by Izzy Shows
I was at her mercy and it made me want to throw up.
“Hmm…” She tapped a manicured finger against her pursed red lips, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think that’s right either. It’s a little too formal.”
“Then why did you even pick it out?” I snapped, my hands jumping into fists. I was ready to knock her out. “You should have been able to tell it was too formal from the get go.” The words squeezed out between my gritted teeth.
“No, no, you never know until you see it on a person. You’re difficult to dress, Blair. I can’t picture you quite right in my mind’s eyes, something’s always off. So, you have to try everything on so that I can see what works and what doesn’t.”
“That’s bollocks,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You just want to laugh at me.”
“Well, it is a little hilarious. But it wouldn’t be if you weren’t being such a wimp about it!” She laughed. “Let’s see, what should we try next?” She turned and walked to a rack of clothes, flipping through the items. “I’m not so sure a dress is the right idea. But what would we do instead?”
“I could wear jeans,” I said, and I knew that I sounded whiney. I couldn’t help it, I hated this entire process. “I could wear jeans and a t shirt and it would be OK.”
“Ugh,” she said, shooting a glare over her shoulder. “Never mind the fact that you can’t wear any of that without oozing your hunter vibe, that just won’t make the cut for Serenity. They have a dress code. Sexy.” She winked at me.
“Yeah, no, I can’t do that. I don’t do sexy.” It was the truth. I might be an attractive woman, but no one had ever called me sexy.
Shawn thought you were sexy. I flushed at the thought. That was true. And Shawn wasn’t the first who had been interested in me, and certainly not the first person I’d enjoyed, but it didn’t change the fact that on a day to day basis, I was not what anyone would call sexy. I wasn’t Carmen, and I was never going to be Carmen.
She was looking at me strangely.
“What?” I snapped.
“You have your own allure, Blair. I’m surprised you’re not aware of it.”
“Oh, shut up, I don’t think I’m ugly or anything like that.”
“No, but that isn’t what I mean. Of course you’re pretty. Anyone with eyes can see that. But it isn’t just that, either. Hm.” She frowned for a moment before turning around and flipping through the clothes. “Here, let’s try this. One more dress, I think.” She pulled out a red dress and pressed it into my hands, smiling at me as if bequeathing a great gift.
I shot her a last glare before I stomped back to the dressing room, stripping out of the dress I’d been wearing and pulling on the new one. It wasn’t as tight as the first one. It was a strapless dress that clung at the chest, but otherwise flowed down to about thigh height. I glared at the mirror in preparation of walking out, but even I had to admit that the dress looked good on me.
It felt better than the clingy one, anyway.
“Oh, that is much better!” She said, clapping her hands together. “I love the top.”
“Yeah, I suppose it’s OK.” I was grumbling. I knew it but she was having way too much fun with this, and I just wanted to move it along.
“What shoes would we pair that with? Sandals or heels?”
“You cannot seriously be thinking of putting me in heels,” I groaned.
“Of course I can! I’ve seen you fight, you have exceptional balance. You’d be fine.”
“I’d be in pain.” I wasn’t even sure she was right about the balance thing; no, I was not clumsy by any definition of the word, but I didn’t know that it would translate into being able to balance on what basically amounted to knives.
“Beauty is pain. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that? Besides, you’ve endured a lot worse.”
“Yes, and it was all worthwhile. I’m not sure this will be.”
“Oh, do you not want me to take you to Serenity? That’s fine, I don’t either. We can go home.”
“No! That’s not what I said.” Although to be fair, I was a little nervous about going to another club after my last misadventure. “I just…Heels? Really? Is that necessary?”
“Yes,” she said, firmly. “But now I think about it, I think that dress is a little too…innocent. We’ll have to find something else.”
“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” A silken voice murmured in my ear.
I didn’t even take in Carmen’s expression of pure delight as I whipped around fast, then stumbled backwards, shocked. It was Mal. Mal was here. He looked as striking as always, his black hair slicked back, wearing a red shirt paired with a black suit. What the hell was he doing here?
“What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded, deciding to go with the last thought I’d managed.
“Did you think you could avoid me forever?” He spoke with a wicked grin stretching his face. “It was starting to worry me, I thought perhaps something had happened to you.”
My wrist began to burn in earnest, and I tucked my hand behind me so that he couldn’t see the cuff on it. I knew, I just knew, that if he saw it he was going to explode.
“Blair, introduce me,” Carmen said, practically oozing sensuality.
I felt my face burn, surprised to find that I was annoyed. “Carmen, this is Mal—Malphas.” I stuttered at his name, deciding at the last moment to use his full name instead of the nickname I’d given him. He quirked an eyebrow at me for a moment before he stepped around me and bowed to Carmen. I turned so that my back was to the wall and they were on either side of me.
“A pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle. I see that you are currently undertaking a fascinating project, and I would be delighted to offer my services. If you would have me,” he said.
She grinned, her eyes darting back and forth between me and him. “Oh, I think that’s a marvellous plan. We could certainly use a male eye to give us an opinion.”
He nodded. “Precisely my line of thinking. This, for instance, is gorgeous.” He paused to wink at me. “However, it does not suit Blair one bit. She looks enchanting in it, but it doesn’t capture her spirit, her personality. She won’t be comfortable in it and everyone will be able to tell. I assume you want her to at least appear to be at ease wherever you are going?”
“I do, but she will only be at ease if I let her wear her jeans, and we just can’t do that.”
“Oh, no, no, the opportunity would be wasted if she were to do that. I was thinking, something more like this,” he said, producing from thin air three black items of clothing. I couldn’t make out what they were, but I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to like them when I found out. He stepped closer to Carmen and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes widened and she smiled so widely I thought her face might crack.
“Oh, that is perfect! Yes, Blair, go put them on. Right now!” She eagerly snatched the clothing out of his hands and rushed to give them to me.
I blinked, staring at the two of them. I had no idea what had just transpired, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
I was going to regret this; I already knew it.
But I turned and went back into the changing room all the same, shutting the door behind me and shirking off the dress. It turned out that Mal had given me what appeared to be a skirt, a shirt, and…leggings? No, stockings? No, they didn’t join. Thigh highs, I realised after a moment. He had given me thigh highs. And upon separating the clothing out, I realised there was a thong and a garter belt to go with it. I scowled down at the offending articles of clothing as if they were responsible for their own existence.
Reluctantly, I took off my undergarments and pulled on the clothing. The shirt proved to be truly difficult. It was a crop top, but the chest was a cut out inverted pentacle, with the neck being between the top two points. I was surprised to find that my abdomen, muscled though it was, somehow had a feminine vibe with the way it was framed by the clothing. The skirt was short, barely coming to mid-thigh, easily revealing the garters that he
ld up the thigh highs.
I looked like a prostitute. OK, maybe not a prostitute, maybe that was a little harsh. A tart?
Sexy was the vibe I was getting though, and that was new for me. I hadn’t ever felt sexy before, not in the way that I expected a person would normally feel, and I realised that I was both nervous and a little eager to exit the changing room—what would they think? Was I completely off in how I saw myself here, or would they be as impressed as I was?
I inched out on tip toe, trying not to look as anxious as I felt, and levelled a dispassionate look at Carmen.
Both were suspiciously quiet, Carmen’s eyes widened, and Mal’s had taken on a darker tint, the shade of burnt gold.
“Well?” I asked, placing one hand on a hip, cocking an eyebrow up at them. “What do you think?”
“That’s it. That’s the perfect get up. I couldn’t have picked out anything better if we’d spent all day here,” Carmen said, her voice soft and filled with reverence. “Can you turn, slowly? I want to see it all.”
I did as she requested, remaining on tip toe because I just couldn’t seem to settle the butterflies in my stomach. I heard a sharp intake of breath as my back turned to them, and looking over my shoulder to see that it was Mal who had been struggling with his breath. I grinned—it was nice to be in control of his reactions for once instead of the other way around. The first time we’d met, I’d been a little thrown by how good looking he was, and he still made my stomach do an interesting little flip flop whenever he smiled at me, but I’d spent some time now around dangerously good looking supernatural entities. I wasn’t the uninitiated girl I’d been a year and a half ago. I finished my turn and crossed my arms under my chest, maintaining the slightly defensive stance.
“No one is going to take one look at you and think you’re a hunter, not while you’re wearing that. All anyone is going to think about is taking it off,” Carmen said with glee.
“I’m not sure that’s a reaction I want.”
“I told you, we have to distract from the hunter vibe you give off. This will do the trick. Wouldn’t you agree, Malphas?” She turned to Mal then, her eyes sparkling with some unknown eagerness.
He remained silent for a moment, before he took the three steps necessary to reach me. He lifted a hand to caress my cheek, and I managed not to pull away automatically. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to touch me—it was that I knew if he did I would react to it. Still, I kept my cool. “You are tempting beyond words,” he murmured, letting out a breath and inhaling slowly afterwards. All at once then, his eyes flashed with anger and a scowl decorated his face.
“What?” I asked, eyebrows knitting in confusion.
He didn’t answer me other than to grab my wrist—the wrist with his mark, covered by my cuff—and I saw the anger on his face deepen. He yanked me inside the changing room, shutting the door after him, and I could hear Carmen’s laughter from outside. I backed into the corner to put some space between us.
“You can’t be in here with me, Mal, it’s not appropriate,” I said, though I knew he wouldn’t care what was or wasn’t appropriate.
“Appropriate? You want to talk about what’s appropriate. You stink of demons,” he snarled.
“What?” I asked, my voice rising an octave. “What are you talking about?”
I had no idea what was going on, I hadn’t seen a single demon last night—well, that I knew of anyway. It had been a club where some supernatural beings occasionally visited, if my information was accurate. Certainly nothing like what Carmen had brought to my attention, it was no Serenity. Actual humans went to the club I’d gone to last night,
“I can smell them on you. It’s repulsive. What were you doing? Did I not tell you that you cannot make deals with other demons? You have been marked.”
I felt my cheeks flame a dark red colour, and I wished I could control that reaction. Because I was angry now, that he would dare to talk to me like that. I hadn’t done anything, hadn’t made any deals, hadn’t even meant to be around another demon. He had no right.
“I don’t care if I repel you, you should know that by now. You have no right to speak to me like this!” I snapped, glaring at him stubbornly. I really should have cleared it up then and there, but I was too agitated to think straight.
“Now more than ever,” he said, reaching for my wrist and then recoiling as if he’d been burned. “What the hell is that?” He asked, jabbing a finger towards the cuff on my wrist.
I felt the heat in my cheeks increase. I wasn’t ashamed to have covered up that mark, there was no reason to care about, I’d told myself that repeatedly. Still, I always felt a little twinge of guilt whenever I put it on. Speaking of which, the mark felt like it was about to burn a hole through my wrist, it had lit up so much that there was a visible faint glow coming from inside the cuff when I looked down at it.
“It’s a cuff, Mal, stop acting like an imbecile. I can’t exactly go around showing this thing off,” I said, lifting my wrist so I could point at it with my other hand. “No one would understand what it was, and the ones who did would ostracise me.”
“That mark is there to protect you from the others of my kind, or did you forget that? It makes you mine,” he said, and his tone was so angry and so dangerous that a small part of me wanted to turn and run.
“Whoa, buddy,” I said, pulling myself up to my full height. “We have had this conversation before. I am not yours, I am not anyone’s, and I do as I damn well please. You have obviously got your knickers in a twist about something, but I neither know why or even care to know why. I will continue to cover this up, just as I will continue to live my life. So back the hell off.” I wasn’t going to sit around and be talked down to, that had never been my style. “And for the record, I haven’t been around any demons. I have no bloody idea what you’re on about. I went to a club last night, with a friend. A very human friend. And I sure as hell didn’t make any deals with anyone. I’m not a fucking idiot.”
He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling in a dramatic fashion. He turned away from me, pacing to one side of the tiny changing room and then back again, dragging a hand through his hair multiple times. I figured he was trying to calm himself down, and I appreciated the effort.
He could have just asked and I would have told him, he hadn’t needed to go off with such a ridiculous reaction. But that’s demons for you; they have no sense of control. Or, I suppose, Fallen’s. Mal technically wasn’t a demon, he was one of the Angels who had abandoned their post.
“Why do you even care about the cuff?” I asked, putting my fists on my hips.
“I care because…” He started loud at first, but his voice trailed off and he frowned, looking away for me for a moment. He seemed to be struggling with something. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve been avoiding me, and now when I finally find you, I discover that you’re covering up the one thing I gave you, to help you. It’s insulting. You’re right, what you do isn’t any of my business, and I’m sorry if I offended.” He pulled himself together with a brief shake of his head as he turned back to me, and all signs of anger disappeared.
“I’m sorry that it seems like an insult, but I promise that’s not what I meant. You know what Emily is, if she saw this…” I gestured at the cuff, shaking my head. “I can’t lose her, Mal, she means too much to me.”
“I understand.”
“You know, if you wanted to help me, you could make this damn thing stop burning. It’s driving me crazy,” I said with a small laugh, hoping to dispel the awkward tension.
He grinned at me, offering his hand out, and I walked forward to place my wrist in his hand. He unclipped the cuff, exposing the brand to the air, and bent his head to press his lips there. For a moment, I felt the blaze of pure power that had wrapped around me when I’d been given the demonic power, and I closed my eyes to the rush. Then his lips were gone and the feeling faded, along with the burning pain.
“It misses me,” he said, with a wink. “Y
ou shouldn’t avoid me.”
“If you promise not to be such a freak next time, maybe I won’t,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I promise. Now, perhaps it’s time we returned to Carmen, hm?”
“Ugh. I so don’t want to deal with whatever she’s going to say.”
His eyes sparkled. “I’ll handle it.”
28
I returned home with the new clothing in a bag, not quite willing to look directly at it. In addition to the outfit Mal had provided, Carmen had decided on a pair of thigh high boots that had heels so high I had difficulty believing anyone could walk in them. I couldn’t believe I had agreed to wear something like that, it was so far outside my comfort zone. But I needed to blend in at this club so that I could get the information I needed. I was so tired of being behind on the case, and this was an opportunity to get ahead. Besides, if anyone tried anything I was more than capable of taking care of myself. They would learn that.
Mind you, stilettos would make excellent weapons if I had to kick someone in the balls.
Oh Gods, I was going to be so tall. I was tall in my own right, taller than the average woman and yet not so towering that I made grown men shrink, but if I added regular heels to the mix it got close to that. With heels the size Carmen had selected, I was going to be a good few inches taller than anyone else there. I hoped she was right that this kind of standout outfit was going to make me blend in to the crowd, instead of drawing attention to myself.
“Fred?” I called as I shut the door behind me. “I’ve got some questions I need to go over with you.”
“Yes, Miss Blair, I am here to go over anything you are needings,” Fred said, lifting his head up. He had been bowed over the science fiction book I’d bought for him, eagerly devouring it as if it was the last book on Earth. I had no idea why he liked science fiction so much, I mean who believes made up stuff like that! But I wasn’t going to argue with whatever made him happy especially since he had just started to use my name, and that was a victory unto itself, even if it was attached to an honorific.