“Probably not.”
“Well, once you can, get the hell out of here. If Jack can’t find you, he can’t use his Voice on you.”
“Good point.”
“Right.” I took a deep breath and let it out as I looked across at the Bellagio. “I’m going in.”
“Do you remember the room number?” she asked.
I gave her a look.
“Right,” she said. “Stupid question.”
Chapter 10
I flipped out my badge and showed it to security when I walked in. Hotel staff were typically in-the-know about supernaturals, and security understood that when a paranormal police officer wanted something, they obliged.
Fortunately, I didn’t need them to do anything at this point, other than to be okay with me using the elevators. My badge unlocked any floor I needed to get on, but I still had to show that badge to get past the checkpoint without raising a stink.
The doors opened and I went to room 627.
The other thing my badge could do was open any room in any hotel on the Strip. It could only be done in an emergency, though, and I wasn’t 100% certain yet that Jack was inside, so it would essentially be considered personal business for me to open the door at this point. Then again, they had given me a card earlier. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that card with me, so I was going to have to knock.
Just as I lifted my hand to rap on the door, I distinctly heard Kidnap Jack saying, “That’s right…like that!”
He was in there.
I pulled out Boomy, flipped open my wallet, tapped the badge to the door and let it sit there for five seconds. The little light changed and I turned the handle, carefully entering the room as quietly as I could.
The three ladies were standing by the window with headphones on, and Jack was bent over the bed and tied to it. Behind him was a guy wearing a black superhero costume with a matching mask that sported pointy ears, and he was doing something to poor Jack that I truly wished I could unsee.
“All right, all right,” I said, causing the guy in the bat suit to cease his activities with a start as the three women’s eyes opened wide at seeing me. “Headphones off,” I yelled.
They complied.
I’d heard of this practice before, but this was the first time I’d seen it firsthand.
Trick a guy to come to a room that you got using a fake name and stolen credit card. Get him all riled up and then tie him to the bed. Once he thinks he’s in for some seriously kinky shit, some dude wearing a superhero outfit then jumps out of a closet. The kinky shit ensues, but not in any fashion the poor guy had expected. While this is going on, you take the dude’s wallet and cell phone. Once the caped invader has finished his…mission…you get the hell out of there, drive far away, and then put a call in to the hotel using the poor bastard’s cell phone to let them know that he’s stuck in a precarious situation, just to solidify his embarrassment.
They called it getting superhero’d.
Poor Jack.
“Don’t use the Voice on them, Jack,” I warned, realizing that I’d told the ladies to take off their headphones, “or I’ll let this masked invader here continue his fun time.”
“So?”
“So, I’ll…” I paused, recognizing that his look of angst was directed at me, not at those in the room. “Wait, you wanted him to do that?”
“It’s why I had the ladies tie me up and put on the headphones,” he said. “I didn’t want to be able to use my Voice against them.”
“Oh.” I was grimacing.
“I figured there was only one final tryst in my future before you caught up to me, so I wanted to make it memorable.”
At that point, I threw up a little in my mouth. I was all about freedom to do what you wanted in your own bedroom, but this was…
“Wait,” I said as something scratched at my brain, “you know these women?”
I zoomed at their eyes and didn’t see his trademarked iris/pupil reversal. Then I blinked and zoomed farther. Damn it, they were wearing colored contacts.
“Of course I know them,” Jack said. “They were all part of my plan.”
“Your plan to what?” My eyes shot open at the realization that this had all been part of an elaborate plan to…I tightened my grip on Boomy. “You were going to superhero me?”
Jack cracked a smile.
“Dude, what the hell?” I couldn’t have given a more sour look if I were eating a lemon. “What have I done to you that you hate me so much?”
“Nothing,” Jack replied without inflection. “You’re just my competition. I don’t like competition.”
“You’re a sick fucker, Jack,” I said while motioning the guy in the bat suit to stand over with the ladies, and then I threw a blanket over Jack’s exposed personage. “Imagine me getting superhero’d.”
“I was,” he replied wistfully.
“Ew.”
Chapter 11
“And so he was just doing all of this to set you up to be knighted?” asked O, the Director who was in charge of the mages in the area.
“It’s not knighted, you dipshit,” EQK answered before I could. “It’s called being superhero’d.”
“Thank you for correcting me, EQK. I’m pleased that I don’t know the correct term.”
The room grew quiet for a couple of moments. This was typically when EQK had a good comeback, being that he was your stereotypical pixie and all, but he said nothing. He was too busy giggling.
“I don’t get it,” said Zack, the leader of the Vegas Werewolf Pack. “Why didn’t Mr. Conners just leave the keycard and run? He could have gotten away clean.”
“I asked him that on the way to the station, actually,” I replied. “I pointed out that had he escaped, I would have eventually gone to see the ladies. It’s in my nature. And I probably would’ve fallen for the superhero trick. He just said ‘damn’ and pouted the rest of the way.”
“So he’s in a holding cell now?” asked Silver, the head of the Vegas Vampires.
“Yes,” I answered. “His Voice is very powerful, though, so I had Officer Benchley cast a spell of mute on him.”
“I see,” replied Silver.
He had leaned in for a moment and then backed off. This meant that I saw his face and then it faded from memory. I hated that. I could only catch glimpses of these guys and there was no memory of them once they backed off again.
“I don’t get it,” Zack stated. “What’s his voice have do with anything?”
“It’s Voice with a capital ‘V,’ sir, and it’s magical,” I replied. “For some reason, he’s able to use vocalizations to get ladies to do essentially anything he wants them to do. Many have even fallen in love with him because of it.”
“Yeah,” said EQK. “Haven’t you ever heard of that Jack guy? He’s a real asshole of a vampire. Of course, all of them are.”
“Watch it, pixie,” said Silver.
“He goes around picking up chicks,” continued EQK, clearly ignoring Silver, “feeds on them, and then they fall for him like he’s a god or something. How someone could fall in love with someone who just bit them is weird if you ask me, but you human types have the most fucked sexual deviances imaginable.”
“At least we have sex,” noted Silver.
“Screw you, fang boy.”
“Fang boy?”
“Okay, okay,” said O in his booming voice. “Let’s stay on topic.”
“Up yours, Magic Mike,” EQK spat back.
Again, silence.
Then, O finally said, “It sounds like you have everything wrapped up, Officer Dex.”
“Until they let Kidnap Jack out again, anyway,” I agreed.
“We’ll all put in our recommendations with the court, so hopefully he’ll be behind bars for a long time.”
“Thanks, O. That’d be nice.”
“Yeah,” laughed EQK, “because you don’t want to lose another chick to him, you pathetic douche.”
I held back my reply.
Chapter 12
I handed over a cup of coffee to Isabel as we sat in the little PPD conference room.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip.
“You okay?” I asked, trying to gain some eye contact.
She looked up at me and nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
“Not exactly the way I’d expected this date to go,” I admitted. “Sorry.”
“Wasn’t your fault,” she replied with a shrug.
That much was true. Neither were the past two dates that Kidnap Jack had interrupted, but it still wasn’t fun.
“Well, I’m sure you have a lot to process because of all this, but if you ever want to give it another shot, I’d be—”
“No, thanks,” she said, holding her hand up. “I don’t mean any offense, Ian, but I just don’t think it’ll work out.”
I nodded at her in understanding. Who could blame her? It wasn’t like my life in the PPD was normal, after all. If it were, I wouldn’t be going on blind dates.
We got up and I walked her outside.
“I can drive you wherever you want to go.”
“No, I think I’ll just catch a cab.”
I frowned. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay.” She then turned and looked at me. “Can I ask you something, though?”
“Of course. What’s up?”
“It’s about Jack Conners.”
My eye twitched.
“Okay?”
“Is there a way I can find out when he’s getting out of prison?”
“May I ask why?” I said, fully expecting it to be a revenge play. “Getting back at him won’t do you any good. In fact, it could land you in the slammer, too.”
“Oh no, nothing like that,” she said. “I just think he’s dreamy.”
“Ugh.”
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John P. Logsdon
www.JohnPLogsdon.com
John was raised in the MD/VA/DC area. Growing up, John had a steady interest in writing stories, playing music, and tinkering with computers. He spent over 20 years working in the video games industry where he acted as designer and producer on many online games. He’s written science fiction, fantasy, humor, and even books on game development. While he enjoys writing lighthearted adventures and wacky comedies most, he can’t seem to turn down writing darker fiction. John lives with his wife, son, and Chihuahua.
Christopher P. Young
Chris grew up in the Maryland suburbs. He spent the majority of his childhood reading and writing science fiction and learning the craft of storytelling. He worked as a designer and producer in the video games industry for a number of years as well as working in technology and admin services. He enjoys writing both serious and comedic science fiction and fantasy. Chris lives with his wife and an ever-growing population of critters.
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by John P. Logsdon & Christopher P. Young
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Published by: Crimson Myth Press (www.CrimsonMyth.com)
Edited by: Lorelei Logsdon (www.LLEdits.com)
Cover Art: Jake Logsdon (www.JakeLogsdon.com)
Blind Date: An Ian Dex Supernatural Short Story (Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department) Page 4