According to Kimmy, O’Nightingale’s would be her quickest and dirtiest fix possible.
“A wish alone will not change your fate, but a decision will change everything. Better to move than be cursed forever,”
Kimmy had declared with an uplifted hand.
Quick fixes were okay.
Dirty ones? Shauna tilted her head. On a night like this, she could agree to a little dirty.
But what’s with the mighty wallop of glittery, mystical stupidity? Why had she agreed to that? Kimmy’s higher-being psychobabble couldn’t be trusted. Under most circumstances, it was a good indication for an about-turn and sprint in the other direction. Shauna didn’t mess with fate.
But when Kimmy threw the word
curse
into the ring…
Ding. Ding. Ding
! The fight was over.
Shauna had already been cursed a-plenty. No other word could move her into trouble’s path more quickly.
Except maybe “Adrian.” That word caused all kinds of trouble. Like the warmth of excitement funneling to her core. And the tight ache in her chest that had nothing to do with the push-up effect of her outfit. She knew the source of it and the more pervasive reason that she’d shed her usual reluctance for anything her promiscuous roommate suggested. Shauna needed a fix on multiple levels.
Kimmy’s ideas weren’t always this brilliant, but she couldn’t pass this one up.
It’s not as if underground nightclubs were infesting the state of Utah. The odds of a man as single and secluded as Adrian going anywhere else to blow off steam were zero to not happening.
Kimmy had mentioned that the cards were a one-time use. No turning back. Given the number of invitations strewn across Adrian’s desk, the man came often enough to build a skyscraper house of cards.
Adrian had revealed something else tonight. He’d
noticed
her. Not only noticed, he’d
recognized
her. The same who-let-you-out-of-the-house-in-that look from years past had changed a bit. It stung less. More like a sharp slap on the ass now, and to Shauna’s surprise, she kinda liked pissing him off.
He had unleashed the bratty demon within her; now he could deal with it. If he did show, and he happened to see her again…She glanced at the black trench coat wrapped tight around Kimmy’s thigh-high dress and the scant light gleaming off her boots. She grinned. She’d bet every ball-bearing treat in that damn jar that he couldn’t look away this time.
A little extra dig to settle the score would for sure make her night. After all, Shauna had been invited. Someone else wanted her here. And it wasn’t Adrian. How chocolate-coated awesome would that be to rub in his face?
Some foreign grain of protectiveness—or was it territorial—who knew, but something deep inside Adrian loomed to the surface every time Shauna stirred up trouble in his presence. Like with the chocolate, it really got to him. In an instant of recognition, the docile gorilla stood ready to assert his dominance and straighten out this troublesome neighbor-monkey.
She lifted her chin a notch higher and quickened her pace as she crossed the vacant street into the historic district. If that’s what worked, she’d take it.
She had to.
All other options for a cure dead-ended with Adrian Sands. If he wouldn’t help her out of kindness, her next option had to be the one thing she knew. Putting herself in danger got his attention—bratty and selfish as it was. She’d hate herself for it in the morning, but for now, she could manage a little wardrobe-tantrum at his expense.
Her attention turned to a slender, Victorian-style building on the corner. The darkness under the scalloped awning seemed to tunnel into nowhere. She tried to focus in, but still couldn’t detect even a single body.
The three-block distance from the nearest parking lot must have been deliberate. Not to mention the odd destination time. It made sense. Better to stagger the crowd and move them in quick than to cause a scene in the open.
The streetlight had been dimmed. Nothing like Shauna’s handy work—not broken, but diminished somehow to a scant ember of light. Just functional enough to avoid repairs but pretty darn useless. The interior lights of the building shed the same glow. To the common passer-by, it looked tucked away for the night. She squinted to the card, then to the sign fixed to the weathered hobby shop.
Grigori Bird Watching.
The nightingale silhouette on the sign matched, but the place seemed more welcoming to cane-toting retirees than the fetish-hungry elite Kimmy had mentioned. What about this place had caught Adrian’s eye? Why did he keep coming back here night after night?
Only two stores down on the close-packed street was the same ice cream shop she and her grandpop visited every summer. The windows were dark, but the place probably doled out the same double scoop of strawberry ice cream as always.
In the daylight, anyway.
“Going somewhere?”
Shauna lurched forward and spun around to find Squalinski looming close behind, from the dark shadow of a building overhang.
“You scared the shit out of me!”
His lips twitched with a smug grin. “Well, if it isn’t our little streetwalker, out for a stroll.”
“Funny.” Her gaze narrowed. “But I didn’t think your pudgy little legs would make it this far.”
Squalinski rocked back on his heels. “Yeah, thought you lost me after you went home, but you didn’t…did you?” He turned his attention to the bird shop across the street. “Word has it, this place makes all kinds of calls after dark.”
“Is that so?”
“Never been there myself. Your first time, too? How fortunate.”
She smirked. “Closed party. You’re not invited. Look, I’m not doing anything illegal. So
you
can’t bother me.”
“Public intoxication is illegal.” Squalinski’s pen light snapped on and he waved the bright beacon in her face. “How much you had to drink tonight?”
“None!”
“Really. Because your eyes are telling me something different.” He angled his head. “Follow this light please.”
“Nice try.” Shauna marched forward. “You know, this game is getting old. And you still haven’t figured out how it’s played. You don’t have anything on me.
You
can’t touch me.” She looked both ways, ready to cross the street. “Rumors of an abduction
here
would be bad for business. And something tells me, the guys in there? They don’t like cops hanging around their establishment anyway. So maybe you better step aside before you blow your own cover.”
She took two marching steps into the crosswalk. Then three. Four. Her nerve endings tingled with high alert for the moment the agent would charge from behind and grab her.
But nothing came.
Nothing!
Had she been right? The bluff paid off?
A hurried clip of spiked heels carried her forward as she chanced a quick look behind.
Gone? Not exactly, still skulking in the shadows, but the slime ball didn’t venture a step into the open. From what she said? Or because of her destination?
A sporadic shift near the hobby shop snared Shauna’s attention. Panic vised her heart. Several dark figures in the entryway ballooned to one side, then the other before settling into some sort of queue. She paused. Five? Twenty? She couldn’t determine how many were there, but one thing was certain, this had to be the place.
Shauna started forward again with tentative steps. She eyed the shapeless ripple as it parted again and the shop’s door swung open. She half-expected the pleasant jingle of entry bells above the door, the kind that plagued every Maw-and-Paw shop on this street.
But no. Not a sound.
A violet-blue light from within, arched into the entry, and then snuffed-out by a surge of eager bodies.
Her mind whirred to catch every detail as the darkness filled in. One, two…six. Pretty sure there were at least six heads. She expected some music, maybe a collective moan of disappointment from those who didn’t get in. Anything but this intimidating silence.
As she neared the crowd, the closer outliers appeared to turn in her direction. Even the air around them seemed to pause in watchful curiosity. The hammering in her chest battled to overpower the steady pace of her clipping heels. She tried to quiet her approach with tiptoe steps. More of a courtesy really, it’s not as though the entire place hadn’t already seen her coming.
Perfume and the sharp tang of leather wafted from the building. Shauna clutched the phone in her pocket. Could she reach someone in time if she got in trouble here? With a following this tight? The image of scurrying shadows and grabbing hands flashed through her mind. They’d have her surrounded and silenced before she ever hit send.
A sudden spasm of fear shot through her. Inside the trench coat pocket, warm vibrations danced against her hand. It took a moment to register the phone’s sensation. She wasn’t used to putting the thing on silent. But again, Kimmy insisted.
Shauna kept marching as she pressed the phone to her ear, and used her other hand to shield its offensive glow.
“Hello?” she whispered.
Kimmy’s voice projected through the phone. “You there already? ’Cause if you get caught with your phone, they’ll take it.”
Shauna turned from the crowd and cupped the lower end of the phone, hoping to dampen the sound. “You couldn’t have told me sooner?”
Shauna could just picture the careless brush of Kimmy’s hand. “It’s no biggie. Once you’re in, I’ll have you on webcam. If you feel a vibe in your pocket, get out. If anyone asks, you’re from the Seattle group. Oh, and one more thing. I think the safe word is still ‘button nose’ so if you get into trouble, work that into the conversation and you’ll be left alone.”
Shauna’s attention flew to the eaves of the building and the corners of the upper floor window. “Safe word? You’re kidding, right? And you’re watching this whole thing?”
“Well…Yeah.” Her tone smoothed with haughty assurance. “It’s more fun watching you. As a member of Nightingale’s soaring high club, it’s old hat for me.”
“
Soaring high club
?”
“Well,” Kimmy scoffed. “Of course that was years ago.”
“Gee, glad I could be of service. Since when did I become your cheap entertainment?”
“Since…always. Now get in there and give me video feed. I need to feed!”
On any normal day, Shauna would tell her to go fly a kite but at present…hell, why not? Let Kimmy take in the show. She didn’t care. Shauna didn’t have a care in the world. Something about tonight blanketed her in a perfect concoction of blissful indifference. “If you want to feed that bad, maybe you should soar your lazy butt down here yourself? What happened to you anyway? Why is it that I’m
here
, and you’re
there
?”
A pause of unsettling silence stretched through the phone.
Apparently, that blissful indifference came with a splash of saucy-bitch and a mouth that couldn’t quit. This is what the world got when a sex-deprived Shauna went on parade.
“I know you’re stressed—” Kimmy began.
“Stressed?” Was she supposed to be stressed?
“Maybe a little nervous,” Kimmy corrected.
Shauna looked skyward in contemplation. Nope. Not that either. Not anymore. But she could have sworn that only a moment ago…
Kimmy’s words picked up speed. “There’s nothing to worry about. Promise. You’re going to have fun. What’s the worst that can happen?”
The worst? The entire building going up in flames—with her in it. Not to mention how many others she’d take down with her. Why didn’t that bother her all of the sudden? Tonight, it felt more like a great chance to roast marshmallows. Or s’mores. Shauna slid her tongue over the roof of her mouth to savor the tinge of chocolate that remained. She twisted to her pocket in search of another candy.
A scamper of heels over wood erupted at the building’s entrance. A disconcerted mumble of irritation came as the ripple of bodies shifted in all directions.
One woman’s voice carried over the rest. “If you think, after I come
all
this way—” Her words lost their clarity, smothered to muffled grunts of outrage as a large man shoved through the commotion. He hoisted the woman against his chest with one hand clamped tight over her mouth.
The buxom woman kicked and reared. Her occluded cries became longer and more urgent the closer they came to the street. The bouncer bobbed his head to the left once, then again, to avoid her flailing arms.
The glittery, head-to-toe spandex the woman wore looked ready to explode—what was left of it anyway. The strategic holes cut from the fabric stretched and thinned like melting Swiss as the woman continued her spasms. Her doughy flesh bulged through a large hole at her thigh. One patent-leather heel clattered to the cement. The bouncer took lumbering steps toward the curb, and a faint grunt sounded as one of the woman’s arms connected with his temple.
The bouncer stopped. He dropped the woman on her feet, and snatched her up again. One large arm banded her limbs down while the other clamped her mouth again, the woman’s movements reduced to little more than a writhing caterpillar in her hole-eaten chrysalis.
A white limousine loomed into focus beneath the streetlight, like a shark through murky water. The engine purred at a leisurely few miles per hour until it reached the struggling pair. The passenger door opened by unseen hands, and the bouncer tossed the woman inside.
The woman managed a few curses of indignation before the door snapped shut, and the vehicle puttered away again at the same pace.
Creepy
.
Shauna readjusted the phone to her ear as Kimmy’s warning cut through. “Anonymity is everything here. Anyone seen dressing for attention outside won’t get past the gate. Keep your goods covered till you’re in. But for God’s sake, get in soon. You’re running out of time.”
“Right, then it’s all out and exposed. Got it. Anything else, puppet master?”
Shauna watched the bouncer stoop to retrieve the abandoned shoe and turn toward the building. Eyes forward and mechanical, he didn’t even glance her way. Probably paid not to.
Shauna’s phone buzzed against her ear.
“Don’t answer that,” Kimmy barked.
The urgency in Kimmy’s voice grew distant as Shauna held the phone away. “Don’t need to shout.” She frowned at the unlisted number bannered on the phone’s screen. “And the puppet thing was a joke. You can stop telling me what to do now.”