Club Nexus (Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective)

by E.J. Stevens

  “What made you change your ways?” I asked.

  Crap, it sounded like I was flirting, but I was actually curious. In my experience, guys didn’t change much, even when they wanted you to think they would. How many times had I heard, “I’ll stop cheating, I promise” from one of my exes? But maybe when a guy lived for centuries there was room for change—maybe being the operative word.

  “Everything changed after Oberon left court,” he said, face darkening. His gaze seemed to turn inward for a moment until he shook his head and shrugged. “But that’s ancient history.”

  I had heard of Oberon, the king of the Seelie court, and how the king and queens of Faerie had disappeared from their courts hundreds of years ago, but I didn’t have time to consider Puck’s comment. A new song started and Ivy gave me an encouraging thumbs-up sign from over Puck’s shoulder. I rolled my eyes and looked around for Forneus. Not that I really cared what he was doing or anything. I was just curious, that’s all.

  “Oh, wow, Jinx loves this song,” she said. “Don’t you Jinx?”

  I nodded wondering what Ivy was playing at, since I’d never heard music like this in my entire life. Puck scraped a hand through his fly away curls and flashed a smile from beneath long lashes.

  “Care to dance?” he asked.

  The faerie held out his hand and I hesitated. I’d wanted to dance, but Puck wasn’t really my type. I looked around, trying to think of an excuse to put him off, when my eyes fell on Forneus. He hadn’t gone far and was now watching me and Puck with a frown marring his lips. On impulse, I grabbed Puck’s hand and slid from the barstool.

  “I’d love to,” I said. “Ivy, you’ll be okay here?”

  I dropped my crossbow onto the barstool I’d just vacated, since I didn’t plan to shoot anyone on the dance floor. I might as well leave Ivy with the extra arsenal, just in case.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, waving me off. “Go, have fun.”

  I pulled Puck toward the dance floor, letting my hips sway as I sashayed away from the bar and Forneus, just in case the demon was still watching. I glanced over my shoulder to smile at Puck and could have sworn his face held the sly, hungry look of a fox in a henhouse. But strobe lights flashed on and off and the look was gone as if I’d imagined it. I probably had. Obsessing over Forneus was making me crazy.

  Even preoccupied with demon watching, I couldn’t help but notice that Puck was a popular guy. Male and female faeries flirted as we waded through their intricate dances and more than one vamp whispered something about ice. Maybe Puck worked here tending bar or waiting tables? If so, he was obviously off duty and gave each vamp the brush off, mentioning something about pleasure before business. It didn’t take him long to get down to his idea of pleasure on the dance floor.

  “So, Jinx,” Puck said, pressing close. “Is that your True Name?”

  He stroked the inside of my palm in slow circles with his thumb and I dropped his hand to adjust my dress—without much success. It was like trying to toss away a booger tissue; the damn thing just wouldn’t let go.

  Puck mashed himself between my hips, swaying to the music and pulling me along with him. He cupped my ass with sweaty hands and pulled me close enough to know he was interested in more than dancing. I figured we were giving Forneus quite the show, which had been my intent, but now that we were on the dance floor, I felt the urge to flee.

  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but there was something about Puck that set off my internal bullshit-meter. I just wasn’t buying his harmless kid act, and I was pretty sure his groping wasn’t due to inexperience. With the bruises from Hans’ temper still visible every damn time I washed off my makeup, I was on high alert for abusive asshole warning signs. And Puck squeezing my ass? Yeah, he was making me wish I’d brought my crossbow onto the dance floor after all.

  “No, but all my friends call me Jinx,” I said.

  I tried to force a smile and bat my eyelashes. Let the faerie creeper think I was a dull-witted human. I was only going to finish out this one dance and then tell him to get lost. I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him my real name; I wasn’t stupid. There’s power in a name, especially for stalkers and magic wielding fae.

  “Well, you can call me Robby,” he said.

  Puck, or Robby, or whatever bent down and I watched his lips descend toward me like two bloated worms. Oh hell no. This had gone way too far. I was not kissing this guy.

  I sucked in rapid puffs of air and belched. Puck frowned and I pulled away, one hand flying to my mouth. I placed my other hand on my stomach and blushed.

  “I am so sorry!” I said. “Wow, how embarrassing. I should never drink beer. Do you think we could go sit down? I don’t feel so good.”

  Actually, now that the faerie creeper wasn’t trying to kiss me, I felt just fine. The belching was a childhood trick. I’d been able to suck in air and belch the ABCs better than all the neighborhood boys. Who knew it would come in handy getting rid of a faerie?

  “Sure,” he said, smile returning to his face. “Let me buy you a proper drink. No beer.”

  He guided me back to the bar, his hand on my ass. I didn’t want a drink, but if it got us off the dance floor, I could turn him down at the bar.

  “Back so soon?” Ivy asked.

  “Your friend wasn’t feeling well,” Puck said, reaching over the bar and grabbing a bottle of vodka. I could hear the sound of liquid pouring into a glass and he turned around holding a drink out toward me. “Here, this will help settle your stomach.”

  I’d never heard of vodka settling a person’s stomach and was trying to come up with a way to politely turn down the drink when Ivy solved the problem for me.

  “Cheers!” she exclaimed.

  She crashed her glass into the one in Puck’s hand, knocking the contents to the floor.

  “Oopsie,” she said, listing precariously on her barstool.

  “How much have you had to drink?” I asked, moving toward my friend. Ivy hardly ever drank, she was too much of a control freak to get sloppy drunk, but she certainly looked wasted now.

  “Just a few drinks,” she said, flashing a silly grin. “I love you guys!”

  Ivy opened her arms wide—considering her touch phobia, if she tried to give us a hug, she was drunk for sure—and fell off her stool onto the vodka soaked floor. Puck glared back and forth between me, Ivy, and the broken glass, his hands clenching fitfully.

  “Um, sorry, Robby,” I said. “Looks like I better get my friend home. Thanks for the dance.”

  “Wait, we never had that drink,” he said, his frown again eclipsed by that dimpled smile mask.

  “Rain check,” I said, pasting on a false smile of my own.

  He shrugged.

  “Sure,” he said. “I have business to attend to. Some other time.”

  He flapped his hand in dismissal and walked away, heading toward one of the vampires who’d approached us on the dance floor.

  “You okay?” I asked, turning back to my vodka soaked friend. I shook my head. She was a mess. “We better get you out of here. Good thing you wore pants, or Kaye would be picking glass out of your butt tonight.”

  Ivy stayed on the floor, watching Puck through the curtain of her hair.

  “I’m not drunk,” she whispered.

  Puck handed something to the vamp and moved on, making his way to a door at the end of the bar. When he was out of sight, Ivy stood and brushed off her jeans. She grimaced at the wet denim, grabbed two small, wooden stakes from her belt, pulled her hair up into a tight twist, and used the stakes to secure her hair at the back of her head. Crap, I knew that habit. It was what she did just before weapons training. I had a feeling we’d just stumbled on a case. Ivy was gearing up for a fight.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I watched Puck dose your drink,” she said.

  Now Ivy’s drunken act made sense. If she hadn’t knocked the glass to the floor, I might have taken a sip.

  “Why would a faerie wa
nt to ruffie me?” I asked. “Can’t they just use their magic powers, or something?”

  “Yes, but I imagine using that kind of magic wouldn’t go unnoticed and is against the club rules,” she said. “He’d need you to willingly go with him somewhere away from the watchful eyes of club security.”

  I shuddered, remembering the key in Puck’s hands as he went through the back door.

  “Somewhere like a locked storeroom?” I asked, not liking where this was going.

  “Who knows how long he’s been going around drugging girls,” Ivy said through clenched teeth. “If there’s a chance he’s done this before, there could be girls like us who he’s drugged in that back room. I’m not leaving without checking it out.”

  “What about club security?” I asked. “Can’t we just tip them off?”

  “We have no proof,” Ivy said. Ivy poked at the shards of glass with her boot, scowling at the floor. The alcohol had already evaporated, probably taking any evidence of drugs with it. “And faeries take things like honor and reputation very seriously. If we falsely accuse Puck without solid evidence, we could be up on charges of slander. I don’t even think our demon attorney friend could help us then.”

  I looked around for Forneus, but the demon was nowhere in sight. Leave it to the jerk to take off right when he might have been useful.

  “Okay, so what do you suggest?” I asked, slinging my crossbow over my shoulder.

  “I want to check out that back room,” she said. “But if you don’t want to come with me, I can ask Torn to walk you out. He’s around here somewhere. I saw him flirting with a nymph not long ago.”

  “No way,” I said, hands on my hips. “I’m going with you. It could have been me in that back room. I want to help. But, you know, Torn’s your ally. Couldn’t you ask him to come with us? He’s useful in a fight and we have no idea what to expect behind that door.”

  Ivy ran a gloved hand over her face and sighed.

  “You’re right,” she said. “He’ll probably refuse, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  I nodded and Ivy took off, using her faerie quickness and agility to flit through the thickening crowd. I soon lost sight of my friend and turned my attention to the door that Puck had gone through earlier. I watched a vampire leave the bar and swagger toward the door. He was wearing snakeskin boots, dark jeans, and a black fedora. Holding my breath, I moved further down the bar, hoping for a glimpse into the room beyond.

  A beautiful, blue-skinned faerie upended a shot glass of something dark amber onto an armful of linens and raced over to the door. The vampire scowled, but held the door for the faerie who rushed inside. The vamp followed close at her heels, the door snapping shut behind him.

  I was trying to figure out how to get inside that locked door when my jaw dropped open. Forneus strode forward and tried to push a key into the lock. How the heck did the demon get a key? Was he part of this whole date rape drug thing? If he was, I had a holy water dipped crossbow bolt with his name on it.

  He seemed to be having trouble with the key. I moved even closer as he focused on the lock. A tiny flame rose from Forneus’ index finger and he touched it to the lock. This time when he tried the key, the door opened. The door was at the wrong angle for me to see inside, but I figured that meant whoever was behind the door couldn’t see me either.

  I leapt at the door as it swung shut, grasping the door knob just before the lock could click. I let out a shaky breath, wondering what I should do next. Ivy would be here soon, hopefully with Torn in tow, and I should probably wait. But the thought of Forneus taking advantage of some poor, drugged girl clouded my vision.

  I slipped through the doorway, pulled a stake from my bag, and used it to keep the door wedged open. Ivy would recognize the weapon, and would know I was inside. At least, that was the plan. She could just think it was a chunk of wood.

  I shook my head and pressed my lips together. No, Ivy was good at finding people—it’s what she does. She’d be able to read the clues and figure out where I’d gone. I turned away from the sliver of light coming from the bar and blinked into the darkness. I slung my crossbow from my shoulder, pushed off the safety, and stepped quietly into the room.

  I stubbed my toe on a metal rack and banged my shin on a wooden crate, but I stifled the urge to cry out. I was used to bumps and bruises, but I hoped like hell that none of the cuts had drawn blood. I knew of at least one vamp who had come through this way, and there could be more below. Heck, there could be a whole nest of bloodsuckers down there.

  I wiped clammy hands down the front of my dress and picked my way through the darkness. I focused on getting to the stairway that I’d glimpsed when I’d first opened the door. Too bad reaching the stairs wasn’t much improvement. In fact, it was pretty freaking terrifying.

  I stared down from the landing, but it was black as bat wings down there and sounds echoed up the stairway like it was a pipeline to Hell. Moans, cries, whimpers, and manic laughter mingled into a nightmarish choir that set my heart pounding in my chest.

  What the heck was I doing here? I’d gotten myself into a lot of messes, but this one might just take the cake, the icing, and the whole damn serving plate.

  I hesitated, one foot hovering over empty air as I considered retreating back to the storeroom. Waiting for Ivy would be the smart thing, which was probably why Fate propelled me down the stairs at the sound of Forneus speaking to someone below.

  My nickname? Yeah, it was more than just a catchy moniker. Me and Lady Luck have never been close. In fact, we were fast becoming frenemies, which was the likely cause of my attraction to the demon speaking below.

  I recognized Forneus’ voice, but I was too far away to make out the words. If I could just get a little closer… I teetered on one platform sandal and sighed. If I was going to go tiptoeing through the dark, I probably shouldn’t be wearing these shoes.

  I slipped out of my platform sandals and grimaced as something crunched beneath my feet. But stepping on spiders and cockroaches was the least of my worries. I needed to find out what Forneus and Puck were up to, preferably without twisting my ankle or taking a tumble into the basement below.

  With my bad luck, I’d break my ankle and my neck.

  I grabbed the old, splintered railing and began my slow descent down the stairs. Goosebumps dotted my skin and I shivered as a heavy quiet seemed to swallow the basement. The cries and whimpers had stopped. That should have been an improvement, but the dead air was even worse than the sounds of torment.

  Forneus’ voice broke the silence, followed by Puck’s laughter. I shuddered at the ghoulish images that conjured up. Were they hurting innocent people down here? I didn’t want to believe it, but Ivy had seen Puck try to dose my drink and though Forneus was smoking hot, he was still a freaking demon. And demons were evil, right?

  I paused as I ran out of stairs. I’d reached the lower basement level, and though a faint light shone from the room beyond, I couldn’t make out much of the chamber I was in. I inched forward, keeping my hand on the wall. I didn’t have supernatural eyesight like Forneus or Puck. If I wanted to see what was really going on, I’d have to get closer to the light.

  I started forward, but jumped as a shadow broke away from the wall. Entering the room beyond, the dark shape became a tall, blue-skinned faerie woman. Huh, that was odd. It was the same chick who’d been tending bar.

  I’d wondered where the faerie and vampire had disappeared to, but I’d assumed the two had come down here together. In fact, I had some pretty icky ideas when I’d seen them sneak off into the basement. Thankfully, whatever the faerie was up to, it didn’t include getting naked with a vampire. There are some things I just didn’t need to see. If what Ivy had said about vamps being dried out corpses was true, vampire sex was definitely on my list of things to avoid at all cost. A girl can only handle so many nightmares.

  I was startled from my musing as the faerie woman leapt into the room beyond. I hurried to the c
orner she’d vacated, hoping for a better look. The bartender charged toward Puck, yelling and laughing maniacally, arm raised above her head. There was something shiny clutched in her fist, some kind of weapon, but she never had a chance to stab anyone.

  Faster than my human eyes could follow, a vampire came rushing out of an adjacent room. A door whipped open and suddenly he was there, standing between the woman and Puck—the woman’s bleeding arm held in the vampire’s fist.

  I leaned against the wall, knees weak. I took a deep breath, trying to slow my racing heart, and blinked away dark spots in my vision. There was at least one killer in the next room. I could not pass out.

  I placed shaky hands on my knees and gulped in air. When I finally trusted myself to stand, I lifted my crossbow to my shoulder and peered around the corner. A lot had happened while I’d struggled to stay conscious.

  Puck lay bleeding on the floor, something metallic jutting from his chest, and the vampire was holding the faerie woman upright while he feasted on her jugular. It was the same vamp I’d seen earlier, though he’d lost his hat and the look of calm, southern charm.

  I didn’t know what kind of mess the faerie had got herself into, but no one deserved to become some vamp’s chew toy. Heck, he’d torn off her arm and was sucking on the faerie bartender’s neck like a toddler with a god damned sippy cup.

  I tuned out the slurping sounds and ran into the room. Forneus’ eyes widened, and I couldn’t help but grin. For once, I’d surprised the unflappable demon. But I couldn’t revel in the moment; it didn’t seem wise to keep the sounds of feeding at my back.

  I swung the crossbow around to point at the vampire.

  “Move away from the girl, douchebag,” I said.

  The slurping stopped and the vamp tossed the woman aside like a crumpled up juice box. I glared at the vampire, careful to keep from looking him directly in the eye, and my finger twitched on the trigger mechanism of my bow. Who died and gave him the right to treat people as if they were disposable?

  Oh, right. He did, and then he rose again. Well, the bastard should have stayed dead. One dead vamp, coming right up.