Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Flesh and Sin
Under the Skin Serial Part Five
K.B. Ladnier
Copyright © 2017 by K.B. Ladnier
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Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
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To the makers of glitter. I’m pretty sure you guys are the real reason Claudia exists
Chapter One
Claudia
This was my place. Right here amongst the vampire and human patrons; dancing to the rhythm of Flesh by Simon Curtis.
The beats of the bass rumbled the small stage I was on, making the vibrations travel from my feet to my chest. My skin tingled more the harder it hit. The Sassy Sanguine was my favorite place to exist. My sanctuary. With its speakeasy vibe and music that ranged from 20’s to 60’s era, I never felt like leaving unless I had to.
I swayed and slid my hands along my body, teasing the human men at my feet. I loved when they begged for more as I touched myself slowly. I always got a rush when they begged. It was so easy to please them without even having to touch them. I never touched them. I was the only dancer here that never offered the usual lap dances or private strip sessions you could pay for at other strip joints. No. No man would touch me no matter how much they offered; unless I wanted them to. And the list of men who garnered that privilege was slim. Almost non-existent.
I was like a cat. ‘I’ll come to you; don’t you fucking dare come to me’ should be my motto.
Sloan, my best friend next to Lucy, was one of the select few. His advances were only hugs or the occasional playful punch to my arm when we got into a tussle. And of course, my maker, Abraham, was the other. He earned the right to touch me however he wanted by being my saving grace. I was a willing captive, ready to serve my master any way he wished should he ask it of me. He never would, though. Brahm never asked anything of me; except to be happy and to stay out of trouble. The latter of the two was hardest for me.
It didn’t help that my bestie Lucy, was involved with a member of the STF; aka the Supernatural Task Force. This was our policing force that helped control the not so in control supernaturals that walked the earth. They were made up of humans and a mix of supernatural races like vampires, and shifters of several varieties; at least, I was pretty sure there were varieties. That bull shifter, Bishop Bentley, sure was a piece of work. The asshole still refused to look me in the eye.
My crazy life and lack of self-preservation was due to Lucy falling in love with an STF agent after helping him on a case almost six months ago. Had it really been that long? Hmm. Anyway, that ended on a pretty good note. BloodLust was now permanently off the streets. Bellamy got stuck in his black heart by my bestie. Said bestie also found her maker and now third lover. God, so many damn lovers. And here I was with a touch complex. I’d be perfectly fine with one. Two? I could probably go for that. God knew, it’d been a long time since I’d been touched. At least, in the way I wanted to be. I just hoped whoever it was that I finally managed to snag, would understand that they’d have to get past my unhealthy obsession with glitter.
Speaking of glitter…
“Beck! You thieving bitch!” I stopped dancing to yell at my co-worker as she slinked by the stage, gaining some shocked expressions from the two fellas that’d been watching me. I used the shoulders of the men to jump down, then stalked towards her. “I see that glitter you’re wearing! No one touches the Rainbow Dash Stash!”
Seriously? It wasn’t enough that all five-foot-three, blonde bimbo of her had to put her gropey hands all over my maker anytime he walked in the club. Now, bitch was digging through my glitter stash. And Rainbow Dash was rose scented, and I had to bid a pretty penny on it!
“You have no proof it’s yours, Claudia. I have the same stuff.”
“Bullshit! You were eyeing it like you do Abraham just this morning. Don’t think I don’t keep track of my shit, Beck.”
Beck gave me one of her signature bitch smirks, then started pretending to use her middle finger like a tube of lipstick as she walked away. I was about to stomp after her when an arm snaked around my stomach and lifted me before turning me to face the opposite direction.
I had flinched on initial contact of the arm, but then the bonding tingles hit. The smell of Armani cologne and Italian leather hit my senses, and I relaxed. Brahm was the only one who smelled that way.
“Now, now, Love. Can’t have you trying to stake the employees no matter how much of your glitter they steal.”
I looked up into his red-eyes and glowered. “You ruin all my fun. I wasn’t going to stake her. I was just going to claw her skin off in every area my glitter was applied. Repo-ing it basically.” I shrugged my shoulders innocently.
“Love, as much as I adore that you can take care of yourself, I need that glitter stealing wench to make money for this place. Next to you, she’s the favorite. Autumn scares them away half the time with her brooding, and Sammy won’t stop talking long enough to dance. Seeing as I refuse to let anyone else touch you and you’re banned from the feeding rooms, you can’t make the bigger bucks like her. And let us keep it that way, shall we?”
I hated how right he was. He flashed me one of his devastatingly handsome smiles when he saw I was calm. I lifted a hand and ran my thumb across his 5 o’clock shadow that lined his chiseled jaw. He was dressed yet again in one of his usual outfits; dark slacks, white button down with the top two buttons undone, black suspenders, and black, Italian leather dress shoes. It amazed me how he could bring back such an old style and make it look so damn good. Who was I kidding? He could wear a burlap sack while running around calling himself a potato and people would still think he was sexy as sin. At least, I would.
With that imagery in my head, I gave him the sweetest grin I could muster. “I love how you calm me down.” Then I dropped it, replacing the smile with a scowl. “But if she steals my glitter one more time, I’m barbecuing the bitch. And not even Bishop Bentley will be able to hold me back from doing it.”
I dropped my hand and gave him a look that said I wasn’t messing around. Brahm’s thick brow arched before he crossed his arms and ran his hand down his face to muffle a laugh. “Agent Bentley would never dream of it, Love. I dare say, he is actually quite intimidated by you.”
I straightened and gave him a devilish grin. “Who wouldn’t be?” Then I walked back towards the dressing rooms to change out of my ridiculous costume. Brahm, of course, followed me.
“Claudia, I’m not finished with you yet,” he admonished me.
“Oh, now that just sounds dirty!” I snickered at his look of exasperation as I slipped behind t
he changing screen.
He sighed. “You will be the death of me one of these days, Claudia Adams; I swear it. But for now, I came to tell you that Lucy called me when you didn’t answer your phone. She says she needs you as soon as possible.”
I stuck my head around the screen and gaped at him. “Is she okay? Did something happen?” I stopped gaping and looked at him suspiciously. “Did Betty get thrown out a window again? Vex really needs to stop pissing them off with that hammer.”
He shook his head. “No, everything is fine. I do have to agree with you on the hammer part. I get its significance, but the bed chamber? Really?”
I shoved my arms into my long sleeve V-neck. “Omigod! I know!” I shoved my feet into my skinny jeans then walked out from behind the screen. “So, what’s so important this time? She does understand I don’t exactly have anywhere to shove my phone while dancing right?”
“Something about her dress. That’s all she would tell me.”
My eyes widened. “Holy shit! Damn it, B! You gotta lead conversations with that! I should’ve left here like… yesterday!” I quickly grabbed my purse and raced past him towards the entrance.
I felt Brahm grab my hand and tug me to a stop. “Be careful will you, love? I get she’s on edge right now, but don’t let her worries about this distract you from staying alert walking there. Alright?”
The concern shadowing his eyes gave me pause. He’d been like this towards me since the moment he arrived in New York while the whole Bellamy thing was going down. His protective nature had kicked into overdrive to the point it was smothering me. I got it, though.
I smiled sincerely up at him then leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “I’ll stay alert. Don’t worry. You taught me to be a fighter, so I’m always ready to defend myself.”
He nodded. “That’s my girl.” He turned me and gave a gentle nudge towards the exit.
If only he knew how much I wished that was true.
When I arrived at Lucy’s, it was to find all three of her guys in an array of strange positions around their apartment.
Vex was sitting upside down on the couch with his feet dangling over the back. He mumbled to himself with his eyes closed as he clutched onto his beloved hammer, Betty, for dear life. Sloan was sitting with his back in a corner and playing with a light up yo-yo; his facial expression said not to fuck with him. And finally, Hollis had his ear pressed up against the door that led to their bedroom. It was as if I didn’t even exist as I entered.
I looked around at them with a mixture of amusement and confusion, not entirely sure if I just stepped in some sort of Lucy Love Nest feud.
“What the hell happened here? Where’s Lucy?” I asked them.
Simultaneously, Vex and Sloan pointed at the bedroom door without even looking at me. I walked over to Hollis. He sighed and lifted himself from the door.
“She has not come out of there in over an hour,” he said grimly.
“Uh huh. Why is that? And why does Vex look like he’s thinking of becoming a bat, and Sloan look like Lucy swatted him on the nose with a newspaper... again.” I tried to hold in the giggle as the imagery of the first time that happened filtered through my mind.
So, not the appropriate time to be laughing.
“Well, her dress came in. She closed herself in there, so we wouldn’t see, then the next thing we hear is her screaming. We tried going in there, but she yelled at us to get out and threw Betty at us. Vex is having a nervous breakdown about that,” he gave a low sigh and rolled his eyes in disbelief. “Sloan is just trying to placate his wolf after hearing her scream. He was pacing, so I handed him the yo-yo and made him sit in the corner before he broke the house. I’ve been listening to her to make sure she’s okay. She’s just been muttering obscenities to herself.”
Oh, Lord. I guess I came just in time.
I put a hand on his shoulder to move him aside. “I got this. There’s only one reason she would’ve screamed after getting her dress. Leave it to me. Go tend to Bat-shit and Wolfy.”
Hollis chuckled at my nicknames for the guys and waved his hand for me to go ahead, before walking away.
I lightly tapped on the door. “Lucy, babe. It’s Claudia, open up.”
The door flew open and I was yanked inside so hard, I thought I’d leave my shoes behind. Lucy slammed the door behind me and leaned her back against it with a look of horror on her face. Bloody tears fell in rivets down her cheeks and she blew her nose on a tissue.
“It’s so fucking awful, Claudia. I couldn’t let them in here to see it. I can’t let them see that monstrosity!” She sobbed. Her dreads were sticking up in all directions and she looked on the edge of breaking something.
I lifted my hands in a calming manner. “Just breathe, Luce. Lemme check it out okay?”
She nodded and lifted her hand to her lips, nervously biting at her nails as I walked over to the bed. I saw the massive garment bag laid across her expansive bed. I stopped next to it and leaned over to begin unzipping the plastic. I almost wanted to die seeing what was lying within it,
“Omigod!” I shouted. “What the fuck did you order, Luce? You planning to have the rest of the sheep herders join in the bridal party?”
The dress was a shade of pink that could only be described as dull, chewed bubblegum. The pink was murky and almost grey. Cream colored ruffles of lace lined the wide skirt of the dress in rows. The sleeves were capped in the same cream lace, and about the size of bowling balls. And finally, the neckline would’ve fastened all the way up under her chin. In essence, it looked like Little Bo Peep was missing not just her sheep.
“I have no fucking clue how I got this dress. This is not my wedding dress, Claudia. Mine is a beautiful, black Sareh Nouri Spring 2016 Mona Lisa Ball Gown; long Taffeta lace sleeves, backless and fucking expensive! Not this!” She slid down the door to the floor and grabbed her hair as she breathed in and out with harsh breaths.
The guys had asked Lucy to marry them on Valentine’s day a month ago, so she’d been trying to throw together a last-minute wedding. I didn’t envy the amount of stress she was going through trying to accomplish this. She’d been a vamp-bride from Hell lately. It wasn’t a big wedding by any means, but Lucy wanted it special. She deserved special. Her dress was the one thing she wanted perfect. Everything else could fall to pieces and Lucy would just laugh. But not when it came to her dress.
“I know, sweetie. I helped you pick it out. There must have been a mix-up. I’m sure we can figure it out.”
She jumped to her feet and grabbed my arms roughly to shake me. “The wedding is in a week! I was lucky to get this one last second. What the hell am I going to do? I cannot wear that!” She pointed her finger at the offending dress.
I quickly shoved the dress back into the bag, getting it out of her sight as soon as possible.
“We will figure it out!” I replied loudly as I set my hands on her shoulders. “You killed an effin Ancient, Lucy Bryant! You brought Vex back from the brink of insanity,” I paused, thinking about the vampire I saw when I walked in. “Well, mostly back. But this? This is nothing.”
She nodded her head rapidly. “Yeah. Yeah, I, uh, yeah. I can do this. I think...”
I smiled and pulled her in for a hug. “Now, you go take a nice long bath. I’m going to go burn this dress before it puts a curse on your sex life,” I joked as I held her.
Lucy giggled and pulled away, wiping away the tears. “That would probably be best.”
“No. What would be best is maybe not throwing Betty again. I think you broke Vex. Like more broke than he already was. That’s saying something.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit! I did do that didn’t I? I panicked, and I just reached for something. He really should stop bringing Betty in here.”
I breathed in through clenched teeth and squinted my eyes at her. “Yeah. It’s past the point of weird, even for me.”
“Thanks, Claude. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I laughed an
d patted her shoulder. “You’d probably be wearing this dress to your wedding without me. See you tomorrow night for drinks!”
I kissed her cheek then gathered up the Bo Peep Dress of Doom, laying it over my arm before leaving the room. All the guys looked in my direction as I walked to the front door.
“Crisis averted. I have removed the cursed object and you are all free to check on your lady love.”
Hollis gave me a grateful smile and nod before walking to the bedroom. Sloan stopped and hugged me before quickly following. But Vex stayed seated on the couch upside down. I walked over and turned my head to look at him.
“She didn’t mean it, Vexie. Lucy is stressed right now and wasn’t thinking,” I explained to him gently.
His eyes zeroed in on me and he scowled. “Damn right she wasn’t thinking! What’d Betty ever do to her?”
I sighed. “Betty could stand to stay out of the bedroom. That’d be a good start.” I still had no idea what exactly was the reasoning for her being there, but I was honestly too afraid to ask.
He stared at me with hesitation then blew air into his cheeks. “If it was that big of problem she could have just said so. She didn’t have to throw her.” He brought her down to his face and rubbed the handle like she was precious.
I patted his cheek. “You’re right. Which is why she wants to apologize. So up you go!” I stood and waved my hands, motioning for him to get up.
“Alright, alright,” he groused and moved to sit up. “I’m going. I’m still mad, though!”
I shook my head at him. “Take it up with your love nest. I am going home to burn this.”
Flesh and Sin Page 1