by Jeff Hale
Raven was lying on her desk in a sultry pose, entirely naked, and more gorgeous than I had ever dreamed. Her skin was a milky alabaster, her breasts perfectly sized, her black hair falling back onto the desk in waves. On the other side of her desk, sitting in her chair and likewise unclothed, was my old High School buddy, Jacob. He was feeding her strawberries and there must have been whipped cream involved since it was on various places on her skin.
“Have you heard of knocking, Aerick?” she asked coyly, echoing a similar question I had posed to her when she had interrupted me and Kat together in a… similar engagement. I stared in shocked silence as Jacob leaned over her and began licking the whipped cream from her skin.
“Raven? What. The. Fuck?” was all I could finally muster. I managed to tear my gaze from the beauty of her form to gape at Jacob.
“Oh, him. I found him at the concert. He was… intriguing. He’s mine now.” She sat up a little, then turned to lie on her hip and prop her head up on her hand, with her elbow supporting it on the desk. I had an even better view of her body now and I felt my breath catch. Jacob’s hands came up over her hip and side to caress her, as though he couldn’t bear to not be touching her.
“Yes. The mistress is mine, too,” he said, taking a brief moment to lick a bit of whipped cream off of his finger before his hand went back to exploring her curves. He seemed different, almost like he wasn’t playing with a full deck, and I was pretty sure he didn’t even recognize me.
“But he was my friend, Raven!” I protested, anger surging through me.
“Was I? Or you were my…?” Jacob said cocking his head to one side and becoming somewhat lucid. Then it faded. “No. The mistress is all.”
“He’s mine, Aerick,” Raven reiterated, placing a hand on Jacob’s head possessively.
“I have pretty, pretty, mistress now,” he murmured dreamily.
“Is this why you told me to come down here?” I demanded. She and I were going to have a discussion about this, but not with Jacob right there.
“Oh. Right. The case. The file is in your inbox. It was some college girl wanting help, so I figured that might be right up your alley, Mister Knight-in-Shining-Armor.” She waved dismissively toward my office, then turned her attention back to Jacob.
I almost slammed the door to her office behind me, shaking my head in frustration as I heard Raven giggle loudly once the door was closed. I couldn’t believe she had enthralled a friend of mine. I had to get him out of it. I just wasn’t sure how, or even if, I could.
It certainly wasn’t going to happen at the moment, so I stomped into my office and checked my desk. Sure enough there was a new case file sitting there. I pushed thoughts of Jacob out of my mind as best I could and looked through the file. The client’s name was Lisa Monroe and Raven had noted that I was to contact the client at any time, no matter the hour, the moment I was ready to take the case. I shrugged and dropped into my chair, laying the folder out in front of me as I dialed the woman’s number.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice answered after the second ring.
“Yes. I’m looking for Lisa Monroe,” I said formally.
“This is,” she answered a little hesitantly, unsure of who I was.
“Ms. Monroe…” I began, before she cut me off.
“Please, just Lisa is fine. Is this MAGE? If it is I’ve already told you…” she said, sounding exasperated.
“No. this is Aerick Kerensky, with Knight & Angel Services,” I informed her.
“Oh! Mr. Kerensky! I was hoping you would call! Umm… can we meet? For a drink maybe?” she asked, her voice going up in pitch a little.
“Uh, sure, I guess,” I replied.
“That would be great! Meet me at Club Xtassy. Do you know it?”
“Yeah, I know it. Lucky for you, I know one of the bouncers, or I wouldn’t be able to get in,” I told her. I still had six months before I turned twenty-one, but knowing people helped.
“Oh. I didn’t realize that you were… that young. Oh well, guess it doesn’t matter if you can get in anyway,” she said.
“I’ll be there in a bit. Ask for Dave once you get there. He’ll direct you to me,” I said, then hung up.
“I’ll drive you,” Raven said from my office door.
I looked up and she was tying on a bikini top. She was otherwise dressed in a pair of tight black jeans and purple ankle-high stiletto boots. I gave her a cold stare for a moment, then nodded. “Fine. But he… he stays here.” I gestured towards her office where no doubt Jacob was sitting like a lump awaiting his mistress’s next command.
“Fine,” she said, then turned on her heel to walk out.
“Can’t you wear something more…?” I began to ask as I followed her out, but she surprised me by looking over her shoulder and sticking her tongue out at me. First giggling, now playful? Who knew, maybe getting laid whenever she wanted would lighten her up. If it wasn’t Jacob, I’d almost be glad that she’s getting some.
“No. I refuse to pay ridiculous prices for what they call ‘fae wear’,” she said, her tone mocking and childish on the last two words. “And I need something that doesn’t constrict these things.” She wiggled her wings. When we got to her car, she folded the wings delicately, wrapping them around her. She looked uncomfortable and I couldn’t fault her for wanting clothing that wouldn’t hamper them constantly.
Guess her slutty look has utilitarian purposes too. Hmm.
The trip to Club Xtassy was silent. We passed the Velvet Flame on the way and I could see that it was ‘Closed for Renovations’ according to the sign out front. Likely it would be open again in a couple of days. Lucien’s redesigning of the club never took long.
Raven found a place to park in the lower section of the parking garage next to Club Xtassy and as we walked around to the front we were met with a huge line to get in. Dave was working out front tonight and he didn’t look very happy. He gave me a brief nod as he conveniently forgot to look at the ID I flashed his way. I didn’t ask him what was up, but I did inform him where I would be and that there was a new client named Lisa Monroe that would be showing up to meet me. I stressed the word client so that he wouldn’t think something was going on when there wasn’t.
I went inside quickly, not wanting to bother him any more than that; his boss was pretty strict on busy nights, and tonight was looking busy already. As I went further in, that mysterious Serena lookalike passed me again, this time close enough to bump into me. She glanced up at me in complete surprise, but there was no recognition on her face. I wanted to say something to her, but she was jostled forward by her friends as they pressed towards the door, making it impossible for me to get her attention for any longer than that brief exchange.
Dammit!
I didn’t want to cause a scene on Dave’s watch, so I let it go. I would just have to hope I ran into her again. I found a booth that was secluded enough for me and the new client to have a private conversation, but still had a good view of the dance floor and the bar, just in case the mystery girl came back. I sighed as I sat down, then spent my time waiting for Ms. Monroe by watching the crowd for a tiny blonde.
“A… Aerick?” a timid, slightly high pitched voice asked a few minutes later. I glanced over to see a black haired, partially Hispanic girl. I knew she was at least twenty-one, but she looked a lot younger. She was pretty enough, with a voluptuous figure, although she was tall, probably close to five foot ten. She was wearing a low-cut, baby-blue blouse and tight white leather pants. She had a large tan purse that she was clinging to desperately.
“Yeah,” I said, motioning for her to sit down.
“So, uh… how does this work? Do I give you the money now?” she asked, fishing in her purse and producing a thick envelope.
I made a noise low in my throat and put my hand over hers, taking a quick look around. What the hell was she thinking? Club Xtassy wasn’t a bad place, but it wasn’t exactly safe either. “No. After I solve whatever problem you have,” I said quickly. “Pu
t that away, out of sight.”
“Oh. Okay. Wow. That’s nice,” she said, but at least she tucked the envelope back into her purse. She glanced out to the dance floor and signaled a waiter, then ordered a martini.
“No, it’s not ‘nice’. It’s good business,” I said after the waiter left.
“Oh. Right. So, uh, I guess you want to know what happened.”
“For a start,” I said, slightly bemused. She struck me as being intelligent, but she was nervous so she wasn’t thinking straight.
“Well, uh, my best friend and college roommate, Kent Dyson, went missing two days ago. I’ve talked with the police and they said it sounded Aetheric so I should talk to MAGE, which I did, and I’m pretty sure that they think he’s dead so they aren’t going to do anything,” she blurted out quickly.
“Whoa. Whoa. Slow down. Okay, so what happened when your friend… Kent was it?” She nodded. “What happened when he disappeared?”
“Well, he was researching some creature. He’s really interested in cryptozoology,” she said. Who wasn’t these days? With the appearance of Aetheric creatures in their midst, a lot of humans began to research and study them. She sat there for a moment and sipped her martini but didn’t say anything. I got the idea she was thinking about something.
“Uh-huh. What creature, Lisa?” I asked, starting to get impatient.
“Oh. Right.” She shook her head. “Sorry. He said it was… felinus mantichoras?”
I blinked at her a moment, sure I had heard her wrong, but knowing full well that I hadn’t. “A fucking manticore?!” I exclaimed, surprised. Manticores were horribly rare as it was, having been hunted to near extinction by the ancient Persians. But to find one here….
“Yeah. That’s right!” she confirmed before continuing, “Anyway he said he had found its lair, but he never got to go investigate it.”
“Wait. How do you know?” I asked, taking down some notes.
“Oh. He was packing for a camping trip so he could observe the creature, but he was just gone the next day and all his supplies were still on his bed,” she said, nodding.
“Okay. Well, can you tell me what classes he was taking?” I asked.
“Why? Do you think that has something to do with him being missing?” she asked.
“It might. Some clue as to exactly what he was doing and where the thing’s lair is might crop up if I could investigate his classes and talk to his other classmates,” I told her.
“Well, his schedule’s on his desk back in our room. I could drop it by your office tomorrow,” she offered up.
“That’s good. Now…” I started to say, when she suddenly looked out onto the dance floor as though something had caught her attention. A slight smile crossed her lips, then she stood and walked out into the throng of dancers. I looked after her, unsure what was going on as she moved deeper into the crowd.
Confused, I got up and followed, wondering what would cause her suddenly odd behavior, when I was abruptly hit with a familiar vibe of sex that roiled across the floor. I gasped, feeling it pull at me, but I pushed it away, using everything I had to ignore the pure lust that forced its way to the fore of my very being.
When I caught up to Lisa, I found her sensually entwined around another girl, grinding to the beat of the song. I was surprised again to realize the girl Lisa was dancing with was Nina. I pulled Lisa away from Nina, but all Lisa did was reach helplessly for the other girl as though she didn’t want to be away from Nina. I took a quick glance around the dance floor. Everyone else in the immediate vicinity was dancing with one another as though they wanted to get to know each other in the Biblical sense as well.
“But, Aerick, I want her,” Lisa complained, almost whining. When I didn’t let her go, she suddenly turned in to me and kissed me with such force and desire that it was hard to keep myself under control. “Let’s bring her home! We could all fuck for three days straight!” she said, reaching for Nina again.
For a moment the thought was horribly tempting, some part of me actually wanting it, and then I shook it free from my mind. I don’t even know this girl, for fuck’s sake! “Nina! Stop! Now!” I yelled. The last thing I needed was another one night stand I didn’t want in the first place.
Nina turned toward me, and at first she didn’t seem herself. Her eyes were glazed over and she was undulating against some strange guy, her hand down the front of her own leather pants. I grabbed her by the front of her leather halter top, yanked her away from the guy, and lifted her off the ground. If she didn’t stop projecting her lust aura, she’d have this whole place going for the world record in number of people involved in an orgy.
I didn’t even have a chance to tell her to stop again. She snarled at me, then swung her legs up to wrap them tight around my arm like a pissed off cat. The heat of her thighs on my arm was like a leather seat in a car after the sun had been beating on it all day. I drew in a hissing breath and tried to shake her free. The guy she had been grinding on came to her defense and pushed me. I palmed his face with the other hand and shoved him away without even looking at him.
“Nina! Snap the fuck out of it,” I yelled again, calling forth my fire blade in my free hand.
That got her attention. She actually hissed at me and started tearing at my arm, biting and clawing almost ferally, the way a cat might. I flung my arm out, throwing her off of me, and she slid to a crouched stop several feet away. On her feet. Behind her, I could see a bouncer clearing the crowd away, and behind him, I saw them.
Kat was in the front, dressed in a purple tank top and tight blue jeans, her blood-red hair loose about her face. She just glared at me, daring me to make a move. Right on her heels was the rest of her pack. That fucking werewolf she had run off with, Darien, was also giving me a dark look. I almost didn’t recognize him with the short hair; the last I had seen him his black hair had gone all the way to his lower back, but now it was maybe three or four inches long. He was shorter than I was by a couple inches and wore a dark t-shirt and black jeans. Next to him was Alex. The Aussie was slightly smaller than Darien, and wore a thin white t-shirt and blue jeans. He had shortish, sandy-blonde hair and surfer boy good looks.
Kat threw a quick glance Nina’s way, one filled with frustration and anger, before she glared at me again. “If you’ve hurt her, Aerick, I swear I’ll…” She didn’t finish the sentence, just inhaled heavily as Nina sidled up next to her and leaned against her, watching me warily.
If I hurt Nina? I was an innocent victim in all this, just like the rest of the crowd. I felt the sting and burn of the bites and scratches on my arm as they healed and it was followed by white hot rage. “You’ll what, Kat? Go ahead and try it. Go ahead. Give in. Be like them! Be a fucking animal, you bitch!” I screamed at her, igniting my other blade.
I wanted to hurt her like she had hurt me. True, I had broken it off with her when I had left, for both our sakes, but she had told me she would wait for me. I had wanted her to wait for me. The girl had actually dragged those three little words from me. Words I had never even told Serena. Then I had to find out from Dave that Kat hadn’t even tried? That she had chosen her heritage over me, over her own heart. And, to top it all off, she was having Daddy hire assassins to kill me.
Fucking bitch! I loved you!
And now I hated her for it. I hated her so deeply that I was almost begging for a fight from her. From Darien. From all of them.
Darien took several steps towards me and I saw his muscles ripple, like he was beginning to shift. I steadied my stance and got ready to fight all four of them, mentally prepared myself to kill all of them, including Kat, if need be. In an odd moment, I noticed that the entire club was quiet and everyone was watching the drama unfold in the center of the dance floor.
“Darien! No! You promised me, remember?” Kat yelled, putting a hand on Darien’s chest to stop him. She was glaring at him now instead of me, their eyes having a battle of wills, but Darien finally gave her a little nod before backing down.
/> Pussywhipped, literally, I couldn’t help but think spitefully.
“I’m not going to fight you, Rick. I’m not that stupid,” she said, laughing wryly.
“Only my friends call me Rick,” I said through clenched teeth. “And I know you won’t fight me on your own. That’s why you had your father hire a fucking assassin. You knew you couldn’t do it yourself. I just can’t believe you’d do something like that. And to hire an unhinged Sentinel to boot. You’re a fucking cunt.” I spat the word with every ounce of venom I could throw into it. I hated the word, but it seemed apropos.
Kat staggered a little as though someone had slapped her and her face drained entirely of color. “Wait! What? Who? My father sent an assassin after you?” Kat shook her head as if to clear cobwebs from her thoughts, then she turned slowly to glare at Darien again. “Did you know about this?” When Darien remained silent for too long the color went high in her cheeks again. “You did! You knew, didn’t you? You fucking prick! I can’t fucking believe you!” she screamed at him. She choked back a cry of fury and gave him a hard shove. “I want you the fuck out of my apartment! Tonight! Oh, and you can give my father a message. Tell him I hate him and I never want to speak to him again!” She grabbed Nina’s arm and yanked on it. “Come on, Nina, Alex, let’s get out of here.”
She turned on her heel and started to storm off before turning towards me again, a look of sadness on her face. “I’m so sorry, Aerick. I didn’t… I’m sorry. I just…. I can see how you would think.... If you never want to… I…” She didn’t finish, just bit her lip hard, turned and walked away with Nina and Alex in tow. I could tell she was crying.
Good.
I looked for Darien, just in case he had stayed behind to try something, but I didn’t see him anywhere in the crowd. Too bad. I had some pent up rage that needed an outlet. Maybe some other time. I dismissed my blades, grabbed Lisa by the hand, and took us back out to the parking garage.
