The Elementals Collection

by L. B. Gilbert

  “I will. But do both of us a favor and try to have some fun with Alec tonight. He sounds like a decent guy with varied interests. Even if one includes bloodsucking. He doesn’t have to take a personal interest in this, but he wants to help you ‘cause he takes care of his people. You read people better than anyone. If your gut says he’s trustworthy, take the leap and let him stick around. There’s nothing wrong with being cautious, but eventually you have to take a chance and let someone into your life. Be friends.” Logan’s voice took on a teasing note. “Maybe you can be more someday. But at least let him be a friend now.”

  Diana thought for a moment. “I will do what is best for all of us, not just me. I am not going to let anyone near us if he has any ulterior motives. And we already know how important Alec’s studies are to him. We can’t have an outsider revealing our secrets to the world.”

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t do that,” Logan protested.

  “You don’t know that, and neither do I. So far as I can tell, he’s thrilled to learn about us. He’s not stupid; he knows we’ll kill him if we consider him a threat. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t intend to study us and continue to publish what he can get away with. His work is really important to him. His friendly helpfulness may ultimately just be a means to an end.”

  “I still say it pays to give people the benefit of the doubt. Don’t prejudge,” Logan said with obstinate cheerfulness.

  “And is this attitude serving you well? Found anyone special yourself?” Diana asked even though she knew the answer already.

  Logan had lots of male friends in the human world. She said they were good practice. But she hadn’t taken that extra step and gotten seriously involved with any of them. When Diana had pointed out the hypocrisy of Logan’s frequent suggestions to take a lover, Logan simply pointed out their age difference and the amount of time spent in service to the Mother.

  It was one of the drawbacks of having a substantially younger best friend. They didn’t have to practice what they preached.

  “Not quite yet, but I’m starting to look around. I’m thinking of having a fling with an actor. Maybe Michel. Sort of a practice run,” Logan confided.

  “Eww. Can’t you pick someone less likely to have an STD?” Diana asked, wrinkling her nose as she tugged the boots up her calves.

  She was not a fan of the french actor.

  “It’s only an idea. And there isn’t a drop of magic in him or anywhere in his lineage,” Logan said enthusiastically.

  “I don’t get how that’s a plus. It’s not a guarantee they won’t hurt you. Emotionally at least. And you won’t have carte blanche to put the guy through the wall when and if he does.”

  “Pessimist.”

  “Always,” Diana said, frowning at herself in the mirror. “How many times have we had this argument?”

  “Too many, but now there are real guys to argue about, so in a way, it’s a totally new argument,” the Air Elemental replied cheerfully. “How does everything fit?”

  “Okay, I guess. Since I’m a little taller, there’s more skin than what you probably intended with this outfit. I am showing way more cleavage than I am comfortable with,” Diana said, looking at herself in the mirror in dismay.

  “Well, considering that you never show any, that is a step in the right direction. It will help you fit in as Alec’s companion.”

  “I may be too subdued for that, actually,” Diana reflected aloud, remembering the glittery and revealing clothes the women had worn the night she’d crashed the coven’s party.

  And my boobs are nowhere near as big as Sylvan’s.

  “With your hair, you can’t do subdued. Actually, you might want to darken it with a charm if you’re trying for incognito.”

  “I’m going to leave it wet and slicked back with something. It will look darker.”

  She didn’t want to actually color her hair and prove to Alec she’d taken his suggestion to heart.

  Logan said, “Won’t even throw him a crumb, will you?”

  Diana smiled. “I’m going to make everything as hard for him as possible.”

  “My guess is you already have,” Logan said suggestively, jumping to the innuendo Diana hadn’t even realized she’d set herself up for.

  She sighed. “Goodnight, Logan.”

  14

  Alec was waiting when Diana pulled to the back of the club. From the front, it looked like every other night spot, except it didn’t display its name for obvious reasons. It had the requisite line of young and nubile people waiting to be let in. The plain vanilla humans always had to wait unless they came with a Supernatural. Most of those didn’t know about the true nature of the other patrons.

  He rushed to help Diana off the bike. Noting his eagerness, Diana lifted a brow. “Were you that unsure I’d show up?”

  “I want to apologize about earlier. About using the term ‘bloodslut’,” he began, and she recognized the signs of a rehearsed speech. “I’ve often wished attitudes were different among my kind with regard to our blood donors. I hate it when they say that word, but they do so regularly regardless. In any case, I can’t expect you to meet expectations they don’t, especially when you’re not a fan of my kind to begin with,” he finished in a resigned voice.

  Though it had made her feel guilty, she’d respected him for standing up to her. Diana felt genuinely terrible now, but you couldn’t tell from her tone of voice.

  She crossed her arms. “You can stand your ground, old man. I won’t hold it against you.”

  Pursing his very young-looking lips, the vampire moved back. Diana took off her leather jacket and handed it to him. Getting his first good look at her outfit, Alec’s face lost all expression.

  His voice was extremely level when he said, “You look. . .nice. You should fit in perfectly.”

  “Good. This thing pinches. I can’t wait to take it off,” she said as she adjusted the side of the corset.

  Alec’s eyes followed her motion with a slightly dazed expression. Wondering what was wrong with him, Diana started for the back door. He caught up with her and offered his arm.

  “It might be a good idea if you let me do the talking in the public rooms. If you’re recognized, there’s going to be a stampede, and we don’t want that.” He gave her a pointed look until she finally took his arm.

  “Fine,” she grumbled.

  They reached the back door, and it opened automatically as if they had been watched the whole time. No one stood behind it, but at the end of the hallway, there was a young woman, dressed to the Gothic nines ready to greet the VIP. She managed to smile while simultaneously breathing in deeply to stick out her chest as much possible.

  The woman waited until they reached her before extending a manicured hand to Diana. It wasn’t a typical greeting for a vampire. Diana looked at her closely. The hostess was mostly human, with some magical sensitivity, but not enough to be a practitioner.

  “Greetings, Doctor Broussard. Welcome to Whore,” the hostess said with a welcoming gesture before standing aside. It would have been impolite to touch a vampire without invitation. “You and your guest have been set up with complimentary beverages in our most exclusive VIP suite at the front of the club. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you there.”

  “The front?” Alec asked as they walked behind her.

  “Our guests enjoy being seen but can still enjoy their privacy in our VIP suites,” the hostess said, angling her bosom into his view a little more.

  It was quite an accomplishment given that she was ahead of them. The hostess led them down a brightly lit corridor with white walls and a red tile floor that led to a busy kitchen and farther down into the club.

  The music wasn’t the hard, driving beat Diana associated with clubs on television, but it was still danceable. The hostess swung open the inner club door open to reveal a futuristic vision.

  The walls were a matte white plastic with lights inside that changed colors slowly. Red melded into orange and then into yellow before
skipping through the rest of the spectrum. The light flattered and flirted with the crowd, reflecting off the white leather furniture in cool patterns. Diana liked the effect even if she hated the name of the club and by extension its owner.

  They were led through the well-dressed crowd toward the front. Most of the heads in the room turned to follow them. Diana was apprehensive, envisioning the crowd turning to her en-masse and charging. Visions of her having to fight her way out of the club faded as she registered that no one was looking at her. All eyes were on Alec. Logan was apparently right about his celebrity status.

  They were ushered up a grand staircase made out of a clear plastic of some kind. The effect was like walking on ice. The owner may be a misogynistic piece of shit, but he had a definite sense of style. Not a good style, but style nonetheless.

  Their hostess opened a set of ornate carved white double doors at the head of the stairs, revealing a moderately sized room with more leather and lights. The couches were black leather here and the lights were a darker color than the rest of the club. The hostess briefly explained the other amenities of the room, including the glass top coffee table that was actually a touch screen computer. After some more preening and deep breathing, she left, visibly disappointed at Alec’s lack of interest.

  “It’s not what I was expecting. The name doesn’t match. I was expecting it to look like a high profile bordello,” Alec observed.

  “Yeah, like the coven house,” Diana said absently, fingering the table to explore the display.

  He let out a choked laugh. “Don’t say that around my mother’s decorator. They spend a fortune to update the look every decade. Funny thing is that it never seems to change much.”

  “Sorry. You don’t actually like that look, do you?” Diana asked almost apologetically, dropping her hostility for the time being.

  It was starting to take too much effort.

  Alec smiled thoughtfully. “You don’t spend a lot of time around people, do you? It seems odd, since men must trip all over themselves to meet you.”

  Diana frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “I was only thinking that you probably spend more time interrogating people than actually talking to them.”

  Annoyed at his perception, she ignored the comment, sitting next to him and crossing her legs.

  The vampire proved exactly how intelligent he was by moving on. “I’ve been pretty antisocial myself for the last fifty or sixty years. But I wasn’t righting grievous wrongs, simply poring through dusty books and scrolls.”

  His tone was commiserating, and she decided to let it go.

  “Is your doctorate in archeology?”

  “One of them is,” he said, smiling again. “I’ve had a considerable amount of time to accumulate degrees, but they’re all in related fields. I would have loved to get a medical degree, but for obvious reasons that one was out of my reach.”

  Diana studied him in amused disbelief. “You are the weirdest vampire I’ve ever met.”

  “Thanks,” he said, looking pleased. “Knowing how you feel about my kind, I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

  He glanced at the display. It had a list of events for the club and a menu. Pretty banal stuff. Until he hit the VIP icon. Then a menu of another sort was displayed, one that catered specifically to a vampire and his entourage. And it was clear that more than blood was on offer.

  “Well, now we know why they call it Whore,” Diana said flatly.

  Alec wrinkled his nose. “At least they don’t actually send the girl, or boy if you swing that way, up here like they do in Europe. Over there, it’s considered a matter of etiquette to sample what is offered. In private of course.”

  It was Diana’s turn to make a face. “You don’t even get a choice? Bite the merchandise or you’ve violated the vampire version of Emily Post?”

  He gave her a quick resigned smile. “I stopped visiting the noble houses and Underlife clubs after a while because of it. The blood exchange shouldn’t be trivialized.”

  Diana tried to picture being bitten. There wasn’t a scenario she could think of where she didn’t set the biter on fire.

  “They should be sending up the owner to greet me soon if he’s here. If he’s not, then the person the next rung down on the ladder,” Alec explained without a shred of conceit.

  He extended a glass of champagne from the complimentary setup at the bar. The lights changed to a soothing blue.

  “No, thanks. I don’t like the bubbles,” Diana said, refusing the glass.

  “No bubbles at all? No soda or beer?” he asked, surprised.

  “Yeah,” she said, stopping to think about it. “Why? Is that weird?”

  She sounded unsure. Nobody had ever questioned her preferences. Not even Logan.

  “No, it’s uncommon but not enough to be weird,” he reassured her, and Diana found herself incrementally relaxing.

  She walked around the room, examining the luxury items laid out for the VIP. There were high-end cut crystal glasses for whiskey and champagne on the bar. Some nice looking plates with gourmet treats. Vampires usually traveled with more non-vamps than not in their entourage so there was a wide selection. Foie Gras on toast, figs stuffed with some sort of cream and drizzled with honey, and some other cheese with a sun-dried tomato spread on a soft white bread. Diana had eaten her fill, but these looked good so she sampled a few. Alec shifted behind the bar and served her a glass of something else.

  “It’s a sweet dessert wine. It’s French, Pineau de Charentes,” he said with flawless pronunciation.

  Diana sampled it while she helped herself to more of the hors d’oeuvres. It was good, sweet, but not overwhelming. There were other toys, stuff that looked like it came out of the one percenter’s version of the Skymall catalogue. She leaned over to examine them more closely. Diana never bought anything that wasn’t functional since she had to travel light. In other circumstances, she would have liked to play with them.

  “You should have the best of everything,” Alec said quietly without preamble as if listening to her thoughts.

  Her lips twisted. “I have the best of everything,” she said and meant it.

  “We have differing opinions of what everything means, I think,” he said.

  She could feel his intent gaze even though she wasn’t facing him. An unfamiliar tension filled her, and atmosphere became thick. Racking her mind for something, she grew irritated when she couldn’t think of anything to say. Thankfully a knock at the double doors saved her from replying.

  The door swung open, and an elegantly dressed man came in with a flourish. He stopped short when he saw Diana. Fear flashed in his eyes, and he backed away.

  Guess my description has made the rounds.

  She resisted the urge to rush forward to grab the man. For one, he looked too sweaty. And she had agreed Alec should take the lead.

  Their guest was about to bolt back out the door when Alec gestured to him and said in a commanding tone, “Come, sit.”

  The man twitched but sat slowly on the couch while Alec sat at the armchair. Diana chose to stand.

  “Are you the owner?” Alec asked.

  “I’m Carter, the manager. I’m at your service,” he finished nervously as he eyed the door longingly.

  “Where is the owner?” Diana asked. Carter jerked his gaze her way, avoiding direct eye contact.

  “Gone,” he said. “He needed a vacation.”

  “Gone where?”

  “Not sure. Miami or the Hamptons. Maybe Manhattan? Wherever the hot spots are now. He scouts the latest places to scope out the competition. Doesn’t specify where he goes. He just takes off,” he said, diligently avoiding eye contact with Diana.

  “What is your employer’s full name?” Alec asked.

  “He only goes by J. No one knows his full name.”

  Diana could see the magic entwined in the man’s aura. “What spells have you been using, Carter?”

  He cleared his throat. “None, I simply act
ivated some protection charms.”

  “Did they work?” she asked mockingly, guessing that they were meant to keep her out.

  He looked away. “Don’t know. There are meant to keep black witches out.”

  “Sure they are,” she said, knowing full well this guy was on the gray end of the spectrum. She leaned in close and spoke in a low voice. “Now tell me where J is.”

  Carter gulped. “He didn’t say, he just took off.”

  “And do you know why?” Alec asked.

  “No,” he said.

  Another lie.

  Diana leaned in closer to Carter’s ear. “I can tell when people are lying. So start telling me what you do know. The sooner you talk, the sooner we leave.”

  Carter looked to Alec for help, but all he found was an unyielding and unsympathetic stone sitting there watching him. “He brought in a group one night to his office. I wasn’t sure why, but I don’t interfere with the boss’s business. I’d never seen them before. It was a strange group. Two men and two women. I got a bad vibe from them.”

  Alec gestured for more. “Can you describe them? Did you catch any names?”

  “No names. And I only caught a glimpse of them before I had to go check on a mess in the kitchen,” he said, still only looking at Alec despite Diana’s menacing presence hovering over him.

  Alec gave Carter a pointed look, raising one fine black brow. “Describe what you can.”

  “One man was a little older than the rest. He was the only one I got a look at. He looked dignified and powerful. I don’t know if he was the one in charge, but that’s what I thought at the time. He had close-cropped grey hair, like a military cut, but his outfit was like dark bohemian, if that’s a thing. That’s all I know. Can I go now?” Carter looked ready to bolt out of that chair.

  “After you show us your boss’s office,” Diana added, going to the door and gesturing for him to follow her.

  Carter started and made eye contact with her for the first time. “J doesn’t let anyone in there without his permission. I don’t have the key.”