Chopper.
Two black leather circles attached to my breasts by thin metal chains were all that covered me from the waist up. Black leather thong panties were the bottom half, with more chains dangling from my waist in an absurd version of a skirt. Leather-topped thigh-high stockings embedded with spikes doubled as my hosiery, and I wore solid silver high-heeled shoes. All the better to kick the hell out of someone with. I’d gone heavy on the black eye makeup until raccoons and I could pass for cousins. Add numerous chains crisscrossing my arms, and this evening couldn’t end fast enough.
Dave and Tate were dressed with equal heinousness. More black leather, chains, and whips. Either Don’s staff truly had costumes for all possible occasions on hand, or someone at wardrobe had a lot of explaining to do.
We were checked for weapons at the door, all our chains notwithstanding. As usual, my silver shoes went overlooked. Hiding a weapon in plain sight had proven to be very effective. I was ushered in with Tate and Dave without anyone guessing a thing. Let the free-for-all begin.
The three of us surveyed the interior of the club. Even I, who’d seen a lot, blinked at the spectacle around me.
Couples led each other around by collars, dog-walking style. Every other person had a whip. I almost felt left out. In front of us a domestic dispute was going on. A man backhanded his date so hard, blood pearled at her mouth. My abrupt step forward was put on hold when she moaned in pleasure, asking for another blow.
Ew.Well, what did I expect?S amp;M didn’t stand forsoft and mushy.
What almost gave me away as a quasi-normal person was my reaction when I got a look at the dance floor. Random beatings aside, which seemed to be the norm, some humans and their undead companions were giving dirty dancing a whole new name.
“Wow,” Tate whispered. “They’re fuckingright on the dance floor. ”
“I see that.” There was an edge to my words.
Dave gave me a sideways grin. “Juan will cry at being stuck in the van. If he were here, he’d be screaming,Authenticity’s imperative! and taking his pants down.”
That relaxed me enough to laugh. “You’re so right. Well, let’s boogey, boys, but keep your pencils in your pockets. We have a job to do.”
For the next half hour, we grooved while manag ing to do a sweep of the area at the same time. So far, nothing looked murderous, even if it was nasty and rough.
I felt a hum of power nearby. Bones had gotten to be so familiar to me that I knew him by aura alone. As casually as I could manage, I glanced over Dave’s shoulder, seeking him out. My eyes widened when I found him.
Bones was shirtless, those luscious muscles moving under his crystal flesh as he danced. And holy hell, when had he found the time to pierce his nipples? Those rings must be silver; that was the only thing a vampire’s body wouldn’t naturally dispel, but would need to be forced out by willpower instead, which Bones obviously wasn’t doing. Those shiny silver circles drew the eye to his sculpted chest. It took me a minute to even notice his pants, and then I did freeze.
“Keep moving, Cat,” Dave whispered.
I picked up where I’d left off, staring over Dave’s shoulder as I danced. Bones’s pants were made entirely of thin metal chains linked together. Skin peeked through the gaps whenever he moved, and anyone could tell he wasn’t wearing anything under them. He caught my eye and grinned, running his tongue over his lip slow enough for me to notice that his nipples weren’t the only thing he’d pierced.
I was just starting to get warm all over at the thought of how that spike in his tongue would feel, when a brunette jostled around other people to peer up at Bones, her expression one of delighted shock.
“I don’t believe it, it’s you! Do you remember me? Think Fresno, late eighties. Of course, I was human then. I almost didn’t recognize you with the dark hair, you used to be blond…”
Bones was giving her a glare that would have frozen steel, but she went on, heedless.
“…come here before? I’m here all the time, and I can show you theprivate party area.”
Bones lost his annoyed look at once and beamed at her. “Priscilla, wasn’t it? Of course I remember you, my lovely. Private area, you say? Show me.”
Bones let her drag him off to the side. Tate watched, a faintly disgusted curl to his lips.
“Don’t you get sick of it? How half the women he runs into have had a piece of him?”
I ignored that and focused on Bones and Priscilla. Bones was telling her I was on the menu for tonight, if that private area was discreet enough for dining.
“It is,” Priscilla was saying as she ran her hands over him. “I can’t wait to fuck you now that I’m a vampire. You were so amazing before, and it’ll only be better…”
My teeth ground together. Tate just let out a knowing snort.
Priscilla pulled Bones’s mouth down to hers next. I knew I should look away, but I couldn’t. Nor could I leap across the dance floor and pummel her into a mass of goo, which is what I really wanted to do. But if I did, I might as well grab a bullhorn and announce myself. So I watched Bones kiss her with a thoroughness that had my nails ripping into my palms.It’s not real, just like it’s not real when you have to romance targets on a job, I reminded myself.
But it hurt like it was real, making me wonder how Bones stood it when the situation was reversed and it was me French-kissing and getting feely with other men. At least he grabbed Priscilla’s hand to stop her when the tramp reached for the front of his pants.
“Soon, sweet, after I’ve eaten,” Bones told her in a sensual purr. “Wouldn’t want to be distracted, would I?”
Bones propelled her back toward our little group.
“This is William,” he said with a nod to Dave, still in my arms. “The rest aren’t worthy of names,” he finished, indicating me and Tate.
Priscilla ran a finger over his chest. “What’s yours? You never did tell me.”
He brought her hand to his lips. “I’ll tell you afterward.”
My teeth ground again, but I didn’t say anything.
“Follow me,” Priscilla said. “This way.”
His former promiscuity is finally coming in handy, I thought darkly as we approached the entryway into the hidden room. This would have taken time to find on our own.
It was concealed underneath the unused bar in the far corner. You stepped behind a half wall and lifted the false cabinet to reveal stairs. They traveled down, the noise from the revelers and music masking the sounds below. Something thumped in the room beyond the narrow passage, rising and falling with increasing volume as we approached.
“Welcome.” Priscilla smiled as she opened the door. “To the real Marquis.”
The room wasn’t large, but it was filled from top to bottom with unnatural devices of every kind. Manacles hung from the walls, the cuffs attached to them stained with blood. We stepped past benches of a variety I never wanted to know about, straps and buckles worn from repeated use. A wheel? I didn’t even want to guess what that was for.
The thumping noise we’d heard turned out to be the flogging of a couple tied to one of the welded poles. They were faced away from their tormentor, foreheads smacking into the pole with every blow, and from the looks of them, they weren’t enjoying their punishment.
The whip master paused in his measured staccato to glance up at us. He was a vampire, roughly two hundred from the feel of his aura.
“What have you brought me, Priscilla?”
Another vampire lounged on the nearby couch, drinking from the neck of an unconscious woman on his lap.
“Guests, Anre,” she said.
He rested his sherry-colored eyes over me. “I’ll take her. It will be a pleasure to mark her flawless skin.” Next he considered Bones. “You look familiar, have we met?”
Bones gave him a cold smile. “Not formally, but we did run into each other in London, round 1890, when I was looking for a bloke named Renard. Recall me now? I took his head but left you the rest of him.”
