She was always on her best behavior when she came to this place and had done nothing that might get her noticed by security. The venue had devices all over the place that scanned beings for STDs, and it recently introduced an entry stamp that looked and felt like that of any other club, but pressed a 24-hour contraceptive into the customer’s wrist. She was always careful to use protection with customers, because she couldn’t pick up anything that might get her banned from Eclipse. This place was her only way out of Manhattan. By the time she reached the entrance, her mind was already calculating the money she might make tonight.
One of the guards in a black uniform glanced at her clothes. “You’ve been here before, lady?”
She straightened her back, pretending to be offended. “I’m a regular customer. You don’t recognize me?”
“You look familiar…what are you doing here tonight?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve come for a cooking lesson. What do you think I’m here for?” The guard next to him sniggered. “Now. Are you going to let me in or should I speak to your management about the way you’re treating regular customers? It’s bad enough waiting in the queue this long without you people delaying with your silly questions—”
Her voice was loud enough for the clubbers behind her to hear. “Come on, man,” a woman shouted from the queue. “Some of us want to get in there tonight.”
The guard was a newbie, because he was so flustered, he let her through. Anyone with more experience might have picked up on her nerves.
Two supernaturals sat behind the counter. She couldn’t fault their professionalism as they checked her ticket and stamped her wrist—when the female glanced at her dress, it was the only sign that they’d noticed she didn’t belong at a place like this. A few minutes later, Alyssa was on the middle landing of Oasis, among the pulsing music and grinding bodies. As always, the zone was overflowing, the three dance floors—one on the ground floor and two suspended—already packed. Three DJs entertained the crowd, while dancers showed off their moves from stages suspended from the walls.
She moved forward to lean over the rail, glancing between the ground floor dance area and the other two landings, where there were bars and restaurants. The people here had nothing more on their minds than having fun, and for a moment, longing rose inside her. For once, if only she could come to a place like this just to enjoy it. She shoved that idea away and concentrated on why she was here. If she got out of Manhattan, that would be more than enough.
Her eyes searched the section she was in, but many clubbers had already hooked up. She turned back and walked through the door to take the stairway to the landing upstairs. There was no point going to the lower one, because that was where the customers who connected on the dance floor tended to head to, to get warmed up on the sofas before deciding whether to invest in a room. On the upper landing, her gaze landed on a middle-aged man sat at a table alone, dressed as if he’d just come from the office, his short beard showing signs of gray. As out of place as she was. Perfect. She didn’t waste time and went straight over. “Mind if I join you?” she mouthed over the music.
He looked as if she’d just announced he’d won the lottery, standing so fast that his chair fell over. He pointed at the seat opposite, and once she’d sat, he picked up his chair. When he spoke, she had to read his lips to make out what he was saying. Can I get you a drink?
The last thing she wanted was someone from security working out what they were talking about. She pulled out her mobile and entered some text on it before she flashed the screen at him. No thanks. No point wasting time on drinks. You come here often?
He grinned, doing the same with his device. I was having a shit time before you turned up. Wanna go somewhere we can talk?
She wasn’t about to waste precious hours trying to figure out if he was up for paying for it. I had something else on my mind. But I charge. Subtlety didn’t get girls like her very far.
That grin disappeared, and for a moment, she wondered if she’d been a bit too hasty. But then he flashed his mobile again. Where?
If he wanted to save money, they’d have to cross back over the river and go to a motel, but she intended to service more than one customer tonight, and didn’t fancy her chances of getting back in to this venue. So she entered the details of Eclipse’s hotel instead. The rooms there were luxurious, but they could be rented by the hour…when she held her mobile out, the guy frowned at its screen. Shit…she was about to mention going to a motel when he stood and held his hand out. She was already bracing herself for the experience as they walked out of the zone, but kept a smile fixed to her face, so they would appear like any other couple that had hooked up here.
She only hoped she made some decent money tonight. A few more months of making extra cash at Oasis, and she’d be able to get out of this hellhole.
CHAPTER TWO
* * *
BLADE HAD DONE SOME UNDERHAND deals in his bid to take Eclipse to the top, but nothing clawed at his conscience the way this latest bargain with James did.
He’d been in his villa, sat on the lounger by the pool as he worked on his laptop, when the call from James came through around lunchtime. The mob boss had been pissed that his women were still getting into Oasis, and this time he was not willing to wait for Blade to fix things. Nearly half an hour later, and they’d reached some sort of agreement, but hell, what James had suggested was the last thing Blade wanted. The conversation ended with him wondering what the fuck he’d got himself into.
He’d sent a message to the venue partners, telling them he’d set up an urgent meeting where some serious decision-making was taking place. As expected, several of them couldn’t make it—most of them were involved in enterprises other than Eclipse—but said they’d go along with whatever was decided at the meeting. And then he called Drake, because James insisted he be involved. Blade had left the sanctuary of his villa and come to the blue VIP room, working on his laptop here as he waited to see who turned up. Ethen was the first to arrive, always wherever there was action to be had.
Soon after, Sonia the witch burst in. “This had better be important.” She went over to the bar and flung a lock of her purple hair back as she took a bottle of rum and filled a glass without waiting for the barman. She came over and sank into the pale blue sofa before plonking the drink on the table. “My zone is understaffed this evening.” How the hell did that happen? When she saw the look on Blade’s face, “The manager, he came down with something. This is why I don’t like hiring humans, especially the male variety. Always coming down with the damn man flu. Anyway, it happened to be the other manager’s day off, so I’m hands-on with the zone tonight.”
“It shouldn’t take long,” said Blade. That was what he hoped, anyway.
Hari the cat shifter came through the doorway and, true to her species, she glided over, all lithe and graceful as she slid onto the sofa. Her hazel eyes landed on each of them, before resting on Blade. “So what’s the emergency, demon?”
Before he could answer, Leke appeared in the seat next to him, his teleportation trick nearly making him drop his drink. “What the fuck, vampire? You know we’re not supposed to expose our supernatural skills—” Humans were scared enough of them as it was, without their kind pulling these stunts.
“Don’t worry, demon. I made sure there were no humans around. And I would have been late for the meeting otherwise.”
Five of the twelve partners had arrived, and they would have to be enough. And as Blade wasn’t about to deliver good news, it was best to just go ahead. “James called today.”
Ethen frowned. “What have we done to prick his little ass this time?”
“He was going on about his girls again.”
“What the hell?” Hari’s hazel eyes flashed, a bright contrast with her dark skin. “Wasn’t it a week ago that he agreed to give you a chance to fix things?”
Yes. But the mob boss had changed his mind. “He mentioned placing his guys at Oasis and other gates ag
ain, but of course, I refused.” Blade wanted to maintain the truce, but he wasn’t going to give in to these stupid demands. “But that didn’t end the conversation.” It didn’t take long for James to come out with the real reason for his call. “He wanted to chip the girls. Apparently, he’s commissioned a system that would not only monitor them, but if Eclipse’s entrances were fitted with a synced device, it would cause them a jolt if they tried to walk through.”
Now Sonia sat up straight, her drink forgotten. “And what did you say?”
“No, of course.” And not only because he wasn’t stupid enough to fit the club with any devices from James, but because the sadistic bastard would probably chip the girls with something that caused them extreme pain. The guy thrived off hurting people, especially those of the opposite gender. Everyone had heard the stories of how he treated some of the women who worked for him, so it was hardly surprising they ran away when they got the chance.
“Good for you.” The flash in Hari’s eyes faded to a soft glow. “So it’s sorted?”
If only it was that easy. “He wouldn’t back down, so I had to make a suggestion of my own that was more effective than our security looking out for the girls they recognized…”
“Which was?”
“If he provides photos of his girls, we could scan them into a device and fit the entrances of zones where they are likely to go. The devices will alert security to women who match the photos.”
The fae had been surprisingly silent, but he now spoke. “What are our customers going to think about us scanning them, though?”
“The system will ignore all of those faces that do not bear a likeness to the installed images.” A whole of a lot better than questioning random customers on their reasons for being at the club. “Which means it will only scan James’ girls—”
“Way to go, Blade,” mentioned Hari, “Treating those women as if they have no rights.”
“The alternative would have been for James to chip them, Hari. Much more invasive. And painful, too.” He glanced around the group. “But he had one condition, and you’re not going to like it.”
Leke nodded. “Go on.”
“If the system picks up his girls, he wants them reported to him.”
“Fuck that,” said Sonia. “So he can skin them alive?” Blade’s first instinct had also been to say no. It didn’t take much to drive James to violence…what would he do to women who defied his orders? But it was that or the mobster chipped the girls straight away, in which case they wouldn’t even get a warning, would they? “Please tell me you didn’t agree. Blade?”
“I offered an alternative. We’d hand them over only after one fair warning.” Blade wasn’t proud of ratting women out to a sadist like James, but he was not about to put his own neck on the line for a bunch of broads he didn’t even know. They’d been warned enough times, hadn’t they? “Once they know we’re serious, hopefully the girls will back off from Eclipse without further hassle.”
“Come on,” said Sonia. “We can’t do this.” She looked around the group, her hands held out. “People?”
“It’s a shit solution,” Ethen agreed. “We can’t hand women over to James, knowing what he might do to them.”
“It’s either that or he chips them.” Blade rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes, exhausted. “What’s the better option? At least this way they get a chance. Once chipped, the women have no hope of escaping the mob boss, do they?”
Most of the girls who worked for James were from crap backgrounds, some of them recruited from homes and women’s centers. Girls who would not be missed. James lured them to Manhattan with photos of designer-clad escorts and five-star hotel rooms. And once they got here, he put them to work to service gangsters such as himself, some of the hardest fuckers around. From what he knew, the girls worked behind his back only to save enough money to get the hell out of Manhattan, back to the shitty lives they came from.
“Say what you want to make yourself feel better.” The cat shifter wasn’t backing down. “But this is no justification. If we do this, we have those women’s blood on our hands.”
“Blade is right.” Leke had been watching silently until now, his usual collected self. “None of us wants to hand the girls over, but this is the scenario that will cause them—and us—the least harm. There’s no point getting emotional about it.” And that was why the vampire made a success out of every enterprise he touched. His methodical approach to everything and a calculating personality was the reason he was one of the few supernaturals who, along with his horde, carried out secret jobs for the government. Some non-humans opposed one of their kind working for a state that once put them in holding units, but as far as Blade was concerned, the more that humans and supernaturals worked together, the better. “If you guys don’t want to do this, go ahead, suggest alternatives.”
“We could refuse,” said Ethen. “We don’t always have to co-operate with these guys, you know.”
Leke’s eyes flashed, revealing his agitation. “So that James carries out his original threat and puts his heavies at our gates to get hold of the girls? If he does that and we ignore his actions, it’ll affect our customers…and if we try to do anything and it results in disharmony, the government will be on our backs.” A muscle in the vampire’s jaw twitched. “We’ve put a lot of sweat and cash into this place and don’t want it targeted for payback.” The vampire was right. They’d worked their asses off to make a fucking success of Eclipse. Whether a weekday or weekend, Blade couldn’t remember the last time he saw a zone empty. He’d fought like hell with others to keep the place going, and he didn’t need to take on the mob, too.
“Even if we went down that route, what good would it achieve?” Blade asked. “We would risk damaging our business and invite a crackdown on supernaturals. And the women would not be any better off for it. So…what do you say?”
“When you put it like that…” Sonia murmured.
Hari shrugged. “Do what you guys like.”
Ethen said nothing, but he did not oppose the decision, either.
But Blade did not feel any relief when he said, “I’ll call Drake in, and we can get the system rolling.”
The mobster was waiting with the lion shifter Junaid, who managed Oasis, in a room next door. Blade sent a message to the manager, asking him to bring Drake with him. For the second time in a week, Blade came face to face with the mobster. He just hoped it would not become a regular occurrence. When they’d both sat, he said, “We’ve agreed to go ahead with the system.”
Junaid’s jaw clenched. Blade had already spoken to him and told him he wanted him to be in charge of the project. He hadn’t wanted to hand this work over to the lion shifter, because he deserved better. Blade took him on two years ago, because he’d managed several successful bars, and was also a trained weapons master, skilled in the arts of attack and defense. And someone who was not afraid to get his hands dirty. But when Blade mentioned that he planned for him to manage the new security system, the goateed shifter hadn’t been pleased with the suggestion, and it seemed that he might even refuse to do his job. His reaction at the news that they’d agreed to James’ demand was expected, but the surprise was when Drake’s face tightened. From what Blade knew of the mobster, he didn’t like being involved in such work, but it was part and parcel of the business. Drake pulled out his mobile and tapped a few keys. “I’m sending the names and photos of the girls to you now, Blade.”
“Thanks.” When the details arrived, Blade didn’t even look at them before forwarding the images and information to Junaid. The lion shifter did a hell of a job managing Oasis and was the right man for this task. He didn’t have to like the job to do it effectively.
“The girls receive a warning before you report them,” said the mobster. James wasn’t thrilled by the suggestion of giving the women a chance, but Drake seemed intent on reminding Blade that they had some leeway. “I’ll just call James and let him know what’s been agreed.” He pulled
up his boss’s contact on his phone, and with his enhanced hearing, Blade could hear the ringing sound before James’ grating voice spoke on the other side. After Drake had spoken to him, he handed the phone to Blade. “He wants to talk to you.”
Blade took the mobile and held it next to his ear, out of habit rather than need. “We’ll call it a trial.” James’ voice was low. “But if you don’t hand any girls in soon, I’ll assume you’re taking the piss, and we’ll be back to square one.”
“I’ve got no intention of taking the piss.”
“Fine. But what will happen when my girls are bounced back from Oasis and go to other places instead? Yours isn’t the only supernatural club in Manhattan, you know.”
For fuck’s sake. “I’ll arrange a meeting with supernaturals who own clubs or bars. But you’ll have to deal with the ones managed by humans.”
“It’s a deal. As long as my girls stay away from businesses owned by supernaturals, I don’t anticipate us having any more problems.”
Once Blade handed the phone back, the mobster stood. “If there are any issues with this arrangement, demon, I’d appreciate it if you contacted me first.”
No worries on that account. “I will, Drake.” James might officially be in charge, but many associates dealt with Drake when it came to the important stuff. Blade gave it one or two years, and James wouldn’t be able to cling to the pretense of calling the shots. He looked forward to that day, because the younger guy was a hell of a lot more reasonable, with a good head on his shoulders. “Thanks for coming.”
Blood Moon Box Set Page 16
