beneath. Her hair, scraped back from her head and pulled tight in a minuscule lump on the back of her head, was white with a few thick black hairs mixed in. Her eyes were also white, clouded with cataracts, and although I knew she must be blind, the way she turned her attention on me had me squirming as if she could see deep into my soul. 'So you have found her at last?'
'This is Nell. Jada is Gigli's'—Adrian stopped, unable to find the proper word—'sentinel.'
'Sentinel?' I looked at the old woman. She was blind, frail, wrinkled within an inch of her life, and looked to be older than the building we stood in.
'Bouncer,' the old lady corrected Adrian, cackling at my air of disbelief. 'It is an American word, but it carries much power.'
'Uh… OK. You're a bouncer.' Right. And I was Alice after all.
'You are a Charmer,' she answered, a whip-crack of steel in her dusty voice that had me taking back a little of my disbelief in her claim. She raised her hand, and one bent, gnarled finger touched the side of my head. The touch sent icy shivers down my back and arms. 'You have light in your head, the white light of oblivion, but your fear is what will destroy you, not the light.'
Goose bumps marched up and down my arms at her words. I had never told anyone but Adrian how the stroke had manifested itself as a white light, and he certainly had had no time to tell her about it… not that I thought he would discuss something so private.
'It wasn't my fear that destroyed part of my brain ten years ago,' I said softly as I moved closer to Adrian. His arm came around me, comfortingly solid.
The old woman cackled again and waved us in.
'That is one very strange woman,' I said in a low undertone as Adrian walked behind me down a dark, narrow passage. 'Who on earth would hire someone blind and feeble to be a bouncer, of all things?'
'Jada is a Kohan.' I looked my question at him over my shoulder. 'Kohan is Farsi for ancient.'
'Well, she's certainly all that,' I agreed, opening the door at the end of the passage.
It was like opening the door to Wonderland. I looked around the big room pulsing with lights and soft music, walls filled with erotic pictures and paintings, the red and black carpeted floor all but invisible in the sea of bodies that moved and swayed in time with the music. Along the walls little alcoves had been built, shielded with long red velvet drapery, most of which were closed. But some had been left open, and the bodies within the alcoves were entwined and writhing together in a manner that left nothing to the imagination. I finally understood what sort of business Adrian's friend Gigli was running in her house.
'This is a brothel, isn't it? Some sort of weirdo German sex club?'
Adrian just shot me a look that warned me against making a scene, his hand warm and steady on the small of my back as he pushed me into the room. The music swept over us as we entered, and I realized that something must have been added to it, some sort of subliminal message leaving the listener with a strong compulsion to join the throng and dance the night away.
'Dance with me,' I said, whirling around to face Adrian, anticipation pooling in my stomach at the thought of his body pressed hard against mine as we moved to the music. 'I want to dance with you.'
'You must resist the glamour,' he answered, pushing me backward through the crowd. 'It is meant for the others. We have much to do tonight, Nell.'
'Yes, much,' I purred, rubbing myself against him, feeling wickedly sensual. An overpowering swell of emotion rose within me, a need to touch him, to hold him deep inside me.
His eyes went sapphire at my words, but he held me off his chest when I would have wrapped myself around him. 'Business first, Hasi. Later I will allow you to perform all those wicked acts you are imagining.'
'I can imagine a lot of wicked acts,' I warned, quivering with the need to touch him, to possess him. My body was sensitized with a heightened awareness that left the very touch of clothing against my flesh an intolerable irritation. The only thing I wanted touching me was Adrian. I tugged at buttons on my jacket, throwing it to the floor as Adrian backed me through the seemingly solid mass of dancers. Others brushed against me, but it was only Adrian's touch I wanted, only his body that mine craved. I ran my hands over my belly, up to my breasts, imagining they were his hands stroking me as I ripped off my sweater.
Adrian paused long enough to pluck both my sweater and jacket off the floor. 'Hasi, look at me. You must fight the glamour. It is making you feel things you will later regret.'
'I want you, Adrian. I want you right now. I could never regret that. Make love to me, my darling. Make love to me now!'
He swore under his breath as he pushed me through the crowd until another door stood before us, this one painted red with a sign marked
My hand slid down his chest to the fly of his jeans. The cloth was tight, bulging with the strain of holding him in, his body shaking with the effort to restrain himself. His hand covered mine, intending to remove it from his groin, but at the touch of his fingers I felt his desire and need as I caressed the hard, thick length of him. Passion rose within him along with a terrible hunger, the blackness that still remained in him gone red with arousal.
'Love me,' I breathed, tugging his hair until his mouth descended toward mine.
He scooped me up in his arms, his lips hot on mine as he kissed me.
'Has it been so long that you did not remember to ward yourself before entering the lounge?' a voice asked behind Adrian. His body stiffened as his lips parted from mine, but before I could protest the action, we were in a small room, the sound of the door closing behind us cutting through the red wave of need as effectively as if someone had thrown ice water on me.
Adrian set me down, silently handing me my sweater and jacket.
'Crap!' I squealed, grabbing both and pulling them on without meeting anyone's eyes. I vaguely remembered that a glamour was some sort of magical compulsion that could be bound to something audible or visible—like a piece of art or music—but I had no idea that it could be such a powerful thing, even away from its direct influence. My body tingled with the remainder of the glamour-induced lust.
'This must be your Beloved. You are welcome in my house, Nell.'
I buttoned the last button on my jacket and forced myself to look at the woman who ushered us into the room. I don't know what I had expected a Welsh spirit to look like, but she looked as normal as any other red- headed, freckled, buxom woman in a tight scarlet dress that exactly matched the color of the door. She smiled a bit wryly, gesturing with a languid hand toward the room beyond. 'I'm sorry Adrian didn't prepare you for that. It is a little bit of silliness, but the locals seem to enjoy it.'
I gritted out a smile and a brief apology for my little striptease before glaring at Adrian.
'It has never affected me before,' he shrugged, peeling off his coat and setting his satchel on a nearby black and red chair. 'I did not think precautions were needed.'
Gigli smiled, and I warmed up to her despite my embarrassment over almost ravishing Adrian in public. 'You did not feel it before because you had not found your Beloved. Your emotions for her are what leave you vulnerable to the glamour. Please, sit down and tell me how I can be of help.'
I sat in a black leather chair. Adrian stood behind me, his body language expressing unease and discomfort. 'I have nothing to offer you in payment for your help, Gigli.'
Her smile turned rueful. 'You have done much to help me in the past without demanding payment, Adrian. I am happy I will be able to pay off my debt to you, although I must warn you, I do not have much cash. My clientele demands only the best, and just last week I had to fly in an entirely new group of sylphs after the last girls decided to form a union and start their own house.' She snorted disgustedly. 'After all I did for them, that was how they repaid me!'
Adrian frowned. 'I'm sorry about your labor problems, Gigli, but—'
'Ungrateful, selfish sylphs,' Gigli stormed. 'You would think they'd have felt some loyalty to me, but no, they stayed long enough to learn what it takes to entertain a poltergeist, then poof! Off they went to start a rival house.'
'Poltergeists?' I asked, my eyebrows shooting upward as I looked at Adrian.
'They took their costumes, too. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to clothe sylphs? It's all sheer silk this and gossamer lace that.'
