by Kelly Goode
After paying his entrance fee, he secured the obligatory security cuff around his wrist and headed inside. As the club made most of its money from humans wanting to experience the wilder side of supernatural cohabitation, the supernatural patrons were required to conform to strict security measures. In his case, the cuff stopped him teleporting, which wasn’t really a big deal, but had wider reaching consequences for any vampires that tried to bite a human, or a witch who tried to cast a spell.
As Harvey entered the main part of the club, he felt his inner-demon unfurl. He hadn’t been here for months. Places like this, tended to test his resolve to stay out of trouble. There were plenty of beautiful women milling around, and he could smell their arousal like a potent perfume.
Knowing the way JC operated, he was either on the dancefloor or in one of the darker corners of the club. Harvey strode towards the sunken pit in the middle of the room. It was the hub of activity, with humans and supernaturals alike, dancing to the thumping music.
Harvey’s demon wanted to join them, and he groaned as his cock hardened in his trousers at the thought of being in the middle of all those sweaty, eager bodies. He wanted to feel some slick skin beneath his palms, lick some plump lips, and bite some smooth flesh.
Harvey managed to resist the temptation by taking the long way around the dance floor rather than cutting through it. He headed up the stairs to the middle level of the club and found his friend sitting on one of the sofas in a secluded corner.
JC had been telling the truth for once. He did have more than he could handle, but that wasn’t stopping him giving it a good go as he had his tongue down one woman’s throat and a hand up another’s skirt.
Neither woman noticed Harvey’s arrival, but JC sensed him and opened his eyes.
‘How the fuck have you been managing to text me like that?’ Harvey said.
JC tore his mouth away from the brunette sitting beside him and grinned.
‘What can I say? I’m very talented with my hands, just ask Lori here.’
JC’s hand continued to move between her legs, ripping a groan of approval from her surgically enhanced lips.
‘Lori, this is my good friend, Harvey. He’s going to take over for a while.’
Lori gave a slight nod of her head, encouraging Harvey to step closer. She had large blue eyes, and a pretty enough face even if it was covered with far too much make-up. She wasn’t a natural beauty like Ember, but she did have long, sexy hair that he could tangle his hands into while he fucked her.
Harvey took a strand between his fingers and inhaled. He frowned; she didn’t smell like apples.
‘Stop thinking about the fire-witch,’ JC said, correctly reading his friend’s reluctance to join the party. ‘She sure as hell isn’t thinking about you.’
‘I wasn’t,’ Harvey protested.
‘Yes, you were. Now make a choice. Blonde or brunette?’
Harvey looked from one woman to the other. The words “blonde or brunette” echoed through his mind. He knew what he wanted to say, but “red” wasn’t on offer. All he could do was allow his demon to have some fun. It would buy him a few days peace, before it started playing up again.
‘Blonde,’ he growled, replacing JC’s hand with his own.
‘Finally,’ JC said, turning his attention to the other woman who’d been waiting patiently for him. He pulled her onto his lap and plundered her mouth.
Lori began moving her hips, forcing Harvey’s finger deeper inside her. He didn’t like the way her nostrils flared as she panted or the little mewing noises she made, and he wondered whether he should have taken the brunette after all. She was hardly making any noise at all.
‘Take me to one of the private booths,’ Lori purred.
Harvey saw the skin on his arm ripple and spike in anticipation as his demon tried to claw its way out.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked, giving her one chance to change her mind. ‘I’m not a nice man.’
‘That’s exactly what I was counting on, Harvey. I don’t need a nice man. I want to fuck a monster.’
Harvey felt his demon taking over, shutting down the logical side of his brain. The stupid bitch wanted a monster; she was going to get the worst kind imaginable.
Part Two – Awareness
16
I followed Harvey into the glass-fronted building marked “Chambers’ Enterprise”. It was a little after eleven and yesterday’s lack of sleep was rapidly catching up with me. The typical English weather matched my mood.
Dark and gloomy.
Agent Myles had selected Harvey to go with me to meet with Colleen’s father. A decision that had angered Carter and worried me. I shouldn’t be around the demon any longer than was necessary. It hurt too damn much, and sometimes I felt like I was going to detonate – real fireballs that is - and not figuratively.
As Colleen was actively practicing magic with the coven before she died, she’d been deemed a supernatural victim. That meant the supernatural police, who followed different guidelines to the regular police, would continue to deal with the investigation.
‘We’re not trained for this,’ I said to Harvey, as we headed towards the front desk.
The collar of my white shirt felt like it was strangling me and my stomach twisted with so many nerves that I felt sick.
‘That may be the case, but isn’t it better this conversation happens with someone who knew Colleen, rather than a random S.P.T.F. officer? Someone who cares about bringing the perpetrator to justice, as you do.’
‘I guess that makes sense.’
‘No one is trained to deal with death, but it comes for us all eventually.’
As Harvey took the lead and explained our visit to the receptionist, I took a moment to study his profile. He had dark stubble on his chin and even darker circles under his eyes, and I wondered if he’d slept at all last night.
Being with the unit seemed to be taking its toll on both of us, physically and emotionally, and we’d only been back together for a day. I could only guess at the state of the suitcases under my own eyes.
The receptionist directed us towards a lift that would take us to Mr Chambers’ office. As the lift doors slid shut, the small space seemed to close in on me. It felt like being back inside my cell, and the memory of those weeks of isolation tore through me. The walls seemed to close in and I struggled to breathe. Even though it was just the two of us inside, I shuffled a few inches away from Harvey and placed a hand on the lift wall to steady myself.
‘How do you tell a father that his daughter is never coming home?’
I’d posed it as a rhetorical question, but Harvey answered, ‘carefully.’
That sobering thought certainly put my life into perspective, as it took less than ten seconds to reduce the giant of a man behind the desk into a sobbing mess. I watched in pained silence as he held his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking so hard that the desk knocked in time with his cries. I looked to Harvey for support, but he shrugged his shoulders, leaving me to search for the right words.
‘I’m sorry for your loss, Mr Chambers.’
Mr Chambers’ dark head snapped up, the whites of his eyes now mottled red. He wiped his hand across his face, collecting snot and tears in one swoop.
‘Are you sure it’s her?’
‘We are. Is your wife here?’
‘No, she’s having lunch with some friends. I didn’t tell her about the call last night from the supernatural police department, as I was hoping you’d come here with good news. I thought you’d found Colleen. I never expected her to be…’
He broke down once again and I let him cry. The image was so powerful that I thought of my own father – a man I’d never met. His identity was a secret that my mother kept from me even now. Roger Lane was not my father, but a man who’d systematically abused me right up to the day he was murdered. Would my real father cry for me if I died? Would he mourn the daughter he knew nothing about?
‘I knew your daughter, Mr Chambers,’ I said. ‘We belonged t
o the same, err…group.’
Mr Chambers’ studied me, his gaze lingering on my red hair.
‘Colleen made some bad choices before she went missing. She became fascinated with witchcraft and supernatural creatures. Is that what killed her? Are you a witch?’
‘I don’t make friends easily, Mr Chambers,’ I continued, ignoring his question, ‘but Colleen took the time to talk to me, to welcome me. She was a good girl.’
‘Yes, she was,’ he agreed sadly.
‘Is there someone I could call for you?’ I asked, my eyes brimming with tears I was desperately trying to hold back. ‘You shouldn’t be alone right now.’
He shook his head. ‘No, it’s ok. I’d like to be the one who tells my wife when she returns from lunch. Privately, if that’s ok?’
I looked across to Harvey, and he nodded.
‘Ok, Mr Chambers. Someone will be in touch to arrange a convenient time to come back and speak to you both. We need your help to put together a timeline of Colleen’s last movements before you reported her missing.’
‘Can it be you?’
His request caught me off guard.
‘Sure,’ I replied hesitantly, ‘if that’s what you’d like.’
Mr Chambers nodded.
‘Do you think she did this to herself?’ he asked.
‘No, we’re absolutely sure she was murdered.’
‘Murdered? How? Why?’
I paused, not knowing how much to reveal. I took a deep breath, but before I could reply, Harvey cut in.
‘Have you heard of a strip-club here in Soho called Darrick’s?’
My heart picked up at the mention of Darrick’s name. He was the manipulative vampire that I was tasked with seducing during my mission at the First and Only team in order to secure a precious stone. A mission I’d failed dismally.
‘What has Darrick got to do with this?’ Mr Chambers asked.
‘Please answer the question,’ Harvey replied curtly.
I glared at Harvey.
‘What are you doing?’ I murmured. ‘This is not the time for a good cop, bad cop routine.’
‘Of course I’ve heard of it,’ Mr Chambers said. ‘I run a publicity agency. Entertaining young men with too much money is part of the business. Darrick's is as good a place as any other for them to spend their hard-earned cash. Gaining the right exposure on social media is essential. The owner takes good care of them. I’m not against vampires integrating into society.’
‘Have you ever been there, Mr Chambers?’
‘Certainly not, I am a happily married man. I don’t see the relevance…’
Harvey carried on relentlessly. ‘Would Colleen have frequented the club?’
‘No. I wouldn’t have allowed it.’
That comment caught my attention. Colleen was the same age as me, so it was strange that her father was still telling her where she could and couldn’t go.
‘Did she have a boyfriend?’
‘No. You don’t understand. Colleen wasn’t like those other girls.’
Mr Chambers looked broken and I realised we hadn’t even mentioned the pregnancy yet.
‘We’ll see ourselves out,’ I said firmly, putting an end to Harvey’s blatant interrogation. The man had been through enough for one day. ‘We’ll be in touch.’
17
‘Why did you give Mr Chambers such a hard time?’ Ember said, as she punched the button to call the lift. ‘We just shattered his world and yet you made him feel like a suspect. We weren’t supposed to be interrogating him.’
Harvey chose his response carefully, not knowing how much to disclose. JC had a hunch about why the three girls were targeted, but without proof, it was just that – a hunch.
‘He lied to us.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well for one, I’m positive he’s been to Darrick’s club. Happily married or not, he tensed when I asked him about it. Why wouldn’t he admit to it unless there’s something he doesn’t want us to know?’
‘And what could that possibly be?’
Harvey shrugged his shoulders. ‘I don’t know…yet. JC and I are working a few angles. We questioned a few of Mr Chambers’ clients at Wild Side last night.’
‘His female clients, I’m sure.’
Harvey didn’t appreciate the sarcasm in Ember’s comment, even if she was right. The surgically enhanced, blonde bimbo whose name he’d already forgotten had been happy to tell him about the time she’d personally provided private entertainment for Mr Chambers and his associates.
After his demon had fucked her senseless.
‘Why does it matter if they were male or female?’ Harvey asked.
Ember’s green eyes narrowed. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Sure sound like it matters, Red. Jealous?’
The lift doors opened, stopping Ember from replying. Harvey was sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant, so he smiled and held his arm out.
‘Ladies first.’
Ember’s jaw tightened, as she stalked into the lift. Harvey smiled, and the saying “playing with fire” sprung to mind. He’d missed teasing her, even if it was as dangerous as playing with a firework sometimes.
Harvey deliberately stood closer to her than was necessary, daring her to move away again. She stood her ground this time, so he made sure he brushed against her as he pressed the button for the ground floor.
‘Don’t tell Carter about what I said about Darrick and the strip-club.’
‘Why not?’ she asked.
Harvey pushed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans.
‘Soldier-boy will insist on doing things the right way, like getting a warrant and setting up surveillance. JC and I are better equipped at getting the information without alerting anyone to the fact that the club is under suspicion.’
Ember turned her head and stared at him.
‘It’s not so bad doing things the right way, Harvey,’ she said.
Harvey shook his head in amazement.
‘So just because you’re the only one in the team who wasn’t let out of the detainment unit this time, you’re a reformed character, are you?’
Ember’s cheeks reddened.
‘Fuck you,’ she hissed.
‘Been there, done that,’ he replied, before he could stop himself.
Ember lifted her hand and Harvey braced himself for the contact, but she didn’t slap him. Instead, she hit the emergency stop button, causing the lift to jerk to a halt.
Harvey fell against the side of the lift, and Ember pounced on him, knocking his feet from under him. She used one hand to pin him down on the floor as she towered over him.
One extremely hot, glowing hand that singed the cotton of his T-shirt down to his skin.
He tried to teleport away, but the pain in his chest was too great for him to focus on one particular location.
‘Ow, fuck, Ember. Get off me.’
18
My eyelids flickered as the rage within me swelled like a storm. Harvey continued to thrash, as I pressed my hand harder against his chest. Smoke soon filled the enclosed lift space, mainly from Harvey’s T-shirt, which had caught fire. He patted at the flames, putting them out as quickly as I lit them. Somewhere beneath the scent of ash, was burning flesh, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. The darkness within me rampaged on.
‘For fuck sake, cut it out, Ember. You’re really fucking hurting me.’
Harvey’s black irises expanded until I couldn’t see the whites of his eyes anymore. I should have been worried that I was provoking his demon, but my temper was overriding logic. The skin on his arms rippled, as if something was moving beneath the surface.
‘Are you out of your mind?’ he shouted. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘You’ve already hurt me. It’s my turn.’
‘I can’t be held responsible for what happens next. If you continue to bait me into defending myself, I’m going to lose control.’
Harvey’s voice had taken on a deep
er tone. He kept blurring beneath my hand, as if he was trying to teleport but kept failing. His face was red, and sweat glistened at his temples.
An alarm screeched above my head, momentarily distracting me from my need to obliterate the object of my wrath. Harvey used the diversion to his advantage and surged upwards, knocking me to my knees. Water erupted from the sprinklers in the ceiling, dousing both of us. The flames in my hand died, as the water seeped through my clothes.
Harvey crawled towards me. He was breathing heavily, but managed to overpower me, forcing me onto my back as I continued to lash out.
‘Listen to me,’ Harvey demanded.
‘Get off.’
‘Not until you calm the fuck down.’
Droplets fell from his dark eyelashes as the sprinklers continued to shower us with cold water. Harvey’s solid body pressed against mine was the only thing keeping me warm. I stopped struggling and looked up into his eyes.
‘I don’t appreciate being set upon like some crazed toddler let loose with a box of matches. What have I done to make you this angry? I don’t understand.’
I laughed spitefully. ‘Get over yourself, Harvey. This has nothing to do with you.’
Harvey’s eyes narrowed and for the first time since our reunion, I remembered how dangerous being on the wrong side of him could be. He was a demon after all.
I also had the briefest flashback to how dangerous it had been when his hands had roamed hungrily over my naked body.
‘Is this because of what happened between us when we were recruits?’
‘No.’
Harvey’s face softened as he stared down at me.
‘We had sex, Red. I told you it was a no-strings thing from the start. I never meant to hurt you. I wasn’t looking for a relationship.’
My eyes widened in disbelief at the size of his ego.
‘I didn’t sit at home crying over you, if that’s what you’re implying. I’m a big girl. I know what no-strings mean.’
‘So why the icy reception?’
I found myself laughing, even though the pit of my stomach was churning. How could I explain that just being around him made me angry? That his abandonment had hurt, not because we’d had sex, but because I’d thought he’d cared about me.