I hesitated. 'To be honest, I'm just not very good at it.'
'The owner did say you were in demand for both lap and private dances.'
'I'm a werewolf. It's a rarity in a strip club, and Ms. Vanderberg did play that angle up a little.'
Hanna smiled, but her green eyes were neutral. I was getting absolutely nothing from this woman on either a sensory or an emotional level. Nothing except that swirly magic that itched at my skin.
'So tell me, why does a werewolf become an erotic dancer for mainly human clubs?'
I smiled. 'Because I'm only half wolf, and because it's a damn good way to make money-as long as you work for the right establishment.'
'And you think Meinhardt is one such place?'
'I wouldn't be here if I didn't.'
She nodded again. 'We never employ people without a night's trial. Are you willing to work tonight?'
'Sure.'
'Excellent. There are no house fees. We simply work on an eighty-twenty split here-in the dancer's favor-which as you'll know is rather generous. Bar receipts are not included in your take, however.'
Which is probably why they could afford the generous split. From the little background included in the file Liander had handed me, the bar-or rather, the overpriced booze-was where a lot of money was made.
'We run a main bar, a showgirl's bar, a sports and billiards bar, and the fantasy rooms,' she continued, 'and our dancers rotate between all of them except the showgirl's room. Only our most experienced dancers entertain there. We expect two on-stage performances if you're in the main room, and lap dances outside those times.'
'Do you have privacy booths or rooms?'
'Certainly. We call them the fantasy rooms. Our patrons seem to prefer the various fantasy settings.'
'And security?'
'All rooms are monitored. There's a strict no-touching policy in the main room and the show room. Casual contact is allowed in the sports bar, and in the fantasy rooms the option is yours. There is, however, a strict rule about no sex and no drugs of any kind. Participate in either of those activities on these premises, and you will be marched straight down to the local police station and charged.'
'Warning heeded.' I hesitated. 'What about the dress code?'
'Costumes on stage, G-string for room work. In the fantasy rooms, we allow full nudity if the customer is paying for it.'
'Sounds good.'
She rose and offered her hand. 'Good luck tonight, then.'
I rose and clasped her hand. The tingly magic I'd been feeling all the way through the interview rose sharply, crawling across my hand and up my arm like a thousand biting insects. As I resisted the temptation to rip my hand away, the wristband Marg had given me suddenly got hot and the biting sensation abruptly fled.
Hanna released my hand quickly, and just for a moment, surprise and curiosity flitted through her green eyes. Whether that was a good thing or bad remained to be seen. 'Matthew will give you the tour and show you where to change.'
'Thank you.'
The blue-suited man appeared in the doorway. 'This way, please, Cecily.'
'Call me CC. I prefer not to use my real name at work.'
He nodded and motioned me into the hallway. I walked out, oddly relieved to be out of that room and away from Hanna Mein. She wasn't a threatening or intimidating person in any realistic way, and yet there was something about her-something other than her magic-that made my skin crawl.
Maybe it was simply that blankness in her eyes.
The rest of the club turned out to be a larger echo of the hallway, at least when it came to color and feel. The main room was dominated by a large stage that reached into the center of the room, lined with several rows of chairs. Tables and chairs were scattered around the rest of the room, and a large redwood bar dominated the far end. There were a few customers scattered about, some being tended to by dancers, some watching the blonde on the stage, and others standing at the bar getting drinks or talking to the waitstaff. The sports bar had billiards tables and a huge TV that dominated one wall. There were G-string-clad ladies here, some playing pool with the customers, others simply sitting down and chatting. There was no stage here, and no lap dancing happening. Some of the women were even wearing sporting-type tops-although they were skintight, and barely covered their breasts.
The show room was smaller than the main room, and it had no tables. Just a large stage surrounded by seats, all of which were empty.
'Shows don't start until ten,' Matthew said, obviously noting my surprise. 'We don't start getting the main crowd in here until at least nine, so it's not worth the expense of opening this room until then.'
'Do the dancers here make much money?' I didn't really care, but it seemed the sort of question someone like CC would ask.
'Plenty. A lot of men prefer the titillation factor of flesh glimpsed under clothing over full-view flesh, and they are prepared to pay big to get it.'
He led me into another hallway, this one larger than the one off the foyer. Half a dozen doors led off it and each one was labeled-schoolroom, Arabian nights, boardroom, and so on.
'The fantasy rooms, obviously,' Matthew said. 'These are all prebooked, so if a customer wants a private dance, he has to go up to the bookings office to get the room and dancer of his choice.'
'Are matching costumes expected?'
'Yeah, but you can buy them in-house if you haven't got anything appropriate with you. It's only a basic materials charge.'
'Then I'll be expected to get them for tonight?'
'If you dance as well as your resume boasts, then there's going to be a demand, so yes.' He opened a door marked Staff Only, ushered me through, then began pointing to the various doors leading off the small foyer area. 'Back here you have a staff lounge, locker room, and bathroom. The door to your left goes through to another office area and the costumes department. Perhaps you'd better go see them first. When you're ready, walk up to the main room and ask for Candy. She'll run through the rest of the rules for you.'
'Thanks for tour,' I said.
He nodded, but before he could turn and leave, someone behind us said, 'Matthew, why has the schoolroom been cleared of any bookings for tonight and tomorrow night? Is there a problem with it?'
The woman's voice was sharp, almost angry, and for a moment I froze. Not because I feared the sudden rise of tension in the room, but because the voice was all too familiar. This was the woman who'd spoken at the warehouse-the crow who controlled both the zombies and the hellhounds.
Matthew turned around and I followed suit, knowing I had little other choice. If I walked away, it might look odd. But her seeing through the disguise and recognizing me was a distinct danger. She'd have seen me in the old factory when her creature was chasing Joe, and even if crows had bad eyesight at night, Liander hadn't changed my looks
Still, I'd trusted his work in the past and it had never led me astray, so I carefully set my features into a look of cool curiosity.
The woman who'd appeared was small, almost fragile looking, with a shock of black hair and yellow eyes that looked oddly inhuman. Her cheeks were sharp, her nose long and angular, and her mouth thin. Not a woman who smiled much, I thought.
And she was in a wheelchair. Just like the woman who'd confronted Mike.
We had yet another connection.
'There's no problem, Ms. Hardt,' Matthew answered. 'Hanna told me not to book the room at all. Apparently a special has been requested, but she's not entirely sure what night.'
Jessica Hardt-the other owner of Meinhardt's-grunted softly, and something flashed through her eyes. Something that resembled frustration and anger combined. 'She didn't mention it to me.' Her gaze slipped to me, and she frowned suddenly. 'Who are you?'
'CC Buttons, ma'am,' I said, suddenly glad I had the modulators. She'd heard my voice in the factory and would have recognized the sound of it.
'She's on trial for tonight,' Matthew explained. 'Amber's called in sick, and Freddie's been given a week off
