“Shit, she needs to go,” Max added. He checked his watch. “Now, Dare. It’s almost Witching Hour.”
Loren gave Darien a nod to say that it was okay—that she was ready. That she could do this.
Darien helped her to her feet. Her legs felt like they might fold beneath her at any moment, but she managed to stay upright, Darien’s hand clasping her own. He didn’t let go of her.
“Remember what I told you,” Darien said. “Don’t hesitate.” He didn’t release her until she’d nodded.
And then she walked over to Baylor, where he was getting up from his table and saying his farewell to the other vampire. Baylor noticed her instantly, and Loren gave him an inviting smile that had him promptly excusing himself from his friend and pulling her aside. His large hand was clammy on her elbow as he guided her to a shadowed corner near the bar.
The invitation to go with him into the back rooms of the Advocate came quickly, and soon she was at Baylor’s side as they headed for that metal, magic-enforced door she would need to get the Devils through. Where it was strapped to the inside of her thigh, the vial of sedative powder Darien had given her felt heavy.
Don’t wait too long to knock him on his ass,Darien had told her.
She only hoped she could follow through.
Loren didn’t have to turn around to know that Darien was tracking her every movement, his gaze was that intense.
But soon that metal door was slamming shut behind her, and she was alone with Baylor in the back rooms of the Devil’s Advocate.
36
The Devil’s Advocate was like a drug, and Darien had been addicted to it in years past. It was filthy and ripe with sin, a place that catered to broken hearts and lost souls. It had a way of welcoming you in like an old friend, tricking you into falling for its pleasures and making you beg for more—beg until you couldn’t even breathe. By the time you figured out the floors weren’t paved in gold but were coated in dollar-store paint, a part of your soul belonged to the devil, and nothing you did would ever get it back.
Months had passed since Darien had set foot in here.Months. But no matter how much time he spent away from this festering place, as soon as he’d stepped back in, it’d felt as though he’d never left. It was the hand of the devil beckoning him back, as if he were saying,I missed you. Care for a drink?
“She’ll be fine, Dare.” Max’s voice cut into the stupor Darien had fallen into. He blinked, tearing his attention away from the metal door that had shut behind Loren and Baylor several minutes ago. Max pushed a shot his way, liquid sloshing over the side of the glass. Beside him, Dallas looked as worried as Darien, the witch’s eyes continuously flickering to the door. Max said, “Have a drink.”
Darien didn’t hesitate to toss the amber-colored liquid back, relishing in the weightless feeling that immediately washed through his body, lifting some of that fog of concern from his mind. That was some potent liquor.
“What if he hurts her?” The question slipped out before Darien could stop it. Hearing his concerns spoken aloud only made him feel like he was stuck in a nightmare. The evening had started out better than any of his wildest fantasies, but now…now that Loren wasn’t with him—
“Then you’ll kill him,” Ivy cut in, where she sat slumped against Jack, who laughed and added, “And then Randal will finally have to find himself a new manager for this shithole.”
Where he sat across the table from Darien, Tanner was busy clicking away on his tablet as he awaited the chance Loren would give him to hack into the system.
The club suddenly plunged into darkness as the power was cut. People screamed in surprise, but their fright soon turned to amusement, laughter rippling through the building as everyone waited for the power to be restored. The sudden absence of spellwork was like having a coat you didn’t realize you were wearing removed.
The colorful auras in the building glowed as Darien blinked the Sight into his vision. So many gray and muddy distortions floating about the dancefloor, most of them tinged with the color of lust.
“See?” Max said quietly, looking at Darien through his own Sight. “She did it.”
Indeed, Loren had. Which meant she had listened to him and used the sedative powder he’d given her to knock Baylor unconscious as soon as he’d gotten her into the back and started to feel her up. And then she’d made it to the breaker panel and turned off the club’s security switch that protected the spellwork from being tampered with, allowing Tanner to use his tablet to hack into the network and temporarily cut off the wards generated by the city’s Control Tower.
It was some comfort, at least.
But she still hadn’t returned.
Jack, Ivy, Lace, and Aspen had taken the darkness as their cue to leave. They only had seconds—minutes, if they were lucky—to get through the unguarded door and into the back. Darien found their auras across the dancefloor and saw them slipping one by one through the metal door.
Five seconds later and the lights flickered back on with a shrill buzz, the music thumping through the building so loudly that several people jumped. The spellwork had returned, its sudden reappearance sending a piercing sound through Darien’s eardrums and threatening a nosebleed. It made his brain swell inside his skull.
“Fuck,” Max muttered, shaking his head to clear it of that high-pitched squeaking sound. “I’ll never get used to that.”
Darien turned his attention back to that metal door in time to see Loren slipping out of it. She was paler than before she’d gone in there, but other than that, she looked unharmed. There was no limp in her walk, no mark on what he could see of her body.
Darien released the breath he was holding.
Her eyes locked with his across the room, and she gestured to the bathrooms at the other side of the dancefloor. He gave her a nod, but he kept watching her, making sure no one touched or followed her as she wove around the people who had returned to their drinking and dancing.
