I hung back a little, so the bouncers didn’t think Melusine and I were with those three twats. From here, I couldn’t quite hear what Maddan was saying, but I’m sure it was something totally normal and human sounding, like, “Maddan, Carver of Enemies, son of Wanktonius of the House of Knob-Endians.”
Whatever he said, one of the bouncers was already shoving him in the chest. I could practically see the steam coming off Maddan. Right now, he was probably considering reaping this bouncer’s soul and just rampaging into the club. Certainly, the barguest’s hand was looking twitchy by his sheathed dagger. If only Savus hadn’t cautioned us to work in the shadows….
“In the shadows,” I whispered loudly.
The barguest turned, snarling. Already, they were fucking up the discretion thing, and I hoped Savus was seeing this.
I took a step closer, until I could hear what Maddan was saying, and just caught the end of, “probably full of whores anyway,” before the bouncer landed a hard punch on his cheek.
All three fae males snarled, before finally mastering themselves. I grinned at them as they skulked past us, dismissed by the bouncers. That was one big “enter silently” fail.
I leaned over to Melusine, whispering, “Time to unleash the holy trinity of nightclub bouncer approval: blogging, boobs, and banging the DJ. Or, in my case, pretending to have banged the DJ.”
She cocked her head, frowning, and blinked her large, brown eyes. She had no idea what I was talking about.
Not a big deal. She’d given me a strawberry, and now she was my plus-one.
I sauntered over to the bouncers, swaying my hips and twirling a strand of my lavender hair around my finger.
“Hey, guys.” For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, I adopted an American accent for this. Maybe Americans were just sexier somehow. “I’m writing a piece for the Hot Nights in London blog. I spoke to someone earlier about coming in to do a piece on your herbal gin and tonics.”
I didn’t have to research that one. Every bar in London—even the shitty one where I’d worked—was doing herbal gin and tonics. In our case, we basically mixed some cheap oregano with Tesco Dry Gin, but an incubus club probably used hothouse cucumbers, freshly farmed rosemary, and a dusting of gold on the rim.
One of the bouncers scowled at me. “You spoke to someone, you said? Who was it?”
“My friend Gary, the DJ. We’re very, very close friends.” I actually did know of a DJ named Gary. I’d never met him, but he played every club in East London. He was something of a legend. “I know Gary” had basically become a password for entrance to any of Shoreditch’s clubs.
“Everyone says they know Gary,” countered the bouncer.
Shit. It was becoming harder these days.
“Yeah, but I actually know him. He’s tall, slouches a lot, wears baggy T-shirts, often smells like spliffs, rambles about government conspiracies, and carries around a bag of records,” I said, describing literally every DJ who had ever existed.
The bouncer nodded, squinting at me as he considered my proposition. “He’s actually very proud of his fitted black T-shirts.”
Okay. Almost every DJ.
“If you know him so well,” the bouncer went on, “what’s he calling himself these days?”
It just so happened that I knew the answer to this, since I’d prepared weeks ago to get into an exclusive club for a “clothes swapping and suds night.” Don’t ask.
“He goes by Gary the Tall, sometimes,” I said. “Also known as Gazza, also known as Gazza Striptease.”
The bouncer shook his head, unimpressed. Shit. Had I forgotten one?
“Right!” I smiled. “Jesus of Gazzareth.”
“All right.” He unhooked the velvet rope, stepping aside.
And point one goes to the ladies.
Melusine smiled at me, and we crossed into a long hallway lit by glowing blue stones embedded into the walls. At the end of the hallway, a silver door blocked our way, carved with the sigil of the Night God: a circle with a dot in the middle—basically a giant tit—next to a crescent moon. These demons weren’t even trying to hide their demonity. They were just throwing it in the knights’ faces. I almost felt a sense of umbrage before I remembered I had no intention of actually becoming a knight.
Before I could grab the door handle, Melusine grabbed my arm. “Enter silently, send them to hell.”
Chapter 23
Before I pushed through the engraved door, I peered at Melusine. “Are you ready for this?”
“Yes.” She sucked in a deep breath. “It’s just that I prepared my whole life for this. I’ve been practicing magic and Angelic spells since I was a little girl. Believe it or not, I don’t have many friends. I used to draw faces and tape them to broom handles so I’d have someone at my birthday parties. I’m not good with people. I’m not even good with the broom people. At least three of them hated me, and I could never get them to eat the cake…. If I fail here, I have nothing to go home to.” Her brow creased. “And if you fail, they’ll execute you. We both have a lot to lose. But only one of us can get a spot. None of this is good news.”
A deep, throbbing bass pulsed through the door.
My jaw tightened. This wasn’t the best time for this discussion. “Look, Melusine. We just need to take this one step at a time. Today, we just need to survive and reap some souls. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow. We’re both survivors. You survived extreme loneliness.” And I survived the gladiator ring. “We’ll both make it through this.”
She nodded, and I pulled open the door into a scene of pure hedonism. The club wasn’t what I expected. I’d been expecting flashing lights, a large dance floor. Instead, it looked like an enormous, Victorian opium den. Persian rugs covering the floors, dark wooden alcoves with pillows and chaise lounges, silky drapes, candle-lit chandeliers…. Fire hazards all over the place, but none of the people making out in the alcoves seemed to care.
A curving wooden stairwell swooped up to a mezzanine floor overhead. In the balconies above us, I caught glimpses of naked women straddling men, some lying beneath them. People were dancing lasciviously to the strange, pulsating music, crackling from an old phonograph. Gary stood behind it in his fitted black T-shirt, rifling through a crate of albums.
So far, I saw humans everywhere, but I could feel the magic of the incubi all around us. Incubi’s magic was twofold—they both fed off female sexual energy and could stimulate it. If the males ever made it in here, they’d have a huge advantage over us.
Still, it wouldn’t be too hard to go unnoticed, because no one would be paying attention to us. They had far more interesting things to focus on.
I breathed in deeply, homing in on the scent of incubi. They were near, but not on this floor. I scanned the mezzanine, catching a glimpse of dark, leathery wings. There. With Melusine by my side, I crossed deeper into the club, trying to act casual while mentally tallying the incubi on the floor above.
My skin was growing hot, and I stared at a couple who lay on top of a table. The woman—a brunette with long legs—was straddling a powerfully built human man. His hands were sliding over her arse, and for just a moment, I gaped at them.
A smack to my arm pulled me out of my reverie. “Move silently, send them all to hell. Now.”
“Right.”
I didn’t have time to talk strategy with Melusine before she jumped away from me. For a few moments, I tracked her movements, impressed with her speed. So that’s why they’d recruited her. She was brilliant with a lumen crystal.
Then, it was time to do some reaping of my own. I stalked into the shadows of an empty alcove, and I pulled my reaping dagger.
From there, I jumped into the shadows in the stairwell, whooshing up the stairs until I reached the mezzanine floor. From the upper level, I scanned the balconies. Silently, in the shadows, Melusine had already taken out two of the incubi. Nicely done, girl.
By the time the male novices got in here, there’d be nothing left for them. But I didn’t
have too much time to gloat about that thought, because I had souls to reap.
My gaze landed on an incubus in one of the balcony alcoves. He lay back on a chaise longue, his leather wings swooping behind him. A red-haired woman lay on top of him, her body glowing and writhing. How was Melusine keeping the consorts silent?
She wasn’t much of a killer, so she must’ve been using magic to knock them out. I didn’t have those skills, but I did know how to choke a human out—just enough that she’d lose consciousness, but not enough that she’d die. My skillset was a little rougher than Melusine’s.
Cold, electric magic whispered up my spine, and I jumped to a shadow in the alcove. The magic of lust was overpowering, heating up my core, and I struggled to focus. I took one step closer to the couple….
A wave of lust slammed into me. My pulse began racing, and I took a step back into the shadows, trying to master myself with slow breathing. I willed my heart rate to slow. Melusine was doing a lot better with this, but that girl was so tightly wound I wasn’t sure she ever felt desire.
Either that, or she was thinking of her sad broom-people birthday parties. In fact, just the image of Melusine crying while trying to force a broom person to eat birthday cake was enough to drive the lustful thoughts right out of my mind.
I took another step forward and threw the dagger, landing it in the incubus’s heart. Immediately after throwing it, I clamped my hand over the woman’s mouth and pinched her nose shut.
She struggled against me, trying to scream. I let go as soon as she stopped struggling, and she slumped to the floor, unconscious. Her chest still rose and fell. Messier than whatever Melusine was doing, but it got the job done.
When I scanned the balcony again, I spotted another incubus—one I hadn’t seen before. He was dancing, dressed in a long, velvet bathrobe. He had a thin, curly mustache and a glass of champagne in his hand. A naked woman sidled up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Gods damn, these women were not making my job easy. They were just trying to have a good time, and I couldn’t justify killing them. I had some kind of moral code, after all.
I waited until she pulled away from him, dancing on her own. She lifted her arms over her head and swayed her hips, eyes closed in ecstasy. Then, I summoned the shadow magic, that cold rush of power.
I jumped, landing just behind the woman. One hand over her mouth and nose, the other to throw the dagger. It landed in the incubus’s throat, and he collapsed. Say hello to Nyxobas for me.
The woman was trying to elbow me in the stomach, and she got a few jabs in, but I held on tight until she stopped bucking, and she slid to the floor.
I breathed in deeply. We’d reaped a few incubi souls, but by the heat surging in my blood, I knew there were plenty more. We just had to find them. Only—we didn’t have a ton of time before the women I’d smohtered woke up, or someone stopped fucking long enough to notice all the bodies lying around the place.
I crossed out of the alcove into a dimly lit corridor of dark wood with doors inset into the walls. Candles flickered in sconces, casting dancing shadows over silky sheets and pillows strewn across the floor.
The farther I walked down the corridor, the more desire built in my body, and even my skimpy clothing felt too tight, too restrictive. That meant I was moving closer to the incubi.
Sensuality throbbed in my core, and my hips started to sway as I walked, nipples brushing against the silk of my top. I had an overwhelming urge to pull it off. I had to stop my hand from inching down between my thighs….
Arianna. Focus on finding the incubi in front of you.
Except, why did I feel like the waves of desire were coming from behind me, now?
I whirled, my dagger ready. But it wasn’t incubi that I found.
No, it was the three fae douchebags, slinking around the dark corridors, their clothing sodden from the underground sewer system. Maddan stepped forward, violet light glowing between his fingertips. What the hell was that?
“You didn’t leave any incubi for us to reap, did you? This is why females should not be allowed in the Institute. You’ve used your feminine wiles to your advantage.”
I blinked. “Oh, I must have missed the part about how you needed special treatment because of your overwhelming incompetence, but it does make sense now that you mention it.”
Maddan just cocked his head. “Where did you learn to fight as well as you do, gutter fae? You didn’t learn to sword-fight in bars. There is something very wrong about you, and I’m going to find out what it is.”
The deep thrum of incubus power felt overwhelming here, and I glanced at the violet magic pulsing between his fingers. What was that?
Right about now, I was wishing I’d armed myself with more than just the misericorde dagger. With a sword, I was pretty sure I could take on all three of them at once. But I could always jump—
Maddan took another step closer, and I surged with desire. What the hell? I felt like the incubi were all around me
“Have you heard of distillation?” asked Maddan, taking a step closer. “I refer to the distillation of magic, of course. It’s something the noble Mor learn from a young age. But of course, you’re not one of us.”
Then, he hurled that ball of violet magic at me, and warmth spread through my chest.
Chapter 24
I couldn’t quite focus on his words, because wild heat was building in my body, a ferocious need that made me want to run into the streets and hunt down Ruadan.
“‘I’ve distilled incubus magic,” Maddan went on. The barguest and Sea Monster flanked him. “I want to know your secrets, and this should get you to loosen up a little.”
I had a vague sense that I needed to attack him, but I just couldn’t think clearly. My legs were trembling with a raw, animal need.
In the next moment, Maddan’s wet hand was around my throat, his face pressed down close to mine.
“Tell me your secrets, gutter fae, while I use you like I used the others of your kind.”
Despite my disgust, a wave of aching need washed over me. He picked up my wrist—the one holding the dagger—and slammed it into the wall. Even as I knew he was hurting me, waves of pleasure washed through me at the force.
He was hiking up my dress, pressing me against the cold wood as I scrambled to remember what I was doing here, what my name was … anything at all. I dropped whatever was in my hand.
“Tell me where you come from,” said Maddan. He ripped the lumen crystal from my neck, shoving it into his pocket.
As I stared into the calculating eyes of the fae prince, clarity came slamming back into me. Since the bastard had stolen my lumen crystal, I could no longer simply jump away.
I brought my knee up hard into his groin, and he doubled over. Then, I gripped his hair, bringing his head down hard onto my knee. Sea Monster lunged for me, and I smashed my elbow into his jaw with the full force of my strength.
So much for moving in the shadows. Any second now, the incubi were about to realize there were a bunch of fae brawling in one of their corridors, and that bodies littered their fuck den. But I was being attacked, three on one, and I had to neutralize these arseholes before I could get out of here.
The barguest growled, and I kicked him hard in the chest. He stumbled back into Sea Monster.
Crush your enemies completely.
At this point, I wanted them all dead. Savus had never instructed us not to kill the other novices, and I suspected he encouraged it.
Bloodlust surged—dark and hungry. I wanted the bodies of fallen fae lying at my feet once more, just like that day in the arena….
When Sea Monster swung for me, I ducked, then punched him in the crotch. He doubled over. As he did, I slammed my elbow into his kidney.
Lightning-fast, I clamped my hands hard on his head, and I twisted. The sharp crack of bone told me I’d snapped his neck, though only iron would kill him for good. A dark smile curled my lips. Death—this was what I was born for.
&nbs
p; I whirled to take out Maddan. I hammered him with blows, one after another, bloodying his face, cracking his nose.
I was just starting to gain control of the fight when something pierced my ribs, cold as a glacier. The barguest had stabbed me.
A wave of dread pulled me under.
I looked down with horror at the reaping dagger jutting from my ribs. Emptiness pooled in my chest, a gnawing, glacial magic. I started shaking violently, my veins filling with ice.
And yet … I hadn’t been sent to the shadow hell, yet. Why not? What in the seven hells was happening?
The two remaining shadow fae stared at me. I could no longer control my body, couldn’t lift my fist to punch them. Shivering convulsed me, and I hugged myself.
The two fae males gaped at me as my skin frosted over. I needed my lumen stone back.
The barguest bared his canines. “Why is she still here?”
“She should be in the shadow hell,” Maddan spat, purple magic still flickering at his fingertips. “I told you there was something very wrong with her. Even the void is rejecting her.”
I mastered enough control over my shaking hand to bring it to the dagger’s hilt, and I pulled the blade out of me. But my teeth wouldn’t stop chattering, and the coldness was spreading.
When I’d been with Ruadan in the park, he’d counteracted the iciness of the shadow magic with incubus lust.
What I needed was another hit of incubus magic to warm me up before I froze to death. Through chattering teeth, I managed, “You were so convinced you could seduce my secrets out of me. And yet even with incubus magic at your fingertips, you revolt me.”
Rage flashed across Maddan’s features, and he threw the ball of magic at me. It slammed into my chest. Now, warmth spread through my ribs and deep into my core, melting the intense chill of the shadow magic. Even as I shivered, desire started to blossom in my mind, and I thought of Ruadan kissing me.
As the barguest took a step closer, I felt my back arching, my eyes going dazed. I was trembling with need—but I was no longer freezing to death. For just a moment, I leaned back against a door, closing my eyes. The combination of shadow magic and desire dizzied me.
Court of Shadows: (A Demons of Fire and Night Novel) (Institute of the Shadow Fae Book 1) Page 14