I pulled into the alley bordering Dagan’s club, Payne. Marilyn Manson’s The Beautiful People blared through the open doors, punctuated with a few rounds of raucous laughter.
“Hey hottie,” a short guy with frizzy blond hair called out, pursing his lips and kissing the air.
I shook my head, watching him take a drag of his cigarette as he motioned to his crotch. His companion laughed. I ignored them and coaxed the Wrangler into a spot by the back door.
I turned the car off and exhaled, pulling the keys from the ignition. Opening the door, I slid down the seat onto the asphalt below. The heels of my thigh-high stiletto boots tapped the pavement and echoed the frenetic beating of my heart.
A dark form stepped out from behind a dumpster. I steadied myself for an attack, even as I recognized Knight.
“Damn it,” I snapped. “Do you always have to jump out at me?”
He wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt that stuck out against the dark night like a goblin in heaven. The white t-shirt didn’t do much to hide his ample biceps, and was visibly straining around his pecs. Show off. “Evening,” he said. “Night,” I grumbled, forcing my attention from his healthy body. He chuckled. “Meaning my name or a greeting?” “Greeting,” I muttered, smoothing down the non-existent creases in my black vinyl miniskirt.
“Are you carrying a gun?” he asked, his gaze starting at my eyes and traveling the length of me. With my black miniskirt, bra top and boots, there wasn’t room for a gun.
“I’ve got magic, remember?”
“Yes, I remember,” he said, quirking a brow like my magic wasn’t very impressive. “Well, at least one of us is armed.”
I glanced at him, and he pulled up his shirt revealing the butt of a gun sticking out of his pants. It also revealed what looked like a six pack of abdomen. I looked away. “Glad you’re prepared.” I said, then feigned interest in my skirt again. “What should I wear? I imagine jeans and a t-shirt aren’t exactly dress code?” “No,” I said. “They aren’t.” “Maybe something not quite as revealing as what you’ve got on?” “Hey, I’m dressing the part,” I started, my hands on my hips. “Wait until you see some of the women in there-I’ll…” “Sorry,” he interrupted, eyeing me again. “You look…incredible. I’m just less thrilled with baring all my assets.”
I frowned but didn’t respond as my thoughts turned to getting the show on the road. First, Knight’s costume. “You might want to take your gun out of your pants.”
“Is that what you say to all the guys?”
I just shook my head.
He removed the gun. Closing my eyes, I shook my hand until a mound of fairy dust appeared. Then I imagined him in black leather pants and tossed the dust into the air. I opened my eyes and watched the dust circle him in a cloud of what looked like glitter. Once it disappeared, I found him before me, chest completely bare. He was nothing short of glorious in shiny leather that clutched his muscular thighs like a second skin.
“I thought you were immune to magic?” I asked.
Knight lifted his legs up as he inspected the boots. “I am. My clothes aren’t.”
I tried not to notice the thick white scar running from his collarbone, across the muscular landscape of his pecs and ending at his waist. It was like someone had taken a knife to a beautiful work of art.
“It’s from a battle with a werewolf,” he said.
I shrugged, pretending indifference. “None of my business.”
He nodded but didn’t drop his attention from my face. I blushed and could’ve hit myself. Hades be damned, blushing was just so…obvious. “Can I have a shirt?” he asked. “Most guys inside won’t be wearing one, but if you’re self-conscious about…” “I’m not self-conscious about anything,” he snapped.
I hadn’t meant to offend him. I hadn’t even been talking about his scar. Dulcie O’Neil, always putting her foot in her mouth. “I didn’t mean to insinuate you were, I was just saying…”
Knight’s eyes were piercing. “Never mind. Shouldn’t I have something on to disguise this?” he asked, holding up his gun.
I’d forgotten about the weapon. As he shoved it back into the band of his leather pants, I tossed a fistful of fairy dust at him and imagined a red satiny shirt. It covered the gun perfectly. Knight glanced down and shrugged. “I’m not thrilled with red.” “Get used to it,” I said with a smile. “I have a feeling these pants are going to chafe after a while…if you know what I mean.”
Holy hell, I’d forgotten to give him underwear! “Boxers or briefs?” I demanded, hoping the blood would drain from my flushed face.
He chuckled. “I’m a boxer man, myself.”
I shut my eyes, though I didn’t really have to. But, it made the task easier when not confronted with his amused gaze. Producing some fairy dust, I imagined a pair of red satin boxers underneath the leather and opened my eyes, blowing the ethereal particles at him.
Knight glanced down and pulled the band of his pants forward, inspecting the boxers below. “Thanks, not really a satin guy, but I guess these will do,” he said, a smile dancing in his eyes. “Ready?” I didn’t say anything but headed for the back entrance of Payne. I pushed a button on the intercom. “Yeah?” A voice echoed through the alley. “I’m here to see Dagan. It’s Dulcie from Headquarters.” Silence. “Hello?” I demanded. “Do you have an appointment?” the speaker box asked. “I don’t need an appointment. Just tell Dagan I’m here. He’ll see me.”
There was more silence on the other end. I turned to face Knight who just grinned as if he were enjoying every minute of my disquiet. The door buzzed, and I pushed against it. Knight rested his hand on my lower back, and his touch brought me some sense of ease as I approached the long, dark hallway. I never knew what would happen at Dagan’s.
The insistent thudding of what I hesitated to call music met my ears and rattled around in my head like marbles spilling on a floor. The sound pounded against the walls, the beat almost too fast for even the song to keep up with. “Prepare yourself for some kinky stuff,” I said. “To watch or to partake of?” “To watch,” I snapped.
Dagan appeared at the end of the hall. He was wearing a pair of black boxer shorts, nothing else. Both his nipples wore hoops. He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest and making his muscles bulge until they looked like they might explode.
Dagan wasn’t that bad to look at-a very large guy…not quite as big as Nick the ogre but getting close. Tattoos ran the length of his arms and most of his chest. The tattoo on his chest was a wolf fornicating with an angel. Really tasteful. My eyes met his. They were literally black. Not a dark shade of brown, but black. Like vapid pools of nothing.
He glared down a thrice broken nose. “Dulcie, what do you want?”
“I need to talk with you. We have a few questions.”
“Who’s your friend?” Dagan asked, looking Knight up and down like he was Dagan’s own personal sexual fantasy. Dagan wasn’t just gay-he was into it all-women, men, whatever. As long as the sex was painful, he was into it.
“I work with the A.N.C. office in the Netherworld,” Knight said.
“Another cop. Great.” Dagan dropped his attention back to me, his gaze traveling the length of my body as if undressing me with his eyes. “Am I being deported?”
“No, Dagan, you aren’t,” I snapped.
Dagan approached me, and I wished I had my gun. He ran his finger down my shoulder and arm, then grabbed hold of my hand. I held my breath the entire time. My skin burned at the touch of his fingertips, and I didn’t need to glance at my arm to know his touch had left my skin red. A demon’s touch is like instant sunburn to a fairy.
I pulled my hand from his.
“Come in,” Dagan said as he started down the hall.
“Are you alright?” Knight whispered and ran his hand along my arm. I shivered against his touch and glanced down my shoulder, finding the redness completely gone. I faced him in shock, but he just winked.
I turned to Dagan again and followed him to his office. It was in the back of the building and set apart from the hideous things going on in the belly of the monster, that monster being his club. Dagan’s office suited me just fine.
“Have a seat,” Dagan said and closed the door behind us, shutting out the pounding music. His office was black with a few red bulbs fighting against the otherwise pitch darkness. If the devil had an office, this is what it would look like. I took a seat across from Dagan, who piled his legs up on the desk before me. Knight stood in the corner.
It was the four monitors set up against his desk that caught my attention-each one monitoring the four rooms of his establishment. Every room was occupied. The monitors were too far away to detect exactly what was going on within them-something I had no argument with. In this case, ignorance was most definitely bliss. “Tell your friend to make himself comfortable,” Dagan said as his gaze settled on Knight. “I’ll stand, thanks,” Knight answered, and I could hear the annoyance in his deep voice. “Dagan, no more screwing around. I’m sure you’re interested in why we came here?” I asked. Dagan faced me again with his lazy gaze. “Yes, Dulcie, enlighten me. I didn’t imagine you came for a threesome?”
I couldn’t help my cringe. “No, we didn’t,” I snapped. “And the only reason we dressed the part was because I knew you wouldn’t let us in otherwise.”
Dagan nodded and clasped his hands in his lap, looking like a professor about to scold a less than impressive student. “Right, we’ve been through this before, haven’t we?”
“Yeah, we have,” I said, wishing we could cut through the crap. “We’re here because we need to know if you’ve seen any strangers in the last couple weeks. Anyone you didn’t recognize?”
Dagan laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound-fraught with acerbic undertones. “Dulcie, darling Dulcie.” He dropped his feet to the floor, the thud vibrating through the small room like thunder. “I get people in here I don’t recognize all the time. Sadomasochism draws crowds from all over. We serve a vast clientele.” Ugh, my question had been pretty dumb. I should’ve known that. Damn. “This particular stranger would’ve had a zestier appetite than most,” Knight said eloquently, coming to my aid. Dagan smiled, his gaze holding Knight again. “What kind of zesty appetite?” I half-turned in my seat, wanting to give my eyes a break from Dagan. Knight was much more pleasant to look at.
He shrugged. “I’d say the creature would enjoy extreme pain-possibly receiving but definitely giving. Have you had any instances that are…out of the ordinary?”
Dagan’s gaze landed on me again, his eyes traveling up my legs until I wanted to cover them. But I didn’t even flinch. I’d trained myself. “No, nothing I can think of. Now drop the charade, and tell me what’s going on.” “A.N.C. business,” Knight started. I shook my head. “He won’t tell us anything until we tell him what he wants to know.” Dagan released another acid laugh. “Dulce, you know me so well.”
“Something killed Fabian. It was called from the Netherworld and we’re trying to find out who called it. The bigger thing at stake now, though, is finding the creature,” I said.
“I can’t help you, Dulcie. There hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary here in a while. Been boring, actually,” Dagan said.
I started to scoff but Knight’s hand on my shoulder shut me up. “Can we take a look around?” he asked.
Dagan leaned forward, his face suddenly all seriousness. “You can take a look around, but don’t even breathe you’re A.N.C. If my clients suspect any cop, anything, coming out of you, neither of you will be welcome here again. I do a lot to ensure my clientele are comfortable.”
“Understood,” Knight said, gritting his teeth.
Dagan stood. “Then please go ahead. Look around, but don’t call any attention to yourselves. I’ll be around to make sure.”
I stood up, dread pounding through me. Now, I had to drop the cop persona and face whatever horrible things were going on in the belly of the beast.
Dagan stood next to me, so close I could feel the heat of his breath across my cheeks. “Just remember, Dulce, everyone is here of their own accord. Nothing is illegal if they enjoy it.” “That’s not…” “Shh,” Knight interrupted and grabbed my arm. Dagan opened the door. “After you.”
This was so not going to be fun. At least it wasn’t a huge place. Once we did a walk through, we could leave. That’s what I promised myself, anyway.
Dagan watched us walk down the hall and retired back into his office. He’d stay true to his word. If he said he’d keep an eye on us, he would. I’m sure the monitors in his office would help.
I noticed a group of about four or so people standing outside the first room on our little tour. Here’s where the “fun” started.
I stepped beside a woman dressed in what amounted to tape-a piece of duct tape across her breasts and across her…lower area. Later on, it would probably give someone a great amount of pleasure…sadistic pleasure…to rip the tape right off her. And I imagined she’d enjoy it too. I winced involuntarily.
The woman smiled, her gaze roving over me and then Knight who stood directly behind me. She was tall-nearly as tall as Knight and attractive with long red hair. “What’s going on in there?” I whispered. The woman leaned down, desire so thick in her eyes, I could’ve cut it. “A woman with three vamps.” Egad.
She trailed an index finger down my collarbone, stopping just above my breasts. I gulped, trying to swallow the disgust wedging itself in my throat. Knight must’ve noticed because he took a step closer to me and slid his arms around my waist.
“Do you want to get a better look?” he asked and grinned down at me, his eyes sparkling. I could’ve shot him.
So, Knight was playing with me? He was going to milk this just as Dagan had. I couldn’t very well say no-talk about destroying my alibi. I turned my attention to the hall as Dagan approached us. Goddamit. “Yeah, that sounds great,” I managed. The woman stepped aside and gave Knight a knowing grin and an equally knowing pat on the ass. “She’s new,” he said. The woman smiled at me again. “Welcome. If you want to…play later, find me.”
“Thanks,” I managed then moved through the open door. There wasn’t a wall or anything separating the room from the hall, so we all just stood along the sidelines and watched.
Well, I didn’t. I’m not sure how I managed, but I stared at the carpeting the entire time.
“Like it?” I looked up at Dagan who grinned, looking like a shark.
I was about to give him a piece of my mind when I noticed the expression of the woman behind him, the tall red head wearing the duct tape. She watched me inquisitively. Her hands ran the length of Dagan’s naked back, and he leaned into her.
“Yeah, it’s great,” I managed.
Knight pulled me against him and dropped his head into my neck like he was going to bite me. I tried to push away from him, but he held me in an iron grasp.
“Don’t blow our cover,” he whispered.
Then he kissed my neck and ran his hands down my stomach. Shivers raced over my skin. My blood was boiling and not with lust. With anger the likes of which I hadn’t felt in a very long time. Well, okay, and maybe a little lust. Either way, Knight was going to get an earful later.
My gaze drifted to Dagan who’d changed places with the woman and now stood behind her. He kissed the woman’s neck, and she melted into him. He started to pull against the duct tape on her breasts. As if he could read my mind, Dagan faced me, his eyes full of sinister deliberation. The woman moaned against him, and before I could take another breath, he ripped the tape.
“Get me out of here now,” I whispered to Knight.
Knight didn’t respond but lifted me up, newlywed style, and took a few steps away from the room. He dropped me and pushed me against the wall, forcing his lips on mine. As soon as his head shielded my face from the onlookers, I exploded.
“What the hell are you doing!”
“Go with it,” he whispered. “I’m getting us out of here.”
He pushed himself against me and I retreated as far as I could into the unforgiving wall. The concrete scratched my naked back, forcing me into Knight’s kiss. Knight glanced at Dagan, smacked my ass, and then started for the door.
Once outside, I slapped him hard against the face. “What the hell was that?”
It had been the first time someone had kissed me since Jack, over a year ago.
Knight gritted his teeth, his cheek red where my palm had let him know exactly what I thought of him. “If not for me, you would’ve blown our cover. Jesus, Dulcie, you were like a school girl in there.” “You didn’t have to kiss me and take advantage of the situation. Groping me like that was uncalled for.” Knight chuckled. “You’re a Regulator, Dulcie. You should know the job isn’t always smooth sailing.” I frowned and started for my car, my legs weak. “Either way, don’t ever touch me again.” “Look, it had to be believable.”
“Whatever.” I unlocked the door and hopped into the car. I wasn’t sure how he’d gotten here, but I wasn’t about to leave him in leather pants in a dark alley. “How did you get here?” He shrugged. “I took a cab. I didn’t know how long I’d be here so I neglected to get a rental. I’ll probably get one tomorrow.” “Get in,” I said with a sigh. “You’re offering me a ride?” he asked with a bashful grin. “Get in before I change my mind.” Knight started for the passenger seat. “I’m staying at the Marriott on Evergreen Street.”
I nodded and pulled out of the lot when I remembered I hadn’t brought up Bram’s Chinese massage parlor with Dagan. Damn. Well, now I’d have to make another trip. Double damn. “Well that was basically a waste of time,” I said, wanting to break the monotony of silence. Knight shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. It’s all part of the job.” So, he had a good perspective on it. Guess I was impatient. “What’s your phone number?” Knight asked. I threw him a frown. “I’m not giving you my phone number.” “I need to be able to get in touch with you.” He shrugged. “It’s that or I interrupt your pirate dreams again.”
Heat washed over my face like a wave. I dropped my gaze and tightened my hands on the wheel. How freaking embarrassing could this night get?
I gave him my phone number.