Shelby’s Angels: Sometimes I’m Not

by Stephanie Burke

  There was a pause, then Barika’s voice, upset and worried, poured through the phone. “Go back into the building, Shen. Go where it is safe. Nalu and I will be there shortly. I’ll have the information you need and we will see where we go from there.”

  Shaking his head, Shen pulled a hankie out of his pocket and carefully wrapped the ugly earring. Although he would rather toss it into the trash than taint his person with the cheap metals, he knew it was evidence.

  He closed out his phone call and stuffed the earring into a deep pocket, grateful he’d worn his khaki cargo pants today. He had many pockets in which to hide things.

  He made his way back inside the dressing room just as the trio of performers began to head toward the staging area for the afternoon shows, Cara leading the bunch with a sad look on her face.

  Inside the dressing rooms, Trevah and Del seemed to have come to some sort of agreement, and were talking animatedly.

  “And if you practice with peanut butter and a banana,” Del spoke in an experienced voice, “you will be deep-throating short cocks in mere moments.”

  Shen blinked, then blinked again. They were… How dare they? They were talking about sex without him! He fought back the urge to let a few heart wrenching tears fall just to make them feel his pain, but decided against it. It was much more fun to join in!

  “Small cocks?” Shen asked as he pulled up a seat beside Del. “Like the one the good detective possesses?”

  “How did you know?” Trevah gasped, then blinked and changed her wording. “I mean, how could you tell?”

  Shen blinked at Trevah. “What kind of prostitute are you that you can’t size up your patrons?”

  “I am not a whore!” Trevah shouted, all amusement lost in a flash as she glared at Shen. “I’m getting tired of you two calling me one!”

  “I didn’t call you anything,” Shen stated boldly. “You offered yourself to Delsin for a fee the first day we were here. That alone speaks for your character.”

  “It was a figure of speech!” Trevah shouted.

  “Like innocent before proven guilty?”

  Shen’s words came out of left field and Trevah blanched. “Just what are you insinuating?”

  “Nothing,” Shen calmly replied. “It was just a figure of speech.”

  Trevah rose up and stalked out of the room, leaving tension behind her.

  “What do you know?” Del asked, then raised his hand for silence as he pulled out the magic bug detection wand from his bag and began to quickly sweep the room. When he decided it was all clear, he motioned for Shen to continue.

  “I found Cammie’s earring in the parking lot.” He carefully removed the ugly, blood-coated thing and showed it to Del.

  “Maybe some of our advice rubbed off and she ripped them out in disgust?” Del asked, shuddering at the hideous bit of jewelry.

  “No, I think Cammie would have decided it would scar her lobes if she did that. I mean, rippage would cause a lot of damage, Del. I think she was snatched here.”

  “You mean while you were fucking, and Rika and Nalu were lecturing, someone was plotting?”

  “Someone who is probably still here.”

  Shen looked around the room, suddenly seeing boogiemen in every shadow. Hell, why not boogiemen? He had just made the very close and personal acquaintance of a living vampire, even if Fee refused to hop for him.

  He shuddered, a tingle of fear flowing down his spine.

  “I think we should go out front and spy on the competition,” Del decided, shuddering himself at the thought of how close they were to being the next victim. After all, why would anyone want to snatch any of the other queens in this place? Out of all of them, he and Shen looked the best.

  “Barika and Nalu will be here soon.” Shen opened his locker and pulled out his boobs and the adhesive.

  “Cold sticky stuff again?” Del retrieved his own breasts. “I still think mine would look good pierced. Don’t you think so?”

  Rolling his eyes, Shen pulled out his equipment and began his transformation.

  * * *

  The two beautiful and exotic creatures sitting in front of the stage drew more than one set of eyes. But the pair seemed to be intent on what was happening on the stage and not in the room.

  One set of eyes, especially attentive, followed every move they made. The man was dressed in a pair of black dress pants and a pale pink button down shirt. His hair hung in greasy hanks around his head and his complexion looked a bit yellow. He eyed the two pretty people at the table, a sinister gleam in his eyes.

  Today, Shen was dressed in a black and gold embroidered chegosam. High collared and buttoned with silk frog fasteners, it made him look both cool and exotic. His hair was done up in an elaborate twist involving a set of chopsticks, gold chains, and a few tiny white flowers. A set of jeweled, fan-shaped earrings rested along his delicate cheekbones, bringing attention to his dark, almond-shaped eyes.

  His partner wore his hair in an elaborate braid that stretched beyond his ass. His body was wrapped in a gold and amber colored sarong fastened tightly around his narrow waist, but falling open to the tops of his delicate thighs, giving a tantalizing glimpse of golden skin.

  Wrapped around his ample bosom was a silky black halter-top that left the soft skin of his back exposed. The crowning glory of his hair arrangement, though, was the headpiece that held a blood red ruby in the center of his forehead, the gold chains trailing along his dark hair.

  The pair of them caused quite a stir, but they did nothing more than order water from the bartender and watch the performers do their thing on stage.

  But all too soon, watching was not enough.

  Boldly, the man made his way over to the table.

  “Can I offer you two lovely ladies some company?” he asked, his accent bringing a frown to both Shen and Del’s faces. It was Taiwanese, an accent neither had heard spoken in quite some time.

  “No, thank you. We are waiting for someone,” Shen answered, turning away from the man, the matter settled in his mind.

  “Yes, and I have finally arrived!” He leaned down and whispered into Shen’s ear, “The man of your dreams.”

  He shoved the man away from him. “Unless your skin is at least twelve shades darker, your hair longer, your body built, and your teeth brushed, you are only the man of my nightmares.”

  “Bitch!” he hissed.

  “Yes,” Del said, leaning over the table and glaring at the man. “Bitch, and cunt, and more man than you could ever hope to be, while being more woman than you could ever hope to get.”

  Shen chuckled, sending Del a small smile.

  It had been a whole day since he had snipped at the taller man, and he had found sex with his dream vampire had mellowed his anger toward Del.

  “I ought to put both of you uppity hos in your proper place!” the stranger growled, stepping up yet again.

  “Do that and the shriveled things you call balls will be in their proper place,” a deep, dangerous voice said from behind. “Right down your fucking throat.”

  The man jumped, then turned to see almost seven feet of angered black man bearing down on him.

  Barika was in a bad mood, and Nalu was pissed off. Shen had no idea why, but their usually taciturn friend was so angry that his coppery skin was flushed bright red.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it,” the man stuttered, backing away, his hands held out, placating, in front of him.

  “Then get the fuck out of my lover’s face.” Barika bent low over the man, causing him to skitter backwards.

  As soon as he was away, the man shot them all the one-fingered salute and hightailed it out of the club.

  “Where are the fucking bouncers in this place?” Barika snarled, looking around as Trevah stepped up.

  “If he had tried anything, I would have seen him tossed out on his ass,” she said.

  “Right.” Rika pulled up a chair beside Shen and wrapped one meaty arm around him.

  Nalu sat beside Del
and patted his arms, gentling him.

  “I would have!” Trevah insisted. “The safety of our people --”

  “Can you, like, go away?” Rika finally growled, glaring at Trevah until the queen shut her mouth and stalked away.

  “Did I tell you to put her on the list for sheer stupidity?” Del asked, relaxing against Nalu.

  “Shen did,” Rika replied, still looking grim.

  “What have you got for us?” Shen was particularly anxious to learn the fate of the ill-dressed Cammie.

  “Well, that jerk-off that was bothering you is the same one with shoddy connections. I recognized him right off from the photos I shot.”

  “Bad breath and a Taiwanese accent.” Shen shuddered.

  “Taiwanese?”

  Del and Shen nodded, wondering why Rika suddenly looked both horrified and excited at the same time.

  “Raidon got back with us. There are reports a few Taiwanese Lady Boys were complaining to some of their underworld lovers about attempts by a certain importer to permanently buy their services, if you know what I mean.”

  Shen gasped and Del just shook his head.

  The intricacies involved with the Lady Boys of Taiwan were twisted and weird. But everyone knew they held a lot of power with some of the most shady underlings in their underworld. You would have to be a fool to mess with the Lady Boys.

  “They were soundly rebuffed, but the businessmen seemed to have stumbled onto something that made them leave the Lady Boys alone. No one was too clear about it -- they were just happy they didn’t have to go to war over the situation -- but I started thinking, what would take a Lady Boy’s place?”

  Barika pulled his PDA from his pocket and produced the pictures of the missing queens. “See anything familiar about them?”

  “They both look Eastern, and are small. They both need wardrobe and style help. Their brows are over plucked and could do with a good mascara. No one ever showed them how to give face for the camera. Who trained these two?” Shen offered.

  “They both look Eastern and are small!” Barika sighed. “Do you think they could pass for a traditional Lady Boy?”

  “Too tall,” Shen replied immediately.

  “But is it a close enough match?” Barika insisted.

  “If they got some decent makeup and comportment,” Del allowed.

  “Then you will be happy to know Double Take is not the only club with disappearing performers. Several clubs in this area are missing people, but did not bother to report it because performers can move on at a moment’s notice. And they all could pass, with a little work, as some exotic Asian beauty. It is only because Feenixxx was so worried that we looked into this. This is a string of disappearances, guys, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up.”

  Shen and Del both stared at each other, eyes wide in shock, before Nalu’s quiet voice took over.

  “Cammie was diabetic.”

  “Cara told us.” Del was still shocked at the thought of the breadth and scope of the operation to create that many Lady Boys.

  “Well, there was a drug found in her body. It is commonly known as Black Russian, and is made from Sani-Flush and several household ingredients. This particular version seemed to have been cut with something to regulate its effectiveness. It also contained a lot of glucose. And Cammie being diabetic…”

  “Oh, poor thing,” Shen whispered, horrified.

  “Yes, diabetic coma and shock because of the alterations in the drug. Cammie was murdered by someone who wanted her to sleep. And there is more.”

  “What could be worse than that?” Del demanded, a hand on his chest as if his heart hurt.

  “Cammie was missing an earring. It looked to have been torn out when she went into spasms, but no trace of it was found. The police blotter put it down as death by misadventure, a little extermination gone wrong.”

  “But the Black Russian in her system?”

  “Could look like met amphetamines,” Nalu corrected. “Could look like a lot of recreational drugs if you don’t know what to look for or are ignoring the facts.”

  “Who was the detective on the case?” Del asked, his eyes narrowing in anger.

  “A detective James Parrison Hollinsworth.”

  “Deputy Do Nothing,” both Shen and Del breathed.

  “So is he covering up or just incompetent?” Rika asked, looking at the trio sitting at the table.

  “Both,” Shen offered, shuddering as he recalled the man.

  “Okay, we know the kidnapper is probably going to hit here next. Hollinsworth is covering up the info or is too obtuse to figure out what is going on.” Rika began to make notes in his PDA. “All the queens that have disappeared could look Asian with a little work. Does that include Cammie?”

  “Yes.” Shen nodded as he recalled the poor soul in the hideous outfit. “Maybe a lot of work.”

  “Okay. The kidnapper is here, probably sits here every night and chooses his victims, has connections in Taiwan, and is probably after you two next.”

  “Oh dear,” Shen said. “I must tell Feenixxx.”

  “Tonight, this ends,” Barika informed them. “When I take this back to Shelby, she will want this closed tonight. Can you two handle that?”

  They both nodded at Rika.

  “Keep your communicators on, and I’ll activate the homing beacons as soon as I’m back at Angels. I know what Shelby will say. This ends tonight or she will pull you out.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two tiny transmitters, handing one to each Angel. “Are you both ready for this?”

  “Are we ever not?” Del snorted and rose to his feet, motioning for Shen to follow.

  “Nothing on the other performers?” he asked, looking back at his ‘boyfriend.’

  “Not a thing, but stay on guard, nevertheless.”

  Nodding, Shen and Del placed small kisses on the bigger guys’ cheeks, then wandered back to the staging area.

  “Tonight, Nalu,” Rika stated. “Tonight this ends.”

  “And I get to kick some ass?” Nalu asked, hopefully.

  “Most assuredly.”

  Nalu walked out of Club Double Take with a smile on his face.

  Chapter Ten

  “I want them out!” Shelby’s voice was so loud it seemed to echo through the room. Will, sitting beside her, patted her gently on the arm.

  “Everyone knows Shen is gay, Shelby.” He looked skyward for a moment, shaking his head slowly. “No one ever told me about Delsin.”

  “Will? Can you stay focused here?” Shelby’s exasperation showed as the man continued to stroke her arm as if she were an animal in need of comfort.

  “I am, Shelby, but it should be Delsin’s decision when and where to come out of the closet.”

  “Delsin is gay?” Adan asked, pursing his lips. “That must be why he gives such great head.”

  “I said I wanted them out, you two!” She threw up her hands in disgust. “Things are getting dangerous for them!”

  “But they have several laws in place to protect gay men and women against hate crimes, Shelby,” Will decided out loud. “It is not that dangerous for them. And if it gets that bad, we can send Raidon or Barika, or Blain out with them.”

  “That’s is not what I’m talking about,” she growled, eyes narrowed as she stared at her lover.

  “But you said you wanted them out, Shelby,” Will reminded her.

  “Out of the fricking club!”

  “You’re going to kick them out? What did they do?” Will was horrified. Delsin and Shen -- all of the guys -- were like the sons he never bothered to sire! Better! Because he got them this way, he never had to bother with finding a mother -- he didn’t think Shelby would go for it -- and then there was labor and delivery. Labor was hard on a man! Watching that ugliness was enough to make a man lose his breakfast!

  They should devise a way to make labor more pleasant for the men required to watch it. And newborns had squished heads, not the prettiest thing to see after the hard work of watching that mes
s, and they cried. And there were dirty diapers, gas, how the newborn inevitably drew all the attention away from the deserving and handsome father, how people fawned over them and all. And fuzzy teddy bear sleepers! How could a man stand up and demand his fair share of attention when the little parasites were dressed up in cute little sleepers and sweet-smelling commercial baby products! A man could never compete when it came to… newborn cuteness!

  “I want them out of Double Take!” Shelby snapped, not liking the dazed look that had popped into Will’s eyes.

  “Then Delsin is not gay?” Adan asked, disappointed he would not be getting more head than he already was.

  “Not that I’m aware of.” Shelby whimpered, fighting the urge to bang her head against the desk.

  “Then why did you say he needed to come out?” Will asked, his confusion clearing up a bit.

  “Out of Club Double Take.”

  “But you implied he was gay with your words, Shelby,” Will admonished. “You should speak more clearly.”

  “Get my boy out of there!” Shelby’s last nerve snapped with an almost audible ping as she jumped to her feet and roared at them. How dare they tell her to speak more clearly! She was clear enough! If they actually really and truly listened…

  “I told them you would say that.” Barika, who had calmly typed on his keyboard throughout the exchange, finally spoke. “But they insist they stay and see this to the end. So I activated the homing beacons the moment I got back here, and here’s that file on the creep who was hitting on them today.”

  Calming somewhat, Shelby walked to the other side of the desk to peer at Rika’s monitor. The guy looked unwashed, ungroomed, and like he had halitosis. “Who is he?”

  “Nikolaj I Hok Yen Hassan. He has family in Japan, China, and Taiwan. He’s here as a student, but from what I have gathered, his mind is not on schoolwork. He’s our most solid lead to date, and I just bet he’s going to be there tonight. Maybe even meeting his contact.”

  “Is there a way to get a bug on him?” Shelby asked, wrinkling her nose at the image on the screen.

  “Maybe tonight, I don’t know. I told you about the confrontation between Shen, Delsin, and him. If he tries it again, maybe one of the guys can get a wire on him, Boss Lady.”