Courts and Cabals 2

by G. S. D'Moore

  “He’s a micromanaging dick,” Dani reiterated. “Let’s go see the ass.”

  Aden left us at the entrance to presumably take care of Xamira. Dani led me to a separate bank of elevators. The small lobby was gaudily decorated in the Imperial theme that was standard at Caesars Palace. Knowing that Lilith’s mother had met Via in Italy during the height of the Roman Empire, some of the pieces might actually be legit.

  The elevators were just as richly decorated with lots of marble and mirrors. Dani hit the button for the penthouse. There was a beep, and a small screen popped out above the bank of buttons. Dani provided a thumbprint and retinal scan before extra options popped up. She hit PH1 and the elevator shot up so fast I stumbled.

  “We keep it pretty mundane in the human sections of the hotel, but the cabal-only sections are fully outfitted with tech and magic,” Dani’s point was proven when a soft ding announced their arrival only a few seconds later.

  The elevators opened and I found myself face-to-face with a large man carrying a tablet. He had a few inches on me and was built like a body builder. He wore khaki pants that strained to contain his quads, and did nothing to hide his impressive package. Above that was a short-sleeve polo that barely made it past his shoulders. It reminded me of those gym rats who had to show off their biceps all the time. Of course, this guy’s cannons would make the Governator jealous. He wore a pair of blue-light glasses – they didn’t actually do anything to give you better eyesight, but they cut down on the blue light that was killing humans’ eyes during this technological age – and those glasses highlighted black irises. It was a creepy contrast to his white hair. I would have pegged him as a supernatural even if I didn’t know he was Lilith’s mother’s First; so, there was no reason he needed to be wearing the glasses. That cemented the douche status I’d already categorized him in to, and confirmed this had to be Peter.

  “Hey, you pointy-headed motherfucker,” Dani greeted with a smile. She knew something I didn’t, because his head didn’t come to a point as far as I could tell.

  “Underwood,” he grumbled. “Don’t you have someone’s sword to play with?”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a reference to her bladesmith abilities, or her skill at sucking dick. I never got an answer.

  “Hiya! You must be Cameron Dupree. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Nicole Aulani, and I’m Miss Venitas’s personal assistant. Thank you so much for coming right up,” a bundle of energy in sensible black pumps, and a spotless blouse, appeared from behind Peter’s mass to extend a hand.

  The hand was warm, her grip neutral, her features native to Hawaii or some other pacific island, and her smile so warm and genuine you could tell she loved her job.

  “Human,” my instincts immediately categorized her as a non-threat. That surprised me. I was quasi-human as of my last reckoning, and as a regular Joe, I’d managed to do a lot of damage to some powerful people. I needed to check myself before I wrecked myself.

  “Everyone is a threat,” I reminded myself never to judge humans as weak.

  “Nice to meet you,” I returned her smile, but kept my eyes on Peter.

  “The pleasure is all mine, and on behalf of Miss Venitas, she can’t wait to meet you in person . . .”

  “We need to go over a few things first,” Peter interrupted, and used his mass to butt Nicole out of the way. By the way she moved, she was used to this. “It is my responsibility that all Firsts of the cabal are qualified and accountable. Lilith Venitas is a powerful member of this organization. She is destined for greatness, while you, Cameron Dupree, are a high school drop out.”

  “Not one of these guys,” I mentally groaned as I realized I was dealing with someone who wouldn’t even give me the time of day unless I graduated Suma Cum Laude from Harvard Law and clerked for the Supreme Court.

  “Well, I’m here,” I met his eerie gaze and didn’t look away.

  “This one’s got some cojones on him, Peter. Last Fae who talked to him like that, he put that bitch in the ground,” Dani grabbed her crotch like she had her own pair.

  I let Dani do the trash talking for me, and just kept my eyes on the big man. He watched me for another moment before he snorted and looked away. I took that as a win.

  “PH1 is for Miss Venitas, close family, and honored guests,” he turned around and set off on the impromptu tour. Everyone hurried to catch up to his longer strides. “It comes complete with full suites and a dining space that can fit up to twenty. It works well for diplomatic talks as well as intimate evenings.” As the First for the head succubus, I assumed Peter had plenty of those.

  “PH2 is for high-ranking Firsts and select security,” from the look on his face, that included neither Dani nor me. “It also contains Miss Venitas’s personal lab. You’ll be on PH3 in the suite next to Underwood. PH4 is a research level for any special projects Miss Venitas’s deems to sensitive to outsource.”

  “Like my super spunk,” I guessed.

  “You will have access to all four levels since Miss Lilith makes this her permanent home,” Peter didn’t look happy to be giving me free reign of the place.

  “A lot of the cabal’s senior leadership doesn’t live here,” Dani filled in. “We’ve got rooms if they come to stay, but most of the boss’s kids are running departments of the cabal around the globe, and prefer their independence from mommy.”

  Peter shot her a sideways glare as he showed off the dining room. It was all red-velvet upholstery, dim, intimate lighting, and Kenny G playing softly in the background. Last but not least, a section of the suites was blocked off by a serious-looking security door and an intimidating guard. After that, we were back at the elevator. I’d seen Caesars Palace from the outside, and after taking the nickel-tour, things weren’t adding up.

  “This doesn’t make any sense. How can there be four penthouse floors? The penthouse is, by definition, only the top floor, and I’m pretty sure Caesars just has one.”

  “A spell was worked when the hotel was constructed,” Peter sounded like he was a teacher explaining things to a particularly dull student. “The spell gives us more space to work with, and at the same time, hides the structural layout from external eyes.”

  “Like the Fae’s ability to create extradimensional space?” I nodded in understanding.

  “No,” he shut me down. “The Fae’s ability to create space by pulling from the Shadow Realm is unparalleled, and they alone hold that gift. Human mages are able to make space as well, but they can’t interact with parallel universes like the Fae. Think of it as stretching the bounds of our reality instead of crossing over into somewhere else.”

  “Damn,” I looked around, surprised a human mage had done this. “Why don’t we see this everywhere?”

  “Because the mage has to give a piece of themselves to accomplish the spell,” Lilith stepped through the security door. “And the price is steep. Peter,” the large man bent down and accepted a kiss on the cheek. His rigid demeanor visibly softened, and it had nothing to do with the succubus vibes she naturally gave off.

  He clearly thought I was a useless hunk of meat, but he genuinely cared about Lilith. “I guess he’s not that big of an asshole.”

  “Mother is meeting with the board soon, and wanted to introduce Cam if you’re finished,” Lilith slipped her arm into mine, which made me grin like a fool.

  “We can go over the subterranean levels after the meet and greet,” Peter noticed the possessive gesture, but his face was unreadable. “All Mr. Dupree will need to know is where the training level is located.”

  “I can handle that, big guy,” Dani offered.

  “Very well,” his job complete, Peter gave us all a final critique and started back toward the elevator. Nicole, who’d been in his shadow the whole time, had already disappeared. I didn’t even see her leave.

  “Nice guy,” I grunted when Peter was thirty feet away. The slight stiffening of his spine told me he’d heard me.

  “He is,” Lilith elbowed me in the rib
s. “He’s been with my mother since Aristotle.”

  We’d started walking toward the security door, and I tripped over nothing. She caught me with a chuckle.

  “Aristotle . . . the Aristotle; ancient Greece, student of Plato, taught Alexander the Great, founded the Lyceum,” I could go on and on.

  “Yes,” Lilith nodded and rolled her eyes. She’d forgotten I was a history buff.

  “But that was two thousand years ago,” I stammered.

  “Closer to twenty-four hundred,” Lilith corrected.

  “What is he?” I turned around to judge the back of the man who looked like a metrosexual IT manager on steroids.

  “Peter’s a unicorn,” Dani deadpanned.

  At first, I thought that was some type of slang for calling him gay, but as the First of a female succubus, that didn’t make any sense. Then I figured she was being literal.

  “A unicorn,” I put my pointer finger up to my forehead as if that was going to clarify things. Dani laughed at Peter’s expense, but the man had already disappeared inside the elevator.

  “He’s an ancient shifter,” Lilith clarified, after giving Dani a reproachful look. “In this day and age, shifters are basically contained to common species, but there was a time when magic was more abundant, wild, and untamed,” she said it wistfully, like she was sad she’d missed it.

  “And like dragons, gryphons, basilisks, and manticores; there were unicorns,” Dani stated like she was commenting on the weather.

  I couldn’t believe I was finding it hard to believe that there were such things as unicorns, or that a unicorn could be a man. I’d seen some weird shit in the last few months. This didn’t even crack the top ten.

  “History also knows him as Pegasus,” Lilith added.

  That stopped me in my tracks. “You’re fucking with me.” It was clear they weren’t. “But unicorns don’t fly, and Pegasus doesn’t have a horn,” I argued.

  “Some things were lost in translation,” Lilith shrugged.

  “I think I need to sit down,” I groaned and found a free spot on the wall to slide down onto my ass.

  The succubus kneeled down beside me and rubbed my back, as I put my head between my knees and took a few deep breaths. “I can’t believe I just talked with the Pegasus . . . and he hates me,” I groaned and felt like I was going to be sick. “I don’t even want to think about what training he has in store for me.”

  “We need to go,” Lilith gave my armpit a slight tug. She could have thrown me over her shoulder if she wanted, but she was being kind and considerate of my feelings.

  “Okay . . . but damn,” I got back to my feet, and suddenly felt like I was walking toward the executioner’s block. “Oh, my gods,” I froze. “Please don’t tell me your mother rides a white horse into battle and ancient Christians mistook her for Death.”

  Lilith didn’t say anything, just shrugged.

  “Who the hell are these people?” I screamed inside my own head.

  I was sure as shit about to find out.

  ***

  The security door was no joke. I had to put my back into it to get it closed behind us. On the other side was a plain antechamber; a barrier between the leaders of the cabal and the rest of the world. It made sense. You didn’t stick your bedroom right next to the front door. That would make it super easy for someone to come in and lop off your head.

  The antechamber was all cheap, removable furniture and standard earth-tone walls. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought I’d just entered my friendly, neighborhood dentist’s office. The only thing remarkable was the security center opposite the heavy door. I noticed the steel-reinforced walls, bullet-proof, enchanted, glass, and computer terminal showing cameras watching everyone and everything that could possibly pose a threat.

  At the moment, one of the guards – decked out in a black suit with the inverted pyramid insignia of the Venetian Cabal stitched over his left breast – watched the monitors for the front entrance of Caesars. The cops were still busy talking to the driver, the surprised passengers of the decoy SUV, and trading insults with the biker gang. The cameras were zooming in on and cataloguing faces, running them against facial recognition, and saving them in the cabal’s database. If there were any undercover cops in the group, their cover had just been blown.

  A light pressure on the inside of my elbow steered me past the security center toward another heavy door. This door was made of heavy wood, and probably metal underneath. It gave the appearance that you were about to enter a place of power . . . literally.

  Whatever whammy Ser Fredrick’s Fae mojo gave me, it was making me more sensitive to magic. This door was enchanted. I didn’t know how I knew that, but my gut screamed at me not to touch it. Lilith walked right on up to it and pushed it open with ease.

  I fought back the grin on my face. It never ceased to amaze me that she was a badass. She nodded to the pair of guards in the booth, and closed the door behind us.

  “We’ll make sure you get proper access to everything later today. You’ll get a physical ID card that will grant you access into any of the human areas, along with most of the secure cabal spaces; but places like the inner sanctum require a magical identification. We have a mage on staff who can add you to the list of authorized personnel. I’ll insist on it.” From the way she phrased it, this wasn’t someplace that everyone had access to.

  She pulled herself a little closer to me as we walked into a large, open space. She was awfully cuddly, and after the surprise hug in the parking garage, I was beginning to wonder if something was up. My experiences over the last few months had left me a tad paranoid.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught motion. Lilith was absentmindedly winding her hair around her finger. That brought me back to a hospital room a lifetime ago. I’d just killed Chloe, and Lilith knew Aveena was going to charge me with murder under the covenants. She’d been playing with her hair just like that.

  “She’s nervous,” I pulled out the information I’d stored away for later.

  “It’s going to be okay,” the words came to me, and I meant them. This wasn’t like with Aden and not knowing what to say about Xander. I really meant that everything was going to be fine.

  She looked up at me, her emerald eyes dazzling, and our eyes locked for a second. Slowly I lowered my face to hers and our lips met. It was soft and tender. Our tongues stayed in our mouths. It was just a quick peck, but I felt the wind knocked out of me. I pulled back first, afraid of the feelings rampaging in my gut. Our eyes met again, and she smiled a brilliant, gorgeous smile. It made me a little week in the knees, but my cock was hard enough I could use it as a third leg if necessary.

  The kiss was so sweet and innocent, I didn’t even think about my raging hard on until Dani coughed uncomfortably behind us. We were blocking the way. The whole interaction took less than ten second.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” I was talking more to myself than Lilith now. “I’m a people person,” I felt confident, and a little cocky. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Dani shouldered me aside. “Did you really just say that?” she walked deeper into the massive room muttering under her breath.

  If I had a bird’s eye view of the space, it was probably some geometric shape, but all I saw were angled walls and doors leading off to gods knew where. The room met my expectations. In the air around me, I could feel the power of a cabal feared across the globe and possessing enough resources to own entire countries.

  Think roman baths without the baths. The walls were comprised of expensive tiles, the floor marble, veins of gold and silver spread through it like it was a living organism. I felt like I’d ruin the resale value of the place just by walking through.

  “This one’s my favorite,” Dani stopped between thick Greek columns that were interspaced around the room.

  Lilith and I went to join her, and the sight brought me to a sudden halt. It was a battlefield, vividly described in
a tiled mosaic; the greens depicting a wild field were intense, and contrasted with the vibrant reds of the vanquished. Creatures of all sorts lay dead around a small rise where a fierce looking woman on the back of a white, winged horse stood victorious.

  “I’ll tell you about the mural another time,” Lilith’s hand on my elbow pulled me away from the tableau, and toward a door on the far side.

  “My room is down that hallway,” she pointed out an entrance stuck between a peaceful portrait of a bunch of naked people frolicking on a beach, with their dicks and tits hanging out, and a bust that might actually be an original of Julius Caesar himself. “First door on the right.”

  I committed that to memory, and could have sworn the woman from the tiled mosaic was present in the painting as well. I wagered a guess who it was. Lilith led the way through another door brimming with magic, and it opened into a conference room.

  The room’s theme was so different from the tiled and marble art gallery that I got artistic whiplash. This was modern minimalism. Ergonomic chairs surrounded a table large enough to fit a dozen people. Multimedia equipment that probably had cyber properties the NSA couldn’t handle dominated the room that was surrounded by screens. It reminded me of the situation room in any TV show that took place at the White House.

  “The White House ain’t got nothing on this place,” I gave a mental whistle, as Lilith pointed me toward an open chair.

  She took the one next to it, and we waited. Her mother and the board weren’t here yet, and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Dani had stayed in the gallery; apparently, she wasn’t invited. I could have used something foul or witty from the dwarf to break the silence.

  My mind wandered back to the kiss. “It was just a kiss,” I told myself; nothing more, nothing less. “She has literally devoured my spunk on more than one occasion. A kiss should mean nothing.” But it did. I didn’t know what . . . yet, but there had been something different. She must have felt it to, or she wouldn’t be picking at her cuticles like she was digging for gold.