inspecting her reflection. She applied lipstick the color of blood
to her lips and closed the mirror. She placed everything back in
her purse and snapped it shut.
Then she reached Beast. She reached up and wound both
arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."
She said after she had pulled her face away.
Beast merely looked at her steadily. "Delilah." He said. Delilah smiled charmingly. "I see my reputation proceeds
me."
Claire walked up to the two of them. She was frowning
intently. "Delilah. Did Beast really kill your father?" Delilah unwound her arms from around Beast's neck.
"That's what Julius says." She answered Claire. "And he was the
only witness."
"Then..." Claire said slowly. "Why aren't you angry?"
She looked up at Delilah, her eyes still worried.
Delilah's face turned grim. "My mother was also killed
that night." She gave Beast a pointed look. "Someone strangled
her with their bare hands."
Claire's eyes widened. "Then..."
Delilah placed a hand on Claire's shoulder. "Let's talk
about something more pleasant." She steered Claire by the
shoulder back into her office. "Welcome to Club Heat, my home
away from Julius' home." She turned to Claire. "Now... shouldn't
you introduce us?" She glanced at Beast.
"Uh...." Claire began, deeply confused. "Delilah, meet
my... friend, Beast." Beast stepped into the office from the dim
hallway. "Beast, this is Delilah Cantor."
Delilah held the back of her hand up to Beast's face.
"Charmed." She purred.
Beast gave her a steady look, over her hand. After a
moment, she dropped it. Her eyes fell on the collar around his
neck. "Ah, this explains a few things." She ran her finger over
the metal ring in the center of the collar.
Claire watched as Delilah ran her finger down Beast's
chest. A strange possessive feeling welled up inside of her. Why
wasn't Beast telling her to stop it? Claire felt an outburst forming
in her chest and bit her tongue. If Beast wasn't complaining...
why should she? She looked away.
Delilah's eyes slid over his chest and down to his heavy
black boots, then back up to his eyes. "Nice shoes." She said to
him softly.
"Your energy should be spent getting under your brother's
skin." Beast told her. "You're better at that."
Delilah smiled ruefully. "I'll get a rise out of you yet."
She declared, turning away from him and walking to her desk.
She took a seat on the shiny black surface. She crossed her long,
bare legs. Her black skirt only made it partway down her thigh. Claire smiled inwardly, glancing at Beast. She felt
relieved.
Delilah turned to Claire. "To answer your question from
before. You have been gone for over half a year."
Claire nodded miserably. It had felt like forever.
"Julius..." She sighed miserably.
"He is still residing at the Crystal Palace." Delilah said.
"I visited him just last month."
Claire felt excitement build up inside her. "You can visit
him there?" She asked.
Delilah nodded. "Yes, I am a family member. I needed to
get special permission from the High Empress though." "Can you do it again?" Claire asked desperately. "I need
to see him."
Delilah gave Claire a fond look, brushing her red hair
neatly to the side. "I don't think I can smuggle you in with me."
She said sadly. "The security there is the best in the city.
Although..." She tilted her head to the side in thought. Claire leaned close to her. "What?" She asked, a hopeful
look on her face,
"Well, I can't bring you in, but maybe I can get Julius out.
Alone I mean." She mused a moment. "Let me call some friends.
In the meantime, go get some food." The large man that Beast
had knocked unconscious earlier roused just then. "Perfect!"
Delilah said. "Go show them to the bar." She ordered the fallen
man.
The man looked at Beast and Claire, he wore an extremely
confused and dazed look. "But..."
"What are you waiting for?" Snapped Delilah. "Go on!
Nap time is over!" She slid off of the desk and walked around it,
back to her seat.
"Yes, boss." The man rose to his feet. He scowled at
Beast. Beast gave him a blank, dull look. Claire could see a dark
red smudge on Beast's cheek and she suppressed a giggle. "Come
on then." The man said to them. "This way."
*** "Hold still, let me get that." Claire said. She reached up and wiped away the red smudge from Beast's cheek with a napkin bearing Club Heat's logo. He sat as immovable as stone.
They both sat at the Club's bar. Dennis, the large man that had grabbed Claire, had brought them two plates of food, setting one down in front of each of them. Then he had walked away. Claire attacked her food with zest. Once her plate was empty, she took Beast's and started in on his. He merely looked around the large space, taking note of entry points.
After about fifteen minutes Delilah joined them. "I have a plan." She said, smiling triumphantly, a lit cigarette in one hand. She stepped behind the bar and poured herself a drink.
Claire set her food down and gave Delilah her full attention. Delilah downed her drink quickly before speaking. "It's tricky." She said. "All of it hinges on the fact that Julius wants to leave the Crystal Palace alone." She poured herself another drink. "I know Julius, and he will want revenge. And he won't want others getting in his way. So this looks like it has a high probability of working."
"So, you can get him out?" Claire asked excitedly. "It requires certain sacrifices on my part, but yes I can." Delilah said, downing her second drink. She turned to Beast. "Can I offer you anything behind the bar?" She asked, leaning forward, giving him a sultry look.
"No." He said, his expression dead. He didn't even look at her, continuing his inspection of the premises.
Delilah's red lips pulled down in a slight, musing frown.
"When can you see him?" Claire asked, grabbing her attention.
Delilah turned back to Claire. "That is the only rough spot. I need approval from the High Empress before I can visit. That could take over a month."
"A month?" Claire asked, her voice small.
Delilah nodded. "I'm afraid so, sweetie."
Claire's blue eyes hardened to sapphire. "I'll wait." She said. "I need to see Julius. I need to make him understand."
"All right." Delilah said, putting her spent cigarette out in a crystal ashtray. "I'll go submit a petition today." She looked at Beast from the corner of her eye. "The both of you are free to stay here until I go to see Julius, of course." She lit up another cigarette. "I have two free rooms."
Claire hesitated. "Beast always shares a room with me." She said. Delilah turned her eyes back to her, one eyebrow slightly raised. The look on her face made Claire shift uncomfortably, and her cheeks redden.
"One room then." Delilah said, snapping her silver cigarette case shut.
"Thank you." Claire said nervously.
"Come then." Delilah said. She walked around the bar and to the hallway. Claire and Beast followed. Delilah put an arm around Claire's shoulders, leaning her head down to hers. "So, did you get your period yet?"
Claire laughed. "No, Delilah." she said in a rote kind of way.
Chapter XVIII - Waiting Living with Delilah in Club Heat was one of the most interesting times of Claire's life. At night
the club was packed, so Claire and Beast stayed in their room. Sometimes they read, sometimes they just talked. Delilah would join them sometimes.
During the day Claire and Beast were free to wander around the club. Delilah had ordered her staff not to breathe a word about their presence, under penalty of a fate worse than death. Her staff were all infatuated with her, and knew she meant her warning as well.
Delilah and Claire were still good friends. Delilah would often come to Claire when she was more than a little tipsy and talk to her about random things.
"It's not fair, Claire." She moaned one night, leaning her face in her arms, which were propped up on a table. "Why do you get all the best guys?"
Claire smoothed Delilah's hair back from her face. "I really don't know what you are talking about." She said.
"Can't you share?' Delilah pleaded. "You're so mean to me."
"That's not true, Delilah. I love you." Claire said soothingly.
Delilah sprang on Claire then, hugging her tightly. "Oh, I love you too sweetie." Delilah looked at Beast through her straight pink and purple streaked hair. "I just wish you would share." She pleaded.
Claire laughed lightly. "I don't own Beast." She said. "I can't share him with you."
Delilah pouted. "Then why doesn't he play with me? He's so selfish, just like Julius."
Claire laughed again. She had never thought of comparing Beast and Julius like that, usually she just saw how they were opposites. Delilah looked up into Claire's face, her green eyes worried. "Claire, I'm pretty, right?"
"You're the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." Claire said reassuringly.
"I thought so." Delilah said, mostly to herself. "Then, what's wrong with me?"
"I don't think it's you." Claire said. "Beast's just never showed interest in girls."
Delilah shook her head, still hugging Claire. "No, that's not true." She said. "He's interested in you." She said.
Claire was taken aback. "He is?" she asked in confusion, throwing Beast a glance. He was facing away from them, and over twenty feet away, so she felt comfortable that he couldn't hear them.
Delilah released Claire and looked her right in the face. "It's true. He's always watching you. And he should!" She reached her hands out and ran them through Claire's hair. "You are too beautiful to not be watched."
Claire was trying to find a reply to that when Delilah lowered her voice to a whisper. "He doesn't do naughty things to you while you sleep, does he?"
Claire laughed again, harder this time, shaking her head. "Of course not. I told you, he's not interested."
Delilah frowned at her for a minute. Then she threw her arms on the table again and moaned. She buried her face in her arms.
Claire rose from her chair, picking up Delilah's empty bottle to put it with the recycling. She walked over to where Beast was sitting. "Delilah seems really taken in by you." She commented to him.
"Is that so?" Beast asked, his voice dull.
"Yeah." Claire looked back at Delilah. "I feel sorry for her. She's fighting a hopeless battle."
"Yes." Beast said simply.
Claire punched Beast lightly in the side. "You could be a little nicer to her." She said teasingly.
"No." Beast said, looking at her.
Claire frowned. "Why not?"
"I'm not interested in her." Beast stated, giving Claire a steady look. "She has nothing I need."
Claire felt her cheeks redden slightly. She walked behind the bar, depositing the empty bottles in the bin.
***
"Delilah, can I ask you something?" Claire said one day. She walked into the office carrying her picture viewer. "Sure, sweetie, you can ask me anything." Delilah said. "It's this picture." Claire showed her. It was of a young
Julius. Behind him Delilah peered at the camera, leaning her hands on his shoulders. Julius was scowling. Delilah was grinning.
Delilah glanced at the picture. "What do you want to know?"
"Well, you have green eyes, right? But here, they look black." Claire said.
"Ah yes." Delilah said. "I had them done when I was thirteen. I wanted to change my appearance since I was very little. I even had my nose done." She looked down at her expansive cleavage. "Among other things."
"Your nose looks fine here." Claire said. "Why did you change it?"
"I wanted to look different. I didn't want to look so much like Julius." She reached into her bag and pulled out her own picture viewer. "Here is a picture you don't have." She showed it to Claire.
Claire took the picture viewer in her hands. The picture showed Delilah and Julius, standing side by side. They couldn't have been older than eight years old. Delilah was smiling brightly at the camera, Julius wore his usual scowl, looking sidelong at his sister. Delilah's hair was a soft brown, falling in gentle curls down her back. Her eyes were a warm black. They were the same height too.
"You do look so alike here..." Claire said slowly. "Almost like..."
"Twins?" Delilah asked gently. Claire looked up at her, a dawning comprehension on her face. Delilah smiled sadly.
Claire digested this new information. "I always thought that Julius was older than you." She said.
"He is. A minute and a half older, exactly." Delilah said.
Claire looked back down at the picture. She could see it so clearly here. The same slim nose, the same thin dark eyebrows. Delilah took the picture viewer carefully from Claire's hands. She held it to her chest, closing her eyes. "Julius is a part of me. I need him more than anyone else. He is the most important thing in the world to me." She opened her eyes, they were wet. "Just don't tell him I said that." She laughed. She wiped at her eyes gently. "He's changed so much, since father passed away. When he turned sixteen he was in a horrible accident."
"What happened to him?" Claire asked, her throat tight.
Delilah shook her head. "I don't know. No one ever explained to me what had happened. He was gone a long time then. And when he returned, he was so cold. I'm told he still has the scars." She stared up at the ceiling. "Ever since then he's pulled more and more away from me. Leaving me behind."
*** One month passed, then another. Still there was no response from the High Empress about Delilah's visit. Claire was getting antsy. She had taken to pacing around randomly. Nervous energy was building up inside of her and she couldn't get it out.
She had grown taller again, Delilah commented on it as she measured Claire for new clothes. But Claire didn't pay attention. Her thoughts were only on Julius.
Finally, a full two months after she had arrived at Club Heat, a letter from the Crystal Palace arrived at the Club. It was delivered by courier and had the High Empress' seal on it.
Delilah opened it in her office, Claire peering over her shoulder. "I can go see him next week." Delilah said happily. The letter also contained a shiny white card. "This is my pass card, it can only be used on the day of the visit. This is how we'll get Julius out." She smiled at Claire wickedly.
*** Julius lay on his cot and stared at the ceiling. He hadn't shaved in a few days, and his face was stubbly. His black eyes burned. He needed to do something. He needed to get out of here. So much time had passed. What had that monster done to his Claire?
He sat up in his cot. He couldn't stay in one position for long. His body ached to move. His clothes were crumpled from sleeping in them the night before, and he didn't care. His tie hung loosely around his neck and the top two buttons of his white shirt were undone.
It was chilly in his room. As it was everywhere in the Crystal Palace. He looked down at his white gloved hands ruefully.
He was a prisoner here, and no one had bothered to inform him. Protection! He laughed. He didn't need to be protected. He needed to be out. He needed his revenge!
He picked up the metal water pitcher that sat by his cot and threw it at the door. It bounced off the door and rolled away, a sizable dent in the side.
It was then that the door slid open. Julius looked up. "What do you want, Del
ilah?" He growled.
"That's not a nice way to greet a lady." Delilah pouted. She stepped into the room and the door slid shut behind her.
"If I see one, I'll make sure to greet her better." Julius said.
"Julius." Delilah looked wounded. "Such a harsh way to treat your sister, when I've come all this way to help you."
Julius stared at her with his deadly black eyes. "What are you talking about now?"
Delilah walked slowly around the room. "It's such a wreck in here. Don't you know how to take care of anything nice?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
"Delilah..." He said warningly. "I will not be trifled with now."
Delilah walked over to a small desk in the corner of the room. She sat on top of it, crossing her long pale legs. She wore a slim dark green dress that rode partway up her thigh. It was held up by thin black straps. "I have some information that might be useful to you." She purred.
Julius narrowed his eyes at her. "This had better be good."
Delilah leaned forward, adjusting the strap on her shiny black heel. "What would you say if I told you I know where Claire is?"
Julius was across the room in a second. He grabbed his sister by the arm, hard enough to bruise. "Where is she?" He demanded.
Delilah looked up at him calmly. "She is safe."
"And the monster?" He wrenched at her arm.
"He is with her." Julius swore at this. "I do not think he will harm her. Quite the opposite in fact." Delilah said, her voice still calm.
Julius pulled his sister to him. "Where are they?" He asked menacingly, his face inches from hers.
Delilah gave him a cold look. "What's in it for me?" She asked.
Julius released her. He stalked around the room like a caged panther. "What do you want?"
Delilah traced a finger over the surface of the desk. "Only what I've always wanted, Julius." She said.
Julius stopped his pacing, giving her a dark look. "No." he said, his voice hard.
"Fine." Delilah stood up, pushing her skirt down. "I'll go then." She walked to the door. She paused, pulling out her entry card. "I'm even offering you the way out of here. You could go right to them. But, if it's not worth it to you..."
Suddenly she was spun around and her back was slammed into the wall next to the door. Julius had seized her wrist and pinned it above her head. Delilah stared up at him, her emerald eyes wide. Her breasts rose and fell as she breathed heavily. "Please, Julius." She begged.
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