by Kelly Goode
Ghent directed me upstairs, towards the bar. He ordered me a glass of white wine and a beer for himself. I would have preferred vodka, but didn’t say anything, as I didn’t want to come across as ungrateful. I gulped the cold liquid, liking the jolt of confidence the alcohol gave. I finished the glass in a few minutes, and looked at Ghent hopefully.
‘Can I have another one?’ I asked. ‘I forgot to bring my purse.’
‘If you promise to drink it slower. I don’t want to spend half the night holding your hair back while you puke.’
‘I promise.’
I sipped the second glass of wine as I surveyed the club, looking for anyone familiar. I felt the repressed magic infiltrating the air as acutely as I felt the sexual tension building up in the people around us.
Wild Side was the place to come to hook up, and it didn’t take long before a woman approached Ghent. She had short purple hair and a predatory smile. Her dress resembled a bandage, wrapped tightly around her breasts and hips, finishing just beneath the ridge of her arse.
‘Hey, big guy,’ she breathed. ‘Never seen you in here before. Wanna dance?’
While Ghent politely tried to fend off her determined advances, I wandered towards the railings and watched the clubbers dancing below. They moved in unison with the thumping music, sweat gleaming from their bodies.
I finished the last of my wine and set the glass on a near-by table when I felt someone’s breath against my ear.
‘Ready for another, Red?’
31
I turned to see Harvey standing beside me. He offered me the glass of wine in his hand and I took it without hesitation.
‘Thank you,’ I said, taking a sip. ‘What are you doing here? Agent Myles said-’
‘I don’t care what Agent Myles said,’ he interrupted. ‘He may run the unit, but he doesn’t run me.’
‘I think the fact he pulled your arse out of the detainment unit, means he can run you anyway he wants.’
Harvey’s lips twitched into a smile.
‘I thought you were supposed to be somewhere else tonight,’ I added.
‘And I will be. Once you’ve danced with me.’
Harvey was wearing black trousers and a black short-sleeve shirt. He’d left some of the buttons undone, which I’d usually find tacky, but on him, it seemed to work.
As I studied his chest, I recognised the tip of the handprint I’d put there yesterday. I took another glug of wine, pushing all thoughts of me losing control of my powers out of my mind.
‘Dance with me,’ Harvey said. ‘Please.’
I finished the wine, and placed it on the table beside my other empty glass. The alcohol was rapidly working its way around my system, leaving me feeling affable and relaxed.
‘Sure, ok.’
The look of surprise on Harvey’s face at my consent would be worth tomorrow’s hangover.
‘Really?’
‘We’re in a nightclub. We should dance.’
Harvey took my hand and guided me towards the stairs that led down to the ground floor. I looked over my shoulder at Ghent who was still cornered by the purple-haired woman. I felt a little sorry for him, and decided once I’d danced with Harvey, I would go back and rescue him.
The beat of the music vibrated up my legs the closer I got to the sunken pit in the centre of the club. Harvey released my hand and gestured me forward, allowing me to choose where we danced. There was space around the edge, but I was feeling brave and uninhibited, so eased my way through the throng of bodies until I found a reasonable gap. I say reasonable, as it was still a tight squeeze, especially with Harvey’s impending presence behind me.
I stopped walking and started dancing. I didn’t recognise the songs the DJ was mixing, but the beat was fast enough for me to pick up a decent rhythm to rock my hips back and forth.
Harvey’s hands settled around my waist as he pulled me against him so my back was against his chest and my bottom rubbed against his thigh. We stayed like that, rocking and swaying to the beat.
Surrounded by so many people, I felt bolder. I reached my arm up and behind me, so I could slide my hand behind Harvey’s neck. Grounding myself against him, I rubbed my arse against his pelvis in time with the throbbing base. His fingers pressed tighter into my waist as I repeated the movement, earning a throaty groan from the demon.
‘This is killing me, Red.’
I smiled. Good – he deserved to suffer - but my smile soon faded as Harvey suddenly spun me around so I was facing him. His dark eyes gleamed as he stared down at me. The lights from the DJ booth, threw an assortment of colours over us, each one illuminating the longing on his face.
Harvey took my hand and placed it between his open shirt buttons, against his bare chest.
‘A perfect fit,’ he murmured, as my small hand covered the burn mark exactly.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
‘Don’t be. You left your mark on me long before this one, Red.’
32
Harvey slid his hands across Ember’s arse and pulled her tighter against him. He rotated his hips, pressing his hard erection between her legs. They were dancing, but really, they were fucking with their clothes on. Harvey remembered how good the real thing had been. The way her body responded to his touch and the noises she made, confirmed she remembered it too.
‘Why didn’t you call me?’ Ember asked breathlessly. ‘After everything settled down, why did you stay away?’
Harvey didn’t really want to have this conversation in the middle of a crowded nightclub, but it seemed there was never a good time to broach the subject of what happened between them.
‘You earned your freedom,’ he said, his lips grazing her jaw. ‘You didn’t need me anymore.’
‘That’s not true. I needed to know you were alive and safe.’
‘My world is dark. The things I do. The creatures I kill. You’re better off without me.’
Ember lifted her head and stared into his eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips glistened invitingly. She looked beautiful, and Harvey wanted to tell her that, but his inner-demon forced him to stay quiet.
‘Shouldn’t I get a say in it?’ she asked, her voice taking on a harder edge again.
Harvey shook his head. ‘I can’t afford to let you in.’
‘So what’s the point in this?’
Harvey’s brow furrowed as he looked around at the other clubbers jammed onto the dancefloor with them.
‘We’re just dancing, Red.’
Ember’s eyebrows lifted.
‘Just dancing,’ she repeated. ‘In that case, you won’t mind if I dance like this with Ghent then, will you?’
Harvey’s arms tightened possessively around her. He didn’t like the way the stocky recruit looked at Ember, and the thought of them dancing together, made his chest tighten.
‘Ghent doesn’t get to lay a finger on you,’ he growled.
‘Then tell me why you followed me here? Why are we pretending not to care about each other?’
‘I’m not pretending.’
Harvey regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. Ember’s body tensed before she pulled away from him. As hard as it was, he didn’t try to stop her. She was right. What was he doing here? He was playing with fire, chasing something that he could never have. Ember deserved better than that.
‘That came out wrong. You know I’m attracted to you, but this is as far as it can ever go. I’m not capable of anything more. I’m sorry.’
‘Not as sorry as I am, but I can’t keep doing all this back and forth. We’ll work together to finish this assignment and then we’ll go our separate ways again. I get it.’
As she turned away from him, her hair whipped against his face, hitting him with that familiar scent of apples that he’d been craving for days.
Harvey watched her fight against the crowd of dancers, using her elbows to bang and barge her way through. He sighed when he felt a voluptuous female form press against his back, encouraging him to d
ance.
‘Fuck!’ he cursed, hating the way his chest hurt the further Ember got away from him.
What the fuck was he doing?
Harvey shook off the woman trying to entice him and strode off the dancefloor, following the path Ember had taken until he was only a step behind her.
Harvey reached for her shoulder, but at the very last second, he pulled his hand back. He couldn’t be with her. Not as she wanted or deserved. Every kiss they shared just made it harder to cut ties. This was for the best.
‘Fuck!’ he cursed again as he changed directions and veered towards the exit.
33
‘Ember Lane, is that you?’
I paused at the bottom of the stairs, recognising the voice of the woman that Agent Myles had tasked me to track down, but she’d found me instead. Harvey’s arrival had distracted me from my assignment, but now was the time to push away all thoughts of the demon as I turned to face my former mentor.
‘Hello Sophia,’ I said, holding out my hand to the older woman who stood before me with a scowl on her face.
‘I thought they’d locked you up and thrown away the key.’
Sophia was the head-witch at the coven. She had grey hair, which she wore loose around her shoulders, and in her floor-length grey smock dress she reminded me a little of Albus Dumbledore, minus the beard of course.
‘How are you?’ I continued, dropping my hand to my side once it was clear that Sophia was not going to take it.
‘Surviving,’ she replied curtly. ‘What are you doing here?’
Sophia had been like a mother figure to me, welcoming me into the coven when I’d had nowhere else to go. She’d taught me spells to encourage and control fire.
‘I’m just having a drink with a friend, Sophia. I’m not here to cause trouble.’
The old woman tutted at my poor explanation.
‘And out of the thousands of placed you could’ve selected, you thought coming to Wild Side for that drink would be a good idea, did you? I’ve heard about arsonists returning to the scene of the crime, but never thought you’d be so stupid.’
‘I didn’t bomb Wild Side, Sophia.’
‘But you supported “The Kindler” movement. You encouraged members of my coven to support a lunatic. You protected him, and now you’re flaunting your freedom in front of the very people you betrayed. Did it occur to you that the coven would be here and that a lot of the members are still angry with you?’
‘I was gullible and complacent, but I’m not sorry for supporting the movement. Freeing unlawfully detained supernatural creatures is something I feel passionately about. I still do. I thought I’d found the man to help me with that cause, but I was mistaken.’
‘Yes, you were,’ Sophia replied.
‘I would never hurt an innocent person,’ I reasoned. ‘You must know that.’
Images of Roger Lane’s murder flittered through my mind. For a moment, I was back in that room. I could smell his blood, could hear him spluttering for breath and even with his dying words, he’d used them to curse at me. My mother said I didn’t kill him, but I’d wanted to. He was not innocent. He’d been a bully, picking on a child he was supposed to care for.
‘How did you get out of prison?’ Sophia asked, bringing me back to the moment.
‘I helped the police with their investigation. They released me at Christmas with no charges. I’m sorry for what happened to the coven. I truly am.’
Sophia shook her head.
‘I believe you, but the scandal split the coven in two. S.P.T.F. arrested those who helped with the bombings, leaving the rest of us to pull together. We’re building our numbers again slowly. Maybe one day, once enough time has elapsed, you’ll be able to come back.’
‘I’m happy flying solo for a while.’
‘I never taught you a flying spell,’ Sophia quipped. ‘But then again, I always said you didn’t need spells. You’re not a witch.’
‘And I always said if I’m not a witch, then what am I?’
She shrugged, pushing her long, grey hair over her shoulders.
‘You’re something different, Ember Lane. Something more powerful than magic.’
My thoughts turned to Kari Stillwell. The tenacious investigator had powers like me. She controlled the air, as easily as I controlled fire. We were kin, and the answer to what we were and where we came from, interweaved with the mystery of who my real father was. Roger Lane had given me his name, but never his love. He must have known I wasn’t his daughter and the years of systematic abuse I’d endured were because of my mother’s deception.
‘What are you doing for work?’ Sophia asked, and I could tell her anger towards me was slowly abating.
‘I’m consulting on another police case.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, you may have read about it in the papers. Dead brides are being left at Hampstead Heath.’
‘I don’t read the newspapers, Ember. You know that.’
‘Do you remember Katrina Oakes and Mary Pederson?’
Sophia’s eyes narrowed slightly, but I didn’t miss the way her lip twitched.
‘Should I?’
I nodded my head. The old woman controlled the coven. She vetted each potential candidate, and decided who made it in or not. If Katrina and Mary had been with the coven then Sophia would have known.
‘How about Collen Chambers?’ I asked, switching tactics.
‘Of course, I know Collen. She joined around the same time you did, but I haven’t seen her for a few weeks. She was one of those who stayed away after the bombings. Have you heard from her?’
‘She’s dead.’
Sophia’s hand went to her mouth as she gasped. Her reaction seemed genuine to me, and tears filled her eyes.
‘Is it her case you’re consulting on? Was she a victim?’
I nodded.
‘And Mary and Katrina?’
I nodded again.
‘Why would someone hurt those poor girls?’
‘I don’t know. I’m trying to find someone that knew all three girls.’
Sophia seemed to consider that statement before exhaling deeply.
‘I knew them all,’ she admitted. ‘Katrina and Mary, although not active in “The Kindler” movement, supported the bombings, so I banished them from the coven about a month ago.’
‘Is there anyone else that knew them?’
‘Do you remember Ava?’
I vaguely recalled a young blonde girl by that name.
‘Ava, Colleen, Mary, and Katrina all went to school together,’ Sophia continued.
‘Do you think Ava will talk to me?’
Sophia shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. She lost everything during the bombings; she may be reluctant to go over it again. Let me speak to her first. I’ll tell her about Colleen and explain that police need her help.’
‘That would be great. Thank you.’
I held my hand out again, and this time Sophia took it. She squeezed gently, and I felt a flood of warmth seep up my arm.
‘I’ll be in touch. Stay safe.’
34
Harvey took a moment to watch the girl on the podium as she slid her hands up and down the pole, warming the metal before she climbed to the top and started her routine. He’d left Wild Side and teleported to Darrick’s club, which had been his original destination before he’d had that stupid idea to check on Ember first.
Harvey headed towards the bar, hoping to chase away the memory of how good Ember’s body had felt against his on the dancefloor. He accepted that she probably felt justified in her anger towards him. He wished things could be different, he was never going to be able to offer her the life she wanted – kids, family, stability. He only offered death and disorder.
Harvey smiled tightly at the young, blonde girl behind the bar. She was wearing the club’s uniform of a pink t-shirt slit down almost to the waist, and his gaze automatically fell to the swell of her ample breasts.
‘Can I get you
a drink once you’ve finished ogling, sir?’
Harvey looked into her blue eyes, which seemed jaded for someone so young.
‘JD on the rocks,’ he said.
The girl filled a small glass with Jack Daniels and placed it on the bar in front of him. He held her stare as he downed the contents, liking the burn in his empty stomach. It reminded him of a time when oblivion had been his sole ambition and a bottle of Jack had been the quickest way to get there.
‘Are you drinking alone?’ she asked.
Harvey nodded and tapped his glass for a refill.
‘You don’t have to. There are plenty of girls that will keep you company in a booth for the price of a bottle of champagne.’
‘Will you keep me company?’ he asked, hoping she’d say no, as it was his demon talking not him.
Thankfully, the girl shook her head as she replenished his empty glass.
‘I’m afraid not. Bar staff aren’t allowed to leave their post, but I can call one of the other girls over. They’re very beautiful…and accommodating.’
‘Any of them redheads?’
‘No.’
‘Then I’m not interested.’
Harvey downed his shot and held out the glass. Just as he was about to ask for a third, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
‘I’ve been looking for you, mate.’
Harvey turned to face JC.
‘And now you’ve found me. What’s up?’
‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new friend first?’ he asked, as he openly sized-up the barmaid’s breasts.
‘No.’
Harvey abruptness didn’t deter JC.
‘Hi, darling. I’m JC. This is my partner, Harvey.’
The barmaid’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘Partner?’
JC must’ve realised what she was thinking as he laughed.
‘Well, he’s a good looking guy, I suppose, if you go for the dark and broody type. I, on the other hand, like pretty barmaids with blonde hair.
‘Does that line usually work?’