We had to pass between a pair of bouncers to enter the main room of the club. They hardly spared me a glance as I stepped by them, but they both moved to block Adam’s way.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to check your weapon,” one of them said.
I drifted a little farther away from the door, well out of Adam’s reach. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that if the staff confiscated Adam’s gun, he’d try to abort our mission. I wasn’t about to let that happen.
He reached for his back pocket, then flashed his badge. The bouncer didn’t budge. Adam rolled his eyes.
“You’ve never had a problem with it before,” he said. I think he was trying to sound calm and reasonable, but the distinct edge in his voice ruined the effect.
“We’ve had a policy change.”
“I’m required to carry my sidearm even when I’m off duty!” Adam said, his posture radiating menace.
The bouncer didn’t look intimidated. I wondered if that made him brave, or brain-dead. “Then I suggest you find a club that will let you keep it. This isn’t the place.”
The crowd behind Adam was getting irritated with him, but he ignored them. “Let me speak to Shae.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m going to have to ask you to either check your gun or step aside.”
Adam looked like he was one step short of killing someone. He tried to glare me into coming back through the doorway, but I didn’t think he was surprised it didn’t work.
With a snarl, he ejected the clip from his gun and shoved it at the poor flunky. The flunky gave him a ticket and a dirty look in return.
I think he seriously considered grabbing me and dragging me out kicking and screaming. I also think he realized it wouldn’t work. It would be kind of awkward and unconvincing to pretend he was arresting me when he’d escorted me in, and he didn’t seem inclined to make a scene.
He shook a finger in my face. “You stick to me like glue, understand?”
“Sure.”
He glowered at me a little more; then Dominic put a hand on his shoulder and the tension eased out of him.
“Let’s go get a drink, shall we?” Dominic suggested.
I wanted to get on with it immediately, but Adam said we needed to blend in with the crowd.
When we pushed through the door to the main body of the club, I had to stop for a moment to adjust to the assault on my senses.
I’d heard the dull thump of music before we stepped in, but that hadn’t prepared me for this wall of noise. I’d done plenty of club-hopping in my early twenties, but not so much lately. I’d forgotten how deafening these places could be. Worse, the so-called music had a heavy techno beat with a droning, repetitive melody and no vocals.
The place was dark as a pit, with multicolored strobe lights providing intermittent illumination. People packed a minuscule dance floor, bodies jerking to the rhythm of the music. The floor was so crowded, it was hard to tell who was dancing with whom, and bodies rubbed together with careless abandon. A sign over the dance floor said Purgatory, which I thought an apt description.
The second floor of the club featured a balcony that circled the dance floor. The balcony was crowded with people, some leaning against the railing to watch the action below, some waiting in front of a series of closed, numbered doors like you’d find in a hotel. A sign over the stairway leading up to the balcony declared Heaven.
The strangest thing of all was the pair of tables set up one on each side of the entrance. One table held headbands with cheesy devil horns on them, and the other held headbands with cheesy angel halos. Many of the milling crowd wore one or the other.
“I told you this wasn’t just an S&M club,” Adam said, practically shouting into my ear to be heard over the music. “If you’re here looking for a partner for some vanilla sex, you wear a halo. When you find a partner, you go to Heaven.” He pointed to the balcony. “And you rent a room. If you’re looking for something more exotic, you wear the horns, and when you find a partner, you go to Hell.”
My gaze followed his pointing finger until I found the sign saying Hell. It loomed over a heavy wooden door that looked just how you’d expect the mouth of Hell to look.
I swallowed hard. “And that’s where we’re going.”
His answer was a curt nod.
We fought our way through the crowd toward the bar, Adam forging a path while Dominic and I struggled along in his wake. We hovered like vultures until a table opened up, then dove for the high stools. I wasn’t sure if I could sit on one without flashing, but figured it was dark enough that no one would have much of a view even if I did. Adam sent Dominic to the bar for drinks, laughing when I ordered my trademark piña colada. At least he didn’t insist I order something more in keeping with my costume. I was nervous enough I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep any alcohol down.
Dom returned with the drinks and pulled his stool over very close to Adam, their knees touching under the table. I immediately felt like the third wheel, which I supposed was okay since that was my role for the evening.
There wasn’t a whole lot of chatter-the music was too loud for it-and I tried to concentrate on my drink as Adam and Dom got progressively…cozier. It seemed Dominic had forgotten his discomfort with public displays of affection. Good thing for him, seeing as Adam’s tongue was down his throat most of the time. If only I felt more comfortable with it, this wouldn’t be quite so hellish. I battled to seem nonchalant and sucked down my drink in big swallows, hoping the alcohol would soothe my nerves.
Dominic was practically on Adam’s lap when an unfamiliar woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
She was tall, maybe even taller than me, and her skin was that deep ebony hue you associate with people from the heart of Africa. Close-cropped hair showed off the artistically perfect shape of her skull, and she had the longest, most elegant neck I’d ever seen. She looked Adam and Dom up and down with an almost proprietary expression, then looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
I didn’t know what to say or do, so I settled for giving Adam a nudge with my elbow to let him know we were no longer alone.
He came up for air, his eyes dark as sin. He blinked a couple of times, as if he’d forgotten where he was; then his eyes focused on our visitor.
“ Shae!” he said, sounding delighted. “Long time no see!”
She threw back her head and laughed like he’d said something really funny. I didn’t get the joke.
“I hear you were giving my people a hard time, you naughty boy,” she said. Her voice was as dark as her skin, and something about it chilled me. Or maybe it wasn’t her voice. Maybe it was that predatory glint in her eye.
I reminded myself that she was an illegal demon, and that made it easier to understand my quick and comprehensive dislike of her.
Adam grinned. “You could get me in trouble, Shae. It’s against regulations for me to go unarmed.”
She grinned back. “I promise not to tell on you.” Her gaze moved to Dom. “I hear you’ve had a spot of trouble.”
He nodded, but didn’t elaborate. I got the distinct feeling he wasn’t terribly fond of Shae, though he hadn’t given me that vibe when Adam had talked about her earlier.
Shae’s eyes found their way back to me, and she raked me with a head-to-toe examination that felt invasive and not at all friendly. “And who might this lovely creature be?”
Adam’s hand closed possessively around my wrist. For the moment, I didn’t feel inclined to object. He smiled at Shae.