The Nine

by C. M. Stunich

  "No, you asshole." I whacked him with the back on my hand. "No getting laid tonight, for anyone! This is a girls’ night out. No boys allowed."

  "Hmm so that predatory vixen from the other night isn't joining us? Because she is totally one of the boys, penis or not." He gave me a look that said he knew that I knew he was right. Bastard.

  "No, Revel is not invited. It's just you, me and Bex. And this chick Shelbi if she gets my message. You'll like her, though. She's an omega wolf so I kinda think she doesn't have many friends?" I headed over to my walk in closet and started flipping through the racks, looking for something to wear out. My phone sitting on the bedside table said it was already seven at night, so I may as well get tarted up now.

  "Omegas don't tend to have any," Chris agreed. "Oh my Goddess, no!"

  This last exclamation was in response to the dress I'd just picked out and held against my body in the mirror.

  "Why not? This dress is cute, and it hides at least seven blades." I whirled from the mirror to glare at Chris as he infiltrated my closet.

  "Uh yeah babe, so does a nun's habit." His voice was muffled from deep inside my racks of clothes. "How about this?" He pulled out a hot pink satin mini-dress that I'd picked up for a disguise at some point.

  "Foxfire, no!" I screwed up my nose. "You totally need to be a sassy blond with big tits and ass to pull that off."

  "Good, I was just testing you," he muttered, throwing the pink dress on my floor and diving back into my closet. "Ah hah! Perfect."

  He reappeared back out of my closet holding ... not a lot.

  "Seriously?" I deadpanned, seeing what he was holding. "With what else?"

  He scowled at me. "With these." From behind his back, he whipped out a pair of killer boots that I bought on a whim and still hadn't had a chance to wear yet. "Now get dressed. I'll go figure out where I dropped my bag last night."

  "Just follow the glitter trail," I yelled after him and snickered at my own joke as I hopped in the shower for a quick wake up rinse and then put on the ... er ... clothes that Chris had picked out.

  Dressed, I inspected my appearance in the mirror. The boots were tall, coming two thirds of the way up my thigh and with a solid six inch stiletto heel on them. They fastened down the back with a series of buckles which was seriously bad ass and totally me.

  Above the boots, I had on a pair of black leather hot pants that were so short they were practically underpants, and on top ... a black bra with enough straps to make me look like I was semi-tied up.

  All in all, it was totally porno and incredibly sexy. Perfect.

  "Chris!" I yelled out, spotting a problem.

  "Yes, my foxy friend?" he replied, popping back into my bedroom wearing nothing but a blue tulle tutu and glittery nipple tassels. "Hot damn, girl. You sure you're not getting laid tonight? You've almost got me in a fluster and you know how much the fish taco scares me."

  "Very funny, Fae-Bitch. But where the hell do I put weapons in this outfit?" I propped my hands on my hips and glared at him.

  He shrugged and sashayed into my bathroom to start his makeup. "Nowhere babe, it's girls’ night, remember? No stabbing or shooting people allowed."

  "Chris. I am not going out totally unarmed. Are you kidding me? Have we even met? Trouble finds me, not the other way around." Okay so that was a little bit of a truth stretch, but the point was valid.

  He sighed dramatically as he dusted glitter around his eyes. "Fine. Do you have a whip? Like one of those super long ones that Catwoman uses?"

  "Yeah?" I replied. I owned just about every weapon under the sun.

  "Wrap it around your waist like a belt or some shit. It'll totally work with the outfit. So dominatrix chic, I love it. I don't suppose any of your lovers are into pain, are they?" He chuckled to himself even as I froze, thinking of Bennett. "Because they would shit their pants to see you right now."

  I smiled tightly, and joined him at the mirror to do my own makeup.

  When we finished, we turned to inspect each others work.

  "You look so fabulous," I laughed. His eyes and cheekbones were decorated with pink and blue glitters and he had on a unicorn horn headband over his cotton candy-colored hair.

  "Thanks, bitch." He grinned. "You look pretty badass yourself. Now let's go pick up Bex and your new friend, and then get our drink on!"

  He led the way downstairs to my garage and we both hopped into my bigger car, a Jaguar F-pace SUV. I may or may not have bought it just to remind me of Riot. A memory I now needed to stuff into a little ball in the back of my mind so as not to ruin my make up by crying.

  "I should have grabbed a bottle of vodka for the drive," Chris muttered as we headed into the downtown and he fiddled with my radio.

  "Oh my God, we will be there in ten minutes, Fae-Bitch." I rolled my eyes and pulled into the driveway of Bex's concrete house. That wasn't an exaggeration either. She'd had the entire house custom built out of concrete and installed light-proof shutters on every window and door. There was no chance of any accidental sunburn inside her place during the day.

  Not bothering to get out of the car, Chris leaned over and tooted my horn to let Bex know we were there, and seconds later she came strutting out in an aquamarine polka-dot pin up dress and baby-doll heels.

  "Shit, Bex," I commented as she slid into the back seat and we merged back into the road. "If I'd known you were going bright, I would have worn something else."

  "Oh shush," Chris scolded me then turned in his seat to blow air kisses at my vampire friend. "Bex, doll. You look hot. Ready for a night out with the green fairy?"

  Bex snickered. "I hope you mean Absinthe and not some green haired twink friend of yours?"

  "Hah, I didn't think of that," Chris replied with a grin. "But yes, I meant Absinthe!"

  "Oh wow, tonight is going to hurt tomorrow, huh?" I commented, and both my friends seemed to cackle with evil laughter.

  Chris turned up the stereo and the two of them belted out some Cher classics as I headed for Rioja, the restaurant that Shelbi worked in. On my message, I'd said I would pick her up out front at the end of her shift, assuming it was the same finish time as the other day.

  Sure enough, she was standing near the front doors with a frayed denim mini-skirt on and a heavy suede jacket.

  "Holy shit," she breathed as she slid into the back seat beside Bex and looked over what we were all wearing. "Aren't you all freezing? It snowed the other day for Fenrir's sake!"

  The three of us all chuckled.

  "I'm a vampire," Bex introduced herself. "Bex, by the way. I don't feel the cold."

  "I'm freezing," I admitted, "but seriously doubt Fae-Bitch will let me put a coat on, no matter how cold I get."

  "Awww, honey you know me so well," he cooed, fluttering his false lashes at me. "As for moi." He swiveled in his seat to look at Shelbi. "I'm simply fabulous. You can't cover fabulous with a coat."

  Shelbi laughed, and I knew these three would get along like a house on fire.

  The club we were heading to wasn't far from Shelbi's work, so within minutes we were inside the warm confines of a techno dance bar, sipping on fluorescent green drinks.

  "Holy shit," Shelbi spluttered after taking her first sip, "This is ... ah ..."

  "Isn't it delicious?" Chris encouraged, and she nodded hesitantly despite the fact that she was probably thinking a different word to describe the drink.

  Chris shimmied his shoulders, setting his nipple tassels swinging and then did a twirl. "Come on, drink up and let’s go dance! Girls’ night, am I right?"

  We all smiled, but there was absolutely no sense in arguing with him in this mood, so we threw our drinks back and coughed as they burned their way down to our bellies.

  Following his lead, we all headed out onto the already packed dance floor to dance the night away. It was exactly what I needed to decompress after everything that had happened lately.

  Several hours, and more than several potent drinks later, we limped our way out o
f the club. All four of us were laughing and falling all over the place as we navigated the badly paved street.

  "Lookie what I grabbed," Chris sang, pulling a full sized bottle of vodka from Goddess only knows where. "Wanna go lurk in the cemetery like vampires and give Thea some crap about her new lovers?"

  This question was directed at the other two girls so I scowled at him, even as Bex made a noise of annoyance.

  "We do not lurk in cemeteries, Fae-Bitch!" She defended herself, and then shrugged. "Except for tonight. But only ‘cause you have more vodka, and I wanna hear more about these new lovers of Thea's." Her words were slurring and I rolled my eyes. For a vamp, she sure was a lightweight.

  "No talking about Thea's lovers," I ordered, snatching the vodka from Chris and taking a swig. "How'd you get this anyway?"

  He shrugged and gave me a saucy grin. "Let's just say, one of the bartenders is going home a satisfied man tonight."

  Now that he drew my attention to it, his glittery pink lipstick was rather smudged ... lucky bastard. I hadn't sucked cock in forever, and I was actually pretty damn great at it.

  "Well, good work," Bex commended him and took the bottle from me for herself. "Now, does anyone need a boost over this gate or are we all good?"

  We had just arrived at the wrought iron gates of the Fairmount Cemetery. It just happened to be the closest thing to a park near the club we'd been at.

  "Uh, babe?" I tapped her on the shoulder as she started to scale the tall gate. "They actually left the other side open."

  She paused, and looked about three feet to her left where the gate stood ajar. "Oh. Well ... that's convenient."

  Laughing, we slipped through the gate and wandered down the little path-like road between two grassy rows of headstones. We were heading for the pretty little rotunda near the middle of the burial ground, where Chris and I had hung out to drink many, many times before.

  Before we even made it a hundred yards into the grounds though, the sounds of women in distress reached my fox ears, which were so much sharper than my human ones.

  "Shit," I cursed quietly. "Someone's in trouble."

  My friends didn't question me, instead following silently—or as silently as they could in Shelbi's case—as I headed towards the sounds.

  We smelled them before we saw them, the stench of bourbon and dust wafting through the night air, leading us straight to the little gang of wolves who had a couple of terrified looking girls cornered against a dead-end surrounded by mausoleums.

  The fact they were wolves was of no question. That distinctive doggy odor was mixed in with the sickly sweet cupcake scent of dust, and Shelbi immediately shifted into her wolf form. She didn't cower and present her belly, though, which told me these were not Vail Valley wolves.

  "Can we help you faeries?" One of the wolves sneered at us, saying fairies like it was some sort of insult. Which was just stupid. Chris literally was a faery, in both uses of the word.

  "Let the girls go," I ordered him. He was a seriously unattractive man, with big bushy sideburns like he thought he was Wolverine or something.

  "Naw, I don't think we'll be doing that," he replied with a leer. "These pups should have known better than to wander around in wolf country without an escort."

  I glanced to the two tanned, blonde girls who were cowering with fear. They must have been some variety of canidae shifter but I couldn't place what, until one of them spoke.

  "Please," she whimpered, "don't leave us with these buggers."

  I nodded slowly, hearing her Australian accent and understanding the tans. "Dingo?" I asked and they nodded nervously. "I won't leave you with these bastards," I assured them. "They were just about to leave anyway, weren't you boys?"

  I speared them all with a death glare, even as I unwrapped my whip from my waist. Suddenly I wasn't feeling a fraction as drunk as I had a few moments ago. My focus was sharp, and I was ready to bash some skulls if these bastards didn't leave those girls alone.

  Wolves weren’t known for their stunning intellect, though. Seconds later, two of them had shifted and we were in the midst of an all-out brawl. Bex could definitely handle herself, so even without Shelbi or Chris being much use, we could have these dickheads neutralized in minutes.

  The alcohol did slow my reactions though, and by a stupid miscalculation, I caught a fist across my face from one of the wolves.

  "Motherfucker," I snarled, snapping out my whip and catching him around the throat with it.

  Just as I was preparing to yank him closer to me so I could beat the ever loving fuck out of him, a deafening roar echoed through the cemetery, causing everyone to freeze and the loose gravel to actually vibrate a little.

  "Do not move a damn muscle," Bennett snapped, appearing as if from fucking thin air with two pony sized wolves flanking him. "Not a single fucking muscle."

  My friends clearly weren't totally sure if this applied to them or not, and were erring on the side of caution by remaining frozen. I for one, didn't give two hoots what Bennett wanted, and yanked on my whip to drag my victim closer to me.

  "Thea," Bennett growled. Literally growled. "Someone hit you." He was all up in my grill now, with his fingers gripping my chin and inspecting the split in my lip. "That's my job." He hissed this last part so quietly, I was positive only I heard, and fuck if I didn't get a shiver of arousal from it.

  "No shit," I snapped back. "I was just about to beat his sorry ass for it when you so rudely interrupted us."

  Bennett released my face, stepping back to glare at the wolf on the end of my whip. Without warning or hesitation, he drew his fist back and slammed it so hard into the man's face, I could have sworn I heard at least four bones break.

  "Now get the fuck out of Denver before I take this as a personal grievance and demand your asses on a platter." He roared the command at the strange wolves and every one of them turned tail and ran. I didn't blame them, either. Bennett was one scary ass motherfucker.

  "Who are they?" he asked me, jerking his head to the two girls cowering in the corner.

  "Dingoes," I replied, "probably here on vacation for ski season or some shit."

  "Please, mates," one of the girls begged, her voice shaking. "We didn't mean to offend anyone. We were just walking back to our hotel and that feral lot cornered us. I wasn't thinking real hard and told the ugly one he had the face of a smashed crab and ... well ..."

  "Yeah, I think we can see how well that worked out," Chris muttered, shaking out his wings with a puff of glitter. "Funny though."

  "Just get out of here," Bennett ordered the girls. "And be smarter in future. A dingo against a wolf is no match, clear?"

  "You bet, cheers mate." She bobbed her head in appreciation, and the two of them tore out of the graveyard in the opposite direction to where the wolves had gone.

  A tense sort of silence descended after the girls took off and I glared daggers at Bennett who just stared back at me impassively.

  "What, you were just in the neighborhood?" I asked him sarcastically, winding my whip back around my waist and securing it.

  "Fuck no," he grunted. "I clearly followed you after I heard the message you left Shelbi."

  I gaped at him. "Seriously? That's stalkerish."

  "No, you arrogant vixen, of course not." He gave me a pitying look like I actually thought he cared enough to stalk me. Bastard.

  "Well ... good. Don't." I didn't really know what to say after that, because I actually did think that was why he showed up here.

  He rolled his eyes and dug a folded envelope from his back pocket. He was in faded jeans and a tight black t-shirt, so clearly hadn't shifted anytime recently.

  "I came to give you this. It's a time sensitive thing that I needed to deliver. So, consider it delivered." He arched a dark brow at me and ran his hand through those shaggy locks of his when I relieved him of the letter.

  "What is it?" I asked suspiciously, turning it over in my hands.

  "Formal invitation to make you pack. Tradition dic
tates I present my bride to the alpha coalition, but unfortunately all I have is you. So. Thirty days, address should be in the letter. Dress smart." He shrugged a broad shoulder and turned to leave without any further explanations.

  "Hold up!" I yelled, storming after him and swatting aside one of the enormous wolves. "I am not your freaking bride!"

  "Clearly," Bennett sneered, running his gaze over me. "No matter how hot you are, I don't do love or marriage. This was just an oversight. A lapse in judgement on my behalf that made you my alpha female. Don't stress your little tits over it though, fox. The bond is just a pack status thing, it gives no influence over how we live our lives so there’s no need for us to repeat that little tryst we had."

  "Well, good!" I spluttered, feeling both relieved and insulted at the same time. I mean, on the one hand it was great that being his alpha female wasn't going to brainwash me into caring about him. Sadistic fucker that he was. On the other hand, what the hell was so abhorrent about me that he didn't even want to try?! I can’t believe I screwed this asshole!

  "Thirty days, Thea. Don't forget or I might be forced to chase you down." He gave me a stern look, then turned and left with his wolves.

  "So, let me guess," Chris broke the silence that followed Bennett's departure, "Bennett?"

  Bex snorted a laugh and even Shelbi in wolf form huffed a laugh. Bitch.

  "Guys..." I groaned, rubbing my face and feeling exhausted in the aftermath of that little scrap. "Can we go to a different bar and get drunk again?"

  "Hell freaking yes," Chris enthused, doing another shoulder shimmy, twirl and high kick. "But dog breath might need some clothes..."

  Looking where he was pointing, I saw the scattered rags of Shelbi's skirt and couldn't help myself ... I burst out in hysterical laughter.