Chapter 3
Jason pulled Envy into his arms, “You owe me a dance.”
He was so glad she wasn’t the type of person that would shoot the messenger. If it weren’t for him, she’d still have a boyfriend… granted it would be a cheating boyfriend but then that’s why he’d made the phone call in the first place. “Sorry,” he whispered in her ear, as he pulled her tighter against him and started to move with the music.
Envy rolled her eyes letting him off the hook without a second thought. “Nothing to be sorry for.” She trailed her fingers down his spine as she moved against him. “I’m free again and I landed me another job in the process.”
She smiled as she glanced around the dance floor again. “This place is a little different from the clubs that I’ve worked at but I think it should be interesting.”
Jason didn’t say anything for a moment as he felt the leather covering her breast glide across the front of his shirt and felt himself swell. He was glad she didn’t know what she was doing to him because he had a feeling if she did know she would stop.
“Want to come rock climbing Saturday morning?” he let his hands trail down her sides then gripped her hips.
“Rock climbing? That sounds fun. It’s been a while,” Envy nodded, then her eyes widened when Jason pulled her forward and she came in contact with something long and hard pressed against the softness of her belly. She gulped as her eyes flashed up to meet his.
“Where’s Chad?” she breathed, knowing she’d done it again. She hadn’t meant to. Jason had been and still was one of her favorite people in the whole world; the last thing she ever wanted to do was screw that up by sleeping with him. She loved him too much for that.
“Last time I checked, he was taking the trash out,” Jason sighed when she pulled back from him. He placed his fingers under her chin and raised her eyes to his, “Trevor doesn’t deserve you.”
“Chad didn’t really arrest him did he?” Envy asked, grabbing Jason by the hand and leading him toward the steps. She’d avoided this conversation for years and she wasn’t ruining her track record now.
“No, I think being tasered was enough punishment… that and losing you. Chad was just making sure he found his way to his car,” Jason smirked. At the top of the stairs he noticed Chad was standing at the bar next to the door waiting on them. Keeping Envy’s hand in his, he led her in that direction.
The guilt was making Envy’s chest hurt. She really wasn’t a mean person at heart, and what she’d done to Trevor had been a very bad thing. It had only felt good for a moment and now that moment was gone. She kept her eyes lowered, too ashamed to even look at her brother.
Chad took one look at Envy and knew it was time to take her home. “You ready?” he asked, taking a step away from the bar.
“I can take her home,” Jason offered, then quickly added, “If she wants to stay with me for a while.”
Chad could see the hope flare in Jason’s eyes and wondered if he was doing the right thing or setting their dearest friend up for a fall. He felt his phone vibrate on his hip and held up his hand, “Hold that thought.” Seeing that it was the police station, he worked his way toward the door so he could hear more clearly.
Envy blew her bangs out of her eyes, knowing as bizarre as this night already was, she had a feeling Chad had just been called into work. She watched him pocket the phone as he walked back toward them.
“Will you be okay with Jason?” Chad asked. When she nodded, he placed his finger under her chin and lifted it. “You did the right thing with Trevor so chin up. I probably won’t be home until the morning, so don’t wait up.”
Envy gave a small smile as he walked away. They had both touched her chin in the same way and told her that this was Trevor’s fault and not hers. She loved Jason because he was just like Chad and that’s why she would never give into the knee-jerk need to date Jason for real.
Just as Chad left through the front doors, Jason’s cell phone started buzzing. She turned and watched him as he answered, then frowned as his face turned serious. She knew he was on call this week and silently wondered if it was the rangers needing him in the middle of the night. In her opinion, that couldn’t be a good thing.
When his eyes locked with hers, she could see his shoulders slump in disappointment.
“Envy I’m sorry, I gotta head out. Come on, I’ll take you home on the way.” Jason shoved the cell phone back into his pocket like it had become the enemy. He’d hoped to get a few minutes of alone time with Envy one way or the other.
Envy frowned because she knew that home was probably not the direction he was heading. “Thanks for the offer Jason, but I think I’ve caused enough problems for one night. Besides, I start working here tomorrow so I’m gonna hang out and watch the bartenders.” She shrugged and pasted an excited smile on her lips that made her face hurt, “Who knows, I might even pick up a few tips while I’m here.”
Jason nodded reluctantly knowing he needed to hurry, “Okay, but you’ve got my number if you need me.”
Envy waved her hand at him, “Yes I do. Now go to work. Work hard, make money, and take me out clubbing soon now that I’m single.”
Jason smiled brightly at her and quickly made his way out the door.
Envy let the numbness filter in, as her smile faded, then turned back toward the dance floor, looking it over again before heading to the bar. She slid onto one of the soft cushioned stools and leaned her elbows on the bar top.
She sat there staring down at the bar for several minutes before she noticed the clear surface rimmed with neon lights changed colors periodically. There were bits of some gray colored stones embedded in the thick Plexiglas that shone like they were covered in glitter. The ‘glitter’ was mixed in with the Plexiglas in such a way that, if the lights were black, they would have looked like stars against a twilight sky.
A glass suddenly appeared in front of her with a long-fingered hand holding it. The nails were painted a pretty shade of red, with black slashes along the nails of the ring fingers, that looked a little like claw marks.
Envy looked up in surprise at the woman in front of her. She had long, slightly curly black hair and an exotic look that made Envy blink. She was beyond beautiful. Her skin was a warm bronze and her eyes were an odd shade of blue. Not the striking blue she’d seen on Devon, but very close.
“It’s on the house.” Kat said and pushed the drink a little closer. “All bartenders get free drinks and my brother just hired you, right?” she smiled, wanting to get to know the girl that had turned her brother's head so quickly. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but Devon never took girls seriously because he was surrounded by hundreds of them every night. But this girl had rattled his cage.
Envy frowned at the drink for a moment and lied, “I was just about to ask you about that.” She looked up at Kat. “Thanks,” and gave her a wobbly smile. “Couldn’t hurt,” she lifted the cup and almost downed it before setting it back on the bar with wider eyes.
“Ouch,” Envy laughed, as she waved a hand in front of her lips. “What is that?”
Kat smirked, “It’s the house special and you’ll be serving it tomorrow night. It’s called Heat.” She didn’t tell her that it had enough alcohol in it to make a normal human drunk very quickly. Mostly it was the non-humans that ordered it because with such fast metabolisms, it took something pretty potent to give them a buzz.
“I know how to make almost everything but I’ll admit I’ve never heard of that one. It tastes like there’s whole grain alcohol in it… Moonshine?” When Kat just shook her head Envy frowned at the glass, picked it up and sniffed it. “I’m lost. But give me a lighter and I think I can turn into The Dragon Lady just by breathing on the flame,” she said, putting the glass back down.
“Just enjoy it. For tonight, you can call it job research,” Kat laughed and refilled the glass, knowing that first one was probably enough to already have Envy buzzing. There was one more side effect to the drink. She wasn’t sure why, but it also worked as an aphrodisiac on most girls. That’s why she had named it Heat.
“Some would say it’s the cure for a bad night.” She nodded, indicating that Envy should down it.
Envy shot back the hot concoction just as she felt the buzz from the first drink kick in. Slowly lowering the drink, she gently sat it back on the bar and quickly placed her hand over top of the small glass.
“I think that’s my limit,” she sighed thankfully, as her tense muscles started to relax. “What’s in it?”
The female bartender showed her the purple bottle. “It’s already mixed and it’s a secret recipe my grandmother came up with, so I’m not telling.” She laughed, when Envy pouted, “At least it will be easy to make when someone orders it.”
Kat looked down the bar and saw that the rest of her customers were being taken care of by the hired help, so she leaned against the clear countertop. “Why don’t you tell me about that yummy blonde that you came in with?”
Envy's eyes lit up, “You think my brother is hot?”
Kat shrugged, knowing it had been way too long since she’d had any fun and that was probably why Quinn had been on her mind a lot lately. She needed a reason to forget again. “Well, yeah! I wanna know how he spends his nights so I can join him,” she answered, with a conspiratorial wink.
The memory of Chad wandering around the apartment bored out of his mind lately flashed across Envy’s memory and gave her pause. This was for his own good. “Well, he likes to go rock climbing, he sometimes makes the coffee strong enough to walk off by itself, trust me I’ve seen it happen, and he usually works late nights. But he does know how to treat a girl,” Envy offered with a wink.
Kat frowned and pushed up to her full height, “Unlike the surfer coming up behind you.”
She glared at Trevor, smelling the anger that still lingered around him. Initially, she hadn’t liked this guy because he had been inside her bar investigating who knows what. But now, she liked him even less because Chad didn’t like him... and for some reason, she trusted Chad's judgment because he obviously loved his sister.
Envy flinched and looked up when a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Damn, just when she was starting to relax and forget what she had done, it had to sneak up behind her and bite her. At first she just stared at him, not knowing whether to feel bad or still be angry. Mostly, she just felt numb while she gazed at the man she’d kissed so many times.
“We need to talk,” Trevor stated, as calmly as he could manage. “Now!” Okay, he wasn’t as calm as he’d thought… damn.
Envy pushed him back when he started to take her hand and pull her away from the bar. “I think we’ve already talked enough… don’t you? And I feel I should warn you that I still have the taser.” She gave him a pointed look before she let her eyes lower to his crotch.
Trevor moved his arm so that his hand was dangling in front of that area and took a step back. “Whoa, I just wanted to talk to you Envy.”
“Well, I don’t know that I want to talk to you,” Envy sighed, as if she were bored with the thought. “I don’t associate with cheating liars.”
Trevor smirked, “You should talk to Chad sometime then. He’s got....” She moved fast but Trevor was faster, as he caught her wrist inches from his cheek and gripped it tight. “I think tasering me was enough.”
Envy glared, as she tried to jerk her hand away but he held it in a vise-like grip. “Don’t bring my brother into this. He wasn’t the one I was dating and found grinding his goods against some girl’s ass on a dance floor, while another was behind him trying to do a reach around.”
Trevor cringed but let go of her wrist. He understood where she was coming from when she put it like that. That didn’t erase the fact that Jason was probably the one who set it up to look worse than it was, and for Chad to egg it on was nowhere near fair. He hadn’t told her that he was coming here tonight because he hadn’t wanted her anywhere near this club.
The truth went much deeper than anyone knew… even Chad. Chad thought he was just an undercover cop but he wasn’t. He was with the CIA as part of their Paranormal Investigations Team… PIT. He’d been placed here because of all of the missing persons that were reported each week… that, on top of all the murders.
It seemed when most of them went missing from this area, it was always after a night out at the bars. Not just this bar. But some of his best leads were pointing toward Moon Dance. And now the death toll was skyrocketing.
Law enforcement and the FBI had investigated the killings themselves before it was turned over to his division. Trevor was still a bit sore they had to wait for everyone to eliminate all other possibilities before the case even made its way up the chain of red tape and hit the desks of the paranormal division.
He’d been with PIT for so long now that he, like the rest of his coworkers, could spot a case like this one from a mile away. He didn’t want Envy to end up like those other missing people and that’s why he’d tried like hell to keep his two lives separate.
“I know this is all my fault, so please just come outside and talk to me before you kick me to the curb. Can you at least give me that much after tasering me? You’ve already gotten your revenge.” Trevor stepped closer again. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer and he hoped Envy knew him well enough to realize that fact and give in.
Kat pretended to play with her earring as she took a step back but she was really pressing the button on the com-link. “Envy, are you ok?” she asked, knowing that’s all Devon would need to hear.
Devon was just pulling his shirt on when the com-link clicked several times. “Speak fluently,” he muttered, then heard Kat’s voice ask Envy if she was all right. Devon's gaze shot toward the monitor that showed a wide angle of the bar where Kat was working. Devon cursed seeing the same man Envy had tasered back for more.
“Idiot,” he quickly finished buttoning his shirt and tucked it in, before leaving the office.
Envy glanced back at Kat with a hesitant nod, “I’ll be here at seven tomorrow night. Thank you for the drinks.”
Kat looked concerned, “Are you sure you are going to be okay?” she asked softly. She wished Devon would hurry because after two good-sized shots of Heat, it might not be a good idea for Envy to go off with her ex-boyfriend for a makeup session.
Envy nodded again, this time adding a bright smile, “I’ll be fine. I just can’t say the same for Trevor.”
Trevor reached for her hand as she slid off the stool but Envy sidestepped him and headed for the door, leaving him standing there. Trevor frowned at Kat before following Envy outside.
Devon maneuvered his way through the writhing bodies, then took the steps two at a time up to the bar where Kat was waiting on him. “Where is she?” he demanded, as his gaze scanned the area around them.
“They just now went out the door,” she reached out and grabbed his arm, when he started to turn away and quickly added, “She drank two shots of Heat before he showed up.” She made a face when Devon growled at her. “Hey, I thought I was doing you a favor, not him. Now go get her and don’t come back empty handed.”
Kat cringed when Devon shoved away from the bar and took off toward the door. With her exceptional hearing, she could hear him giving her hell until the door slammed shut behind him.
“Trevor’s walking pretty well for someone that was just tasered where no man wants to ever be tasered.”
Nick’s voice came from behind Kat, making her jump. She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips, “You have got to be joking. She didn’t… not there… did she?” When Nick nodded, Kat suddenly had quite a bit of respect for the new bartender, “I think I’m going to like her.”
“I think Devon already does,” Nick remarked, as he walked off.
No one noticed as Kane walked out the front doors and into the parking lot. He smirked to himself knowing he’d walked past Nick several times and the jaguar hadn’t even twitched. “Got to love magic,” Kane murmured, as he wrapped the night around him.
*****
Tabatha opened her eyes and whimpered seeing what time it was. She’d worked most of the night and morning but she knew it was late enough not to use that as an excuse for getting out of bed. Rolling over, she pulled the covers up over her head and proceeded to slip back into dreamland. Unfortunately, dreamland was a figment of her imagination.
The door to her bedroom opened and Tabatha peeked out from under the blanket. Her roommate and best friend, Kriss was grinning down at her like a madman. “What the hell are you so happy about?” she asked. “Don’t you know that it’s against the laws of human nature to be in such a good mood when waking someone up this late at night?”
Kriss held up her huge Tinkerbell mug full of coffee. “I come bearing gifts and the promise of food.” He gave her a sexy grin. He’d bet money she hadn’t eaten anything in the last twenty-four hours and he was about to fix that oversight.
Tabatha tossed off the covers when the smell of coffee found its way past her defenses. “Are you cooking or did you go get drive thru again?”
“I cooked, thank you very much,” Kriss exclaimed, in mock hurt then stuck his tongue out at her.
“Put that thing away, I don’t know where it’s been.” She teased and took the mug from his hands. She’d known Kriss for almost five years and moved in with him two years ago after getting her Ranger certification. He’d been a dancer at one of the hottest male strip clubs in LA and they’d met when her friends Envy, and Envy’s brother Chad, took her there for her twenty-first birthday.
Tabatha still giggled about how much Chad had been hit on that night but the cop had taken it in stride. Being a male strip club, it was mostly full of drunk, excited women and gay guys. He attracted even more attention when they found out he was a police officer and the subject of handcuffs had been raised.
But that hadn’t been the highlight of the night. She closed her eyes, seeing it all again in her mind’s eye, as if it had just happened yesterday.
Kriss had joined them at their table, for a while, for drinks and wound up borrowing those handcuffs for his next act. He’d quickly become Tabatha’s favorite dancer when he’d grabbed her hand and led her to the stage. He was the eye candy out of all the dancers and perfect in every way.
He had a muscular body, not overly buff but just enough definition to show he could hold his own in a fight. His body was lean and fit from dancing for so many years and his light blonde hair was always in ecstatic disarray, like he’d stood in a windstorm and dusted it with hairspray before it could fall flat. His soft brown eyes always mesmerized her with their intensity. The man could stop traffic with those eyes. She’d seen it happen.
He’d shown her the true meaning of seductive dancing, then ended the dance by bringing her back to their table and cuffing her and Envy together. He’d winked at Chad as if leaving him the gift of a threesome. They had all laughed in the name of the show.
She’d been having so much fun that she’d told Chad and Envy they could leave when they were ready and she’d catch a cab later. Come about one in the morning, they’d done just that.
After they’d left, Tabatha stepped outside to give into the one guilty pleasure she tried to keep secret from her friends. She mostly did it only when she was nervous or when she drank. Walking away from the light of the front doors, she found a darker area of the parking lot and leaned back against the brick wall to light her cigarette, blowing the white stream of smoke out into the cool night air.
She remembered seeing him clear across the parking lot gazing darkly at her. He was just as perfect as the dancer she’d met inside the club… they could have rivaled for the title. She blinked and he was suddenly within inches of her, with one palm slammed against the brick right beside her head, pinning her long blond hair to it so she couldn’t move.
His strange eyes shimmered with silver flame and Tabatha was frozen to the spot, not because he had frozen her, but because this guy wasn’t human. He’d just done two things to prove it… that or someone had slipped something in her drink while she wasn’t looking. And to top that off, up close he looked like the definition of sexual danger. He slowly leaned forward and inhaled long and hard.
Kriss had felt Dean close by and left the stage in the middle of the act, feeling the near violent intent of the other man. Not even taking the time to dress, he slipped out the side door not far from where Dean had Tabatha pinned to the wall. In an instant, he had an arm around Dean’s waist and the other arm tight around his throat, as he slowly backed the dark-haired man away from his new friend.
Tabatha wondered if she was losing time every time she blinked. She hadn’t even seen Kriss coming.
Dean leaned back against Kriss, as if he welcomed the embrace but his expression wasn’t friendly at all, as he said, “Your scent is all over her.”
Kriss tried to hide the silver fire that threatened to leap into his eyes, as he tightened his hold on Dean but glanced at Tabatha and ordered, “It’s ok Tabatha. Go back inside.”
The tone of Kriss’s voice finally snapped her out of her daze. Tabatha took off toward the entrance but before she got close to it, she backtracked and slipped behind some of the vehicles in the parking lot not wanting to leave Kriss alone with Mr. Dangerous.
Nothing had prepared her for what she’d witnessed that night. With the lights from the parking lot now casting their shadows on the brick of the building, she watched the dark shadows of wings spread from both of their backs, as they struggled with one another. She couldn’t see the wings in reality but she knew they were there because the shadow of them mimicked their movements.
She heard their harsh voices as they argued but it was in a language she’d never heard before. Kriss finally got the other man pinned face first against the brick and held him there for a moment whispering something near his ear.
Dean pushed backwards and quickly got the upper hand, turning them around and slamming Kriss against the wall, this time facing each other. Tabatha stood up from the car she’d been hiding behind, ready to come to Kriss’s aid. She stopped in confusion when Dean’s hand slid behind Kriss’s neck to cup the back of his head while he pressed his body against him to hold him still.
The kiss that had followed was in no way one sided. It was during the kiss that Kriss had opened his glowing silver eyes and caught her standing there watching them like some sick voyeur.
Tabatha had immediately turned and ran for the doors of the club. It had been almost an hour later that Kriss had sat down on the bar stool beside her… this time fully dressed. She had picked up her drink and downed it before turning and looked into his soft brown eyes.
“That was the most erotic thing I’ve ever seen… please don’t erase my memory.”
Kriss had held her locked in his gaze for so long that she’d been afraid he was indeed erasing every single bit of it… but then he’d laughed. She’d later found out that he’d been peeking into her soul to see if he could trust her. It turns out he decided he could and let her have her wish.
Over the next couple of weeks they’d became best friends and he’d told her what he thought she should know about him. Even best friends had secrets.
Bringing herself back to the present, Tabatha took a moment to look Kriss over and had to admit it really was a shame he was gay. But the fallen could only make love to another fallen and all of them, ironically, were male. If they tried making love with a human, it would kill the human. Tabatha didn’t even want to think about how they had learned that little fact.
What was even worse was there were only a couple of his kind on earth and he only knew of two. The one she’d met was Dean. Though she’d seen him off and on since that night, he still gave her the shivers. It was the way he looked at her… like he knew a secret. She figured Kriss’s love life was a little out of her league, so she tried not to ask any questions
His boxer shorts were a bit low this morning, showing off the small tribal art looking tattoo at the base of his spine. She knew it wasn’t really tribal art unless you counted the fallen as a tribe.
When he turned around with her plate in hand, she almost spit out her coffee when she noticed he was wearing her favorite apron. It was black with spider web lace and bright neon pink letters on it proudly stating ‘kiss the cook here’ with an arrow pointing at the crotch.
“Where the hell did you find that?” Tabatha finally managed. “I thought I hid it from you.”
Kriss grinned, “You did… I found it.”
“You went through my underwear drawer?” Tabatha demanded.
Kriss’ grin turned to a frown. “You wear underwear?”
One of his favorite things in the world to do was to drive Tabatha insane. She had no idea just how cute she was when she was riled. With Tabatha, even on a bad day she was completely lickable. She had the most amazing golden tan across flawless soft skin. Her hair was a mix of natural light blonde and platinum silk and her body was what most men dreamed of in the middle of the night. He should know… she’d invaded his dreams more than once.
He loved Tabatha but knew he could never have her and he was okay with that. He wouldn’t lose her either. When he’d glimpsed into her soul that first night, he’d known there were demons in her future. She would need him and if he could get Dean to stop being so jealous of her, then she would have that much more protection.
Tabatha took her plate out of his hands, enjoying his twisted sense of humor and started eating. It was all she could do to keep the image of him strutting around in a pair of her thongs from flashing in her mind like some demented strobe light. She started giggling and refused to tell him why when he asked.
The phone rang and Kriss grabbed it up before she could, “Eat,” he pointed to her plate.
“Tabatha’s answering service,” he said, with a smirk recognizing the caller ID.
“Tell Tabby we need her down at Night Light. Someone called in reporting a cougar sighting,” Jason informed him.
“She’ll be there as soon as she cleans her plate,” Kriss hung the phone up before Jason could say anything stupid like, ‘Tell her to hurry.’
Tabatha cocked an eyebrow, then started eating when she realized Kriss wouldn’t tell her where she was supposed to go until her plate was clean.
