Tucking the blouse into the skirt instead of trying it under my boobs, toning down my makeup and securing my hair into a neat chignon, I managed to look like a high priced hooker instead of a street one. Shrugging, I gave up my battle with my clothes and hoped I wouldn’t suffer the embarrassment of being refused service for being underdressed.
Maybe I can suggest we pick up Chinese food and head back to their place.
Having made plans to meet them out in the alley so as to not get delayed by clients looking for lap dances among other things, I headed out the rear door manned by Bruno who lamented the fact Bernie had walked off the job and not returned. Poor Bernie.
“Nice act tonight,” the club manager said, holding open the door for me.
“Who says it’s an act,” I replied blowing him a kiss.
Bruno just shook his head. For a man who managed a strip club, he was pretty straight.
The guys waited for me just outside and I smiled upon seeing them.
Gene’s eyes lit with mischief as he looked me up and down. “And here I was hoping you’d still be wearing the latex.”
“Oh, but I am,” I replied impishly.
Simon’s eyes flared bright for a moment and I warmed at his interest. With Gene, I knew where I stood, but with Simon, I had to pay closer attention. Such different personalities, and yet I’m drawn to them both.
We stepped out of the alley and I felt like the gooey, creamy filling sandwiched between the two of them. We commenced walking and to my surprise, Simon’s thick fingers found and curled around mine. To say his holding my hand pleased me was a vast understatement. It almost made me want to cry.
Say what you would, there was something about holding hands that was intimate, cozy; it made me feel like a precious thing and I preened under the glow of his attention. Not to mention, because of my illness, I’d never done the whole dating thing with boys. And since my change into a walking menace to society, I didn’t so much date as fuck for food and run.
We’d only walked a few blocks when a dark shadow stepped out from an alley, a hideous creature that I recoiled from-not that I got to see if for long. Simon, who surely had some ancient knight’s blood roaring through his veins, tucked me behind him, shielding me with his own body.
I swear the man knew how to press my emotional buttons. Aw, dammit, the jerk is going to make me fall in love with him. Say what you would, a protective man was a hot one.
Gene didn’t slack off either as my escort. A ball of flame formed in the palm of his hand and he tossed the fiery orb back and forth, his casual threat more menacing than words.
Oh yeah, so totally hot, too.
I peered around Simon’s large form, shuddering as the vision of Hell before me brought back memories of my incarceration-and my past meeting with the benefactor who’d unwillingly provided the darkness to my DNA.
Taller than my gentle giant, the demon stood before us, a hulking evil presence, whose oily, murky aura ringed him fatly. He’s old, as old as Simon, and nasty. Bright red eyes stared right at me, the evil promise in them making me shudder. It sniffed loudly through two holes in its face, the lack of nose giving it an alien visage. The disgusting creature flicked out a black, ridged tongue to lick the tips of its pointed fangs.
The demon didn’t speak so much as it hissed. “Step away from the female. My business lies with her.”
Gene spun his fireball on the tip of a finger, Globetrotter style, and replied in a soft voice, “Consider your business cancelled. The woman is with us.”
A rusty chuckle from the evil one saw me clenching Simon’s shirt as I tried not to react vocally-screaming didn’t seem like a good idea, yet. Super sexy succubus and part vampire I might be, but faced with a creature from Hell-yes, Hades did exist-I was a shivering coward. I still well remembered the words of the captive demon upon our forced meeting. Human bitch, know that when I escape I shall tear open your body and feast on your innards. I shall abuse every orifice in your body and create new ones. I shall… Needless to say, the demon the government captured and used in its experiments wasn’t happy they’d donated his DNA to mere humans. When they’d accidentally killed him when testing his reaction to an injection of angelic blood, I’d breathed a sigh of relief, because I’d had no doubt the confined one would live up to his promises. But apparently his death was not the end.
With a mental shake, I forced myself not to let my mind stray as I paid attention to what happened before me.
“Foolish Ifrit. The abomination cannot be allowed to live.”
Hey, he’s talking about me. I think.
Simon growled drawing the attention of the demon.
The demon flicked its forked tongue and narrowed its eyes. “You keep interesting company, ís dreki. And here we thought your kind extinct. My master will be most interested in knowing of your existence. Now, do the smart thing and hand the female over. You wouldn’t want to draw the annoyed attention of the one I serve.”
“Perhaps it is you and your master who should tread cautiously,” Gene replied. “The girl is under our protection. So, if you want her, you’ll have to go through me and my friend here first. Somehow, I think the prognosis for your success and continued stain upon the world isn’t so good.”
The demon looked as baffled as I did. Gene, with his flowery words, had confused the subject. Simon cleared it up with a simple, “Touch her and die.”
I must be a sick puppy, because his simple announcement totally raised my arousal level.
The demon gnashed his teeth and his eyes flared bright, but he stayed his hands-make that big, nasty claws. “Have you forgotten the words engraved on both the walls of Heaven and Hell?”
“Whence walks the one tainted unnaturally with the essence of darkness and light, the world shall tremble and the planes known as Heaven and Hell cease to exist out of time. Hail beautus unus, suus cruor vadum attero fines finium…” Gene recited some strange passage that started in English and then went all gibberishy. It made absolutely no sense to me, but seemed familiar to them. Just another thing that I didn’t know since I hadn’t gotten my membership card to join the club of Fucked Up Beings. Great.
“She must be destroyed like the rest of her brethren in the great cleansing.”
“No.” Simon bristled in front of me. “She’s different than those tainted creatures. Look at her and see her humanity. She is not like those twisted ones.”
The beast hissed and snaked a slimy tongue in my direction. “She is the seed of our destruction and now that I know her scent, I shall not stop the hunt until she breathes her last.”
“Then you’ve signed your death warrant,” said Gene shaking his head.
Simon didn’t reply; he acted. The other night, busy fighting for my life, I’d not watched Simon in action. What a mistake.
If it was possible, he seemed bigger all of a sudden as he charged the nasty demon. His shirt strained around muscles that bunched and rippled. I caught a glimpse of long, almost silvery claws, extending from his fingers that he used to slash at the creature.
My would-be knight and the evil villain battled, their weapon of choice: claws, which they wielded like a many pronged sword. The clicking sound and grunts as they jousted back and forth held me riveted, until I noticed Gene standing still.
“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Help him before he gets hurt.”
Gene turned to me with a look of surprise. “You don’t actually think that thing can hurt him do you?” He chuckled. “Simon’s just toying with him.”