pocket, but that hardly registered for him. The
clouds came back into his mind. He felt only lust and heat and need.

Destiny
pulled away. His eyes fluttered open.

Electric
lamps hung from the ceiling on black chains. On one side of the room lay a
muscular man on a black couch, wearing only a collar and chain attached to the
wall. A thick, fresh scar ran up the center of his chest. His eyes glowed with
a red light as he sat up, but he said nothing. Along the far wall, a table held
unlabeled jars, bottles, and bowls of powders and liquids. Another wall held a
tall mirror.

A
large, round, leather-covered platform dominated the center of the room,
looking like a giant upholstered coffee table with built-in restraints. Faintly
glowing runes decorated the platform, and the walls, and the ceiling.

“Ready
for the next level?” asked Chance as she came around to his side.

“Nope!”
Alex declared, palming her face and shoving her away. “Nope, nope, nope!” He
darted out of Destiny’s reach as Chance stumbled to the floor. “This shit right
here is not a sex-positive scene. I’m out. Ciabatta.” He strode over to the man
on the couch. “Hey, buddy, you still with us here? What’s your name?”

The
man snarled. He lunged at Alex, practically clawing at him, but found his chain
too short to actually reach once Alex jerked back.

“Woah.
Buddy, listen to me. Time for the safe word. Come back to Earth now.”

“What
are you doing?” asked Destiny as she pulled Chance to her feet. The other woman
looked far more shocked than hurt. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Aw
lady, I’d need to write you a whole novel for that,” Alex grumbled. “And a
sequel. Okay. Dude. It’s time to sober up and go home now.” He tried snapping
his fingers, clapping and waving his hands in front of the man’s glowing eyes.
“Are you still in there?”

“Submit
or die!” the man sputtered in a rage.

“Okay,
I tried.” He turned to leave, but found Chance blocking the doorway. Destiny
reached under the big platform to produce a pair of handcuffs. “Ladies, we’re
done,” he said. “I’m not down with your kinks. Get out of my way.”

“We
didn’t invest all that time and effort in you for nothing,” said Destiny.

Alex
made a face. “That was like twenty minutes! Half an hour, tops!”

“You
know you want more,” Chance offered despite her obvious annoyance. She fixed
him with a sultry stare. “
Stay, Alex
.
Relax
. It only gets better
from here.
You’ll love it
.”