Silver-Tongued Devil (9 page)

“She and Orpheus want me to talk to Maisie about trying a rite Rhea thinks will help her dream again.” His arms had been around me when I started talking. The minute the words left my mouth, every muscle in his torso tensed. Time to change the subject. “Anyway, how’d you manage to get away without your new shadow?” I said, referring to Alexis.

He shrugged, his posture relaxing a fraction. “I put her in charge of interviewing the nymphs. Figured you and I could use some unchaperoned time to wrap our heads around what’s going on.”

I smiled and threw myself at him. “Gods bless you.”

He kissed me hard on the lips but pulled away too quickly. “As much as I’d love to explore the depth of your gratitude, we probably need to talk.”

“What’s there to talk about? Orpheus commands and we follow, right?”

“Don’t be like that. I know you’re unhappy about this but I think it’s important.”

“I don’t disagree.”

“But?”

I crossed my arms. “Why do you think there’s a but?”

“Because I know you.”

“Look, I’ll admit I was pretty pissed with Orpheus’s approach but I get why he asked us.” I ran a hand through my hair. “It’s just… I don’t know. Everything has been going pretty well. Almost too well. I can’t help feeling like this whole thing is the other shoe falling. Like maybe we were naive to think we could finally let our guards down and be happy.”

Adam reached for me and pulled me against his chest. “Red, no matter what happens, we’ll deal with it. Together.” He lifted my chin with his finger. “Just like we always do. Besides, solving this murder is the best way to ensure that bigger drama doesn’t come along, right?”

“I guess you’re right.”

He kissed me softly and smiled against my lips. “Of course I’m right.”

I sighed and surrendered myself to the inevitable. “So what’d Slade say?”

Adam’s face tightened. “Besides the tidal wave of obscenities?”

“I was afraid of that.” I grimaced.

“Who can blame him? I mean the Black Light District has been his domain for decades. By rights, this should be his investigation. Plus, he’s understandably pissed that someone dared commit this crime under his own roof.”

“I just hope he doesn’t plan on using his anger to stonewall us.”

“Quite the opposite, actually.” Adam rose. “He’s not happy with the Despina or Orpheus, but he seemed pretty cool about you and me taking over.” He paused. “Especially you.”

I looked up quickly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Adam shrugged and made his way to the bar separating the kitchen from the living room. “Oh, nothing. He just had lots of nice things to say about your… abilities. Actually, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that vampire has a crush on you.”

I froze. Shit. If there was any time to tell Adam about my past with Slade, now was definitely
not
it. The murder investigation didn’t need the added complication of the two leads having a lover’s spat. Plus, and I’m just being honest here, the very idea of coming clean to Adam scared the ever-loving crap out of me. So instead of sitting the mage down and having a nice long heart-to-heart, I forced a breathy laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. Slade probably wants to butter us up so we’ll keep him in the loop.”

Adam turned slowly, looking unconvinced. “I don’t know, Red. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

I rose quickly and went to him. My heart thumped against my ribs, but I forced a smile. “Adam, I told you. Slade and I were ancient history. Hell, half the time we argue more than anything.” My laugh sounded forced to my own ears. Shit, was I talking too fast? Was that suspicion in Adam’s eyes? Oh, gods. I reached for Adam’s arms and pulled him toward me. “You have nothing to worry about from Slade. Even if he was interested, I’m not. As for his praise, well, we have worked together before and he asked me to help him before Orpheus took him off the job. He knows I’ll find who did this for him.”

Adam pulled away. Instead of the accusatory frown I’d been expecting, the corner of his mouth tilted up in his trademark Lazarus smile. “You mean ‘we,’ right?” My mouth fell open. I can’t believe I’d forgotten to give Adam his due. I had tons of experience killing people, but Adam had more experience with investigations. Luckily, he laughed then and pulled me in for a quick hug. “This isn’t all on your shoulders, Red. We’ll find this bastard together.”

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pain where my conscience bore a hole through my chest. “Old habits die hard, I guess.” We stood there like that for a few minutes. Finally, I relaxed enough to let out a relieved breath. I knew that soon I’d have to come clean to Adam. I just hoped it would happen later rather than sooner.

Adam pulled away first. “Speaking of Slade helping us…” He turned and lifted something from the bar. The item was a large zip-top baggie I hadn’t seen before. “He gave us our first clue.”

My eyebrows shot to my hairline. From what I could see, the thing in the baggie was nothing more than a black clump. “What is it?”

“See for yourself.” He offered the bag to me.

When I took it, I realized the black thing was actually a glove. Leather, or a decent imitation. I turned it over to inspect the palm. Thin silver spikes covered the surface. “What are these for?”

“You’ve never seen a glove like that before?”

I shook my head. “No, why?”

He shrugged. “According to Slade, it’s called a vampire glove. I figured you might have run across one once or twice in your former life.”

I frowned down at it and gently fingered the spikes. “Can’t say that I have. What’s the deal?”

“Slade said they’re commonly used in the S&M community,” Adam explained. “The spikes mortals use usually aren’t sharp enough to draw blood unless some intense pressure is applied. They’re mostly for skin stimulation, I guess. But apparently, in the vamp S&M scene, they modify them to cause instantaneous bleeding for their blood-sport games.”

“I had no idea.” Not that I was a prude or anything, but I never considered such a thing existed. Sexual blood play wasn’t something I’d really explored much. Too many control issues, I guess. In fact, Adam was the only sexual partner I’d ever fed from, and even that was just the once. “Well, this certainly supports my theory that the murderer was a vampire.”

“Or someone who wanted us to think it was a vampire.”

I looked up quickly. “You think this is a frame job?”

Adam shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know what I think. I just don’t want to rule out any possibilities until we have more evidence.”

“Obviously we need to track down the owner of this glove.”

Adam shot me his trademark grin. “Already ahead of you. Slade graciously offered me a list of the top vampire sex shops in Manhattan. I figure we’ll start there and see if we get any leads.”

Rhea’s warning to avoid anything stressful flashed through my head. Probably she wouldn’t include visiting fetish shops as relaxing activity. But now that we had a lead, I could feel my old fire igniting in my belly. The one that loved a challenge. It’d been too long since I’d had one I’d almost forgotten the adrenaline rush. “Sounds like a plan.”

Just then, the door to the apartment opened. Giguhl strolled in. He had a pair of roller skates hanging over his shoulder. “What up, playas?”

“Where have you been?” I asked.

“The girls and I were having some skating practice in the courtyard.”

“How’d it go?” I asked.

He shook his head sadly, his horns swishing from side to side. “Pitiful. I need some more power on the team or we’re never going to win our first match.”

I cleared my throat meaningfully. Giguhl pursed his black lips and looked me up and down. “Don’t be desperate, Red. It’s beneath you.”

My mouth fell open. “I am not desperate.”

“Anyway.” He rolled his goat-slit eyes. “What are you two up to?”

“We’re just about to head out,” Adam said. “Orpheus asked us to help find the asshole who killed Marty.”

Giguhl’s eyes lit up. “Really? Why didn’t you tell me Team Awesome has a new case to solve?”

I tilted my head and shot him a look. “Team Awesome doesn’t have a case—Adam and Sabina do.”

He put a claw to his heart. “That hurts, Red.”

“We figured you were too busy with your Roller Derby stuff to help out,” Adam said to soften the rejection.

“Are you kidding? I’m never too busy to fight crime. Where are we going?”

Adam and I exchanged a look. The minute we told Giguhl where we were headed there’d be no stopping his involvement. While we silently debated whether to tell him, Giguhl spotted the glove. He grabbed it from my hand. “Oh, shit, is this one of those S&M gloves?”

I shot the demon an incredulous look. “How in the hell did you know that?”

He raised a scraggly black brow. “Bitch, please. I have all sorts of knowledge I haven’t even begun to lay on your ass.”

I raised my eyebrow and waited.

He grimaced. “Okay, fine. Cinnamon overheard Slade and Adam talking at Vein and called me. But still, I can totally help you guys. Can I pleeaaase go with you to the sex shops?”

I looked at Adam. He sighed and said, “All right, but you go in cat form and you behave yourself or else.”

“Really?” The demon tilted his chin down to shoot Adam a blunt look. “Has that ever worked with me?”

“Promise, or you’re not going,” I said.

“Fine, geez.” He crossed a claw over his heart. “I promise I’ll
try
to behave.”

“Fair enough,” I said, knowing that was the best I could hope for from a Mischief demon. “Let’s head out.”

10

T
wo hours and five shops later, we were running out of steam.

“Who knew there were this many sex shops in Manhattan,” I observed as we approached the next store on the list.

“Are you kidding?” Adam said. “The list Slade gave me has twenty shops on it and he said that’s just the ones vampires might frequent.”

From inside the canvas tote, Giguhl added, “This would go a lot faster if you guys allowed me to sneak into the back rooms of these places.”

“Dream on,” I said. The last thing I needed was to let a hairless demon cat loose inside an S&M dungeon.

“Party pooper,” he grumbled.

“Let’s hope this next place offers some sort of clues. We’re burning moonlight,” Adam said.

I squinted up at the discreet sign over the door that read
SPANK
. According to the note Slade made on the list, this place catered to the wealthy kink connoisseur out front but in the back was a vamp-only dungeon.

We would have headed to Spank first, but we’d started with the shops in Hell’s Kitchen, close to the Black Light District. Since Spank was located on the Upper East Side, it got pushed down the priority list. And judging from the elegant hand-painted sign and the tasteful window displays, the place was by far the most upscale shop we’d been to thus far.

When we walked in, a tall female dressed in a severe black suit was refilling a display of mink-lined handcuffs with brisk efficiency. The conservative suit surprised me, but not the black fishnets and expensive stilettos on her feet. Her cherry-red hair hung in lush waves down her back. It might have been bottle dyed, but I doubted it. Besides the overpowering odor of latex in the air, the telltale copper-penny scent told me she was a vampire.

The vampinatrix paused, as if considering approaching us, but a group of WASPy human females approached her with questions. Instead of interrupting, Adam and I headed to the glass counter. To the naive eye, the strings of colorful beads inside might look like kitschy jewelry. They would have been mistaken.

The door behind the checkout was standard issue. But the black plastic tarp edging from beneath it was an ominous detail. What kind of activity required a waterproof drop cloth? In addition, the lemony-fresh scent of disinfectant hinted at some recent sanitizing. I’d bet cash money they weren’t doing some spring cleaning or having a picnic back there. Suddenly, my imagination filled with images of a room lined with large metal kennels filled with trussed-up and gagged businessmen in gimp masks.

“Red?” Adam whispered.

“Yeah?” I said, my eyes still on the door to what I was now convinced was a sex dungeon.

“What the hell is that thing?” I looked up and saw him pointing to a wall covered in sex toys of every shape, size, and color. The particular item he pointed out was called “The Fang Banger.” From what I could tell, and granted I refused to get any closer for a better look, it consisted of a metal cylinder topped with a lifelike rubber mouth. The lips gaped open to reveal a set of ceramic fangs for the “lifelike scraping you crave.”

I patted Adam’s arm. “Don’t ask.”

At my side, the cat poked his head out of the bag for a look around. “Holy shit, this place is awesome,” he whispered.

About that time, the saleslady finished up with the socialites who were buying gag gifts for a friend’s bachelorette party. The vampire waved to get our attention. She jerked her head toward the black door. “Wait in there.”

I frowned. “Um?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Get in there and strip or leave.” Instead of shouting the command, she lowered her voice. “I do not enjoy repeating myself.”

My hands flew to my hips. “And I do not enjoy kicking perfect strangers’ asses—” Giguhl snorted. I ignored him even though he had every right to question the accuracy of that statement. “But if you keep talking to me like that, you’re going to get a boot in yours.”

The corner of her lip quirked. “I believe that’s
my
job.”

“Sabina,” Adam whispered. “It’s probably not wise to antagonize a dominatrix.”

Hearing Adam despite his low tone, she frowned and moved forward, looking slightly abashed. “I’m sorry. I thought you were my next client.”

“Do you always threaten your clients?”

She smiled fully then. “Honey, I’m a domme. People pay me good money to do all sorts of mean things to them.”

My mouth pursed into an
Oh
. “Gotcha.”

“I have to admit I’m disappointed though.” She eyed Adam up and down. “Couples parties are always fun.”