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It felt no warmer near the fire, but maybe that was simply fear of the thin-faced man who watched me with a mocking, superior smile.
I forced my gaze from him, and studied the others. Most of the people here I already knew. The first was Marcus, the big man I'd seen terrorizing Jan at the club. At least she was looking a whole lot more lively than the last time I'd seen her, though she still moved with a slowness that spoke of healing wounds.
The third person Jin introduced as Raven and she was clinging to Gautier's arm in a way that was nervous, and yet very sexual. She was a thin woman with black hair, pinched features, and darting, bloodshot gray eyes. She was also a shifter and, like Jan, had a desperate, needy sort of air about her - which made me wonder if she was another victim in the making.
Then her scent triggered the memory of the club and that odd smell coming from the second room, a smell that had been a little bit of desperation, and a lot of death.
It had been Gautier in that room. And this woman had been with him.
Becoming the death head hadn't only given him an immunity to sunlight, it had given him sex. Dark, deadly sex.
The thought made me want to puke.
Jin touched my back lightly, dragging me out of my thoughts and fears, then moved off to fetch our drinks, leaving me to make small talk with people I had no intention of ever getting to know better. All the while, Gautier watched me like a spider, saying nothing, merely smiling that cold, venomous smile of his. My body was cold despite the nearness of the fire, and every instinct I had was screaming to get out, while I still could.
But Gautier wouldn't let me go. I knew that. Whatever game he was playing, I was caught in the middle of it, and I had no choice but to let the night roll on and see what happened. See what he planned.
When Jin slipped the red wine into my hand, I practically gulped down the first couple of mouthfuls. It didn't do a whole lot to ease the tension slithering through my limbs, but at least it was wet and soothed the dryness in my throat.
After about five minutes of inane banter about the weather and whatnot, a small gong went off behind us. As we turned around, the candles sprung to life, flickering warm light across all the crystal and silverware, and sending shards of rainbow light spiraling across the room.
Kingsley now stood at the end of the table, a king surveying his subjects. His gaze met mine and lingered, making my heart skip, then race even harder. Worst thing was, I wasn't entirely sure whether it was due to fear, or something else. Something that had a whole lot more to do with wanting a treat that was obviously very bad for me.
"Jin, you and the lovely Riley can sit at the head of the table with me tonight."
He said it like it was granting a great gift, and indeed, that's how Jin seemed to take it. His smile was wide as he escorted me to the chair on Kingsley's immediate right. I thanked Jin as he pulled out the chair and seated me, then placed my purse on the table, casually sticking another device to my fingertip and dropping my hands. Which were shaking. Because Gautier was still watching and still saying nothing. I placed the second device under my chair and hoped like hell it still worked with the magic barrier in place.
The camera - which looked to be nothing more than a slightly larger flat silver bead on my glittery purse - needed to be placed higher, and that, for now, was impossible.
Kingsley picked up the nearby bottle of wine and filled my glass. Then he picked up his own and raised it.
"To new friends and good times," he said, lightly clicking his glass against mine, and then Jin's.
"And a long night of passion and desire," Jin added, his gaze holding an intensity that had little flash fires dancing up and down my spine despite the deep fear that resided within.
Yet the heat Jin raised was nothing compared to the closeness of his dark master. Sitting next to Kingsley was like sitting close to a wolf with his aura set to full intensity. It made me sweat, made me want, like never before.
Had he been another wolf, I would have simply used my own aura to mute the force of his. But how did you mute the force of a dark god? Especially when he was wearing the skin of a human? I couldn't even use my aura, because no one here but Gautier knew I was wolf - and I very much intended to keep it that way.
If Gautier would let me.
The meals came, brought into the room by women who moved with the silence of ghosts and who looked just as pale. Not that they were ghosts - with my growing affinity to the dead, I would have felt that - but all the same, there seemed to be very little life in their eyes or expressions. Perhaps Kingsley had sucked all the energy and life from them.
Everyone but Gautier ate, drank, and made more small talk as the plates of food came and went. Jin was right in one thing - the food here was amazing.
As the night wore on, my head grew sort of fuzzy, in that warm, had-too-much-to-drink-and-now-way-too-loose sort of way. I actually stopped drinking wine after the entree, but my head didn't get any clearer. It felt odd, like I was there but not there. A watcher standing outside my own body, aware of events but not really a part of them. Even the fear of Gautier and what he was up to seemed to slide away.
Somewhere deep inside, alarm grew, but I didn't even have the energy to wrest it to the foreground for a thorough examination. It was just too much hassle. Everything was too much hassle, except sitting here enjoying.
Dessert - a mass of fudgy chocolate cake that was almost as good as an orgasm - came and went, then coffee was served. It wasn't hazelnut, but it was top shelf and absolutely divine.
Which left us with the after-dinner entertainment. Kingsley stood once the last of the coffee cups had been collected by the pale women, and the tension I'd felt earlier leapt back into the warm room. But it was accompanied by hot spots of fear, desire, and excitement - the fear and desire Jan's, the excitement belonging to Jin, Marcus, and the thin shifter. Gautier was as inscrutable as ever, and yet there was a gleam in his eyes that had distant shivers dancing up my spine.
"Shall we move on to the main entertainment?"
"Oh, please do," Jan said, her voice breathy with excitement.
Marcus gave her a hug, and my stomach stirred. Maybe eating all that chocolate cake was a bad idea. Not if the entertainment was what I was beginning to think it was.
