Page 4
Her eyes narrowed, probably trying to assess whether I was serious. “Ask at the bar. You may have to wait though. He gets pretty busy.”
“Alright, thank you.”
“Anytime. Any friend of Zee’s is a friend of us all around ’ere.” She blew me a kiss.
She probably wouldn’t have been so kind if she knew I’d buried one of her friends in my flowerbeds.
I pushed through the main door, and had a demon grunt and point to the sign telling visitors to leave any weapons with him. I shrugged and showed him my hands, earning another grunting snarl, indicating I could proceed. I ventured deeper into the club, where the music and lights throbbed. An occasional bark of laughter sailed under doorways. A huge demon muscled by me, barely sparing me a second glance under my hood. I tried to project calm, nothing-to-see-here vibes, but couldn’t stop my heart from racing, especially when I entered the main club, where a large crowd had gathered around two demons performing an erotic dance on stage. The crowd was mostly made up of demons. Some tall, slim fae added a dash of poised glamor, speckled among several humans being paraded around on leashes. Demon bait.
I spotted a sequin-clad Ben behind the bar, relieved to find a face I knew, and tucked myself into the shadows at the end of the bar.
“Hey there again, peaches,” Ben greeted with a smile. His sequined jacket sparkled like stars. “What can I get you? You here for Zee?”
“Oh, uh no. I’m here on my own. I need to speak with Seb. Is there a way to get a message to him?”
“Baby, he knows you’re here.” He thumbed over his shoulder, under his wings, and between the glittering racks of bottles, to where a camera’s beady lens watched the crowd.
Was he watching us now? Did he even care?
“Can I get you a drink while you wait?”
“No, thank you. It’s okay.” I needed to keep my head clear for what came next.
Ben eyed me long and hard, then huffed a short laugh, and leaned on the bar. “Can I give you some advice you maybe won’t like but need to hear?” His wings spread behind him, blocking the camera’s view.
“Sure, I guess.”
“Sweetie, you’re not the first person to think Zee needs saving. We’ve all had tricks fall for us, try and pry us out of Sebastien’s grip, thinking they can set us free like we’re fireflies in a jar. You humans have a soft spot for creatures you think are trapped. But take it from me, Zee don’t need your help.”
“It’s not like that,” I dismissed. I wasn’t like those other humans, for one.
Ben straightened, and shrugged his wings. “You sure?”
The phone on the back wall behind the bar rang. Ben went to answer it, leaving me trying to organize my thoughts around his words. I wasn’t trying to save Zee. I just wanted him to have a choice. Sebastien had some kind of hold over him. Whatever that hold was, it wasn’t right. Besides, Sebastien had sent me a personal message by leaving a dead demon on my doorstep. It was time I responded.
“You can go up,” Ben said, hanging up the phone.
I nodded my thanks and hopped off the stool.
“Hey.” He caught my eye. “Don’t accept any drinks from him, alright? If anything happens to you, and Zee finds out I sent you up there, he’ll skin me alive.”
Nodding again, I headed across the room to the back door, where I’d seen Seb take Zee before. The door opened into a narrow, double-height staircase—probably built that way to accommodate arched demon wings. Feeling small, I climbed the steps to a landing, where a demon guard nodded me through a second door, and into a sprawling apartment suite with a smoky-glass partition separating the bedroom area from a sumptuous lounge. Storage cupboards lined the back wall. To the right, a wall of windows looked down onto the club’s stage.
The background thrum of music sounded like a giant’s heartbeat, as though I’d walked into the belly of an enormous beast.
I sucked in two great lungfuls of cologne-scented air, and sighed out.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the stupid little human.” Sebastien emerged from behind the bedroom’s privacy glass like a snake slithering from long grass. His wings shimmered with black metallic spray, like great canvasses of silk. His spiral horns shone too, painted in white gloss. He wore black and white pinstripe pants, patent leather shoes, and a black silk shirt. He was a lot to take in.
He approached a drinks trolley, and poured himself something smoky and pink from a crystal decanter. “Drink? Drugs? I’ll get you anything your heart desires.”
“No, thank you.”
“Hm, so cute.” He purred. “Do I frighten you, little human?”
“No.” I lowered my hood for the first time since stepping out of the hotel.
He chuckled, making his wings sparkle, then turned and slow-blinked, running his gaze over me. I knew what he saw. A twenty-something, blond-haired man. Kinda average. Not much to set him apart from every other blond-haired male human.
