“Finn was here earlier. Bartender said he talked to another demon for about five minutes and then left.” Tobias’s gaze drifted to the exotic dancer on stage, a different woman from the one who’d been there when they’d first come in.
Nix looked that way, too, in time to see the woman bend over and shake her booty to the catcalls and whistles of the audience. Then she straightened and hooked one arm around the pole, going into a few deep knee bends. As she straightened on the last one, her fingers went to the front clasp of her flimsy bra. She teased the male patrons a couple of seconds, then stripped off the bra and let it fall to the floor.
“Okay, I’ve seen way too many boobs today,” Nix stated.
“I don’t think I have.” Tobias’s eyes flicked to her then right back to the stripper.
“That sounds like something Dante would say.” When Tobias’s only response was a brief twitch of his lips, she held out her hand. “Fine. Give me the keys. You can stay here as long as you like. Enjoy yourself.”
His head swiveled at that. His eyes were appalled. “You’re not driving the Porsche.”
“Hey!” She frowned. “I’m not a bad driver.”
“Yes, you are,” he said as he turned and walked the length of the bar. Nix noticed he made sure to stay between her and the werewolf who stared at her with a mixture of humor, disdain, and anger.
Nix stared right back at him, daring him to get off his stool. She didn’t need her gun or the dagger to take care of him.
He started to get up, but at a look from Tobias he settled back onto his chair. He glared at Nix and then turned his back on her, muttering into his beer.
She shoved open the door and strode out into the fading sunlight of early evening. “God, I always feel so icky when I come out of one of these places. Why in the hell Evnissyen finds it necessary to frequent these places is beyond me.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Tobias slid his sunglasses on and quirked an eyebrow at her.
“No, I’m not. You don’t hang out at strip clubs, do you?” She paused at the passenger side of the SUV and looked at him over the hood.
“No. But I’m not a demon.”
She scowled. “Oh, give me a freaking break. Not all demons are sex-hungry maniacs who hang out at nudie bars.” Then she belatedly heard the teasing note in his voice. “Oh. Sorry.”
He just stared at her a moment before replying, “No problem.” He used the key remote to open the doors and they climbed into the vehicle. Glancing at his watch, he said, “It’ll take us about forty-five minutes from here to get to the Devil’s Domain. We need to head there now if we’re going to meet Dante on time.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” Nix buckled up and leaned her head against the headrest.
Tobias fastened his seat belt and started the SUV, then pulled out of the parking lot. He reached forward and turned on the radio. The fast beat of a popular alternative rock song came on.
She started drumming her fingers on the armrest, smiling a little when she saw Tobias doing the same on the steering wheel. An eclectic taste in music was just one of the things they shared and in the early days it had helped cement their friendship, then later their love. She glanced out the side window. It was too bad music couldn’t save them.
Tobias didn’t seem to be in a talkative mood, not that he usually was, and she used the time to continue her breathing exercises as discreetly as possible. It really didn’t matter, though, since with his vampire senses he’d be able to hear her breathing. She finally decided it was all right if he saw what she did to contain the demon. Perhaps he would finally understand that she had more control than he gave her credit for.
They pulled into the lot at the Devil’s Domain. As Tobias maneuvered the SUV into a parking space, he asked, “Are you going to be all right in there?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”
“There are probably going to be a lot of vamps in there. Not to mention incubi.” He turned his head to look at her, and, as usual, his sunglasses hid his eyes. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Yeah, probably.” She scowled. “I’ll be fine, Tobias. I’m not the same person you knew five years ago. I’ve come a long way since we were together.” She opened her door and got out, slamming the door behind her. She was proud of how evenly the words came out. Maybe being around him was acting like a catharsis. She wasn’t feeling nearly the same level of hurt as she had when she’d first seen him.
God, was that just yesterday? Unbelievable.
“Okay. I… Just know I’m here for you.”
She shot him a glance but didn’t spout off the words that sprang to her mind. Here for her like he hadn’t been in the last five years? And here for her for how long? Instead, she gave a short nod and walked toward the club.
Tobias’s cell phone rang. “Give me a minute,” he said, and stopped to answer the phone.
Nix went on and met up with Dante who waited for them near the entrance. He pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning on and they walked to the front door. “Any luck finding your guy?”
“No. How’d you do with the interviews?” she asked.
His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “No one told me anything I didn’t already know.” He started to reach for the door but stopped when the bulky doorman held out his hand.
Nix looked at him. The ruddy cast to his skin, the bright grass green of his eyes, and the small brown mushroom-shaped birthmark beneath his left ear signified he was one of the nature fairies known as green men. “Reservations?” he asked. The look that passed through his eyes was one Nix had seen before. There were already too many humans inside for comfort, and he wasn’t about to let another one in. “This is the first I’ve heard of needing reservations,” she said.
The big man merely stared at her.
“You don’t need reservations,” Tobias said as he walked up behind them.
“Mr. Caine!” The big doorman cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t know these two were with you.” He glanced at the Glock holstered at Nix’s waist. “I’ll let you in since you’re with Mr. Caine, but weapons aren’t allowed.”
There was no way in hell they were going to walk into the Devil’s Domain without their weapons. “You let vamps and weres and all sorts of prets in there—prets who come equipped with built-in weapons, I might add—and you won’t let us inside carrying protection?”
“Club rules. The only exceptions are for members of law enforcement.”
“Well, I guess it’s our lucky day.” Dante flipped his jacket to one side to show the man the badge fastened to his belt.
Without another word the doorman reached out a long arm toward the door. “Have an enjoyable evening.” As Tobias walked past him, he said, “It’s good to see you again, sir.”
When the door swung open Nix was assaulted by loud techno rock and the jumble of voices. Scents of perfumes and colognes drifted in the air, plus the smell of lightly and some not-so-lightly perspiring bodies. There were also plenty of vamp pheromones, just as Tobias had warned.
One thing was sure. Dante was going to get an education about prets.
Just inside the doorway he stopped and took a look around. “Wow.”
Nix glanced around the club, trying to see it through his eyes. The place was packed. Out of habit she looked for potential trouble. A gaggle of vamps sat in a large booth in a dimly lit corner; human groupies clustered around offering necks and arms. The dance floor had a mixture of humans and prets, and a few werewolves congregated near the bar, beer in their hands and mischief in their eyes.
“Let’s get a seat in the back,” Tobias suggested, brushing his way past them to lead the way.
As they followed him, Dante leaned over. “I didn’t realize it would be quite so…punkish,” he yelled to Nix over the cacophony of sounds.
“Hopefully the drinks will make up for it,” she responded.
“What?” He leaned closer.
She shook her head. “Let’s get a ta
ble,” she shouted, and hurried to catch up with Tobias. They walked past the polished mahogany bar which, amid all the modern sights and sounds, was surprisingly Old West looking. Tobias headed straight for the only available booth, one at the end of the row in the corner. He slid onto the bench on the wall side, doing what Nix would have done had she gotten there first. If you were facing the crowd, no one could sneak up on you.
At this point, though, she’d rather get snuck up on than sit next to Tobias. She sat on the seat across from him. To her surprise, Dante stopped next to Tobias.
“You want to shove over, chief?” he asked.
Tobias looked surprised as well. Instead of sliding over, he eased out of the booth and motioned for Dante to get in. Then Tobias took his seat again and lifted a hand to summon a server.
“I’ve never seen so many EDs in one place,” Dante said. Excitement sparkled in his dark eyes. “It’s fascinating.”
“Easy there, Mr. Spock,” she teased. “Just don’t be surprised if some sort of mayhem breaks out. It usually does.”
“Why?”
“Because most prets, not all, are naturally aggressive. Put a few drinks in them and things get interesting.”
“Ah.”
A young woman with a pen and pad in her hands stopped at their table. “Mr. Caine. It’s nice to see you again.”
Tobias’s lips curved in a genuine smile. “It’s nice to see you again, too, Gretchen.” He looked at Nix. “Know what you want?”
“I’ll have a glass of red wine and some mozzarella sticks.” Now that she had time to think, Nix realized she was hungry again. The small fries and diet cola she’d gotten at the bottom of Mt. Lemmon hadn’t satisfied her for long. “And fried zucchini.”
Dante leaned his elbows on the table. “I’ll take whatever’s on tap. And add some chicken wings to our order, would you?”
“Sure thing, hon,” the waitress said as she scribbled on her pad. “How hot do you want ’em?”
Nix shot Dante a look. “Just how much heat can you handle, Detective?”
“Since we’re talking about food here, for the moment, I’ll admit I don’t like my wings very hot. My women, on the other hand—”
“We’ll take the chipotle barbecue,” Nix said before he could say something to embarrass her.
Dante just grinned and settled back against his seat.
“And for you, Mr. Caine?”
“Red wine with a kick,” he replied.
The waitress finished jotting on her notepad. “I’ll get those drinks right out to you.” She turned and walked away, her gait lithe and sensual.
“Red wine with a kick?” Dante asked, his gaze glued to the waitress.
Nix leaned over the table. “There’ll be a little bit of blood in the wine,” she explained.
Dante’s eyes widened slightly. “No kidding.” He glanced at his seatmate. “Maybe I should be on that side of the table,” he said, pointing toward Nix.
Tobias smiled, a slow tilt of his lips.
“Give it up, boss. You’re not scaring me. Much,” he added under his breath. He looked around the club, dark eyes skipping from group to group, person to person. “This isn’t so bad,” he finally said.
The waitress came back with their drinks. “Your food’ll be up shortly.” She left as quietly as she’d come.
Nix glanced around, tracking people as they moved around the club. So far no one seemed the least bit interested in their little corner of the world.
“You’re always on alert, aren’t you?” Dante asked.
“I can’t afford not to be around this lot.” She picked up her drink. “Especially when alcohol’s involved. Besides, it’s part of the job, isn’t it?”
Dante crossed his arms and leaned on the table. “I guess it is. My sister always gives me a hard time whenever we go out. She says I look for bad guys under every table.” He took a sip of beer. “Occupational hazard, I guess.” He watched with interest as Tobias picked up his wineglass.
“What?” Tobias asked.
“Just waiting to see if you’re going to go all vampy on me,” Dante said, shifting his weight toward the wall.
Nix caught the twinkle in his eye and pressed her lips together against a grin.
Tobias scowled, but it was good natured. He took a sip of wine and set the glass back on the table, though his lean fingers played with the stem.
She remembered how those blunt-tipped fingers felt against her skin, stroking, rubbing. She grabbed her own glass and took a long swallow. “So, where are we with the investigation?” she asked, and took a more moderate sip of wine.
“We got nowhere on finding Finn. All we figured out today was where he wasn’t,” Tobias answered. His eyes grew stormy as he looked at Dante. “How’d you do?”
“Got nowhere, too.” The detective pulled out his small notebook and flipped through the pages. “Nothing, nothing, and yet more nothing.” He slapped the notebook onto the table.
She looked at them both. “Dr. Sahir down at the observatory knows more than he was saying.”
“I agree.” Tobias pulled his phone out of his pocket, his long fingers punching in a phone number. Nix forced herself to keep her gaze on his face. When the call was answered, Tobias said, “I have a job for you. There’s someone I want you to keep an eye on for me.” He went on to describe the astronomer to the person on the other end of the line.
When he hung up, Nix asked him, “Who was that?”
“It’s a Tucson PI I know. He owes me one.” He took a sip of wine. His pupils had dilated until only the thinnest rim of gray circled them. Emotions or blood, Nix wasn’t sure which. Probably a mixture of both. But he was in no danger of going vampy on them, as Dante had joked about. Tobias was much too controlled for that. Tobias went on, “He’ll keep an eye on Sahir until we can make it back down to Tucson to question him further.”
“So you agree we need to talk to him again.” Dante lifted his beer. “This PI, is he human or an ED?” He took a long swallow from the glass.
“Does it matter?” Tobias arched a brow.
“Nope.” Dante set his glass down. “Just curious.”
“He’s as human as you are.”
Over the next hour they drank and ate their food when it came, but around seven thirty the day started to catch up to Nix. She tried to smother a yawn, but Tobias saw it. Despite her protests, he insisted it was time for him to take her home.
Tobias slid out of the booth. He held out a hand to Nix. “Come on, honey.” His voice was husky with the same concern that darkened his eyes. “It’s been a long day.”
For once she wasn’t going to get after him for the endearment, nor was she going to fight too hard about leaving. It had been an emotional couple of days. The skin of her forehead tingled. She needed to get home and do a full tai chi routine, something that would help her regain her control.
Dante scooted out of the booth. As they made their way through the crowd, Nix motioned toward the bar. “Just let me get a bottle of wine to go.”
Tobias’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “You always did like Maldonado’s wine.”
“He has an excellent winery.” She turned and stopped suddenly. Just ahead was a guy who looked familiar, someone who might be able to help them find the elusive Finn Evnissyen. She wasn’t sure, though, so she started forward, putting herself on a collision course with him. As she approached, she bumped into him, slipping her fingers into his jacket to relieve him of his wallet.
“Wow. That was smooth.” Dante stood close enough to shield her hand and its contents from the guy whose load she’d just lightened. “I knew you’d spent some time on the streets, but I had no idea you had such mad skills.”
“Skills she has no business utilizing anymore.” Tobias’s disapproval fell on her like a sodden blanket.
“I did it for a reason,” she muttered. She flipped open the wallet and pressed her lips together. It wasn’t who she’d thought it was. “I thought I knew him, but I was
wrong. It’s not the guy.”
“Well, then, you can give it back.” He held out one hand. “Or I will.”
She wasn’t sure which infuriated her more, when he treated her like some sort of pariah of the preternatural world or as if she were a recalcitrant child. “I’m perfectly capable of giving this back to him and apologizing for taking it,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster. Before she could head toward him, though, a hand clamped onto her shoulder.
She smelled vamp and without thinking grabbed the hand and twisted, putting the person on his knees with his arm straight back behind him. She drew his arm higher, exerting pressure on his shoulder. Then she realized who she’d just put on his knees.
It was the bartender. With a bottle of wine in the hand that wasn’t being driven between his shoulder blades. Aware that the people around them had become silent, Nix pressed her lips together and let him go with a lame, apologetic smile. “Sorry.”
“I figured you wanted one of these. You usually do.” He got to his feet and handed her the bottle. His pupils were dilated so that only the faintest bit of green circled them. Elongated fangs peeked out over his bottom lip.
“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” She was lucky he hadn’t spun out of her grip and ripped her throat out. As he rotated his shoulder, she gave him another tentative smile. “Sorry,” she repeated.
He lifted his chin. “I’ll put it on your tab.” He started to turn away.
Nix stopped him. “Wait.” She handed him the wallet. “It belongs to that guy,” she said, pointing toward the human man in the navy blue pinstripe.
The bartender rolled his eyes and took the wallet from her. “I’ll return it to him, but you really need to stop doing that.” He walked toward the man.
Nix turned back and looked at Tobias and Dante. One stared at her with censure and disappointment, the other with humor and a little bit of admiration. She refused to admit how much Tobias’s opinion of her mattered and how much it hurt that he thought so little of her.
Chapter Eight
Tobias had thought Nix had outgrown her penchant for pickpocketing, a necessity picked up from living on the streets for a couple of years after her grandmother had died. But without a pause or flicker of forethought, she’d lifted that man’s wallet with the ease of a professional.
Kiss of the Vampire Page 12