Page 68 of Hoofin’ It

I laughed. “It’s been a while since I’ve had to have a talk with any of them.”

Marian slipped her hand into her blazer, and a quick glance revealed a holstered Ruger the match for mine. Chuckling, I pushed through the door and stepped into one of my least favorite places in Chicago. Magic kept the stench of marijuana and cigarettes inside, and when we left, the same magic would strip it off us, something I found amusing, as they made no effort to disguise the scents of sex and sweat.

“Charming.”

The hostess caught sight of me, shrieked, and pounced. Marian sucked in a breath and had her gun out in the time it took me to catch the girl by her waist, spin with her momentum, and set her out of harm’s way. “Don’t startle the FBI agent, Kelly. She’s a bit jumpy.”

At first glance, Kelly looked no older than fifteen, although I knew to add a couple of zeros to the end of the number to get closer to her actual age. Over the years, the perky brunette had refused to tell me her species, but she had a fondness for physical contact, which made me think she was a young succubus who hadn’t grown into her powers yet.

“You’ve been gone forever, Gibson.”

I pulled out my phone and made a show of checking the date. “So this visit, forever is quantified by six months, two weeks, and three days?”

“Why are you being mean?”

I needed all my self-restraint to keep from smiling at her whining tone. “I’m certain it’s because I’m an insufferable busybody and an asshole, Miss Kelly. This is Marian, and she’s with me.”

Kelly glanced in Marian’s direction. “Your broad’s pretty slick with that gun, but she’s not as good on the draw. If she wants to start kneecapping people around here, she’s going to have to do better than that.”

“It seems there’s a theme at this establishment, and it involves crippling sentients.”

“Oh, no. Gibby doesn’t cripple them. He just makes them wish he had. He’s a sourpuss. Hey, we’ve been taking bets. Is he as good of a lay as he looks? He won’t play with us.”

I amended my guess about Kelly to her being a young succubus who had just grown into her powers, enabling her to catch glimpses of the love and lust of mere mortals—and somehow detect who had slept with who last. The idea Marian hadn’t been with anyone else appealed to me.

Marian’s eyes widened. “You’re a succubus?”

“I haven’t gotten my wings yet, but it’ll be soon. I was hoping Gibby here would be my first, but you beat me to him. Not fair.”

The round went to the perky little brat playing hostess, and I sighed my defeat. “I suppose it was a bit much to expect a bunch of demons to pretend my sex life was a private matter.”

“Darling, six months ago you didn’t have a sex life. You had a dry well, an emaciated libido, a—”

I covered Kelly’s mouth with my hand. “Thank you, Kelly. Marian didn’t need to know that.”

“Already knew, Shane. He may not be experienced, but he’s really enthusiastic.”

Grabbing my hand, Kelly uncovered her mouth. “Are you going to keep him? I wanted a virgin for my first time, but I might make an exception.”

“She’s not a virgin, Marian. She’s got at least a hundred years of roleplaying a sexy schoolgirl for the brothels here. Don’t let her trick you.”

“Shane, why are you being a spoilsport?”

“You know full well your first time will be with an incubus, so don’t play that sad card on me, missy.”

Kelly pouted. “Spoilsport.”

“Thumb sucker.”

“Old man trapped in a young body.”

I chuckled. “I resemble that remark. Now that we’ve had our fun, I’ve got some questions for the boss, and a tip for him.”

“Bad?”

“Got me shot twice bad.”

Kelly hissed, and her eyes flashed red. “Who did it?”