Authors: Sierra Dean
The main floor consisted of a small, narrow room with a bar set along the back wall with several leather stools lined in front of it. All available seating was taken, and people were wedged between the stools shouting their drink orders at the two girls behind the bar.
Every inch of wall space was covered with pictures of fetish art and tribal illustrations. The lights were dim, so to get a good look at the photos meant leaning in really close. I’d felt a faint flush of embarrassment the first time I’d realized I was scrutinizing a woodcut print of a woman being penetrated by a giant dildo.
I didn’t give them a second glance anymore, but noticed Wilder’s attention drifting to a few of the more unique ones as we passed.
At the back of the room, next to a raised booth, an open casket was propped against the wall. The interior was lined with red velvet, and a slight indent in the pillow implied someone had only recently gotten up from their daytime nap. This, of course, was all flash for the tourists. No self-respecting vampires actually slept in coffins, thanks to the advent of blackout drapes. That coffin, I’d been told, had been in the bar long before supernaturals got outed. Now it was just an added bonus.
“Where have you brought us?” Wilder asked.
“Stay close, okay?” I warned.
The warmth of his body at my back told me he was taking my instructions a wee bit too seriously, but if it meant we wouldn’t be separated, I wasn’t going to say anything.
“If you wanted to get me drunk, I would have settled for a Hand Grenade or two on Bourbon.”
Even without seeing his face, I could hear his smirk. Wilder Shaw was the kind of guy who was accustomed to getting a long way on his charm, which seemed funny now, given how coarse he’d been when we first met. I was starting to like him more the longer I spent with him, but I wasn’t sure how much of that was genuine and how much was his innate ability to smooth talk.
Before we reached the stairs at the back of the room, I pulled him down a claustrophobic hallway leading to the dingy bathrooms. A bare light bulb hung overhead, creating garish shadows on the green paint and making him look rougher and more dangerous than he had previously. My pulse shivered when I realized how close and how alone we were here.
We were both Alphas, and I outranked him, but if push came to shove, I didn’t think I could overpower him.
I stepped back so there was as much space between us as possible. Not that I thought Wilder would hurt me, but being around him made me uneasy. There was something about him I didn’t trust, though I wasn’t sure if it was him or me I was more unsure of.
“Listen, there are a few things you need to know before we go upstairs. If you’ve been away from New Orleans a long time, you might not appreciate who it is we’re here to meet.”
“Enlighten me, then.”
Out of anyone else’s mouth it might have sounded pompous, but I got the feeling Wilder really wanted to help. I reminded myself he could have run off half-cocked and sought out the Church by himself, but he was tagging along and doing things my way. I appreciated it. I also felt like I owed it to him to get this right since he was putting a lot of faith in me to save his brother.
“Beau Cain knows things. It’s why people come to him. You trade something he wants for the information he has. He’s never wrong. He’s not psychic, and he can’t
make
things happen, but if you need to know something, he always has a way of finding the answer for you. If anyone can help us find Hank on short notice, it’s Cain.”
“And what kind of things does he want?”
Ah, the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.
“It varies.” I paused because I didn’t really feel like finishing my thought. Vague answers were best in situations like this. I’d only needed Cain’s help twice in the past. Once he’d wanted money, but the other time he’d wanted something…darker and more difficult to come by.
I was willing to pay the price, but I couldn’t put the responsibility on Wilder. Whatever Cain wanted, I would be the one to get it for him, end of story. I felt it was my duty. If sacrifices needed to be made and debts had to be paid, it was on me, not Wilder.
“Genie…” He stared at me long and hard. Hearing my real name out of his mouth sounded foreign and strange, but also told me I was worrying him.
“It’s not as bad as I’m making it sound. Normally he wants money. Lots and lots of money.”
“What about when he doesn’t want money?”
I knew right away where Wilder’s mind was going, and I felt guilty because I might have implied it unintentionally. Waving my hands in front of my face, I tried to chase away his fears of anything untoward or dirty.
“It’s not sex.”
His face relaxed so quickly it was like someone had flicked a light off.
God, sex would have been
easy
by contrast.
“He’s got Delphine, he isn’t interested in anyone else. Calls her his White Queen.” Ironic, since Del was black, but I shrugged. “No, the thing about Cain is he collects…oddities. They call him the Collector in some circles. He’ll always have something in mind, and it’ll never be something you can pop into a CVS for, you know?”
“I really don’t.”
“Okay, for instance, the last time I asked him for a favor, he made me bring back the skull of someone who had died on April 19
th
, 1864.”
“He… Wait, what?”
I nodded. “Not a specific person. Just the skull of anyone who had died on that day.”
“
Why?
”
I raised a finger like I was scolding a puppy, my voice dead serious. “You
never
ask why.”
“And you actually got it for him?”
Grimacing, I nodded again. I wasn’t proud of my grave-robbing escapade, but what was done was done. I’d needed something that could keep me well-hidden inside city limits in my wolf form if I was unable to make it out to a rural area for any reason. Cain had been able to get me what I’d needed, and I wasn’t in a position to ask for the dark details of why he wanted a skull from a specific death date.
Nor did I
want
to know, if I was being honest.
“This is messed up, Princess, you know that, right? There has to be an easier way for us to find out where they’re hiding Hank.”
“Maybe, but would we find out in time?” I challenged.
We both knew a clock was ticking on his brother’s life. The sooner we figured out where he was the better our chances of saving him.
Wilder had no immediate response for this question, which spoke volumes. The precious little time we had left was already starting to run out.
“You ready for this?” I asked.
“As much as I’ll ever be. Aren’t you going to tell me to let you do the talking or something?”
I laughed, a whoosh of pure amusement escaping my lungs and releasing some of the tension I hadn’t realized I was holding inside me. It felt good, no matter how inappropriate it was.
“Just…don’t let anything surprise you, okay?”
“Sweetheart, you should see my poker face.” He winked.
Maybe. As long as we weren’t playing the strip variety.
We navigated out of the hallway to a small roped-off set of stairs that was too narrow for people to pass each other going up and down. A tall woman with her hair in a slicked-back auburn ponytail eyed Wilder and me as we approached.
“Did Jimmy check your ID?” She pretended she didn’t care about the answer.
“Yup.” No human would have noticed, but I’d seen her nostrils flare as we approached. She didn’t smell like a wolf to me. Definitely something in the big cat family, though I often had trouble telling the difference between leopard and jaguar. It didn’t matter. She knew what we were, which was enough to get you a pass to the VIP section where Cain resided.
“You two have fun. Play nice, now, y’hear?” She lifted the rope blocking the stairs from access, and when I glanced back halfway up the narrow passage, she had all but vanished, melting into the shadows to keep undo attention off the private area.
Making money off curious humans was all well and fine, but there were some parts of our lives they were better off not knowing too much about.
There were a lot of good reasons we’d kept ourselves hidden from them for so long.
The bass thump of the music faded away the higher up we got, until it was replaced with a soft, melodic singing, accompanied by deep, rich string music. The melody was eerie and haunting, something that defied definition.
Siren song.
I bristled, not liking such an underhanded ploy. Sure, the music was recorded and not live, dulling some of its power, but all the same it was a manipulation. Supes weren’t immune to it. They would spend more money, stay at the bar longer, let their guards down around prospective mates. Siren song was more dangerous than drugs and alcohol. If Cain had had one singing live, the place would have devolved into an all-out orgy.
The literal kind.
As it was, the lights were dimmed, and most of the room was lit by candles. Couples were draped across each other, many of them touching each other in a way that was borderline inappropriate for a public space, while others kissed in a slow, passionate manner that suggested a total disregard for their surroundings.
Since the space was open concept, it was easy to spot Cain right away. He was seated on a large black leather couch along the back wall. His lady love, Delphine, rested against his side, her fingers grasping his thigh. She spotted me before he did.
I’d known Delphine when she was still legally called David, a name she didn’t so much hide from now, more like she dismissed it as a forgotten acquaintance. And in all honesty, that’s what David had been to her. An uncomfortable roommate she’d had to live with until she’d been able to blossom into who she really was.
Now, two years since her transition, she was Delphine, and David was gone, it was as simple as that.
To me she’d always been Delphine because I couldn’t imagine her as anything other than the striking, intoxicating, wonderful woman she was. Del had introduced me to Cain and shown me where the
real
voodoo shops in town were.
She squeezed Cain’s leg and got to her feet with the liquid grace of a predatory animal. In her heels she towered over Wilder and me, almost six-six. Stooping elegantly, she kissed both my cheeks, then did the same to Wilder without the slightest introduction. When she stepped back, he wore a naked, awestruck expression on his face for a moment before he realized he was gawking at her.
I couldn’t blame him. If I had to put a photo in the dictionary next to
Amazon
, I’d have submitted Delphine as the perfect candidate. She was lean and muscular, like a swimmer, her dark hair a furious cloud of curls around her head that rivaled Diana Ross’s in her prime. Her dark, flawless skin made her teeth look so white they were practically jewels in her mouth.
I was helpless in her orbit, caught up like a lowly comet on a direct path into the sun. That was the awesome power Delphine had on those around her. And that magic was all her, nothing supernatural about her except how much everyone loved her after just one meeting.
“Eugenia McQueen, as I live and breathe.”
She was also one of the only people in my life I let call me by my full name. Coming from her,
Eugenia
sounded like a compliment not a tease.
“Del, it’s really not fair, you coming here looking this good. The other girls don’t stand a chance.”
She winked at me and slipped Wilder a cheeky smirk. “I don’t want the other girls to stand a chance. Now, who’s this thick slice of handsome you’ve brought me?”
Wilder flushed but couldn’t hide his smile. I knew what he was feeling. Between the siren song and the attention of a beautiful woman, his ego was roughly the size of Antarctica right now. He’d come down as soon as we left, but I’d let him enjoy himself for a few minutes. At least he wasn’t brooding and thinking about Hank. Maybe his happiness was artificial, but there was rarely any other kind to be found in a bar.
“This is my friend, Wilder Shaw. We’re here to speak with Cain, if he’s amenable.” Demanding an audience wouldn’t get us anywhere, and trying to bend Delphine’s will by telling her how important the mission at hand was wouldn’t help either. She was used to dozens of needy bastards like us coming in every day to beg for Cain’s time. No one got close unless Delphine gave the go-ahead, and just because she liked me didn’t mean anything was guaranteed. Del liked a lot of people, but she wasn’t about to do favors for all of them.
“You in a spot of trouble, baby girl? You don’t come to see him all that often.”
I wondered what kind of desperation would make someone come to Cain more than I had. I’d only asked for his help twice, and it felt like two times too many. Even after paying his price I still considered myself permanently in his pocket.
“Someone tried to kill me earlier today.” Might as well lead with the truth, right? I tried to make it seem like no big deal, but the way her brows lifted suggested she understood the urgency.
“Was it those Church of Morning pricks?” she snarled, her voice raw with unmasked hatred. I’d never heard Delphine sound so enraged about anything in our entire acquaintance, including some of the disgusting, pigheaded bigots I’d witnessed her deal with while we’d been on campus together. “It was, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Those fuckers.” She turned on her heel and prowled back to Cain, and since she hadn’t told us to leave, I took this as invitation to follow.
Cain was a big guy. With his shock of bright white hair and his football-player physique, he reminded me of what I imagined Cable from the X-Men would look like in real life. A huge, imposing wall of muscle. He rose to greet us as we approached, kissing my cheeks as Delphine had, but only offering Wilder a firm handshake.
“Welcome back, Miss McQueen. It’s been a long while since you graced us with your presence. We were starting to worry you didn’t like us anymore.”
“Don’t be silly, Beau. You know how life gets.”
He forced a smile, though I could tell he wasn’t altogether pleased with my response.
“
Bebe
,” Del said, leaning close to Cain’s ear. “Those hateful church bastards are stirring up trouble for our little wolf cub.”