“Holy fucking shit.” Nardo ground his teeth in frustration. The place was a sea of bodies and they had no idea how many Sanctuary playboys were in the crowd. The flashing lights and rapid tempo were taking up residence in his head. He saw an overturned chair a few feet away and pointed to it.
“Sit,” he said to Dov whose eyes were already wide and excited. “Stay. And don’t move until I tell you to.”
“Shithead,” the young trainee mumbled, but he righted the chair and sat as Nardo knew he would.
Starting on his left and moving clockwise, the Guardian let his eyes trail around the room. The strobes wreaked havoc with his night vision and he blinked frequently against the glare until he reached the five o’clock mark of his circle. A woman stood; waist, shoulders and head above the crowd. Her spiky white blonde hair sparkled under the lights and her eyes were bright as they traveled over the crowd. Her tongue slid out and she moistened her lips so they, too, shimmered in the light. The crowd parted and Nardo’s breath caught as her totality was revealed; long, long, long legs encased in black leather and ending in sturdy boots that did nothing to detract from the slender sensuality of that lithe form.
Who was she looking for? And why should he care? Why should she draw his attention? She was attractive in a room filled with attractive women and yet, she stood out. She was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t recall the memory. Maybe Dov was right and he needed to get out more. Who could forget a face as beautiful as that?
The impatient tone of Dov’s voice registered before Nardo realized his name was being called.
“What?” he asked impatiently. He reluctantly turned away from the woman in black and then mentally slapped his forehead. Duh! That was why she caught his attention. She was wearing too many clothes and all of them were black. No wonder she stood out from the crowd. His mind began to play with the idea of what she would look like without them.
“Earth to Nardo. Earth to Nardo. Come in please.” Dov’s nasal radio imitation came in loud and clear.
“What?” Nardo repeated, embarrassed to be caught dreaming.
Dov grinned and pointed with his thumb.
Col was standing next to his twin with his arm draped over the shoulders of a young Paenitentia woman who looked up at him with adoring eyes.
Shit. No one said anything about females. Nardo nodded to the woman in the way he’d seen Nico do it, a kind of half bow that showed respect but wouldn’t draw too much attention.
“Col, can I talk to you for a minute, privately?” Nardo walked a few feet away with Col at his heels. “How old is she?”
The Race was pretty liberal when it came to sex. Once mated, most couples chose to forego sex with others as part of their contract and among the blood bound, extracurricular sex was unheard of, but there were no taboos against sex between unmated consenting adults. The key word here was adult. For females, the age of maturity was twenty-five and this young woman looked like she had a few years to go.
“Twenty-one and before you ask, no, I don’t have any big plans,” was Col’s indignant reply, “Damn, what kind of guy do you think I am? Dov’s the one that nails anything that moves. I have standards.” And then he grinned, looking like the devil’s twin rather than Dov’s. “Besides, now I can tell my mom I took a nice girl from the Sanctuary out dancing. That should shut her up for a while.”
So much for standards. “Did you bring her here?”
“No, she came with her brother and a few friends. They’re video gamers and big fans of Demon Destroyer, so when I said I knew the guy who wrote it…” Col shrugged and grinned.
“The guy let you walk off with his little sister?”
“Yeah, well, that’s your fault. Your characters give the impression that we’re some kind of knights in shining armor. All that chivalry shit. And I got to tell you, man, that may be your deal, but it’s not going to pull in any recruits. In the new one you need to put in something about our great ‘appetites of the flesh’. Sex it up some. That’ll reel ‘em in.” Col shrugged and grinned.
“So noted. Now take the lady back to her brother and tell them to get home. Their head honcho called Canaan and we’re supposed to clear this place out. Tell them to spread the word and then you can report back to me.”
“This is my night off,” Col protested loudly.
“You fuck up, you pay up.” Dov couldn’t resist aggravating his twin.
“Shut up, asshole.”
“Shithead”
“Lady!” Nardo barked.
“Oh yeah. Sorry honey. Let’s go find your brother.”
He sent Dov with Col to round up those who wouldn’t take a polite suggestion and began to search the room again. He wandered around the edges of the crowd, tapping a shoulder now and then, telling the recipient of the tap to move along, playtime was over. And all the while, he searched for the woman in black. She was gone and if he didn’t believe in order and discipline, he’d turn his shift over to the twins while he went to find her. There was something about her that intrigued him.
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